Fréchette to renew notwithstanding clause for Bill 96 as legislature resumes

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette committed on Tuesday to renew the use of the Charter’s override clause to protect a French-language law from court challenges, promising to lead a “nationalist” government with five months to go before the general election.

The legislation to renew the so-called notwithstanding clause will be the first bill her party introduces since she was sworn into office last month.

In a 45-minute speech marking the opening of the legislature, Fréchette said the clause is “the most important democratic tool for our nation, to express the will of the Quebec people.” The override section of the Charter permits governments to shield laws from challenges on the grounds the laws violate fundamental freedoms.

“What we’re aiming for is more autonomy inside Canada,” she said. “More autonomy to make our own decisions. More autonomy to protect our identity and more autonomy to develop our economy.”

The government pre-emptively invoked the override clause in 2022 on Bill 96, which reinforces the province’s French-language rules by expanding the powers of the language watchdog and imposing new regulations on businesses, among other measures.

Legislation that invokes the override clause must be renewed every five years but Fréchette’s bill, expected Wednesday, would renew it early — and force the Liberals to take a position on it ahead of the Oct. 5 election.

Liberal Leader Charles Milliard has been facing pressure in recent weeks to clarify his stance on Bill 96, as members of his political base have publicly criticized the law and the use of the override clause.

Milliard has said he’s in favour of using the clause for the language law, breaking with his party’s previous position. But he has also called for changes to the law and said a Liberal government would to talk to lawyers to see if the override clause is necessary.

In a video Tuesday morning shared on social media, Milliard went on the offensive against the language law.

“Your law 96, your CAQ law, has to be modified,” he said in a message to Fréchette. “It hurts Quebec businesses and it does nothing to improve the quality of French in Quebec.”

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said renewing the notwithstanding clause is a “status quo gesture” that suggests Fréchette is more interested in challenging the Liberals than creating change.

“They feel the need to do some tactics, instead of dealing with urgent and very serious issues all over Quebec after eight years of the CAQ,” he told reporters Tuesday ahead of Fréchette’s speech.

In her speech, she said her five priorities for the coming weeks are the cost of living, the economy, infrastructure, services and identity.

She reiterated her government’s promise to reimburse first-time homebuyers up to $5,875 of land transfer taxes, and said the measure is retroactive to the beginning of the year. She also promised to convert 5,000 non-subsidized daycare spots to subsidized ones.

The premier confirmed that her government will table a bill modelled after Clare’s Law in the United Kingdom, which allows police to disclose an offender’s history of domestic violence to an at-risk partner.

Fréchette won’t have much time to make her mark, since the legislature will only be sitting for 17 days before breaking for the summer ahead of the fall election.

Her Coalition Avenir Québec party has seen a small boost in the polls since she took over from François Legault last month, but still trails the Liberals and Parti Québécois.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2026.

Caroline Plante and Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press

With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal