An hour after meeting André Pratte, I receive an email from him thanking me for my time and apologizing for his English being “so far from perfect!”
The message speaks volumes.
If anyone ought to have been apologizing, it was me. Our entire conversation was in English, despite meeting on his turf: Le Cartet bistro in Old Montreal in Quebec, where the province’s current focus is on getting people to speak French.
But Pratte clearly has a different view of things.
“When I hear some ministers say when they walk on the streets of Montreal and hear English they get frantic, well, I think that’s pretty sad,” he says during our hour-long conversation. “That’s a dated way of seeing the world.”
Pratte, 67, has seen the world through many lenses. He’s a longtime journalist, author, former senator and now policy chair for the Quebec Liberal Party.
We settle in at a small table in the restaurant and place our orders. Latté for me, café allongé for him.
Journalism was perhaps not the most likely choice for Pratte, who comes from a family of distinguished lawyers. His grandfather was a justice on Quebec’s Court of Appeal; his father a Supreme Court of Canada justice; and his brother a leading Supreme Court litigator.
How did he choose this profession?
“My father certainly wanted me to go into law, but maybe I had a rebel streak,” Pratte says. “And starting at a very young age I was attracted by journalism. My mother even found a model of a newspaper that I did when I was seven or eight.”
Today, one of his two children is a lawyer. “There are lawyers everywhere in my family, but not me. I am the black sheep,” he jokes, not seeming to mind.
And who would mind, if you’ve had Pratte’s career? In addition to serving as La Presse’s chief editorial writer for 14 years, he helped steer the 140-year-old paper’s transition to a new business model.
Today, La Presse is one of the few successful legacy newspapers in the province — and country — in a landscape littered by failures.
‘Too much time wasted’
Pratte had assured me the restaurant’s coffee was good and he isn’t mistaken. My latté is light and balanced.
Pratte ultimately stepped away from La Presse in 2015, he explains, because “I had the impression that I’d said all that I needed to say. It was becoming a bit too much of a routine.”
In March 2016, he accepted an appointment to the Senate — one of the early so-called independent senators to be appointed by the Trudeau government.
But the position was short-lived. In October 2019, he resigned.
Why?
“The main reason was I felt there was much too much time wasted … the Senate can be very inefficient and I’m an impatient person.”
But impatience wasn’t the only factor.
“When I was appointed, the prime minister called … and I said I only have one question. ‘Will I be able to vote along my conscience, my own ideas?’ And he said ‘Yes,’ so I took him seriously. But that’s not really the way it worked.”
“[O]nce the senator is appointed, they put a lot of pressure on them to vote on the side of the government.”
‘I resist temptation’
Our coffees are small, but in typical French fashion, they’re somehow the right size for a long conversation.
After leaving the Senate, Pratte says he would have happily returned to the news industry, but was disappointed to find no opportunities for him there.
“I was disappointed by that because I felt I still had something to contribute. Ideas that were in the minority, not expressed by many people.”
Instead, he completed a MBA and has found other ways to express his ideas.
He has book projects — plural — on the go, and contributes columns to the National Post, Le Devoir and La Presse. He’s a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa, a special advisor to the communications firm Citizen and on an advisory committee to the auditor general of Canada.
But arguably his highest profile role recently has been helping Quebec’s Official Opposition, the Quebec Liberal Party, rebuild after a devastating electoral loss in 2022.
“There was at the time a concern that the provincial Liberal party could be wiped out,” Pratte says in reference to that period.
Throughout 2023, Pratte co-led a province-wide consultation process that culminated in the publication of a report articulating the party’s principles and values. And he’s now chair of the party’s policy committee, which is responsible for translating those values into policy.
Did Pratte find it difficult to transition into a partisan role after spending decades in journalism?
“Yes,” he says without hesitation.
“I’m doing this because, we in Quebec, we’re in very special circumstances. I’ve always been a liberal philosophically … [and] liberalism in Quebec is in a very difficult situation.”
“I think Quebec needs a strong liberal movement to face the non-liberals, conservatives, extreme nationalists and so on. You need a movement that seeks to protect individual rights, minority rights, people who believe in Canada.
