Official languages: C-13 could be a
free vote for the Liberals
The Liberals' dissension is growing over their government's proposed modernization of the Official Languages Act. Montreal MPs, including a cabinet minister, are considering voting against it and the chief whip refuses to say whether it will be a free vote."There is no decision to take. The legislative process is ongoing," government whip Steven MacKinnon
said as he arrived in Parliament on Wednesday.
The decision in question concerns the possibility for the government to give its members the opportunity to vote their conscience on Bill C-13, an act to modernize the Official Languages Act.
Since 2018, Justin Trudeau's Liberals have committed to amending the law that was passed more
than 50 years ago and has only been updated once, in 1988.
However, the House of Commons Parliamentary Committee's study revealed sharp differences of opinion in the Liberal ranks, even though party leaders insist that caucus members are "united."
The Trudeau government says it wants to protect French both in Quebec and elsewhere in the country by strengthening the current law and giving private businesses under federal jurisdiction the choice of being subject to either federal or provincial Quebec law, or the Quebec Charter of the French Language.
DissidentsThe opposition parties, which are in the majority on parliamentary committees, have however tabled amendments requested by the Quebec government, which wants the provincial law to take precedence on Quebec soil.
But Liberals Anthony Housefather, Emmanuela Lambropoulos and Marc Garneau tried, in vain, to remove any reference to the Quebec Charter of the French Language from their government's proposed law.
In their view, if there were to be a conflict of interpretation between the federal law and the Quebec law, the Quebec law could prevail. However, the Quebec law, recently amended as part of Bill 96, cannot be challenged since the Legault government invoked the notwithstanding clause as a preventive measure.
"It is legitimate to ask why I criticized my own government's law on the inclusion of the Quebec Charter of the French Language. This is not something I do lightly, but here, the inclusion in C-13 of the charter worries me a lot because it could lead to constitutional quibbles over the interpretation of C-13, "wrote the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Marc Garneau, on social media.
Mr. Housefather has said in recent days that he does not know if he can really support this bill if the Quebec law is mentioned.
On Wednesday, it was the turn of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, to maintain the vagueness.
"There are amendments from the Bloc, from the Conservative Party that completely undermine the spirit of the law. That is to say, the federal government assumes its jurisdiction to protect English and French, within its sphere of jurisdiction. So it's very important. There are amendments to debate, and then I expect people to do their job in committee," he said.
Liberals want to "fight" for FrenchDuring question period, Bloc Québécois critic for official languages Mario Beaulieu spoke of a case that increasingly resembles a "West Island Story," in reference to the movie West Side Story.
"It's starting to make many of the Liberals who are against C-13. At this point, we are in the process of wondering if the dissidents of the Quebec Liberal caucus, the rebels, are they the ones who want to defend French?" he said.
According to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, "the Bloc is becoming a little radicalized."
ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESSImmediately, the Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez jumped in the House to talk about a "good bill" that aims to protect an endangered language, and attacked those who, in his opinion, really want to derail this bill.
"We need to do more for French in Quebec and abroad. But the Conservative Party-Bloc Québécois coalition is voting against this bill and they are doing everything to defeat this bill. And we, on the Liberal side, will continue to fight to defend French across the country!" he thundered.
Marc Garneau defends himselfMeanwhile, the Liberal MP for Côte-des-Neiges-Westmount and former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Trudeau government, Marc Garneau, vehemently refutes that he wants to "torpedo" the modernization of his government's Official Languages Act.
Canadian MP and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau
ARCHIVES, THE CANADIAN PRESSIn a letter he posted on social media Wednesday, Garneau said it is "perfectly possible to support the protection of French in Quebec and at the same time protect the language rights of the English-speaking minority."
The member expressed concern that some provinces would decide to create their own language legislation that would better protect the language of the majority, in this case English.
"Who will be there to defend the language rights of minorities across the country, if their rights are violated? As a federal MP this is an obligation that the federal government must continue to assume," he wrote.
said as he arrived in Parliament on Wednesday.
The decision in question concerns the possibility for the government to give its members the opportunity to vote their conscience on Bill C-13, an act to modernize the Official Languages Act.
Since 2018, Justin Trudeau's Liberals have committed to amending the law that was passed more
than 50 years ago and has only been updated once, in 1988.
However, the House of Commons Parliamentary Committee's study revealed sharp differences of opinion in the Liberal ranks, even though party leaders insist that caucus members are "united."
The Trudeau government says it wants to protect French both in Quebec and elsewhere in the country by strengthening the current law and giving private businesses under federal jurisdiction the choice of being subject to either federal or provincial Quebec law, or the Quebec Charter of the French Language.
DissidentsThe opposition parties, which are in the majority on parliamentary committees, have however tabled amendments requested by the Quebec government, which wants the provincial law to take precedence on Quebec soil.
But Liberals Anthony Housefather, Emmanuela Lambropoulos and Marc Garneau tried, in vain, to remove any reference to the Quebec Charter of the French Language from their government's proposed law.
In their view, if there were to be a conflict of interpretation between the federal law and the Quebec law, the Quebec law could prevail. However, the Quebec law, recently amended as part of Bill 96, cannot be challenged since the Legault government invoked the notwithstanding clause as a preventive measure.
"It is legitimate to ask why I criticized my own government's law on the inclusion of the Quebec Charter of the French Language. This is not something I do lightly, but here, the inclusion in C-13 of the charter worries me a lot because it could lead to constitutional quibbles over the interpretation of C-13, "wrote the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Marc Garneau, on social media.
Mr. Housefather has said in recent days that he does not know if he can really support this bill if the Quebec law is mentioned.
On Wednesday, it was the turn of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Marc Miller, to maintain the vagueness.
"There are amendments from the Bloc, from the Conservative Party that completely undermine the spirit of the law. That is to say, the federal government assumes its jurisdiction to protect English and French, within its sphere of jurisdiction. So it's very important. There are amendments to debate, and then I expect people to do their job in committee," he said.
Liberals want to "fight" for FrenchDuring question period, Bloc Québécois critic for official languages Mario Beaulieu spoke of a case that increasingly resembles a "West Island Story," in reference to the movie West Side Story.
"It's starting to make many of the Liberals who are against C-13. At this point, we are in the process of wondering if the dissidents of the Quebec Liberal caucus, the rebels, are they the ones who want to defend French?" he said.
According to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, "the Bloc is becoming a little radicalized."
ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESSImmediately, the Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez jumped in the House to talk about a "good bill" that aims to protect an endangered language, and attacked those who, in his opinion, really want to derail this bill.
"We need to do more for French in Quebec and abroad. But the Conservative Party-Bloc Québécois coalition is voting against this bill and they are doing everything to defeat this bill. And we, on the Liberal side, will continue to fight to defend French across the country!" he thundered.
Marc Garneau defends himselfMeanwhile, the Liberal MP for Côte-des-Neiges-Westmount and former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Trudeau government, Marc Garneau, vehemently refutes that he wants to "torpedo" the modernization of his government's Official Languages Act.
Canadian MP and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau
ARCHIVES, THE CANADIAN PRESSIn a letter he posted on social media Wednesday, Garneau said it is "perfectly possible to support the protection of French in Quebec and at the same time protect the language rights of the English-speaking minority."
The member expressed concern that some provinces would decide to create their own language legislation that would better protect the language of the majority, in this case English.
"Who will be there to defend the language rights of minorities across the country, if their rights are violated? As a federal MP this is an obligation that the federal government must continue to assume," he wrote.
