(Quebec) René Lévesque had thought about it, the idea had come back under Lucien Bouchard. Bernard Landry took over, followed by Pauline Marois and Daniel Turp. Last year, even Dominique Anglade’s liberals flirted with the idea. The drafting of a “Constitution of Quebec” is once again under construction: it is now Simon Jolin-Barrette who holds the pencil.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Last May, the Legault government caused a surprise: Bill 96 on the Charter of the French language intends to formally enshrine in the Canadian Constitution the fact that French is “the only official language of Quebec”, the “common language of the Quebec nation”. Article 45 of the 1982 Constitution provides that a province may modify the text of the Canadian Constitution, but only for the part which concerns it exclusively.
Even if these clarifications remained symbolic and had no interpretative value likely to guide the verdict of a court, the trick had been welcomed by many commentators, including constitutional expert Benoît Pelletier, ex-minister of Jean Charest. Especially since Justin Trudeau had recognized that this proposal would be completely constitutional. Even the liberals of Dominique Anglade had subscribed to the idea. Minister Jolin-Barrette still maintains that this precision has legal consequences, but most constitutional experts do not share his opinion.
It is in this spirit that the Minister of Justice wants to advance his idea of a much more complete text, a true “Constitution of Quebec”. Its content is predictable, it will certainly recall the founding elements of the distinct character of Quebec: language, secularism of the state, gender equality, openness to newcomers, respect for minority rights English-speaker. If Minister Jolin-Barrette gets the green light he wants from François Legault, the project will be unveiled at the next convention of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), next May. So far, he has worked in a vacuum, mainly with his political cabinet.
Priority: pandemic
Relaunched by The Press this week, the minister refused to “comment on this file”. Among the strategists in Quebec, we remain a little skeptical; we are informed of the project, but for the time being, the Legault government is above all concerned with a coherent exit from the pandemic. The project was not submitted to the caucus of CAQ deputies, but a few soundings with some of them showed that they remained circumspect. We remain perplexed as to the reaction of the population if we put constitutional issues back at the center of the political debate.
But progress on this front, even reduced to the symbolism of a “declaratory” provision without legal consequences, would give at least some content to the very muscular game plan unveiled by François Legault in the constitutional file.
In the fall of 2015, in front of his supporters, Mr. Legault unveiled his ambitious “new nationalist project”, which provided for the transfer of federal tax points for culture, repatriation of power in immigration, for example, “more power, more autonomy, but in Canada”. We must not forget that at the time, the CAQ was spurred on by the PQ of Pierre Karl Péladeau and its resolutely sovereignist program. A premonitory proposal, the CAQ promised to seek changes that did not require the unanimity of the provinces. With the support given by François Legault to the Conservative Party and to Erin O’Toole, it is not to be expected that the Trudeau government will hasten to initiate a dialogue with the CAQ government on the constitutional file.
A project that does not date from yesterday
The project for a “Quebec Constitution” is a long soap opera that has never come to fruition. In 1984, René Lévesque asked constitutional expert Jacques-Yvan Morin to look into this question. His proposal, submitted in the spring of 1985, had remained a dead letter; Lévesque resigned in June of that year. Subsequently, Jacques Parizeau never had much interest in this question. During his brief tenure, energy was channeled into preparing for the referendum. For Lucien Bouchard, this question seemed radioactive, no need to rekindle the sovereignist flame when the militant base calls for a new referendum or a more muscular language policy.
After his departure in 2005, Bernard Landry confided in an interview that he would have gone ahead with this draft Quebec Constitution if the PQ had won the 2003 general election.
As prime minister-designate, before this election, he did not feel he had the necessary legitimacy to initiate an operation which, in his opinion, should ultimately be endorsed by a referendum. Jacques-Yvan Morin’s text also provided that this internal constitution should be submitted to popular consultation.
Subsequently, Pauline Marois, who became leader of the PQ, and her deputy Daniel Turp took up the idea. In opposition, she tabled Bill 195 on Quebec identity, accompanied by another, Bill 196, on the Constitution of Quebec. An intense debate had arisen – it was proposed that Quebec citizenship, the right to be a candidate for elected office in particular, required an “appropriate” knowledge of French. The controversial “we” strategy has been consigned to oblivion. At the same time, then leader of the opposition, Mario Dumont, of the ADQ, also proposed giving Quebec an internal constitution, but he did not specify its content.