LETTER

LETTRE

The Minister of Anglicisation

 

On January 9th, MP Jean-François Roberge declared in a major francophone daily that the extension of Bill 101 to the college level was not necessary to halt the decline of French and that Bill 96 "went far enough". Once again, this elected official is causing astonishment.
    Whatever the Minister may think, Bill 96 is nothing but a flimsy measure at a time in our history when the means to protect the French language are essential to ensure the survival and development of French in Quebec.
    Several from the university community have urged the government of François Legault to support the extension of Bill 101 to the college level in order to halt the decline of French in Montreal and its surroundings.  Among them are researcher Frédéric Lacroix, who has published two books on this issue: "Un libre choix?" and "Pourquoi la loi 101 est un échec", sociologist Guy Rocher, co-author of the Parent Report and the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) with Camille Laurin, demographer Charles Castonguay, author of the book "Le français en chute libre" and others. Many commentators, activists and ordinary citizens also share the conviction that the CAQ is content with a cosmetic operation. And now Mr. Roberge has volunteered to hold the make-up box.
    The government and the Minister of Education are doing the opposite of what needs to be done to ensure the status of French. By refusing to extend the scope of Bill 101 to CEGEPs, by granting $100 million for the expansion of Dawson College and by giving the land and buildings of the Royal Victoria Hospital to McGill University, they are alienating public property and giving them nearly $1 billion worth of public assets. Mr. Roberge is defending French by reinforcing the privileges of the forces of anglicization!
    The denial of the facts is too serious to suggest that Minister Roberge and his government do not grasp the magnitude of the problem.  Why such blindness?  Because of a lack of courage? Out of complacency towards the English minority in Quebec?  To please the businessmen of the Chambers of Commerce?  The minister, current member of Parliament for Chambly, would do well to do his homework again, otherwise the textbooks of the future will remember him and his government as having taught resignation and done the opposite of what history and French Quebec have a right to expect from an elected official mandated to build the future. The masquerade in which he is engaging places him on the side of the gravediggers.  Anglicization has never been so well served.  (Translated)
Benoît Roy
Président du Rassemblement pour un Pays Souverain
Robert Laplante
Directeur de la revue L’Action nationale
Jean-Paul Perreault
Président Impératif français