While they recognize the importance of defending French, Quebec ministers in the Trudeau government seem reluctant to reassure Americans who are worried about the impact of Quebec’s Bill 96 and French signage on their businesses.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, took the initiative of sending a letter – in French – to American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who has a “remarkable” command of the language of Molière.
In it, Mr. Blanchet focuses on the concerns recently expressed by the office of the American Trade Representative about the part of Law 96 concerning commercial signage.
“But I believe I can allay such fears. Indeed, the Canadian government is generally resistant to Quebec language laws. This is not surprising given that French has been in decline within Canada since its very founding,” writes Mr. Blanchet.
The latter continues his presentation by dissecting and defending Quebec law, and expresses his “complete availability” to discuss it with his team in Ottawa, Montreal or even Washington, where he will be visiting at the beginning of the month of March.
“Mr. Blanchet is not the Quebec ambassador to Washington”
Questioned about this approach Wednesday morning, federal ministers reiterated the importance of defending French, but they were careful not to mention Quebec’s Law 96 and the American concerns that result from it.
“First of all, Mr. Blanchet is not the Quebec ambassador to Washington,” said Quebec lieutenant Pablo Rodriguez. He insisted that there are “more Liberal MPs than Bloc members” in Quebec, and that by virtue of this, “we, the Quebecers within the Liberal Party of Canada, can very well speak in the name of Quebec, defend the interests of Quebec.
Mr. Rodriguez added that “anyone who wants to come to us and do business with us must understand that it is done in French.”
“Americans when they go to Mexico, they’ll post in Spanish, when they go to Argentina, they’ll post in Spanish, when they go around the world, they adapt. They are able to adapt. At home, let them adapt in French,” he continued.
For Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Quebec has a “responsibility” to defend its own law, but the Canadian government “has a responsibility to our American partners to make known and defend our specifications and our interests.”
For his part, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, also remained rather vague on the issue. “We will explain the why, if we [en] needs, to our American partners.”
If there is one thing on which the Liberal government agrees with the Bloc Québécois, “it is that we must better protect French in Quebec,” said Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada.
“Now, will [la lettre du chef du Bloc] was it the best thing to do with the United States? I think we can do that right here in Quebec and in Canada, so that we can agree on how to better protect French,” she added.