Joseph Facal
Encyclopedia
Joseph Facal is a politician, academic, and journalist in the Canadian
province of Quebec
. He was a Parti Québécois
member of the National Assembly of Quebec
from 1994 to 2003 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Lucien Bouchard
and Bernard Landry
.
, Uruguay
, and moved with his family to Sherbrooke, Quebec
, in 1970. His father, a surgeon with leftist political views, moved to Canada to escape Uruguay's political turmoil. Facal attended a bilingual French
/Spanish
school in Uruguay and was fluent in both languages before arriving in Quebec; he later became fluent in English
. His sister, Carole Facal
, is a noted singer-songwriter in Quebec.
Facal has a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Political Science
from Université du Québec à Montréal
(1983), a Masters of Arts
degree in Political Science from the Université de Montréal
(1986), and a Ph.D.
in Sociology from the Sorbonne
(1993). He lectured a the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montréal
and Concordia University
before starting his career as an elected official. He joined the Parti Québécois in 1980 and was the party's youth leader in 1990–91.
Shortly before his first election victory in 1994, Facal said that his support for Quebec sovereignty was based on economic issues. "Older sovereignists tend to be driven more by the linguistic and cultural aspects of the debate," he said. "[Younger sovereigntists] are more driven by economic arguments, perhaps because nationalists of my generation have seen the slow and steady rise of French and feel less insecure. The language issue is really not what moves me."
for the Montreal
division of Dorion
. He finished second against incumbent Liberal Party candidate Violette Trépanier
, a minister in Robert Bourassa
's government.
He was narrowly elected on his second attempt in the 1994 general election
for the Laval
division of Fabre
. The Parti Québécois won a majority government
under Jacques Parizeau
's leadership, and Facal entered the legislative as a government backbencher. From December 1994 to March 1996 he chaired the assembly's commission de l'éducation. In 1995, he openly expressed scepticism about Premier Parizeau's strategy of holding a referendum on sovereignty during the Parti Québécois's first full year in government.
Lucien Bouchard succeeded Parizeau as Parti Québécois leader and premier of Quebec
on January 26, 1996, and appointed Facal as his parliamentary secretary
three days later. Facal subsequently represented the Bouchard government on missions to Africa
, Europe
, and Latin America
, and in 1997 he served as vice-president of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas
held in Quebec City
. In the same year, he chaired a legislative committee that recommended downsizing in the Quebec civil service and the number of government agencies.
Facal was promoted to cabinet on September 23, 1998, as minister of Canadian intergovernmental affairs. He was re-elected with an increased majority in the 1998 general election
, as the PQ won a second consecutive majority government under Bouchard's leadership. Facal recorded English-language and Spanish-language advertisements for his party during the campaign. He was kept in the intergovernmental affairs portfolio after the election and was also appointed as minister responsible for the Outaouais
on December 15, 1998.
In 1998 and 1999, Facal took part in discussions with representatives of the Canadian federal government
and other provinces on a proposed Social Union Framework Agreement
for health, education, and social services. He indicated that Quebec would only accept the agreement if it recognized the province's right to opt out of specific programs with full financial compensation. The federal government ultimately concluded a deal with all provinces except Quebec in February 1999; Facal said that he could not sign the accord, as it included provisions for the federal government to oversee unilateral programs such as the millennium scholarships and did not permit Quebec to opt out of future shared-cost programs. He later said that the social union agreement undermined any possibility that Quebec's distinctiveness could be recognized within the Canadian constitution.
Facal was a vocal opponent of the Clarity Act
introduced by Stéphane Dion
, the minister of intergovernmental affairs
in the federal government of Jean Chrétien
. Dion's act was designed to clarify the terms and conditions under which the government of Canada would negotiate with a provincial government in the event of a successful referendum on sovereignty. Among other things, the act gave the Canadian House of Commons
the right to determine if the referendum question and the popular mandate for sovereignty were sufficiently clear. Facal described the legislation as "anti-democratic" and exchanged public letters with Dion on the subject in late 1999.
