Quebec nationalism push poses election challenge for Canada PM Trudeau
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[May 28, 2021]
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Some 25 years after an
independence bid by Quebec almost broke Canada apart, a new push by the
province to strengthen its French-speaking identity poses an awkward
challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau months before an expected
election.
Quebec, a political battleground that accounts for almost a quarter of
the 338 seats in the federal House of Commons, has a history of
separatist governments, one of which held a 1995 referendum on
independence that only just failed.
Premier Francois Legault is a nationalist who rejects separatism but
wants more rights for Quebec, which has just 8.5 million people and
constantly frets about its linguistic and cultural heritage on a
continent with hundreds of millions of English speakers.
This month, Legault vowed to amend Canada's Constitution to recognize
French as Quebec's only official language and to call Quebec a "nation"
to underscore its distinct status, not to assert that it is a separate
state.
Legault said he would do so through a rarely invoked authority to
unilaterally change parts of the Constitution that affect just one
province. The move is largely symbolic, since French is already the
province's only official language and the federal Parliament in 2006
recognized Quebec as a nation inside Canada.
But some legal experts say the move is unconstitutional, and it has
raised fears inside and outside Quebec that it could put new strains on
national unity at a time when some western provinces have expressed
unhappiness with federal policies.
Legault, whose CAQ party faces a provincial election in October 2022,
says he is addressing concerns that the use of French is slipping.
It is a dilemma for Trudeau, a fluent French speaker whose father,
Pierre, fiercely opposed Quebec separatism when he was prime minister
but enacted legislation recognizing French, for the first time, as one
of Canada's two official languages.
A Leger poll this week showed the vast majority of Quebec's
French-speaking residents backing the proposals. If Trudeau opposes
Legault, he could threaten some of the seats the Liberals hold in the
province.
"We've all been through the constitutional battles of the past number of
decades that have left many scars on many people," Trudeau told
reporters on Tuesday, referring to the two referendums on Quebec
independence, in 1980 and 1995.
He said he could live with Legault's proposed change, adding, however,
that the rights of both French and English speakers must be protected.
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People pass a shop sign written in French, mandated by local laws,
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada May 27, 2021. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi
ANGLOPHONE QUEBECERS 'VERY UNHAPPY'
Trudeau must increase his support in Quebec from the last election
in 2019 if he wants to regain a parliamentary majority. Like
Trudeau, the leaders of other federal parties - including the
official opposition Conservatives - did not condemn Legault's move.
"I think electoral pragmatism is playing a role here, absolutely,"
said Daniel Beland, who heads the Institute for the Study of Canada
at Montreal's McGill University.
The Liberals hold 35 of Quebec's 78 seats, just ahead of the
separatist Bloc Quebecois at 32. Trudeau's party is leading in
Quebec, but is only 3 percentage points ahead of the Bloc, according
to a Leger poll from this month.
The Quebec Community Groups Network, which seeks to defend
anglophones, said Legault's proposed measures "override fundamental
human rights and will erode the vitality of our English-speaking
minority community."
Quebec's anglophone population, roughly 10% of the province's total,
is concentrated in key parliamentary constituencies and Liberals
must keep them happy too.
"The English-speaking community is very angry. The risk is not so
much that they will support another party - the risk is that they
stay home," said a senior Liberal with direct knowledge of the
issue.
The English speakers' votes are "key for getting us over the finish
line, and them staying home could make the difference between
winning and losing," said the Liberal, who requested anonymity given
the sensitivity of the situation.
Another concern is that Quebec's move will set a precedent that
could prompt other provinces to seek constitutional changes for
political reasons.
One Conservative lawmaker suggested that Alberta, where a nascent
separatist party is seeking to take advantage of unhappiness with
Ottawa, could unilaterally change the equalization system - under
which richer provinces subsidize poorer ones - in order to hang onto
more of its tax revenue.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Steve Scherer and Peter
Cooney)
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