Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez wants to sign Canadian constitution ‘one day’

The constitutional debate continues to stir in the National Assembly.

While Quebec Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez says he is open to signing the Canadian Constitution, Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon maintains the federal system is “illegitimate.”

“One day, when Quebec’s demands are accepted, yes. (…) It’s important because we are part of Canada, and I think it’s what Quebecers want,” Rodriguez said Tuesday at a news conference at the National Assembly.

The Liberal leader added, however, that it was not a priority for now.

Former Liberal premier Philippe Couillard also sought to have Quebec sign the Constitution, but his efforts failed. The Quebec Liberal Party later set the idea aside.

Rodriguez’s remarks drew criticism from the Coalition Avenir Québec.

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said he was “stunned” by the Liberal leader’s willingness to sign the Constitution.

“He is renouncing the legacy of Robert Bourassa, Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard. He is renouncing the legacy and history of the Quebec Liberal Party by saying he wants to sign a Canadian Constitution. Mr. Rodriguez is no longer in Ottawa, he is in Quebec City,” Jolin-Barrette said Tuesday in Quebec City.

“I think Mr. Rodriguez is making a strange choice. He is breaking with the past. It will be up to him to defend himself before Quebecers,” said Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge.

‘Purely colonial’ law

For his part, St-Pierre Plamondon said the federal system was “born of a British law, purely colonial in 1867, without the democratic consent of Quebecers.”

He noted that Quebec did not sign the Constitution when it was repatriated in 1982.

Asked whether he would comply with the federal Clarity Act if he holds a third referendum, St-Pierre Plamondon said, “It’s just not legitimate. I will not engage in maneuvers that are essentially designed to deny Quebecers their democratic right to self-determination.”

“Quebec has already responded to this Clarity Act. The National Assembly has reaffirmed its right to self-determination, and that comes from international law. It is the right of peoples to self-determination,” he said.

The Clarity Act, passed by the federal Liberals in 2000, states that in the event of a referendum on sovereignty, the House of Commons shall determine whether the question and the result are sufficiently clear.

In Ottawa, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also called the act “illegitimate.”

“If a No vote of 50 per cent plus one is a valid No, then a Yes vote of 50 per cent plus one is a valid Yes, regardless of what Stéphane Dion and others who danced around the fire of the stolen 1995 referendum may say,” Blanchet said Tuesday in the House of Commons.

Québec solidaire also considers the Canadian Constitution “illegitimate.”

“It was written in the office of a few misogynistic, patriarchal and very wealthy men. So it’s clear that it’s a totally illegitimate constitution, if only for the First Nations. They were despicably pushed aside,” said QS spokesperson Ruba Ghazal.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews