Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette says it is 'clear that if Quebeckers wish to decide on constitutional issues concerning their future, it is the laws of the Quebec Parliament that apply.'Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Quebec political parties may not see eye-to-eye about a third referendum on independence, but Prime Minister Mark Carney has given them something they can agree on.
In Quebec City on Wednesday, politicians of all stripes denounced Mr. Carney’s comments about what it would take to win a referendum. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister said 50 per cent of votes plus one would not constitute a clear majority in a vote on separation.
Those are fighting words in Quebec, where there is broad agreement that a simple majority is enough to declare victory in a sovereignty referendum. While Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s decision to hold a vote on whether her province should remain in Canada has so far earned a muted response in Quebec, Mr. Carney’s comments have provoked a reaction.
“It is very clear that if Quebeckers wish to decide on constitutional issues concerning their future, it is the laws of the Quebec Parliament that apply,” Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette told reporters.
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Quebec’s provincial election is set for Oct. 5, two weeks before the referendum in Alberta. The Parti Québécois is currently favoured to win, and is promising to hold its own referendum on sovereignty within its first mandate.
Commentators were quick to point to the Prime Minister’s remarks as the latest in a series of unforced errors when it comes to Quebec. “It’s concerning to see Mr. Carney’s paternalism on this issue,” political analyst Antonine Yaccarini said. “His approach risks fuelling divisions.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Carney said the Clarity Act, which was passed after the 1995 Quebec referendum, will not apply to Alberta’s planned sovereignty vote. The law says the House of Commons must weigh in on the clarity of a referendum question and that a “clear majority” of the population must vote for separation to start negotiations on secession.
Mr. Carney said Alberta’s referendum does not trigger the act because the question will ask voters whether Alberta should remain in Canada, or start the legal process to hold a binding, second referendum on separation.
But in an answer to questions from a Bloc Québécois MP, Mr. Carney also said that a “clear majority,” which is not explicitly defined in the Clarity Act, “is not 50 per cent plus one.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers remarks during a commemorative ceremony honouring Canadian Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Paralympian and Olympian athletes during an event in Ottawa on Wednesday.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
On Wednesday, Quebec’s major political parties were united in their condemnation. The Quebec government opposed the 2000 passage of the Clarity Act and quickly countered with its own law stating that a referendum win requires only a simple majority.
“I find this troubling, and I find it unacceptable,” PQ MNA Alex Boissonneault told reporters. “Mark Carney is once again demonstrating just how out of touch he is with Quebec.”
Even Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard, who is painting himself as the only true federalist leader in the province, told reporters that a majority is 50 per cent plus one.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, however, Stéphane Dion, the former Liberal minister who tabled the Clarity Act, said it’s “absurd” to think a simple majority is enough for a province to separate. “Nobody with common sense would propose to negotiate such a huge, huge change as secession” with such a slim margin, he said.
The Prime Minister “did not make a mistake,” Mr. Dion said. “He would have made a mistake to say otherwise.”
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Mr. Carney has been accused of a series of faux pas in Quebec, most pointedly when he delivered a speech in Quebec City in January that referred to the defeat of French troops by the British on the Plains of Abraham more than 250 years ago as the beginning of a partnership.
These gaffes have so far not hurt him in the province, where he remains popular. Polls consistently show a majority of Quebeckers do not want a third referendum on independence.
But a “clueless” approach to Quebec could eventually catch up to him, according to Dimitri Soudas, a political analyst and former director of communications for prime minister Stephen Harper.
“Right now, he’s walking on water,” he said. “But when things hit the fan, if there’s a consistent accumulation of these missteps, then it becomes his brand.”
With a report from The Canadian Press