Facal introduced counter-legislation to the Clarity Act in the Quebec legislature in December 1999. His legislation stated that a simple majority would be sufficient for a referendum victory on sovereignty, that Quebec's boundaries could not be changed except by Quebec's government and elected representatives, and that no other parliament or government could reduce the powers of the National Assembly. The Grand Council of the Crees
initially opposed this legislation on the grounds that it denied aboriginal people the same right of self-determination that was claimed for Quebec. Facal responded that it was not his government's wish "to exercise any form of domination over the Cree
s" and revised the legislation to reflect this and other concerns. The revised version was approved by the National Assembly in December 2000, with Liberal legislators voting against it.
Facal expressed scepticism toward federal health minister
Allan Rock
's proposal to overhaul Canada's public health system in January 2000, saying that the effort was hypocritical after years of federal cutbacks.
Landry administration
Lucien Bouchard announced his resignation as Parti Québécois leader and premier in January 2001, and Facal was one of the first PQ legislators to support Bernard Landry
's successful bid to succeed him. When Landry became premier on March 8, 2001, he retained Facal as Canadian intergovernmental affairs minister and gave him additional responsibilities as minister of citizenship and immigration. He was also given ministerial responsibility for Canadian francophones and Acadians living outside Quebec, while giving up responsibility for the Outaouais to Sylvain Simard
. The following month, Facal published a seventy-page book entitled Le declin du federalisme canadien.
In May 2001, Facal called on the Canadian government to give Quebec a greater role in citizenship ceremonies for new Canadians. He initially offered qualified support to the suggestion that Quebec should establish its own citizenship, but he later rejected it on the grounds that it was unnecessarily provocative and offered no concrete benefits.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City
and Washington, D.C., Facal indicated that Quebec would tighten procedures for issuing documents such as birth certificate
s. He also expressed concern that Quebec immigrants of Arab
origin would be unfairly associated with terrorism
. "It's malicious and deplorable to insinuate there may be a terrorist lurking behind every Arab or Muslim
," he said in response to a critical New York Times article. "I strongly denounce all such suggestions."
Facal argued in June 2002 that the PQ should shift away from its social democratic
origins. Speaking at a news conference, he described the PQ's platform as being in some respects outdated, called for the party to shift focus from its traditional grassroots allies to a more middle-class electorate, and said that the Quebec governance model had created high debt and undue dependence on the state. Premier Landry criticized Facal's remarks, defending his administration as "interventionist" with a mandate to ensure the province's wealth could be shared "between the regions, between the social classes, and between age groups." Despite this, Landry also defended Facal against accusations that he was too right-wing for the Parti Québécois, and Facal clarified that he had no intention of leaving the party. He was not disciplined and remained a member of cabinet.
During the same period, Facal also criticized Action démocratique du Québec
leader Mario Dumont
for arguing that Quebec should dramatically scale back its government services and end employment security in the civil service. "We have to modernize the state for reasons of efficiency but we must not dismantle it for ideological reasons," Facal said, dismissing Dumont's plan as a simplistic solution to a complicated problem. He also noted that job security guarantees had been put in place to prevent workers from being influenced by partisan politics, adding that workers could still be dismissed for a poor job performance.
In December 2002, Facal accepted a preliminary treasury board report that recommended a significant reduction in the size of cabinet and the elimination of several government agencies, some of which were described in the report as redundant.
Facal did not run as a candidate in the 2003 general election
. He said that his decision was not based on ideological differences with Landry's government and added that he would "doubtlessly" return to politics in the future. The Parti Québécois was defeated by Jean Charest
's Liberals in the election that followed, and Facal formally resigned from cabinet with rest of the Landry ministry on April 29, 2003. He later wrote for the Journal de Montréal and returned to teaching sociology and management at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montréal
.
Bernard Landry faced criticisms over his leadership after the 2003 election, and in August 2004 Pauline Marois
challenged him to hold a leadership contest. Facal supported this, saying that the party needed a leadership contest to update its platform.
Landry resigned as party leader in June 2005 after receiving only 76.2% support at a party convention. There were rumours that Facal would be a candidate in the leadership contest that followed, although he was not given strong odds of winning. He eventually decided to support Pauline Marois, who finished second to André Boisclair
.
Boisclair resigned as party leader following a poor performance in the 2007 general election
. Facal was again considered as possible leadership candidate, but he again chose not to run and was still generally regarded as an ally of Marois, who won the leadership on her third attempt. During this period, Facal worked with former cabinet colleague François Legault
to propose a new PQ policy agenda focused on economic growth and the more gradual promotion of sovereignty.
