Quebec Business Community Denounces Government’s Measures to Protect French: A Call for Review

MONTREAL – Representatives of Quebec’s business community are denouncing the government’s measures to protect French.

In an open letter sent to daily economic organizations in Montreal – the Canadian Retail Council (CCCD), the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ), the Quebec Hardware and Building Materials Association, Manufacturers and Quebec exporters, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce – have asked the Legault government to review its position on this matter.

Accordingly, the measures on commercial signs in French would force businesses to make changes that are often difficult to implement, within two weeks. Inaccessible in such a short time, maintains Michel Rochette, president of the Quebec section of the CCCD and spokesperson for the correspondence group.

The authors of the letter remember that the “government had promised a period of three years for the implementation of regulations which, so far, have not yet been accepted”.

If Bill 96 was finally approved in 2022, some of the measures related to businesses, “the rules of the game” as Mr. Rochette calls them, were only introduced in January this year. Their final version has not yet been adopted. So his observation is simple: “we can’t make any changes until we have the rules”.

June 1 is the deadline to comply with the new rules that Quebec wants. On that date, any reference to an “on/off” button on a button would be prohibited under the provisions of Law 96, as would “play” on any player and many other references not yet subject to the rule of France, because they were not related to the safe use of the product. The supply issue related to the changeover period is a source of concern for the co-signatories of the open letter on Saturday.

But the problem is bigger. According to Mr. Rochette, outdoor advertising will turn into a logistical nightmare. “Québec businesses had already completed a complete transformation, which ended almost five years ago, of all external business exhibitions,” said Mr. Rochette. There, the regulations teach us that we must go through a new phase of change. Therefore, all the signs that have been changed must be changed again, within an even shorter time.”

The president of the CCCD argues that the exhibition is also subject to restrictions set by municipalities and also property owners. “Some cases could be complicated, if not impossible,” he notes.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Web?

The signatories of the open letter are very afraid of a very innocent movement: the click. If consumers can no longer find the product they are interested in at a local retailer, it is good to turn to online commerce and buy what they need on non-Quebec sites. These sites do not have to respect the rules for posting in French.

“We guess that Quebecers will pay the price unfortunately,” Mr. Rochette laments. And there is a risk that the French language will be affected, because if we take Quebecers to outside sites Quebec does not respect the same rules, French will certainly not be better protected.

Supply capacity is one of the roots of this problem, ask the signatories of the letter. Because, if a product cannot comply with the regulations established by the province, buyers will have no other choice but to withdraw it from sale. However, “in an increasingly international and increasingly global world, where supply chains are highly interconnected across the planet and suppliers are almost everywhere in the world,” said Mr. Rochette. Sometimes, it’s a bit more complicated to apply constraints without delay. ”

Business and economic realities are businesses, restaurants, etc., as they are, remembers the president of the CCCD. There is a risk that a large number of products will be withdrawn from sale, which will limit the supply of local buyers. “Why do we have to limit it when it’s just for a button? ” shouted Michel Rochette.

A shared fear

Quebec saw this as an opportunity to develop partnerships with other suppliers, who spoke French or, simply, were open to accepting the Quebec market.

“Quebec is a progressive society and an important and profitable market. If some companies do not want to do business in Quebec to translate the signs on their products, if they refuse to speak to Quebecers in French, we are sure that their competitors will take advantage of the opportunities that’s for the benefit of Quebecers,” he said. French Language Minister, Jean-François Roberge in a press release at the end of February.

The CCCD and its friends, however, are not as optimistic as the minister. And Washington’s response to the future regulation of commercial signs in Quebec is likely to prove the commercial and entrepreneurial groups right. The Office of the American Trade Representative had reported that many concerns appeared south of the border, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, and adjustment to stricter standards of French-speaking Quebecers is a problem for them as well. flexibility and, therefore, potential customer loss.

“For a year and a half, we were contacted almost every day with questions, especially from small and medium-sized businesses. (…) We face a lot of misunderstandings, honest and surprising, regarding the criteria that seem very challenging to them,” said Eliane Ellbogen, lawyer in intellectual property law at the company Fasken in Montreal, to La Presse Canada in Canada. January.

It is with these same concerns that the signatories of the letter on Saturday are asking the government to review the details of their bill with organizations representing businesses and industries to better take into account to give effect to the measures and to preserve economic health. [des] businesses and the well-being of Quebecers.

On February 24, the CCCD presented a summary in Quebec, on which they have not yet received feedback. “There’s not much we can do but keep in touch,” says Michel Rochette.

The ministry remains, it seems, open to dialogue, as Mr Roberge assured in a press scrum on March 22 that he would take into account the comments on the bill until “the regulation is implemented correctly, and then that it is “every service that is in a correct position. currently available still available’. He then qualified his comments by asking for “the right to greet Quebecers in French, to be served in French, to have products labeled in French so that we understand what we are ‘buying, so that we know what the goods are.’ “I think it’s inevitable,” he said.

The French Language Ministry did not respond to our requests for comment.

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By Stéphane Rolland, The Canadian Press