Robert Libman: Bill 96 was passed to land thanks to the head of Air Canada

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Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec’s minister responsible for the French language, received some anticipated Christmas gifts in the last 10 days.

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First, Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau caused a linguistic furor when he delivered an English-only speech to a Quebec business audience, followed by incredibly naive comments that downplayed the need to speak French in Montreal. Saint Rousseau nearly gift-wrapped a fountain pen for Jolin-Barrette to present to the lieutenant governor, who sanctions the new bills after they are passed by the National Assembly. The legislation in this case is, of course, Bill 96, which reinforces the Charter of the French Language. The bill is currently in the committee stage. Thanks to Rousseau, Barrette now has all the political ammunition he needs to power him.

The controversy sparked by this episode is still boiling over and even led to the delay of an anticipated speech in English on Monday by the CEO of another Quebec-based company, SNC-Lavalin.

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Francophones of all stripes are justifiably upset that our national airline, based in Montreal, has a CEO who is not bilingual. For Anglophones, his comments are damaging because they embolden the nationalist exaggeration that French is under threat in Montreal, the fuel that fuels the debate on Bill 96. The controversy reinforces the stereotype of the unilingual Anglo of yesteryear and repudiates the efforts of the current community whose members, young and old, are increasingly bilingual. It suits those who would rather sow the seeds of division than build a cohesive population that lends itself to more constructive collaboration and prosperity for our city and province. Anyone who wishes to stop the adoption of Bill 96 with facts or common sense is at a distinct disadvantage when visceral emotion takes over the debate.

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Then another sock filler landed on Jolin-Barrette’s lap to further increase the intensity. A story in the Montréal tabloid Journal this week he warned about “the anglicization of newcomers” in the CEGEPs in English, where allophones represent 38 percent of the student body. The story cites a demographer’s report that arises as “the question of extending Bill 101 to the CEGEPs is the subject of renewed debate within the CAQ.” The story also goes that “many speakers” at recent hearings on Bill 96 “convinced certain government MNAs of the need to go further.”

Currently, Bill 96 proposes to limit the enrollment of non-English speakers in CEGEPs in English, but does not apply the criteria of Bill 101. There is a reason behind this. If the government chose to allow access to CEGEPS in English only to Anglo-Saxons who meet the Bill 101 criteria for primary and secondary schools, it would run the risk of meeting serious opposition from young Francophones who want to Get out of the cocoon to attend CEGEP in English to master the language and broaden your horizons. At the same time, if the government chose to deny access only to allophones, it would be accused of targeting cultural communities. By imposing restrictions on both Francophones and allophones, the government felt that it could not be accused of discrimination. So, once again, young francophones were asked to make an individual sacrifice for the benefit of the community. The convenient timing of the Journal report makes it easy for Jolin-Barrette to take the harder line option if he chooses to go there. And the PQ opposition is pushing him hard in that direction.

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Bilingualism is the glue that binds Quebec’s different language groups together and the key to a more cohesive and prosperous society. Bill 96 goes against that reality, but now it’s nearly gift-wrapped and can even be opened before Christmas, thanks to a couple of early gifts to Jolin-Barrette from Santa.

Robert Libman is an architect and building planning consultant who has served as a leader of the Equality Party and MNA, as mayor of Côte-St-Luc, and as a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a conservative candidate in the 2015 federal elections.

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