Article content material
Bloc Québécois Chief Yves-François Blanchet has written to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an effort to allay considerations expressed by U.S. commerce representatives over the provisions of Quebec’s Invoice 96, which requires French to look twice as massive as English business signage.
In a letter dated Jan. 30 and offered to the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, Blanchet wrote that “as the one French jurisdiction in North America, Quebec has an obligation to make sure the continued existence of the French language on the continent and the cultural expressions it carries with it.”
Article content material
Reminding Blinken that Quebec was “acknowledged as a nation in its personal proper by the Home of Commons of Canada following a movement I had adopted by a robust majority on June 16, 2021,” the Bloc chief mentioned solely Quebec can communicate for itself in such issues.
Blanchet famous that “it appears clear that wherever English will not be the language for work or every day life, American corporations wishing to do enterprise truly undertake the language of signage and work — French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish — in these territories, that are seen initially as markets.”
“We consider the identical ought to apply in Quebec.”
Blanchet mentioned that Quebec’s “financial relations with the USA are valuable and marked by friendship. … It’s on this spirit that I want to allay any considerations that could be felt by American corporations doing enterprise in Quebec. Not solely will we be making ourselves accessible to fulfill along with your folks in Ottawa or Montreal, however I want to inform you that I might be in Washington in early March.”
The 2-page letter additionally compliments Blinken on his “exceptional mastery of the French language.”
Really useful from Editorial
Share this text in your social community