Tom Mulcair: Why should we care about the Quebec election?
Since September 1, it’s become illegal in Quebec for two consenting Anglo adults to have…contractual relations!
No joke. If you decide to sell your house to your friend Bob, the contract has to be drawn up in French even if you’re both English. Since Bill 101 was adopted in 1977, French was often required unless you expressly opted out. Now you can’t opt out. Costs of translation and revision could add thousands to your purchase price.
When this new rule came into effect last week, I was reminded of a conversation I’d had with a radio colleague in Toronto a couple of days earlier. He’d let fly with a simple: “tell me why I should care about the Quebec election.”
His question’s tone did catch me a bit off guard. It was more along the lines of “who gives a …. what happens there?”
I gamely explained that I’d followed the Ontario election in great detail because I consider what happens in our sister province to be incredibly important to mine. That, taken together, Quebec and Ontario represent over 60 per cent of Canada’s population and economy…
Of course that wasn’t really the question he’d been asking so that answer didn’t get us much further ahead.
“Who cares about Quebec?…you drive us nuts!” was at the root of his question/statement. Anyone who’s been in public life from La Belle Province and travelled a bit is familiar with it.
I understand the sentiment: issues of Quebec politics have so dominated the national discourse over the past 50 years - from the October crisis, to the election of the separatist Parti Québécois, through two referendums…that a certain fatigue has set in and “take a hike” (and earthier equivalents) are a not uncommon reaction.
A REVEALING INTERVIEW
Despite that, it is really important for those who do care about the future of this incredible country of ours to pay some attention to Francois Legault as he romps to a second consecutive majority. He has a sympathetic mien and an Everyman way of talking that is transparent, yet calculating all at once.
Prior to the last campaign, he gave a revealing interview to l’Actualité news magazine. In it he simply acknowledged the obvious: separation in one fell swoop had been tried twice and failed. He’d be taking a new approach: more powers in matters of language, culture and immigration. This was what he called "getting there" step by step. "There" being a sort of de facto separation.
Legault has been running circles around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his hapless Attorney General David Lametti. A couple of weeks ago, Lametti and some of his colleagues met with respected senior representatives of the English-speaking community of Quebec. They were very concerned about the catatonic reaction in Ottawa to the egregiously illegal Bill 96. That was the move by Legault to reduce the equality of English and French in Québec’s judicial system and under the constitution.
Trudeau’s proposed amendments to the Official Languages Act (Bill C-13) could actually make things worse, they feared.
Legault had already taken aim at the constitutionally protected school boards of the English-speaking community. Ottawa could be sounding their death knell and there was real concern.
Back in 1979, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in simultaneous decisions that English and French were equal in the courts and legislatures of Manitoba and Québec. All steps in the enactment process of legislation had to be bilingual and all proceedings and court documents could be drafted in either language. Later, post-Charter Supreme Court decisions guaranteed control and management of school boards to minority linguistic communities.
Legault claims to have unilaterally amended the 1867 BNA Act, the founding constitutional document of our nation. He purports to have removed the equality of English and French before the courts. Trudeau’s reaction? Crickets! He’s terrified of Legault and won’t do the obvious: challenge Québec’s law.
LIKE CHILDREN BLOCKING THEIR EARS
The Charter clearly stipulates that both Houses of Parliament would have to pass resolutions for Legault’s changes to language rights to take effect. Trudeau and Lametti are like children blocking their ears when this is explained to them. They don’t want to hear it, even if it’s there in black and white in the 1982 constitution.
Imagine that a similarly minded government of Manitoba were to attempt to roll back the constitutional guarantees of the francophone minority there. It wouldn’t have taken a nanosecond for Trudeau and Lametti to intervene. With good reason.
Now ask yourself why the English-speaking minority of Quebec (whose population, depending on definition, is close to that of all of Manitoba) are being told “sorry, folks, there’s nothing we can do for you, we’re too afraid of Legault!”.
It’s the same thing that happened when Legault brought in Bill 21, that openly discriminates against religious minorities in general and Muslim women in particular. He’s never said why it’s offensive for a teacher to wear a headscarf, a police officer a turban or a Crown attorney a kippah. He did say, in a Facebook post he put out when the law was enacted, that this is the way we are in Quebec. Meaning real Quebecers are not like you, so remove those religious symbols or whole categories of jobs aren’t open to you. He’s preemptively invoked the notwithstanding clause and even if the lower Courts have declared the law discriminatory, they say so far that they can’t intervene.
There’s only one person in Canada who can do something and his name is Justin Trudeau. He has the power to refer Bill 21 directly to the Supreme Court but, again, he is too afraid of Legault. All of his emoting on the importance of human rights for all Canadians is just more posturing because when push comes to shove with Legault, Trudeau falls on his keister.
Do you still have a country at all, when citizens’ fundamental rights are different depending on where they live?
Does beefing up the protections for the hard-pressed francophone majorities outside of Quebec necessarily have to entail throwing Quebec’s anglophone community under the bus?
When you have a clear-eyed view of the nation, its history and its future, the answer to both of those questions has to be “no.”
THE NEXT BIG BATTLE WILL BE IMMIGRATION
It’s coming at us like a freight train and once again the denizens of Sleepy Hollow (aka Ottawa) have no clue how to deal with it.
Every employers’ group, Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade in Quebec is complaining bitterly that Legault’s anti-immigrant policies have created a labour shortage that is hurting productivity and business across the province.
Legault’s answer is pure identity politics. Sounding the alarm about the “extreme” levels of immigration Trudeau has supposedly been imposing, Legault says Quebec should remain a small….country!
“Quebec is a nation” Legault insisted over the weekend. “They used to call us a distinct society. We are one of the two founding peoples. I believe we should be allowed to maintain a certain ratio of strength within the House of Commons.”
Legault has two fights planned if and when he’s re-elected: a battle royale over immigration (he wants control of the family reunification category to reduce non French-speakers) and a fight to maintain the same proportion of seats in the House of Commons even if Québec’s percentage of Canada’s population drops.
It’s not as if we didn’t know this was coming. Legault’s game plan could see Canada break apart with a whimper, not a bang. The tragedy is that we have a government in Ottawa that simply doesn’t have the wherewithal to deal with it.
Tom Mulcair was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Weight-loss drug Wegovy available in Canada starting May 6
The makers of Ozempic say their weight-loss drug Wegovy will be available to patients in Canada starting Monday.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Goring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
NEW A mother's hopes to free her son from a Syrian prison is revitalized by a new human rights report
Just days before the seventh anniversary of the day Jack Letts was thrown in prison with thousands of suspected ISIS fighters, his mother, Sally Lane, delivered a small stack of envelopes to the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
NEW Companies letting customers opt out of Mother's Day ads
In an effort to balance the profitability of Mother's Day with the pain it causes some people, some brands are offering customers the choice to opt out of Mother's Day email advertising.
DEVELOPING Police begin removing barricades at a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' encampment at UCLA
Police removed barricades and began dismantling a pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ fortified encampment early Thursday at the UCLA campus after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave, about 24 hours after counter-protesters attacked a tent encampment on the campus.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.
Concerns about Plexiglas prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglas barriers.
NEW Facial reconstruction reveals what a 40-something Neanderthal woman may have looked like
Scientists studying a Neanderthal woman's remains have painstakingly pieced together her skull from 200 bone fragments to understand what she may have looked like.
Local Spotlight
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Fergus, Ont. man feels nickel-and-dimed for $0.05 property tax bill
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.