Quebec exporters call Bill 14 absurd
Posted By: Angelica Montgomery amontgomery@astral.com · 4/10/2013 3:57:00 PM
Quebec's association for manufacturers and exporters is calling some parts of bill 14 inapplicable and even absurd.
... "It's major. It's major," Audrey Azouley said about the bill's impact on business.
The director with the manufacturers and exporters of Quebec had some harsh words for the National Assembly hearing on the new legislation.
Azouley said the bill shows too much antagonism towards English. "In one way or another, we have to speak English," she told MNAs. "When you don't speak English or a foreign language, you can't go international. You lose the market."
The association said it is impossible and absurd for businesses to prove the need for English every time they want to hire or promote someone with that skill.
The president, Simon Prévost, said the need for English is obvious.
"If we decide to hire someone, and we ask for language skills, it's not just to bother the unilingual francophone. It's because it's necessary," he said.
And, the group argued, the anxiety of anglophones scares off foreign investors who could settle in Quebec.
PQ MNAs respond that the workplace is part of Quebec culture. "(You) affirm, or just about, that the language of work will have no influence on French's impact in Quebec society."
Posted By: Angelica Montgomery amontgomery@astral.com · 4/10/2013 3:57:00 PM
Quebec's association for manufacturers and exporters is calling some parts of bill 14 inapplicable and even absurd.
... "It's major. It's major," Audrey Azouley said about the bill's impact on business.
The director with the manufacturers and exporters of Quebec had some harsh words for the National Assembly hearing on the new legislation.
Azouley said the bill shows too much antagonism towards English. "In one way or another, we have to speak English," she told MNAs. "When you don't speak English or a foreign language, you can't go international. You lose the market."
The association said it is impossible and absurd for businesses to prove the need for English every time they want to hire or promote someone with that skill.
The president, Simon Prévost, said the need for English is obvious.
"If we decide to hire someone, and we ask for language skills, it's not just to bother the unilingual francophone. It's because it's necessary," he said.
And, the group argued, the anxiety of anglophones scares off foreign investors who could settle in Quebec.
PQ MNAs respond that the workplace is part of Quebec culture. "(You) affirm, or just about, that the language of work will have no influence on French's impact in Quebec society."
I was born and brought up in Quebec and now reside in Ontario, speaking both English and French was always a big part of my business and personal life. Granted, living in a primarily unilingual environment today has taken its toll on my abillity to converse in French. That being said I was in Orlando Florida at the International Roofers trade show last spring and another of the booths was from Quebec, they were clients of mine back in the early nineties, at that time they spoke little or no English however the same people who conversed only in French now spoke both languages and were promoting their products in the US. I had not seen any of the group since 1994 and as soon as I entered their booth they greeted me, not in English but in French, since that was the language in which I spoke when I performed product seminars in and around the Province of Quebec.
Any professional business person knows full well the importance of speaking English when they want their company to grow in the North American market place.
English is the language of commerce the world around. It would be very helpful if the US had a better understanding of that. There are many non-English speaking groups in this country that have been here for years and yet still have very limited English. A great testimony to the American politics of the situation.
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