Квебектің ағылшын тілді халқының қозғалысы: Alliance Quebec тарихы

Lobbyist group for anglophone Quebecers
Alliance Quebec (AQ) was a group formed in 1982 to lobby on behalf of English speaking Quebecers in the province of Quebec, Canada. It began as an umbrella group of many English speaking organizations and institutions in the province, with approximately 15,000 members. At its height in the mid 1980s, the group had a network of affiliated anglophone groups throughout the province. However, a prolonged decline in influence, group cohesion, membership and funding ultimately led to its closure in 2005.

AQ's weakened bargaining position was brought to prominence in 1989 when the Liberal government passed Bill 178. Although the Liberal Party had campaigned in 1985 to loosen the legal restrictions on languages other than French, Bill 178 overturned the Supreme Court's "Ford" decision (see above), restoring the prohibition on non French commercial signage (with an exception for small signs inside stores). Alliance Quebec's inability to prevent the adoption of Bill 178 by the Liberal government it had perceived as an ally, opened it to criticism from the anglophone community. Right wing critics of AQ dubbed it "Compliance Quebec" and "the lamb lobby" for its perceived unwillingness to challenge the government. Internal tension arose among the directors of AQ over the issue of denied access to English language schools in the province. Tensions increased over whether or not to support the Liberals in the Quebec general election of 1989 in spite of Bill 178. Some prominent AQ leaders urged a protest vote by anglophones, either by spoiling their ballots or voting for the upstart Equality Party that opposed the Liberals' legislation. The Equality Party won four seats in the National Assembly in 1989, but quickly lost its support due to infighting, garnering only 0.3% of the vote in 1994. Rebuffed at the ballot box, some of the Equality Party's remaining active members instead concentrated on winning elected positions in Alliance Quebec in order to have AQ promote the Equality Party's platform (notably, favouring a complete repeal of all mandatory use of French in Quebec, and partitioning Quebec in the event of independence). Public infighting between so called "moderates" (sympathetic to the Liberal Party) and "radicals" (the remaining members of the Equality Party) within AQ throughout the 1990s, along with a gradual decrease in interest among the general Quebec population in language politics, led to the marginalization of AQ in the province's politics. While infighting preoccupied the board of directors and annual convention, the grassroots elements of AQ became less active. Government funding allowed for a permanent staff for the group, which relied less and less on volunteers. AQ's smallest regional chapters, in Quebec's Magdalen Islands, Lower North Shore and Baie Comeau, closed down for lack of members, while six of the group's eight chapters on the Island of Montreal merged in order to avoid closing. In 1996, the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec investigated alleged irregularities during the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum, finding among other things that votes in three mainly federalist ridings had been rejected without valid reasons. Alliance Quebec sued the Quebec government to try to force it to re examine the rejected ballots in all 125 Quebec ridings. The trial judge ruled against AQ in 2000. AQ appealed, but ceased operations in 2005 (see below). In 2008 the Chief Electoral Officer got the court's permission to destroy the ballots after ruling that AQ's appeal had taken too long.

Alliance Quebec was registered as a non profit association in Quebec, with a headquarters in Montreal. Anyone could join as a member by paying a nominal fee of $5–$10. Membership entitled them to participate in the regional chapter in which they lived. Each regional chapter had its own board of directors and executive and obtained their budget mainly from membership fees. Each chapter could send nine delegates to the annual convention, which took place each May in Montreal. In the 1990s, six chapters in central Montreal merged, which allowed the merged chapter to send up to 54 delegates. (In the William Johnson era, the West Island chapter's number of delegates was increased to reflect that it was the chapter with the second largest number of members.) A youth commission of members under thirty years of age also existed and could send up to 18 delegates to the convention. Affiliated groups such as the Townshippers' Association could also send delegates, as could affiliated universities, hospitals and community groups. The outgoing president and board of directors were also entitled to vote at the convention, representing 41 delegates. In theory, an annual convention could have nearly 400 delegates during the 1990s. In practice, the number of delegates attending annual conventions decreased over time as membership fell and affiliated groups stopped participating; the annual convention in 1985 had about 470 delegates while each of the conventions from 1999 onward had under 100 delegates. The annual convention chose the president and treasurer of AQ for the upcoming year. (In the William Johnson era, the president's term was lengthened to two years, although each subsequent president resigned before the end of their full two year term.) The delegates would also choose the board of directors. Half of the forty person board of directors of AQ would be up for election annually for a two year term; the top twenty candidates who received the most votes being elected. The new board of directors would meet immediately after the convention to choose the remaining executive positions, including vice president, vice president "off island" (meaning from outside of Montreal), secretary, and chairman of the board. The group also had an "Advisory Council" of prominent anglophones to advise the group on important issues from time to time, but this fell into disuse by the late 1990s. The executives and directors were volunteer positions (although the president received a stipend.) There were also a number of paid staff members (around two dozen in 1994), such as a general director, a fundraiser, receptionists, researchers and organizers, paid for mainly from federal government grants. For most of its existence, AQ also maintained committees to study issues. These included (at various times)committees for health and social services, education, access to English schools, youth employment, legal affairs, communication, internal rules, and membership. Some committees organized events and activities. One of these activities, "Youth Employment Services", became independent of AQ in the 1990s and continues to operate. Larger chapters also had some committees, especially in the group's early years.