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Marois: English must fall back
PQ delegates crank up the heat to crack down on English
Meeting hears calls for language cops, restricted access to anglo CEGEPS
BY PHILIP AUTHIER, THE GAZETTENOVEMBER 22, 2009
Parti Québécois delegates are pressing for new restrictions on immigrants and francophones opting for the English CEGEP system, an idea the party has always hesitated to endorse.
With the exception of a handful of PQ MNAs who said they are still mulling, a clear majority of PQ delegates at a workshop yesterday came down on the side of imposing the same restrictions to the English college system as apply at the elementary and high school levels.
PQ leader Pauline Marois has yet to take a stand but, when in power, her predecessors, Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry, refused to take that step - though Landry now favours the idea.
At a PQ national council devoted to language and culture issues, which opened yesterday at the Palais des congrès, 500 péquistes from across the province spent a full day sounding alarm bells on the state of the French language - particularly in Montreal. The CEGEP question was just one of many beefs.
Party president Jonathan Valois kicked off the debate with a comment that reflected the mood: There is too much English in Montreal.
"When I can't buy a bagel in French, it bugs me," Valois said at a morning plenary session. "And it's part of daily life for Montrealers."
At the same time, Valois added, he feels great pride when Montreal streets get shut down because Algeria wins a qualifying match for the World Cup of Soccer, as happened this past week.
By the time the language workshop convened, passions were running high. One delegate from the riding of Robert Baldwin, Alexandre Pagé-Chassé, described his life in his West Island neighbourhood.
"When we are in the heart of the anglophone culture, we are no longer in Quebec," Pagé-Chassé said. "It's as simple as that. We are in Canada and it happens in English.
"What we really need is language police," Pagé-Chassé said. "It's not Montreal's municipal police force which will go in and ensure the laws on the use of French are being well applied."
Marc Laviolette, a spokesperson for the hard-line club inside the PQ known as the SPQ-Libre, cranked up the pressure.
"Our problem is we feel uneasy; I hear that expression a lot," Laviolette said. "When it's time to put our foot down and defend the language, there are people who feel uneasy.
"If we can only count on our nation to defend our nation, let's defend it right to the end."
Marois herself, in a speech opening the council, heaped scorn on Jean Charest's Liberal government, accusing it of shirking its responsibilities in protecting French.
She said the Liberals have the same attitude when it comes to dealing with the sticky issue of reasonable accommodation: create a committee, shelve a report and "above all decide nothing."
Marois went a step further, announcing the PQ next week will try to force the government to decide what it will do to close a loophole in the Quebec charter of rights which allowed access to the English school system.
The PQ plans to table a bill in the National Assembly affirming Quebec is a secular society that believes in equality between men and women and the predominance of French.
"If the government rejects our proposal, we will have understood," she said. "For the Liberals, Bill 101 is just a thorn in their side."
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