Au cours des deux dernières semaines, le député libéral de Mont-Royal s’est adressé à ses concitoyens dans les pages du Point d’Outremont. À ces deux occasions, Pierre Arcand l’a fait en anglais seulement, lui dont la circonscription compte davantage de francophones (29% selon le recensement de 2001) que d’anglophones (21%). Considère-t-il que c’est là une façon de promouvoir le français en tant que langue commune des Québécois auprès des 49% d’allophones de Mont-Royal? Dans son édition du 15 novembre dernier, Le Point publiait un texte dans lequel le député Arcand critique l’intention de l’ADQ d’abolir les commissions scolaires. Pour ce faire, il se porte longuement à la défense des commissions scolaires anglophones et des droits constitutionnels de la communauté anglophone en cette matière. Mais le mutisme total du député à propos des commissions scolaires francophones en dit long sur sa perception de son mandat.
Une semaine plus tôt, Le Point nous présentait un autre texte unilingue anglais de Pierre Arcand (« The Parti Québécois unmasked ! », 1er novembre), cette fois au sujet du projet de loi 195 sur la citoyenneté québécoise présenté par le PQ de Pauline Marois. Le député s’en prend au projet de loi péquiste en soutenant faussement qu’il « vise à créer un certificat de citoyenneté québécoise visant à limiter le droit de vote (…) aux seules personnes capables de s’exprimer en français » (traduit de l’anglais) alors qu’il s’agit plutôt du droit de se porter candidat à une élection. On peut disserter longuement sur l'utilité d'une citoyenneté québécoise à l'intérieur du Canada. Néanmoins, Comment ne pas être consterné de lire Pierre Arcand soutenir que le projet Marois « cible spécifiquement les nombreuses personnes ayant fui des dictatures pour refaire leur vie dans un pays de libertés, une terre ou le droit de vote est un devoir et non un privilège » (traduit de l’anglais), alors que c’est la loi sur la citoyenneté canadienne qui conditionne le droit de vote à la connaissance d’une des langues officielles ? Est-ce donc le Canada que le député de Mont-Royal accuse d’user de ce qu’il qualifie de « pratique répressive » et de « mesure oppressive » ?
Le député Arcand continue de s’exposer à l’effet boomerang en reprochant au projet de loi 195 du PQ de créer « deux classes de citoyenneté, l’une avec le droit de vote et l’autre sans, sur la seule base des connaissances linguistiques ». En effet, en matière d'assimilation des immigrants, l'anglais dans le « Rest of Canada » agit comme un véritable rouleau compresseur. Selon le recensement de 2001, les allophones qui abandonnent leur langue maternelle le font au profit de l'anglais dans une proportion ahurissante de 99,6 %. À l'inverse, les transferts linguistiques des allophones du Québec vers le français ne sont que de 46 %. Par conséquent, en exigeant la connaissance du français ou de l'anglais, les dispositions de la loi canadienne sur la citoyenneté (et donc sur le droit de vote) garantissent en pratique que les nouveaux citoyens vivant au Canada anglais connaissent la langue de Shakespeare mais pas du tout que ceux installés au Québec savent parler français. N' y a-t-il pas là création de deux classes de nouveaux citoyens canadiens, soit ceux qui parlent la langue majoritaire de leur province d’adoption et ceux qui ne la parlent pas?
Si on choisit de nier ce fait et d'affirmer que la loi canadienne assure autant la connaissance du français par les nouveaux citoyens du Québec que celle de l'anglais par ceux des autres provinces, alors le projet Marois ne retire à personne le droit d’être candidat et ne crée donc pas deux classes de citoyens. Voilà bien la démonstration par l'absurde du l'iniquité du régime actuel à l'égard du Québec, ce dont le projet Marois nous prémunirait. Et les chantres du Canada qui, comme le député Arcand, se déchaînent démagogiquement contre l'initiative péquiste donnent de la substance à cette métaphore voulant que parfois, on voit la paille dans l'oeil de son voisin mais pas la poutre qui est dans le sien.
Christian Gagnon

