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

[@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

[@ItsWillLee]

​@@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

[@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!!!

[@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

[@ForestGirlTeresa]

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 anglophobe government and its voters. If those businesses close down - they don't care.

[@user-ub8zg5kfake]

I can see ppl leaving the province

[@angiesappracone1478]

They are foolish .. spending the money that way 😟🤪crazy

[@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.

[@kittyandthekatz8046]

Manger un bon steak cet weekend mon chum.

[@tom0photographi]

Weekend is English, POST INVALID! Tabernac!

[@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!

[@lechiffre5078]

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

[@wsytch4879]

Walmarché, just like Manuvie

[@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?

[@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.

[@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!

[@deepbrit]

@@sleblanc Indeed great to see all British speaking import heading to Landfill we all call as Toronto

[@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.

[@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

[@Swiss2025]

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]

@@Swiss2025 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]

@@Swiss2025 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

[@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?

[@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!

[@seanjones4807]

Good idea if they don’t want to cater to it’s population

[@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.

[@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.

[@r0ck_fr3sh]

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

[@sharonperry5213]

Shopping Walmart. Lol

[@alexg9727]

@@galactic904 WalMerde

[@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

[@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.

[@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?

[@AChapstickOrange]

It's astonishing. When I was a kid, English Canada was a knot of self-doubt and hand-wringing. "Oh, who are we, are we just faded Brits, are we just popsicle Yankees,", blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Quebecois were bold, confident, taking charge, sure of who they were and gliding into a future with their sails full, no regrets, no looking back. Somewhere along the line, it all switched. English Canada figured out, "Hey, we are who we are; we're not them, we're not them, we're us. And, please, thank you, and sorry, we're pretty darn neat." Meanwhile, Quebec's gotten so timid and cowardly it comforts itself with childish little displays of passive-aggressiveness like this. Quebec, when and how did you guys lose your b@lls? So sad.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@Swiss2025]

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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@Swiss2025]

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"

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@ProjectManagementKnowledgeBank]

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

[@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.

[@CoolTies]

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

[@TheTinydogproduction]

me too. I dig it.

[@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

[@robertorrom8712]

Wow actual journalism from CBC, I'm amazed! Good report, thanks.

[@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

[@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!!

[@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

[@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.

[@JackFisherTrio]

Quebec...the entitled teenager of Canada...yawn. I live on the boarder of Quebec and drive through the US to deliberately avoid going through Quebec. They have enough of my tax dollars.

[@charlolel]

That's actually a good thing lol! Instead of using our infrastructure and damaging it you damage US infrastructure! Thanks a lot.

[@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.

[@frednunziata5]

quebec ...... doing it their own way since referendum and still looking like the joke of Canada all on their own

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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...

[@stumgar]

Another reason to stay away from Quebec.

[@yannislaurin-kamouche]

Good, don't come with your whinning

[@catherinewilson1079]

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

[@DD-xu3nl]

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

[@sheilam4964]

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

[@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.

[@freidrichm]

Insanity. Pure insanity

[@seangriffin7803]

Welcome to Queerbeckistan

[@uisblackcat]

Imagine if the cost of signage tipped the profitability of a location enough that the corporation decided to close the location and lay off all the workers. Or perhaps signage accelerated the closure of underperforming stores, as a renovation was not scheduled for many years down the road. I've driven through Quebec about five times, and felt like they were trying too hard.

[@r3d0c]

if that company was that much money away from collapsing then it was a terribly run company that wasnt going to last anyways

[@marshallmintz7564]

Lets all hope for that.

[@joeshmoe7967]

@@r3d0c sure, go ahead and support these ridiculous 'laws'. They will lose in the end, it make take awhile, but the adversarial approach is a losing position.

[@TheNathanielDurand]

@@joeshmoe7967 Anything is adversarial for some whiny Anglos when it comes to Quebec and/or French-Canadians.

[@VesaGuardian]

To me as an innocent bystander, this seems like a diluted form of fascism.

[@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?!

[@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.

[@rrickarr]

Why do Quebecers want to continue speaking this Quebecois French which only they speak? And then, they all run off to Miami for their holiday and speak English!!!! What about Celine Dion who did not hesitate to ditch Quebec and head down to the USA when she saw the money and fame they would give her.

[@Maxmulham]

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

[@TheClipperchip]

Our entire country is a mess.

[@dimetronome]

Because Bill 101 didn't do enough to drive businesses out of the province.

[@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

[@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?

[@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😢😢😢

[@seanjones4807]

Why visit Quebec if you don’t like it’s culture?

[@chrossphyre]

Quebec's internal paranoia over French language protections was bound to reach the ridiculous sooner or later. I guess this qualifies as "sooner". I've lived all over Canada (except the Maritimes) and barring enclaves such as Falher AB or St. Boniface MB, French has little real use west of Cornwall, ON. The expense that Canadians as a whole endure to placate the Francophones of Quebec went beyond the ridiculous some decades ago, sponsored by the current PM's father (not, by the way, an attractive factoid west of Sault Ste Marie ON and hardly palatable at all west of Thunder Bay ON). The Phillipinos of Maple Grove have very little trouble maintaining the gift of their culture and language in the City of Winnipeg without the benefit of Federal decree. In fact that city has a major week-long festival every year commemorating that very concept. The Hutterites of the Western Plains are able to live according to their own culture and language and have for decades. I have yet to see an act protecting their culture or language. The Mennonites of Southern Manitoba or Lacrete AB have no issue speaking and doing business in a German dialect while munching on Vereniki with Cream Gravy and Schmontkuche - all without assailing the Alberta or Manitoba governments daily on their language rights. The same holds true for the Ukrainians of Edmonton and Vegreville and countless other ethnic groups in our fair land. This is, in fact, what makes Canada special and an enviable place to live. The ongoing fearful and heavy-handed approach by the Quebec Government will do nothing but divide and continue to cast the Quebecois in a poor light in the rest of Canada to the west of their borders.

