What could stores look like under Quebec's new language rules?

We dig into the bold draft regulations the government announced in early 2024 as a part of its updated language laws, the costs and signage involved and the many questions that remain unanswered.
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[@felle7522]

Quebec has the funds to enforce language laws but no funds to improve health care.

[@joeblow4215]

I thought it was "free"! Why do you need more money for something that's "free"?

[@charlolel]

If we were always in that mindset we wouldn't achieve much. Each provinces has its own priorities sure healthcare education etc are important but there's also other topics and priorities for a elected officials to address. With that mindset why do we spend millions to go to space? We got more pressing issues here! Why do we spend millions to develop new technologies? We could spend that money into education..

[@ostkkfmhtsh012345678]

And also, no funds to improve pedestrian and transportation safety such as bringing back front vehicle ID label requirements (so more issues can be easily resolved between relevant parties (e.g. insurance companies) without unnecessarily wasting police resources and incentivizing future to be a police cashless surveillance state; #France's #StPierreEtMiquelon still requires front plates; not necessarily limited to the familiar metal plates, can also be, with expanded customization options (e.g. transparent background with surface contrasting text, border, and other sentinel features, transparent text and border with surface contrasting background and other sentinel features, etc.), #licenseplatewrap and similar plate replica stickers (#licenseplatewrap already legalized in #California by #CADMV), digital display plates (e.g. #RPLATE), semi-flexible plastic plates, etc.) and holding provincial police force to do their job better especially since the statement on doorbell video defamation against porch pirates.

[@brianmorris8045]

Yep, plenty of money to push their politically correct laws.

[@yannislaurin-kamouche]

The money who goes to lamguages laws are like 1% of all the money who goes to healthcare but of course angryphone. Keep showing how much you know nothing

[@jasmy-canada]

In Quebec it's more important than caring for elders, having a good health system, paying teachers, have a good housing system.

[@Kurtos25]

Yeah just ask Quebec how they treated Terry Fox. The attitude hasn't changed much.

[@galactic904]

Cheap shot. English and French have peace for over 200 years and some Canadians wants to spread condescending ideas at french Quebecers.

[@galactic904]

Was Terry Fox an unknown figure in the french media at the time? Most people in Quebec were listening to french media tv and radio. And even today, i rarely see Quebecers using KZbin platforms and other similar english social media podcasts.@@Kurtos25

[@ItsFritzDaCat]

​@@galactic904 Naive BS..."Peace for two hundred years" 💀

[@stepheng3667]

They didn't know who Terry Fox was so you can't blame them for that.@@Kurtos25

[@ronl1633]

Lived in Quebec and moved away 40 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did. Its a big world out there and Quebec is stuck in the mud.

[@olrikm]

"Lived in Quebec and moved away 40 years ago". Merci!

[@jeanbolduc5818]

Quebec is the only province with an identity ... the rest of Canada is a copy of USA ... we have to do this because you have no respect for our culture and language

[@jeanbolduc5818]

You have been living in a USA culture for the past 40 years and it shows ... no decorum , rude , unilingual nothing canadian ...

[@nancetardiff339]

@@debbiekonkin5768 tell that to the 54,000 new residents that Quebec receives every year!

[@kanuduh5234]

@@nancetardiff339 Immigrants. It isn't Canadians moving there! ;D

[@2btpatch]

What I don’t understand is why the new signage has to be larger than the actual store sign. Many stores won’t have the space for such an addition unless they build new facades. The costs will be passed down to the consumer and prices will soar. This hurts the people of Quebec who shop there. I can see a negative cascade effect coming.

[@Spearca]

The point is to encourage them to go the other way - to make a French sign.

[@mx2000]

You don't understand - this is the single most important policy for Quebec's anglophone government and its voters. If those businesses close down - they don't care.

[@toybarons]

If the province believes this law is going to preserve the Québécois French language, I doubt it. They are just clutching at straws and more likely going to make some companies think why do they even bother being in the province at all.

[@kokonut6215]

so many firms already avoid us like the plague. Restaurants like Red Lobster and Taco Bell moved out completely, Olive Garden never even opened here, no Popeye's, Burger King, Harvey's and Wendy's are dropping like flies. Other companies are avoiding opening here, too. We have access to way fewer vendors and brands here than anywhere else in Canada

[@TRex-dd4ze]

It's sad, because the French are native to the nation of French-Canada (and the English and Scottish are native to the nation of English Canada of course, and the First Nations are native to the land itself) and it's sad to see the native Canadian populations rapidly being overwhelmed by foreigners the government is bringing in. Really, the way to preserve a people (and their language, culture, customs, religion and everything that goes with that people) is to keep that people a high percentage of the residents.

[@dinkster1729]

@@kokonut6215 and yet I had a lovely dinner featuring "langues de morue" on the Gaspé years ago. Do you really think French restaurants have suffered from not having these chains in Quebec?

[@dinkster1729]

@@TRex-dd4ze That sounds a bit boring to me. I am the daughter of a mother of a father of a father whose ancestor came from Germany, but we all lived in Canada. I'm also the daughter of a father of a mother of a father of a father of a couple of more fathers of an ancestor who came from the Cork region probably of Ireland. It seems like you missed a couple of ethniciites when you decided who was Canadian and whose what? "language, culture, customs, religion and everything that goes with that people" should be preserved.

[@hsbdkdndn]

Yes won't someone please think of the CEOs and the corporations!!!

[@kazkazimierz1742]

I always get a kick out of the fac that stop signs in France say 'Stop'.

[@kateb2643]

And their metro has signage in several common languages, whereas ours doesn't even have safety signage in the most widely spoken language in the country 🙄

[@kazkazimierz1742]

Very true. But the French don't think their language is endangered.@@kateb2643

[@dhosquet]

Stop is a french word as noun, not a verb.

[@MystiqWisdom]

@@dhosquet Okay. Can you STOP spamming?

[@kittyandthekatz8046]

Manger un bon steak cet weekend mon chum.

