Charter of the French Language would likely apply to federal businesses in Quebec

Ottawa -

Private companies under federal jurisdiction in Quebec will likely be forced to comply with Quebec's Charter of the French Language, commonly known as Bill 101, whether the Trudeau government likes it or not.

All three opposition parties in the House of Commons have confirmed to The Canadian Press, either formally or informally, that they intend to vote in favour of the Quebec government's main amendment to the bill to modernize the Official Languages Act.

Section 54 of Bill C-13, which establishes the Act respecting the use of French within private enterprises under federal jurisdiction, would be amended so that businesses would not have the choice between the Official Languages Act and Quebec's Charter of the French Language, as was initially proposed.

At a meeting Tuesday in Montreal, Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he wants "a clear signal that the language of work must be French in all federally chartered companies."

The day before, the office of Quebec French language minister Jean-François Roberge criticized that C-13 puts minority language communities "on an equal footing," meaning that "we are worried about Quebec's anglophones because they are a minority."

Bill C-13 establishes a new right to work and be served in French in Quebec and in "regions with a strong francophone presence" in private companies in other provinces under federal jurisdiction, such as banks, airlines and railways. The Quebec Charter of the French Language does not give a choice of language. It is French. 

A MAJORITY IN OPPOSITION

The Bloc Québécois official languages critic, Mario Beaulieu, had raised the alarm during a recent press scrum by indicating that he believed that this amendment to section 54 had a "good chance" of being adopted, while reminding us that the Trudeau government is a "minority" government. He had also recently indicated that the Bloc was committed to tabling the fifteen or so amendments requested by Quebec.

For the Conservatives, the Official Languages critic, Joel Godin, indicated that he, his party and the leader are in favour of the amendment. Out of "respect" for his colleagues, he would not confirm that all would vote "yes".

The representations will be made in that sense and I don't see how they could (abstain)," he said. The chances of it not being unanimous on our side are practically zero. Otherwise, there would be further discussions afterwards."

Two Conservative MPs abstained from a vote last Tuesday to include in the preamble of the Official Languages Act the statement that Ottawa "is committed to respecting Quebec's choices with respect to its linguistic development, which is provided for in the Charter of the French Language."

The two MPs had asked for permission, however, and were "accommodated," Godin said Monday, since the amendment was going to be defeated anyway because of a majority of votes "against" from the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party (NDP).

The NDP says it voted against the amendment to the preamble because it would remove paragraphs that recognize francophone communities outside Quebec, although it supported the principle that was being added.

In a written statement, NDP Official Languages Critic Niki Ashton reiterated her party's position on the vote on section 54: "We maintain that language planning in Quebec should be uniform and that federal businesses in Quebec should be subject to the Charter of the French Language," she said.

THE LIBERAL VIEW

Official Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor avoided saying in early December whether her government agrees with any of the Quebec government's demands.

The cat, however, started to inch its way out of the bag last Tuesday when several Liberal MPs rose in committee to implore their colleagues not to refer in C-13 to Quebec's Charter of the French Language, a document that former minister Marc Garneau went so far as to call "discriminatory against the anglophone minority."

"It would be a serious mistake for us as federal MPs on a federal committee examining a federal law to give Quebec a free hand to do whatever it might want to do in terms of language in Quebec," added the former astronaut.

The adoption of the amendment to subject private companies under federal jurisdiction to the Quebec Charter of the French Language without the support of the Liberals would be bad for their image, says Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, the political scientist explained that this would also give "a symbolic victory" to the Bloc Québécois, which could argue that it is "useful in Ottawa." The Liberals, for their part, "would probably have no choice but to adopt the law with the amendment" and in the end, they would "lose face," he concluded.

Interestingly, at a press conference last week to take stock of the fall session, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet refused to say whether his party would vote in favour of the bill if the amendment to section 54 were adopted. "We don't want to know the outcome of the game before it's over," he said.

Private companies under federal jurisdiction seem to be waiting to hear the outcome of the arm wrestling match between Ottawa and Quebec on language issues.

According to the Office québécois de la langue française, 30 of the 400 federal companies that were required to register in order to take steps to make French the language of usage within the company are reluctant. They were required to do so by December 1 following the adoption by the Quebec National Assembly last spring of Bill 96, the reform of Bill 101.

The story of the modernization of the Official Languages Act is far from over. The MNAs on the committee have agreed to hold up to eight meetings for clause-by-clause consideration. They have 200 amendments to consider and voted on only one of them at the first meeting last week. Their work will resume at the end of January. And the amendment to Section 54 is expected to be one of the last they vote on, which could be mid-February or early March.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 20, 2022.