During its last general council, which took place on Saturday, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) unveiled its electoral platform and in particular its commitments in terms of culture and identity. In this regard, Chief Dominique Anglade confirms that she has given up and that she will campaign by giving priority to the feelings of the English-speaking minority and the rest of Canada, ultimately promising to put Quebec back in its place within of the federation.
After showing themselves in favor of Bill 96, the elected Liberals turned around in the face of the discontent coming from their natural electorate, which fiercely opposes not only the CAQ measures, but also the positions of the PLQ. The electoral platform therefore partly denies the program drawn up by the leader and the political commission of the party in terms of language, but without frankly admitting it. We can even read in this platform that “it is essential to promote a more balanced approach that will also improve the quality of the French language, as demonstrated by the 27 proposals that we put forward in the spring of 2021” . However, the most significant proposals fell by the wayside.
Thanks to one of the 27 proposals still appearing on the party’s website, the PLQ proposed maintaining the current number of students in English CEGEPs while ensuring access to these colleges for students from the minority of English expression. This is exactly what Bill 96, now passed, does.
The new liberal position reintroduces the free choice of the language of instruction in CEGEP. This position is convenient, but it would lead, as has been the case in recent years, to an increase in the number of French high school graduates continuing their studies at English CEGEPs. The Quebec state would be forced to continue financing the expansion of the English network. The Liberals no longer see a problem there.
Among the PLQ’s proposals, there was a commitment to “better define the requirements of a language other than French when hiring, in particular by specifying the principle of necessity”. This is essentially what the new CAQ law states, which requires companies to justify the requirement of bilingualism when hiring. This proposal is not included in the Liberal electoral platform.
The PLQ also undertakes to eliminate the six-month period granted to newcomers before they receive their services from the State exclusively in French, a period that some consider too short. But since the PLQ does not provide for any deadline, this amounts to advocating the status quo and the perpetuation of the institutional bilingualism of the Quebec state.
This chapter of the platform on culture and identity opens with “belonging to Canada”, followed by “identification with Quebec” and the protection of individual rights. It talks about “the need to have a strong nation in our country of Canada”. An Anglade government would defend Quebec’s jurisdictions “with strength and vigor” and would like us to be able to “legislate” to regulate the federal spending power, an illusory claim, reiterated for half a century, and which has even less chance that long ago to be accepted into an increasingly imperial federation.
For the PLQ, Quebec forms “a distinct society”, but it is reluctant to use one of the only means that allow the defense of “our particularities”, according to the term used in the Liberal document. He opposes the exercise of parliamentary sovereignty preserved by the notwithstanding clause contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a provision without which the 1982 constitutional accord would never have been signed by nine of the ten provinces. The PLQ endorses the thesis circulating in English-Canadian legal circles that this provision cannot be applied preventively. This is an imaginative thesis which, contrary to the jurisprudence established by the Supreme Court, only aims to undermine the political will of the Quebec nation to define itself.
It is a form of capitulation, of defeat. Although Dominique Anglade’s Liberals constantly refer to Robert Bourassa, this Liberal Prime Minister has always sought to defend the prerogatives and powers of Quebec within Canada. In its platform, the PLQ calls itself “a party with a clear predominance of French”. But at 9% support among Francophones, according to the latest Léger poll, which confirms previous soundings, we can doubt it. In fact, if this score proves true in the next election, the PLQ will reap a clear majority of its votes among non-francophones. And we know today on which electorate he has set his sights.