Right wing of the ‘Liberal’ Party betrays English-speaking Canadians yet again:
“‘Conservative’ {Party} Leader Erin O’Toole has joined the Bloc Québécois and the New ‘Democratic’ Party in supporting Bill 101 rules for the {forced} use of the French language for federally chartered businesses and activities operating in Quebec… O’Toole…spoke only in French during the debate… O’Toole said the federal ‘Liberals’ have fought against Quebec nationalism, while his party, “the true blues of Quebec”, are the best defenders of Quebec’s interests… Aside from O’Toole, all the ‘Conservative’ {Party} speakers during the four-hour debate were Quebec MPs, in an apparent bid to woo voters in the province…
“ The CAQ plans to present a bill beefing up the province’s language laws to ensure immigrants coming to Quebec integrate into the French-speaking majority.
{But French-speakers don’t have to integrate with their fellow English-speaking Canadians. Such blatant hypocrisy…}
“And Simon Jolin-Barrette, the minister responsible for language, said this week he wants his bill to be adopted unanimously by the Quebec national assembly. Jolin-Barrette also wants Ottawa to agree that employees of banks, airlines, railways, telecommunications and broadcasting concerns, as well as federally-chartered companies in the province, should come under Quebec’s {discriminatory} francization rules.
“Speaking in a four-hour “take note” debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday night on the subject of “the status of the French language in Montreal”, O’Toole said he’s proud to live in a country that has French as a language, calling it “part of the identity of our country”.
“In addition to Quebec, there are francophone Acadians and {small} French-speaking communities across the country, he added.
“O’Toole, who spoke only in French during the debate, said he was born in Montreal, then left for Ontario with his parents when he was 18 months old. He learned French later at age 18 in the Canadian Forces.
“I am proud to be bilingual”,
he said, referring to “the alliance” of Canada’s two English-speaking and French-speaking founding peoples. O’Toole said the federal ‘Liberals’ have fought against Quebec nationalism, while his party, “the true blues of Quebec”, are the best defenders of Quebec’s interests.
“For a long time, ‘Liberals’ refused to protect French in Quebec, because they did not want to harm linguistic minorities in Canada”,
he said {? Nonsense…}. The ‘Liberals’ “prefer discussing to acting”, by using the ‘Official Languages Act’ to defend French and English linguistic minorities, O’Toole said, calling this a “false equivalency”.
“Only French is threatened”,
{Fear-mongering like a Quebec separatist…}
he stressed, noting that from 1996 to 2016, the percentage of Quebecers whose first language is French fell from 52 to 46%.
{Another phony ‘crisis’…}
“To Legault’s call that ‘Bill 101’ rules be extended to federal jurisdictions in Quebec, “We answer: present”, he said.
“The central place of French in Quebec makes Canada a strong country and a bilingual country. We cannot afford to lose that.” {Why not?}
“Pablo Rodriguez, the Argentine-born ‘Liberal’ {Party} MP from Montreal, who is also ‘Liberal’ {Party} house leader and the government’s Quebec lieutenant, recalled that when he came to Quebec as a child, he spoke only Spanish, but he learned French, “the most beautiful language in the world”.
“French is the common language of Quebecers”,
and is Quebec’s official language, Rodriguez said.
“It is a language that is both beautiful and fragile. It is our language that we share with thousands of francophones from every region in Canada. We must love, cherish, share and protect it.”
{Stop with the xenophobic hyperbole!}
“Rodriguez said the 35 ‘Liberal’ {Party} MPs from Quebec will also defend it. But Rodriguez and other ‘Liberal’ {Party} speakers in the debate, including Steven Guilbeault and Mélanie Joly, the minister responsible for official languages, would not commit to extending the rules under ‘Bill 101’ into the federal domain.
“There is no unique solution”,
Rodriguez said.
“We have to do more. We will do more.”
{Then the rest of us will have to push back!}
“The opposition also targeted Emmanuella Lambropoulos, a ‘Liberal’ {Party} MP from the ethnically-diverse Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent, who expressed her scepticism that French is endangered in Montreal. Lambropoulos resigned from a Commons committee on official languages and apologized for her remarks.
{Stalinist-like ‘mea culpas’ are now the Canadian norm..}
“Opposition members questioned Joly about her proposed bill to reform the ‘Official Languages Act’, which declared French and English Canada’s official languages in 1969, before Quebec’s ‘Bill 101’ declared French as Quebec’s only official language in 1977.
