Quebec Liberals want to make Canada federalist again

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OTTAWA – The Quebec Liberal Party wants to propose a provincial constitution that would give Quebecers a fundamental law to enshrine the nation’s values, a move could serve as a basis for eventual constitutional reunification with Canada.

As Jean Charest attempted a final comeback on the federal stage during the 2022 Conservative Party’s leadership campaign, something struck one of his informal and closest advisers.

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“The country is ripe for a debate on relations between the provinces and the federal government,” recalled Antoine Dionne Charest, earlier this week. Dionne Charest, 41, is a political pundit in Quebec, a public relations consultant and a future provincial Liberal candidate. He also happens to be the son of Jean Charest.

Earlier this week, the policy commission of the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP), which he co-chairs, announced it would propose to its members later this fall a project to give the province a written constitution.

In an interview with the National Post, Dionne Charest thinks Quebec has an opportunity to exercise leadership, to chart a new course in relations between the provinces and Ottawa.

“I think that Quebecers must, with the constitution, make this gesture of national affirmation which would allow us to tell the rest of Canada, when we reopen the Canadian Constitution, that Quebec would want its written constitution to be recognized,” said Dionne Charest. Quebec is the only province not to have signed the 1982 Constitution.

According to him, it is now “urgent” to rethink national unity and federalism in Canada because there is “no vision.”

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“I would like those who are federalists in Ottawa to be as federalist as those who are in Quebec, he added. “We should be much more sensitive to the demands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec.”

A Quebec constitution would therefore be a path towards a brighter future for all Canadian provinces, according to the grits.

The idea is far from new. It was reportedly brought up for the first time in 1858, before Canada was even officially a country.

Under Liberal premier Jean Lesage’s leadership, a “constitution committee” was put in place in 1963 and, four years later, the National Assembly voted unanimously in favour of a commission to draft Quebec’s constitution.

Six decades later, only one province in Canada has a provincial constitution: British Columbia. The Alberta government thought about it but nothing came of it.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea,” says Richard Albert, an expert on constitution-making and constitutional design at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. “As a Quebecer, I can tell you that Quebecers have for a long time sought meaningful recognition of our distinctiveness as a people within Canada, and there is … no better way than expressing that with a provincial constitution written by Quebecers.”

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Albert has published over 30 books on constitutions, democracy, and the rule of law. One of his latest is about the Quebec constitution.

“I have to stress out that no provincial constitution can ever legally trump the Constitution of Canada as a matter of law. It’s not allowed,” he said in an interview. But according to him, writing a constitution is both a legal and political process that could evolve to a participatory process, which can galvanize interest among Quebecers.

Many countries around the world, like Australia, Germany and the United States, have two levels of constitutions.

Technically, the National Assembly has the legal authority to enact a constitution for Quebec on its own if it wants. Albert, however, doesn’t think it would be the right move politically, “because there is nothing that gives the constitution greater legitimacy then it’s enactment and approval by the people themselves.” As such, it likely has to be approved by Quebecers in a referendum.

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In Quebec’s history, many political parties have declared themselves open to the adoption of a provincial constitution.

In June, Premier François Legault told Radio-Canada that he is not against the idea of holding a referendum on a constitution for Quebec. The Coalition Avenir Québec government has announced a committee on constitutional issues to increase Quebec’s autonomy within the Canadian federation.

Meanwhile, the Parti Québécois attacked the QLP for repeating for nearly 30 years that the debate on the future of Quebec was not a “real deal” and that “the fruit was not ripe” to discuss it.

“By recognizing the harmful and untenable nature of the current constitutional status quo, the QLP is recognizing the failure of federalism after having itself sung its praises for three decades,” said PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

Former Quebec premier René Lévesque once defended the idea of a Quebec constitution. St-Pierre Plamondon did not deny the idea in a Tuesday statement, but said “the only option that remains credible and realistic is to take our future into our own hands.”

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In an interview with the National Post, former Bloc Québécois MP and Parti Québécois MNA Daniel Turp said he was “delighted” with the QLP’s project of a Quebec constitution.

Turp, who is a Law professor at the Université de Montréal, has been promoting the idea for years and said separatists should support such a move by the Liberals.

“Among the separatists, there was always the fear that providing Quebec with an internal constitution within Canada would lead Quebecers to think that independence was not necessary. I have always argued that this is not accurate. We can quite easily reach a very broad consensus,” said Turp.

In Ottawa, attorney general spokesperson Chantalle Aubertin said federal government officials “look forward to the party’s consideration of this proposal.”

Dionne Charest will officially present the proposition at the QLP national congress in Lévis, Que., in November.

National Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com

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