Barely appointed, the new Minister of Official Languages caused an outcry by avoiding commenting on the decline of French in Quebec. She made up for it shortly after, but not before receiving harsh criticism from the opposition and Quebec.
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Called to answer clearly with a “yes” or “no” to this question, Rachel Bendayan, MP for Outremont, explained Friday that her role as minister was to ensure that “we maintained bilingualism”, “that the English-speaking minority in Quebec be protected and that the French-speaking minority outside Quebec be protected.
Mme Bendayan, whose father is French-speaking and mother is English-speaking, said Quebec had “a very important role.” “It is the province that must first and foremost be French-speaking in order to ensure that the linguistic duality that we have here in Canada is protected and maintained.”
The criticisms were not long in coming.
“When you came to appoint Rachel Bendayan to Official Languages, you reached the bottom of the barrel,” reacted the deputy leader of the NDP, Alexandre Boulerice. “When did she show any interest in the French fact or in French speakers outside Quebec? It’s nonsense.”
When she arrived at the cabinet two hours later, the minister defended herself and clarified her thoughts.
“I did not refuse to answer: it is true that French is in decline in Quebec. It's also true that I'm here to support linguistic minorities […]“, she clarified. “You can walk and chew gum at the same time,” she added on X.
Quebec conservative Joël Godin described the exit as “unacceptable”. Proof, according to him, that liberals have “no respect” for French.
Even the Legault government got in on the action. Ministers Simon Jolin-Barrette and Jean-François Roberge asked him to recognize the decline of French in Quebec.
“The decline of French in Quebec and Canada is a fact proven by Statistics Canada figures. To deny it is irresponsible,” said Mr. Roberge.
Quebec unveiled a $603 million plan to counter this decline in the spring.
