Diane De Courcy, Quebec minister responsible for language law, speaks at a news conference at the end of a legislature committee that would modify the French language law in the province, Thursday, April 18, 2013 at the legislature in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
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When Lucien Bouchard took over as Parti Québécois premier of Quebec only months after the sovereignty referendum, he set out to rebuild bridges with the anglophone community.
"As a sovereignist, and as a Premier of Quebec, I believe I have a responsibility to reaffirm our solemn commitment to preserve the rights of the anglophone community, now and in a sovereign Quebec," Mr. Bouchard said in a landmark speech at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal in March, 1996. "If there is a will to do so in the anglophone community, before the next referendum we can see how they should be entrenched in the constitution of a sovereign Quebec. That, to my mind, is the very best insurance policy."
Of course there never was another referendum on sovereignty. But shortly after that speech, the Bouchard government received the first comprehensive study on the state of the French language in Quebec since the 1977 adoption of the French Language Charter known as Bill 101. Mr. Bouchard's predecessor Jacques Parizeau had requested the study.
The report made several recommendations as it warned against the encroachment of the English language in the workplace and the increasing use of English as the language of communication in Montreal.
The tone given in the Centaur Theatre speech would dissuade Mr. Bouchard to act on the report for fear of further alienating the anglophone community. Instead, his senior adviser Jean-François Lisée gutted several recommendations, watered-down most proposals and produced a 'bouquet' of measures that failed miserably at resolving the issue.
More than 15 years later, little has changed within the PQ on the language issue. Mr. Lisée, who is now Minister of International Affairs and the minister responsible for Montreal, has spearheaded the drive to tone down Bill 14 tabled by his cabinet colleague Diane De Courcy aimed at reinforcing the French Language Charter with many of the same proposals made back in 1996.
The only area where the government appears determined to act with some degree of conviction is on the proposal to enforce the French language in the workplace, especially with smaller companies. In other areas, the PQ has chosen to address the insecurities raised by the anglophone community.
The proposal in Bill 14 to reinforce the government language agency, the Office québécois de la langue française, will be amended to reduce its powers. It is being suggested, for instance, that the agency will lose the authority to determine whether a town or city can retain its bilingual status if the number of English-speaking residents falls below 50 per cent. The power will be granted to a special committee made up of municipal leaders.
"We are reviewing this section of the bill to allay any perception as to the excessive character of the office's powers or those of the minister," Mr. Lisée wrote apologetically in a comment he co-signed with Ms. De Courcy that was published last week in the Montreal Gazette.
Other changes include dropping the "ethnic minority" designation and return to the more acceptable term "cultural communities."
"The changes were in no way an attempt to restrict anyone's rights," the Ministers wrote. As for the proposal to limit the number of French-speaking military families who can enrol their children in English-language public schools, the matter will be dealt with at a later date "in a new and apposite bill."
With all the proposed changes the PQ will find itself in the same position it did back in 1996 with francophone groups criticizing the government for being too weak and English rights groups claiming the PQ was being too intolerant. Yet despite knowing that the amended bill will irritate people on both sides, the government will proceed.
"We may not all agree on the specifics of the soon-to-come, new and improved Bill 14. On both sides of the debate, some will find it too meek or too forward," Mr. Lisée and Ms. De Courcy stated. "But we can simply give ourselves the benefit of the doubt and accept that this endeavour bears no ill will."
The amendments were aimed at both appeasing English-right activists as well as convincing the Coalition Avenir Québec party to vote in favour of the amended bill, which the PQ minority government needs to pass it. But the PQ may in the end pay a heavy political price with francophone supporters in its desire to please its critics while once again failing to adopt the firm measures some experts claim was needed to sustain the critical mass of French-speaking residents in the province.
Some PQ members have suggested the wise political move would have been to drop the bill altogether and accuse the opposition of refusing to defend the French language. Instead, Mr. Lisée and others would rather compromise and deal with the backlash later.
Rhéal Séguin covers provincial politics from Quebec City.