Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette is holding firm on the decision to stop mailing voting information in English as lawyers prepare to mount a legal challenge against the measure.
Having said the day before that discussions on the issue were taking place, the Coalition Avenir Québec leader said Thursday morning that meetings had concluded and she would not be intervening.
“Let’s be clear: No one is being denied access to information. No one is being denied the right to vote, either,” Fréchette said at a campaign stop in Roxton Pond, near Granby, adding that ballots would remain bilingual.
For the first time, Élections Québec has said it will not send English-language mailers ahead of the Oct. 5 election, instead including a QR code linked to an English web page. Language legislation brought in under the CAQ forced the change, the agency said Tuesday.
Élections Québec
Élections Québec said it had asked for a carve-out to allow mailouts in both French and English, but that the government refused.
Asked Thursday why the government chose not to create an exemption for elections communications, Fréchette didn’t answer directly.
“We have adopted rules, and French is the official and common language of Quebec,” she said. “We are applying the rules we have.”
While voting rights and English-language advocates had said the decision presented barriers to voting, Fréchette dismissed the concerns on Thursday, telling reporters she didn’t see a risk of anglophones not knowing how to vote.
“The rights of the English-speaking community are being respected,” Fréchette said. “We can be proud, I think, to defend our language.”
‘Line that cannot be crossed’
Eric Maldoff, a lawyer and former president of the anglophone-advocacy organization Alliance Quebec, said he is part of a group of lawyers planning to file legal action against the provincial government.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said about the French-only election mailouts.
The measure is an “unacceptable impediment” because it means English-speaking Quebecers are “not getting equal access” to important voter information, according to Maldoff. He said it’s a violation of a constitutional right.
“This is a line that cannot be crossed,” he said in an interview Thursday. “The right to vote is sacred. If we don’t have confidence that we can vote and choose our government, then how do you fix anything?”
Maldoff also said he doesn’t believe it’s too late for the Quebec government to reverse course and to have English-language documents mailed out ahead of the election.
“As they say: Where there is a will, there is a way. But this has to be fixed,” he said.
In preparing a legal challenge, Maldoff said “we have lawyers working on it right now.”
“The hope is to be able to initiate this in court at the beginning of next week,” he said.
Asked if French-only mailouts could put the validity of the election into question, Maldoff said: “It will certainly raise a question of the legitimacy of an election where certain people are not given equal access to voting.
“Hopefully Quebec will come to its senses and solve this problem quickly.”
Three complaints filed to federal language commissioner
Canada’s commissioner of official languages confirmed Thursday her office was contacted about the French-only mailouts.
“We have received three complaints regarding Élections Québec’s decision to provide voter information only in French ahead of this year’s election,” Kelly Burke said in a statement to The Gazette.
“As those complaints are currently being analyzed, I must limit my comments on the matter.”
Burke said only complaints that meet all three of the following criteria can be investigated as per the Official Languages Act:
The complaint concerns a federal institution or any other organization that is required to comply with the Official Languages Act.
The complaint alleges a contravention of the Official Languages Act.
The complaint is about a specific situation.
“I would like to reiterate that I remain firmly committed to ensuring the equality of English and French within federal institutions, to supporting official language minority communities and to intervening with federal institutions to ensure that they comply with the Official Languages Act,” Burke said.
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