Quebec Liberals say province needs own constitution to affirm 'who we are'

Quebec Liberal delegate Antoine Dionne-Charest, son of former Quebec premier Jean Charest responds to reporters questions at the Quebec Liberal general council meeting, Saturday, October 14, 2023 in Drummondville Que. The Quebec Liberal Party is proposing that the province have its own constitution, a project they say will be "unifying." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The Quebec Liberal Party is proposing that the province adopt its own constitution, a project it says will be "unifying."

On Monday, members of the party's policy commission — Julie White and Antoine Dionne Charest, son of former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest — announced the idea in a video released on social media.

"A constitution allows us to affirm who we truly are, with our language, our civil law, and the powers of the Quebec government," White says in the video.

Quebec refused to sign the Canadian Constitution, which was patriated from the United Kingdom in 1982. Since then, political leaders in the province have offered various ideas about Quebec's place in the federation, some campaigning for sovereignty, and others advocating closer ties to Canada.

In 2017, former Liberal premier Philippe Couillard called for a "dialogue" with the federal government and the other provinces, with the goal of reopening the Constitution for an eventual signature from Quebec. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly said no.

"You know my opinion on the Constitution," Trudeau said at the time. "We're not reopening the Constitution."

With polls showing support from the francophone majority in the single digits, the Liberals are once again calling for a constitutional debate. In the video, Dionne Charest says the proposal is in response to polices of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec that he says divide Quebecers, and to the Parti Québécois plan to "separate us from Canada."

A constitution, he said, is "what unites us against the PQ, for whom immigrants and Canada are the source of all problems. It's what protects us against the CAQ, especially against its laws that stigmatize Quebecers who speak a language other than French."

The proposal for a constitution was introduced last year by a Liberal committee seeking to relaunch the party, which hasn't recovered from the 2018 election, when Couillard's Liberals lost to the CAQ led by Premier François Legault. In 2022, the Liberals fell to 21 seats from 31 but remained the official Opposition to the CAQ.

Recent polls put the PQ in first place, and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is promising to hold a referendum on sovereignty if the party wins the next election, scheduled for October 2026.

Before then, the Liberals are to choose a new leader in June. Denis Coderre, former Montreal mayor and ex-federal Liberal cabinet minister, has officially entered the race, as has Charles Milliard, who recently stepped down as the head of the federation of Quebec's chambers of commerce. Federal Liberal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez has said he has been courted by the Quebec party.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2024.