Quebec body says small businesses must enforce use of French The Quebec government's advisory body that oversees the application of the French Language Charter is recommending that small businesses be required to enforce the use of French in the workplace. The current language law makes it mandatory for companies with 50 or more employees to impose French as the language of communication in the workplace. The Conseil supérieur de la langue française (CLSF) recommended the law be extended to small businesses with 26 to 49 employees by insisting that "less stringent and more flexible" means be used to enforce the provision in the law. The advisory body explained that smaller businesses do not have the same financial means as do larger companies to comply with the language provisions. The advisory body also expressed concern over the increase of bilingualism in the workplace, which, according to the advisory board's president Robert Vézina, is becoming a "problem" to promoting the use of French especially among immigrants. If we want neo-Quebeckers to be able to work in French, because that is what we ask them to do ... and they go to the workplace and are being asked more and more to work in English, that's a problem. That is what we are seeing now," Mr. Vézina said during a news conference on Wednesday. Mr. Vézina explained that knowledge of English shouldn't be mandatory to get a job in Quebec, even though the advisory board recognizes that English has become an essential tool in an increasing number of businesses as a result of the expansion of the global economy and the use of Internet. Studies released by the CLSF showed a slight drop in the percentage of francophone Quebeckers in the province between 2006 and 2011, as well as in the number of those who speak French as home. Figures also pointed to a significant trend where French was used less and less in the workplace, especially in the Montreal region. For instance the percentage of employees in private companies who generally use French dropped from 70.8 per cent in 1989 to 59.7 per cent in 2010. In the greater Montreal region 44.6 per cent of private sector employees generally worked in French in 2010 and that number dropped to 31.1 per cent on the Island of Montreal where there is a greater concentration of English-speaking Quebeckers. "Although the situation has improved since the 1970s, the [declining] use of French in the workplace remains a cause for concern," the report noted. Mr. Vézina said there has been carelessness in enforcing the workplace provisions in the law, as well as ignorance by employers on the need to encourage the use of French as the language of communication. Other recommendations in the report included improving the knowledge of French among all Quebeckers noting that about half of the adult population didn't have the proper language skills to perform adequately in their profession. "About half the population of Quebec is not well tooled ... to be effective in the workplace," Mr. Vézina said. This would include imposing tougher standards on anglophones to ensure that they master the French language before graduating from college. However the report stops short of requiring that English-language college students pass a French language proficiency test to obtain their diploma. The report was released just days before the National Assembly begins public hearings next week on Bill 14, which proposes an overhaul of the French Language Charter commonly known as Bill 101. Several of the recommendations in the advisory body's report were being proposed in the new Bill. Some of the proposed changes to the language Charter were expected to be met with some stiff opposition from the main opposition parties.