Opinion: Trudeau distances himself from his father s legacy on bilingualism theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Just two months ago, in this space, we called on Premier Legault to fire Minister Responsible for the French Language Simon Jolin-Barrette. He had thrown another grenade into the language arms stockpile by announcing that he plans to present a bill this year to expand Bill 101.
Among the expansion is extending 101âs application to small businesses of 25-49 employees. Currently the language law applies to businesses of 50 or more employees for the internal conduct of written matters and communications. Also rumoured was that certain provisions of the law will be applied to education, specifically to English CEGEPs. Furthermore, that more inspectors will supervise the language of service in retail outlets.
QUEBEC CITY As Ottawa prepares to modernize the Official Languages Act, Quebec believes it is essential that it adopt a more comprehensive vision of official languages and recognize that of the two official languages, French is the only minority language across Canada. Quebec Minister responsible for Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie Sonia LeBel wants to share Quebec s five points on this subject with the federal government. LeBel points out that as the only official minority language in Canada, the French language is the only one in need of protection and promotion across the country. She said that the modernized law should therefore take note both of the specificity of Quebec and of the linguistic issues of Francophones elsewhere in Canada.