English minister mending fences in “bonjour-hi” fallout
During her visit to the Townships on Thursday, Kathleen Weil, Minister responsible for Relations with English-speaking Quebeckers, spoke with regret about the tone of provincial discussions about language following the passage of a motion in the National Assembly inviting businesses to greet customers with the French greeting, bonjour, rather than the bilingual greeting “bonjour-hi” as had become customary in many places.
“The English community is rooted here. We don’t want to hurt anybody from the English speaking community,” Weil said, repeating the words of Premier Philippe Couillard from last week that, “English is not a foreign language in Quebec.”
The Minister went on to say that despite the non-binding motion, she finds “bonjour-hi” to be respectful.
“I like the fact that someone is wondering what language I speak, and I answer back with bonjour-hi so I am returning that respect,” Weil said. “I don’t know if that person wants to speak French or English, and we usually end up speaking French because it’s usually a francophone, but it is a very Montreal reality that the urban English speaking population is comfortable with.”
Weil said that the bilingual greeting reflects openness to diversity in the province.
The Minister was criticized as condescending toward the English community following the debate last week when she was quoted as saying that English speaking people didn’t understand what had really taken place in the National Assembly and that English media responded in a way that was very emotional. Asked about the reaction on Thursday, Weil said that she heard the critiques from family, friends, neighbours, and people in her riding, but argued that those same people also shared a desire to move on from the subject.
“Some people weren’t quite sure why we adopted it and what we adopted,” she said.
Asked about why the discussion and eventual motion on how people should greet one another was allowed to take place, Weil didn’t offer a direct response. Instead she pointed out that the Liberals changed the initial wording of the motion to remove negative phrasing.
“In that particular case we had to bring some kind of clarification,” she said. “All negative comments about the English language were removed.”
Ultimately, Weil acknowledged that the situation did not resolve well.
“It was some kind of confusion that happened there,” the Minister said. “It was certainly not our intent to give a negative message about the language.”
Gerald Cutting, the President of the Townshippers’ Association, described the “Bonjour-hi” debate as one that left the Liberal Government with “two black eyes” in the sense that it made them look noncommittal on one hand and anti-english on the other.
“The only way out now is for (the Liberals) to show that they are concerned about the wellbeing of the English community,” Cutting said, “and I think that what we saw today is a start.”
Cutting was one of many representatives of local community organizations to attend a lunchtime gathering in Danville as a part of Weil’s visit to the Richmond riding and, speaking with The Record after the fact, he said that he is fairly satisfied that the government is showing itself to be on the right track with regard to the needs of the English speaking community.
“They fell into the trap,” the Townshippers’ President said, referring to the fact that Parti-quebecois leader Jeanfrancois Lisée boasted of having set “the oldest trap in the book,” by pushing for a motion about the greeting. Reflecting on Thursday’s meeting, however, Cutting said that he felt sincerity and purpose in Weil’s statements about what she has seen and heard in here capacity as minister so far.
The Townshippers’ President said that he was delighted to see the level of engagement Weil showed with representatives of community organizations, and argued that even in a case where the English speaking community was getting more attention because of an upcoming election, that is attention the community should capitalize on.
“There are a lot of dynamic people and projects at work across the Eastern Townships,” Cutting said, adding that the presence of an attentive secretariat for the English community means that those who are willing to do the work to call attention to their projects stand to see them go further than ever before.
“We have to start from a position of good faith,” the President said.