The common language is the one that can be used in public without feeling uncomfortable. This implies that you can trade with someone who finds their job just as normal as you.
English, for example, is the common language used without discomfort in all the western provinces, from Ontario to British Columbia, including the Yukon and Nunavut.
English also governs most trade in the Maritimes, from Newfoundland to… New Brunswick. Yes: English is also the common language across the only officially bilingual province in Canada. From the Acadian Peninsula to Edmundston, and from Bouctouche to Moncton, any English speaker can be served easily in their language, and even with enviable courtesy. Because the French speaker who seeks the reciprocal, that is to say to receive a service in his language in the English-speaking villages, he will at best be shot at, as if he had committed a crime of lèse-majesté . At worst, he will feel a latent hostility setting in.
Each of my stays confirms this to me. My last visit to Fredericton reminded me of this brutally… Bilingualism is only a facade: behind an enticing bilingual signage hides a deep and tenacious refusal from most shopkeepers, merchants, and waiters in the province’s capital. to condescend to speaking French. Even in the most touristy places, such as the triangle formed by City Hall, the Legislative Assembly and the Saint John River, English unilingualism is more than enough to get hired to talk to customers.
Same in Montreal
This is the situation that is in the process of crystallizing in Montreal: speaking in French to a quidam in the street, to the waiter in the restaurant or to the employee of the convenience store is now proving to be risky… There is a risk of creating discomfort, or to receive a heartfelt refusal.
In a pub a stone’s throw from Complexe Desjardins and Place des Arts, five of us customers ordered a beer from a waitress who refused to switch to French with disturbing tenacity. It was only when it was time to pay that we discovered that she spoke French: the prospect of a tip makes you bilingual, sometimes, but not always enough.
The next morning, in the same Tim Hortons that took Serge Denoncourt out of his hinges, at my insistence, the waitress had to be replaced by another employee who, at least, jabbered at our uncommon language. Then, in a downtown pub, the waitress proved incapable of switching to French in front of her dozen French-speaking customers… Her militant unilingualism also forced all her colleagues to speak the dominant language of Canada to her.
The current stakes are high: the more time passes, the more English takes root as the common language of Montreal, while French is pushed out of Montreal. On the island, from now on, a candidate who wants to be elected mayor, councilor or deputy must at all costs avoid saying that he will fight to defend French. Displaying himself as a Francophile guarantees him a crushing defeat.
We have to turn the tide by all possible means, and one of those is to apply Law 101 to colleges.