Leaders of dozens of Quebec-based technology companies have warned Prime Minister Francois Lego that the province’s new language law, known as Bill 96, will make it harder to recruit talent and threaten to “severely damage the province’s economy.”
Bill 96 was passed last month and aims to strengthen Quebec’s language laws with new and expanded business rules, tougher penalties for violations and restrictions on who can access certain government services in English.
Part of the law stipulates that immigrants who have been in Quebec for six months or more will have access to most government services only in French.
In a letter released Tuesday, more than 30 leaders called on Lego and the province to postpone the implementation of Bill 96 until there is better support in French, such as lessons available to workers.
“We have team members who come from South America, who come from Europe. We need to give them more time and more support,” said Lloyd Segal, president and CEO of Repare Therapeutics, a Montreal-based biotechnology company that develops drugs. for cancer, and one of the signatories of the letter.
“These phenomenal researchers who accept coming to Quebec – and everything related to coming to Quebec. They can go anywhere and we don’t want to lose them. “
The Repare Therapeutics laboratory in Montreal is developing cancer drugs, but the company’s chief executive is worried that the province’s new language laws will make it harder to recruit workers. (Alison Northcott / CBC)
Until now, the province’s existing language laws applied only to companies with more than 50 employees. But according to Bill 96, these rules will now apply to smaller businesses with more than 25 employees.
Repare has more than 50 employees, so it has been subject to French requirements since it began operating in Quebec six years ago.
Now the problem, Segal said, is that the new law could make his company less attractive to the talents it needs, noting that Repare is already competing with businesses around the world in the face of labor shortages in technology. sector.
WATCH The head of the Council of Canadian Innovators explains the calls to delay Bill 96:
Technology companies say Bill 96 could hurt Quebec’s economy
The head of the Council of Canadian Innovators explains why dozens of technology companies in Quebec have signed a letter asking the province to postpone the implementation of its updated language law.
Benjamin Bergen is president of the Council of Canadian Innovators, the organization behind the letter. He acknowledged the importance of protecting Quebec’s culture, but said the law was prepared quickly and would hamper the growth of local companies.
“You’re actually hurting your own culture and your own economy,” Bergen said.
“Obligation to defend our common language”
Lego said strengthening the province’s language laws is a matter of survival when it comes to French in Quebec.
“We are proud to be a Francophone nation in North America and it is our duty to protect our common language,” he said in May, when Bill 96 was passed.
His coalition government, Avenir Québec (CAQ), said the law will not apply for another yearas the province is working to set up a new French-language ministry to develop language policies for public services, municipalities and government organizations.
There are several pieces of legislation that will affect business, and many companies are now looking for guidelines on how to comply, said Brittany Carson, a labor and labor law partner at Montreal-based Lavery.
For example, companies with more than 25 employees will have to ensure that the use of French is common in the workplace – a requirement that previously only applied to larger companies with more than 50 employees.
Quebec Prime Minister Francois Lego, shown here in the Quebec legislature on Friday, said Bill 96 is needed to protect the French language. (Jacques Boasino / Canadian Press)
The Office québécois de la langue française, or OQLF, which enforces the French-language charter, will seek to ensure that communication with staff, study materials, policies and contracts is in French, Carson said.
“What does this mean for the man sitting in New York who runs the staff here in Quebec?” “Obviously, the Charter will not force them to speak French,” she said.
“I think companies will have to start thinking about how to make sure they respect the fundamental right of their Quebec employees to work in French.”
Although asking many questions from customers, Carson said she had not heard of anyone considering leaving Quebec because of stricter rules, in part because much larger companies have been subject to the province’s French language rules for decades.
Montréal International, the city’s economic promotion agency, said it had received an influx of calls from investors about Bill 96, with questions and concerns about immigration and French requirements for employees.
But Stefan Pake, the agency’s president and chief executive, said in a statement that he did not expect the debate over the new law to drive away talent.
“Investors take many factors into account when assessing their investment opportunities in a city, including the current economic climate and the existing ecosystem,” he said, adding that the recruitment agency’s activities are currently focused on French-speaking talent.
For his part, Segal said he hoped the Quebec government would help businesses comply and clear up uncertainties about how the law will be implemented and enforced. He has no plans to move his company out of Quebec, but worries that other companies will be discouraged from setting up here.
“I have deep concerns, as one of the founders of our biotechnology community here in Montreal, that without more certainty we will almost certainly lose the new businesses that are being created.
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