PLQ Congress: activists want guaranteed bilingual health services everywhere in Quebec

The Reds from west Montreal want a next Liberal government to guarantee access to health services in English throughout Quebec and ensure that hospitals offer bilingual services.

Activists of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) will meet at a conference in Lévis this weekend, a few weeks before the official start of the leadership race.

If the presence of candidates for the Liberal throne is likely to monopolize attention, several resolutions must be debated by the members, including the adoption of a Quebec Constitution.

This framework law would notably enshrine the right of English-speaking Quebecers to have access to services in the language of Taylor Swift and to manage the education and health institutions that they founded.

In a regional resolution, Montreal West activists also propose that a Liberal government advocate policies that protect the right of English speakers to receive health services in their language “without obstacles or delays.”

“That the PLQ commits to guaranteeing access to health services in English throughout Quebec, ensuring that the necessary measures are taken to help health establishments, staff and patients access bilingual services , if necessary,” specifies the text, which will be put to a vote.

The liberal association recalls that English-speaking communities in certain regions of Quebec have expressed concerns about the availability and accessibility of health services in English.

This summer, a directive from the Legault government related to the modernization of Bill 101 caused a stir among certain English-speakers, who saw it as a way of limiting their access to health care in their language. The CAQ had to publish an update in September to calm things down.

Limit the use of the escape clause

The draft Quebec Constitution would also limit the use of the notwithstanding clause, which allows laws adopted by the National Assembly to be shielded from legal proceedings. This tool allowing legislation to be exempted from the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms was used in particular in the case of the Law on State Secularism, which prohibits religious symbols among public service employees in positions of responsibility. ‘authority.

“To better protect the rights and freedoms of Quebecers, the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be amended in order to better regulate its modification and the use of the exceptional provision,” states the resolution.

The draft Quebec Constitution would also make interculturalism the “Quebec model of integration and living together.”

Professional order of teachers

The PLQ also wants to make education its national priority. In its framework resolution, a liberal government would commit to working towards the creation of a professional order of teachers and to strengthening the Public Education Act so that proselytism and non-respect of gender equality are criteria for dismissing a teacher.

Measures which are reminiscent of the abuses at the Bedford school in Montreal, where eleven teachers were suspended after creating a toxic climate.

The Liberals would also put an end to selection based on grades for access to specific sports and artistic concentration programs as well as sports-studies programs.