The Bloc bill aimed at better protecting the French language failed Wednesday afternoon to pass the stage allowing it to be studied in committee, for lack of support from the Liberals and the Conservatives.
After the vote, the sponsor of the bill, MP Claude DeBellefeuille, said she was “stunned” by the refusal of Quebec MPs to pass this bill to committee stage.
“It’s quite simple what we were basically asking for: to apply Bill 101 to businesses under federal jurisdiction and then to welcome new citizens by asking them to know French,” she said. I don’t think there could be a simpler, simple gesture to recognize the Quebec nation and its official language. »
The Bloc Québécois had presented this vote as a “test of consistency” for the other political parties, considering that they are “always ready” to make statements of principles, but that “a statement of principles is cheap it’s not worth much”.
The Liberals had announced, from the first debates in May, that they would vote “against” sending the bill to committee, believing that we must take care of minority languages from coast to coast and “not only in Quebec. And the New Democrats said they were in favor despite a reluctance on one aspect.
The Conservatives broke the suspense minutes before question period on Wednesday when their official languages critic, Joël Godin, revealed the decision reached at a morning caucus meeting: no .
“Let’s say a private member’s bill is much weaker than a government bill,” he answered reporters’ questions. We work very well with the opposition parties to ensure that Bill C-13 is effective and that it stops the decline of French, especially in Quebec. »
The Bloc bill was “perhaps” relevant when it was tabled in February, but the tabling a few weeks later of Bill C-13, which aims to modernize the Official Languages Act, changed the situation, he explained in the foyer of the House of Commons.
However, it is a “false excuse”, decided Ms. DeBellefeuille, since C-13 does not understand the aspect of citizenship.
The Bloc official languages critic, Mario Beaulieu, for his part indicated that he intends to bring back the application of Bill 101 to businesses under federal jurisdiction in the amendments that will be proposed to Bill C-13.
“The real test”
The Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, indicated that she was not available for an interview, but sent a written statement in which she maintained that her plan to reform the Official Languages Act is “the real test for the sustainability of French in the country, including in Quebec”.
By way of comparison, the Minister argues in particular that her Bill C-13 “offers equivalent rights to work and to be served in French as in the Bloc’s proposal”, but it “goes further by also offering them to outside Quebec in regions with a strong Francophone presence.
Called to react, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet maintained that “the best friends that Francophones outside Quebec can have is the Bloc Québécois”.
According to the Bloc, the Liberal bill “has its merits for francophone communities outside Quebec”, but in Quebec it allows businesses to choose to apply the provisions of the Official Languages Act or those of the Charter of French language.
Thus, in Mr. Blanchet’s opinion, the idea that it is necessary to protect English in Quebec has “obviously, absolutely no sense” and the Liberals are “weakening the protection of French in Quebec in order to further protect it in the rest of the country.
Yes, but
The New Democrats had indicated this week that they are in favor of advancing the bill to second reading. The deputy leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Alexandre Boulerice, said he “extremely agrees” with the component aimed at applying the Charter of the French language to businesses under federal jurisdiction, the current situation being “ completely absurd”. He gave the example of a credit union employee who did not have the same language rights as a bank employee.
“The goal for us is that people can work in French, then communicate with their employer in French, communicate with customers in French as well,” he added Wednesday in a press scrum.
But, he previously felt, “the shoe pinches” when it comes to imposing a French test on all immigrants who want to obtain citizenship from the territory of Quebec since as “progressives” it would be a requirement “abusive” in the case of refugees and family reunification cases.
During a morning press conference, MNA DeBellefeuille said she was “convinced” that she would obtain the support of the New Democrats on the second part once the bill was debated in committee, their concerns being ” unfounded”.
“When you enter (Canada) as a refugee, you are not going to say: “Do you speak French? If you do not speak French, we will return to you”, she explained. To obtain our permanent residence in Canada, there is a certain number of years, between five and seven years. And so my bill excludes refugees, applicants for permanent residence. »
In Bill C-238, the Bloc Québécois first resumed the content of its Bill C-254 which died on the order paper during the last Parliament, but which had previously been sent to committee thanks to the support of the Conservatives. and New Democrats.
This part was intended to subject companies under federal jurisdiction operating in Quebec to the Charter of the French language, to have French recognized in the Official Languages Act as an “official and common language in Quebec” and to force any company subject to the Canada Business Corporations Act that carries on business in Quebec to have a corporate name that meets the requirements of the Charter of the French language.
This aspect, insists the Bloc, enjoys in Quebec the “massive support” of all the former prime ministers of Quebec who are still alive, the mayors of the largest cities and the main unions, in addition to having been the subject of a unanimous motion of the National Assembly of Quebec.
Second, the Bloc members copied and pasted the content of their Bill C-223, which had failed to pass second reading, obtaining only the support of the Conservatives. This component was intended to require that a permanent resident aged 18 to 64 who lives in Quebec have sufficient knowledge of French to obtain Canadian citizenship, whereas currently Canada requires knowledge of English or French. .
Census data released last month by Statistics Canada revealed that French continues to decline in Quebec and the rest of the country. The percentage of Quebecers who mainly speak this language at home rose from 79% to 77.5% between 2016 and 2021.