The dangers of a Quebec constitution for the PLQ

Providing Quebec with a constitution was at the heart of the recommendations of the Consultation and reflection committee on the relaunch of the Liberal Party of Quebec. “Such a constitution, a strong gesture of national affirmation, would contribute to the sustainability of Quebec within the Canadian federation,” the committee members wrote last year.

Gathered at a convention this weekend, a majority of liberal activists voted for their party to take this path. Such a proposal certainly offers an advantage to PLQ : it allows him to present himself as a defender of Quebec identity, without having to fundamentally modify the balance of forces that exist between the different groups that make up Quebec society.

We always come back to the same dilemma. Marginalized in a large number of ridings outside of Montreal during the last elections, the PLQ must send the message that he has the interests of Francophones at heart, without alienating his electoral base, largely made up of Anglophones and allophones.

Venturing into the terrain of language, in this context, quickly becomes very slippery, as Dominique Anglade discovered to his cost, before the last elections. In 2021, the Liberal leader revealed 27 proposals for the future of the French languageone of which provided for the obligation for English-speaking CEGEP students to take, in addition to language courses, three courses in their curriculum in French.

It hurt him. The proposal, accepted by the CAQwas quickly contested by the English-speaking community, forcing the liberal leader to take a step back that was as humiliating as it was harmful to her campaign.

A risky operation

Codifying laws and principles that already exist in a constitution certainly appears less risky than adopting new ones, but the adventure also entails risks, as Philippe Couillard was quick to point out on Saturday. Possibly it can be useful, but there are a lot of stumbling blocks there.warned the former prime minister.

The main pitfall is of course the very content of a possible constitution. The resolution adopted at the end of the week provides for the inclusion in the constitution of the Charter of human rights and freedoms and the Charter of the French language. Both documents would therefore have greater legitimacy and would become more difficult to modify in the future.

The problem is that before embedding the Charter of the French language in the Quebec constitution, a Liberal government would amend it, so as to remove what the CAQ added to strengthen it. Exclude, among other things, the obligation for immigrants to obtain services in French after six months and the capping of registrations in English-speaking CEGEPs.

In other words, the PLQ simultaneously proposes to strengthen the status of the Charter of the French languagewhile repealing some of its provisions. Many voters may have difficulty correctly interpreting these seemingly contrary signals.

The former Minister of the French Language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, immediately saw a breach in the liberal argument, writing on the social network PLQreconnects with its historical anti-nationalism which campaigns for the decline of French in Quebec. A party completely disconnected from the reality of Quebecers and in the pay of PLC.

Members divided

Another danger is the risks of division that such a project poses in the very ranks of the PLQ. Activists clearly have difficulty digesting this idea, even if we are still only debating the main principles.

There is not just one nation in Quebec, there are several nations. And there are many cultures, languages ​​and religious traditionspleaded an activist, worried to see a nation being placed above others in a Quebec constitution.

Other members argued that Quebec already had a constitution: the Canadian constitution. In their eyes, adopting a specifically Quebec constitution would amount to amending the Canadian constitution through the back door.

For MP Gregory Kelley, it is the process proposed by his party that poses a problem: We cannot impose a constitution on others and there are people missing in the room to write a constitution: members of the Parti Québécois, of Québec solidaire, of the CAQ and the Conservative Partyhe pleaded.

The right time?

Beyond the merits of the idea, the question of political expediency also arises. As we saw again last week in the United States, it is often the issues directly in line with people’s daily lives that end up determining the voters’ vote.

Quebec needs family doctors, Quebec needs psychiatrists, nurses, beneficiary attendants, teachers, special education specialists… let’s focus on these priorities rather than a constitutionargued an activist during Saturday’s debate.

Former Prime Minister Couillard also warns his former colleagues: If you asked 1,000 people today in Quebec if this is among their top 20 priorities, I’m willing to bet it’s not there.

The one who gave the Liberal Party its last government and its last majority campaigned, in 2014, on the theme Together we take care of real business. His vision of a victorious election has clearly not changed since.