Quebec leaders slam federal Bill 99 intervention

Quebec's intergovernmental affairs minister is callingthe federal government's foray into a court challenge of Bill 99adirect attack on the legal rights of Quebecers.

Bill 99 is the provincial law passed 13 years agoassertingQuebecers' right to decide the rules of secession from Canada.

Alexandre Cloutier said theParti Qubcois will table a motion in the coming daysat the national assembly, and thatOttawa has no businesschallenging what he calls one of the most important lawsQuebechas ever adopted.

The federal government wants to invalidate the ability of the national assembly to consult its own people on the [referendum] question, said Cloutier at a news conference inQuebec City on Sunday.

"Obviously,they want to make sure we're never going toget our country."

On Wednesday, the government filed a legal intervention in a case before Quebec's Superior Courtthat challenges Bill 99.

• Harper government joins court challenge of Quebec's right to secede

Bill 99 was passed in 2000 by the then PQ government under Lucien Bouchardas a response to the federal Clarity Act. It states thatonly Quebecers can decidewhether theprovince has the right to secede.

Cloutier also criticizedthe federal government forcalling into question the 50 per centplus onevote rule in a possible referendum something he saidis "universally"recognized.

Other provincial parties back PQ

Other Quebecpolitical leaders are also lashing out at the federal governmentfor stepping into the legal battle overthe rules for secession.

The Quebec Liberal Party's Philippe Couillard,CoalitionAvenir Qubec's Franois Legault and QubecSolidaire's Franoise David have all lined up to express their indignation.

However, Liberal MP Stphane Dion the man behind the Clarity Act saidthe federal government has always opposed Bill 99,and thatthe Quebec government is manipulatingthe court system.

"You see the hypocrisy of the Quebec "pquiste" government. Facing the judge, they are playing down theirown law, but in public they will say 'we have the right to secede' and so on. They will play a double talk and we should denounce that, said Dion.

The leader of the official opposition the NDP's Tom Mulcair said he believes the Conservative government should stay out of the Bill 99 court case.

Mulcairsaid his party's position on the matter, outlined in theSherbrookeDeclaration, recognizesa vote of 50 per cent plus one in a referendum as being enoughto spark negotiations for secession.

• NDP reaffirms '50 plus one' enough for Quebec secession talks

"If we want to move forward from this, we've got to stop fighting the quarrels of the past. This court case is not going to change anything. The Supreme Court ruled on this in 1998. That's the lawof the land and that's what we should be paying attention to," said Mulcair.

The Bill 99 court case is expected to be heard sometime in 2014.