The revelations of Duty about the tens of thousands of immigrants trained in English at secondary level in contradiction with the spirit of the charter for the French language bounced back on Tuesday in the National Assembly. The Parti Québécois (PQ) proposed a motion aimed at closing the loophole, without success.
The member for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé, proposed a motion to the National Assembly on Tuesday which asked the government to subject “vocational training centers and adult training centers to the provisions of the Charter of the French language applicable to primary and secondary schools. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) refused to debate the motion, which was therefore rejected outright.
“The “nationalist” government of the CAQ has just refused this motion,” quipped the leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, after this express rejection.
“It sends the message that this is tolerated. Tolerated in the same sense as CEGEP in English,” said MP Pascal Bérubé.
Québec Solidaire did not intend to oppose this motion.
The duty demonstrated earlier this week that more than 140,000 newcomers have been able to obtain professional training in English in a secondary school since 2002, since the obligation for them to study in French ends at the age of 16. Their number has particularly increased since 2015.
François Legault’s government adopted a reform of Law 101 last year, without the issue of secondary schools being addressed head-on.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.
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