ADQ Leader Mario Dumont won't support a new Parti Québécois bill that would effectively strip immigrants of some rights unless they learn French.

The Parti Québécois tabled its Quebec identity act last week, which leader Pauline Marois said would foster Quebec citizenship.

PQ Leader Pauline Marois tabled a bill on Quebec identity at the provincial legislature last Thursday.
(Clément Allard/Canadian Press)

It includes several controversial measures including one that would prevent Quebecers from running for office or fundraise for political parties unless they passed a French test.

The ruling Liberal minority government immediately rejected the bill, but it could survive with the Action Démocratique du Québec's support.

But Dumont said the legislation is rough, flawed and most likely unconstitutional.

"I have a feeling they tabled … a document that wasn't well prepared, that wasn't ready, and that they did it simply because they wanted to show some muscle in front of the PQ's rank-and-file on Saturday, to convince them that something was going on with the party," Dumont said in French at a press conference Tuesday.

"We can't use the national assembly as a forum for trial balloons," he added.

The PQ held meetings on Saturday where Marois reaffirmed her commitment to the bill, defending it as a tool to ensure the future of the French language in Quebec.

Dumont said the legislation had some merit because it underlines the importance of French as the working language in Quebec, and drives home the point that immigrants eventually have to master it in order to thrive in the province.

He commended the PQ for creating debate on the issue, but said the best way to ensure immigrants learn how to speak and understand French is to provide adequate language lessons for newcomers.

Marois' bill is unconstitutional, according to several experts who weighed in on the legislation in reports published Tuesday.

The bill would violate Article 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which gives all citizens the right to run for federal and provincial elections, said several law professors quoted in reports published in Montreal newspaper La Presse.

Université de Montréal law professor Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens said citizenship is not symbolic, and the legislation essentially removes a fundamental democratic right guaranteed under the Canadian Constitution.

The legislation wouldn't just affect immigrants, but also Canadians who move to the province and only speak English, said Sébastien Grammond, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

Federal Liberals, NDP decry bill

Federal parties weighed in on the issue Tuesday, with the opposition Liberals and NDP blasting the proposed legislation and the Conservatives staying silent.

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn turned aside questions on the issue.

"That's their debate," Blackburn said, referring to provincial politicians.

Prime Minister Stephan Harper's office declined to comment.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion called it a sovereigntist plot to broaden the French-English split and increase the PQ's popularity. He urged Marois to withdraw the bill.

"Thankfully we have a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which prevents certain politicians from going off the rails like she has," Dion said.

NDP MP Tom Mulcair, who won his Outremont seat in September's federal byelection, denounced the bill, calling the party's proposal "shocking."

"It's again an indication that they're out there groping for something to hang on to," he said.

Mulcair said Quebec society has matured and accused the PQ of dredging up old issues.

"Quebecers are far more secure in their cultural identity … and I think that Madame Marois is playing in a black-and-white movie in an era where everyone is in high-definition colour TV."

With files from the Canadian Press