With the recent landslide win by the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) in the provincial election, it’s time for the party to clarify some of it’s promises from the campaign.
The Caquists made several wide-ranging promises to voters that targeted everything from the province’s acceptance of immigrants to abolishing school boards.
One of the policy planks that received the most attention was party leader Francois Legault’s suggestion of scaling back the number of immigrants the province accepts from 50,000 to 40,000, or 20 per cent.
One of the most prominent aspects of this policy is the imposition of both a values test and a French language test for new immigrants.
Legault has said that if a person fails either of those tests, they would be removed from the province.
It’s unclear how Legault would go about deporting people. Does he expect that they would be deported from the country or simply the province? Since the Quebec government doesn’t have the authority to deport residents, would it be up to the federal government? Would the federal government comply?
All of these questions are central to how the policy will work. The unfortunate thing is that we have no answers.
Legault has been vague when asked about how those who fail the tests will be deported.
He’s suggested that the government will put in place programs to help people learn French in order to pass the tests. However, it’s still unclear how strenuous the test will be.
Several newcomers to Quebec have said in the media recently that there are enough incentives to learn French beyond the government threatening deportation.
One would think that the ability to find a good job or converse with your neighbours would be more of an incentive to learn French than a vague threat from the provincial government – especially one that it can’t even enforce.
Another policy plank of the CAQ was to ban public servants from wearing religious symbols.
Legault even went as far as saying that he would invoke the notwithstanding clause in order to get the law passed.
Again, it’s unclear what this legislation would look like.
If public servants can no longer wear things like hijabs and turbans, will the province also ban a longstanding symbol of Quebec identity: the crucifix?
Right now, in the National Assembly, a crucifix hangs over the speaker’s chair. Will this religious symbol also be relegated to the dust bin?
It’s the height of hypocrisy for a government to negate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in order to pass legislation that would ban the wearing of religious symbols – all under the watchful eye of arguably the most Christian of symbols.
Another hot-button issue, especially for Anglophones, was the CAQ promise to abolish school boards.
Many people in the English-speaking community have expressed worry at what might happen to English education options in the province if the CAQ does abolish school boards.
Again, the CAQ has been extremely vague in explaining what the alternative will look like.
“Our goal will be to modernize this system by transforming these outdated structures into service centres for schools, organizations whose mission is to support schools rather than run them directly,” the party says on its website.
Despite the poorly-worded English and catchy buzz words, there is zero substance in this explanation.
Legault keeps saying that school boards will be replaced with “service centres,” a term that evokes images of getting an oil change more than sending your kids to school.
Legault’s party – which has never held power before – looks more like a dog who’s spent years chasing cars, only to finally catch one and have no idea what to do with it.
Chris Lowrey
