François Legault and his ministers have sharply denounced the comments of federal MP Francis Drouin who called a researcher campaigning for the cause of French in Quebec “full of crap” during a parliamentary committee.
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“It’s a total lack of judgment,” said the Quebec premier.
Mr. Drouin repeated Wednesday that he would be ready to apologize to the two witnesses invited by the Bloc Québécois if they asked him to do so and if they “feel offended” by his insult.
These witnesses, Frédéric Lacroix and Nicolas Bourdon, affirmed that the “overfunding” of English-speaking post-secondary institutions in Quebec is a vector of anglicization which weakens French, a “crazy” theory in the eyes of the Liberal MP.
The CAQ rumbles
Quebec Ministers of French Language and Culture, Jean-François Roberge and Mathieu Lacombe, in turn deplored the episode.
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“The member had the opportunity to apologize, but he decided to get bogged down,” said Minister Roberge.
In an interview with the Franco-Ontarian media ONFR, Francis Drouin said he was the target of “the PQ machine in Quebec.” “They don’t want to talk about the Canadian Francophonie.”
Taking up the statement, Mathieu Lacombe added a layer. “I am a CAQ player and I add my voice to those of my colleagues. Unless you think that Statistics Canada is a PQ propaganda machine, Francis Drouin must apologize. Defending French with statistics does not mean being “extremist” or “full of crap”,” the minister wrote.
The pressure is building
After the Bloc Québécois, conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also called for the resignation of Mr. Drouin from his post as president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) because of his “filthy” language.
Yves-François Blanchet’s party also sent a letter to the other member countries of the APF to denounce the “unacceptable and unworthy conduct” of Mr. Drouin as a “defender of the Francophonie”.
“The willful blindness he demonstrated by disrespectfully rejecting a conversation based on demographics about the decline of French in Quebec and the role played by the federal government no longer allows Mr. Drouin to contribute to a informed and objective perspective of Quebec and Canadian realities to the authorities of the Francophonie,” declared Bloc member René Villemure in his missive.
Passing of arms in the Chamber
Like the day before, Justin Trudeau came to the defense of his MP during question period, this time accusing the Bloc of “attacking a Franco-Ontarian”.
“They know very well that they do not like Francophones who speak French outside Quebec,” accused Mr. Trudeau.
The Prime Minister also claimed that Francis Drouin had apologized for his words, which is not the case.
Mr. Blanchet, for his part, accused Francis Drouin of insulting Quebec as a whole and denounced his “little scat anger[logique]”. The Speaker of the House warned elected officials to “be careful” of the words used in the House after this last remark.
Quebec, like Alberta
Minister of Official Languages Randy Boissonnault considers that his colleague’s position makes sense. To support his point, the Franco-Albertan elected official attempted a parallel between the linguistic situations in Quebec and Alberta.
“When we have French speakers studying in Alberta, like I did at the Saint-Jean campus [de l’Université de l’Alberta], it did not Frenchize the province of Alberta. But if we look at the number of students we have in Quebec, that doesn’t anglicize the province either,” declared the minister in a press scrum on Wednesday.
On paper, the Trudeau government has recognized for several years an “asymmetry” between French and English in Canada.
During question period on Wednesday, Justin Trudeau blamed his MP’s comments on an “excess of passion” for the defense of French.
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