MONTREAL – The controversy surrounding the nomination of unilingual anglophone Randy Cunneyworth as interim coach of the Canadiens spilled into Montreal city council Tuesday.
But while the debate began cordially enough, it ended with a complaint from an opposition councillor that council proceedings were becoming increasingly “anglicized.”
The issue of Cunneyworth’s being named coach was raised by Vision Montreal leader Louise Harel, who asked Mayor Gérald Tremblay to express his opinion on the issue since “he’s remained silent, so far.”
Citing an opinion poll published Monday, Harel said the majority of hockey fans in Quebec, including anglophones, opposed the move.
That led a smiling Tremblay to rise and tell council that Harel had “scored on her own net.
“Yesterday the question was asked to me by Radio-Canada … and I answered that Montreal is a French-speaking city, that the Montreal Canadiens are an institution and should truthfully reflect the will of Montrealers, which is that we should have a coach that speaks both (official) languages,” he said, and then, looking at Harel, added.
“So I take it for granted the score is now 1-0 for me.”
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Harel said she was happy that Tremblay’s reply was on the council’s official record, which led Tremblay to remind Harel that when he was first sworn in 10 years ago and she was Quebec municipal affairs minister, “the first statement I made was (from) the first article of the city charter, which is that Montreal is a French-speaking city.”
That allowed Harel to remind Tremblay that the first article of the city charter existed because of her work as a provincial minister.
Council speaker Harout Chitilian observed that “we’re now tied 1-1” and council moved on to other business.
But as question period wound down, Vision Montreal councillor Elsie Lefebvre rose on a point of privilege to complain.
“Since I’ve been in this chamber I feel that my privilege as a city councillor in a francophone city … is battered each month because this municipal council becomes more anglicized month after month, week after week.”
Lefebvre asked Chitilian that the “French character” of the city and its council be respected.
Chitilian observed that he, like his predecessor in the speaker’s chair, francophone Claude Dauphin, followed a policy of allowing citizens questioning council to do so in English or French and that councillors could reply in the language they preferred “all the while giving preference to the French language.”
Council majority leader Marvin Rotrand told council that English and French debate had been permitted in Quebec legislatures since 1791. “The French character of this council has never been in peril.”
During a recess in the meeting, Lefebvre, a former Parti Québécois MNA, told The Gazette that her comments stemmed from what she perceived as “a certain slide toward English” whether in council proceedings or in the meetings of council committees.
“I understand that the right to express one’s self in city council in English, whether as a councillor or a citizen, is an inalienable one,” she said.
“I’m not at all questioning that, but Montreal is sliding softly (toward English), and city council, which is a public and democratic institution which represents the city, is just exemplifying the quiet anglicization of Montreal.”
Nearly all of council’s proceedings take place in French. Meeting agendas are made available to the public in French and English.
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