Question Period Note: BILL 101 AND BUSINESSES UNDER FEDERAL JURISDICTION IN QUEBEC

On November 24, 2020, the Bloc member for Beauport — Limoilou introduced Bill C 254, An Act to amend the Canada Labor Code, the Official Languages Act and the Canada Business Corporations Act. The bill is awaiting debate at second reading, which could take place in the spring of 2021.

• The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of French in Canada, and particularly in Quebec, and we made it clear in the recent Speech from the Throne. We know that we have a role to play in protecting our official languages, whether in Quebec or outside Quebec.
• Our country is collectively bilingual and that includes Quebec, which is predominantly French-speaking. That is why we are working with the Provincial Government to protect French in Quebec as well.
• Moreover, we are currently working to modernize and reinforce the Official Languages Act and related instruments, in order to protect our two official languages and to reaffirm the status of French in Quebec.

• On November 24, 2020, the Bloc member for Beauport — Limoilou introduced Bill C-254, which calls for amending the Canada Labor Code, the Official Languages Act and the Canada Business Corporations Act.
o It follows on from the Bloc Québécois' announcements in February and August 2020, to introduce a bill subjecting federal businesses such as banks and interprovincial transportation services companies or airports, to the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101), when they operate in Quebec.
o The party cited a 2018 study showing that 40% of Quebec companies (63% in Montreal) required or wanted the person hired to have English language skills.
 

• In a press conference held at Quebec’s National Assembly on September 17, 2019, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, has also made the request to the Government of Canada to subject businesses under federal jurisdiction to the rights and obligations of Quebec’s Bill 101. The Government of Quebec has stated its intention to defend French in Quebec, with a view to ensuring the sustainability of the province’s official language, and has not ruled out the possibility of reopening Bill 101.
• The Charter of the French Language is a law defining the language rights of all citizens of Quebec and confirming French as the official language of the province. It was adopted in the National Assembly of Quebec on August 26, 1977, by the Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque. Bill 101 declares French the official language in Quebec for legislation, justice, administration, parapublic organizations, labor, trade and business, and for education.
• In its preamble, Bill 101 also provides that the National Assembly intends to pursue this objective “in a spirit of fairness and open-mindedness, respectful of the institutions of the English-speaking community of Québec, and respectful of the ethnic minorities, whose valuable contribution to the development of Québec it readily acknowledges”.
• Private businesses under federal jurisdiction are not subject to the Official Languages Act. These include banks and telecommunications companies or road, rail, air or sea transport companies, whose activities extend beyond the Quebec territory. Therefore, there is no law imposing language requirements on these companies.
• In Quebec, among the private companies under federal jurisdiction in 2013, there were:
o 20 Crown corporations and former federal Crown corporations subject to the Official Languages Act.
o 55 large companies (of 100 people or more, e.g. Bell, Rogers, TD Bank, UPS, etc.) that have voluntarily obtained a francization certificate from the Office québécois de la langue française, to comply with the Bill 101.
o 91 large companies that remain immune from any language legislation.
• The Quebec government seeks to target workplaces in the private sector under federal jurisdiction that are not subject to a language regime. In total, in 2008, there were 1,760 such enterprises.
• The Government of Canada has always opposed bills to amend the Official Languages Act or the Canada Labour Code when it comes to extending the scope of these laws to private sector bodies that have never been part of the federal public administration.
• In essence, the Bloc Québécois’s proposal could grant a different, higher status to the Quebec Charter of the French Language compared to the language laws of other provinces and territories. This could create expectations and a ripple effect in other provinces and territories. Furthermore, the Constitution, in particular sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, define the areas of provincial and federal jurisdiction and the laws that these two levels of government may adopt. As a result, both legislative and governmental levels must act only within their respective jurisdictions.
• Indeed, in 2007 and in 2009, Liberal and Conservative MPs opposed bills tabled by the Bloc Québécois, concerning the application of Bill 101 to federal enterprises in Quebec governed by the Canada Labor Code. Recently, in November 2020, however, the leader of the Conservative Party signaled that he could support the bill, which also received unanimous support from the National Assembly in Quebec.
 

o Some experts are of the opinion that Bill 101 does indeed apply to federal businesses since, in 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Canadian Western Bank case that federal businesses must respect valid provincial laws, that is to say those that are adopted by the provinces in their own areas of jurisdiction.
o It should be noted that the Office de la langue française directly subsidizes the francization of businesses.
• Mr. Simon Jolin-Barrette, Quebec Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration, also Minister responsible for the French Language, indicated that he was currently working on linguistic reform, with the objective of promoting the use of the French language in Quebec. He is expected to reveal his action plan in the coming months.

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