[@nonsibi1087]

Some greater concern to me, an Anglo-speaking American, occurred during a fine & happy professional visit to Quebec City recently. Though I speak & read French easily enough, I noticed that the safety signs throughout my hotel, such as fire exit warnings at elevators and elsewhere, were in French only. Considering that visitor accommodation centers like hotels and restaurants have a disproportionate number of non-French speakers, the current safety signage is setting us up for tragedy.

[@fallingpizza11]

tbf safety signs have universal symbols on them that make them easy to recognize. when you go to china or korea do they have safety signs in english? no of course not.

[@lancek4585]

@@fallingpizza11 They actually do in the hotels of bigger cities and tourist attractions popular with foreigners, at least in China - spent first 18 years of my life there. But the quality of that translation could be... well. Wanting.

[@mx2000]

​@@fallingpizza11 lots, actually. Even more in Japan, hotels will have English translations for everything, often with more explanation than the Japanese text. Quebecois should understand - there is literally not a single place with language regulations like in Quebec. Not in Europe, not in Asia. It is very much not normal.

[@charlolel]

@@mx2000 There's no other places like Quebec on earth either? Quebec is surrounded by english speakers, 300 millions to the South and 30 millions within Canada.

[@mx2000]

@@charlolel How about Israel?

[@lechiffre5078]

Walmart could argue that “mart” stands for Martine. 😂

[@wsytch4879]

Walmarché, just like Manuvie

[@RetrogradingPhoenix]

Isn’t there anything more important to go after? Like healthcare, affordable housing, rising cost of living?

[@Michael-pg7rv]

Quebec is so backwards sometimes

[@destinyschild5768]

Exactly!

[@Wald4267]

They run this government like a company when its not

[@dinkster1729]

Beggars in the street? The homeless? or don't you care about them?

[@LoudWaffle]

Why focus on those hard issues when you can just pass nonsense laws like this that appeal to your french-nationalist voterbase? Takes a lot less money and effort, better ensures public support, and has near 0 risk of failure because the obstinant nature of it all is the appeal!

[@jaygatz4335]

I love how the old Eaton's store in Montreal had to remove the apostrophe and the 's' from its vintage brass plaque near the entrance, leaving a big empty gap. Time for these businesses to leave Quebec. It was nice knowing you!

[@myleghurts3546]

I'd love to have that apostrophe as a souvenir!

[@wolf3755]

Nice

[@charlolel]

Glad they leave there will ALWAYS be competitors that will gladly take over their spot. Quebec is the 2nd most populous province in Canada - it's a huge market that they will miss out! How sad!

[@SnowTiger45]

The rest of Canada should NOT have to put both languages on products which costs manufacturers $millions ever year. If Quebec, which is part of CANADA wants to play silly, the rest of Canada should follow suit and legislate ENGLISH ONLY everywhere outside of Quebec.

[@csharpcoffee]

Look, as a Quebecer who hates most attempts at protecting French and directly advocates against most of it, I think you are dreaming if you think companies lose MILLIONS by packaging in 2 languages. What would constitute the spending of MILLIONS, when all they got to do is fit some small text on boxes, and pay a couple employees to translate about 1-3 paragraphs of text? Sure they lose some space to put other text, but sir, that definitely doesn't cost MILLIONS. And the manufacturing cost is at most 1-5 cents per 50+ products.

[@csharpcoffee]

Also, they obviously are the minority, but there are francophones in other provinces the same way there are anglophones in Quebec. There are MUCH bigger issues to fight for than making packaging non-bilingual in other provinces.

[@JonTheChron]

No, this would favour Quebec.

[@AChapstickOrange]

Can't, that's a federal law.

[@Marcus-ss4gn]

Quebec has every right to protect its language. I am an Anglophone, but I support them %100. Their land, their language. Are you getting mad when Italian people expect respect for Italians in Italy? Chinese people in China?

[@katherinelangford981]

All these companies should just change the sign to a logo. No text. Just the canadian tire triangle, starbucks siren no words, orange house for home depot, costco can just do a big white C on a red background like their app.

[@TheTinydogproduction]

That's a neat idea. For sure. (I know, i said neat. I'm bringin it back. givin it the ol college try).

[@katherinelangford981]

@@TheTinydogproduction yeah I wonder if it would pass signing by-laws there or not. We had a place here for a while that was just 😜 it was just a small convenience store.

[@BigPythons]

Can a letter be a logo, like 'O' ? Can two letters be a logo? Can a logo have letters or symbols that look like letters? [yes to all of these]. Hence, 'canadian tire', say, may be presented as their logo. Qc wants some 'french' words with all logos/titles/names. Quite a pathetic and unnecessary desire on their part.

[@Spearca]

I don't think that removes the law's requirement. They won't have a French name displayed, so they would need a French description.

[@anonnymowse]

All these companies should close up shop and leave nothing in Quebec.

[@lavenderblues777]

If this gets implemented, I guess one winner in all this is signage-making companies, who will be getting a lot more business. I wonder how strictly this would be enforced, though.

[@galactic904]

Maybe some chinese printing company from Markham Ontario could do a better job. Heck, they've had lots of practice with all those chinese business signs in the Toronto GTA. Let's ban Tik-Tok in Quebec too.

[@The_Keh27]

Unless they can just add in the signage with some spraypaint

[@WalkingAccountant]

paging Deco-Labels And Tags...

[@drewcama2488]

Not just the sign companies, but the advertising agencies, the graphic artist, the layers, The union workers ( electricians, welders, construction workers to do the installation), the Union will get their cut as well. (in Quebec, you cant do any work on a commercial business with out being part of a trade union.) And that's why it will cost big box stores millions and that will get passed down to the shopper.

[@dinkster1729]

@@WalkingAccountant Ford isn't fighting these new requirements, is he?

[@eviljonbob_]

Ah yes, during an economic downtime, this is what businesses need. Not to mention all the small, independent, and family-run businesses that will be affected. I'm sure what will happen is many big box retailers will be exempt from this while the independent businesses will be hammered.

