Pauline Marois is “radicalizing” the Parti Québécois with talk about imposing additional restrictions to education in English, Premier Jean Charest said Monday.
During a weekend meeting, PQ members debated whether access to English-language daycares and the province's junior college system, or CEGEP, should be limited.
Charest said Marois' willingness to discuss the idea shows she is taking the party to a new extreme.
"She is now ready to contemplate solutions that neither René Lévesque nor Lucien Bouchard, Jacques Parizeau, Bernard Landry were ready to contemplate,” the Liberal premier said.
Access to English-language education in Quebec, from primary grades through high school, is restricted to the children of those who have had a majority of their schooling at Canadian English-language schools.
Access to daycares and the CEGEPs is not restricted. Members of the PQ say too many immigrant and francophone students are enrolling in the English-language post-secondary institutions.
Charest was also critical of Marois for not making a clear commitment on the question.
"It is quite bizarre — she mobilizes people around this issue and she has no opinion," Charest said. "She is not going to say where she stands."
Marois promised instead to table a bill that would try to define the values of Quebecers. The bill would seek to affirm Quebec is a secular society, where French is the primary language and where people believe in equality between men and women, Marois said.
With files from The Canadian Press
