\u201cDo we want them to be contributors to Quebec society \u2014 contributing in taxes, contributing in providing services \u2014 or do we want them to just not do that?\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat the government doesn\u2019t understand is that it is their failure that contributes to why more people find themselves in English vocational programs,\u201d says English Montreal School Board chair Joe Ortona. \u201cThe solution would just be to do what they said they were going to do and keep their francization promises.\u201d Allen McInnis \/ Montreal Gazette files<\/p>\n
Ortona, chair of the English Montreal School Board and president of the association of English boards, was reacting to the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government\u2019s plan to extend Bill 101 to adult and vocational education.<\/p>\n
French Language Minister Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Roberge on Tuesday announced he will soon table a bill that would redirect as many as 27,000 students from English to French schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ortona called the proposal \u201ca political stunt\u201d by a CAQ government desperate to shore up nationalist support ahead of the October election<\/a>. He said Quebec has not consulted English boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the government doesn\u2019t understand is that it is their failure that contributes to why more people find themselves in English vocational programs,\u201d he said. \u201cThe solution would just be to do what they said they were going to do and keep their francization promises.\u201d<\/p>\n Quebec\u2019s French-language courses for immigrants have long been plagued by lengthy waiting lists. Last month, the government said the number of people waiting for a class had fallen to 6,000 from 33,000 a year earlier.<\/p>\n The Charter of the French Language, commonly known as Bill 101, already limits enrolment in English elementary and high schools, but does not include restrictions on adult or vocational training<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking to a National Assembly committee on Tuesday, Roberge said his planned expansion of Bill 101 would reinforce the French language by advancing francization of the workplace.<\/p>\n The EMSB is Quebec\u2019s largest English school board, with about 35,000 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nearly 14,000 students are enrolled in adult education and vocational training \u2014 the sector the government is targeting. Ortona said about 70 per cent of them would not be eligible if Bill 101 applied to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ortona said the adult ed and vocational sector has contributed as much as $15 million per year to the EMSB, helping finance the board\u2019s youth sector.<\/p>\n A sharp drop in enrolment would mean cuts everywhere, he said. Ortona stopped short of specifying what would be cut, saying it would depend on how many students the board actually lost.<\/p>\n Ortona said the EMSB\u2019s adult ed and vocational programs only remain open as long as they generate enough revenue to cover their costs. If enrolment drops below the threshold needed to run a class profitably, the class simply won\u2019t open, or could shut down mid-program, he said.<\/p>\n But Ortona said the CAQ\u2019s plan would also hurt Quebec\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n Not all immigrants who suddenly found themselves unable to study in English would automatically switch to the French system, he said. That\u2019s because many don\u2019t have a strong grasp of Quebec\u2019s majority language.<\/p>\n Ortona said fewer people completing vocational training means fewer qualified workers entering the workforce in jobs Quebec desperately needs to be filled amid a worker shortage.<\/p>\n He said adults in the workforce naturally improve their French on the job regardless of what language they trained in, so the government\u2019s goal of francizing the workplace would not be advanced by the measure.<\/p>\n Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette promised to extend Bill 101 during the CAQ leadership campaign. At the time, she said it would affect 10,000 students, not the 27,000 cited by her minister. The government has not explained the discrepancy.<\/p>\n Quebec says there would be a transition period, but it has not detailed how it would implement the measure or whether there would be exemptions or a grandfather clause for existing students.<\/p>\n TALQ, a coalition of anglophone groups<\/a>, also denounced the province\u2019s plan, saying it would endanger the anglophone school system without benefiting the French language.<\/p>\n \u201cHere we go again \u2014 it\u2019s a continuation of the Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s divisive identity politics, which has been very harmful to the English-speaking community,\u201d said TALQ president Eva Ludvig.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that Fr\u00e9chette, who has said she\u2019s taking a fresh approach<\/a>, has decided to continue\u201d in the same vein as her predecessor, Fran\u00e7ois Legault, Ludvig added.<\/p>\n TALQ\u2019s president said the change will \u201chave a very negative impact on the viability of our English school system.\u201d<\/p>\n Before taking over as CAQ leader and premier in April, Fr\u00e9chette reached out to English-speaking Quebecers<\/a> who felt disenfranchised by CAQ policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI intend to have a discussion, a dialogue with English people in Quebec,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are part of Quebec.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the CAQ took power in 2018, the anglophone community has clashed with the government<\/a> over language legislation, secularism, policies affecting English universities and the future of English school boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ludvig said CAQ policies have been detrimental to anglophones and have done nothing for the French language.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen absolutely no change, we have no data or anything to demonstrate that any of this is having a positive effect in the protection, promotion, in the viability of the French language, which we believe in very strongly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Roberge has framed the issue as the closing of a loophole in Bill 101.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are 27,000 people who are in the network who do not have historic rights (to English schooling),\u201d he said Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIn reality, they would not be allowed to attend anglophone elementary and secondary school, but as there are no rules in adult and vocational education, they go into the anglophone system.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people are in the public network, thus paid for by our taxes. I think as a nationalist government, we have a duty to do something. Those 27,000 people would migrate to the francophone network, which would be a fabulous step forward for the francization of the workplace, too.\u201d<\/p>\n But Ludvig said the CAQ\u2019s proposed changes are \u201cvery hard to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the adult students in question choose to study in English \u201cbecause it\u2019s much easier to learn in the language that you\u2019re more comfortable in and because it gives them skills they need for work.\u201d<\/p>\n Ludvig said she does not agree with Roberge\u2019s suggestion that adults should study in French so they can work in French later.<\/p>\n \u201cStudying in English doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t work in French,\u201d Ludvig said. Young people leaving English high schools \u201center the workforce already able to work in French.\u201d<\/p>\n ariga@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n
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