Toronto council backs fight against Quebec’s Bill 21, calling it ‘contrary to the values of Torontonians and Canadians’
A group of more than 100 Torontonians led by the Progressive Conservative (PC) council has voted down a motion to urge them to vote no on Bill 21. The province’s largest city has now joined the ranks of Canadian cities, including Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton, that have joined the No to Quebec’s Bill 21 campaign.
No to Quebec’s Bill 21 campaign
The council’s decision to back Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard’s province’s Bill 21 was unanimous and came the day after the Quebec National Assembly, and the government of Canada, agreed to allow the Quebec province to maintain control over French-only sign language services in the province.
Quebec will now be able to maintain its language service in schools, hospitals and services for the elderly under Bill 21, a move that has been opposed by the province’s other language groups and supporters of the English-only language.
Bill 21
Bill 21 is the Quebec government’s French-only bill, which seeks to end the province’s ability to control the language of a third of its citizens in areas such as schools, hospitals and the economy.
The decision by Toronto city council is a result of a motion that was put together by the group of 70 people who gathered for the meeting. A vote was put on the motion at the meeting on the afternoon of May 1.
“This is a very political decision by the council,” Andrea Taylor, the chair of the council’s bilingualism committee, told the Toronto Sun.
“It’s political because there are two major parties here in Toronto: the Conservatives and the Liberals.”
Taylor explained how the motion was put together and how it was put on the agenda in the first place. She said that several people on the council had contacted her about the