Quebec justice minister Jolin-Barrette confident of success on judge appointments

Quebec Government House Leader and Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette speaks during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)

The Parti Québécois (PQ) is wrong to think that Quebec will not win its case on judicial appointments, according to Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette.

During a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly, he praised the ability of Quebecers in the past to “spit in their hands” and go “to work in the fields before the sun even rises.”

Quebecers are “workers” and “it’s not true that we’re going to be told no,” he argued throughout the two-hour accountability exercise on Friday.

PQ MNA Pascal Paradis had just submitted to him that it was not in the federal government’s interest to cede its power to appoint judges to Quebec’s superior courts.

In fact, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Mark Carney, twice rejected Jolin-Barrette’s suggestion that Quebec could play a more active role in appointing judges.

Jolin-Barrette called the PQ “Scrooge,” who sees his “vault as half empty,” accusing the party of “defeatist” rhetoric.

“We’re going to fill the vault to the brim,” he said.

The “third way” of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is an “illusion,” Paradis retorted.

According to him, the CAQ, which had made 21 promises regarding Quebec’s autonomy in 2015, had made no gains: “It’s zero.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 25, 2025.