Quebec Plans to Bar Most Immigrants Who Don’t Speak French
- Premier unveils proposal as part of second-term agenda
- Moves to protect primacy of language, particularly in Montreal
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Quebec Premier Francois Legault, concerned about the decline of the French language in the Canadian province, has set a new goal for immigrants: They should all speak French.
Legault’s nationalist Coalition Avenir Quebec party was re-elected with a huge majority in October, partly on a platform of protecting French as the dominant language in the province of 8.7 million people. His speech to the legislature Wednesday laid out his priorities for his second term, including a plan to bar almost all economic immigrants who don’t speak French by 2026.