Lisée projects image of kinder, gentler separatist

Vows to protect English, but wants French in workplace

Speaking at the epicentre of anglo Quebec on Thursday night, PQ minister JeanFrançois Lisée told Westmount residents he is committed to protecting their language.

“If we see English dwindling, we’ll take measures to reinforce it,” said Lisée, the unofficial minister of anglofranco relations. “But we also want to do protect the vitality of the French language.”

Citizens packed into the Westmount Public Library, where Lisée presented them with the image of a kinder, gentler separatist than they may be accustomed to.

“If you take a step back from the language debate in Quebec, we have a society that has built a livable consensus together over three decades,” the minister said. “In the 1970s, I remember hearing that the goal of sovereignty was to make Quebec as French as Ontario is English. I always thought that would be subjecting anglos to cruel and unusual punishment.

“Our language policy is not a zero-sum game. ... We want to remove fear from the equation. We want French to be secure, we want English to be secure and we want First Nations to be secure.”

Lisée charmed the crowd throughout the evening, speaking in a virtually accentless English and frequently punctuating the discussion with self-deprecating humour.

Despite his easy interaction with the small crowd, the minister remained steadfast about his government’s plan to ensure French be the language of the workplace in Quebec. Lisée also said he wants the province to ensure immigrants are given the resources they need to learn French.

And while the minister repeated the PQ’s often-brandished line about the decline of French on the island of Montreal, he was careful not to assign blame to other linguistic groups.

“French isn’t declining in Montreal because of English or because of immigration,” Lisée said. “It’s declining because the policies of municipal governments have encouraged urban sprawl. French-speaking people are moving into the suburbs.”

Though some projections have the percentage of the city’s mother-tongue Frenchspeaking population dropping below 50 within a few decades, Lisée insists his government can stop the bleeding without harming the linguistic balance that Montreal is renowned for.

“We’re a creative city. It’s what makes Montreal such a viable destination, despite past corruption and declining infrastructure,” he said. “In the short order, we’re going to see quantum leaps in alternative transportation in Montreal. We’re a city that will continue to be a beacon to the rest of the world.”