Bill 99 declared that the Quebec people alone would decide how to choose the province’s political regime and legal status. On Thursday, 17 years later, the Quebec Superior Court rejected Henderson’s bid to have Bill 99 declared unconstitutional. Quebec lawmakers’ assertion in Bill 99 of a right to self-determination “founded in fact and in law” does not create a unilateral right to secede, Dallaire writes. The federal bill said Ottawa would only negotiate following a Yes vote that received a clear majority on a clear question. But the nationalist Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, which intervened in the case in defence of Bill 99, was quick to seize on even the faintest glimmer of hope.

Source: National Post April 19, 2018 22:18 UTC