Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante desires to see an finish to using the colloquial and bilingual greeting of “bonjour-hi” by native retailers.
“Folks come to Montreal understanding that it’s a francophone metropolis,” Plante mentioned in response to a query from reporters Tuesday.
“So, although we wish to be welcoming to all people, after all. We wish to do good enterprise and all the things after all — we needs to be proud and we must always encourage folks to solely say ‘bonjour.’”
The mayor’s remarks got here on the heels of a new examine by the Workplace Québécois de la Langue Française, the province’s language watchdog, on how consumers are obtained.
The report exhibits using French-only greetings by Montreal retailers is on the decline, accounting for about 71 per cent in 2023. That may be a drop of about 13 per cent from 2010, when about 84 per cent of enterprise homeowners and staff welcomed clients in French alone.
The workplace, or OQLF, additionally discovered that bilingual greetings in French and English like “bonjour-hi” are on the rise in Montreal shops. The quantity jumped to 11.9 per cent final yr — a stark distinction from about 4 per cent in 2010.
Quebec’s minister for the French language didn’t mince phrases when addressing the findings.
“It sends the unsuitable message that we’re a bilingual nation. We aren’t,” Jean-François Roberge mentioned. “In Quebec, French is the one and solely official language.”
The examine confirmed that bilingual welcomes in different city areas in Quebec aren’t as common as in Montreal. In Laval, which is throughout from Montreal on the town’s north shore, it was used 9 per cent of the time.
In Gatineau, which is subsequent to Ottawa, French and English salutations accounted for 7.4 per cent. In the meantime, enterprise homeowners welcomed consumers in each languages in 6.4 per cent of visits in Quebec Metropolis.
Montreal’s mayor says she herself has by no means been served by an area service provider who can’t communicate French, however she acknowledged that it does happen.
If a retailer worker isn’t fluent in French, then Plante mentioned the enterprise homeowners ought to guarantee they’re gaining access to the packages they should be taught the language.
“We’re in Quebec. The one official language is French,” Plante mentioned.
— with information from International Information’ Franca Mignacca and The Canadian Press
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