In his opening speech for the new parliamentary session, the Prime Minister strongly emphasized the importance of preserving the French language. Count me in.
I also regularly complain about the poor voice quality in public spaces. I scream in my car when I hear “if we” and “it has it” on the radio.
The famous glow of intolerance
What scares me is that language is being used to blame immigrants for the decline of Quebec’s identity. To this end, in his speech, François Legault dangerously brought the two concepts closer together by uttering the following phrases in the same minute:
” […] The decline of French is an existential problem for Quebec. I am literally speaking about the very existence of our nation. […] If we look at the development from 2001 to 2021, i.e. in 20 years, then we look at the proportion of people who speak French most often at home […] on the island of Montreal we have gone from 54.6% in 2001 to 48.3% in 2021. We have fallen below the 50% mark.”
Then, ” […] And I want to talk to you about immigration. […] There is an undeniable link between immigration policies and the vitality of the French language. »
In short, there would be an undeniable link between immigration and the very existence of our nation.
I fell off my chair. Such an approach is inflammatory and scandalous.
Before we see the language spoken by people who have left it all behind, how many of them are brandishing the lily on June 24th? How many play boat hockey in the alley? How many go to apples in September? How many cook with Ricardo? How many bite into a big TAB&*$ when they stub their toe?
By becoming a Quebecer, you learn French, not the other way around, Mr. Legault.