{And used the notorious ‘Notwithstanding Clause’ to get around the human rights and Constitutional violation implicit in their discriminatory language laws…}
“And they also quizzed Guilbeault on his ‘Bill C-10’ to reform the ‘Broadcasting Act’. Alexandre Boulerice, the only NDP MP currently elected in Quebec, asked Guilbeault several times whether ‘C-10’ would guarantee more original French-language programming. Guilbeault offered only general assurances.
“Aside from O’Toole, all the ‘Conservative’ {Party} speakers during the four-hour debate were Quebec MPs, in an apparent bid to woo voters in the province away from the Bloc Québécois, which won 32 Quebec seats in the last election. ‘Conservative’ {Party} MPs hold 10 of Quebec’s 78 seats.
“‘Liberal’ {Party} speakers included MPs from Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, with two Montreal members from predominantly English-speaking ridings declaring their support for the French language and for bilingualism. The Bloc Québécois has presented a bill to require immigrants living in Quebec who want to become Canadian citizens to have “sufficient knowledge” of French.
“The law now calls for mastery of French or English, Canada’s two official languages.
“Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet began his speech in the debate by attacking the NDP, criticizing NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh for calling the Bloc’s House leader “racist” for rejecting a motion on “systemic racism”, before accusing the ‘Liberals’ of approving attacks on French.
“When Quebec arises, it will not stop”,
Blanchet warned.
{One of these days, your threats are going to backfire…}
“Gérard Deltell, the ‘Conservative’ {Party} House leader, responded, “Quebec is standing up”, saying a ‘Conservative’ {Party} government in Ottawa could change things.
“No federal government is worthy of the confidence of Quebecers”,
Blanchet shot back…
{Traitorous bastard!}
“Mario Beaulieu, a ‘language hawk’ {‘French bigot’} who switched from the Parti Québécois to become a Bloc MP, said French is ‘endangered’ in Montreal, where English is on the rise.
“The only way to ensure the future of the French language is through Quebec’s independence”,
Beaulieu said.
{Another traitor…}
“The NDP’s Alexandre Boulerice said there’s been a slight decline of three percentage points in French spoken in Quebec homes: from 82% in 1996, to 79% in 2016.
{Quelle horreur!}
“For immigrants who settled in Quebec before 1981, only 30% adopted French, nearly 33% opted for English, and 37% used a language other than French or English, he said. Between 2011 and 2016, more than 41% of newcomers adopted French, 49% chose a language other than French or English, and nine per cent chose English…”
{Which makes it impossible for most of them to move elsewhere in Canada…}
–‘Conservatives would apply French-language law to federal jobs in Quebec’,
Kevin Dougherty. Ipolitics, Nov. 26, 2020
https://ipolitics.ca/2020/11/26/conservatives-would-apply-french-language-law-to-federal-jobs-in-quebec/
See also:
‘Feds Pushing French’ (Francophone Immigration) {Oct.30, 2020}:
Another example of blatantly-hypocritical and discriminatory policies that enable the expansion of Francophone communities outside Quebec while ignoring the repression of English-speaking communities inside Quebec – all of it enabled by a flawed and discriminatory Canadian Constitution.
P.S. Why don’t provincial governments take over their own immigration, the way that Quebec has?
“The federal government will give an advantage to skilled workers who speak French and are applying for permanent residency and immigration to Canada…”
https://canadiansforlegalequalityblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/30/feds-pushing-french/
‘Danger: Bigots At Work!’ (Quebec Language Discrimination) {Dec.11, 2019}:
More blatant language discrimination from French bigots – and our Constitution enables this!:
“A new language policy will ensure all ministries and organizations offer public services almost exclusively in French.”
https://canadiansforlegalequality.wordpress.com/2019/12/11/danger-bigots-at-work/
‘Quebec’s charter has nasty surprise for anglos‘ {Nov.13, 2013}:
“Even though Quebec is part of Canada, it is able to continue to ignore Canada’s “Charter of Rights and Freedoms” when it comes to the repression of the English language. This is because of an idiotic clause in the Canadian Constitution called “The Notwithstanding Clause”, which allows provinces to sidestep human rights by simply passing a motion through their provincial legislature. This then enables the province to freely violate these rights, as Quebec is engaged in doing…”
https://www.facebook.com/345805362190090/photos/a.350308008406492.1073741828.345805362190090/440720762698549/?type=1
♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠
Post also at:
Canadians For Legal Equality BLOG 