Business community concerned about Quebec’s language reform bill

The Quebec government’s newly proposed language law, Bill 96 is drawing the ire of the Quebec business community, including the owner of the Swiss Vienna Pastry shop in Pointe-Claire.

Harry Schick worries that if the bill becomes law as written, language inspectors will quickly be descending on his store if one of his staff members first addresses a client in any other language than French.

“We say bonjour/hi to everybody but if one of the girls makes a mistake and says, ‘can I help you,’ well, all of a sudden we’re going to get an inspection,” Schick told Global News.

Under the proposed bill, agents from Quebec’s Office de la langue française have the power to inspect a business if a client calls to file a language complaint.

Bill 96 also requires businesses with 25 or more employees to create a French-language report on an annual basis.

Schick has 22 members on his staff.

“I’m not going to increase because of this. What do I need the aggravation for?” he said.

The bill, intended to defend and increase the use of French in the business community, also requires companies to justify the hiring of someone or offering a person a promotion where language skills other than French are required for the position.

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“We will have to justify every hiring move that we make. Every management decision regarding the staff and eventually we could be either having public servants telling us what we have the right to do or not and there’s a concern there,” Michel Leblanc, the CEO of the Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, told Global News.

2:03 Quebec tables bill to reinforce and protect French language

Premier François Legault hinted on Thursday that qualifying words may need to appear predominantly on exterior signs of trademarked names of companies. For instance, Canadian Tire may require the word magasin — French for store — in front of the company’s name.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says red tape in Quebec already costs more than $8 billion a year in lost economic productivity.

The vice-president fears the proposed legislation, as is, will add to the costs and create more bureaucracy.

“CFIB is worried about the impact of this bill on the increase of red tape for small businesses,” François Vincent told Global News.

The bill was introduced at the National Assembly on Thursday.