Contrary to what it had suggested at the beginning of the year, François Legault’s government will not immediately force manufacturers of household appliances to translate the “ on/off “, “ clean ” and others “ start » which appear on their products. Reflection on this subject continues, however, Minister Jean-François Roberge clarified on Wednesday.
The government of Quebec published this morning in the Gazette officielle du Québec the regulations which will apply from June of next year to commercial signage. Although very similar to the draft regulation that he tabled in January, this one abandons for the moment the idea that inscriptions engraved or inlaid on products – such as household appliances or the sprayer of a bottle of cleaning product – must at all costs appear in French.
The office of the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, confirmed this information, first published in The PressWednesday. A more in-depth analysis will be carried out before Quebec actually moves forward, a press attaché said by telephone.
In a press release published in the middle of the day, the president and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), Karl Blackburn, welcomed the decision taken by the CAQ government. “Our concern was that we would wage war on buttons on/off household appliances to effectively protect French,” he declared.
After the publication of the draft regulation, the CPQ estimated the cost of these measures for businesses at several million dollars. Mr. Blackburn also suggested that an exodus of certain products was possible. “I am satisfied to see that our demands have borne fruit and clearly demonstrated to the government that it was on the wrong track,” he added on Wednesday.
During consultations on the draft regulations earlier this year, several other pressure groups raised their concerns. In a parliamentary committee barely two months ago, Minister Roberge nevertheless wanted to send a message to manufacturers: “In Portugal, it is in Portuguese. Ovens, that’s in Portuguese. Fridges, that’s in Portuguese. In Poland, it is in Polish. In the Netherlands, it is in Dutch. In short, in Europe, usually, Samsung and company respect national languages,” he said.
” In France, […] you don’t have to do “bake“, you can cook things. Why can’t we, in Quebec, be respected? No more apologizing for existing. This is not our policy,” he continued.
Public display
Even if it takes a step back on registrations in French, Quebec will indeed move forward with the public display rules that it proposed in January.
From June 2025, French must therefore appear “clearly predominant” on store fronts. A Canadian Tire store, for example, will have to add a slogan or description so that the French has “a much greater visual impact than text written in another language”.
In its press release on Wednesday, the CPQ reiterated that it does not have enough time to make these changes.
“Companies have until 1er June 2025 to comply; it’s too little to bring about in-depth changes in business models,” lamented CPQ vice-president of labor, health and legal affairs, Sandra De Cicco.