'Bonjour': Quebec launches new $2.5 million ad campaign promoting French language

The Quebec government is launching yet another campaign to promote the use of French, and this time, it's going after a typical Montreal lingo that's apparently a cause for concern for the survival of French.

"Bonjour, bonjour, and bonjour, that's how it should start, bonjour," the ad says. It's the government's not-so-subtle dig at Montreal's popular "Bonjour-Hi" greeting in businesses.

Quebec’s language minister, Jean-François Roberge, told CTV News it's a reminder that francophones need to insist on being served in French.

"If a French Quebecer goes to the same store, he should be greeted with Bonjour and you should be able to be served in French. And this is really important," he said.

Roberge points to statistics showing that the bilingual greeting went from being used in 4 per cent of businesses in 2010, to 12 per cent in 2023.

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Alex Trainman Montagano, a businessman and community activist in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood promoted a street-art campaign encouraging the use of Bonjour-Hi, though he won't say if he's responsible for a slew of sidewalk paintings encouraging the use of Bonjour-Hi.

He’s baffled by the government’s insistence on disavowing the bilingual greeting.

"We live in a country and in the continent of bilingualism English and French and Spanish for that matter and I think for the government to play identity politics and impose cultural standards on us it's kind of misplaced," Montagano said.

Minister Roberge insists the $2.5 million advertising campaign is not anti-English.

"If an English-speaking-Quebecer goes to a store and the seller wants to speak in English, there is no problem at all," he said.

CTV News showed the commercial to people in NDG on Monday and the reaction was mixed.

One francophone man who saw the ad said, "I'm not an anglophone. I do speak English. I work in English and yes, I am insulted. I am very insulted by this. You'd like to have your right to speak," he said.

Others say there are more important issues.

"That doesn't upset me. Hospitals upset me. I can say Bonjour every day," said one elderly woman who complained about the lack of English in health care.

Many feel the campaign targets anglophones.

"I find that beautiful — I find that a celebration of the cultures, many of the cultures that make up the city City of Montreal. And I feel no shame in that," said a Plateau resident.

The commercials are set to start airing this week on TV and social media. Roberge says some of the ads will appear during hockey games at the Bell Centre.