QUEBEC - A Parti Quebecois bill on Quebec identity that would require immigrants to learn French before they could run in elections will stay on the shelf because it is harsh and retrogressive, Premier Jean Charest said Tuesday.
"Go do your homework because what you have presented to Quebecers is unacceptable," Charest told PQ Leader Pauline Marois in the legislature.
"We will not be accomplices to what you are proposing."
The bill was also criticized by the Action democratique du Quebec, which is the official Opposition.
Charest questioned the legality of the sovereigntist bill, which he said does not make the grade.
"Before tabling a bill, one should verify its legality and constitutionality," he said. "We're not here (in the legislature) to do tests."
Charest also questioned the wording of the bill, suggesting it even had a xenophobic flavour as it designated new arrivals as "foreign nationals."
The premier said such an approach to immigration belongs to another era.
"That's the past and Quebecers do not want to return to the formulas proposed by the Parti Quebecois and especially by the member for Charlevoix (Marois).
"We will never accept in Quebec that there be first-and second-class citizens."
ADQ Leader Mario Dumont said earlier the PQ bill may have been well-intentioned but that it is improvised and on shaky constitutional ground.
He said forcing immigrants to pass a French test to get Quebec citizenship even makes some members of the PQ uneasy.
He suggested Marois is trying to score points with PQ members on the eve of a big party meeting.
"We shouldn't be using the legislature to launch trial balloons," Dumont said.
Marois didn't seem particularly concerned by the criticism, noting the province's language law took heat when it was first proposed more than 30 years ago.
She said she's willing to submit the bill to the province's human rights commission for study.
"I want the bill to be discussed," she said. "I don't see any other proposal out there at the moment."