Support for the lucide manifesto and shift away from the PQ
Facal was one of several public notables, also including Lucien Bouchard, who endorsed the manifesto Pour un Québec lucide
in October 2005. The manifesto generally promoted conservative ideas such as increased privatization, though it also called for government re-investment in some areas. Its specific recommendations included debt reduction, a substantial increase to Quebec's electricity rates (reflecting what the signatories described as real market values), significant new financial support for education, a lifting of Quebec's long-standing tuition freeze, and a guaranteed minimum wage.
In late 2007, Facal was appointed to a commission established by the Charest government to examine public service fees in Quebec. The commission's report recommended higher electricity prices (with safeguards for low-income earners), an end to the province's university tuition freeze, and mandatory water meters to reduce wastage. Some journalists noted similarities between the report and the lucide manifesto. Monique Jérôme-Forget
, the minister who commissioned the study, did not commit to following through with its proposals and specifically rejected the call for higher electricity rates.
Rumours circulated in late 2010 that Facal would join François Legault to launch a new right-of-centre political movement seeking to bypass Quebec's traditional dichotomy of federalism and sovereigntism. He ultimately decided not to do so, although he acknowledged in a November 2010 blog posting that he was no longer a member of any political party.
Federal Canadian politics
After leaving the Quebec legislature, Facal sometimes represented the Bloc Québécois
on all-party panel discussions in Canada's English-language media. He was a strategist for the party in the 2006 federal election
. He later criticized the BQ's decision to offer parliamentary support to a proposed coalition government
of the Liberal Party of Canada
and the New Democratic Party
in late 2008, on the grounds that the coalition would be detrimental to sovereigntist interests. In the event, the coalition dissolved before it could assume office.
Facal identified Lester Pearson as Canada's greatest prime minister in September 2005, describing him as "a throwback to the good old days when there were still some English-speaking Canadians committed to understanding Quebec." Facal also praised Brian Mulroney
, while describing Pierre Trudeau
and Jean Chrétien as Canada's worst leaders.
Other political writings
Facal co-authored an article in 2005 criticizing Jean Charest's proposal to introduce a form of proportional representation
to Quebec's electoral system. One argument raised in this piece was that the change would reduce the power of Quebec's francophone majority in relation to the predominantly anglophone areas in Montreal, where Liberal candidates are often elected with huge majorities.
Facal has criticized multiculturalist
aspects of the Charest government's course in ethics and religious culture
, which is taught to all students at the elementary and high school level.
His book, Quelque chose comme un grand peuple, was a best-seller in Quebec in 2010.
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. He was a Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
member of the National Assembly of Quebec
National Assembly of Quebec
The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...
from 1994 to 2003 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
and Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
.
Early life and career
Facal was born in MontevideoMontevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, and moved with his family to Sherbrooke, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, in 1970. His father, a surgeon with leftist political views, moved to Canada to escape Uruguay's political turmoil. Facal attended a bilingual French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
/Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
school in Uruguay and was fluent in both languages before arriving in Quebec; he later became fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. His sister, Carole Facal
Carole Facal
Carole Facal , is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Quebec, She writes and performs mainly in French.Born to a Uruguayan father and a Swiss mother and raised in Sherbrooke, Quebec, she was trained in classical violin. Always athletic, she left home at 17 to pursue a career as a snowboarder in...
, is a noted singer-songwriter in Quebec.
Facal has a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from Université du Québec à Montréal
Université du Québec à Montréal
The Université du Québec à Montréal is one of four universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Basic facts:The UQAM is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québec , a public university system with other branches in Gatineau , Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, and...
(1983), a Masters of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree in Political Science from the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
(1986), and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Sociology from the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
(1993). He lectured a the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montréal
HEC Montréal
HEC Montréal , is the independent affiliated business school of the Université de Montréal, and the oldest management School in Canada. It holds accreditations from AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA, one of three schools in North America to hold triple accreditation in management education...
and Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
before starting his career as an elected official. He joined the Parti Québécois in 1980 and was the party's youth leader in 1990–91.
