Yves-François Blanchet threw a wrench into the mix by asserting that Montreal was a city that was less and less Quebecois.
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Of course, he phrased it differently, saying that we were collectively heading towards two Quebecs in one.
First, that of the regions, deeply French-speaking.
Then Montreal, and more precisely the greater Montreal region, where the French-speaking majority is becoming a minority, and where English replaces French as the common language.
Mayor Plante’s desire to dedicate a district of the city to the French-speaking world illustrates this situation through the absurd. The French fact is destined to become a folkloric showcase, intended for “native” Quebecers who come to take a tour of the city and for tourists who will perhaps be promised an environment without hello-hi.
Minority
In Montreal, French-speaking Quebecers are almost called to become a community among others – but a community that we allow ourselves to openly fight, to the extent that it considers itself to be the people of reference, and does not intend to consent to his symbolic decline in joy.
- Listen to the Latraverse-Bock-Côté meeting with Emmanuelle Latraverse via QUB :
There will come a time – in fact, we are already there – when the simple fact of insisting on being served in French in Montreal will be seen as an intolerant gesture. This demographic shift was long denied: the simple fact of noting it was equated with racism and conspiracyism.
In recent years, reality has regained its rights.
Thus, in 2019, Gérard Bouchard, one of the most important intellectuals of the post-referendum decade, recognized that: “the capital change underway is occurring within the Montreal region where a new majority-minority relationship is emerging, but reversed: this are in fact the former “minorities” which are becoming the majority. The demographic data, once again, bears this out. In the greater Montreal area, 40% of the population is now made up of immigrants. As for the island itself, the population with a mother tongue other than French has already been in the majority for some time.
That is clear.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
We will grimace when we remember that Gérard Bouchard was one of the intellectuals who promoted a vision of society that made possible this demographic shift that he worries about today.
But back to politics.
The virtual disappearance of nationalist parties in Montreal, except in a few rare places, corresponds to a symbolic expulsion of French-speaking Quebecers from the metropolis. They still have rights, but they have lost power.
Some say, discouraged: since that is how it is, let’s abandon Montreal – in any case, the city is lost. On the scale of history, however, this would be a capitulation.
Gérard Bouchard
Instead, we must reconquer Montreal.
This will not be done without breaking with mass immigration, without redefining the financing of university institutions, without imposing Bill 101 on colleges, without completely disavowing Canadian multiculturalism, and without achieving independence.
But you already know that.