The Quebec Bar Association says the Charter of Values proposed by the Parti Quebecois government would not hold up to even the mildest of legal challenges in a courtroom.
The Bar prepared a brief on Bill 60 for the parliamentary hearings currently taking place in Quebec City.
In the brief, the combined minds of Quebec's legal community tear the Charter of Values to shreds, calling it an unjustified and inapplicable law that would trample individual rights in order to promote an ill-conceived notion of "values."
The lawyers also say the Charter would violate not only the Canadian Constitution and the pre-existing Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but international treaties regarding civil liberties.
“There is a lack of documentation and facts,” said Johanne Brodeur, President of the province’s Bar Association. “That’s evident through the legislation.”
Bernard Drainville, the minister in charge of the Charter of Values, said regardless of what the Bar Association thinks, the Charter of Values is necessary.
“We do not have the same reading as the Bar, of Quebec’s reality,” he said, saying that the status quo is not acceptable in a changing Quebec.
“If it is good for the Canadian charter to express Canadian values, why isn’t it then good for the Quebec charter to reflect Quebec values?” Drainville said.
Liberal justice critic, Gilles Ouimet didn’t see things the same. “It is the specific responsibility [of the government] to make sure that no piece of legislation will contravene our charters,” he said.
The Bar Association was harshly critical of the PQ government for pushing forward with its divisive bill in the lack of any concrete evidence that is necessary.
CAQ critic Nathalie Roy seized on that point, saying that for several months many groups and individuals have been demanding the government provide some legal justification for its viewpoint, but that Drainville has repeatedly refused.
"We ask them to show the legal advice they received from the lawyers of the government and we have no answers about that. He doesn't want to show it," Roy said.
Those who oppose the Charter were very happy to learn that Quebec's Bar agrees with their position.
"I think that the Bar association this morning clearly stated that it's illegal. This PQ charter is illegal and that's a strong voice, a clear message," said Liberal MNA Marc Tanguay.
Meanwhile pundits say the provincial government knows its Charter would not hold up in court and doesn't care.
"The PQ have no interest in passing the Charter," said political analyst Don Macpherson. "They want to use this as an election issue."
The Bar association is expected to appear at the parliamentary hearings in February.
Quebec Bar Association Brief on Charter of Values