Shortly before his first election victory in 1994, Facal said that his support for Quebec sovereignty was based on economic issues. "Older sovereignists tend to be driven more by the linguistic and cultural aspects of the debate," he said. "[Younger sovereigntists] are more driven by economic arguments, perhaps because nationalists of my generation have seen the slow and steady rise of French and feel less insecure. The language issue is really not what moves me."
Politician
Facal first sought election to the Quebec legislature in the 1989 general electionQuebec general election, 1989
The Quebec general election of 1989 was held on September 25, 1989, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada...
for the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
division of Dorion
Dorion (provincial electoral district)
Dorion was a provincial electoral district in the province of Quebec, Canada. Located in the Montreal region, the riding was formed in 1966 from parts of Montreal-Jeanne-Mance. In 1994, it became part of the new Laurier-Dorion...
. He finished second against incumbent Liberal Party candidate Violette Trépanier
Violette Trépanier
Violette Trépanier is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. She was a Liberal member of the National Assembly of Quebec from 1985 to 1994 and was a minister in the governments of Robert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson....
, a minister in Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...
's government.
He was narrowly elected on his second attempt in the 1994 general election
Quebec general election, 1994
The Quebec general election of 1994 was held on September 12, 1994, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The Parti Québécois, led by Jacques Parizeau, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Daniel Johnson, Jr.....
for the Laval
Laval, Quebec
Laval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006...
division of Fabre
Fabre (electoral district)
Fabre is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The district is located in Laval and includes the westernmost portion of Île Jésus west of Autoroute 15 in the northern half of the district and west of Autoroute 13 in the southern...
. The Parti Québécois won a majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
under Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau, is an economist and noted Quebec sovereignist who was the 26th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from September 26, 1994 to January 29, 1996.-Early life and career:...
's leadership, and Facal entered the legislative as a government backbencher. From December 1994 to March 1996 he chaired the assembly's commission de l'éducation. In 1995, he openly expressed scepticism about Premier Parizeau's strategy of holding a referendum on sovereignty during the Parti Québécois's first full year in government.
Lucien Bouchard succeeded Parizeau as Parti Québécois leader and premier of Quebec
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
on January 26, 1996, and appointed Facal as his parliamentary secretary
Parliamentary Secretary
A Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...
three days later. Facal subsequently represented the Bouchard government on missions to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and in 1997 he served as vice-president of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas
Parliamentary Conference of the Americas
The Parliamentary Conference of the Americas, or COPA, was created in 1997 under the auspices of the United States' Council of State Governments and National Conference of State Legislatures, the Quebec National Assembly and a Brazilian legislative organization...
held in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. In the same year, he chaired a legislative committee that recommended downsizing in the Quebec civil service and the number of government agencies.
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Bouchard administrationFacal was promoted to cabinet on September 23, 1998, as minister of Canadian intergovernmental affairs. He was re-elected with an increased majority in the 1998 general election
Quebec general election, 1998
The Quebec general election of 1998 was held on November 30, 1998, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Lucien Bouchard, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Charest.After the narrow defeat of...
, as the PQ won a second consecutive majority government under Bouchard's leadership. Facal recorded English-language and Spanish-language advertisements for his party during the campaign. He was kept in the intergovernmental affairs portfolio after the election and was also appointed as minister responsible for the Outaouais
Minister responsible for the Outaouais (Quebec)
The Minister responsible for the Outaouais is a ministerial designation in the government of Quebec. The minister who holds this position is responsible for overseeing government matters in the Outaouais region, along Quebec's border with Ontario...
on December 15, 1998.
In 1998 and 1999, Facal took part in discussions with representatives of the Canadian federal government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
and other provinces on a proposed Social Union Framework Agreement
Social Union Framework Agreement
The Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, was an agreement made in Canada in 1999 between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the premiers of the provinces and territories of Canada, save Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard...
for health, education, and social services. He indicated that Quebec would only accept the agreement if it recognized the province's right to opt out of specific programs with full financial compensation. The federal government ultimately concluded a deal with all provinces except Quebec in February 1999; Facal said that he could not sign the accord, as it included provisions for the federal government to oversee unilateral programs such as the millennium scholarships and did not permit Quebec to opt out of future shared-cost programs. He later said that the social union agreement undermined any possibility that Quebec's distinctiveness could be recognized within the Canadian constitution.
