(Quebec) The Parti Québécois (PQ) is launching a petition on the site of the National Assembly to extend Bill 101 to the college network.
Posted at 10:11 a.m.
The PQ thus wishes to make it compulsory for students from the French-speaking school network to attend CEGEP in French.
The PQ had already tried in vain to amend Bill 96, the reform of the Charter of the French language of the CAQ government, which is currently under study in a parliamentary committee.
The launch of this petition coincides with the wave of professors from 19 CEGEPs who are taking a stand in favor of extending Bill 101 to colleges.
A 20and cégep is also preparing to decide: the cégep Édouard-Montpetit, located in the riding of Marie-Victorin in Longueuil, where a crucial by-election is currently taking place.
“I won’t do numerology, but it would still be a strong symbol, a 20and “said the PQ candidate in this supplement, Pierre Nantel, in an interview with The Canadian Press.
According to him, we should listen to college teachers who are on the front line of this fight for French and who see the decline of Quebec language and culture.
Mr. Nantel has a lot to do now to keep this riding in the bosom of the PQ and that the Coalition avenir Québec hopes to capture on April 11.
“CEGEP in French is imperative,” continued Mr. Nantel, who wants to promote this proposal during his election campaign.
“There is a decline in French in Quebec, it’s striking, we can’t let it go. I cannot accept that Quebec is “Louisianizing” itself. »
According to data from the PQ, since 1995, the proportion of college students who attend CEGEPs in English and their subsidized private counterparts has gone from 14.9% to 19%.
Analysts believe that attending CEGEP in English promotes the anglicization of young people and determines their future academic and professional path.
In its preamble, the petition emphasizes that “many experts and groups have publicly affirmed their support for this measure, considering it essential to ensure the future of Quebec in French”.
They would have liked the government to curb the appeal of English to young people by extending to the college level the application of Bill 101, currently reserved for the primary and secondary sectors. Only children born to parents who studied in English have access to an English school.
In February, the PQ had proposed amending Bill 96 to extend the provisions of the Charter of the French language to the college network, but the amendment had been rejected by elected officials from the Coalition avenir Québec, the Liberal Party and Solidarity Quebec.
Instead of prohibiting access, the government has instead chosen to cap the proportion of admissions to English-language CEGEPs at the 2019 level, i.e. 17%.
In a brief filed in October, the Fédération des cégeps argued that “cégeps are not the cause of anglicization in Quebec”.