One on one with Legault: I will protect anglo rights, premier says

Premier François Legault has reached out to English-speaking Quebecers, telling them Quebec is a great place to live, French is a positive part of their lives — and he will protect their rights to English services.

But Legault said as premier he has a responsibility to protect French, which “will always be vulnerable in North America,” and that entails finding compromises between both sides of the linguistic divide so everyone feels secure and flourishes.

Today, as his Coalition Avenir Québec government embarks on its second mandate, Legault said he not only wants to stop the decline of French on the island of Montreal, he has set an objective of reversing it and wants everyone to get on the bandwagon.

“I think most anglophones want us to protect the long-term presence of French in North America,” Legault said in a wide-ranging interview Monday with the Montreal Gazette in his downtown Montreal office, one day before work resumes at the National Assembly.

“I would like to reverse the trend, to have a majority of people in Montreal speaking French.”

He cited recent data showing the number of households on the island of Montreal speaking French has dropped from 60 per cent 40 years ago to 48 per cent now.

French is the main language of work in only 55 per cent of businesses, he added.

He insisted his government’s Bill 96, overhauling the Charter of the French Language, is part of the solution. Despite lingering anger in the English-speaking community, Legault said he feels the legislation is reasonable compared to what some nationalists were pushing for.

Legault said if there are fears about the law today, it is because it has been misinterpreted, particularly by media outside Quebec.

At the Sommet de la Francophonie in Tunisia this month, Legault conceded “perceptions,” of the bill could hurt business in Quebec. He said the government was considering buying ads in international and English Canadian media “to re-establish the facts.”

“Bill 96 is a balanced bill,” Legault said Monday.

He noted nationalists would have liked him to extend provisions of the French language charter to the CEGEP system, which would have eliminated freedom of choice for many francophones and allophones, but he felt the idea as too “drastic.”

“Some people did a bad interpretation of the law,” Legault said. “For example, anglophones can still have all their services in health care in English. Nothing is changed with Bill 96.”

One clause of the bill states immigrants can get documents and services in their own language only for six months after their arrival. But Legault said this does not mean the government expects everyone to learn French in that time frame.

“We’re saying we give six months for them to find someone to help them read the documents in French,” Legault said.

Beyond Bill 96, Legault said the next step to protect French is to ensure more new arrivals live and work in that language.

“It’s a question of survival of the language in the long term,” Legault said. “We will continue to increase the percentage of newcomers speaking French. Of course we have some discussions to have with Mr. (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau.

“For example, it’s not acceptable to see thousands of people coming in via Roxham Rd. and take two years before the federal government decides if they are really refugees.”

Quebec has already called on Ottawa to shut the “irregular” border crossing because the province can’t handle the number of asylum seekers making use of the route.

Legault, who insisted on conducting the entire interview — his first with the paper since 2018 — in English had plenty to say about current angst in the anglophone community over laws like Bill 21 on state secularism and Bill 96.

On Bill 21, which bans certain public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job and is being challenged in the courts, Legault said in his view the issue is closed.

“I hope this compromise will stay,” he said. “Some people would have liked more (restrictions on religious symbols), some less. I think we’re right in the middle.”

Asked about a recent opinion piece in the Gazette from retired CEGEP teacher Lori Weber, who said she was leaving Quebec partly because of Bills 21 and 96, Legault said the English community need not fear for its future.

“I think anglophones were very important in the history of Montreal and Quebec,” Legault said. “They have all the rights and I will make sure that they continue to be able to get all services in English, for education, for health care, for all services.

“Now, if we want to still have people speaking French 50 years from now, we need to put measures to protect French. And I think it is a plus for everybody because all large cities in the U.S. try to be different. And I think Montreal and Quebec is different.

“People appreciate this touch of France in North America. We have to keep that and for that we have to work together. I have friends in the English community and they love Montreal because it’s a fun city because of the quality of life. It’s different than Toronto. We have to see French as something that is a plus for everybody.”

He added the economy is another good reason to stay in Quebec. Quebec’s current economic growth is topping that of Ontario at the same time as having the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in North America, he said.

As for downtown Montreal, which is still hurting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Legault — who lives in Montreal — said the city is not alone in this situation.

“I think we will unfortunately have to get used to that, that some offices will be changed into housing,” he said. “People will continue to work from home and I think there are some advantages.”

Legault said he intends to respect his election promise to reduce income taxes for Quebecers, who are among the highest taxed citizens in North America.

“In 2023, we’ll cut taxes,” Legault said. “That means in the budget of the spring of 2023. If we want to continue reducing the difference in the GDP per capita between Quebec and the rest of Canada it’s important that we be more competitive on income taxes.”

He noted Quebec has already moved on another promise to help Quebecers with the cost of living: Cheques of between $400 and $600 will start going out next week, in time for Christmas.

Relaxed and clearly in a good mood — he was in the midst of drafting his inaugural speech to be delivered Wednesday — Legault took questions on other matters. Among them, he noted he has not changed his view that electoral reform is not a priority for Quebecers, despite fresh calls for change in the wake of the Oct. 3 election.

He said people are used to voting one way, and moving to proportional representation, for example, would amount to an upheaval.

“It’s not in the top priority of Quebecers,” Legault said. “That’s why we will not change that.”

On a lighter note, Legault — a lifetime fan of the Montreal Canadiens — said he likes what he sees on the ice these days. He revealed he is first in his hockey pool.

“They have a good team,” Legault said. “I don’t think they will win the Stanley Cup this year but it’s promising for a couple of years from now. They have a good base with (Cole) Caufield and (Nick) Suzuki.

“Caufield is spectacular. Suzuki also. It’s fun to watch and even if they are losing by one of two goals you never know how it will end. It’s incredible.”

Legault, who turned 65 this year, is now the elder statesman of the legislature but says he has no plans to retire.

pauthier@postmedia.com

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