Quebec Liberal Party pitches itself as sole federalist option

He also took a swipe at the PQ leader, accusing him of being “completely out of touch with the realities of Quebecers” and saying the Liberals “do not want to separate Quebec, we want to fix Quebec.”

“We are proudly regionalist, nationalist and federalist. Fully, clearly and unambiguously,” he added.

The separatist PQ, which currently holds seven seats at the Quebec legislature, has been at the top of the polls for months, with the Liberals coming in a close second.

The Liberal party held its convention on Friday and Saturday to lay out its electoral priorities.

Most of those priorities revolve around the economy, with Milliard promising tax cuts for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as cutting red tape and ending “over-regulation.”

Milliard also promised to tackle the housing crisis with 100,000 new housing starts per year.

Though his plan to protect French has not yet been made public, Milliard says it’s “better” than those of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec’s and the Parti Québécois’.

Benoît Dubreuil, Quebec’s French language commissioner, said earlier this week that current language laws are not enough to stabilize the status of French in the province.

“I’m not proposing the same recipe and we’re going to have different results,” Milliard told journalists on Saturday.

Some of Quebec’s language laws, including the law beefing up the Charter of the French Language known as Bill 96, have been challenged in court.

Liberal members of the legislature voiced their opposition to a bill expanding French language laws to vocational training and adult education tabled earlier this week.

Liberal Jennifer Maccarone said she also believes that the cap on enrolment in English-language CEGEPs under Bill 96 should be lifted. The law also requires all students to take three French courses or to complete three courses from their program in French.

A few weeks ago, Milliard wavered on the use of the clause overriding Charter rights for Bill 96. He initially said he was in favour of retaining a clause to protect the law from legal challenges, breaking a 2022 election promise made by the Liberal party.

His stance caused a stir within his caucus and among the anglophone community. He then said he would amend Bill 96 and then determine whether the use of the clause was still necessary.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.

Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Quebec Liberal Party pitches itself as sole federalist option

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