Will Bill 96 help the cause of French in Quebec? We will see it in use, but it is not certain. On the other hand, it gives us a fairly crude light on the way the government of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) governs and legislates.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
If the situation of the French language in Quebec is threatened, it would have been normal to make a serious study of it before legislating. And, let’s say it from the outset, 45 years after the adoption of Bill 101, it is quite possible that it is useful or even necessary to review it. After all, it was adopted when the internet and social networks did not exist and there was no talk of free trade or globalization.
But that would have taken too long for the CAQ. It was important to present and adopt the law before the elections – a question of being able to carry out the electoral campaign on the back of the parties which “are against French in Quebec”. Which should be enough for a significant part of the electorate for whom any “addition” to Bill 101 will necessarily be a good thing.
We therefore chose to take Law 101 and tighten all the bolts available by a quarter turn. This does not change anything fundamental and will probably have no real effect on the situation of French.
But to have the desired effect, it was important to tighten as many bolts as possible to give the impression that something had been done to curb the decline of French, but without giving a new look to the whole file. This is the syndrome: Law 101 does not work, we need more Law 101.
Except that there will sometimes be downright negative effects.
For example, in all democracies, there is a reluctance to grant a power of search and seizure without the permission of a judge. Not even for police officers fighting organized crime or terrorism. But that’s what the inspectors of the Office québécois de la langue française will be able to do in case one email too many has been sent in English.
In a normal government, the Minister of Justice would have kindly indicated to his colleague that this section of the law is not really necessary and will only cause unnecessary misperceptions. But now, the Minister of Justice is also the Minister responsible for the French language, and Mr. Jolin-Barrette insists that all of this has been blown up… and the article will be maintained!
Similarly, Bill 96 would ensure that after six months in Quebec, an immigrant could no longer receive government services in a language other than French. Even in a hospital where it is still essential that communication between caregivers and patients be as clear as possible.
Not everything is negative in this law. Even certain obligations – such as the three courses in French at English-language college – should not cause major problems, whatever one may say.
But Law 96 above all reveals something deeper about the CAQ government: its transactional side. It seems to be saying: there are no votes or ridings for us in the Anglophone community, so we don’t have to worry about what the Anglophone community thinks.
This results in a law that gives many the impression of making the English-speaking community of Quebec bear the responsibility for the attractiveness of English – which is nevertheless a continental, if not global, phenomenon.
On the other hand, there are voters for the CAQ in the suburbs of Montreal or Quebec, so nothing is too good. Whether it’s the third link or highways or other infrastructure that will promote urban sprawl.
However, urban sprawl is one of the main reasons why English is gaining ground in the central neighborhoods of Montreal.
Over the past 50 years, simple villages in the crown of Montreal have become cities with tens of thousands of inhabitants. These cities like Mirabel, Mascouche, Terrebonne, Candiac, etc. are mostly inhabited by French-speaking families who, if they had remained on the island of Montreal, would have completely changed the linguistic balance.
Has the CAQ government taken any measure whatsoever to limit urban sprawl? Of course not. In the long term, that would be the best way to help French people in Montreal. But in the short term, such a transactional government will do nothing that would risk costing it votes in its 450 electoral base.