The Parti Québécois (PQ) says it wants to remove the bilingual status of some cities in Quebec that have a minority anglophone population.
Standing in the electoral riding of Bourduas in the Montérégie, PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon argued if a city does not have an anglophone population of more than 33 per cent, its bilingual status should be revoked.
“Institutional bilingualism — and I’m not talking about individual bilingualism, I’m talking about cities that function in two languages — favours English because there’s no reason to learn the official language,” he said.
He points out one of the municipalities in the riding of Borduas, Otterburn Park, is an officially bilingual town with a minority anglophone population.
According to Statistics Canada, as of 2016, more than 50 per cent of Otterburn Park residents — 4,540 of 8,420 — speak both English and French.
Meanwhile, 90 people identify as English-speaking only, 3,785 say they only speak French and five speak neither official language.
St-Pierre Plamondon insists that cities that function in French and English tend to favour the latter language.
“The reason why functioning in two languages everywhere all the time doesn’t work for the future of the French language is that it’s been tested in the rest of Canada,” he said. “It leads to English as a common language and the slow but certain vanishing of the French language.”
He calls Quebec “unique” because it is French-speaking first.
“I think the vast majority of anglophones accept and agree with that,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.
During his news conference, the PQ leader made sure to point out that he was standing in the riding that elected Simon Jolin-Barrette, who was in charge of pushing Quebec’s French-language agenda with the previous Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government.
“The spirit of Bill 101 is a common language, an official language that we must learn,” said St-Pierre Plamondon. “It allows us to reclaim a city like Otterburn Park, which is six per cent anglophone and should not be a municipality that constantly functions in two languages.”
