Conservatives capitulate on bilingualism; sell out English-Canadians

Canada's policy of official bilingualism hurts English-speaking Canadians because they have less opportunity to master French than francophones have to master English. Most people can learn the fundamentals of a second language in a classroom, but mastering a language requires practice. Because French is hardly spoken outside of Quebec, most English-Canadians rarely have a chance to use French and most feel no need to study the language. This puts them at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs with the federal government. Bilingualism has been called an affirmative action program for francophones and that's an accurate description. By making knowledge of French a requirement for many government jobs, Ottawa is effectively excluding most English-Canadians from those positions.

In Canada, however, anyone who criticizes bilingualism is labelled an extremist. Bilingualism, like immigration and multiculturalism, is one of those subjects a public figure criticizes at his peril. It appears the new Conservative party, which is an amalgalm of the Canadian Alliance and the old Progressive Conservatives, has capitulated on bilingualism and is selling out its English-Canadian supporters.

The Toronto Star reports:

Quietly, shortly before the election, the Conservative party disposed of a divisive issue that has haunted it for almost four decades: official bilingualism.

Four days before the Martin government fell, Governor General Michaëlle Jean signed into law a bill that, in the past, could have torn the Conservatives apart. The first amendment of the Official Languages Act since 1988 was given royal assent on Nov. 24, having been passed with the support of the Conservatives.

The legislation — formally known as S-3, because it originated in the Senate, introduced by since-retired Liberal Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier — requires the federal government to promote French-speaking minorities outside Quebec and the English minority in Quebec and gives them the right to go to court if the federal government doesn't take their interests into account. It is a major amendment to the law, which passed under the radar, noticed only in the respective minority media.

[. . .]

According to University of Toronto political scientist Lawrence LeDuc, the Tories in this election are "learning from the mistakes of the last one."

"Four days before the government falls (Nov. 28) and an election is called, they don't want to have the headlines bringing up an issue like that," Le Duc says.

Publicly, Conservative MPs insist that their party's support for the amended version of the bill was never in doubt.

"Bilingualism is one of the founding principles of the Conservative party," says MP James Moore, referring to the party program drawn up during the merger of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, and reconfirmed at the new party's first policy convention in March. But privately, Conservatives acknowledge that the support came after the caucus was reminded by veteran Tory senators of the way the language issue had split the party in the past, to the benefit of the Liberals.

"Don't do this to Stephen Harper," Senator Hugh Segal told the party caucus, reminding the MPs of how former PC leader Robert Stanfield's caucus had been torn apart over the language issue, and how the Liberals tried to do the same thing when Brian Mulroney arrived in the House of Commons as Conservative leader in 1983.

"Hugh Segal had an impact," a Conservative MP, who asked not to be identified, told the Star.

Segal, of course, is a prominent Red Tory, i.e. a left-leaning "Conservative". In the past, Segal has supported high levels of immigration.