Pauline Marois wrapped up the two day PQ conference with a speech that had delegates giving her a standing ovation.
Marois came down hard on the Supreme Court's recent decison to that Bill 104 was unconstitutional.
" We have a message for the Supreme Court," she said "it's the Canadian Constitution that doesn't suit Quebec."
The controversial law closed a loophole in the province's French Language Charter.
The loophole allowed children who attended private English schools for a short period of time to then
register into the English public system .
And the PQ went even further insisting that Bill 101 should be extended to include pre-schools and CEGEP's.
But not all delegates were behind the hard-line tactics." I want to protect the French language but don't want this to be a war on English and a war on anglophones." he said.
The 500 delegates came to a consensus on several subjects :
- Non-subsidized private schools should fall into Bill 101's law restricting access to English-language schools for newcomers to the province, members at the 500-strong meeting at Palais des Congres agreed.
- Bill 101 needs to be updated and reinforced to send non-Anglophones to French Cegeps and the children of new immigrants to French daycare to aid in their integration.
The PQ insists this is not a fight with English-speaking Quebecers and
they promised to guarantee rights to the anglophone community.
"We say we have a way to live together in Quebec and it is important to introduce these values, which are our values in the Quebec charter of rights and freedoms," she said
The PQ will propose changes to the charter of rights in the National Assembly this week.
Comments
Let Quebec build a one hundred foot wall around the province and protect itself from the evils of English. If all that the Quebecers can do is navel gaze, then they won't know where they are going. The quicker Quebec leaves Canada the better for the rest of Canada. This SPECIAL status because I am french is bull and the rest of us in Canda should be protected from it (maybe) by telling Quebec to leave.
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