[@noneofyourbeeswax371]

Same book different page. Welcome to Canada, a left wing dictatorship.

[@johnsutherland7561]

I remember an old true story If you were an employee of the Quebec government you had a job for life. Two employees of the Quebec province were behind a kidnapping of a member of the federal government. When they got out of prison they still kept there jobs. WOW

[@dash1dash2]

Ok, I'm pretty sure every province is the same, and jobs at the Federal government are just as cushy and safe, if not safer. What's your point? Only Quebec has government employees?

[@myleghurts3546]

Of course! They speak French

[@user-iw4jl6bc8h]

I remember a true story of angry anglos( 2,000) burning down the canadian parliament in the capital , Montreal . Now adays , we call this act '' terrosrism ""

[@viquezug3936]

@@debbiekonkin5768 The 20-80 distribution is found everywhere, so that's an empty point.

[@oldpossum57]

Nope. Didn’t happen. Pierre LaPorte, a Quebec provincial MNA and Minister of Labour was kidnapped and murdered. His kidnappeurs and murderers were unemployed. They went to prison. They were not employed in government thereafter. So, not a true story.

[@orobleh77]

How would a store name like Walmart would affect French language. This is ridiculous

[@galactic904]

They could try using Walmarde, but that wouldn't stick for very long

[@trotzkii]

Or Walmagasin? I think it's actually really funny how KFC managed to get ahead of this decades ago with their stores being PFK in Quebec.

[@BB-oh5vm]

​@@trotzkii Thats so trueeee i didnt even realize...they ahead if the game lol

[@sharonperry5213]

Shopping Walmart. Lol

[@alexg9727]

@@galactic904 WalMerde

[@thesweetone]

Any store forced to these insane laws... they should just leave the province. Forever!

[@langleybeliever7789]

And they will.

[@charlesdumas7022]

@@langleybeliever7789yeah yeah sure 😏 they will …

[@JOIHIINI]

​@@charlesdumas7022yeah im sure walmart and subway executives would all go bankrupt if it wasn't for quebec. They're like the most important component of the worldwide economy 😅

[@NasTwice]

​@@JOIHIINI Lmao, imagine a Walmart executive trying to convince the board that abandoning a 1billion dollar + revenue market instead of buying a few millions in signs is a good idea.

[@JJs_playground]

As somebody that lives in Quebec, I hope stores do leave as a result of this irrational law to teach Francois Legault / CAQ a lesson.

[@hyabussa5747]

Waste of governments time.. and money. Solve some REAL problems!

[@joepearlzz8504]

That’s what I was thinking. Quebec already has a lot more bigger issue like the rest of the world. A stores name or language is the least of their problems and won’t help them maintain their language as much as they think.

[@deepbrit]

Immigration and import is the biggest problem and hence ban it

[@user-iw4jl6bc8h]

It is a real problem, unless you dont care about culture oryou have no identity . If you are not happy , move to a lower quality of life in Ontario , BC or Alberta( pollution).

[@joepearlzz8504]

@@user-iw4jl6bc8h there mostly international companies almost world wide. There not going to change their name for one French province. Inside the stores they speak French, that is what is important. Quebecers don’t really invest that much in companies. And there are Alot of stores and restaurants thats are in many other languages with almost no controversy. The issue is against English. Not that’s it’s not in French. English is the most popular and biggest language and used mostly almost everywhere.

[@deepbrit]

@@user-iw4jl6bc8h Absolutely agree. People come here and instead of assimilating in society they demand the people to change according to their radical religion or home war

[@kieronmarshall2658]

Depot came into English from the French word dépôt, meaning "a deposit, place of deposit." there's a saving

[@paultaylor7082]

Around 35% to 40% of the words in English come from French. All our rude words, the 4 letter ones, come from Anglo Saxon...

[@kieronmarshall2658]

and french is based on latin@@paultaylor7082

[@bunnychowmuncher]

I thought this was settled in the early 80s? Has everyone in Quebec been wandering around for 43 years getting confused over which stores to shop at?

[@kirkboivin4357]

How long before these corporations just say "not today, we're not interested "

[@rodnyg7952]

this already happened between 1980 and 95' when head offices here in Montreal of various companies, corporations, and institutions had enough by the second referendum. They largely packed up and move to Toronto

[@Spearca]

​@@rodnyg7952Head offices, not retail locations

[@rodnyg7952]

@@Spearca that's exactly what I said above. Many head offices basically said, "we're not interested", took executives, administrators, and employees that they could with them, and moved their operations outside of Quebec. You seem to understand

[@Spearca]

@@rodnyg7952 Right, administrators can be moved to any office space. It's a lot different decision to abandon profitable retail stores.

[@rodnyg7952]

@@Spearca actually, it's entirely different. Independent owners and shareholders can't just decide to abandon their retailers without serious financial, administrative, and municipal/provincial legal implications. Abandoning profitable retail stores wasn't my point

[@sul5707]

Craziness! Stop giving Quebec so much taxpayer money for BS!

[@anubis3387]

thank you for saying that! i would extra happy if they became a country!

[@AMPProf]

Think grampops sleepy

[@wyseeit]

After the doubling of English Canadian students tuition and now this, next Quebec will require tourists to pass a French test to visit. They are so far into the deep end

[@sparky7915]

This is typical of French people who think they are so special and their language and all that is so sacred. Quebec should separate from Canada. This French province dictates to 9 other provinces that all labels and instructions and so on must be in French as well. It is ridiculous! These French ministers need to get serious counselling!

[@veeo987]

That new rule is a great way to make businesses leave Quebec and leave Quebecers with less retail options. All that in the name of ideology. Well done... Nationalists are exhausting.

[@PolPot-ef1qq]

Ding ding ding. There's already a lack of competition in Quebec. The native monopolistic companies lobbied hard to get this bill passed. Nationalists are having a field day with this.

