Columnist Allison Hanes minces no words, in an analysis and recap of positions taken by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), several outspoken federal Liberal MPS, and others on the new Official Languages Act: “English-speaking Quebecers shouldn’t be fooled” by Ottawa’s public packaging of Bill C-13, she writes.
All Quebecers of any linguistic background should be deeply concerned, francophones included. But it’s the Quebec Community Groups Network, the umbrella group that represents anglophone interests, that has been leading the charge. The QCGN is calling on English-speaking Quebecers — heck, all Quebecers — to turn up at a rally this Saturday in defiance of Premier François Legault’s brush-off that there hasn’t been any serious opposition to Bill 96.
Since winning power in 2018, Premier François Legault has become a much savvier leader, dialling down his divisive rhetoric from a few years back.
But that doesn’t mean he’s changed his stripes.
Now that he’s in charge, Legault is pretty much doing all the things he threatened to do when he was a raging populist, he’s just presenting it in a much more statesmanlike manner.
“The next Quebec election is still eight months away, but already it’s starting. The quadrennial flirtation between political parties and Quebec anglophones, that most awkward and unfulfilling of courtships, is upon us again.”
Montreal Gazette columnist Allison Hanes is asking Quebec’s political parties to do better if they hope to gain the vote of English-speaking Quebecers. Notably, Hanes presents Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault promises at a radio interview to CJAD’s Leslie Roberts as disconnected and the Quebec Liberals’ past actions on Bill 10, school boards reform and Bill 62 as far from heartfelt for the English-speaking community.
Hanes refers to an editorial board meeting with the Quebec Community Groups Network where the organization suggested the new Secretariat must be enshrined in law by the National Assembly. The QCGN said the secretariat is key to ensuring community interests are considered, especially by people in the civil service who draft policy and design programs.
The dust has settled since 10 independent members of the McGill University Health Centre’s board of directors quit in disgust two months ago, leaving a gaping hole in the governance of one of Montreal’s most important hospital networks and a major political problem for Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette.
After the mass resignation of 10 board members and a lukewarm explanation to the English-speaking community, Gaétan Barrette said he has a list of 20 candidates from which to strike a new board. However, Allison Hanes writes that it takes bravery for anyone to step up and fix the MUHC, especially after the tense and toxic relationship between Barrette and the last board.
The QCGN was caught in the crossfire when it was revealed they were working quietly behind the scenes to overhaul the board. She also hinted that Barrette should choose wisely MUHC board members so they have legitimacy in eyes of the English-speaking population, also that this new board should be a way to reset the situation in this institution.
The QCGN is funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.
