Analysis of Bill 96: Quebec’s linguistic divide is as pronounced as ever

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QUEBEC – After three long weeks of hearings, the message came like a cold shower.

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When Marc Termote, a veteran demographer at the Université de Montréal, sat down on Thursday to present a report to the legislative committee studying the reform of Bill 96 of the Charter of the French Language, he delivered a message that some of them actually they didn’t want to listen.

Play with the card as much as you like, it won’t have much of an effect in slowing the decline of French, especially when it comes to the native language of Quebecers, which is where it matters in terms of future generations, Termote said.

In other words, imposing restrictions on the use of English in shops and businesses looks good on paper, but the only real area in which Quebec can act and expect results is immigration. Even there, he added, “the result is almost ridiculous, since the decline in the demographic weight of Francophones is only very marginally slowed down.”

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Ironically, for audiences that were supposed to have to do with propping up French, Termote said that Quebec’s Anglophones are in the same demographic pot due to their own low birth rate, an aging population, and long-term effects. of the exodus of English speakers in the ’70s and 80s.

“Inviting a demographer (to audiences of this nature) takes courage,” he joked. “They always come with bad news.”

Hélène David, the liberal language critic on the committee, later commented that Termote’s writing was “the most pessimistic to date, very few solutions.”

It was Termote who successfully predicted in 2000 that native-language Francophones would become a minority on the island of Montreal.

But if the committee, which listened to 50 groups and individuals and received 50 other reports, revealed anything, it is that there are no simple ways out of the language quagmire, the same one that has dogged every Quebec government for the past 40 years. .

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The question is always how far does it go? If there is consensus on the need to do something, as the minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said on Thursday, the answers are confused in the rhetoric of both solitudes.

“There are several groups that said they were going too far or not going far enough, but one thing everyone recognizes is that we are acting on the French language issue,” Jolin-Barrette said.

An Angus-Reid public opinion poll released Friday shows the extent of the split. While 95 percent of Anglophone respondents said they were opposed in some way or strongly to the proposed legislation, 77 percent of Francophones support it in some way or strongly.

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The hearings also revealed in a revealing way a division between the government of the Avenir Québec Coalition, the CEGEP associations, the business community and the municipal world over some of the media it proposes to use to promote French. All raised the need for a language peace, which seems increasingly unlikely in an election year.

The CWC government will find itself walking the line between the hawks of language and the moderates in future decisions about the kind of amendments it might want to include in the bill, which will have to be withdrawn after October 19, after the government’s decision to extend parliament. .

As for the CAQ’s cold relationships with groups representing the English-speaking community, they were on display abundantly, even if only a handful of them were able to speak. The organizations said Friday they did not appreciate Jolin-Barrette pleading with them to read the fine print of Bill 96, which he insists does not affect the community.

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“Don’t worry, we’ve done it,” said an official with the Quebec Community Groups Network, who strongly opposes the bill.

“If there is a grandfather clause (on the rights of English speakers) there, we haven’t been able to find it,” said Rachel Hunting, executive director of the Townshippers’ Association, who briefly presented the committee Wednesday.

Jolin-Barrette is also receiving criticism from language hardliners. In a tweet on Friday, author Frédéric Lacroix, who wrote a book titled Pourquoi la loi 101 est un échec, criticized Jolin-Barrette for saying he believes Bill 96 will reverse the decline of French.

“No, in its current state, Bill 96 will in no way reverse the decline of French,” he wrote. “It will only make the path to the minority situation that French Quebec is heading more comfortable.”

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But since 2022 is an election year, Bill 96 is part of a larger CAQ plan to reassert its position as the main nationalist party.

On Friday, TVA Nouvelles reported that starting Sunday the government will launch a $ 1.4 million ad campaign on TV, Internet, radio and billboards promote pride in the French language.

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