Facal was a vocal opponent of the Clarity Act
Clarity Act
The Clarity Act is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the provinces. The Clarity Bill was tabled for first reading in the...
introduced by Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
, the minister of intergovernmental affairs
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (Canada)
The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada...
in the federal government of Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
. Dion's act was designed to clarify the terms and conditions under which the government of Canada would negotiate with a provincial government in the event of a successful referendum on sovereignty. Among other things, the act gave the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
the right to determine if the referendum question and the popular mandate for sovereignty were sufficiently clear. Facal described the legislation as "anti-democratic" and exchanged public letters with Dion on the subject in late 1999.
Facal introduced counter-legislation to the Clarity Act in the Quebec legislature in December 1999. His legislation stated that a simple majority would be sufficient for a referendum victory on sovereignty, that Quebec's boundaries could not be changed except by Quebec's government and elected representatives, and that no other parliament or government could reduce the powers of the National Assembly. The Grand Council of the Crees
Grand Council of the Crees
The Grand Council of the Crees , or the GCC, is the political body that represents the approximately 16,357 Crees or “Iyyu” / “Iynu” of the Eeyou Istchee territory in the James Bay and Nunavik regions of Northern Quebec, Canada...
initially opposed this legislation on the grounds that it denied aboriginal people the same right of self-determination that was claimed for Quebec. Facal responded that it was not his government's wish "to exercise any form of domination over the Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
s" and revised the legislation to reflect this and other concerns. The revised version was approved by the National Assembly in December 2000, with Liberal legislators voting against it.
Facal expressed scepticism toward federal health minister
Minister of Health (Canada)
The Minister of Health is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's health department and the enforcing the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Health Act, the law governing Medicare...
Allan Rock
Allan Rock
Allan Michael Rock, PC is a lawyer, former Canadian politician, diplomat and now the President of University of Ottawa. He was Canada's ambassador to the United Nations and had previously served in the Cabinet of Jean Chrétien, most notably as Justice Minister and Health Minister .Rock was...
's proposal to overhaul Canada's public health system in January 2000, saying that the effort was hypocritical after years of federal cutbacks.
Landry administration
Lucien Bouchard announced his resignation as Parti Québécois leader and premier in January 2001, and Facal was one of the first PQ legislators to support Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
's successful bid to succeed him. When Landry became premier on March 8, 2001, he retained Facal as Canadian intergovernmental affairs minister and gave him additional responsibilities as minister of citizenship and immigration. He was also given ministerial responsibility for Canadian francophones and Acadians living outside Quebec, while giving up responsibility for the Outaouais to Sylvain Simard
Sylvain Simard
Sylvain Simard is a politician and academic based in the Canadian province of Quebec. He has represented Richelieu in the National Assembly of Quebec since 1994 and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry. Simard is a member of the Parti Québécois .-Early...
. The following month, Facal published a seventy-page book entitled Le declin du federalisme canadien.
In May 2001, Facal called on the Canadian government to give Quebec a greater role in citizenship ceremonies for new Canadians. He initially offered qualified support to the suggestion that Quebec should establish its own citizenship, but he later rejected it on the grounds that it was unnecessarily provocative and offered no concrete benefits.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Washington, D.C., Facal indicated that Quebec would tighten procedures for issuing documents such as birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
s. He also expressed concern that Quebec immigrants of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
origin would be unfairly associated with terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. "It's malicious and deplorable to insinuate there may be a terrorist lurking behind every Arab or Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
," he said in response to a critical New York Times article. "I strongly denounce all such suggestions."
President of the Treasury Board
Landry shuffled his cabinet on January 30, 2002, and named Facal as president of the treasury board and minister of state for administration and the public service. While holding this portfolio, Facal emerged as a prominent voice on the right wing of the Parti Québécois.Facal argued in June 2002 that the PQ should shift away from its social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
origins. Speaking at a news conference, he described the PQ's platform as being in some respects outdated, called for the party to shift focus from its traditional grassroots allies to a more middle-class electorate, and said that the Quebec governance model had created high debt and undue dependence on the state. Premier Landry criticized Facal's remarks, defending his administration as "interventionist" with a mandate to ensure the province's wealth could be shared "between the regions, between the social classes, and between age groups." Despite this, Landry also defended Facal against accusations that he was too right-wing for the Parti Québécois, and Facal clarified that he had no intention of leaving the party. He was not disciplined and remained a member of cabinet.
