Francois Legault said he's disappointed by Ontario leader Doug Ford's decision to cut services for Franco-Ontarians and the premiers held their first official meeting Monday.
“I asked him to reconsider his decision,” said Legault at the meeting in Toronto.
Ontario wants to abolish the office of the French-language services commissioner and scrap plans for a new French university in the province.
The decision was buried in an economic update last week – but it didn't stay under the radar for long.
The backlash was swift, with some of the strongest reaction from Quebec.
Caroline Mulroney, who serves as Ontario's minister for francophone affairs defended the decision, saying the French-speaking community will still be protected.
“The work of the commissioner, the work that his staff has been doing to ensure that our government and governmental organizations are respecting the French-language services law, all that work is going to continue within the office of the ombudsman,” she said.
Legault said minority language rights are fundamental to the history of Canada.
“Francophones are co-founders of Canada. In Quebec, I have the responsibility of giving services to Anglophones – we have three anglophone universities, we have a large hospital,” he said.
Ford said he has no plans to backtrack on his controversial changes.
“All of us would love to build new hospitals, new schools. It's just feasibly not there right now. The difference between myself and premier Legault - and I told him this - 'you inherited a $1 billion surplus, I inherited a $15 billion structural deficit.’” He said.
Economy, trade up for discussion
The timing of the controversy in Ontario leaves Legault in a delicate position, facing pressure to defend the 600,000-strong francophone minority in a neighbouring province as he tries to build bridges with Ford on economic issues, such as hydroelectricity and trade.
Legault was driving to sell more Hydro-Quebec power to Ontario, and Ford made a push to make inter-provincial trade easier.
"First of all, we're both businessmen. We both understand how to run a business which is fabulous and take the business approach to both our provinces," said Ford. “Both provinces do approximately $82 billion of trade. We do about $42 billion; they do about $40 billion. We want to set a goal of $50 billion. We want to break down all the barriers, which is mostly regulations.”
The price increases for electricity produced by Ontario's Hydro One were one key issue in Ontario's election campaign this year, with Ford saying the utility was gouging customers.
Legault has said that when it comes to electricity, he plans to make Ford "a deal he can't refuse."
Language a touchy subject
After Ford's decision became public last week, Legault said that he wants French in Ontario to be protected as much as possible.
The previous Ontario government, led by Kathleen Wynne, passed legislation in October 2017 mandating the creation of the French-language university.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, among others, have also denounced the Ford government's decision not to build the school.
Language instruction in Ontario is a touchy subject because, in 1912, Ontario legislators banned schools from teaching in French after Grade 3, and highly restricted what French could be taught to one hour per day.
The move because people were worried about an influx of French immigrants, and although the law was revoked after 15 years, the repercussions are still being felt today.
The Quebec Community Groups Network says linguistic minorities should be protected wherever they are, and it draws parallels between French in Ontario and English in Quebec.
