The Quebec population does not have to blush in front of the hostile press campaign waged against Bill 96, argued the Minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette.
“We don’t have to be embarrassed to pass laws [pour] protect French,” he said on the sidelines of a national convention of the Coalition avenir Québec, organized under the theme of pride on Saturday.
The elected caquiste reacted to the publication of editorials and chronicles in the international press scratching the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French (law 96) – which will receive royal assent from Lieutenant-Governor J. Michel Doyon Wednesday — starting with those based on “premises” that “are not accurate”.
Simon Jolin-Barrette said he found it “unacceptable” to see editorialists and media columnists like The Washington Post describe the Quebec government as racist and xenophobic. “We made corrections. We will continue to do so, ”he said in a press scrum.
The minister is not ruling out the possibility of deploying an information campaign on language reform in order to safeguard Quebec’s reputation abroad. “It’s an avenue that could be considered,” he said.
“Quebec is the only French-speaking state in North America. The situation of French will always be vulnerable and we must therefore adopt laws to protect and ensure the sustainability of French,” insisted the author of Law 96, Simon Jolin-Barrette. “We don’t have to be judged by anyone to preserve the specificities of the Quebec nation. We will continue to do so, ”he added before entering the main hall of the Centrexpo Cogeco, in Drummondville.
Later, Minister André Lamontagne argued that the CAQ does not hesitate to take “strong gestures” such as Bill 96 or the Act respecting the secularism of the Quebec state (Bill 21) to protect Quebec’s specificity. “There are some for whom it does not suit them that we express our difference … because it is a difference that can be disturbing,” he said, while surveying the scene. “I have some news for you guys, it’s not because we bother that we’re going to give up and that we’re going to give up being who we are. On the contrary, it should motivate us. We have to accept that sometimes we will displease some people. »
A museum to make Lord Durham lie
Nearly four months before the general election, some 1,500 members of the CAQ debated there on Saturday 23 oppositions to the attention of the government of François Legault.
In particular, they invited him to set up a museum of the national history of Quebec. History teacher Samuel Massicotte sees this as an opportunity to prove Lord Durham wrong, according to whom the descendants of the French formed a “people without history and without literature”. “It’s been more than 400 years since our ancestors walked this land to colonize it, to develop it. We are still surviving despite certain attempts by another level of government to deny our language, to deny our rights. We continue to hang on. By creating a museum of national history, we are showing that we are a proud people,” said the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regional president of the Coalition avenir Québec’s Commission Relève.
A referendum proposed, then rejected
The members of the CAQ also asked François Legault’s team “to reiterate its request to the federal government to transfer all immigration powers as quickly as possible to the Government of Quebec”, and this, “in order to preserve the vitality of French and the demographic weight of Francophones”.
Activists have proposed to the Quebec government to hold a “sectoral referendum” in order to establish a balance of power more favorable to its request to obtain control of the family reunification program, but in vain. “We have repeatedly repeated this request. Canada has said “no” every time since the government of Robert Bourassa. However, each time we take our hole. One yields for another; sometimes for another six years. Enough foolishness! asserted Terrebonne activist Kevin Serafini.
In his eyes, a transfer of powers from Ottawa to Quebec in matters of immigration should not only be the question at the ballot box on October 3, but also the subject of a popular consultation. “The first initiative of the next legislature should be the organization of a referendum on immigration,” he maintained. ” Cheer ! “launched a CAQ sympathizer. The staff of the CAQ, however, deemed its proposed amendment inadmissible.
Activist Isabelle Vaillancourt suggested setting in motion “popular referendums” and “demonstrations” in order to increase the pressure of the Quebec government on the federal government. The CAQ staff also deemed his proposed amendment inadmissible. “We will leave the negotiation between Quebec and the federal government in the hands of the ministers concerned,” indicated MP Joëlle Boutin.
The CAQ government “will never accept a ‘no’ from Ottawa,” said André Lamontagne during the afternoon.
In addition, the caquistes suggested on Saturday to create a compulsory course in the history and culture of Quebec in the college program, to design a “catalogue of great Quebec artistic works” intended primarily for teachers and to set up a competition for nominate Quebec’s tourist and cultural capital of the year.
Critics of the CAQ find it hard to understand why François Legault’s party chose to hold its last major legislature rally under the theme of pride as the cost of living skyrockets, the climate crisis rages, the health network struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic…
“Prosperity and pride go together. […] It joins the priority of Quebecers, “said the chief caquist, François Legault, whose 65e birthday was highlighted by Ginette Reno on Saturday. “I give you the go to have fun, to do whatever you feel like doing, ”said the singer over the screens.
The Prime Minister was almost moved to tears, pointing out that there is no more Quebecer than Ginette Reno. “Yeah, I’m getting old,” he blurted out.