[@veeo987]

@@PolPot-ef1qq That's one thing I hate about Quebec. It's a crony capitalist system where the winners are the ones chosen by the government.

[@hsbdkdndn]

Yes we need to prioritize what's best for the corporations and promote consumerism at all costs!!!

[@deepbrit]

Welcome to leave and never return

[@sleblanc]

Bon débarras!

[@yaughl]

Language laws are asinine and should not exist. Anywhere. Businesses go through great lengths to make sure their customers know what they do organically as it is in their best interest. Quebec's language laws imply Quebecers are walking into stores without French names confused and disorientated. Are Quebecers mistakingly going into Dollarama to buy lumber, fridges and toilets?

[@leegrant7333]

With the amount of immigrants here it may be their way to protect their culture

[@tom0photographi]

Garbage excuse, this country was formed by loyalists from Britain. They won all the wars, they won the war of 1812. They are also immigrants. I have a little song “if you want to speak French, your ancestors should have fought a little harder.”

[@nhva6807]

Yes they go into Pizza Hut confused why there’s no socks for sale and golf town may as well be an ice cream parlour

[@alekseibrouillard5013]

​@@tom0photographiit was formed by french colonist ... get your history right squarehead

[@saphironkindris]

Canada is supposed to pride itself on inclusivity and being a melting pot of cultures from around the world. The French government continually spit on that idea with this kinda stuff and makes me ashamed to call myself Quebecoise. All cultures are equal and welcome, except French, that has to be the winner by any means, apparently.

[@1998bikeguy]

In the end, this kind of crap will hurt the Quebec economy. Protect the language? Sure, but putting bread on the table is pretty important too. It's almost like the Quebec government is trying to scare away investment.

[@charlolel]

How wil this impact the Quebec economy lol? It literally wont sorry buddy. If anything it will impact the whole Canadian economy. If Canadian tire has to increase prices for goods because of their new signs they will increase it all across Canada, they wont be able to just increase price in Quebec.

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

Forget the big box stores, this will crush smaller retailers.

[@justauser]

Signs are expensive

[@Corbots80]

Yes. But I expect small company's in Qubec are already french

[@janeblogs324]

Small retailers will just buy a $2 pot of paint

[@aprisia]

@@justauser If the cost of a sign does your business in, you were going to fail anyways. Relative to all those other costs of running a business, it's not that much. If you are so hard up that this is what breaks you, you failed already but just didn't know.

[@NRC613]

You know noting buddy​@@aprisia

[@bcowan12]

Since the names of the large chains are certainly trademarked, that should be an escape for them. It is not a description of the store that's on their sign, it's their trademark. And that trademark is valid in Quebec, and protected by federal law.

[@sleblanc]

What you said makes no sense. You can trademark the name of your business all you want. It does not mean that any name is accepted as a business name. The Registraire des entreprises du Québec (and all the others, most likely) has a field for "Doing business as". This is very common for franchises. You will have a business legally named 9999-9999 Québec inc. doing business as "McDonalds". The franchisee has a legal permission to use the trademark, and it's up to civil court if McDonald's HQ wants to sue for unauthorized use of a trademark, yet the company itself is legally separate from the "headquarters" . On the other hand, the Registraire could also deny a request for that company, citing that "McDonalds" does not contain a legally required generic. An accepted alternative could be for example "Restaurant McDonalds".

[@UncompressedWAVmusic]

Yes trademarks are protected, however massive new French signs will still be required. You might want to study a little about the new language signs law to find out more.

[@terravarious]

Eaton's had to ditch the apostrophe in Quebec.

[@FoundPonds]

What about PFK, Tigre Géant, Ordinateurs Canadien, and L'Equipeur? These are examples of companies that already did this on their own years ago.

[@vipertt100]

Another reason I will never visit the dictatorship known as Quebec. Such backward thinking. Do they shiver in their shorts at night, afraid that they will wake up and French will be gone? Pathetic.

[@davidmcgennity3182]

It makes you wonder, how many Quebec politicians just invested in signage companies? I live in Quebec , but I always shop in Ontario. No matter how much you comply with bigoted bullmerd , they'll find something else to drive a wedge between the French and English.

[@CrazyCrethon]

If I was a big box store I would just remove the name altogether out of spite. A Walmart or Home Depot store are easily recognizable by their corporate colours!

[@terencejay8845]

Or just a large 'WM'

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

But if a shop removes its own name, it hurts itself far more than it hurts the Québec government

[@sommmeguy]

Imagine if English Canada passed a law that said all stores and businesses had to use Canadian spelling instead of US spelling. No more neighbor, center, or color. Would that be reasonable? Culture determines language, not the reverse. Passing laws to enforce culture is useless.

[@jacktattersall9457]

Imagine if France did this?

[@socksumi]

Except that there is no Canadian spelling. There is British and there is American spelling. Canada chooses randomly which to adopt. For instance we don't spell tire "tyre" like they do in England but for some reason we have to spell color... "colour". So it's pretty arbitrary.

[@francismarcoux8944]

The law suppressing French outside Québec is cultural and systemic. Its been on since 1766.

[@dinkster1729]

@@socksumi and yet, I have seen the word "color" on a box of peppers in a supermarket here. How tolerant of us to allow that box of peppers to cross the border, right? LOLOL!

[@dinkster1729]

@@francismarcoux8944 Oh, probably long before that. The English and the French were duking it out on the Island of Newfoundland long before that. The Treaty of Utrecht ended the presence of the French on the south coast of Newfoundland after 1713 and the French couldn't settle there but only fish on the French Treaty Shore after that date. Canadian history was never updated after Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada in 1949, I guess.

[@mykhaylobyelostotskiy9255]

This is the most ridiculous and pathetic piece of legislation. I hope businesses push back

[@Djee4Prez]

​@@EntropyUntouchable We have a linguist over here 😅

[@Djee4Prez]

They didn't push back the last 20 times Quebec pass a french law, why would they this time ?

