Plante won’t say if she’s against ‘Bonjour-Hi’
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante gingerly ventured into the delicate “Bonjour-Hi” debate Friday but did not give clear answers when asked if she would tell merchants to drop English when addressing customers.
But a borough mayor in her party says the issue has been overblown and store workers shouldn’t be told not to say “Hi.”
Speaking to reporters, Plante was asked about the Parti Québecois motion unanimously passed by the National Assembly Thursday, asking merchants to greet clients with “Bonjour” instead of “Bonjour-Hi,” a common greeting in Montreal stores.
“As far as I know on our taxis it says ‘Bonjour,’ there is no ‘Hi,’ so we will have nothing to change there,” she said in response to the first of several questions.
She added: “I’m very proud to be the mayor of North America’s francophone metropolis. For us, the French fact is there and we’re very proud of it.”
She noted that she speaks French, English and Spanish, suggesting “you have to be flexible. In our city we receive tourists, foreign students, but again, French is there and I’m very proud.”
She was asked if that meant she would encourage the use of “Bonjour,” rather than a bilingual greeting.
“As mayor, I can’t impose rules but … Montreal is the francophone metropolis of North America. It’s an asset, it’s a plus and we want to showcase it.”
So she supports the National Assembly motion?
“The motion says French is important — yes, French is very important and we have to showcase it,” she answered.
Asked what she would say to anglophone store workers who think they’re just being polite and open by saying “Bonjour-Hi,” Plante answered: “The fact that we are the francophone metropolis of North America is an asset, is something we have to be proud of and I am proud.
“But I’m also proud to speak French, English and Spanish and I think that in Montreal where we receive tourists and there’s foreign students, it’s important to be flexible but to say Bonjour, everybody says Bonjour, and it’s also on our taxis.”
A reporter suggested Plante was “saying two things at the same time,” asking again whether she would encourage a merchant to only say “Bonjour.”
“The motion says French is important,” Plante repeated. “I say, Yes, French is very important everywhere in Quebec including Montreal, and Bonjour is a word that we use everywhere, including on our taxis and that’s what I want to showcase.”
Earlier in the day, in a Facebook post that included greetings in Mohawk, English and French, Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-DamedeGrâce Mayor Sue Montgomery said Bonjour-Hi is a non-issue.
“I think we have more important things to talk about than how we greet one another,” she wrote, in French. “What matters is that we greet each other!”
In an interview later, Montgomery, elected under Plante’s Projet Montréal banner, said “customer service is you greet your customers the way they’d like to be greeted.
“If you have completely francophone (clientele), then you would just say Bonjour,” but in mixed areas, Bonjour-Hi is fine, she added.
She said it would be worse if people do not greet each other at all because they’re unsure what language the other person speaks and are afraid of offending.
Bilingual conversations are common in Montreal, Montgomery added.
“I’ve had so many times where I’ve talked to somebody in French and it turns out they’re English, but I think that’s the great thing about Montreal. People ease in and out of both languages seamlessly.”
The Ontario-born former Montreal Gazette reporter said “I moved here because of the French. If you only want to speak English, I don’t think you’re here anymore. I think it’s just a richness. I don’t see the point in dividing people over how we greet each other. I think the important thing is that we greet each other.”