The leaders of dozens of Quebec-based technology companies are warning Premier François Legault that the province's new language law, known as Bill 96, will make it hard to recruit talent and threatens to do "enormous damage to the province's economy."
Bill 96 was adopted last month and aims to strengthen Quebec's language laws, with new and expanded rules for businesses, harsher penalties for violations and limits on who can access certain government services in English.
One part of the law stipulates that immigrants who have been in Quebec for six months or more will only be able to access most government services in French.
In a letter published Tuesday, more than 30 executives called on Legault and the province to delay implementation of Bill 96 until there is better French-language support, such as tutoring, available for 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 cancer drugs, and one of the letter's signatories.
"These phenomenal researchers who embrace coming to Quebec — and everything about coming to Quebec. They can go anywhere and we don't want to lose them."
Until now, the province's existing language laws only applied to companies with more than 50 employees. But under Bill 96, those rules will now apply to smaller businesses, too, with more than 25 staff.
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