[@thebleckBieber45]

This is what alberta money goes to. 🇺🇸 would treat Albertans like Texans 👍

[@othellox1064]

@@EntropyUntouchable Ah some angloids are butthurted due to laws.

[@bobsmith2024uk]

​@@othellox1064 you have a dying language that cannot be saved, it's decline is inevitable., and it will just become a weird minority language that is 'cute' but not used or understood by the vast majority. I think as we see time after time, French (as it occurs in France as well, seem very butthurt that ENGLISH dominates FRENCH, as usual. The French and their offshoots,, seem continuously butthurt, the world was made Anglo, not French. France, French, Quebec lost get over it, it's been over 200 years

[@guesswho36]

When the country is in crisis these politicians worry about store names and street names.

[@fettersofdromi]

This doesn't seem feasible. Depending on what the store actually makes in the province, some may just choose to leave rather than implement expensive changes.

[@charlolel]

So for you it's more economical for them to leave then change a sign? They are going to abandon their warehouses, stores, employees and all their infrastructure because of a sign change? Makes a lot of sense.

[@abdifatah4386]

it is better to implement and raise the prices of the items to get back the money instead of lossing a lot of capital and manpower leaving the province

[@notanothershrubbery]

Companies can simply say that the cost of creating the signs will be born by customers in Quebec. If Quebec people see this as important then they should pay for it. If not, they should inform their governmnet.

[@danieltaylor3396]

Shoppers will pay for the changes to signage via higher prices.

[@ridinreiners]

It will be passed on to the consumer. Prices will have to go up to pay for the signs.

[@user-iw4jl6bc8h]

You comments make no sense . You need to get educated on the issue . You probably do not even speak both official languages of Canada, no knowledge about Quebec culture, history ( 500 years) and identity . Quebec is the only province in CAnada with an identity and the only cultural province .

[@noneofyourbeeswax371]

Even if they tried, the govt would invoke the notwithstanding clause. Because that's what the Quebec govt is best at doing.

[@williamjones4716]

I think you mean "borne"

[@Maxmulham]

Meanwhile in the UK, Prêt-à-Manger remains successful and no dumb govt interference is in the way about their name. I'm very mixed on the whole French language debate but in this instance, it's clearly ridiculous government overreach and wasteful spending.

[@whataday443]

@@EntropyUntouchable It's the same language, it's mutually intelligible. The only difference is the accent and a few slang words here and there.

[@jacktattersall9457]

The UK Government should promptly mandate Pret erect a massive COFFEE SHOP or CAFE sign at every location in London!

[@racingphotographer8251]

@@whataday443 Quebec vs Metropolitan French is like comparing southern USA English to RP (BBC) English. Mutually intelligible but still very different sounding to the ears (along with the slang words). Quebec French sounds "drunk" compared to Metro.

[@whataday443]

@@racingphotographer8251 It sounds strange to the French because they have almost no exposure to it. If they heard it more often it wouldn't sound stranger than any other regional accents in France. Especially if we take the slang words out of the equation. By the way, the reason why the accent sounds so different is because in France they had a vowel shift around the 19th century, that didn't happen in Québec because it was isolated from France. Idk if you speak French or not, but for example the words "mettre" and "maître" sound the same in metro French, where as in Québec they don't. In Québec we also kept the old way of pronouncing words according to their original spelling, for example we pronounce "moi" as "moy" (or "moé") because it's simply how it was written at the time Québec was colonized. Arguably the Québec accent is better, but of course majority rules, so the metro French is the standard and the Québec accent sounds weird to most French speakers.

[@georgezee5173]

Mate, I've been living in London for 9 years but haven't gone inside a Prêt-à-Manger yet because it doesn't specify outside what the heck they offer as a service. I'm not gonna risk it!!

[@LXNL]

This piece referenced a total of 1621 locations spread across 11 brands. I don't usually side with corporations, but in this case I will. Here's some more math. It was stated that it would cost 7 to 15 million PER STORE to change signs. For Walmart's 71 stores, at the lower end, that would be 497 million and at the high end, over a billion dollars. And that's billion with a B. FOR ONE BRAND! Why wouldn't you have these companies invest more in their workers to help them achieve a better life which would in turn stimulate the economy? Let's see what would happen if all the stores being asked to do this, with the support from corporate, just shutter for a while.

[@racingphotographer8251]

If Walmart, McDonald's, Chinese Tire etc were expected to blow that much money just to comply with some silly bogus law, they'll close up shop and throw a lot of Quebecers out of work. Maybe those Quebecers should think twice about voting for separatists in future... Who is going to buy up and operate all those closed shops? Metro and Quebecor?

[@zuzutheinfectedelf]

You'd think they would have more important things to focus on

[@almendratlilkouatl]

they can just add le at the begginning and end any word in accented é, le dollaramé, le walmarté, le canadien tiré, le subwayé

[@sandralee5502]

Or they can just say that the actual pronunciation of Target is tar-ZHAY.

[@jonf7684]

Lol

[@paultaylor7082]

No, half the words would need to be masculine, the other half feminine. The Academie Française was arguing for around 6 months whether Covid should be 'le' or 'la', eventually they agreed on 'la'.

[@almendratlilkouatl]

so every once in a while you can put la like la sourcé, la canadienne tiré, la petro canadé, la challet du pizzé, la reine de la laitiere@@paultaylor7082

[@Maxmulham]

lol. As someone who also speaks French, MEC always made me laugh.

[@stevec404]

No country, or province, on the face of planet earth, can turn back the clock to 'protect' old cultural paradigms. That ship has sailed. Far better to promote supportive cultural places, events, etc. than to try to enforce returning the 'ship'. Good luck with that.

[@lizliz4186]

There are companies that enter Canada yet avoid Quebec as it is. This will only deter more international companies from getting to Quebec.

[@charlolel]

And local companies will instead take their place! How do you think capitalism works?!

