Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not mince his words about the Bloc Québécois on Wednesday, when he said he “fundamentally” believes that the sovereignist party is not concerned about the fate of French in the country.
“They are concerned about the fate of French in Quebec, certainly, but they don’t give a damn about French-speaking minorities across the country,” he said during question period.
Mr. Trudeau added that “it is the job of the federal government” to defend Francophones from one end of Canada to the other.
The Prime Minister was responding to a question from Bloc Québécois official languages critic Mario Beaulieu, who accused him of having “endorsed misinformation” from some of his MPs in recent days — MPs whom he criticizes in passing for having transformed the official languages committee “into a veritable circus”.
Mr. Beaulieu then asked the Prime Minister to “show a little loftiness” and reassure Anglophones that neither the bill to modernize the Official Languages Act nor Quebec’s Bill 96, which amends the Charter French-speaking will prevent them from receiving care in their own language.
The Bloc MP was referring to the remarks of the MP for Saint-Laurent, Emmanuella Lambropoulos, who testified that a grandmother would have been refused to be served in English at the doctor’s office after the adoption of Bill 96, while health services in the official language of their choice are guaranteed in Quebec.
In his initial question, Mr. Beaulieu asserted that to date “not a single Quebec Liberal” has had the courage to stand up for French.
“I am proud to be a Member of Parliament from Quebec, a proud Quebecer, who stands up in this House today and every day […] to defend French in Quebec and across Canada,” replied Mr. Trudeau.
Liberals claim to be united again
The Prime Minister’s offensive comes in a context where divisions within his troops erupted the day before in broad daylight when one of their own reproached colleagues for carrying out “a show of smoke […] ashamed “.
On Wednesday morning, the Liberals assured one after the other that they were now “united”.
“We are all going in the same direction”, namely the adoption of Bill C-13 aimed at modernizing the Official Languages Act, declared the Liberal lieutenant for Quebec, Pablo Rodriguez, following a an “excellent meeting” of the provincial caucus where “everyone had the opportunity to express themselves more than once”.
The discussions within the caucus are “healthy” in “a government that is democratic”, insisted a few moments later the deputy for Hochelaga, Soraya Martinez Ferrada. “Today, we are a united caucus,” she repeated.
However, the “disputes” must remain “in the family” and not be spread out in the public square, estimated the Montreal minister Marc Miller who went so far as to explain that public outings worry him because they are the symptom members who have not had the opportunity to express themselves in the “privileged forum” that is the caucus.
On Tuesday, Franco-Ontarian MP Francis Drouin reminded his colleagues from the “Montreal island” on social networks that they do not have “a monopoly on Canada’s language policy”, not without adding that “misinformation does not has no place in this debate.
Mr. Drouin was probably against the actions of a handful of Liberal MPs from the Montreal region, including MP Lambropoulos. Two others, Anthony Housefather and Marc Garneau, tried in vain on Friday to remove any reference to the Charter of the French language from the bill of their own political party.
On Wednesday, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chief Government Whip Steven MacKinnon were questioned about the idea of reprimanding dissenting MPs.
They respectively replied that the deputies “are representing their community” and that the 338 elected members of Parliament are “elected by our constituents, and we all have a role to play in the adoption of a bill”.
As for MP Francis Drouin, who spread out the dirty laundry, he said he had “no idea” if the MPs were called to order. “I’m not a whip,” he said.
Mr. Drouin revealed that “the Prime Minister” himself “gave [aux députés] permission to present their amendment”, but the latter have had the opportunity to see that they have “no dance partner”.
According to him, there is no major division within the caucus. “It’s normal in the family. Me, I don’t always get along with my wife. We have discussions, ”he illustrated.