(OTTAWA) Ministers will all have to vote in favor of reforming the Official Languages Act, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday, two days after one of them opened the door to do precisely the opposite.
“All the ministers, of course, will support Bill C-13 because it is the solution that will both protect linguistic minorities across the country by recognizing that we have a responsibility in addition to protecting French , including in Quebec,” Trudeau said during a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons.
In other words, Mr. Trudeau confirms that this vote will not derogate from the principle of ministerial solidarity which requires that the cabinet votes in the same way.
Divisions in the Liberal troops have recently come to light. Several MPs from the Montreal region, including Minister Marc Miller, have threatened to vote against Bill C-13 if it refers, as is currently the case, to Quebec’s Charter of the French language. .
In the last few days, the Franco-Ontarian Francis Drouin for his part reproached his colleagues for making “a show de boucane” and Minister Petitpas Taylor’s office said she “expects all parliamentarians to rally” behind the bill.
Party line or free vote
However, it is far from clear that the Liberals will impose a party line during this vote which, normally, should be subject to it under party policy. This provides that all votes are free except in three circumstances: when it comes to electoral platform commitments – which is the case here – when it affects the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and when is a vote of confidence.
But I also know that there are MPs who, like any MP, will want to defend the interests of their community and represent their community. These are conversations we are having, but I can assure you that C-13 will pass.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
In the morning, the parliamentary secretary of Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the Minister of Official Languages, Marc Serré, hinted that the Liberals could allow a free vote when the reform arrives before the House of Commons.
” It’s not necessary. I’m doing well. We are going forward. We will have it. We’re going to make it,” he said after a scrum where he was asked if Chief Government Whip Steven MacKinnon should impose a party line on the bill, which he hasn’t decided yet.
Mr. Serré said he was confident that C-13 would become law even “if one or two members of the Conservative Party vote against, if one or two members of the Liberal Party vote against”. “There is the whole House of Commons here,” he said.
The intentions of the opposition
Meanwhile, the Conservatives announced on Friday that everything indicates they will vote in favor of the bill. “We, on our radar, we vote for,” summed up the Conservative spokesperson for official languages, Joël Godin, on leaving a meeting of the committee that is examining the reform.
He nevertheless insisted that his assertion is valid provided that a “very important element” is added in C-13, namely that private companies under federal jurisdiction are subject to the Charter of the French language, which is in favor a majority of MPs sitting on the committee.
But Mr. Godin believes, like the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP), that the reform is now in danger, the Liberals having, according to him, “lost control” of their own caucus.
Moments later, NDP MP Niki Ashton added a layer. According to her, Minister Miller’s position against his own government’s bill is “totally unacceptable”.
“The Liberals are talking out of both sides of their mouths and risk jeopardizing a landmark bill,” she said. We talk about the decline of French. We are talking about the loss of rights for francophones. We are talking about the future of the Francophonie in Canada. And me, what I see is a lack of vision, a focus on political games. […] I wonder where the Prime Minister is. »
On Wednesday, New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh revealed in response to a reporter that “yes” all MPs in his party will vote in favor of Bill C-13. And at the Bloc Québécois, leader Yves-François Blanchet indicated that he did not see “how we could vote against” if the amendment on companies under federal jurisdiction is adopted.