French language not in crisis, say Quebec Liberals

[Harold Schiffman]

 Sunday » March 9 » 2008

French language not in crisis, say Quebec Liberals

Philip Authier
Canwest News Service


Saturday, March 08, 2008


QUEBEC - If the province is in the midst of a full-fledged language
crisis, it's coming as news to some Quebec Liberals . At a language
workshop at their policy convention on Saturday, delegates
overwhelmingly said stories about the French language being in trouble
40 years after the adoption of the French Language Charter - stories
which have resulted in calls for tighter language regulation - are the
creation of fertile imaginations and not based in the fact. Of  the 10
people who spoke, only one, Jules Leduc from the riding of
Charlesbourg, suggested French was suffering. He wanted laws toughened
so that small companies can institute obligatory French language
courses for immigrants who remain unilingual English even after years
of living in Quebec.

His appeal fell on deaf ears as one after another Liberals said
moderation is needed in dealing with the language issue and they
should not cave in to exaggerated newspaper stories about a few
merchants on a square block in downtown Montreal. Even the standard
phrase used by Liberal ministers - to the effect French is making
progress in Quebec but the government needs to be "vigilant" - raised
the ire of some, who stressed the Quebec Liberal Party is not the
Parti Quebecois. "Pequistes will search in every corner to find
problems," an indignant Saint-Marie-Saint-Jacques delegate Rene
Miglierina said.

"But when I see the constant progress French has made in my lifetime,
I say I don't see too many problems. I don't see the necessity to be
vigilant. It's going well. I am sorry but I think by (saying we need
to be vigilant) we contribute to creating an artificial situation."
Miglierina says she dreams of the day when the Liberals put their foot
down and say, "leave us alone, things are going well." The comment
reflected how uncomfortable some Liberals are with the possibility of
a language crackdown in the wake of new studies showing French
slipping in some sectors. Sunday the party will vote, in a full
plenary session, on a package of resolutions which call on the
government to get tougher.

In his speech opening the convention, Premier Jean Charest himself
said: "I want to our French language to be an object of pride but also
of inclusion. That is the difference between us and the PQ." "I think
as a party we would be going down the wrong path if we follow the
suggestion of our colleague to force or constrain through coercive
means the learning of French by immigrants," said delegate Vincent
Piazza during the workshop. "The title of our convention is The Best
for Quebec' - not the most pure for Quebec, it's not the most orthodox
for Quebec, it's not the most white for Quebec."

Delegate Ron Bercovitch pointed out a recent study showing high
numbers of well-educated young anglophones had left Quebec. Bercovitch
said he agrees French needs protection but that anglophones need to be
treated with more "consideration, respect and appreciation for what
our ancestors did for Quebec." On hand for the workshop, the Liberal
minister responsible for the charter, Christine St-Pierre, the she had
not plans to back away from her role despite the message. "The word
vigilance is part of my vocabulary because it's important that the
Charter of the French Language be well applied and we protect, promote
and valorize French," St-Pierre said. She added she has no plans to
re-open the Charter to add more powers to the law, but will instead
use existing regulations to beef up French.

pauthier at thegazette.canwest.com


http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=30b5af93-3fb3-46f9-9d56-a26e30b69384
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