[@john15008]

I’m completely in favour of preserving French not only in Quebec, but in communities across the country. However, changing store names is a waste of resources. The province is not a cocoon.

[@koda3967]

#François, oui; #Québecois, non.

[@john15008]

@@koda3967 Qui est François?

[@jimputnam2044]

yOU MUST BE A FROG...

[@bangbangyoureaboolean1324]

I'm for all English and American companies to not do business in Quebec.

[@dinkster1729]

@@bangbangyoureaboolean1324 You mean Canadian companies? Most of these companies are international, aren't they? Not English or British.

[@pytle]

I love how they are not paying teachers or nurses enough, asking the federal government for money, while still funding the "French Police" for this uselessness. Also Edit: Awesome news format!

[@johnsutherland7561]

My wife is a nurse and my sister is a teacher They are well paid with solid pensions

[@rpoutine3271]

Nurses and teachers are better paid than the average and cost us dearly.

[@pytle]

Thank you all for tell me the nurses and teachers are paid just fine! 😀

[@seangriffin7803]

Welcome to Queerbeckistan

[@l3enjamin5in]

The cheapest way is to remove the store name altogether, leaving just the logo, or to pay someone to change their name to the store name.

[@bokunogentoo4420]

naming my firstborn "Canadian Tire" to help the cause 😤

[@l3enjamin5in]

@@bokunogentoo4420 You can name them "Tire" as long as they are Canadian.

[@ryanhunsinger]

All provincial government buildings in Quebec should have “Stupide” on the sides of them, same size as the MAGASIN on the Canadian Tire store.

[@yannislaurin-kamouche]

Nah, it only applies in english provinces. Cry harder bwcause we protect our culture😂

[@NorminkoDH]

I was seriously considering moving back home to Quebec but the more I think about - the less I feel like it.

[@hutlazzz]

Learn french before coming. C'est pas une terre anglophone ici.

[@NorminkoDH]

J'viens de l'Abitibi mon homme@@hutlazzz

[@hutlazzz]

bon bah reste ailleur si tes pas content ici@@NorminkoDH Ont change pas pour le monde qui ont deja quitter

[@user-xg6sx5ev9u]

​le gars est offensé vu qui a un mot français juste à côté de la brand😂 reste à toronto mon homme, c'est bein correct comme ça

[@jeremiepatricksammon9115]

parle francais ou criss ton camp

[@freezinginferno2106]

We should stop all this Quebec foolishness, and do what Americans did with New Orleans

[@k.wi.7991]

Desperately creating new problems (and costs) while other real problems are being ignored....

[@petermartin1954]

What company should do is take the signage down, and paint the name of the stores on the roof. That way there is no sign to be regulated. And the store will still show up on Google maps.😂

[@racingphotographer8251]

Genius idea! Even if the signage were taken down, most people know that the white concrete warehouse with big red stripe all around = Costco, green triangle with red maple leaf = Chinese Tire, big orange building with the garden centre on the side = Home Depot, brown building with yellow golden arches that looks like the letter M is...

[@AMPProf]

WAY FUKIN EH BETTER EH.. Holy like a barn sign seen from the mountains hmmm

[@CoolTies]

Love this new news format. Entertaining and Informative. Obviously depending on the content of the piece.

[@TheTinydogproduction]

me too. I dig it.

[@esthermarcen7587]

In countries with more than one language normally all is written in all languages, for example In Catalunya (Spain) they will write " cuidado/compta and if is a turist area you will read "Cuidado/ Compta / Careful (if english is dominant) or "Compta/Cuidado/Prudent" if (french is dominant), you get use to it.

[@downundarob]

mart comes from dutch markt, which in turn comes from latin marcatus, French is a Latin based language so perhaps WalMarché

[@ulogy]

I remember when this type of legislation was a joke on 22 minutes

[@thewewguy8t88]

this also sounds like a joke from air farce.

[@catherinewilson1079]

Getting effing ridiculous!!! I am SO GLAD that I left!

[@mason6300]

I think we should do the same with English in the rest of Canada. Do you know how annoying it is seeing French with equal importance to English on forms and signs despite the fact more people speak polish in my province than French?

[@sevienhook1612]

the rest of Canada will be transformed by mass migration, and then the "colonizer" "oppressor" language will be wiped out. good on Quebec for refusing to be destroyed

[@crush42mash6]

It’s too bad Quebec pushes this nonsense, I love travelling to Quebec, but I know many people do not simply because of this reason. The signs are so difficult for non-French speakers, but the rest of Canada has bilingual signs. How does that make sense? It stops people from stopping in Quebec and they wait to get out of the province to go other places to spend their money.

[@user-xg6sx5ev9u]

Poor you, having to learn 2% of a second language the moment you are in a place where english isn't the dominant language, must be very hard being an english speaker😢😢😢

[@ItsFritzDaCat]

Next Quebec will want to "seperate" from Canada...oh wait..😭💀

[@MrAlan1828]

They tried but what happened? Failure and so will the name changing crap

[@rpoutine3271]

@@MrAlan1828 What happened? Trudeau Sr's illegal propaganda and minorities (Including you Anglos) voting against it.

[@blainclatworthy5423]

It's a Shame the 1st Vote wasn't a majority.

[@AMPProf]

Im not laughing but i can spell Bonshoree

[@ghassanmina]

Quebec said no! This is the PQ and now the CAC who does these kind of things each time they are in power. 70% of the Québécois from 14 to 25 are bilingual.

[@jessikittens]

This is so dumb.

[@johnnoel2042]

Quebec feels that not enough Quebecers have left yet. Also, it's funny that when we do leave. we find much brighter pastures.

[@1996slamster]

Pretty much anything and anyone east of the Manitoba boarder is a lost cause on so many levels. Western Canada is where it's at! We're cool, collected and keeping you schleps alive.

