QUESTIONS TO THE PARTY LEADERS

THE LETTER 

Dear [Party Leader],

In preparation for the 2026 general election, TALQ consulted with its members and with organizations representing Quebec’s English-speaking community across the province to identify issues of particular importance to the community. Based on these consultations, we developed a short set of questions intended to give political parties an opportunity to clearly articulate their positions on these issues.

For your information, please find attached a copy of the questions TALQ sent to the leaders of the parties represented in the National Assembly on August 21, as part of our election outreach.

Our outreach was based on a straightforward criterion: parties with a sitting member of the National Assembly.

We would nevertheless be interested in hearing your party’s views on the issues raised in these questions, and are pleased to share them with you for your consideration. Should you wish to respond, we would appreciate receiving your responses by September 11, 2026, and ask that you respect the response-length guidelines outlined in the questions.

Sincerely,

THE QUESTIONS

In the absence of an English-language leaders’ debate, we at TALQ believe it is important to find ways to find a way to engage the English-speaking community of Quebec with the province’s political leadership as we head toward a general election on October 5. After consulting our member organizations and individual membership, we have developed this short list of questions we believe political leaders should address.

We are asking each party to respond directly to each of the priorities and questions below. Responses will be published in full by TALQ on its website, social media channels, and other communication tools. We ask that you follow the response-length guidelines below and respond specifically to the questions.

For the commitment questions, please indicate whether your party would make the commitment and provide a brief explanation of no more than 100-150 words. For Questions 2 and 3, responses should be no more than 250-300 words each, for an overall response of approximately 1,000-1,500 words. We are looking for responses to these specific questions rather than excerpts from existing party platforms.

QUESTION 1: If your party is elected, will it commit to taking the following measures during the 2026–2030 mandate?

1.a. Governance, rights and legislation

• Continue the process of adopting a Quebec constitution.
  • If so, would your party commit to undertaking a broad public consultation process before a constitutional text is drafted?
• Withdraw the appeal concerning Bill 40 before the Supreme Court of Canada, thereby protecting the existing constitutional guarantee concerning the management of English-language school boards by the minority-language community.
• Refrain from invoking Quebec or Canadian notwithstanding clauses pre-emptively in order to shield legislation from judicial review.

• Clarify the application of Bill 96 to ensure that municipalities can provide services in English to residents who request them.
• Ensure that the application of Bill 96 does not impede access to health and social services in English for those who request them.

• Do not apply the eligibility criteria under Bill 101 to adult education and vocational training programs offered in English.
• Increase funding for employability and workforce training programs that specifically serve English-speaking Quebecers.

QUESTION 3: The adoption of Bill 96 has imposed significant constraints on admission to and access to Quebec’s English-language CEGEPs. What will your party do to put them on a stronger footing and ensure that they can continue to fully meet the needs of students and communities?