Minister Jean-François Roberge defended himself on Thursday from targeting young Quebecers with the advertisement of the Ministry of the French Language on the peregrine falcon “ sick “.
The short television message, first broadcast on Wednesday, aims to discourage the use of anglicisms by French-speaking Quebecers. It features a falcon, referred to by one narrator as “ sick ” And “ chill “.
“Despite his skills hunting be insanethe future of the peregrine falcon remains sketch “, can we hear, before a message indicating that” in Quebec, French is in decline “appears on the screen.
In Quebec, French is in decline.
Together, let’s reverse the trend.Here is the new advertisement from the Ministry of the French Language to raise awareness among Quebecers of the decline of French in Quebec.#polqc pic.twitter.com/O6gtxFU0IK
— Jean-F. Roberge (@jfrobergeQc) March 15, 2023
On Thursday, the three opposition groups in the National Assembly criticized the Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, of unfairly attacking the youngest with this advertisement. “I especially had the feeling that it was not aimed at the right target”, raised the united deputy of Rosemont, Vincent Marissal, during a press briefing in the morning. “Me, when I was a teenager, I had plenty of them, expressions, too, which were probably not in the Larousse. »
MNA Madwa-Nika Cadet, who is the fourth youngest member of the National Assembly — and incidentally the spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec in matters of French language — believes that “we are going a bit on the wrong track by targeting young people “.
“There are certain English terms that have been chosen that are often associated with the younger generation. While the use of English terms in everyday language is an issue that affects all generations, ”said the elected Liberal. “They still make my generation wear that hat, but especially those who follow. »
Asked about this by the media, Thursday morning, the deputy of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the PQ Joël Arseneau, also raised questions about the intentions of the government of François Legault. After all, he said, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, did not use the expression until this week: “the columns of the temple go shaker “. At the end of February, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, also used the term “bullshit” in a television interview.
“Is it more young people that we should be targeting when we know that the government, in recent outings, and again this week […] used [ces] English phrases? wondered Joël Arseneau on Thursday.
Roberge denies
However, this advertisement full of anglicisms does not only target young people, hammered Minister Roberge when he left the Blue Room on Thursday morning. “It is a call for a great national awakening. Indeed, there are young people who can express themselves in this way, but not only young people. It happens to me to escape too, ”he agreed.
“Nobody is perfect,” he added. “Sometimes I go to a meeting and then I call it meeting. »
According to the elected representative of the Coalition avenir Québec, the data from the last census make “awareness of the fragility of French”. The objective of such advertising was precisely to draw attention to the decline in the use of the language of Molière among Quebecers, he justified himself.
According to the 2021 Canadian census, the proportion of Quebec residents whose mother tongue is French has fallen from 77.1% to 74.8% since the last count in 2016. Those who speak mainly French at home are their side went from 79% to 77.5%.