PQ Drama

From the Globe and Mail:

"Parti Québécois promises tougher language laws if elected"

A Parti Québécois government would adopt a tougher language law within a hundred days of taking office, party leader Pauline Marois says. Changes to the current language law, Bill 101, are needed if Quebec is to ensure that French remains the dominant language in the province, especially on the Island of Montreal, Ms. Marois said.  The PQ leader expressed concerns that the English language was becoming increasingly present as the preferred language of communication in Montreal. According to Ms. Marois, data collected by the Office québécois de langue française, the government agency that oversees the enforcement of the language law, showed that between 2010 and 2012 the number of merchants in Montreal who welcomed their customers in French has dropped had dropped from 89 per cent to 74 per cent. Ms. Marois said the decline of the French in Montreal signals the need for a tougher language law. “The message has to be clear: in Quebec we live in French, we work in French, we communicate in French,” Ms. Marois said during a campaign stop in Montreal on Sunday. The new Bill would increase the powers of the language agency. A “few million dollars” more would go to hiring more staff to enforce the law. Moreover provisions in the law regarding the use of French in the workplace would be extended to the smaller companies, those that employ between 11 and 50 employees. This would affect 54,000 businesses, mostly retailers who would be closely monitored to ensure they speak French to their clients. “That is how things should be done in Quebec,” Ms. Marois said. Under the proposed Bill, francophone students and those from immigrant families who must attend French language schools will be required to enroll in French language post-secondary colleges known as Cegeps. Under the existing law, post-secondary students can freely choose the language of education of their choice after graduating from high school. The same restrictions would apply to vocational schools and adult education. In Quebec students must complete a two-year program in a Cegep if they wish to attend university. A PQ government would also abolish bridging schools which allow for those who have the financial means to circumvent the law and send their children to a private English-language elementary school for a few years in order to become eligible to attend a publicly funded English language school. Under Bill 101 only those children of parents who studied in English in Quebec or in the rest of Canada are allowed to attend an English language elementary or secondary school in Quebec. And if a child attends an English language establishment anywhere in Canada, that student and all of his or her siblings are then allowed to pursue their education in English. Ms. Marois said those who have been allowed to circumvent the law following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling must be stopped. Ms. Marois insisted none of the proposed measures would undermine the rights of the province’s English-language minority. “We will be respectful of their rights. If the other provinces in Canada would do the same with regards to their francophone minorities, francophone [rights] would take a giant step forward,” the PQ leader said.

^ Marois wants to strengthen Quebec's "Language Police" and force French on the province's residents. I am all for having equal representation (both French and English services) provided to every Canadian in every province and do not like when one province (in this case - Quebec) tries to go against that equality and force their own will on others. Despite what Marois believes - English is the only international language and has been since 1945. It is the binding language that brings together people from different countries and allows them to travel, trade and learn about new places. Learning and using English will not destroy the French language, but will enhance people's understandings of one another and in the end - enhance the French-speakers in Quebec. My grandfather was French-Canadian and spoke English (with an accent, but still he spoke it.) I would hear stories of how a French-speaker from Quebec would be hard to understand by a French-speaker from France (maybe they would have understood each other better in English) or how he couldn't help with his children's French homework because it wasn't the same.  Quebec and people like Marois should understand that French will only "disappear" if they continue to shove it down people's throats. People will do whatever they are told and ordered not to do. It has lasted in Quebec since the 1600s and has done so because the people continue to want to speak it. I see no problem with promoting both French and English in Quebec and the rest of Canada and showing that each language is unique and should be learned and used the same.  ^

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/elections/parti-qubcois-promises-tougher-language-laws-if-elected/article4477405/