MONTREAL — Confident it will win the next provincial election, the Parti Québécois adopted a political program Sunday designed to provoke the federal government and pave the way for a winning sovereignty referendum.
PQ leader Pauline Marois said that if elected premier she would lead a “sovereigntist government” that would enact its own Constitution, create Quebec citizenship and recover a broad range of powers from Ottawa – all before a referendum is held.
Fresh from the 93.1% confidence vote she received from party members Saturday, Ms. Marois said Ottawa would be judged harshly if it resisted Quebec’s demands for more power. “We are offering Quebecers a chance to take back control – control of our democracy, of our economy, of our state, control of what we are,” she said.
“And for federalists who hoped that our will to build a country was going to fade after our convention, know that we leave here more determined, more united, stronger and more convinced than ever.”
The confidence vote solidifies Ms. Marois’ grip on the party, as made clear when she personally intervened on the convention floor Sunday to help overturn a proposal to outlaw English on commercial signs. Delegates had approved the measure in the morning, but they flip-flopped after Ms. Marois pleaded that it was not the time to begin a new court battle over language. The Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that the ban on English signs initially contained in Bill 101, Quebec’s language law, was unconstitutional.
Still, the party is not shying away from other linguistic battles. Delegates overwhelmingly supported a proposal to extend Bill 101’s restrictions to the province’s post-secondary colleges or CEGEPs, meaning francophones and the children of immigrants would be barred from attending English-language colleges.
“This proposal is an indication of our determination, of our desire to re-establish a balance to ensure that French is the official language of Quebec, and that it will become again the common language of all Quebecers,” said Pierre Curzi, the party’s language critic.
Polls have shown the move is opposed by a majority of Quebecers, and even former premier Jacques Parizeau, a hero to the PQ’s language hawks, has said it goes too far because it eliminates adults’ freedom of choice. Students typically attend CEGEP for two years, starting when they are 17.
Delegates also voted to make French “the priority language” before all courts and tribunals in Quebec, including those under federal jurisdiction, and to beef up the province’s language police. In addition to adding language inspectors, a PQ government would mandate them to investigate whether anglophone hospitals and municipalities serve enough anglophones to continue operating in English.
Another controversial proposal, which Ms. Marois initially opposed but later accepted, would commit a PQ government to spending public funds on the promotion of sovereignty.
Taken as a whole, the PQ program, with its goal of acquiring “ever more powers,” is a blueprint for getting under the skin of the rest of Canada. And Ms. Marois did not hide the fact that a rejection of the demands would be ammunition for an eventual referendum.
“It will demonstrate that it is impossible to change the current system to have a true recognition of Quebec’s difference,” she told a news conference. “It is another way to show how sovereignty is necessary for our identity, for our language and even for the development of our cultural, economic and social programs.”
The program commits a PQ government to ending federal “interference” in the areas of education, culture, social programs and health care. It would demand from Ottawa new powers and control over budgets in such fields as language, environment, culture, economic and regional development and immigration.
It would invoke the notwithstanding clause to override the Canadian Charter’s protection of rights and freedoms. It would also demand to negotiate and sign international treaties touching any area of provincial jurisdiction.
A PQ government would adopt a Quebec constitution, including a new provincial Charter requiring courts to interpret rights and freedoms in light of “the fundamental values of the Quebec nation.” A new secularism charter would bar public servants from wearing such conspicuous religious symbols as the hijab and yarmulke.
The overwhelming support for Ms. Marois – the highest ever for a PQ leader — should end speculation that she will be replaced as leader by Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois. Although her party enjoys a comfortable lead over the governing Liberals in opinion polls, Ms. Marois’ personal popularity has lagged behind. A Léger Marketing poll published Saturday in Le Devoir showed the PQ in line to win a majority were an election to be held now. The party was at 38% versus 31% for Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals. But the same poll found that about one-third of sovereigntists are not convinced Ms. Marois is the best person to lead Quebec to independence.
Mr. Duceppe addressed the delegates Sunday morning, congratulating Ms. Marois and describing her as “the future first female Premier of Quebec.” He told reporters that the PQ’s support for Ms. Marois shows the sovereignty movement is unified.
“I’ve been saying since the beginning of campaign, with a strong Bloc in Ottawa and a Parti Québécois government in Quebec, everything becomes possible again,” he said. “Those are two essential conditions for us to give ourselves a country.”
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