MONTREAL – Dawson College students had an unexpected visitor on campus Monday.
Quebec’s Language Minister Diane De Courcy spoke to more than 200 students at the main reception hall.
The minister was trying to sell students on the merits of the Parti Quebecois’ Bill 14 — the controversial proposed language law that would strengthen the French Language Charter that some fear weaken Anglophone rights in the province.
To find out more about Bill 14, click here.
“Bill 14 is not anti-English,” De Courcy told reporters shortly after addressing students.
The bill would create a quota system for English CEGEPs, requiring administrators to reserve a fixed number of spaces for students who have at least one parent who was educated in English in Quebec.
But some students fear that would discriminate against Francophone students because many of them would be forced to attend French CEGEPs, even if their choice was to attend an English CEGEP.
Get daily National news
“Indirectly, in the long run, it’s going to hurt them if they can’t get jobs that require them to speak English properly,” said Dawson College student Sara Charron.
Bill 14 needs the consent of the Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Quebec before it can become law.
So far, the Liberals are promising to vote against the bill while the C.A.Q. is demanding amendments be made.
De Courcy says she is waiting to hear from the C.A.Q. to see what changes the Parti Quebecois is willing to accept.
Comments