Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather could face long-term backlash for voting against Bill C-13, as he was the only Liberal and only Member of Parliament to do so, says Professor Daniel Béland. The language legislation was approved by a vote of 300-1, and is now before the Senate, where the Quebec Community Groups Network says several portions of the bill will hopefully be reconsidered.
Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather stood against the tide by voting “No” to Bill C-13 yesterday – the only MP in the House of Commons to do so. “It’s difficult to go against your own party, but he stuck with his principles and that’s admirable,” says QCGN President Eva Ludvig.
QCGN President Eva Ludvig thanks the Liberal MPs who “have been very courageous and taking political risk” by defending Quebec’s English-speaking during the study of Bill C-13.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on the receiving end of three formal complaints filed with the federal commissioner of official languages after speaking only French despite English questions at a town hall meeting Tuesday night in Sherbrooke, Que.”
Following the town hall meeting in Sherbrooke, prime minister Justin Trudeau presented some excuses in a press conference saying in retrospect that he could have answered in English during the meeting. His decision to speak only French struck a nerve with members of the English-speaking community in the Eastern Townships.
Reactions from Gerald Cutting, president of the Townshippers’ Association, and James Shea, president of the QCGN, commented by saying how shocking Trudeau’s stance was, even to French-speaking Quebecers. Anthony Housefather, Liberal MP for Mount Royal, considers the event as an anomaly to Trudeau’s “long history of standing up for official bilingualism.”
The QCGN is funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.
