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Montreal Gazette
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Opinion: In Quebec, language is not a problem to be solved
A nation consists of a people sharing a historic connection to a territory. The people living in that territory may speak one or more languages. Essential to the idea of nationhood is the will of a people to share a future. The 1867 British North America Act created the geopolitical entity that, today, we call the Quebec nation. In 1867, Quebec was populated by a French-speaking majority and an English-speaking minority. French and English had been spoken in what became the province of Quebec for over a century. This reality explains the BNA Act's constitutional guarantee of the equality of the French and English languages pertaining to the most important institutions of our democracy: the Canadian Parliament, the Quebec legislature and our courts. This institutional bilingualism remains the linguistic baseline of Quebec. We have the right to speak either language in our federal Parliament and our Quebec National Assembly. Laws must be passed in English and French and are equally authoritative. Civil litigants, criminally accused persons and witnesses can testify in English or French in our courts. The BNA Act provided the French- and English-speaking people of Quebec with the legal framework to chart a future — together. This blank page awaited a future fraught with social, economic and linguistic challenges, generated in no small manner by the economic model that Quebec and Canada chose to continue after Confederation: capitalism. Capitalism creates wealth, but also inequities. Quebec's free market economy had an impact on language as well as on our environment and the health and welfare of workers, and produced income disparities. These failings prompted the progressive reforms of the 1960s and '70s. For the first time in its history, Quebec was required to legislate on language — a daunting task for that era. Canadian federalism did not prevent Quebec from redressing linguistic imbalances requiring action. The 1977 Charter of the French Language was transformational legislation that confirmed and enhanced French as the official — but not exclusive — language of Quebec. As the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was only adopted on April 17, 1982, the separatist Parti Québécois government possessed unfettered jurisdictional power in 1977 to abolish English education. That it did not do this speaks to the political legitimacy of the English language in the Quebec of 1977 and the pertinence of the English language in the new version of Quebec about to unfold. The inconvenient truth that could not be ignored in 1977, or today, is that Quebec is a de facto bilingual society. French- and English-speaking people have lived here for centuries, building Quebec — a shared history of collaboration and accomplishment that certain politicians prefer to ignore rather than celebrate. A bilingual society is not one in which everyone must speak both languages or in which two unilingual peoples live separate, compartmentalized lives. In a bilingual society, people and their languages intermingle. Relationships are formed, including ones in which bilingual children are raised. People may become bilingual, or not. Many make that choice. Many will continue to do so. New France comprised 70,000 French subjects as of the 1759 conquest. Quebec's population today includes approximately eight million francophones and one million anglophones, most of whom speak French. Human rights lawyer Julius Grey rightly opined in Le français en déclin? (Corbeil, Marcoux, Piché, 2023) that French will never disappear from Quebec as long as French-language education remains mandatory and free. No linguistic exigency justifies the egregiousness of Bill 96 and the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause exempting it from judicial scrutiny. In Quebec, language is not a problem to be solved. Language will remain a dynamic reality requiring the modulation of policies over time. The crafting of linguistic equilibriums that respect both French and English is a hallmark of Quebec history. A heritage repudiated by the Coalition Avenir Québec government. Only political activism can forge a path back to linguistic equilibriums as the way forward for the Quebec nation. So, let's get active — now!
