(Ottawa) More than 2 billion in federal funds were used to finance support programs for English in Quebec between 1995 and 2022, according to a compilation carried out by the Bloc Québécois. MP Mario Beaulieu argues that such sums should instead be used to support French, which is in decline.
“This demonstrates that it should be Quebec that is in charge of its language policy,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
The elected official for the Pointe-de-l’Île constituency examined the public accounts to obtain details of the subsidies granted under the Official Languages Act and then compiled the sums. He comes to the conclusion that a little more than 2 billion were allocated through four programs, namely that of the development of English-speaking communities, the development of official languages, the Support Fund for access to justice in both official languages and the contribution to official languages in health.
“This funding should rather be used for French as a working language, to make French the common language and not to support English in Quebec,” he said.
The unveiling last spring of the latest Action Plan on official languages sparked controversy in Quebec. An official confirmed that approximately 20% of the $1.4 billion over five years would be intended for the Anglo-Quebec community, as is the case historically. Of this sum, an amount of 138 million will finance various projects in the English-speaking community.
The Minister of the French Language and responsible for Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie, Jean-François Roberge, had demanded that these 138 million be used instead for francization.