MONTREAL — 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 reelected 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.
“The objective is to stop the decline of French, in particular in Montreal, and to reverse the trend,” Legault said. “The French language, it must be an imperative duty.”
