Bill 14 moving forward thanks to CAQ support

Quebec's controversial Bill 14 is expected to take a step forward today in the national assembly.

On Thursday, MNAs are expected to vote on whether to send the language bill to the next stepa detailed review that will take a closer look at the proposed amendments.

The Parti Qubcois'sproposed changes to Bill 101 (Quebec's Charter of the French Language) havestirred debate over language politicsin the province in recent months.

The provincial Liberals came out strongly against the bill, while the Coalition Avenir Qubec said it would consider supporting the bill if major amendments were made.

The second reading of Bill 14 was expected several weeks ago in the national assembly, but Liberal MNAs delayed the process by standing and speaking about the legislation for 20 minutes each.

• Liberals threaten filibuster

While the filibuster tactics ended on Wednesday, Liberal critic Jean-Marc Fournier said his party remains firmly opposed to Bill 14.

Despite Liberal opposition, the bill is expected to move forward thanks to support from the CAQ.

The party said it will votein favourof sending the bill to the next step,although leader Franois Legault says major amendments must be applied before his party will vote "yes" on the final decision.

"We are not against [the bill] in principle, but we have several modifications we'd like to see," CAQ MNA Stphane Le Bouyonnec told CBC Montreal's Daybreak this morning.

But he said he doubts the PQ will follow through on those changes.

"We don't believe that the PQ will accept those modifications and at the end of the process I doubt that bill will pass," Le Bouyonnec said.

The PQ does not expect to begin the article by article review of Bill 14 until the fall.

A vote on whether to pass the legislation can only happen once that review is complete.

In order to pass the amendments, the minority governmnet will need the support of at least one other party.