There has been a running joke in the last few weeks that Premier Christine Fréchette is the new leader of the Collaboration Avenir Québec.

She has been pledging greater co-operation with everyone from the federal government to Indigenous Peoples to municipalities since replacing François Legault as premier and leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec last month, prompting this play on the party name.

But if English-speaking Quebecers thought they were included in this new spirit of partnership after enduring nearly eight years of often rocky relations with the CAQ government, they will surely be disappointed, though unsurprised, to see nothing much has changed.

The first piece of legislation the Fréchette administration tabled was a bill on Wednesday to renew the notwithstanding clause early on the CAQ’s language legislation adopted in 2022, a major bone of contention for anglophones. The constitutional override, which was deployed pre-emptively on Bill 96 to shelter it from court challenges, needs to be reactivated every five years. But it doesn’t expire until 2027.

Kicking off a five-week legislative session with this unnecessary manoeuvre should be a warning sign to English-speaking Quebecers that Fréchette’s government has the same disregard for rights and the same exclusionary brand of nationalism as her predecessor.

Next, the new premier wants to extend the Charter of the French Language to adult and vocational training schools, potentially opening a new........

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