MONTREAL — A call for the City of Montreal to revise its charter to become a bilingual municipality was quickly rejected by the city’s anglophone mayor and the francophone leader of the opposition at Monday’s city council meeting.
Canadian Rights in Quebec, which describes itself as a Quebec-based organization dedicated to preserving the rights granted by the Canadian constitution, announced Monday it would target Montreal’s city council with a letter-writing campaign in its battle to have English and French recognized as official languages of Quebec.
“In order for Montreal to survive and thrive, it is necessary to recognize and embrace the uniqueness of its multiculturalism and bilingual nature.”
“The bilingual and multicultural character of Montreal is not merely a benefit, but a necessity to attract international business and investment capital,” CRITIQ announced in a statement.
“As such, CRITIQ is calling upon the city council of Montreal to pass a resolution amending its charter to declare Montreal a bilingual and multicultural city.”
Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, however, said he would not support the move.
“For me, Montreal is a francophone city and we respect that.”
“We will support cities that have a bilingual status, including Pierrefonds, but I don’t think we will start changing the status of Montreal. I think Montreal is a francophone city with services offered in both languages, and it will remain so.”
Vision Montreal opposition party leader Louise Harel also rejected the notion.
In other city council news, Applebaum announced the city was paying its former city manager, Guy Hébert, one-year’s salary in severance pay, or $313,000. Applebaum said that was in keeping with the average payout given to a City of Montreal employee with 32 years experience, as Hébert had. Hébert was forced to resign on March 18 amid allegations he tried to have the city’s chief of police fired.
The city’s executive committee also voted to continue to give city contracts to firms whose names have come up at the Charbonneau commission into corruption in the construction industry, including Dessau, Genivar and SNC-Lavalin, because the work has to be completed. The provincial financial oversight body, the Autorité des marches financiers, will be investigating the companies in the meantime.
Comments