During the same period, Facal also criticized Action démocratique du Québec
Action démocratique du Québec
The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....
leader Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont
Mario Dumont is a television personality and former politician in the province of Quebec. He was a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec , and the leader of the Action démocratique du Québec , from 1994 to 2009...
for arguing that Quebec should dramatically scale back its government services and end employment security in the civil service. "We have to modernize the state for reasons of efficiency but we must not dismantle it for ideological reasons," Facal said, dismissing Dumont's plan as a simplistic solution to a complicated problem. He also noted that job security guarantees had been put in place to prevent workers from being influenced by partisan politics, adding that workers could still be dismissed for a poor job performance.
In December 2002, Facal accepted a preliminary treasury board report that recommended a significant reduction in the size of cabinet and the elimination of several government agencies, some of which were described in the report as redundant.
Facal did not run as a candidate in the 2003 general election
Quebec general election, 2003
The Quebec general election of 2003 was held on April 14, 2003, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec . The Parti libéral du Québec , led by Jean Charest, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Bernard Landry.-Unfolding:...
. He said that his decision was not based on ideological differences with Landry's government and added that he would "doubtlessly" return to politics in the future. The Parti Québécois was defeated by Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
's Liberals in the election that followed, and Facal formally resigned from cabinet with rest of the Landry ministry on April 29, 2003. He later wrote for the Journal de Montréal and returned to teaching sociology and management at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montréal
HEC Montréal
HEC Montréal , is the independent affiliated business school of the Université de Montréal, and the oldest management School in Canada. It holds accreditations from AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA, one of three schools in North America to hold triple accreditation in management education...
.
Out of the legislature
PQ leadership politicsBernard Landry faced criticisms over his leadership after the 2003 election, and in August 2004 Pauline Marois
Pauline Marois
Pauline Marois is the current leader of the Parti Québécois in the province of Quebec, since June 27, 2007 and current Leader of the Official Opposition of the National Assembly of Quebec, representing the riding of Charlevoix...
challenged him to hold a leadership contest. Facal supported this, saying that the party needed a leadership contest to update its platform.
Landry resigned as party leader in June 2005 after receiving only 76.2% support at a party convention. There were rumours that Facal would be a candidate in the leadership contest that followed, although he was not given strong odds of winning. He eventually decided to support Pauline Marois, who finished second to André Boisclair
André Boisclair
André Boisclair is a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and separatist party in Quebec....
.
Boisclair resigned as party leader following a poor performance in the 2007 general election
Quebec general election, 2007
The Quebec general election of 2007 was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on March 26, 2007 to elect members of the 38th National Assembly of Quebec. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but were reduced to a minority government, Quebec's first in...
. Facal was again considered as possible leadership candidate, but he again chose not to run and was still generally regarded as an ally of Marois, who won the leadership on her third attempt. During this period, Facal worked with former cabinet colleague François Legault
François Legault
François Legault is a politician in Quebec, Canada, and former member of the National Assembly of Quebec. A member of the Parti Québécois , he was first elected in the 1998 Quebec election in the riding of Rousseau in the Lanaudière region.-Life and career:Legault was born in...
to propose a new PQ policy agenda focused on economic growth and the more gradual promotion of sovereignty.
Support for the lucide manifesto and shift away from the PQ
Facal was one of several public notables, also including Lucien Bouchard, who endorsed the manifesto Pour un Québec lucide
Pour un Québec lucide
Pour un Québec lucide is a manifesto signed by 12 prominent Quebecers, including former premier Lucien Bouchard. Published on October 19, 2005, the manifesto tackled issues facing modern Quebec, highlighting Quebec's fiscal problems and promoting unpopular solutions including raising university...
in October 2005. The manifesto generally promoted conservative ideas such as increased privatization, though it also called for government re-investment in some areas. Its specific recommendations included debt reduction, a substantial increase to Quebec's electricity rates (reflecting what the signatories described as real market values), significant new financial support for education, a lifting of Quebec's long-standing tuition freeze, and a guaranteed minimum wage.