[@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

[@ulogy]

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

[@thewewguy8t88]

this also sounds like a joke from air farce.

[@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.

[@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?

[@adrianthomas5104]

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

[@lightotw]

I met a guy who worked in Quebec for awhile as a software developer. He was anglophone but had some French to get by. He was not in a customer service or store facing role, yet the language police would do business raids. His co-workers would notice the raid in progress and yell at him to escape out the back door. What a fascist goverment they operate. And to what end? Who does this help? It doesn't help the business - he was hired for his skills. It doesn't help him. Nutty laws. But I love the French people and culture.

[@racingphotographer8251]

wow, so hundreds of expensive cars get stolen in Montreal (and Toronto) to be shipped overseas, many of which depart from containers loaded at (where else) the PORT OF MONTREAL... yet let's waste police resources on silly useless language laws rather than prevent and prosecute organized car theft rings. Amazing.

[@seanjones4807]

Sounds like BS

[@williamlebeau2418]

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

[@ItsWillLee]

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.

[@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...😢

[@leod-sigefast]

1759-63 Quebec. Get over it! It's not our fault France lost to the British every time it mattered! The Quebec Act 1774 was very generous to the French-speaking Roman Catholic Quebecois. Modern Quebecois would do well to remember that and that language fascism never works.

[@carlsisi9712]

The ridicule of this will only make us look bad to the rest of the canadian population. I don't how this would serve any purpose or help maintain the french language. Ridiculous, parlement is disconnected, what a waste of time and public funds, they should instead spend time finding solutions to healthcare issues for example.

[@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 !

[@phoreal22]

Could you make the change and forward the cost to Quebec consumers? They voted for this kind of government, reap what you sow.

[@darkiee69]

Of course the consumers will be the ones picking up the bill.

[@lordgarion514]

They really should put a sign on the front door saying nothing is free, and signs are expensive, so all products will have one penny added to the price until the signs are paid for.

[@chippatullo2824]

Well researched and presented.

[@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

[@zuzutheinfectedelf]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@TheNathanielDurand]

@@bmir89 You're one to talk.

[@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.

[@danielnercessian4072]

I have family in Quebec that have lived there forever that beg me to move there each time I visit them since I’ve been living in Toronto since my university years but it’s this type of garbage politics that have been a dealbreaker for me to relocate there despite Montreal’s relatively affordable prices for housing. Not to mention how horrified I was during the measures the Quebec government took during covid lockdowns, they certainly took it a step further compared to the rest of the country. So yeah I tell my family in Quebec that it’s no utopia there it’s got more affordable prices sure but politics are garbage. Changing bunch of signs on retail stores isn’t gonna preserve there Quebecoise…

[@Maxmulham]

It seems affordable but trust me, the taxes will eat you up. I lived there for 5 years.

[@jfdeshaies1167]

Thanks for all the negative comments about us, quebecers, who just want to preserve our language an héritage from an evident downspiral in canada and most in Québec, all your Judgement s will just fuel and prove that quitting Canada and become a country is the only solution, thanks 🙏⚜️

[@kellymoses8566]

Tech companies in Quebec are complaining that the new laws make it very hard to hire anyone who doesn't speak French.

[@tomm1583]

When I worked for Waste Management in Boston in the 80's, we had an office in Quebec. I loved it when someone answered the phone in French.

[@croatianwarmaster7872]

Why would anyone go work in Quebec if they don't speak French? It is the language of the country.

[@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

[@Tiax776]

That's just ridiculous. Maybe they can call Starbucks " étoile chevreuils"

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

Starbucks is already named "Café starbucks" in Québec.

[@andromedach]

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

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

In what universe does the name of a store have any meaningful impact on the use of a language? People don't learn French by reading one word on the front of a store, they learn it through daily life and education. If Québec wants to maintain the status of French they need to focus on providing affordable french-language courses for anyone who isn't yet fluent, and stop with these pointless token gestures.

[@trevorgwelch7412]

All American and Ontario based companies should be sensible and pull out of Quebec . French language laws should be abolished . Companies that stay in Quebec should be boycotted throughout Canada . 🇨🇦

[@k.wi.7991]

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

[@downundarob]

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

[@ewoksarecool]

Great coverage. Asinine legislation

[@AMPProf]

If only we could get diabits man to fight our wich ...

[@AMPProf]

A actually emoji + company logos

[@111111scarface111111]

No wonder almost every time I see a promotion/sale online from a Canadian company, there's always that: "Available Canada wide, * except Quebec" I really hope more companies leave Quebec and focus elsewhere, where they're seen as a benefit to that province(jobs, competition/better prices), instead of been seen as a nuisance that needs to be put in place by those lunatics at OQLF!!

[@racingphotographer8251]

You especially see that in any contest/raffle. Yeah, want to run a raffle where your customers can win a free trip to Vegas? Gotta register with the Quebec Lottery for a licence and pay for it (and write the rules in French too?)... f- that, just exclude them, not worth the hassle.

[@randolfo1265]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@colehara]

The real reason behind this is to get more English speaking Quebecers to simply leave the province.

[@iCanHasACheeseBurger]

This is insanity!! And completely unnecessary!! How bout tackle real issues that burden the people? No one asked for this!