Canada: Quebec under fire for ignoring Bill 101

[Harold Schiffman]

Quebec under fire for ignoring Bill 101

Marianne White
Canwest News Service


Friday, April 18, 2008


The government came under fire yesterday for flouting the French
Language Charter by communicating in English with Quebec businesses
amid a heated debate on the survival of French in the province. The
government is posting almost all of its forms, guidelines and leaflets
for businesses in English on the websites of Revenu Québec,
Investissement Québec and the Autorité des marchés financiers. The
charter, known as Bill 101, states that the government can communicate
in English with individuals at their request, but must deal only in
French with businesses in the province.

The news comes a week after it was revealed that departments are
communicating with more than 75 per cent of allophone immigrants in
English as long as they wish. The government hastily reacted by
promising to put an end to this practice. Both opposition parties at
the National Assembly were quick to call the government lax in its
application of its language policy. Culture Minister Christine
St-Pierre said that French has the "utmost importance" for the Quebec
government and recalled that she unveiled recently an action plan to
promote French, including within the public administration.

But the minister's answer didn't satisfy the Parti Québécois, which
was furious over this "new example of the Liberal government's
unwillingness to protect the French language," said Péquiste language
critic Pierre Curzi. Economic Development Minister Raymond Bachand
said Investissement Québec has a policy of dealing in French with
businesses in the province, but added it also needs to offer
publications in English to businesses outside Quebec. Recent
Statistics Canada reports show that fewer than half of Montrealers
claim French as their mother tongue but that newcomers are
increasingly learning French.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=0d2d9b87-b88d-4cb8-845d-e3257179b483
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