{"id":922884,"date":"2026-10-06T14:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922884\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T14:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:54:15","slug":"heres-what-paul-st-pierre-plamondon-has-promised-english-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922884\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s what Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has promised English-speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the election campaign, Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader and premier-elect Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has remained on message when it comes to the province\u2019s anglophone community \u2014 a message enunciated unequivocally in the PQ\u2019s Livre Bleu<\/a>, its blueprint for an independent Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe anglophone community is a historic and fundamental component of the Quebec nation,\u201d the Livre Bleu says. \u201cQuebec independence never has been nor ever will be a project of \u2018revenge\u2019 on the anglophone minority, on the contrary: independence seeks to build a new model founded on social peace and the idea that we are all Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois.\u201d<\/p>\n

The passage continues by noting that \u201cmany rights of the anglophone community that now exist will be constitutionalized (in an independent Quebec), even in a transitional constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Livre Bleu permits English in the courts and in National Assembly debates. Additionally, it guarantees anglophones access to English-language education \u201cfrom kindergarten to university\u201d as provided by law; management of their schools; and access to health and social services in English where resources allow. Those protections could not be altered without \u201cthe consent of the anglophone community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PQ, led by St-Pierre Plamondon, has no quarrel with anglophones, the document asserts, but with a federal system the party contends has routinely overridden the province\u2019s jurisdiction and aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all in the same boat,\u201d the PQ leader said in an open letter published in the National Post in August. \u201cI am convinced that we all share this assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past months, many Anglo-Quebecers have told me they would vote for the Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois (PQ) for the first time in their lives, simply because they agree with our stances on a vast majority (of) issues. Underneath that pledge is also the fact the Anglos don\u2019t fear the PQ anymore, since Anglos and Francos share the same realities and concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic discourse has too often encouraged the mistaken belief that the concerns of French-speaking and English-speaking Quebecers are fundamentally at odds. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all in the same boat. We live under the same institutions. We pay the same taxes. We deserve the same high-quality public services and individual financial well-being\u2026we would be wrong to believe that our interests somehow diverge simply because of the language we speak at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, St-Pierre Plamondon stood up for the \u201cfundamental right\u201d of anglophone voters<\/a> to receive their mailed-in election documentation in both of Canada\u2019s official languages.<\/p>\n

The provisions of language law Bill 96, adopted by the government of then-premier Fran\u00e7ois Legault and then endorsed by his successor Christine Fr\u00e9chette, were cited by \u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec for its decision to have anglophone voters use a QR code provided with their French-only mailouts<\/a> to access detailed voting information online in English.<\/p>\n

St-Pierre Plamondon told reporters that he didn\u2019t \u201csee the point\u201d in banning bilingual election documentation, comparing it to bilingual legal documents used in Quebec courts. And during a press conference held on the eve of the provincial election<\/a>, the PQ leader told reporters his party was \u201copen\u201d to removing some of Bill 96\u2019s \u201cred tape,\u201d an observation that was part of an appeal to anglophones not to automatically vote for the Quebec Liberal Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce there was a columnist who wrote: \u2018better crooks than separatists\u2019; we need to get rid of that thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview Saturday<\/a>, St-Pierre Plamondon singled out one Bill 96 provision he would revisit: the requirement that employees of English-speaking institutions make their internal emails bilingual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just pure nonsense that doesn\u2019t lead to any durability of the French language,\u201d he told The Gazette. \u201cIt\u2019s just making people\u2019s lives miserable for no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, a PQ government would apply the Charter of the French Language to CEGEPs. St-Pierre Plamondon said the goal is to steer more francophones toward French colleges rather than restrict access to English ones.<\/p>\n

It would also extend secularism law Bill 21\u2019s ban on religious symbols<\/a> to elementary and high school students. And the PQ remains committed to holding an independence referendum during its first mandate, although not before U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029.<\/p>\n

What the PQ says it would do<\/p>\n

As government:<\/p>\n

Scrap Bill 96 measures it considers useless, such as the bilingual internal email rule<\/p>\n

Ensure voters can access election materials in English as well as French<\/p>\n

Extend French-language charter rules to CEGEPs<\/p>\n

Extend the religious symbols ban to elementary and high school students<\/p>\n

In an independent Quebec, per the Livre Bleu:<\/p>\n

Refrain from reducing existing anglophone rights<\/p>\n

Allow English in the courts and in National Assembly debates, as well as access to English education and health services <\/p>\n

Keep human rights laws intact<\/p>\n

Guarantee funding for anglophone cultural institutions<\/p>\n

Allow dual citizenship, so people can keep their Canadian passports<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout the election campaign, Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois leader and premier-elect Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has remained on message when it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-922884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922884","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=922884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}