Media mogul and newly-elected MNA Pierre Karl Peladeau has written an essay arguing that Quebec should fly the provincial flag at half-mast today and every other April 17 to mourn the signing of the Constitution Act by all provinces except Quebec on this date 32 years ago.

Peladeau, a major shareholder in the Quebecor empire founded by his father, opted to have his 1,300-word essay published in rival La Presse Thursday. 

Peladeau argues that the patriation process was not legit, citing historian Frederick Bastien's claims that two of the nine Supreme Court judges shared confidential information with Ottawa and London.

All provincial premiers went along with Pierre Trudeau’s initiative to repatriate the constitution except Quebec premier Rene Levesque in 1982.

Peladeau says that the resultant Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has encouraged bilingualism and multiculturalism, which has, in turn “opened the door to systematic attacks against two fundamental achievements of the Quiet Revolution: the affirmation of the French fact and secularism.”

“This file is not closed,” writes Peladeau, “in this regard, we collectively have a memory, which could be illustrated by the lowering of our fleur-de-lys flag every April 17.”

It was not immediately known whether Quebecor offices had any flags at half-mast on Thursday.