QUEBEC — The Quebec Liberals would maintain use of the notwithstanding clause to shield the bulk of Bill 96 from court challenges, party leader Charles Milliard said Thursday.
But he said he would also try to amend the law, which overhauled the Charter of the French Language, to eliminate the red tape it imposes on small and medium-size companies, in addition to dropping a clause forcing immigrants who have been in Quebec for six months to receive services in French.
“I would be in favour of conserving (the notwithstanding clause) if I can make the changes I want,” Milliard said at a morning news conference at the legislature. “What I am saying is that I want to change two significant elements of Bill 96 and I am in favour of the rest.
“The Liberal party historically has made use of the notwithstanding clause. We are not opposed to this. I think it’s an important tool. I think it has been used too often pre-emptively, but the protection of the French language is essential to the Liberal party.
“It is essential for all Quebecers, including those from cultural communities.”
During the two Liberal leadership races he participated in, Milliard said he would like to amend Bill 96, which was adopted by the Coalition Avenir Québec government in 2022.
But he did not elaborate on how he would go about amending the law or whether he would keep using the notwithstanding clause, which the CAQ government has also used to shield its secularism law, Bill 21, from court challenges. The clause can be invoked for five years and must be renewed to stay in force.
Both laws are being contested in the courts. The Liberals voted against both pieces of legislation at the time they were adopted.
Milliard said he had not been clearer in the past because he was not sure about the legal sequence to follow to amend a law that is protected by the clause.
Even though many minority communities oppose both laws, Milliard argued they are also in favour of protecting French.
“I am for the main objectives of Bill 96, which is to protect French,” Milliard said. “And I’ve been talking to a lot of anglophones and allophones about that.
“They’re all about protecting and promoting French, even if my opponents say the opposite. If you want to change something on 96, it doesn’t mean that you’re against French.”
On hand for Thursday’s news conference, Westmount—Saint-Louis Liberal MNA Jennifer Maccarone said Milliard’s views on the use of the notwithstanding clause were already known to the caucus.
“I won’t make a comment that is different from our leader,” Maccarone said. “I am at ease with Charles’s position.”
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