ANGLOPHONES

see the PQ government moving to reduce the use of English

We laugh at the apparent pettiness of Diane De Courcy’s attempt to discourage Montreal businesses from greeting customers with a “Hi” as well as a “Bonjour.”

Nevertheless, the Parti Québécois language minister’s remarks this week about “Bonjour-Hi,” an offer to serve the customer in either French or English, have serious implications for English-speaking Quebecers.

For it’s an attempt by the PQ government, by pressure if not legislation, to discourage not only private businesses from offering service in English, but even individuals from speaking English in public.

And it’s connected to legislation that would make public services in English less available in areas under provincial jurisdiction, including municipalities and health services.

The connection is the PQ’s opposition to what it calls “institutional bilingualism,” or the availability of service in English, in the private sector as well as the public one.

The rationale of the PQ and anti-English hawks is that if service in English is available, minorities will conclude that they don’t need to learn and use French.

When De Courcy introduced her anti-English Bill 14 in December 2012, she said the PQ government was worried about “slippage toward institutional bilingualism in the municipal- ities, hospitals, government corporations, ministries and government bodies.”

She complained about another such “slippage,” only this time in the private sector, in her speech on Monday.

This is the speech in which she complained about bilingual greetings — that is, “BonjourHi” — in Montreal businesses.

The former Liberal language minister, Christine St-Pierre, also expressed “concern” about bilingual greetings, “even if it is allowed by the French Language Charter,” Bill 101.

De Courcy, however, suggested to her business audience that enterprises in Quebec should only use English in dealing with customers outside the province.

“Doing business at the international level and using a language other than French is one thing. That it replaces French as the language of work right here in Quebec is really something else.”

Also, the PQ minister said it is all right for businesses to require prospective employees to have a knowledge of English “as needed.”

It was “unacceptable,” however, for them to require it systematically for all jobs, “even if they are not in contact with foreign clientele or trading partners.”

After her speech, De Courcy told reporters institutional bilingualism must be fought “without mercy.”

She stopped short of threatening explicitly to legislate against “Bonjour-Hi.” Bill 14, which the PQ minority government was unable to pass, did not address that question.

She was, however, using what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit” — meaning, in early 20th-century American English, a terrific platform of political power — to put pressure on businesses and intimidate English-speakers.

De Courcy told reporters a PQ majority government would bring back Bill 14 and pass it.

Bill 14 would allow the government, under certain conditions, to withdraw the “recognized” bilingual status of some municipalities that allows them to provide more services in English than municipalities without that status.

Also, at the provincial level, it would have the government, its departments and other agencies play an “exemplary” role by making French the “normal and everyday language” in which they “address others and are addressed,” and “the language used in the public sphere.”

And if the PQ wins a majority in the election that Premier Pauline Marois is expected to call within the next couple of weeks, its members and supporters will expect the government to keep De Courcy’s promise.