(Ottawa) Against all odds, Bill C-13 to modernize the Official Languages Act passed third and final reading in the House of Commons almost unanimously on Monday afternoon. The vote was final: 300 MPs voted in favor, and only one MP opposed it.
“It is a historic day. I am very happy to see that the bill has been passed and that it will now be studied by the Senate,” said Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor immediately after the vote.
Sticking to his guns, Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather was the only elected member to vote against his own government’s bill, while another Montreal-area Liberal MP, Sherry Romanado, abstained from voting.
The two refractory MPs expressed their choice from a distance, as the rules of the House of Commons have allowed for three years.
Mr. Housefather, a former leader of Alliance Quebec, had telegraphed his intention to vote against the bill because it contains references to Quebec’s Charter of the French language. According to him, these references can represent a threat to the rights of the English-speaking minority in Quebec.
During the study of the bill in committee, several elected Liberals representing ridings in the Montreal region had expressed similar fears, suggesting a possible rebellion on their part if the government did not accept certain amendments. The sling therefore did not materialize.