National Post
28-05-2025
- Business
- National Post
Quebec legislators vote to cut ties with British monarchy after King's visit
Article content QUEBEC — On the same day King Charles III delivered a throne speech in Ottawa heaping praise on Canada, the National Assembly Tuesday adopted a motion calling on Quebec to abolish all ties with the monarchy. Article content Article content Presented by Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the motion states that Quebec is the only custodian of the democratic expression of the Quebec people. Article content It notes a majority of Quebecers feel no attachment to the British monarchy and that 'the National Assembly agrees to abolish the link between the Quebec state and the British monarchy.' Article content The motion was adopted without debate. The vote was unanimous with 106 MNAs from the Coalition Avenir Québec government and the other two opposition parties, the Liberals and Québec solidaire, voting in favour of the PQ motion. Article content The vote came on the same day as King Charles III delivered a historic address in the Senate Chamber in Ottawa, quoting the words of the Canadian national anthem. Article content 'The True North is indeed strong and free,' he said to the applause of MPs, Senators and number guests. Article content But at the legislature in Quebec City, the speech was greeted with a mix of indifference and ridicule. Article content 'I didn't listen to it,' Premier François Legault said on his way out of question period in the afternoon. 'I was in meetings.' Article content Simon-Jolin Barrette, the Minister Responsible for Canadian Relations, said the same thing, adding he would listen to it later. Article content But the opposition parties had plenty of opinions on the presence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Canadian soil. Article content 'What a bizarre country Canada is,' Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal said at a news conference. 'To affirm its sovereignty, it believes it is important to bring the monarch of a foreign country here to talk about its priorities.' Article content QS was the first party to propose the abolition of the oath to the monarch MNAs used to have to swear before taking their place in the legislature. In December 2022 a law was adopted making the oath optional after PQ MNAs were briefly barred from sitting because they refused to take the oath. Article content Now QS wants to go further, calling on the CAQ government to put an end to the funding Quebec provides for lieutenant-governor — the king's representative at the legislature — to pay for things like office space, staff and a car and driver. Article content The Quebec budget this year included $758,000 to pay those costs. The salary of the lieutenant-governor is paid by Ottawa. The post is currently occupied by Manon Jeannotte. Article content The day after she was named in December 2023, the National Assembly adopted a motion calling for the post to be abolished. Nothing has happened as a result of that motion because, in reality, the government can't do much about the post in the short term. Article content While much of the job is ceremonial, Quebec laws do not become legal unless they have the royal sanction, which is Jeannotte's job. Article content QS has argued the lieutenant-governor's legal functions could be replaced by an administrator, a move that would require the support of the federal government and the other provinces. Article content Asked about the obstacles ahead, Ghazal insisted the first step is to at least start talking about it. Article content 'People said abolishing the oath would be impossible and yet we got it abolished,' Ghazal said. Article content QS says in the meantime Quebec, on its own, could stop funding the lieutenant-governor's office, a message she recently delivered to Jolin-Barrette who, she said, has taken note of the idea. Article content The CAQ's own 2015 platform called for elimination of the post of lieutenant-governor. Article content St-Pierre Plamondon started into the theme at his morning news conference, laughing off the idea that U.S. President Donald Trump will somehow be influenced by the presence of the king who came to Canada on the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Carney. Article content '(Carney's) best card is Charles III, a monarch from another country based on a colonial tradition that is oppressive to francophones and First Nations?' St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters. 'It's out there. It's so abnormal. And, of course, from a Quebec standpoint, it's not acceptable. Article content 'If you think or anyone else here thinks that Donald Trump will stop saying things that are either random or hostile to Canada because Charles III was giving a speech today, I don't know what game we're playing right now. It just doesn't make sense.' Article content Interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay, who said he is no fan of the monarchy, noted that abolishing the post requires a Constitutional amendment, which is no small order. Article content
CTV News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
CAQ MNA apologizes after criticizing his own government
Quebec Premier François Legault speaks at a press conference at the Quebec National Assembly, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)
Calgary Herald
14-05-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Braid: Quebec's $129-billion equalization bonanza — the idiocy is finally sinking in
Premier Danielle Smith raises hell with Ottawa over provincial grievances, to the joy of many Albertans and the discomfort of others. Article content Article content Here's one mammoth, nation-wrecking gripe: Article content Quebec has received $129.9 billion in equalization payments in the past 10 years. Article content Even Ontario receives $576 million this year and $546 million next year; preposterous handouts to Canada's largest economy by far. Article content Article content Equalization began in 1957. Alberta has reaped not a single penny since 1965. That was the one and only payment in the past 60 years. Article content Article content Saskatchewan and B.C. have received no payments for 15 years. Article content Smith demands that the four big provinces — B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec — all receive the same per-capita payments. Article content She's not saying that genuine have-not provinces should be denied, especially in Atlantic Canada. Article content Asked if they agree with her proposal, 60 per cent said yes. Article content Only 19 per cent are opposed. Twenty-one per cent are unsure. Article content That's remarkable. Majority support for reforming equalization is finally afoot in Canada. Article content Article content Article content It has become a payoff system for keeping Quebec in Canada; and for some, an irritant that could drive Alberta out. Article content This allows successive Quebec governments to suppress development and cap resource prices, to keep the money flowing. Article content It's all about fiscal capacity. Quebec has some neat tricks for keeping its own capacity artificially low. Article content Because of the equalization cushion, the Quebec National Assembly felt free to pass a resolution banning new oil or gas pipelines through the province. Article content None of this stops the insults. Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet calls Canada an 'artificial country' (which is nonetheless free to supply Quebec with real western wealth). He says Alberta is a doomed petro-state. Article content
