Just two days before MNAs leave for their summer break, the Parti-Quebecois is asking for tougher French-language legislation.
On Wednesday, PQ leader Jean-François Lisée said the use of French in the workplace is in jeopardy.
Citing the French Language Council, Lisée said 60 per cent of jobs posted in Montreal require English-language skills.
Back in 2008, 40 per cent of jobs asked for English to be spoken.
Lisée wants legislation that would stop employers from forcing their entire staff to be fluent in English.
Premier Philippe Couillard dismissed Lisée’s comments. During question period, the Liberal leader said “there is no crisis in French.”
Couillard also suggested that the separatist Parti-Quebecois party only takes an interest in cultural or language issues when they’re having internal party disputes.
On Tuesday, Couillard promised to offer support to anglophone minority communities living in Quebec.
He reiterated his promise on Wednesday when responding to Lisée’s language-law question in the National Assembly.
The premier said French has gotten stronger in the rest of Canada and inside Quebec, with 69 per cent of anglophones speaking French in la belle province.
That’s up from just 37 per cent of anglophones being able to speak French in the 1970s.
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