(Ottawa) The Legault government did not succeed in making French the official and common language for businesses under federal jurisdiction, but it was able to convince the federal government to integrate other elements of the Charter of the French language to ensure that employees can work in the language of Molière.
“I’m going to call it a magnificent solution to a linguistic problem that we had,” summed up the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, in an interview. “I am reassured and more than that, I am satisfied. »
Negotiations had been going well between Quebec and Ottawa for several weeks to try to find common ground. Mr. Roberge met with the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, on several occasions, as well as the employees of their offices and their officials.
Liberal MP Marc Serré tabled a series of last-minute amendments to Bill C-13 on Friday afternoon to harmonize the reform of the Official Languages Act with that of the Charter of the French Language. They were all adopted unanimously.
Even if employees of banks, telecommunications companies, aviation or railways can always choose to work in English, these changes generalize the use of French.
This victory is bittersweet for the Bloc Québécois, whose amendment to make French the only language of work in businesses under federal jurisdiction in Quebec was defeated by the Liberals and NDP MP Niki Ashton. Bloc Québécois MP Mario Beaulieu said he was happy with the progress made.
The applause rang out at the end of this parliamentary committee meeting since the bill, a Liberal election promise, has just taken an important step. It is returned to the House of Commons for the report stage preceding third reading. It will then be up to the Senate to study it. The government hopes for adoption by the end of parliamentary proceedings in June.
