The Daily Telegraph reports: “[Quebec’s] ruling nationalist party, Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) says tough measures are ‘urgently required’ for the survival of the French language… but critics say it will penalise bilingualism.”
“It’s nothing against English Quebecers,” says Premier François Legault: “It’s about protecting French.”
It has become accepted wisdom in many circles that French is in decline in Quebec. In fact, for many politicians and commentators, the question is no longer whether French is in decline but rather just how steep the drop is. Not so fast, says respected Quebec researcher Jack Jedwab, head of the Association for Canadian Studies and Metropolis Canada (ACS-Metropolis). According to Jedwab, the purported decline is actually based on different ways of interpreting data rather than any objective measure of the growing “anglicization” of Quebec.
Eight of every 10 Quebecers surveyed consider that the French language needs to be protected in Quebec. Among non-francophones, 42 per cent agree.
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