Montréal

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Opinion: ADQ displayed ignorance
Le Point d'Outremont, 16 novembre 2007
Once again, the ADQ and its leader,
Mario Dumont, have displayed
remarkable ignorance in a policy
field which affects all Quebecers and particularly
those in the English-speaking
community.
On the pretext of the recent school board
elections, Mr. Dumont is demanding that
school boards be abolished and that their
responsibilities be transferred to municipalities.
His position is based on the premise
that school boards no longer serve a useful
purpose, that they are disconnected from
the concerns of parents and the local population
and that other structures such as
municipalities can better manage the delivery
of services.
The ADQ position is fundamentally flawed
and if implemented, would result in a
major disservice to the education system
in general and the English language system
in particular.
Over the years, the English language
school boards have developed and refined
a number of programs that respond to the
wishes and needs of the community. One
has only to look at the number of French
Immersion programs, International
Studies programs, Sports programs and
programs linked to the integration of special
needs students to realize that significant
progress has been made by our school
system to respond to the needs of parents
and the communities they serve.
To a large extent these achievements
would not have occurred if individual
English language schools had been left on
their own without support from a regional
structure i.e. school boards to provide the
necessary resources and with a view to
ensuring that all students across a given
territory are entitled to a range of educational
services in their language.
It is not difficult to imagine the chaos
which would result from the ADQ position.
With English language school boards
eliminated, individual schools would be
left to battle with local municipalities (350
schools and 100,000 students spread out
over 1,200 municipalities) to maintain and
repair school buildings and organize and
operate school transportation for the
60,000 students in the English system currently
transported on a daily basis across
Québec. Small schools (over 40% of
English language schools in Québec have
200 or fewer students) would no longer be
ensured equitable access to specialized
services and resources for students with
special needs or for students wishing to
pursue technical-vocational or adult education
programs.
The ADQ position is also a direct frontal
attack on the constitutional rights of the
English language community in Québec.
The Canadian Charter provides certain
guarantees for Canada’s linguistic minorities
to exercise meaningful control and
management of their school systems. Over
the past several decades, various court
rulings, including the Supreme Court of
Canada, have confirmed that section 23 of
the Charter must be applied by the provinces
in a manner which allows linguistic
minorities to preserve and nurture their
school systems consistent with the values
and traditions of the minority community.
In proposing to eliminate English language
school boards – elected by and managed
by the English speaking communities
across Québec – Mr. Dumont and the ADQ
are effectively attempting to abrogate one
of the most important collective guarantees
the English-speaking community has.
Rather than embarking on the simplistic,
naive and dangerous route proposed by the
ADQ, the Québec Liberal government has
recognized that there is a need for a
serious and comprehensive review of our
school boards with the goal of making
them more effective and reinforcing a relationship
of greater dialogue and mutual
confidence with parents and the general
public. It is in this spirit that the Minister
of Education has started a process involving
all interested parties to identify ways
and means of strengthening the vital links
between school boards and the communities
they serve.
At the end of the day, the ADQ position
not only achieves nothing in terms of
addressing the needs of our school system,
it constitutes a huge step backwards for the
English-speaking communities across
Québec. Rather than throwing the baby
out with the bath water, our government
has acted responsibly and in full recognition
of the importance of the English-speaking
community to sustain and improve its
educational institutions.
Pierre Arcand, MNA Mount-Royal
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The Parti Québécois unmasked!
Le Point d'Outremont, 1er novembre 2007
Last week, in the National Assembly, the
new leader of the Parti Québécois, Pauline
Marois tabled a Bill. The purposes of this
Bill are to create a Citizenship Certificate
of Quebec, to limit your right to vote, to
limit your right to be a candidate and to
limit your right to finance a political party,
to only those who can speak French.
I readily recognize the legitimacy of
ensuring that all residents of Quebec speak
French. This is very laudable. But the onus
must be put on incentive measures and not
on coercive laws. When madame Marois
and the PQ act in such a repressive manner
before an election you must shudder at
what they are capable of after a referendum
win.
The measures proposed are oppressive
and target specifically many people who
escaped from dictatorships to set up life in
a country of freedoms, a land where the
right to vote is an obligation not a privilege,
a land where the freedom of actions
and speech are undeniable rights. All of a
sudden, these people would be thrown
back into the exact situation they escaped?
That they would find themselves in a system
that legislates two classes of citizenship,
one with the right to vote and the
other without, based solely on language
skills?
Quebec has an enviable reputation for our
electoral laws throughout the world. So
much so that we are regularly solicited to
supervise elections in many countries to
ensure the fairness of the democratic process.
What are we to tell these countries: «
Do what we say and not what we do »? or
« It’s good for you but not for us »?
Is this the PQ’s definition of a Free
Quebec? Does a Free Quebec mean free to
restrict liberties? Free to impose conditions
of all sorts on our liberties? Free to
choose who will be free and who will not?
For my part, Mrs Marois, I tell you freely,
not in my society!
Mont-Royal riding is the perfect example
of the new Quebec, people from diverse
origins working together with respect and
harmony to help develop our society. After
the ADQ’s divisive policies, here the PQ
shows its true colors, more divisions. Our
people will not accept such an attempt on
our liberties and we, of the Quebec Liberal
Party will continue to fight for our values
and the respect of individual rights.

Pierre Arcand, MNA Mount-Royal