Conservatives back push to make French the mandatory

Althia Raj of the Huffington Post reported that Conservatives MPs voted nearly unanimously with Bloc Québécois members Wednesday in favour of making French the mandatory language for all immigrants to Quebec. Bloc MP Sylvie Bérubé’s private member’s bill, however, was defeated — 172-147 — with the Liberals, NDP and Green Party members opposed.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole appears determined to alienate the 77.4% of Canadians who live outside of Quebec. We are outraged by Quebec’s intolerance of our other official language and refusal to give English-speaking Canadians equality in the province of Quebec.

The time has come to repeal the Official Languages Act. No one noticed that the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms contained the key elements of the Official Languages Act. The French language has ample protection in our constitution.

It is time to stop gilding the lily. (Pun intended.)

French-speaking Quebecers do not need special support for the French language. The province insists it is capable of separating from Canada and flourishing on its own. We need to call its bluff.

Liberal pandering to Quebecers must cease. The latest Liberal effort to require businesses under federal control to allow employees to demand to work in the French language is effectively an employment tax that will diminish efficiencies and increase costs which will be carried by the public.

Few people know how large a segment of commerce is federally regulated. Here is a list:

• Air transportation, including airlines, airports, aerodromes and aircraft operations
• Banks, including authorized foreign banks
• Grain elevators, feed and seed mills, feed warehouses and grain-seed cleaning plants
• First Nations Band Councils (including certain community services on reserve)
• Port services, marine shipping, ferries, tunnels, canals, bridges and pipelines (oil and gas) that cross international or provincial borders
• Radio and television broadcasting
• Railways that cross provincial or international borders and some short-line railways
• Road transportation services, including trucks and buses, that cross provincial or international borders
• Telecommunications, such as, telephone, internet, telegraph and cable systems
• Uranium mining and processing and atomic energy
• Any business that is vital, essential or integral to the operation of one of the above activities
• Most federal Crown corporations which include:
• Atlantic Pilotage Authority
• Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
• Bank of Canada
• Blue Water Bridge Authority
• Business Development Bank of Canada
• Canada Council for the Arts
• Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Canada Development Investment Corporation
• Canada Lands Company Limited
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• Canada Post Corporation
• Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Canadian Commercial Corporation
• Canadian Dairy Commission
• Canadian Museum of Civilization
• Canadian Museum for Human Rights
• Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
• Canadian Museum of Nature
• Canadian Race Relations Foundation
• Canadian Tourism Commission
• Corporation for the Mitigation of Mackenzie Gas Project Impacts
• Defence Construction (1951) Limited
• Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation
• Export Development Canada
• Farm Credit Canada
• Federal Bridge Corporation Limited, The
• Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation
• Great Lakes Pilotage Authority
• International Development Research Centre
• Laurentian Pilotage Authority
• Marine Atlantic Inc
• National Arts Centre Corporation
• National Capital Commission
• National Gallery of Canada
• National Museum of Science and Technology
• Old Port of Montreal Corporation Inc
• Pacific Pilotage Authority
• Parc Downsview Park Inc
• PPP Canada Inc.
• Public Sector Pension Investment Board
• Ridley Terminals Inc
• Royal Canadian Mint
• Standards Council of Canada
• Telefilm Canada
• VIA Rail Canada Inc

O’Toole has ample reasons to oppose this language overreach by the Liberal party and chooses instead to support oppressive language legislation introduced by the Bloc Quebecois.

That is disgusting.