For the second time in two weeks, the Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, also Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, was able to claim victory.
After the closure of Roxham Road, Quebec and Ottawa finally found common ground on the use of French in businesses under federal jurisdiction. They will not be subject to the provisions of the Charter of the French language, but the new version of the Official Languages Act is a copy and paste, explained Mr. Roberge.
Occasions for rejoicing were rather rare during his years of education, and he certainly wasn’t going to shy away from his enjoyment. “It can hardly go better right now,” he said, saying he sees in this arrangement “a major step forward for the vitality of French in Quebec and Canada.” It may have been a bit over the top, but there are no small victories in this matter.
The Trudeau government also benefits from it. The review of Bill C-13 had created serious turmoil within the Liberal caucus. As soon as there is no longer any mention of the Charter of the French language, the objections raised by some members, who saw it as a threat to the rights of the English-speaking community of Quebec, should disappear.
Even though the vast majority of companies, including notorious offenders like Air Canada and Canadian National, had already chosen to voluntarily comply with Quebec law, this arrangement allows Ottawa to pretend to maintain its authority.
This compromise is a good illustration of the pragmatism claimed by the Legault government. Bill 101 will not formally apply to businesses under federal jurisdiction, as demanded by the “New project for Quebec nationalists” presented by the CAQ in 2015, but from the moment the result is the same, why enfarder in the flowers of the carpet, is not it?
We can only rejoice at this unexpected outcome. Before concluding that this is really a “major step forward”, we will have to see if the new version of the Official Languages Act will be better implemented than the previous one, which has been supposed to guarantee for decades the right to fly in French on the wings of Air Canada.
Since Ottawa retains its authority, it is the Commissioner of Official Languages, rather than the Office québécois de la langue française, who will be responsible for ensuring that the right to work in French is respected. For decades, its reports have confessed the same impotence: to put this law into practice. This allows for some skepticism.
In politics, the speed with which yesterday’s enemies become today’s friends never ceases to amaze. After years of accusing him of dragging his feet, hearing Prime Minister Legault congratulate Justin Trudeau for his skill in negotiating with Washington over the review of the Safe Third Country Agreement was almost touching.
No one talks about the monumental failure of the provinces in discussions of the Canada health transfer. Even if Quebec obtained only one-sixth of what it asked for, it is the unions which, according to the Prime Minister, now constitute the main obstacle to the restoration of the health network.
Even the arrival of a few swallows is not enough to conclude the arrival of spring. Already, we can see a new dispute about the dental insurance program that the NDP managed to wrest from the Trudeau government, but which is not a priority in the eyes of Quebec.
Limiting Ottawa’s spending power in areas of provincial jurisdiction is another of the objectives of the “New plan for Quebec nationalists” that the Legault government seems to have abandoned.
Since coming to power, Mr. Legault has given a new meaning to the word “gain”. It could now be defined as the absence of loss, or else: refraining from asking is the best way not to be refused.
The single tax return administered by Quebec was one of those “concrete results” that it was determined to obtain. The PQ recently presented a motion on this subject to the National Assembly, identical in all respects to the one that the government had already supported in the past, but it refused to have it put to a vote. Spring is already short enough not to spoil it.