This also helps explain why Québec Group leader Yves-François Blanchette (Yves-François Blancchet) is the only party leader in Ottawa who is determined to enact Quebec’s proposed language law (Act 96). The reason is this fall. Maybe before the federal election.

All other party leaders are doing their best to deprive Bill 96 of oxygen-to avoid another debate about Quebec’s position in Canada, and to avoid a public showdown with the province’s popular prime minister, François Legault.

Daniel Bellander, a political scientist at McGill University and director of the McGill Institute in Canada, said in an interview: “I think it is very expensive to confuse François Legault politically.” CBC house.

“Therefore, I think this is indeed part of the anticipation of the upcoming federal election, rather than something really based on deep constitutional thinking.”

At another time, the Federal Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau may cause concern. The law will unilaterally amend the constitution to recognize Quebecers as a country and declare French as the country’s lingua franca. . Challenge the constitution even before launching a constitutional challenge.

The political atmosphere has changed

Just four years ago Prime Minister’s removal The then Prime Minister of Quebec, Philippe Couillard (Philippe Couillard) made a relatively modest attempt and began a cross-border dialogue on his government’s “Quebec Affirmative Relations with Canada Policy.” Federalist Coullaird tried to explore the conditions that might lead Quebec to sign the constitution.

Trudeau briefly told reporters at the time: “We did not make a constitution.”

But this is a different era. Couillard was replaced by Legault. The group has once again become a recognized party in Ottawa and hopes to increase the 32 seats it won in 2019.And there is evidence that the number of Canadians whose mother tongue is French Is falling.

The Trudeau government has sought to strengthen the use of French. Earlier this year, it released a white paper on the Official Languages ??Act, which proposed to increase the use of French immersion courses throughout Canada, and in Quebec and areas outside of Quebec where French-speaking countries exist French is used in government-regulated workplaces.

Watch: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau passes Bill 96

When asked again this week about his position in Act 96, the Prime Minister said: “The federal government has been aware for a long time that we have two official languages, but Quebec can play a special role in protecting Quebec’s French. Role.” However, we also intend to ensure the protection of minority rights. “

The leader of the New Democratic Party, Jagmet Singh, said on Wednesday that it was roughly the same, that the Legot government has the right to change the constitution in the exclusive area of ??Quebec.

He told reporters: “As a political party, we have always defended French, and we think it is important to do so.” “As far as Quebec’s recent needs are concerned, we absolutely support the recognition of French and Quebec as one country.”

Even the response of Erin O’Toole, leader of the Conservative Party, was ignored. He issued a statement saying that his party will always respect the jurisdiction of the provinces, including its power to unilaterally amend the parts of the Constitution related to them.

These reactions clearly show that the leaders of the major parties recognize that opposing Legot’s bill will not gain anything, and that there will be many losses.

When the next election is held, Québec, with 78 seats, will become an important battlefield.

Federal political leaders learned a long time ago that supporting Quebec is always a better election strategy than opposing Quebec.

Voters in the province can feel the winner. In 2011, they gave the party’s Jack Layton 59 seats to the New Democratic Party. This is the first (and so far) the party has become an official opposition. Former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Brian Mulroney) enjoyed similar generosity, occupying 58 seats on the province’s path to becoming the largest in Canadian history.

There is also a saying that the parliament itself recognized Quebec as a country as early as 2006, when then Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced the “Quebec problem” almost immediately after becoming prime minister. Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Quebec group at the time, proposed a bill requiring parliament to recognize Quebec as a country.

Harper acted quickly and changed the wording to recognize Quebec as “a country within the unity of Canada.” The bill was passed. Avoid crisis.

This shows that today’s politicians often seem to forget the last four words in the 2006 bill. It is also worth asking why a constitutional amendment is needed if Quebec and Canada have recognized the fact that France is in Quebec and its resident is a country within Canada.

Bill 96 Paradox

However, the current political calculations in Ottawa are more about what might happen. Bill 96 could have included stricter restrictions on the use of English. Protests against the bill in Quebec came from sovereignists, who believed that it was not enough to protect and promote the use of the French.

Some people believe that allowing the National Assembly to actually use a clause in the Constitution (a document that Quebec has never signed) will make it difficult for separatists to claim that the Constitution forced them against their will.

Bellander agrees that Legot has a paradox in using the Constitution to support his nationalist agenda.

He said: “Of course, if this situation can continue and still exist before the courts, it will definitely undermine a sovereignist camp’s argument that the Constitution is illegal and not truly inclusive from Quebec’s point of view.” house. “I think this must be an argument that federalists can use in the future.”

This brings us into the group.

For Yves-Francois Blanchet (Yves-Francois Blanchet), Bill 96 is a hot issue in search of sparks. He tried Wednesday to create some kind of friction by seeking unanimous EU agreement to affirm Trudeau’s statement that Quebec is a country and French is its common language. Former Liberal Party cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould rejected the proposal.

It’s worth mentioning that look at how Blanchett used this unrecorded vote to support his party’s claim that the prime minister alone defended Quebec’s interests in Ottawa-and the prime minister seemed to be doing it for himself. Not bad. Now, he is the only Federalist leader who thinks this is a good time to discuss this serious issue.