Legault threatens use of override clause to protect French language reforms
QUEBEC — Premier François Legault says Quebec will almost certainly use the Constitution’s override clause to shield soon-to-be-tabled reforms to the Charter of the French Language from legal challenges.
And he has blasted Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade for saying she would not use the clause, saying it shows she is “unable to defend the values of Quebecers.”
In an early sampling of the language debate to come in Quebec, Legault and Anglade took radically different stands on the same issue at separate news conferences. Both were sticking to their known scripts as well.
Legault opened defending his government’s use of the clause, known as the notwithstanding clause, to adopt Quebec’s state secularism law — An Act respecting the laicity of the state — in June 2019.
The notwithstanding clause allows provincial governments to override basic freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“To protect our collective rights, no,” Legault responded when asked whether he had any qualms about making use of the controversial clause again — this time to cover language legislation.
He made a similar remark in his 2013 autobiography, Cap sur un Québec gagnant, in a chapter where he spells out his vision for language and culture.
The Coalition Avenir Québec government used the clause in June 2019 to shield Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, from challenges. A Superior Court justice this week ruled that the bill is legal.
Legault said that first brush with the courts showed him there is a clear conflict between what Quebec wants to do to protect its language and culture, and clauses in the 1982 Constitution that Quebec never adhered to.
“With the judgment we have this week about Bill 21, it’s clear that the (court’s) interpretation of the Canadian Constitution — that we didn’t sign — sometimes gives us answers that don’t represent what the majority of Quebecers want.
“I don’t want to scoop our announcement,” Legault said when asked if Quebec will use it again for reforms to Bill 101. “It can’t be excluded.”
“It means we can use it. There’s a good chance we will use it.”