[@bengt_axle]

We already do not have the apostrophe in the Quebec (e.g. Tim Horton's, McDonald's). This was done for the same reason and it had so little effect on later generations that no one even notices it any more. Instead of wasting money on this initiative, the government should put it towards creating a "certificat de compétence linguistique" for English CÉGEP and trade schools. This would be like a diploma attesting that the student who has not done studies in a French language institution, has done enough French language training and has passed a common exam, well enough to work in French. This is more valuable to employers than fixing a sign no one will ever care about or notice. It is true that in downtown Montreal, you do have a lot of stores operating in English, but that is because there are a lot of international students in that area, who don't speak French.

[@dinkster1729]

LOLOL! Then, it's about time they did learn some French, right?

[@francescathomas3502]

Now that the federal govt has put a cap on international students, maybe the numbers of international students in Montreal will drop - and thus no income for Montreal!! And with a huge torurism drop as well, "because everyone refuses to speak english" the city income will drop drastically!! Such a brilliant idea Quebec!!

[@LoudWaffle]

@@dinkster1729 Which the certification he suggested would have more effect on than just forcing assinine changes to the stores’ displayed logo names.

[@TheNathanielDurand]

If no one notices it anymore, then it obviously had an effect. "It is true that in downtown Montreal, you do have a lot of stores operating in English, but that is because there are a lot of international students in that area, who don't speak French." Do you seriously think that's a valid excuse or something?

[@bengt_axle]

@@TheNathanielDurand No. It is not an excuse, it is an explanation. They are not the same.

[@GeorgeGabor19]

I would love to go to Montreal and put English signs all over just to piss them off even more. Its ridiculous. They seem to care more about protecting their language, instead of dealing with healthcare, affordable housing, rising cost of living etc...

[@charlolel]

So how is protecting the french language detrimental to any of those missions?

[@FoundPonds]

Giant Tiger and Canada Computers don't have to do anything because they already opened their stores with French equivalents (Tigre Geant and Ordinateurs Canada) -- Canadian Tire could do the same with Pneu Canadien since their other brand Mark's, is call L'Equipeur in Quebec.

[@racingphotographer8251]

They should just be Pneu Chinois since 99% of the garbage they sell is...

[@andromedach]

Each company just needs to adopt a logo and two letter name and go that route

[@Dermisc]

Low self-esteem strikes again. FFS, Quebec, just stop it already. You are just making fools of yourselves. You've been going to those same stores your entire lives. Do people just suddenly forget what Home Depot and Canadian Tire sell?

[@nancetardiff339]

Low-self esteem? Not according to Tucker Carlson! WATCH : ''Tucker Carlson says that Quebec is his favorite province''' Find out why on the Western Standard (Full-Send Podcast, with Kyle Forgead)

[@Ithoughtthiswasamerica]

@@nancetardiff339 he said he despises what Quebec is doing to Anglos when he visited Alberta where he said Nova Scotia is actually his favourite province because his family is from there; I doubt Tucker respects Frenchie authoritarians who whine about how their irrelevant language is dying.

[@DD-xu3nl]

Time for stores to LEAVE Quebec!!!!!!

[@davidfoltz8922]

I was in Quebec when they first did that years ago.. Downtown Montreal became empty because so many stores moved out of province!

[@nancetardiff339]

News Flash: They moved back

[@danielduncan6370]

If self importance was a Provence it would be Quebec

[@davidjohnmiller4849]

In a country with one province or territories out of 10 or 13 that speaks another language how in H E double hockey sticks did bilingualism ever allowed ... time for another referendum of this ... let’s put it to a vote Canada ... 37 million people , how many want French to continue ! Why when we drive on the 401 in Ontario , signs must be in both languages , yet the second we cross into Quebec ... the exact same paved road ... the isn’t English included on the signs ... sure sounds like a double standard ... Oh by the way look up some history Canadians ... the French lost to the English and signed a treaty !

[@bikingD]

You make the cut the second you decide to leave. Once you decide to leave then the French language law won't matter. That is why no one will comment right now.

[@bmir89]

Exactly. You think the province will really let Costco or Walmart walk ? Lol. Especially when you consider North America as a whole, Quebec is a very small market. Aside from Montreal and Quebec City, there's not much there.

[@guyl9456]

The same can be said of all Canadian provinces. Outside of Winnipeg or Saskatoon there isn't much.

[@bikingD]

@@guyl9456 Huh Winnipeg and Saskatoon? Neither are Provinces and Neither are big. How on this planet did you come up with those places? Obviously you are not a Canadian. Plus neither is French has no relationship to this conversation at all.

[@bmir89]

@guyl9456 Go re-take 5th grade geography and then rejoin the conversation LOL.

[@TheNathanielDurand]

@@bikingD You understood that he was implying that the major urban centers of their respective provinces, Winnipeg (Manitoba) and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) are where the business is and outside of that there's not much, just like the previous post he was responding to was saying about Montreal and Quebec (Quebec) but you're so assmad that he's right that you have to move the goalposts. "Plus neither is French has no relationship to this conversation at all." Irrelevant.

[@adrianthomas5104]

Nice to see Alberta's money being put to good use.

[@freidrichm]

Insanity. Pure insanity

[@bethburn3237]

Finally, addressing the really issues that matter…Ontario should require Le Château have STORE in big letters above its name… because that’s not ridiculous…

[@dancooper1]

Why should we care what you do in ontario?

[@petroskaragiannis6897]

They should for retaliation!!

[@charlolel]

@@petroskaragiannis6897 What retalation...? Quebec is basically punishing itself with the bill not Ontario.

[@johnnyfrankenstein0123]

this is so impressively well made. I can't remember the last time I was this hooked on a video from a news channel

[@maddoggt6145]

Quebecs law and those who passed it can go to hell.

[@DD-xu3nl]

Quebec is pathetic

[@MrAlan1828]

not, its the Government

[@nancetardiff339]

Quebec is Tucker Carlson's favorite province! Look it up!

[@AMPProf]

WHOOO asks for this? Old people mad at us! Sooo

[@yannislaurin5438]

Nah the rest of Canada is. Imagine whinning so much because a nation dare to protect his culture.

