Conservatives, Bloc push for unequal approach to amending Canada’s Official Languages Act

The Bloc Québécois and Conservatives are pushing for an unequal approach to amending Canada’s Official Languages Act — one that a federal official warns could reduce English services in Quebec.

Proposed federal legislation is aimed at promoting and protecting the French language by recognizing its status as a minority language in Canada.

The bill is currently in front of a House of Commons committee, whose members are reviewing it clause by clause.

Conservative MP Joel Godin has proposed an amendment, at the request of the government of Quebec, that would require Ottawa to focus on expanding federally delivered services in the French language.

Assistant deputy minister of official languages Julie Boyer says the amendment would potentially result in an asymmetrical bill that curbs English services at post offices, or at Service Canada, in Quebec.

Bloc Québécois MP Mario Beaulieu says that’s what his party wants because perfectly equal bilingualism would contribute to the decline of French as a minority language.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2023.