Ultimately, Ottawa will not force companies under federal jurisdiction to comply with the Quebec Charter of the French language. The Liberal government foiled the common front of the opposition on Friday by modifying its bill on official languages to the satisfaction of Quebec.
In the end, it was negotiations between the governments of Quebec and Canada that short-circuited the Bloc Québécois project. With the support of the Conservative Party of Canada, this party proposed to prevent any company on Quebec territory from evading the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, better known by its nickname “Bill 96”.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) cut the project short on Friday.
“We have been made aware that there is good collaboration between the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada on this issue. We want to respect this collaboration,” said New Democrat elected Niki Ahston, whose vote was decisive on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Instead, on Friday, she sided with a new Liberal compromise proposal on Bill C-13, a reform of the Official Languages Act (OLA) which also creates a law on French in private companies with skills. federal. The NDP, like all the other opposition parties, had instead promised to apply the Quebec Charter of the French language to these companies.
Since the opposition has a majority on the committee, the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP could agree to form a united front and force amendments to the bill at the clause-by-clause stage. Friday was the last meeting where the many proposed amendments could be discussed.
As adopted in committee, C-13 would allow businesses under federal jurisdiction to choose between the language regime of Quebec and that of Ottawa. However, the vast majority of these companies have already complied with Quebec law in recent months, like Air Canada and Canadian National.
Liberals change the law
Instead of letting opposition parties take that choice away from businesses, the Liberal Party of Canada went on the offensive on Friday. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages unveiled a series of last-minute changes to the text of Bill C-13 that promises to make the federal law as binding as the Quebec law.
“The amendments [du Parti libéral du Canada] demonstrate that the federal system can be equivalent to that of Quebec with respect to the protection of French. The two regimes can exist in collaboration,” explained Franco-Ontarian Liberal MP Marc Serré on Friday.
Under these amendments, which were unanimously accepted, businesses under federal jurisdiction in Quebec “and in regions with a strong Francophone presence” would be subject to obligations towards their employees. The latter will have the right to work and be supervised in French, as well as to receive documentation of their work in this language. Federally chartered employers will have to justify the requirement of proficiency in a language other than French.
Two sources well versed in the matter confirmed to the Duty that last-minute negotiations between the Legault government and the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, led to this compromise position. Quebec is satisfied since C-13 becomes consistent with its project to francize businesses with 25 to 49 employees, while giving a boost to Francophone communities outside Quebec.
“I am happy with the progress we have made,” reacted Bloc Québécois MP Mario Beaulieu after leaving the parliamentary committee.
The Montreal elected official was visibly disappointed that his proposal to fully apply “Law 96” to federally chartered companies was defeated. He was the only elected official not to applaud the end of the study of C-13, and did not want to say if his party would vote in favor of the text at third reading in Parliament.
Quebec satisfied
” [Ça fait] since my swearing in that C-13 has been on top of my pile in my office,” said the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, in an interview with the Duty Friday.
“When I arrived last fall, the version of the law that was being debated was not acceptable to Quebec. »
The elected member of the Coalition avenir Québec qualifies the agreement reached with Ottawa as a “win-win-win” — for Quebec, for Ottawa and for Francophone communities outside Quebec. “It will apply in Quebec, but also in areas with a strong Francophone presence outside Quebec,” he said.
According to Mr. Roberge, federal companies with 25 to 49 employees, which had to register with the Office québécois de la langue française by 2025, will still have to do so, “because the Charter of the French language applies on Quebec territory and does not provide for a choice”. The amendments tabled Thursday evening to the OLA, however, constitute a historic “advance”, he argued.
“We are bringing the spirit of the Charter of the French language into the Canadian Official Languages Act,” he summed up.
The common front of the opposition parties had already succeeded in recent months in slightly modifying the text of Bill C-13 to the satisfaction of Quebec. For example, a Bloc Québécois motion had added a reference to the Charter of the French language of Quebec in its preamble. Another said that Francophones outside Quebec and Anglophones in Quebec “have different needs” in terms of their development.
These additions had shocked English-speaking Liberal MPs from Quebec, first of all the MP for Mount Royal, Anthony Housefather, who outright threatened to oppose his government’s bill. Liberal MP Marc Garneau, who left politics in March, and Montreal minister Marc Miller also criticized the changes forced by the opposition.
Mr. Housefather even tried to modify the text of C-13, which his party had just changed, at the last minute on Friday. His proposals to include guarantees for English-speaking workers in Quebec were rejected.
Conservative MP Joël Godin has also attempted to amend Bill C-13 to ensure that a next Governor General of Canada is appointed who is fluent in both English and French. The amendment was ruled out of order since the appointment of the governor-general falls within the prerogative of the king. Mr. Godin then tried to force bilingualism on the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, with no more success.
With François Carabin and Florence Morin-Martel