[@williamlebeau2418]

Did they not try to do this a decade or two ago?

[@randolfo1265]

Looks like the French language minister owns stock in sign companies. Somebody look into that.

[@DudleyDoright-ru2ch]

Grew up in QC, they will never learn. Montreal was the financial centre of Canada until their exclusionary policies and excessive provincial corporate taxes drove all the business to Toronto in the early 70's. Rinse and repeat and don't forget to blame the english for all your problems. Alberta is doing the same things and their smart people are leaving as well.

[@pontiac99999999]

There's a very simple solution for the companies - pull all the business out of Quebec. When the province starts to suffer from lack of goods and revenue, they will change their mind in a heartbeat.......😄

[@Lorkanthal]

they'll just ask for more money be given to them from the other provinces to make up for the loss in tax revenue.

[@akhomraven]

Not sure if government cabinet members do an actual assessment before passing such bills - or just being emotional.

[@TheWolfanderson]

Yea lets lose tens of millions of dollars or put up 100$ worth of sinage at each store hmmmmmmmm

[@pontiac99999999]

​@@TheWolfanderson It's not about the money, it's about sending a message... 😂

[@TheWolfanderson]

@@pontiac99999999 Oh yea because massive business get to where they are by spending millions on sending a message instead of just cheaply complying with the new law.

[@mluxur7492]

Government officials !! Nothing better to do?!!

[@AMPProf]

Wonder hat first nations think.. Lolz errr ummm ohh

[@user-zr9ut4pp8k]

Why do you care what rules we have in Quebec? Just stay in Ontario and have all the English you want!

[@TheGreatSeraphim]

The law feels like discrimination to me.

[@chippatullo2824]

Well researched and presented.

[@canadaglennrz]

Time for a referendum to throw Quebec out of Canada.

[@francescathomas3502]

I kind of agree - but that will split the country in half - literally physically!! And Quebec can easily stop traffic up and down the st lawrence river so toronto and the rest of Canada cannot import or export their goods!!!

[@canadaglennrz]

And Ontario can stop sending millions of $$$ in aid every year.

[@guyl9456]

Such referendum would not be constitutional.

[@gridlockjoe]

I will change my name to Joe Costco so that they can say it's named after a person (me)!

[@sheilam4964]

Great Media Coverage skillfully presented, on a recent bit of news. We need more News presentations done this way.

[@maryclaremayo6157]

We've learned that retailers in Ontario like Loblaws and Staples purchase their product stickers and decals from Deco Labels, Premier Doug Ford's family business. I wonder if Premier François Legault or one of Québec's honourable M.P.Q.s owns a signage business.

[@SimRacingVeteran]

Ford’s business made a killing making social distancing decals for all stores.

[@Sashenka979]

I remember when I lived in Montreal there was a pet store that had a parrot that was not for sale. He would say funny thing in English. The store was fined because the parrot was an employee and was not allowed to speak English 😂

[@parralele401]

LOL

[@serg823]

Except it didn't happen. But nice try!

[@user-um6kl3yv3f]

What about French stores do they have to display an English sign ?

[@xxxlik8805]

Nope it doesn't work like that

[@MrVidification]

Reminds me of the bilingual gaelic road signs in the Scottish highlands. They were (supposedly) only being added to replace worn english only ones, but no amount of signage is going to persuade people to more actively use a language. It would be better invested in schools, related courses or media channels dedicated to the language. In that case however I think it did more for the tourism ..and probably cause confusion for motorists

[@roachtoasties]

This is nuts. If implemented, the other provinces need to require any places with a French word to have the word "STORE," "MARKET," "GAS STATION," "BROTHEL," etc., next to it which is at least twice the size. Just return the favor and do the same.

[@amrsalouha3640]

Other provinces are not insecure and child minded like Quebec

[@koda3967]

@@amrsalouha3640True, but it would serve to diffuse the anger and frustration the rest of #Canada is having with our need to provide french services when NO ONE speaks #Québecois. 🤷‍♀️

[@whataday443]

@@koda3967 So should Québec also stop to provide English services?

[@hutlazzz]

@@amrsalouha3640 If you're so secure and grown up pôurquoi t'apprend pas le francais ?

[@KRL1999]

​@@hutlazzzC'est ta langue maternelle mais tu l'écris comme ça? Ouf. Tu devrais l'apprendre toi-même.

[@HavendaleBlvd80]

Who has to pay for it? The outreach in governments in Canada is unbearable for tax payers.

[@zzappligator]

A shame the companies couldn't do it respectfully the first time around.

[@rpoutine3271]

@@WildMan576 Transfer payments that we Quebeckers pay from our own pokets.

[@mberry480]

I sincerely hope all these stores get up and leave Quebec, before they pay all that money for unnecessary signs.....

[@Digital111]

Walmart could keep all the same colours and logo but just change the name to "Waltons"

[@courteouscarpenter7811]

Excellent article thank you and man that's some dumb things saving the French language by changing store signs really

[@comicallaugh]

The joke is on the rest of Canada because they are paying for it via Ottawa 'redistribution'. I once read that Quebec's economy is so propped up by Ottawa's money (erhm Alberta) that many businesses could not survive, competitively speaking.

[@nattie911]

​@@comicallaugh RIP to their universities...😢

[@DX2ification]

Guessing 90% of Quebecers they will report them if the signage is wrong.

[@eduardoreyesm.9180]

Mostly boomers or rural french rednecks

[@nicholassmith7048]

They are well known snitches

[@johnholmes8919]

i disagree as i have lived there and i found the english haters to be around 10% of the population most people dont care but the ones who do are zealots except on june 24th (st jean de baptiste day) when everyone becomes a rabid nationalist and the english and immigrants stay home

[@user-xg6sx5ev9u]

​@@johnholmes8919for somebody saying "english haters" you sure seems to get offended about the national holiday in Quebec😂

[@jeremiepatricksammon9115]

absolument, pas content décriss