(Quebec) The leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Dominique Anglade, defends her record in defending the rights of Anglophones and minority groups. She does not fear the potential arrival of a new party to defend their rights, while critics of Bill 96 consider entering the political arena.
Posted at 12:06 p.m.
“I think we have defended minorities on several occasions. In the fundamental values which are the values of the Liberal Party, we defend minorities and with each of the actions that we have taken, we have been able to do it, ”defended Mr.me Anglade during a press scrum in parliament.
The Press reported Wednesday that the Legault government’s amendments to Bill 96, which updates the Charter of the French language, motivate its opponents more than ever to found a political party to defend the rights of Anglophones and minority groups. The president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) and former MP Marlene Jennings believes that the creation of a new party is a hypothesis that must be taken seriously.
“I think that is indeed something that could happen. The fact is that the Quebec Liberal Party, which has always been seen as a defender of minority rights, […] seems to have forgotten [sa] reason for being,” she said.
But for Liberal leader Dominique Anglade, “the party that can be trusted to defend minority rights is definitely the Liberal Party.”
“I think there are a lot of things when you look at what is happening in the English-speaking community with respect to Bill 96. I think there are also in the approach of the CAQ […] the policy of the division, where we say: there are Anglophones then there are Francophones […]. I think this divisive approach does not help. We, what we want is to have an approach that is unifying, ”she added.
The idea of a “radical” fringe of English speakers
Called to comment on the potential arrival of a new party to defend the rights of minorities, the leader of Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, was skeptical of this hypothesis.
“There has always been around certain Anglophone lobbies a very radical fringe that has always been against any form of protection of the French language in Quebec. […] Personally, I think these are not people who are representative of the English-speaking community in Quebec,” he said on Wednesday.
According to him, “a good part of Anglophones in Quebec fully recognize that it is legitimate and then normal to protect French in Quebec and that it is in no way a mark of hostility towards Anglophones”.
Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, for his part, recalled a recent comment by Marlene Jennings on Twitter (a tweet that has since been deleted), where the QCGN president questioned how Premier François Legault could support democracy. in Ukraine when his government wants to suspend provisions of the Charters of Rights and Freedoms of Quebec and Canada in Bill 96.
“I don’t see how the founding of a new party can be credible or legitimate if the people who get involved say things like that that are shocking and unacceptable,” he said.