SHERBROOKE \u2014 English-speaking members of the Quebec Liberal caucus have endorsed their leader\u2019s plan to launch a new offensive shoring up the position of the French language.<\/p>\n
And the party plans to go into the next election selling the return of freedom of choice when it comes to access to the English CEGEP system. <\/p>\n
The move would open the door to more francophones and allophones who today have limited access to English CEGEPs under the rules of Bill 96<\/a>. adopted in 2022.<\/p>\n The exact percentages or formula the party will propose remains unknown.<\/p>\n One day after Charles Milliard<\/a> raised expectations by saying the new Liberal language policy in the works<\/a> will do a \u201cbetter\u201d job of protecting French than eight years of Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec policy-making, MNAs closed ranks on Saturday.<\/p>\n English-speaking MNAs got aboard, too, arguing they can sell more French language policies to their community despite years of animosity toward the CAQ\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can find a balance,\u201d said Elisabeth Prass, the Liberal MNA for the riding of D\u2019Arcy McGee at a party general council meeting in Sherbrooke on Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of respect. It\u2019s a question of respecting the French language and respecting the anglophone community and English-speaking rights.<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t easy. I\u2019m not going to pretend there is a magic solution, but that\u2019s what our responsibility is.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want coercive measures, so we don\u2019t want to force things on anglophones and allophones. We want to make it encouraging, we want them to want to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018The anglophone community has a role to play for the protection and promotion of the French language, and I believe we will be contributing to that,\u201d said Westmount\u2014Saint-Louis MNA Jennifer Maccarone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not putting the anglophones aside. It\u2019s including them in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n Maccarone said she fully agrees with Milliard\u2019s position that Quebec needs to jump-start its language policies because the CAQ\u2019s approach has flopped.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, French is in decline,\u201d Maccarone said. \u201cThe anglophone community also has a role to play. We (Quebec) will need broader measures to ensure we protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n Maccarone noted that the English-speaking community is more and more bilingual and \u201cwants to be part of the discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be left out or kept at bay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are part of the solution,\u201d said Notre-Dame-de-Gr\u00e2ce MNA Desir\u00e9e McGraw. \u201cThe promotion and protection of the French language is a common objective, of all Quebecers.\u201d<\/p>\n She quoted an Angus Reid poll saying 95 per cent of anglophones want French to be protected.<\/p>\n McGraw said \u201ccertain indicators\u201d reveal a decline in the status of French.<\/p>\n \u201cI think N.D.G. and the English-speaking community more broadly will support more positive measures to protect French \u2014 positive, inclusive and effective measures rather than punitive and restrictive ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are 100 per cent behind him (Milliard), so reports of angryphones and anglophone caucus members not supporting him are simply not true.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no infighting,\u201d Prass added. \u201cThere\u2019s no English caucus. There\u2019s one caucus and one united caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n But party insiders say they know the plan will require a big sell after previous efforts to rally nationalists and the anglophone minority, particularly under the leadership of Dominque Anglade<\/a>, hit turbulence<\/p>\n Andr\u00e9 Pratte, the chair of the party\u2019s national policy committee<\/a> charged with preparing the platform it will use in the fall election, said he believes it is possible to square the circle.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what the English-speaking committee wants is that their rights are respected, that their institutions are respected,\u201d Pratte told reporters covering the council.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a commitment that has always been part of the approach of the Quebec Liberal Party and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratte steered away from past incidents when the English-speaking community felt wronged by the party \u2014 particularly in the Bill 96 adoption process when the Liberals made many concessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is English-speaking Quebecers understand the importance of protecting French in Quebec because it is a language in a unique position,\u201d Pratte said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut what they require is respect, as a community which built Quebec with francophones.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratte urged reporters to wait to see the new Liberal plan, but hinted it will take a much less coercive approach and favour more freedom of choice, particularly for adults when it comes to the language of higher education.<\/p>\n