Quebec is a strange animal. In some respects it is the most progressive of Canadian provinces, and in others it seems embarrassingly right-wing and reactionary.
A recent report by the Canadian Renewable Energy Association highlights Quebec's plans to triple its wind energy generation and substantially increase its solar and energy storage capacity. It already produces 99.6% of its electricity from renewable sources, mainly hydroelectricity, and is the largest exporter of electricity in Canada.
Quebec has the largest fleet of electric vehicles in Canada, and is second only to British Columbia in registration of new EVs. It also has far and away the most EV charging stations in Canada (nearly twice as many as Ontario, despite Ontario's much higher population).
Quebec has long had deeply subsidized universal childcare. It launched it $5-a-day government-funded daycare way back in 1997, and the rest of Canada has only very recently started playing catch-up with the federal Liberals' $10-a-day scheme. Similarly, its record on fighting poverty and inequality is second to none, and it has succeeded in virtually eradicating acute poverty among families.
And yet...
Some of Quebec's social policies leave much to be desired for an ostensibly progressive province. Due to its unique Francophone status, Quebec is the only province to have essentially total control over its immigration criteria and procedures. Due to the perennial Quebecois perception that its provincial identity - i.e. its language - is under threat, it is less enthusiastic than most of Canada about attracting immigrants.
Quebec's share of immigration over the years has been been disproportionately low, and that share has continued to fall throughout the last decade. It now stands at little over 10% each year (c.f. the province has about 23% of the country's population). Of course, this is largely about maintaining a dominant French language, but there are other concerning signs that Quebec just doesn't like foreigners that much, like its controversial policy of banning religious symbols in the public sphere, a policy that clearly disproportionately affects immigrant populations, and has had the manifest fallout of making non-Christian residents feel less secure (and must have a similar affect on those considering immigrating to the province).
Despite its progressive inclinations, Quebec, at least at the governmental level, seems to be obsessed with its language, and with the supposition that French is being usurped and replaced by English. Going back to Bill 101 in 1977, the province has passed a succession of measures which make it increasingly more difficult for non-French speakers to live there. Most recently, Bill 96 was passed in June this year (including a symbolic change to the Canadian Consititution, no less!), and tuition fees at English-language universities in the province were doubled just last month, with the express intention of reducing the influence of English in the province.
Bill 96 is still in the process of an extended implementation period, but its proposal to clamp down still further on English commercial signage and product labelling, including even brand names, trademarks and logos, is worrying many businesses there, and inspiring complete incomprehension among others outside the province. Many larger businesses have already chosen to invest in a name change for the Quebec market (e.g. Poulet Frit Kentucky, La Baie, Tigre Géant, Bureau en Gros, etc), but many more smaller companies will soon be expected to toe the line.
Some "registered" English trademarks will be allowed (e.g. Starbucks, Canadian Tire, McDonalds, Best Buy), but they will have to display a "markedly predominant" generic description in French, presumably just in case some Francophones are unsure what Starbucks and Best Buy are actually selling. Canadian Tire, for example, will be required to include the phrase "Centre de Rénovation" on their store signs in even bigger letters than the trademarked name.
It's not like French speaking in Quebec is even under THAT much pressure. Historically, the percentage of Francophones in the province hovered around 80%. In 2021, that percentage was 75%, down from 78% in 2016. So, yes, down. But catastrophically down? By comparison, English was the mother tongue of just 8% of the province's population, and allophones make up 14% (the remaining 4% have more than one primary language).
Other websites report different figures, all based nonetheless same census, an indication of how confusing the census questions are. CBC has the proportion of people who speak French at home "at least regularly" at 85.5% in 2021, down from 87.1% in 2016. An estimated 95% of Quebecers CAN speak French. Hardly cause for breast-beating and mass hysteria, I wouldn't have thought.
Clearly, the issue is very important for Quebec - although I do wonder how much the average guy in the street actually cares - but to us outsiders, this is all petty nonsense. How can a province so forward-thinking in so many other ways engage in these kinds of retrogressive shenanigans? Obviously, I am an English-speaker in a predominantly English-speaking province, so it's hard for me to understand.
I DO understand that they want to protect their language - but to the exclusion of all else? That's the part I don't get. After all, they are French-speakers in a predominantly French-speaking province, so what's the diff? And they have already imposed French on government activities across this largely English-speaking country. How much accommodation is too much accommodation?
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