MONTREAL – Former federal prosecutor and PLQ candidate in Acadie, André A. Morin, says the decline of French is not worrisome because there are enough measures in place in Quebec to ensure its survival.
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“It’s not something that worries me. No. Because we have ways to ensure that people like their language, like French and are able to speak it well, write it well and promote it. It is an international language,” he said during an improvised press scrum. “There is always a way to change the situation and me, moreover, that’s what Ms. Anglade said, it’s not something that worries me as such.”
He also believes that “French will never disappear in Montreal”.
“That’s very clear, French is not going to disappear from Quebec either,” added the former chief federal prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
On many occasions, the candidate in Acadie repeated that the situation of French did not worry him.
“I think there are already a very large number of measures that are in place. And, it’s not something that worries me,” he added.
Anglade contradicts him
Called to comment on her candidate’s remarks, the Liberal leader pointed out that “the situation of French will always be worrying”, contradicting her candidate.
“We have seen a decline and a setback, particularly, but not only, in downtown Montreal. It is for this reason that we made 27 proposals”, she hammered.
“We will always have to take important steps for French.”
The weight of French is declining in the country, according to Statistics Canada’s 2021 census. The proportion of people for whom it is the first language spoken continued to decline between 2016 and 2021, dropping from 22.2% to 21.4%.
On August 17, when the new statistics were published, Ms. Anglade initially refused to be worried about this decline.
She had maintained that she wanted to “protect and promote the French language”.
On Twitter, the candidate wanted to “clarify his thoughts”, stressing that “the current situation deserves sustained attention.”
During the press briefing, MA Morin repeated six times that the situation did not worry him.