'Bonjour/hi' resurfaced in Quebec's English debate, but Couilard wants to move on
Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard says there's nothing preventing people from saying "hi" in stores, a day after the controversy over "bonjour/hi" resurfaced in the English-language leaders debate.
In an interview on CBC Montreal's Daybreak, Couillard addressed issues raised by the English-speaking community and beyond, including access to healthcare services in the language, the deep budget cuts at the beginning of his mandate as premier and the Coalition Avenir Québec's immigration proposals.
The customary bilingual greeting "bonjour/hi" in stores and businesses was the subject of heated debate last year.
Members of the National Assembly, including Couillard, voted unanimously in favour of a motion urging businesses to drop the greeting.
The legislation carried no legal weight but drew criticism from anglophone groups who felt unfairly targeted.
Here's an excerpt of host Mike Finnerty's discussion with Couillard about that issue. We'll be sharing more from the interview soon.
The resurfacing of the Bonjour-Hi debate
Mike Finnerty: Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée called you a hypocrite because you co-sponsored the motion. For the record, do you regret telling people through a motion in the National Assembly that it is somehow not right to utter the word "hi" in Montreal stores?
Philippe Couillard: This is not the way we looked at the motion. That's probably what comes out of this for me, retrospectively. The way I still look at this motion, it really told Quebecers what I've been saying all along: that we are in Quebec, which has an official language, of course, which is French, but in which all Quebecers and particularly English-speaking Quebecers are welcome. And, yes, French is the official language, but English is not a foreign language in Quebec.
MF: So why shouldn't people say hi in stores?
PC: Why not? There's nothing preventing people from saying "hi." People can say what they want, you know. Actually, the final shape of it was much better than the first one and I felt it reflected the consensus I just indicated.
MF: That's not what they came away thinking when this motion passed in the National Assembly. They came away thinking their language — it just doesn't fit, that it shouldn't be spoken out loud and people were offended.
PC: But, see, Mike, this is exactly what I meant when I said it stood out as an event during that time. That, for me was the gap between the reaction of English-speaking Quebecers, which I heard loud and clear and the fact we were under the impression that it reflected what Quebec should be, and there was a disconnect here.
You can listen to the full interview here:
