(Quebec) The Legault government’s amendments to Bill 96, which gives more teeth for the protection of French, motivate its detractors more than ever to found a political party to defend the rights of Anglophones and minority groups. If this new opposition to the reform of Bill 101 sees the light of day, it would challenge the policies of the Coalition avenir Québec, but could hurt the Liberals.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Colin Standish, jurist in a law firm in Sherbrooke and president of Task Force – a rights group opposed to the new version of the Charter of the French language – affirms that the amendments tabled by Simon Jolin-Barrette in committee parliament “make Bill 96 worse than its original version.
Just recently, the minister responsible for the French language amended his bill to permanently freeze student numbers in English-speaking CEGEPs. He also added provisions for private CEGEPs to be included in the restrictions provided for in his reform and proposes to require English-speaking students to take three courses taught in French – in addition to second language courses – to obtain their diploma. college studies. The opposition parties voted in favor of this last amendment, which is also included in the Liberal plan for the French language.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY COLIN STANDISH
Colin Standish is a jurist in a law firm in Sherbrooke.
In this context, Mr. Standish is studying with other activists the possibility of creating a political party in time for the next elections. As recently indicated by the Montreal Gazette, a decision would be made in the coming weeks. This reflection takes place within a second militant group, the Exploratory Committee for Political Options.
There are many things to do to achieve this, but I think it is doable and viable to create a new party.
Colin Standish, Lawyer and Task Force Chair
This party, hopes Mr. Standish, would make the defense of human rights the heart of its political project. The jurist believes that he could rally Anglophones and voters from minority groups who are angry at Bill 96, but also opposed to Bill 21 on the secularism of the state.
The liberals, collateral victims?
Confronted with the fact that the Liberals – who have benefited for many elections from the support of English-speaking Quebecers – could suffer from the creation of such a party, Mr. Standish replied that “the Liberal Party of Quebec has abandoned and forgotten the English-speaking community” and all groups that “deserve better” to defend their fundamental rights.
The president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), former MP Marlene Jennings, believes that the creation of a new party between now and the October 3 elections is a possibility 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] purpose,” she says.
“It could be devastating for the Quebec Liberal Party,” continues Ms.me Jennings, according to whom “more and more minorities, not just Anglophones, look at the PLQ and say to themselves that they are no longer defended as they wish by this party”.
“Sometimes, the political game makes our vision become so narrow because we want to get votes rather than being faithful to the fundamental principles that our party must embody,” she analyzes.
A “not always easy” balance
Liberal MP and former minister Hélène David, who sits for the official opposition on the parliamentary committee responsible for studying Bill 96, observes in turn that society is “increasingly fragmented” and that those who lose “the most feathers at the moment are the Parti Québécois and us”.
” [Mais] we have always achieved this balance which is not always easy between the francophones and the anglophone community,” she defends.
Mme David accuses Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette of being more “divisive” than ever by tabling amendments day after day that go in all directions. “There is a political calculation, we are not naive […]. We know that an election is coming, and I think he’s tightening the screws [de son projet de loi] thinking that the more he does that, the more it hurts the Liberals, ”says Mme David.
However, the member defends the controversial amendment proposed by her party to impose courses taught in French to all students in English-speaking CEGEPs, including eligible students, that is to say those who studied in English in elementary and secondary. According to her, the Minister does not leave enough time and leeway for the network to apply and adapt this idea. In The dutythe Fédération des cégeps recently predicted that these changes had all the ingredients to cause a social crisis.