Bloc Québécois Fail To Pass The Motion On Quebec’s Proposed Constitutional Amendments

The Bloc Québécois has reportedly failed to unanimously pass a motion recognizing Quebec’s right to unilaterally change the Constitution in line with the proposed reforms to the province’s language law.

On Wednesday, Yves-Francois Blanchet tabled a motion in the House of Commons asking the lawmakers to recognize that right but confronted a single critical nay from a lone member of the Parliament.

Independent MP Jody Wilson-Raybould destroyed the unanimity that was required for a motion tabled without official notice.

In a Twitter post that was posted a few minutes later, she stated that the political partnership and the pandering have led lawmakers to abandon the core legal norms and debate on the constitutional issues.

She further said that as a proud woman she is always ready to discuss Nationhood and language and called the party’s deference to the Bloc dismaying.

Blanchet’s motion looked to clear a path for the House recognition of Premier Francois Legault’s move to amend the country’s supreme law by affirming Quebec as a nation with French as its official language.

The legislation which is known as Bill 96 has stirred up debate as the experts fret that the constitutional acknowledgment of a distinct society would push the courts to interpret laws differently in Quebec or could even hand it to a greater provincial power.

The experts say that the constitutional tweaks require approval from the House of Commons and Senate, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that the initial Justice Department analysis has concluded the province can now go ahead with the changes.

Blanchet said that he still believes that a vast majority of the parliamentarians support the motion.

And in response to Wilson-Raybould’s comment, Blanchet said that they must not always say that somebody who does not agree with one or the other does so only on a partisan basis.

Furthermore, Blanchet plans to retable the motion for debate and a recorded vote on the Bloc’s next opposition day.

On Wednesday, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said that Quebec’s proposed changes to the Constitution are purely symbolic and shall not impact the Canadians outside the province, and called the modifications as important but uncontroversial.

In the House, Trudeau cited that Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s motion back in 2006 recognized that the Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada and that remains their position even though more than a dozen Liberals have voted against the motion 15 years ago.

The reform bill comes at a particularly sensitive time for fraught issues like cultural identity in Quebec, which is a key battleground for all the five parties ahead of a possible election this year.

The Federalist leaders remain wary of the alienating French speakers who have made up approximately 80% of Quebec’s population while the Blanchet aims to tap into the French-Canadian nationalism to encourage his third-place standing in the Commons.

On top of the constitutional provisions, Bill 96 includes stricter sign laws and even stronger language requirements for businesses.