The Quebec government is giving companies in federally regulated sectors one month to begin complying with new requirements to guarantee the use of French in their workplaces.
The move comes as Ottawa's plans to modernize the country's Official Languages Act, which will include new rules for federally regulated companies, are still being debated in Parliament.
Federally regulated sectors include banking, telecommunications and transportation, which were not under the legal purview of the Quebec government until the recent adoption of a new language law known as Bill 96.
According to political scientist Stéphanie Chouinard, who is an expert on language issues, the Quebec government is taking action while Ottawa continues to face criticism for its much-delayed plans to modernize federal language laws.
"Quebec is currently benefiting from a vacuum, which is to say that as long as the federal government has not issued the new directives that are called for under C-13 with regard to the language requirements of companies under federal jurisdiction, there is a possibility for Quebec to take action," said Chouinard, who teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.
According to information obtained by Radio-Canada, the provincial Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) sent a letter last Friday to more than 800 companies telling them to begin developing a formal plan to allow employees to work in French.
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