PQ wants francophones, allophones barred from English CEGEPs

MONTREAL РThe Parti Qu̩b̩cois intends to bar francophones and allophones from attending English colleges despite warning the move is radical and unnecessary.

And arguing French is threatened as never before in Montreal, delegates at a party language and identity workshop voted for a fresh crackdown on English, calling for a return to unilingual French commercial signs, use of the notwithstanding clause to override rights, French only in the courts and more French in small business workplaces.

In the single paragraph dealing with the anglophone community in the proposed PQ party program, delegates struck the line saying Quebec has “every interest in favouring the vitality of this community.”

Some of the workshop ideas may bite the dust Sunday when the party goes into a full plenary session, but at a morning workshop hardliners ruled the day.

“I know this will make certain anglophones angry, but we’re in Quebec and everything must happen in French,” one delegate said after arguing that French should be the official language of communications of the state “excluding” all other languages except in the immigration and international affairs ministries.

That idea was quashed after Borduas MNA Pierre Curzi, the PQ language critic, pleaded it makes no sense and was going to far.

But Curzi did not say a word when the sentence on the vitality of the anglophone community – a line that was in the PQ executive’s original proposal when delegates arrived – went by the wayside.

As it now stands, the PQ program says only that anglophones have contributed to the enrichment of Quebec and would have guarantees their institutions would be preserved in the event of sovereignty.

The full plenary of 1,700 delegates will decide Sunday which of the resolutations get integrated in the PQ program, which is the document the party will use in the next election campaign as its tries to the replace the Liberals.

But one idea that will not change is the one on clamping down on the francophones and allophones choosing to attend English CEGEP after completing their mandatory French elementary and high-school levels.

It is a subject that has been hotly debated in the party and Quebec society in general. Respected Quebec sociologist Gérard Bouchard, co-chair of the Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodations, has warned the idea is “radical” and unnecessary.

His brother, former premier Lucien Bouchard, is also against it. So is former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau on the grounds that states should not restrict the freedom of choice of adults.

The Conseil supérieur de la langue français recommends freedom of choice be maintained, as does the Fédération des CEGEPs, the association representing Quebec’s CEGEPS. This week the federation published a CROP-Express poll revealing 62 per cent of youths between age of 18 and 24 oppose the idea, compared with 32 per cent who approve.

The majority of students who sign up for English CEGEP, 71 per cent, go on to university – there again in the language of their choice.

“Can two years of study in an English CEGEP really lead to anglicization or put in peril the flourishing of the French language?" asked federation president Jean Beauchesne.

But the warnings fell on deaf ears and delegates at the Palais de congrès in Montreal almost unanimously adopted a resolution that would extend provisions of the French Language Charter to the CEGEP system.

Three PQ delegates spoke against the idea in the workshop.

PQ member Mathieu Bélanger, a CEGEP professor himself, warned that withdrawing an existing right is not something that can be done lightly. He noted that 95 per of francophones choose francophone CEGEPs anyway.

“We can propose other methods – without using a bazooka,” Belanger said, adding he favours imposing mandatory French proficiency tests in English CEGEPs instead.

Shefford delegate Nicolas Bélanger said reducing rights creates bad optics for selling the sovereignty plan.

“I am against the idea of reducing people’s rights,” Bélanger said.

The language hawks countered. Delegate Raymond Archambault, a former journalist seeking the presidency of the party, told the workshop the total number of non-anglophones going to anglophone CEGEPs is about 3,500 a year.

“3,500 is the equivalent of one whole CEGEP,” Archambault said. “We are being asked to pay for our own anglicization,” Archambault said. “I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

“It’s one measure, it is not the solution,” Curzi argued in the workshop. “It has to be seen as part of a global linguistic policy. The reason it took on importance is because it is symbolic of our determination and our will to act to reverse the anglicization tendency.

“It is one measure in a policy which is much more global, but it requires of us a certain (level) courage, a certain desire, a certain affirmation of our pride in the French language as the common language as the official language.”

Curzi later told reporters that skeptics including the Bouchard brothers would think otherwise if they had studied the matters as closely as he had.

“I believe there is a great deal of teaching to do – for everyone,” Curzi said. “I’m anxious to talk to Mr. Gérard Bouchard, whom I know quite well. I don’t share his view. For me this is not radical. It’s a firm, clear measure.

“We aren’t born with the idea that will deprive people of rights like we are being accused of but we are this point because, cripes, we look at the situation and ask, “˜What are the solutions?’ It is one.”

“We know we have to explain to people why we adopted this.”

Curzi said there is more to come, such as shoring up French in the workplace.

“It’s the tip of the iceberg. It’s only the beginning of a correct reaction, a very peaceful reaction and there is no threat against the rights of the minority.”

But the delegates went farther in their English crackdown, adopting a resolution to return to French-only commercial signs as opposed to the current law, which says English is allowed as long as French is predominant.

The rule, included in the former Liberal government’s Bill 86 passed just before the PQ took power in 1994, was considered an appropriate compromise and put an end to years of language wars in Quebec.

The PQ proposed scrapping Bill 86 before it took power under Parizeau in 1994. But once there it never acted on the idea, which explains why the law is still on the books today.