QUEBEC — Human rights organizations, unions, minority groups and opposition politicians cheered the news on Thursday that the Coalition Avenir Québec government is abandoning its attempt to create a Quebec constitution.
“Victory,” Québec solidaire MNA Haroun Bouazzi told reporters. “We are celebrating an important moment for the Quebec nation. The constitutional project of (Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette) has finally fallen.”
“We are obviously very pleased that the substantial and broadly based opposition to this bill has brought about its demise,” added Eva Ludvig, president of the anglophone community lobby group TALQ.
“It was never a legitimate constitution, from a flawed process at the outset to restrictions of rights it sought to impose, to its initial refusal to acknowledge the 1.3-million-member English-speaking community as an integral part of Quebec.
“This bill was part of a divisive government agenda that includes Bill 96, 21 and 84, among others,” Ludvig added, citing the CAQ government’s legislation on language, secularism and integration of immigrants, respectively.
“The abandoning of Bill 1 is a major victory for the rule of law and human rights,” the Ligue des droits et libertés said of the legislation that would have created the Quebec constitution, repeating its view that the plan was “void of legitimacy.”
Presented last October by Jolin-Barrette as part of a plan to breathe life into a sagging CAQ government, Bill 1 was mired in controversy from the get-go.
Hundreds of groups called for the bill to be dropped, accusing the minister of failing to consult. The three main opposition parties — the Liberals, Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois — were opposed to the bill and the way it was cobbled together near the end of the CAQ’s mandate.
In an unusual move, the opposition parties voted against it at first reading.
On Thursday, with the bill mired in the committee stage and with only one day of parliament left before the summer recess, Jolin-Barrette called in the media to say it would not go forward.
“We have unfortunately arrived at a rupture point when it comes to Bill 1,” he said. “Bill 1, the Quebec Constitution Act, 2025, will not be adopted. With the time remaining in the session, we would have needed the consent of the opposition to proceed with the adoption of the bill.
“I asked for this several times, but the opposition parties have always refused.”
The bill will die on the order paper when the legislature recesses Friday. Quebec will then be plunged into the fall election campaign.
Jolin-Barrette blasted the opposition parties for their systematic obstruction of the constitution project.
“If it wasn’t for the lack of time and partisanship politics linked to the end of the session, this bill would have been adopted because there was nothing in the text — absolutely nothing in the text — that posed a problem,” he said.
Asked why the government didn’t force the bill into law using the rules of closure to suspend the normal adoption process, Jolin-Barrette said: “We are in an end-of-session situation.”
Premier Christine Fréchette also ruled out using closure on Bill 1 when she was campaigning for the CAQ leadership.
Editor’s Picks
Jolin-Barrette had said a Quebec constitution would become the “law of laws,” and argued Thursday that the many hours consumed by the bill (the committee studying the legislation heard from more than 300 groups) were not a waste.
“Before I was handling constitutional issues, we were not even talking about them (in Quebec),” he said. “It was the status quo. For many years, we experienced a constitutional winter in Quebec.”
Jolin-Barrette tried several times to breathe life into the bill, including presenting a series of amendments.
In February, he dropped a controversial article obliging the state to defend the rights of women to abortion, after pro-choice groups warned the clause could be challenged in court and thus reopen the abortion debate.
In April, bowing to pressure from anglophone critics, Jolin-Barrette announced more amendments, including one recognizing the English-speaking community’s rights.
He dropped another that would have barred public bodies like the English Montreal School Board from using public funds to fight Quebec laws.
It was not enough to rally groups or the opposition parties that, fully aware time was running out in the session, stalled and obstructed the bill.
As of Wednesday, the committee examining the bill clause by clause had approved only 15 of the 51 clauses.
André Morin, the Liberal member of the committee examining Bill 1, noted the legislation was in trouble from the start.
“The minister is responsible for his failure,” Morin told reporters, noting a committee of experts had recommended a vast consultation process before the government presented its bill.
That never happened.
“There was thus a deficit of legitimacy from the start,” Morin said. “Need I remind you that a founding document like a constitution requires the participation of citizens? Don’t forget a constitution belongs to the people, including the First Nations and Innu.”
He added that the Liberals are in favour of a Quebec constitution, “but not created in the way the minister proceeded.”
The Gazette’s On Quebec Politics newsletter by Andy Riga breaks down key election issues, from polling shifts to legislative manoeuvring to ideas circulating in francophone commentary that don’t make it into English-language coverage.
To sign up, visit this page and check the box labelled “On Quebec Politics” before providing your email address.