Fight for minority languages could spark new Quebec political party

When the CAQ government tabled Bill 96 last May, Colin Standish of Sherbrooke, Que., created a task force bringing together English, Indigenous and minority-language speakers to oppose the province's plan to overhaul its language laws.

Nearly a year later, the law graduate, who once considered running for the federal Liberals, has formed a new group — the Exploratory Committee on Political Options — to see if his language-protest movement has enough support to launch a new provincial political party.

"Minority communities in Quebec, English speakers have been abandoned by our political elite — that includes the Liberal Party of Quebec," Standish told CBC.

"Right now there really needs to be a new voice at the National Assembly."

With the provincial election looming in October, Standish knows he doesn't have much time. He and his team have formed a website to gauge how many people share their vision, and he says so far, support has been "overwhelming." The group will decide whether it launches Quebec's 22nd political party in the coming months.

"Certainly a focus on minority rights and language rights is critical to what we plan to do," said Standish. "But to make sure, we're putting together a constructive narrative that can involve all Quebecers, including francophones, Indigenous [people] and newcomers."

Whether or not Standish decides to launch a new party, Quebec Liberal leader Dominique Anglade has taken notice.

"I think the party that can be trusted in terms of defending the rights of minorities is definitely the Liberal Party," she said at the National Assembly Wednesday morning.

"You cannot take anything for granted, but at the same time we can be very confident. [We] feel that in all the steps that we've taken, we've done the work really diligently."

Standish is concerned that Quebec's Bill 96 and Canada's Bill C-32, which would make changes to the Official Languages Act, will chip away at people's rights, because both bills propose amendments to the Constitution.

He's also "vehemently opposed" to Bill 21, Quebec's ban on religious symbols for people in positions of authority, and against the CAQ's replacement of school boards with service centres. Standish feels opposition parties haven't done enough to push back against laws that are harmful to minority groups and in some cases have even helped push those policies through.

"The Liberal Party of Quebec, their only solution to Bill 21 is to not renew the notwithstanding clause in two years' time," he said. "That's not sufficient for Quebecers to have their basic rights and freedoms respected."

This wouldn't be the first time the language debate in Quebec has changed the political map in Quebec.

Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa lost a lot of support from Quebec's anglophone and non-French speaking communities during his first term, when he passed Bill 22 in 1974, making French the province's official language.