Decline of French in Quebec: the PQ blame the LIBERALS

Archival Photo Simon Clark
Stéphane Bergeron, spokesperson in the area of francophonie for the PQ, blame the liberal Party of Quebec for the decline of the French.

QMI agency

Wednesday, August 2, 2017 21:31

UPDATE
Wednesday, August 2, 2017 21:38

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The Parti québécois (PQ) has denounced the decline of French as the language used in the private sphere, both in Canada overall and in Quebec, by ascribing the situation to the Quebec liberal Party (QLP), Wednesday.

• READ ALSO: Census 2016: the French in decline across Canada
• READ ALSO: The English is on the rise in Quebec

According to data from the last Statistics Canada census, 78.4% of Quebec had French as their mother tongue in 2016, up from 79.7% in 2011. Across the country, are 21.3% of Canadians had French as their mother tongue in 2016, up from 22 % in 2011.

“I am alarmed, but a little surprised, to learn that French is in decline, and this, even in Quebec. The government of Philippe Couillard has been cut dramatically in the services in francization,” responded Stéphane Bergeron, spokesperson in the area of francophonie for the PQ.

The PQ took advantage of the opportunity to claim that 100 % of the immigrants selected to settle in Quebec to learn French on their arrival. The opposition party has also proposed measures to make more room to the French in enterprises, institutions and schools.

For its part, the PLQ has rejected the concerns of the PQ, which he believes “alarmist” since the statistics relate to the use of the language in the private sphere, not public. “This is not the responsibility of the State to legislate or interfere in the way people express themselves in their living room”, argued the minister responsible for the Protection and promotion of the French language, Luc Fortin.

“The Parti québécois does not have the monopoly of the love of the French language!”, the minister said Fortin, noting that the government has increased the budget dedicated to the protection and promotion of the French language from 11.5 % last year.