François Legault’s team is undertaking the home stretch of its mandate with around twenty bills to be adopted in 15 weeks under its arm – enough to make the National Assembly dizzy. Overview of the legislative program.
The Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, will not delay before submitting to the attention of the deputies – who are expected on Parliament Hill next Tuesday – a bill aimed at establishing a financial penalty for people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. .
“As soon as we return to the National Assembly at the beginning of February, we will introduce a bill,” said the Prime Minister, François Legault, on January 13. Many saw in the declaration of the head of government another nasty bluff serving to channel the dissatisfaction aroused by the “yoyo” of health measures of recent weeks towards unvaccinated people. The government will move forward, confirms the parliamentary leader of the government, Simon Jolin-Barrette.
The parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, did not want to say this week whether the solidarity MPs would support or oppose the financial penalty, which has the support of 59% of the population, according to a poll. commissioned by the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ). “The rigor requires us to read the bill before saying whether we are going to vote for it or against it,” he said, while adding that, “if the trend continues, it could be exactly the kind of project of law which is not necessary”.
Quebec “needs solutions, not punishments, as satisfactory as punishments can sometimes be”, to strengthen the health network, argued the aspiring Prime Minister. An impression shared by the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ).
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, is relying in particular on the adoption of two bills to achieve this: the bill aimed at increasing the supply of front-line services by general practitioners (Bill 11) and the Health and Social Services Information Bill (Bill 19).
Will another bill be necessary to “rebuild” the health system by focusing on “decentralization”, as François Legault promised in the opening speech of the parliamentary session last October? “That is to be seen,” replies Mr. Jolin-Barrette to the Duty.
One thing is certain, a bill aimed at “ending the state of health emergency while maintaining certain essential measures” to protect the population against COVID-19 and its lineage of variants will be presented to the National Assembly “this this session,” he continues.
Traffic jam on the horizon
The parliamentary leader of the official opposition, André Fortin, fears a backlog of the Commission on health and social services, which, he recalls, is also responsible for scrutinizing the reform of the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) proposed by Minister Lionel Carmant (Bill 15).
The parliamentary leader of the third opposition group, Martin Ouellet, described the review of the Youth Protection Act as “fundamental” after the work of the Laurent commission, in which all the parliamentary groups took part in the months following the death of the “girl from Granby”, in 2019. André Fortin also urges the government to move forward on this front. “There are several deputies who have invested themselves for months in shaping the Laurent report,” he notes.
The PLQ wonders how the parliamentary committee will also be able to scrutinize a bill aimed at extending medical assistance in dying to people who have been diagnosed with “a serious and incurable illness leading to incapacity”, as the Special Committee on the evolution of the law concerning end-of-life care recommends it. “I’m not telling you that it’s not impossible,” said Mr. Jolin-Barrette.
For “social cohesion”
On the other hand, the CAQ minister is counting on the National Assembly to adopt “as quickly as possible” the bill on the official and common language of Quebec, French (Bill 96). In his eyes, it is about “national cohesion”.
The minister responsible for the French language will take all measures to ensure that it is at least adopted by the end of parliamentary proceedings, scheduled for June 10. He is “convinced” of being able to achieve this “on a regular basis”, without resorting to closure, even if the Committee on Culture and Education needed “about 24 hours” to get through the first six articles — “a pace that is not sustained”, according to him. “If the Liberal Party is honest in what it says, it will study it carefully,” maintains Mr. Jolin-Barrette.
“We are not trying to slow down the bill,” assures Mr. Fortin to the Duty.
Simon Jolin-Barrette will propose a few amendments to his Bill 96, but none that will broaden the scope of the Charter of the French language to college studies, to the great misfortune of the PQ. “In terms of the French language, the CAQ’s plan is soft”, tweeted Pascal Bérubé on Friday.
Mr. Jolin-Barrette, who is also Minister of Justice, aims to have the bill reforming family law in terms of filiation and amending the Civil Code in terms of personality rights and civil status adopted ( Bill 2).
How will he manage to tackle Bills 96 and 2? asks André Fortin. “He will have to choose which of these two bills he will want to prioritize, to have it adopted as quickly as possible. »
In the crosshairs of the Polimeter
The Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, will table the bill which will revise the status of the artist “over the next few weeks”, indicates Mr. Jolin-Barrette. “It’s a file that is complex,” he points out. “Right now, it’s anarchy,” said solidarity MP Catherine Dorion.
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, has finally managed to knit together the bill aimed at getting Quebec out of hydrocarbons, says Mr. Jolin-Barrette. The state will compensate license holders, but “as little as possible,” Mr. Legault announced last fall.
For several years, the Polimeter has been evaluating successive governments on the basis of their promises kept and broken. Less than nine months from the next electoral meeting, François Legault is doing less well there than his Liberal predecessor, Philippe Couillard, at the same date. “Obviously, there was the pandemic,” relativizes associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Laval University Lisa Birch.
In his eyes, the Legault team will have every advantage in earning the maximum number of points by mid-June. “Bill 96 is very important,” she says. If adopted, on its own, it fulfills a large number of promises in immigration, concerning the recognition of Quebec as a nation, or even those related to the strengthening of the French language. »