OTTAWA – Franco-Ontarian MP Francis Drouin does not accept that he has been accused for nearly 48 hours of not wanting to defend French, accusing “the PQ machine in Quebec” of extrapolating. For Justin Trudeau, the Bloc Québécois is attacking Francis Drouin because he is a Franco-Ontarian and for the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, it is “a total lack of judgment”.
“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Bloc Québécois’ most recent hobby horse is to attack a Franco-Ontarian, they know very well that they don’t like Francophones who speak French outside Quebec,” said Justin Trudeau said during question period on Wednesday to Yves-François Blanchet, drawing boos from the Bloc benches.
The leader of the Bloc, like the Conservative leader, asks the Prime Minister to dismiss Francis Drouin from his position as president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie for his comments.
On Monday, the member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell called two witnesses in committee “full of crap” and “extremists”. The two researchers, Frédéric Lacroix and Nicolas Bourdon, testified to the Official Languages Committee with supporting figures on anglicization in Quebec and the link with studies in English. They explain that attending an English-speaking university or CEGEP greatly increases the probability of leading one’s life in English.
According to Francis Drouin, it is “taking him for an idiot” to claim that higher education is contributing to the anglicization of Quebec.
Francis Drouin indicates that he would have no problem apologizing if the two researchers in question “feel offended”.
“I haven’t had any official communications from either person so that’s the problem. Everyone speaks for these two people, but the two people did not come directly to me,” he told reporters.
“Frankly, I insult someone and I tell the person I insulted that they have the burden of coming to me for an apology. Does he want them to wash his chariot too? Well, there are limits there,” protested Yves-François Blanchet.
French: Drouin both “rude and incompetent” for Blanchet
The Liberal elected official subsequently withdrew his comments, but refused to apologize in the following days, admitting that he could have “put my words better” and acknowledging having “let himself be carried away by passion”. The latter believes he finds it “shameful” and “insulting” that we “extrapolate that by saying that I insult the people who defend the French language” affirming that he has protected the French language “all his life”.
“It’s the PQ machine in Quebec that’s working. They don’t want to talk about the Canadian Francophonie. Mathieu Bock-Côté spends his time insulting us. But it’s not new, I’m used to it,” said the Eastern Ontario representative in an interview after a meeting of the Liberal caucus.
The latter does not accept the accusations, particularly from the Bloc Québécois which asserts that the protection of French would be seen as an extremist position by the elected Liberal.
“These are people who read the Journal de Montréal and think that I am insulting people who defend French and that is not that and I find that shameful. These deputies know very well what they are doing and yes it insults me. I have always been an ardent defender of the Francophonie and I will remain so,” he repeats.
“If Mr. Drouin has an interest in the French language, he is both rude and incompetent,” Yves-François Blanchet replied at a press conference.
According to Francis Drouin, the events of recent days demonstrate that “the Bloc does not want the Canadian Francophonie to function, that is the reality,” he judges. Arguments taken up by his Liberal leader in the House of Commons for whom the leader of the Bloc is only “picking arguments with Ottawa while the federal responsibility is to defend official languages across the country, French in Quebec and the French fact throughout Canada.”
“The word Cambronne (marde) has been known for a very long time throughout the world. It was not our MP who used it for the first time. But indeed, there was an excess of zeal for which he apologized and withdrew his comments,” maintained Mr. Trudeau.
“It’s a total lack of judgment,” says François Legault
In Quebec, the Prime Minister commented on the situation describing the comments as “a total lack of judgment”. His Minister of Canadian Relations, Jean-François Roberge, believes that “the MP had the opportunity to apologize, but he decided to get bogged down,” he wrote, commenting on Francis Drouin’s comments.
In Ottawa, Liberal ministers defended their Ontario colleague.
“I know Francis Drouin to be a proud French speaker who fought all his life, for example, for the right to educate his children in French. He will always defend French, always, and sometimes he gets a little carried away. But those are not the best words he chose,” agreed Pablo Rodriguez, the lieutenant for Quebec in the government.
For the Minister of Official Languages, studying in English in Quebec does not anglicize the province.
“When we have Francophones studying in French in Alberta like me at Campus Saint-Jean, it has not Frenchified the province. If we look at the number of students we have in Quebec, that doesn’t anglicize the province either,” argues Randy Boissonnault.
