Minister of Justice to table draft Quebec constitution to protect ‘our values, our rights, & our identity’

The Minister of Justice and Canadian Relations, Simon Jolin-Barrette, will table his draft constitution for Quebec in the coming days to “strengthen” the province’s autonomy and institutions.

“This constitution will be both the mirror and the shield of the Quebec nation. A reflection of Quebec as we received it from the generations that preceded us and as it must be tomorrow: proud, strong, and united,” Simon Jolin-Barrette stated in a video posted on the social network X late Monday.

Un projet de Constitution pour protéger, renforcer et rassembler la nation québécoise sera déposé au cours des prochains jours. pic.twitter.com/mccJjLIs0h

— Simon Jolin-Barrette (@SJB_CAQ) October 6, 2025

The minister describes the constitution as “the law of laws.”

“It brings together in a single document all the principles and foundations of a state,” he added.

This initiative follows the work of the Advisory Committee on Constitutional Issues, which submitted its report last November.

The first recommendation of this report was to provide Quebec with a constitution with the aim of increasing the province’s autonomy within Canada.

“You know how important our autonomy is to us, especially to defend our language and our values. So, that’s what the constitution will address a lot,” Premier François Legault said Monday at a press briefing in Quebec City.

“No impact”

The Parti Québécois (PQ) does not want a Quebec constitution “written in a vacuum by Simon Jolin-Barette, without consultation and for strictly partisan purposes.”

“This CAQ government has accustomed us to shoddy work and a lot of electioneering. (…) We cannot let Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette do the same thing with the constitution, which is the fundamental law of a country,” PQ MNA Pascal Paradis said in a press release Monday.

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon asserts that a Quebec constitution within Canada “will have no impact.”

“It only makes sense if it becomes the fundamental law of a new country, thus getting rid of the outdated Canadian constitution of 1867,” he stated.

For its part, the PQ is committed to implementing “a transitional constitution upon taking power.”

This will then lead to “consultations with other parties, civil society, and First Nations with a view to developing Quebec’s permanent constitution, once Quebec’s independence is declared.”

The PQ is expected to make its constitutional proposal public in the coming weeks as part of the presentation of the chapters of its blue book.

It should be noted that the PQ, which is leading the way in voting intentions, has assured that it will hold a referendum during its first mandate.

Lagging behind in the polls a year before the next election, the Coalition avenir Québec wants to bring identity issues back to the forefront.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews