Bilingual cities feel forgotten by Quebec – Montreal | The Canadian News

The mayors of the bilingual municipalities on the island of Montreal feel that their cities have been forgotten.

Members of the Association of Suburban Municipalities say it says a lot that Prime Minister François Legault did not mention bilingual cities as one of the important institutions for Anglophones.

“They choose to live in our cities so they can enjoy our recreational facilities and ask questions in English and get their tax bill in English, read signs that they can understand,” said Mitchell Brownstein, mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, one of the cities. bilingual.

During Legault’s inaugural address on Tuesday, in which he outlined his government’s priorities, he spoke of schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and the media as important institutions for the English community.

He did not mention bilingual cities.

“And it’s a major omission,” insisted Brownstein from his office.

He and the other mayors in the association believe it proves that the government is ignoring their municipalities.

“This just shows that they are not paying attention to us,” said Beny Masella, president of the association and mayor of Montreal West. “The system is broken.”

Mayors say Legault’s omission is also a bad timing.

It comes on the heels of a new decree requiring separate cities to bear 18 percent of the cost of Montreal city services, though they represent only 12 percent of the population.

“The way this whole system was built no longer works,” Masella argued.

All but two of the 15 cities that have separated from the island have bilingual status.

Legault says he doesn’t understand the uproar over his speech, as the bilingual status of cities is still protected by Bill 96, the legislation proposed to amend Bill 101.

“Peoples who want to maintain bilingual status only need one vote,” the prime minister told Global News.

The council vote would occur every decade.

The mayors, however, believe that it threatens the exemption that allows municipalities to use English.

They note that Legault specifically mentioned hospitals and schools in his speech even though they are already protected, and they hope the omission is not indicative of the prime minister’s mindset.