Montreal mayoral candidate says it's time to talk about city's language status

Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness says it's time to reopen the debate on the city's language status.

Montreal is one of the largest francophone cities in the world about65 per cent describe Frenchas their mother tongue.

Holness, leader of Mouvement Montral, is proposing a one-year public consultation on the use of the English and French languages in public and private institutions, followed by a referendum on the linguistic status of Montreal.

Should a referendum be held and the city's status changed, Holness sayshe would expect the provincial government to respect the vote and approve a modification to the city's charter,which identifies Montreal as a French-speaking city in the first article.

If that happens, Quebec's language law, known as Bill 101, or any changes made under the Coalition Avenir Qubec government with Bill 96 would not affectMontreal.

Under the current law, bilingual status isgiven only to those 84 municipalities with 51 per cent or more of the population who speak English as a first language.

Regardless, Holness says it should be up to the people to decide.

"The National Assembly will not determine the character and nature of the city of Montreal," he said Tuesday.

If Montrealerswant to keep the city's current status, there would be no change, he said.

On the other hand, if they decided that "English and French will be the official languages here in Montreal, then Bill 96 will not uphold and many other things will change in the city," he said.

2 leading candidates shoot down proposal

Theproposal drew immediate fire from his two main opponents, Valrie Plante and Denis Coderre, who have both voiced support of Premier Franois Legault's plan to beef up the province's language law with Bill 96.

"I'm against it and I think it's too divisive," said Coderreof Holness's proposalon Tuesday. "I think Montreal is a francophone metropolis."

Coderre said a mayor's role is to unite, not divide, people and he objects to a referendum on the issue.

Plante, the city's current mayor, saysthere's no reason to question the French-speaking status of Montreal.

Reopening the debate is a way to try put the two-linguisticcommunities in opposition, Plante said, and "I am very uncomfortable with this proposal."

Even Marc-Antoine Desjardins, who recently merged his party,Ralliement pour Montral, with Mouvement Montral, distanced himself from Holness on Tuesday.

"I am an ardent defender of keeping the francophone character of Montreal," he said, noting his party would aim to maintain the status quo.

WATCH | Why Balarama Holness says he wants to open up the language debate:

'We're here to win': Holness defends plan for referendum on Montreal's language status

3 years ago

Duration 6:22

Mouvement Montral Leader Balarama Holness says merger with Ralliement pour Montral a 'political' move that takes his party from being a disruptor, to a contender

Holnessmay be looking to set himself apart

Daniel Bland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, saysHolness is working to set himself apart from the top two candidates and get people talking about him.

Mouvement Montral is running in all of Montreal's 19 boroughs with 74 candidates in all. Coderre's Ensemble Montral has 98 candidates and Plante's Projet Montral has 103.

Bland sayslanguage isn't really an issue at the municipal level, but there is some anxiety about Bill 96 among the city's English-speaking voters.

That means Holness'sannouncement might give his party a boost in certain boroughs, he said, andeven perhaps drive a wedge between the two leading candidates and English-speaking Montrealers.

On the flip side, he said, Holness may have put his credibility as a viable candidate in jeopardy when he joined forceswith Desjardins the leader of a party diametrically opposed to him on certain issues.