Québec Premier François Legault has introduced a draft constitution for the province in the legislature. The problem is, Canadian provinces are not supposed to have individual constitutions, and the government did not ask the people what they wanted in the constitution.
Nowhere in the British North America Act, Canada’s original constitution, and the updated version patriated with Québec’s opposition in 1982 does it say a province can have its own constitution. The unpopular Legault is using the proposed constitution to shore up right-leaning nationalist support in advance of the 2026 provincial election. He claims it is a way for Québec to affirm its national character, but it’s really about politics.
For decades, Québec has been able to very easily assert its national identity without a constitution. The legislature is officially called the National Assembly. The Sûreté du Québec is sometimes promoted as the national police force of Québec (enforcing Canadian criminal law). Supposed federalist Stephen Harper even had the House of Commons adopt a resolution calling Québec a nation when he was Prime Minister of Canada.
In history, constitutions were generally established through a series of conventions and conferences, not by bureaucrats in an office drafting a bill. A proper constitution is developed with the participation of citizens from all areas of society and takes months, even years to develop.
Legault’s proposed constitution declares Québec as a secular society and rejects Canadian multiculturalism in favour of integration. It also would allow the Lieutenant Governor to be appointed by the Premier, rather than the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada as is the proper Canadian constitutional process. Nobody was consulted about secularism and multiculturalism, and having the Premier appoint the Governor General is not even legal. A subnational jurisdiction like a province cannot have a constitution that overrides the national constitution. The federal government has the constitutional right to void provincial legislation, and it should do so with Legault’s so-called constitution if it becomes law.
It is an unpopular suggestion because the political radiation is still dangerous around the legacy of the failed Charlottetown and Meech Lake accords, and the 1982 patriation of the national constitution without Québec’s consent; But to prevent the Canadian federation from becoming even more fractious as provinces like Québec and Alberta show aspirations of autonomy, it is time for constitutional reform for all of Canada. Perhaps if our national constitution finally recognized Quebec’s uniqueness—and the uniqueness of other distinct populations, the discontent at the provincial level would subside.
As for Premier Legault, he should concentrate on more serious issues in Québec like getting doctors for the two million Québec residents who do not have one and ending the inhumane waiting times at hospital emergency departments. Or, how about rebuilding some of those highways with a moonscape surface?
