PQ leader calls for new Quebec language law

Only people who can speak French should be allowed to immigrate to the province, Parti Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Lisee said Thursday in reaction to 2016 census data.

Lisee said if his party wins the 2018 election, it will introduce a new, stricter language law to stem what called a worrying trend in the use of French in Quebec.

“We say if we are in power, in the first 101 days we will table legislation to make sure all new immigrants will have to show knowledge of French before they can come to Quebec,” he told reporters.

Refugees are an exception, said Lisee, who explained people who claim asylum can learn French once they arrive.

The 2016 census data on language released last week indicated the percentage of people in Quebec who listed French as a mother tongue decreased to 78.4 per cent in 2016 from 79.7 per cent in 2011.

Census data also suggested the percentage of Quebec anglophones increased significantly across the province.

“If we keep going in this direction, it will bring us to a tipping point,” the PQ leader said. “We never want to see that tipping point.”

Lisee said his legislation would be called Bill 202, a reference to the legislation passed in the 1970s that is known informally as Bill 101.

“We saw this before,” Lisee said. “In 1976, the indicators were very negative. We brought in Bill 101 and the trend turned over.”