(Quebec) Tuition fees will be increased for students from abroad or from other Canadian provinces attending an English-speaking university. And a law will force digital platforms like Spotify and Netflix to give more space to Quebec content.
Published at 1:23 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
Just over a week after losing its Jean-Talon seat to the Parti Québécois, the Legault government is going on the attack on the language front.
In an interview with La Presse, the Minister of French Language, Jean-François Roberge, opens his action plan, which is scheduled to be presented in mid-November. This is the eagerly awaited outcome of the Action Group for the Future of the French Language, which was created in January and includes six ministers.
The group’s president, Jean-François Roberge, multiplies the superlatives to describe this “comprehensive offensive” that will “shape minds and restore confidence.”
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESS
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French Language
We’re tired of managing decline, protecting language, and slowing language decline – these are all defensive terms. It’s time to make up ground again.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French Language
To achieve this, the action plan will include around fifty measures, in addition to the provisions of the reform of Law 101 (Bill 96) adopted last year.
Realignment of the university network
These measures include increasing tuition fees for foreign students and students from other Canadian provinces who choose to attend an English-speaking university. Therefore, it becomes more expensive for this sought-after clientele to study in English instead of French.
“We will go there with strong resources to rebalance our university network. Because there is a big imbalance between the French-speaking and English-speaking networks,” explains Jean-François Roberge.
The minister notes that 80% of Quebec students attend a French-speaking university, but the situation is completely different for “non-Quebec students”. “Whether they are Canadians or foreigners, in the French-speaking network it is about 50% and in the English-speaking network it is about 50%.” We see that there is a big discrepancy between the linguistic behavior of students from Quebec and the linguistic behavior of students from Non-Quebec exists. »
About 32,000 students from abroad and other Canadian provinces attend McGill, Concordia or Bishop universities, Mr. Roberge says.
“There are a lot of people coming to Quebec who attend an English-speaking university and express themselves in English a lot on a daily basis,” he says. If we want to change Montreal’s linguistic profile and stop Montreal’s decline, we must take an interest in the question of realigning university networks. »
La Presse recently published a report on universities’ struggle to recruit foreign students. With 25% of Quebec’s student body, the three English-speaking universities attract 38% foreign students.
The Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, will present the details of the increase in tuition fees on Friday. It is also preparing a new university financing policy. Quebec intends to provide greater support to French-speaking institutions.
Currently, a student from another Canadian province pays about $9,000 per year in tuition fees. These fees amount to more than $27,000 for a foreign student, except for a Frenchman and a Belgian who face the same bill as a Canadian outside Quebec ($9,000).
Tuition fees for a Quebec student are $2,880 per year.
Promoting Quebec content
Another “big change” will affect the cultural sector. Quebec will introduce a law to force digital platforms to promote French-language and Quebecois content.
This has been under consideration for several months, but the government has not yet made a decision. It’s finished now.
The government will “go as far as the areas of responsibility, law and tax allow it,” emphasizes Jean-François Roberge.
Ottawa passed the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) last year, requiring digital giants to contribute to and promote Canadian content. Quebec had unsuccessfully attempted to add measures recognizing Quebec’s cultural distinctiveness, such as a mandatory Quebec consultation mechanism in the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) rules.
The Legault government will add its own measures, a gesture that Quebec is entitled to, according to experts and constitutional advocates interviewed in recent months.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESS
When it comes to digital platforms, “we have to completely change the situation,” says Minister Jean-Francois Roberge.
“Right now there are no regulations or guidelines” imposed on digital platforms. “The Quebec government has no influence on what happens from a digital culture perspective,” laments Jean-François Roberge.
The Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, will remedy the situation by submitting a bill.
In 2004, before the advent of digital streaming platforms, “77.5% of Quebecers said they listened to music either only in French or equally in French and English,” the minister points out. “In 2022, music consumption on Spotify was only 8% of Quebecois in the territory of Quebec. 8th%! And we know that our 12- to 30-year-olds are on Spotify a lot to listen to music. It’s rare that they turn on the radio. We have to change the situation completely. »
Access to Quebec content needs to be made easier. “At the moment, when we open a digital platform like Spotify, it is music that comes from Anglo-Saxon culture, unless we have really asked for something else,” explains Mr. Roberge
It’s not about banning or prohibiting something. We want what makes Quebecois to be much more visible and accessible.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French Language
The same obligation to “increase visibility” of content from Quebec and French-speaking countries will also be imposed on Netflix, Disney+ and other Amazon Prime providers. “Then Quebecers choose what they want” as music, film or series.
As Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette recently told La Presse, Quebec intends to impose new language requirements on temporary immigrants such as foreign workers and students to prevent their growing numbers from contributing to the anglicization of Quebec. They will complement the permanent immigration measures presented in June. The Minister of Education Bernard Drainville is reviewing the French curriculum for primary and secondary schools.
For Jean-François Roberge, the actions of the action plan, combined with the recent revision of Bill 101, will not only slow the decline of French but “reverse the trend”. How soon? “It will take years before we can benefit from all this,” he admits.