(Drummondville) The bloquistes militants gathered in congress of their political formation ratified Sunday 120 proposals making consensus, only a resolution having been rejected at the end of debates or no stormy exchange or sliced disagreement were heard.
“It’s going wonderfully well,” said Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, in the middle of the day, commenting on the content of the discussions on the proposals examined by the delegates grouped in committees, Saturday, then in the plenary room for a green light. final, Sunday.
In a speech closing the three-day congress, he said he concluded that his political formation is in good health and has a “completely well-stocked toolbox” of the ideas adopted, comparing it to a “shining machine”.
“The work is far from over. We are back where we were before the difficult times. We learned lessons from it and we are finally starting from there, ”said Mr. Blanchet. He probably alluded to the tumultuous internal dissensions that tore the Bloc Québécois apart during Martine Ouellet’s leadership, mentioning that “we have already seen conventions that we were eager for them to end”.
In Sunday’s votes, many of which were unanimous, the activists gathered in Drummondville, among other things, called for the “immediate” appointment of federally appointed judges to positions that are vacant, declared that anyone who lives in Quebec is Quebecois and denounces feminicides as well as the culture of rape.
They also objected, through an adopted proposal, to “the inadequacy of federal policies vis-à-vis [celles du Québec] in matters of migration that jeopardizes French and the culture of Quebec, as well as the cultures and languages of the Aboriginal peoples”.
Like what was expressed by Bloc MPs in the House of Commons, the delegates agreed on lowering the minimum voting age to 16 years. Unsurprisingly, the activists adopted a proposal in favor of the decriminalization of the possession and personal use of all drugs, which is in line with a proposal already taken by the Bloc Québécois in the past.
Similarly, activists have mandated their parliamentary wing to act so that the Official Languages Act of Ottawa does not apply on Quebec territory, for the benefit of the sole application of the Charter of the French language of Quebec.
The only resolution defeated was to speak out in favor of “incentive measures” so that permanent residence is accessible by “an express route” for international students who have chosen Quebec as a place of study, in particular.
Some proposals that could have been seen as having the potential to make waves had been rejected in committee. This is the case of two resolutions aimed at declaring that a lack of immigration powers in Quebec “represents an obstacle to social cohesion”.
During the committee debate, several activists urged caution, arguing that such wording could imply, intentionally or unintentionally, that the influx of immigrants is a problem.
An activist had even said that “one would think to hear François Legault”, the Premier of Quebec and leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ). The latter had been sharply criticized during the electoral campaign last fall, after having used the expression “national cohesion” when speaking of immigration and the protection of the French language.
He had argued that national cohesion risked being threatened if the influx of non-French-speaking immigrants was not contained. He had defended the CAQ’s request for more powers in immigration so that the province could fully control its immigration policies based on its reception capacity and the protection of French.
But Mr. Blanchet believes that the specter of this episode has not changed the situation for Bloc delegates. “The commission disposed of the proposals, but I don’t think it was for fear of ending up in a film or of being associated with a position of the CAQ which had been, at the time, fairly exploited by its opponents” , he said after being asked about it.
As for an aborted proposal by activists to recognize the Parti Québécois as the only political formation in the National Assembly carrying the sovereignty cause, Mr. Blanchet did not want to say whether it could have stopped other separatists from joining the Bloc Québécois like wish.
“The compromise that was brought […], I was very happy about that. When I heard about it, I was like, “That’s perfect!” he argued.
This “compromise” was the adoption, instead, of a resolution affirming that the Bloc Québécois have a duty to bring together separatists of all stripes “while recognizing the historic and privileged ties [qui les unissent au] Parti Québécois”.
Many proposals have not been able, for lack of a regulatory time reached, to obtain formal approval from the activists even if they had passed the stage of adoption in commissions.
This is the case, for example, of a proposal that the appointments currently made by the federal government for judges practicing in Quebec be made by the province.
A total of 252 resolutions were submitted for consideration by delegates.