{"id":736428,"date":"2026-06-14T15:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/736428\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:35:31","slug":"quebec-constitution-bill-dies-ahead-of-provincial-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/736428\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec constitution bill dies ahead of provincial election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled the constitution last fall and called it the ‘mirror and shield of the Quebec nation.’ ‘I am very proud to have taken a bill to establish a Quebec constitution as far as it has ever gone,’ he said Thursday.Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Quebec government\u2019s attempt at creating a constitution died as it lived, mired in partisan manoeuvring and all but abandoned by everyone except its author.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette threw in the towel on what was supposed to be the province\u2019s \u201claw of laws,\u201d the capstone of former premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault\u2019s nationalist agenda.<\/p>\n

The constitution was intended to assert the distinct identity and culture of the Quebec nation. But far from rallying Quebeckers around a set of common values, the bill was condemned by hundreds of Quebec civil-society groups, who said it eroded human rights, and was denounced by First Nations leaders and almost every opposition party. <\/p>\n

Mr. Jolin-Barrette, who tabled the constitution last fall and called it the \u201cmirror and shield of the Quebec nation,\u201d fought for it through dozens of hours of committee hearings, as the opposition worked to stymie its progress. <\/p>\n

But in the end, Mr. Legault\u2019s successor, Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette, opted not to use the weight of her government\u2019s majority to force the bill through the National Assembly. The provincial legislature rises Friday ahead of an election set for the fall. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to protect our values and what makes Quebec a distinct nation is never a waste of time,\u201d Mr. Jolin-Barrette told reporters in Quebec City on Thursday, after conceding the bill would not pass. \u201cI owed it to the people of Quebec, who deserve a constitution in which they can see themselves reflected.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s proposed constitution emerged late in the government\u2019s second mandate, part of Mr. Legault\u2019s last-ditch effort to avoid political annihilation after his party collapsed in the polls. It defined a set of \u201cfounding principles,\u201d including secularism, equality between men and women, and the status of French as the only official language of Quebec. <\/p>\n

The bill, tabled in October, proposed amendments to the 1867 Constitution Act. It would have renamed Quebec\u2019s Lieutenant-Governor the Officer of Quebec and would have had the Quebec Premier recommend candidates for Senate and Supreme Court seats, part of an attempt to boost the province\u2019s autonomy. <\/p>\n

Mr. Legault billed the constitution as the culmination of his efforts to defend Quebec values, which include the province\u2019s first secularism law, Bill 21. The bill, passed in 2019, barred some public servants, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols on the job. <\/p>\n

But his government was immediately attacked for not having consulted widely before tabling such an important piece of legislation, and the opposition parties voted against its introduction in the legislature. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the outset, the bill lacked legitimacy,\u201d said Andr\u00e9 Morin, justice critic for the Quebec Liberals. <\/p>\n

Civil-liberties groups took issue with the constitution\u2019s emphasis on the \u201ccollective rights\u201d of the Quebec nation, including the right to protect \u201cits distinct culture, language and social values.\u201d <\/p>\n

The bill would have allowed the Quebec government \u201cto restrict the exercise of individual and minority rights and freedoms in the name of the so-called collective rights of the Quebec nation,\u201d said Paul-\u00c9tienne Rainville, human rights policy officer at the Ligue des droits et libert\u00e9s. <\/p>\n

Louis-Philippe Lampron, professor of human rights at Universit\u00e9 Laval, said the constitution was part of a strategy that began with Bill 21. <\/p>\n

The constitution bill also attracted widespread criticism for a clause that would have prevented publicly funded organizations from challenging laws deemed to protect \u201cthe fundamental characteristics of Quebec.\u201d It also would have enshrined the right to abortion, which women\u2019s rights groups opposed as they said it could open the door to legal challenges from anti-abortion advocates. <\/p>\n

Mr. Jolin-Barrette eventually backed down on both elements. He also consented to a public consultation at the legislative committee studying the bill. More than 300 groups and individuals made submissions.<\/p>\n

After Mr. Legault announced his resignation in January, the future of the constitution looked increasingly uncertain. Ms. Fr\u00e9chette, who is less closely linked to the nationalist wing of her party, seemed ambivalent. <\/p>\n

Through it all, the justice minister persevered. Last week, Mr. Jolin-Barrette sat in committee until well past 9 p.m. for three days straight, clearly frustrated and often combative, answering innumerable questions from opposition lawmakers intent on running out the clock. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it contributed to the legacy he wanted to leave behind or to a desire to make history,\u201d Prof. Lampron said. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, it wasn\u2019t enough. But the idea could resurface in this fall\u2019s election campaign, as Quebec politicians of various stripes have for decades proposed that the province should adopt a constitution. Mr. Morin said the Liberals support the idea. <\/p>\n

Daniel Turp, an emeritus professor in the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al\u2019s law faculty, said he hopes the project will be a priority for the next government. \u201cIt is important for a people to have a constitutional identity and a fundamental law,\u201d said Prof. Turp, who tabled a constitution bill in 2007 when he was a member of the legislature for the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.<\/p>\n

That sentiment was echoed on Thursday by Mr. Jolin-Barrette, who did not betray any disappointment. \u201cI am very proud to have taken a bill to establish a Quebec constitution as far as it has ever gone,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a significant step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled the constitution last fall and called it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-736428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}