Carney pledges to defend French language & Bill 96 if it goes to Supreme Court

Liberal leader Mark Carney was in Montreal on Friday afternoon for a campaign stop and was asked—if elected—whether his party would defend the French language, including in the event that a challenge to Quebec’s language reform, known as Bill 96, made it to the Supreme Court.

Carney responded that his party prioritizes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“The Liberal Party is the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We will always defend the Charter,” said Carney. “We’ve made clear—I’ve made clear—that we will support the intervention at the Supreme Court and fully respect language rights. Let me also say that I understand, and we understand, the importance of reinforcing, promoting, and supporting the French language in Quebec. And there are many ways that we are doing that.”

Bill 96 was adopted in 2022 and introduced sweeping reforms to Quebec’s French language law known as Bill 101.

A group of citizens challenging the Bill 96 have repeatedly called on the federal government to intervene.

On Bill 21—Quebec’s religious symbols ban for public servants in positions of authority—the federal government has requested to be added as an intervener in that case at the Supreme Court. Carney said he would maintain that status.

“Our commitment is to ensure the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is respected and lived in this country,” said Carney. “But we are fundamentally concerned with promoting all identities and all lived identities in this country.”

BQ leader: ‘Mark Carney needs to be viewed with more suspicion’

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet posted to social media in response to Carney’s comments and said: “We already knew that the Liberals, if returned to power for a fourth time, would challenge Quebec secularism in the Supreme Court with money from Quebecers themselves. Now we have confirmation that they would do the same thing against Law 96 on French under Mark Carney. Is Mr. Trump’s threat becoming a pretext to weaken Quebec identity in the name of a Toronto leader’s Canadian multiculturalism? Mark Carney needs to be viewed with more suspicion.”