Raucous debate on Que. language law drags on

The emergency debate on Quebec's new language law is expected to last all night after politicians spent most of Mondayshouting at each otheracross the floor of the province's legislature.

Premier Jean Charest called MNAs to a special sittingof the national assembly to debate legislation restricting who qualifies to attend English public schools in the province.

The Liberal government invoked closure to push through the controversial Bill 103, which attempted to find a middle ground in the emotional language debate and ended up pleasing neither side.

The hugely unpopular Bill 103 has now been split in two, with the more urgent aspects, now labelled Bill 115, being debated as part of Monday's emergency session.

'We really don't anticipate seeing one single student come to the English schools because of this [new law].' Debbie Horrocks, president of Quebec English School Boards Association

In the assembly, Parti Qubcois Leader Pauline Marois accused Charest of abandoningdefence of the French language.

Marois shouted that francophone Quebecers are a "small people," representing only two per cent of the population of North America.

Charest responded that he is the leader of a "great people" and accused Marois of promoting radical ideals.

The PQ wants Quebec's original language law, Bill 101, to be imposed on all public and private English schools in the province, which would essentially limit access to an English education to only anglophones born in Canada.

"Even a very close adviser to Ren Lvesque describes the PQ position as being radical," Charest said. "That's why they were going to systematically obstruct this piece of legislation."

Charest called Bill 103 and now Bill 115 a "balanced approach that respects the primacy of the French language."

Opponents to new law flood downtown Montreal

As the political debate dragged on in Quebec City, hundreds of people gathered on McGill College Street in downtown Montreal Monday evening to protest the revamped language legislation.

The protest was organized by Quebec's largest union federation the CSN pro-sovereignty organizations and other groups opposed to the law. Organizers promised thegathering would bethe "most important" rallyin support of theFrench languageQuebec has seen in decades.

In Quebec City, the PQ hosted a vigil on the lawn outside the national assembly, as politicians cloistered inside reviewed the proposed law clause by clause.

Situation 'urgent': Liberals

Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre called thesituation "an emergency" and said invoking closure to push through the legislation is justified.

However, in the assembly Monday, PQ language critic Pierre Curzi compared the use of closure to adopt the bill to the federal War Measures Act, invoked 40 years ago during the October Crisis.

The Quebec government is under a strict deadline to introduce the new language law by Friday.

The province was ordered to come up with alternative school and language eligibility rules last year after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the province's older law, known as Bill 104, dubbing it excessive and a violation of constitutional rights.

Bill 104 wascreated in 2002 by the then-ruling Parti Qubcois government to close a loophole in the province's French Language Charter.

The loophole had enabled parents to enrol their children in the English public school system after first sending them to an English private school for a year or less. Bill 104 eliminated that option.

A group of parents launched a legal challenge against Bill 104, which culminated in the Supreme Court ruling on Oct. 22, 2009.

Billwon't help students study in English, group says

The association representing Quebec's nine English school boards lobbied for a loosening of Bill 103 and is equally unimpressed with Bill 115.

Under the proposed law, children who attend English private schools accumulate points over at least three years to qualify for English public school. Each case will be decided by government officials.

The association president, Debbie Horrocks, said the point system amounts to a bureaucratic maze that few families will be able to understand.

"We really don't anticipate seeing one single student come to the English schools because of this," Horrocks said.

A coalition against the legislation, made upmainly of French-language rights activists, has organized aprotest in front of the premier's Montreal office on Monday evening.

The debate in the national assembly is expected to last at least until late Monday and could continueTuesday morning.