Pastagate’s lessons were short-lived
The problem of overzealous linguistic nationalism in Quebec elicited widespread mockery in the international press five years ago during the so-called Pastagate scandal. But any lessons learned following the ridicule seem to have been short-lived. Since then, the province’s political class may have regressed on questions of language and diversity.
Last week, what with the misplaced scorn being heaped on Quebec anglophones by a small but influential clique of hard-line nationalist media personalities, it was no wonder Pastagate’s fifth anniversary went unnoticed.
Over the years, I have taken little pleasure in highlighting a number of such “excesses of zeal” — as the Office québécois de la langue française has described the aggressive application of language laws by inspectors. Pastagate was one among many such tales of absurd demands made of entrepreneurs by the province’s language authority. Others included a warning to iconic eatery Joe Beef about English words on vintage artwork, and even singleword missteps by one-person operations: When “productions” was written twice in one bilingual company’s logo, the OQLF suggested one of the words was English, and thus illegally prominent.
Examples of the OQLF’s pettiness are well documented, but rarely elicit outrage among Quebec’s political class. What made Pastagate unique was that an Italian- Québécois institution, supper club Buonanotte, had been targeted for using Italian words like “pasta” on its menus. Backlash could not be so easily dismissed by the nationalist commentariat as another example of irrational anglophone angst.
The anxiety in that and other minority communities has, of course, been palpable for decades, and was reflected in a recent poll commissioned by the Journal de Montréal. Among the findings was that nearly two-thirds of Quebec anglos have considered leaving their home province. In most liberal democracies, that level of widespread alienation among a minority community would be cause for concern. Outside of anglo media, however, there was a troubling amount of mockery, particularly among most ( but mercifully not all) opinion writers associated with the former Parti Québécois leader’s media platforms.
One, for instance, accused Quebec anglophones of somehow collectively shedding “crocodile tears,” and repeated an outdated, offensive trope about “one of the most pampered minority groups in the world.”
This latest salvo of ethnocentric punditry leaves the impression that the climate for all linguistic minorities could be more toxic now than it was at the time of Pastagate. While this line of commentary has been described as “anglophobic,” xenophobic would be more precise; expression in all minority languages is what’s been discouraged, not only English.
Similarly, the National Assembly motion to discourage the use of “Bonjour-Hi” by Quebec retail workers was perceived as a slight against anglophones, but serves as a warning to all linguistic minority groups, particularly in Montreal, Canada’s most trilingual city.
That unanimously approved November 2017 motion was the impetus for the Journal poll and the intolerant commentary it inspired. Prior to the motion, the supposed problem of the “Bonjour-Hi” retail greeting was relegated to talk radio and online chatter among fringe language hobbyists.
Liberal MNAs, including anglophone members, legitimized a gripe that seemed based in trivial anecdotes, and in so doing, provided Quebec’s most xenophobic commentators with three months of fodder, and counting.
The dangers of pandering to language hobbyists for Quebec’s reputation and social cohesion cannot be understated. Before supporting the patronizing Bonjour-Hi motion, Premier Philippe Couillard even admitted these divisive exercises had the potential of becoming a Pastagate-level scandal for Quebec.
With diminishing anglophone influence even under Liberal governments and renewed linguistic evangelism from culture hawks, it may take another generation for Quebec politicians to embrace tactful, effective methods of strengthening the French language. But following Pastagate, the list is aggrieved communities is expanding, and so too should opposition to manufactured culture clashes.