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You’ve got to be kidding.

Constitutional debates and language politics have for decades been the Achilles heel of the Quebec Liberal Party. Yet this week the QLP, which is embarking on a leadership campaign and major rebuild after suffering its worst electoral defeat ever, proposed as a key component of that rebuild the elaboration of a “Quebec constitution,” the orientations of which to be addressed at its convention in November.

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Antoine Dionne Charest, a rising star on the political scene, and Julie White, his colleague on the party’s policy commission, posted a YouTube video pushing the idea of a Quebec constitution to affirm “who we are.” In the video, Dionne Charest accuses the Coalition Avenir Québec government of dividing the population, and the Parti Québécois of wanting to separate the province from Canada. The video attacks the CAQ for “stigmatizing Quebecers who speak a language other than French” and the PQ for “blaming immigrants for all our problems”.

This may be music to the ears of many anglophones, but to win an election, the Liberals must appeal to francophone voters with whom they have only single digit support and will likely try to use this process to bolster their nationalist credentials. In interviews, the pair proclaimed that the adoption of a Quebec constitution would be “a gesture of nationalist affirmation” and a way to stand up to Ottawa. Sounds like the Liberals are already walking the tightrope of mixed messaging that’s tripped them up in the past.

Dionne Charest refers to this initiative as a unifying project, but constitutional questions have always been anything but. He is a thinker who has written intellectual pieces that go to the heart of questions about Quebec’s identity, language and the Constitution. These questions are important, but also polarizing.

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Timing is critical in the rebuild of a party, requiring considerable pragmatism and common sense. Existential debates are not only potentially divisive, but way down the list of priorities for Quebecers right now, frustrated about the economy, health care and other bread-and-butter issues, and thus looking for an alternative to the CAQ.

The party’s leadership contest is finally starting to look promising, with a widening field of candidates drawing needed media attention and setting the stage for substantive debates about how to best govern. The Liberals have an opportunity with a new leader to forcefully reposition themselves as the party of the economy at the centre of the political spectrum.

Three candidates have already declared: former MP and Montreal mayor Denis Coderre; MNA Frédéric Beauchemin, the party’s opposition critic for the economy; and Charles Milliard, the former head of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec — the last two bringing strong economic credentials to the race. Add to that federal MP Pablo Rodriguez and Victoriaville Mayor Antoine Tardif among others who may enter the race that officially begins in January.

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The newly minted leader chosen next June will have over a year before the election with so much fodder to attack — not only the government’s shortcomings but also the PQ, which has become the default alternative to the CAQ so far, despite promising a third referendum that most Quebecers don’t want.

Proposing a Quebec constitution now, potentially hamstringing the new leader, is a bad idea, an unnecessary risk giving other parties a target instead of putting them on the defensive. And despite Dionne Charest’s claims that a constitution is more than a piece of paper, minority communities know that is not the case. So-called guarantees in Quebec’s own Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms have been overridden at will, depending on the political agenda of any given government.

A rebuild should focus on issues Quebecers want their government to prioritize and commitments to address real concerns — not some proposed document likely to breed more division and distraction.

Robert Libman is an architect and planning consultant who has served as Equality Party leader and MNA, mayor of Côte-St-Luc and a member of the Montreal executive committee. X @robertlibman

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