In late 2007, Facal was appointed to a commission established by the Charest government to examine public service fees in Quebec. The commission's report recommended higher electricity prices (with safeguards for low-income earners), an end to the province's university tuition freeze, and mandatory water meters to reduce wastage. Some journalists noted similarities between the report and the lucide manifesto. Monique Jérôme-Forget
Monique Jérôme-Forget
Monique Jérôme-Forget is a psychologist and a former Quebec politician. She was the Member of National Assembly for the riding of Marguerite-Bourgeois in the Montreal region as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party between 1998 and 2009...
, the minister who commissioned the study, did not commit to following through with its proposals and specifically rejected the call for higher electricity rates.
Rumours circulated in late 2010 that Facal would join François Legault to launch a new right-of-centre political movement seeking to bypass Quebec's traditional dichotomy of federalism and sovereigntism. He ultimately decided not to do so, although he acknowledged in a November 2010 blog posting that he was no longer a member of any political party.
Federal Canadian politics
After leaving the Quebec legislature, Facal sometimes represented the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
on all-party panel discussions in Canada's English-language media. He was a strategist for the party in the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
. He later criticized the BQ's decision to offer parliamentary support to a proposed coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
of the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
and the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
in late 2008, on the grounds that the coalition would be detrimental to sovereigntist interests. In the event, the coalition dissolved before it could assume office.
Facal identified Lester Pearson as Canada's greatest prime minister in September 2005, describing him as "a throwback to the good old days when there were still some English-speaking Canadians committed to understanding Quebec." Facal also praised Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
, while describing Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
and Jean Chrétien as Canada's worst leaders.
Other political writings
Facal co-authored an article in 2005 criticizing Jean Charest's proposal to introduce a form of proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
to Quebec's electoral system. One argument raised in this piece was that the change would reduce the power of Quebec's francophone majority in relation to the predominantly anglophone areas in Montreal, where Liberal candidates are often elected with huge majorities.
Facal has criticized multiculturalist
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
aspects of the Charest government's course in ethics and religious culture
Ethics and religious culture
Ethics and religious culture is a course taught in all elementary and high schools in Quebec. It replaces the abolished subject of religion in public schools and is compulsory in all schools: private as well as public. The aim of the subject is to adopt a descriptive approach to the religious...
, which is taught to all students at the elementary and high school level.
His book, Quelque chose comme un grand peuple, was a best-seller in Quebec in 2010.
Publications
- Facal, Joseph. L'école du public choice et la croissance de l'État [microforme] / par Joseph Facal. -- [Montréal : Service des archives, Université de Montréal, Section Microfilm], 1987. M.A. thesis.
- Facal, Joseph. / Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : VLB éditeur, 2001. ISBN 2-89005-760-7
- Facal, Joseph. Changement social et transformations d'une identité collective : le cas des Québécois de l'après-guerre à aujourd'hui / par Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : HEC Montréal, Direction de la recherche, 2005.
- Facal, Joseph. Social policy and intergovernmental relations in Canada : understanding the failure of SUFA from a Quebec perspective / par Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : HEC Montréal, Direction de la recherche, 2005.
- Facal, Joseph. Social policy and intergovernmental relations in Canada : understanding the failure of SUFA from a Quebec perspective / Joseph Facal. -- Regina : Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, 2005. ISBN 0-7731-0522-0
- Facal, Joseph. Éléments introductifs pour une sociologie de l'État / par Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : HEC Montréal, Direction de la recherche, 2005.
- Facal, Joseph. La croissance des dépenses publiques dans les pays de l'OCDE : que valent les explications par les théories néo-institutionnelles du choix rationnel? / par Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : HEC Montréal, Direction de la recherche, 2006.
- Facal, Joseph Volonté politique et pouvoir médical : la naissance de l'assurance maladie au Québec et aux États-Unis / Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : Boréal, 2006. ISBN 9782764604717 , ISBN 2-7646-0471-8
- Facal, Joseph Quelque chose comme un grand peuple / Joseph Facal. -- Montréal : Boréal, 2010. ISBN 9782764620007 , ISBN 2-7646-2000-4
- Une année en Espagne, Montréal, VLB, 2011, 160 pages ISBN 9782896492916
Electoral record
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.
Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec.