PQ introduces Bill 101 reform and motion on French-language CEGEPs

Parti Quebecois' Pascal Berube at the legislature in Quebec City, on Wednesday, September 6, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot)

Montreal -

The Parti Québécois introduced its own bill to strengthen Bill 101 and a motion extending the provisions of the Charter on French-language education to the college system.

On Thursday, Pascal Bérubé, the third opposition party's critic for culture and communications, tabled on Bill 190, which deals with French as a language of work and as a language of welcome, among other things.

It includes the right to learning services in French, the right to be welcomed in French in health and social services institutions, in public utility companies, in professional orders, and employee associations.

His motion on French-language education could not be debated, however, as the Leader of the Legault government refused to give his assent.

The motion called for recognition of the fact that the allophone clientele has been growing in the English-language college system for 20 years.

Bérubé mentioned that this is a "major factor of anglicization in Quebec", particularly in the Greater Montreal Area.

The Journal de Québec reported in its Wednesday edition that some English-language CEGEPs have a large allophone clientele, such as Vanier College with 52 per cent and Dawson with 41.6 per cent. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 11, 2021.