The French language issue continues to spark turmoil between Liberals and the Bloc Québécois in Ottawa after eight Liberal lawmakers were seen protesting Bill 96 in Montreal on Saturday, a situation that sparked outrage in the Bloc Québécois.
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“As a provocation in Quebec’s jurisdictions, we can think of nothing worse,” Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien said ahead of Monday’s Question Time.
His party planned to table a motion this afternoon to reiterate the fact that “Quebec is the sole implementer of its language policy” and that Ottawa must not “prevent or restrict” the use of the French Language Charter.
This decision was taken after the presence of eight Liberal MPs from Ridings in the Montreal region at the demonstration that took place last Saturday against Bill 96, which aims to strengthen the protection of French people in Quebec.
MPs Peter Schiefke, Anthony Housefather, Patricia Lattanzio, Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Annie Koutrakis, Anju Dhillon, Francis Scarpaleggia and Sameer Zuberi attended the rally. These are the same Quebec Liberals who abstained last June on a proposal that would allow Quebec to freely amend the relevant section of the constitution.
“[Les libéraux] say they are for the defense of French in Quebec […]but if the gestures, as we see them at the end of the week, are clearly in the spirit of pure and simple Anglicization of Quebec, it means that this government is not respecting the will of the majority of Quebec,” Mr Therrien said.
In the face of criticism, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez asserted that Liberal Party of Canada members “have the right to go and demonstrate their point of view”.
“All Liberal MPs recognize that French is under threat and that more needs to be done and we are doing more. Our goal is to protect French at home in Quebec, but also to protect French outside of Quebec,” he said.
Remember that the Trudeau government has been working for several months on the reform of the official language law, which in particular must establish compliance with French by federal companies with a federal charter.