The Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, will ask that the $137.5 million provided for by the federal plan on official languages for English-speaking communities be used for francization.
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“Prime Minister Trudeau says that it is really French that is in danger in Canada and that he has a responsibility. It seems to me that what would be a good idea would be for the amounts intended for the English-speaking communities to be used for francization. I put that in the game, ”said the Minister for the French Language, during a brief scrum in parliament on Thursday morning.
Mr. Roberge pointed out that he will meet with his federal counterpart, the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, to make this proposal to her. “What I expect is that the amounts intended for the English-speaking communities will be used for francization,” he reiterated.
- Listen to the interview with Mario Beaulieu, MP for La Pointe-de-l’Île and Bloc Québécois critic for official languages, on the Richard Martineau program via QUB-radio:
A few moments earlier, the PQ MP Pascal Bérubé protested against the federal plan, which according to him reserves “peanuts” for French in Quebec, while the English-speaking communities have the good share of the cake.
He claimed that this “scandalous” plan is proof that the “lobby” of Liberal Party of Canada MPs from the West Island of Montreal has “won”, referring in particular to MP Emmanuelle Lambropoulos, who recently made misleading statements about Bill 96.
On the side of the Quebec Liberal Party, MNA Madwa Nika-Cadet argued that the plan does not, in her view, contain enough measures to protect French in Quebec. When asked what she thought of the amounts earmarked for English-speaking communities, Ms.me Cadet said she couldn’t answer because she didn’t analyze their needs.
Anglophones ‘disappointed’
“I am very disappointed that Mr. Roberge said that,” Eva Ludvig, president of a group for the defense of the interests of the English-speaking community, the Quebec community group network (QCGN), said in an interview.
According to Mme Ludvig, part of the funds from the federal plan must already be used to francize Anglophones in Quebec. “We need help. We have young people who are unemployed and who must be helped to learn French to enter the labor market,” she explained.
Although she considers that the Anglophone community “has gone through a lot of difficulties in recent years, the president of the QCGN admits that English is not threatened in Quebec.
“It is not threatened anywhere in North America […], did she say. But since there are needs for French-speaking minorities outside Quebec, we think that the federal government should help us as well.”