Quebec politicians – despite having plenty of government files to sink their teeth into – have decided to reopen the language debate yet again.
On Nov. 30, the Quebec legislature passed a bill that encourages store clerks to greet customers with the phrase “bonjour” instead of the commonly-used “bonjour-hi.”
The motion was put forward by the Parti Quebecois (PQ). The original motion was amended because one sentence referred to the anglicized greeting as “an irritant.”
Once that term “irritant” was dropped, the motion received unanimous support from the National Assembly.
Even Premier Phillippe Couillard called the debate “ridiculous.”
But heaven forbid Couillard is seen to be catering to the Anglophone population by voting against a useless government motion.
Although the motion is essentially toothless (it’s not binding), it sends a strong message that English-speaking citizens are still seen as a threat to Quebec’s culture.
“Every single Quebecer can relate,” said PQ house leader Pascal Bérubé. “In Montreal, they try to be served in French, and it’s ‘bonjour, hi’ and sometimes it’s just ‘hi,’ so this is a problem.”
Apparently shopkeepers greeting people in both languages is a problem.
What does it matter what language is used to greet a client? If they get served in the language of their choice, it shouldn’t be an issue.
But Quebec, like so many times before, has decided to turn it into an issue in order to make political hay.
In the weeks since the motion passed, Couillard’s Liberal government has come under fire. On Dec. 8, Couillard asked Anglo-Quebecers to be understanding of the challenges his party faces.
Understanding of what? The need to pander to the Francophone majority?
The PQ leader, Jean Francois Lisée, admitted that tabling the motion was nothing more than “set[ting] a trap” for the Liberal government.
That seems like an efficient use of taxpayer’s dollars – opening up one of the most contentious debates in Quebec’s history all to score some political points.
Don’t these politicians have better things to do than engage in gamesmanship with the language that business owners choose to greet their customers?
You would think so, considering the fact that it seems like each week a new story about the shabby condition of the province’s healthcare system comes to light. Not to mention the fact that the province’s road network is crumbling and in need of significant upgrades.
Clearly, there are plenty of important issues Quebec currently faces, but for some reason our politicians choose to focus on the trivial instead of rolling up their sleeves and getting down to the hard work.
If they want to impress voters, they should try to enact some decent policy initiatives instead of playing political football with the language choices of minorities in the province.
Couillard tried to reassure Anglophones by pointing to the fact that his government created the secretariat for English-speaking Quebecers.
It now appears – if it didn’t already – that the creation of the secretariat was nothing more than an attempt to pander to English-speaking Quebecers.
The fact that this motion passed with unanimous consent is even more worrying. Not a single politician – with many representing English-speaking populations – decided to stand up for the rights of Anglophones.
To top it all off, the Minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers, Kathleen Weil, told Francophone media the English-language media was being “very emotional.”
“They have trouble following what’s happening at the National Assembly,” Weil said of Anglophone Quebecers who complained to her.
That’s the minister responsible for working on behalf of the interests of Anglophones essentially saying, “You just don’t get it.”
Thanks for that.
This goes to show that the level of discourse in Quebec politics needs to improve. When voting against the language rights of a defined group is seen as a slam dunk – or political suicide if a politician votes against it – it shows that the important issues will continue to sit on the back burner.
Many Anglophones understand that Quebec has a right to protect the French language as the province’s primary language. But government-mandated greetings are not the way to do that.
Chris Lowrey