“I felt some kind of duty to try to do my part.”
However, Pratte has previously stated he does not intend to run for the party’s leadership, claiming he lacks the “skills or resilience” to do so.
What led him to that conclusion, I ask, sipping my latté.
“I think people are looking for a new generation of leaders … And leading a political party is tough. I’ve seen many very, very talented people trying. And some have succeeded, others have not.
“When Mr. Charest switched from federal to provincial politics, he had a very hard time … and he’s an extremely talented politician,” says Pratte, who has written a biography on the former premier. “Leading a party is really something else.”
“Sometimes I’m tempted,” he adds with a laugh. “But I resist temptation.”
Does he have any individuals in mind who he’d like to see run?
He seems to ruminate on the question for a second, but is quick to say he “won’t name names.” As a member of the party’s executive committee, he is sworn to neutrality.
But, he adds optimistically, he is confident “there will be many candidates and we’ll have a real race.”
A race, he’s emphatic, is a good thing. “It’s a way to test future leaders.” This didn’t really happen for the party’s previous leader, Dominique Anglade, “and I think it hurt her.”
‘A very sensitive issue’
Speaking of races, what are his views on Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre?
Pratte’s words — and eyes — betray his concern.
“When I was in Ottawa I had the opportunity to see him … obviously many Canadians like what he’s doing, but I don’t like that type of politics. Politics where … people consider that you’re not only the adversary but the enemy.”
The day before our meeting, Poilievre had intimated that he would be willing to use the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to implement criminal legislation. This, too, concerns Pratte.
“If the federal government does it, that’s sort of the end. … The Charter then loses most of its impact … I hope Canadians resist that.”
In recent times, it has been provincial governments that have used the override clause. Quebec, for example, invoked the clause twice to shield Bill 21, its secularism law, and Bill 96, its language law.
Should the federal government have done more to oppose its use?
“It’s a very sensitive issue,” Pratte says, placing his cup down on its saucer. “You have to think what’s the best way of achieving the goal [of trying] to change those discriminatory laws … If the prime minister gets involved, will that help or hinder the campaign to reach that goal?”
While recognizing the political sensitivities, Pratte’s principles come through.
“I must say I’m a bit disappointed that the prime minister did not get involved earlier. Because it’s a basic issue. It’s a matter of minority rights, which are extremely important.”
Optimistic vision
Provinces’ use of the notwithstanding clause is not Pratte’s only concern.
I note that Pratte’s report on the Quebec Liberal Party’s future refers to a “conservative, defensive type of nationalism” that has emerged in the province in the past decade. What’s behind this trend?
“Some political parties felt that there was a concern amongst Quebecers about the future of the French language and a new type of immigration, mostly from Muslim countries.”
“Instead of trying to reassure people, some political parties tried to use those concerns to their own advantage … Unfortunately, it worked. Mr. Legault was elected basically on an anti-immigration, anti-English platform.”
Pratte thinks there needs to be — and can be — effective opposition to these policies.
“I think we should do as much as we can to protect and promote French, because that’s our culture… But,” he continues, punctuating the word, “I think we can achieve that while not infringing on peoples’ rights.
“The easy way out is to infringe peoples’ rights without trying to find a solution that can protect the rights of people and achieve the goal of protecting and promoting French.”
Pratte notes as an example that the global French-speaking population is projected to rise to more than one billion people in 25 years.
“From an international trade perspective it’s an extraordinary opportunity for French-speaking businesses … to do business with the world.”
“That I think is a very liberal approach to promote French.”
What role Pratte will play in advancing this optimistic vision for Quebec’s future remains to be seen. Throughout our conversation, he has mentioned the possibility of retirement.
But it is also clear his will be no ordinary retirement.
“Maybe if I retire one day, I’ll try to get into law,” he says.
Perhaps he will no longer be his family’s black sheep.
As we wrap up, Pratte insists on paying the bill. As he reaches for his wallet, I spot suspenders underneath his pin-striped suit. It’s a classic look befitting a gentleman espousing classic liberal values.
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