Surrounded by Liberal MPs, candidates and activists, all dressed in red, the leader of the official opposition, Dominique Anglade, took part in the demonstration in Montreal against Bill 96 on the French language.
The event was organized by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), including the Quebec English School Boards Association and the Quebec English Parents’ Committee Association.
Historically, the elected members of the Liberal Party of Quebec, this ruling party, are not big fans of these public demonstrations where the crowd parades chanting slogans. Nor is it the kind of house at the Conseil du patronat du Québec or the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
In 2012, at the end of the trying Maple Spring, Jean Charest did not fail to mock the leader of the Parti Québécois, Pauline Marois, who, saucepan in hand and wearing the red square of the student movement, had participated in a demonstration against the increase in tuition fees decreed by the Liberal government. “Pauline Marois is the street,” he repeated during the election campaign.
In the street, Dominique Anglade found herself there twice recently in good-natured demonstrations with elected officials from other parties. On May 8, she took part in the Bread and Forests demonstration while, last fall, she joined the march for the climate in Montreal.
Saturday’s demonstration, which brought together more than 1,000 people, passed off peacefully. The organizers had distributed small flags of Quebec and signs, which we wanted to control the message.
After showing themselves open to proposing amendments to Bill 96 with a view to its adoption, the Liberals changed their tune to oppose it en bloc. Yet it is their idea, that of adding three courses in French to the English CEGEP. Among the 27 proposals on the French language of the PLQ presented by Dominique Anglade, we also find the desire to cap the number of students admitted to English CEGEPs, as Bill 96 does, and to tighten the criteria allowing employers to require proficiency in English. It’s all just wind.
On Wednesday, during a debate on Bill 96 in the National Assembly, Dominique Anglade accused the Legault government of practicing “governance that divides”, while she herself would advocate “governance that unites”. When it comes to language, the Liberal Party would be an example to follow. “It is important to see to what extent history has shown us what the Liberal Party has been able to do in terms of the official language for the French language,” she said. However, this is forgetting the divisions that the Liberal government could only exacerbate when it wanted to legislate on the issue. In the 1970s, Robert Bourassa, with Bill 22 on the official language, caused an outcry from both Francophones and Anglophones. In 1988, Bill 178 on the language of signage, introduced by the Bourassa government, led to the departure of three of its Anglophone ministers and the creation of the Parti Égalité, which advocated the abolition of Bill 101 and the formalization of Quebec as a bilingual province.
As we can see, in terms of the French language, unless we allow things to happen, a posture adopted by the Charest and Couillard governments, there is hardly any “governance that brings people together”, as if, moreover, the linguistic balance was a matter of governance rather than political will. Whatever the color of the government in Quebec City, each time it wanted to strengthen the protection granted to French, Anglophones cried out against discrimination and intolerance, even racism.
Saturday, Dominique Anglade reconnected with the hard core of the PLQ. Already, the leader set the tone last week with the choice of Michelle Setlakwe as candidate in Mont-Royal–Outremont, this representative of the elite who believes that “nationalist, identity-based subjects, which divide us, should not not occupy so much space in the public debate”.
Saturday, Dominique Anglade demonstrated at the same time as the president of the QCGN, Marlene Jennings, who does not hesitate to propagate exaggerations and falsehoods concerning the content of bill 96. The liberal leader marched with sympathizers of Colin Standish and Balarama Holness, who plan to found their party and who campaign for a bilingual Quebec, a position she considers extremist. Yet it is a political vision, or an acknowledgment of a fact, increasingly widespread, from which the PLQ cannot stray too far without suffering unfortunate consequences. After her aborted nationalist turn, Dominique Anglade is well placed to know.