Action plan on French | Quebec tightens the screws on McGill and Netflix

(Quebec) Tuition fees will be increased for students from abroad or from other Canadian provinces who attend an English-speaking university. And a law will force digital platforms like Spotify and Netflix to give more space to Quebec content.

A little over a week after losing its seat of Jean-Talon to the Parti Québécois, the Legault government is attacking on the linguistic front.

In interview with The Press, the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, opens his game on his action plan, the submission of which is scheduled for mid-November. This is the much-awaited fruit of the action group for the future of the French language formed in January and bringing together six ministers.

President of the group, Jean-François Roberge multiplies the superlatives to describe this “all-out offensive” which will “mark minds and restore confidence”.

To achieve this, the action plan will include around fifty measures in addition to the provisions of the reform of Law 101 adopted last year (bill 96).

Rebalancing the university network

Among these measures, the Legault government will increase tuition fees for foreign students and students from other Canadian provinces who decide to attend an English-speaking university. It will therefore be more expensive for this highly sought-after clientele to study in English rather than in French.

“We are going to go there with strong resources to rebalance our university network. Because there is a big imbalance between the French-speaking and English-speaking networks,” explains Jean-François Roberge.

The minister notes that 80% of Quebec students attend a French-speaking university, but that the situation is completely different among “non-Quebec students”. “Whether they are Canadians or internationals, it is approximately 50% in the French-speaking network and 50% in the English-speaking network. We see that there is a large disparity between the linguistic behavior of Quebec students and the linguistic behavior of non-Quebec students. »

Some 32,000 students from abroad and from other Canadian provinces attend McGill, Concordia or Bishop’s universities, says Mr. Roberge.

“There are a lot of people who come to Quebec, who attend an English-speaking university and who very often express themselves in English on a daily basis,” he says. If we want to change the linguistic profile of Montreal, to stop the decline in Montreal, we must take an interest in the question of rebalancing university networks. »

The Press recently published a report on the battle universities are waging to recruit foreign students. With 25% of Quebec’s student population, the three English-speaking universities attract 38% of foreign students.

The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, will present the details of the increase in tuition fees on Friday. She is also preparing a new university funding policy. Quebec intends to provide more support to French-speaking establishments.

Currently, a student from another Canadian province pays approximately $9,000 per year in tuition fees. These fees amount to more than $27,000 for a foreign student, except for a French and a Belgian who face the same bill as a Canadian outside Quebec ($9,000).

Tuition fees for a Quebec student are $2,880 per year.

Promoting Quebec content

Another “major change” will affect the cultural industry. Quebec will introduce a law to force digital platforms to promote French-speaking and Quebecois content.

This has been under consideration for several months, but the government has not made a decision to date. It’s now done.

The government “will go as far as the areas of jurisdiction, laws and taxation” allow it to do, points out Jean-François Roberge.

Ottawa adopted the Online streaming law (Bill C-11) which requires digital giants to contribute to and promote Canadian content. Quebec had tried without success to add measures to recognize Quebec’s cultural specificity, such as a mandatory consultation mechanism for Quebec in the rules of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

The Legault government will add its own measures, a gesture that Quebec is entitled to make, according to experts and constitutionalists consulted in recent months.

“At the moment, there are no regulations or guidelines” imposed on digital platforms. “The government of Quebec has no influence on what is happening from a digital culture point of view,” laments Jean-François Roberge.

The Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, will correct the situation with the tabling of a bill.

In 2004, before the advent of digital streaming platforms, “77.5% of Quebecers said they listened to music either in French only or equally in French and English,” underlines the minister. “In 2022, music consumption on Spotify was only 8% Quebecois on Quebec territory. 8%! And we know that our 12-30 year olds are on Spotify a lot to listen to music, it’s quite rare that they turn on the radio. We need to completely change the situation. »

Access to Quebec content must be facilitated. “At the moment, when we open a digital platform like Spotify, unless we really asked for something else, it’s music that comes from Anglo-Saxon culture,” explains Mr. Roberge

The same obligation of “greater visibility” for Quebec and French-speaking content will be imposed on Netflix, Disney+ and other Amazon Prime. “After that, Quebecers will select what they want” as music, film or series.

As recently stated at The Press the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, Quebec intends to impose new language requirements on temporary immigrants, such as foreign workers and students, to prevent their growing numbers from contributing to the anglicization of Quebec. They will be in addition to the measures unveiled in June affecting permanent immigration. The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, is reviewing the French teaching program at primary and secondary levels.

For Jean-François Roberge, the measures in the action plan, combined with the recent revision of Bill 101, will not only slow down the decline of French, but “reverse the trend”. How soon? “It’s going to take years to reap the benefits of all this,” he admits.