'It's sad': Protesters campaign against French cuts outisde Caroline Mulroney's office

Hundreds of protesters angry at Doug Ford's cuts to a French-language university and Ontario's French commissioner inundate Caroline Mulroney's Holland Landing office

YorkRegion.com
December 3, 2018
Jeremy Grimaldi

"We all know who her father was, Brian Mulroney was a militant for the rights of language minorities around the country."

Those were the words from Nathalie Palletier with the Association des Francophon de la Region de York (AFRY) who took part in a protest at Caroline Mulroney's Holland Landing constituency office on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Pelletier and her 200 compatriots remain angry at the Doug Ford government’s cuts to the French-language commissioner and a cancellation of plans for a French-language university in Ontario.

She remains frustrated at Ford's comments comparing Francophone Ontarians to the province’s Italian and Chinese communities, saying it was the French along with the English who founded Canada, and that the people and the language deserve special protections.

"I would ask Doug Ford to re-open his history book and revise his Canadian history," she said about the comments. "Besides (indigenous people) it was the French who have been here the longest. It was French explorers who went up to Windsor and first set up colonies."

In regards to Mulroney, Pelletier said she is dismayed by her support of the cuts, saying what she's doing is effectively turning French speakers against her, despite Mulroney being born in Montreal.

"It's sad that she's the French spokesperson in the government," she added.

Although Ford partially reversed his cuts to the French Commissioner officer days after making them, Pelletier said she and the other protesters want a full return of the role.

She also believes that Amanda Simard, who resigned from the PC caucus, made the right choice after deciding not to defect to the Liberals and, instead, sit as an independent.

"I think she has made the best choice," she said. "She went door-to-door before the election and told everyone nothing would be cut and the university would go ahead."

The protest was one of many that occurred across the country today and heard speakers including Newmarket MP Kyle Peterson and former MPP Charles Beer, former Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs.

There are estimated to be 650,000 French speaking Ontarians and 1.5 million in the province that speak the language, Pelletier added.