New CAQ ad suggests ‘Bonjour-Hi!’ isn’t needed
Posted September 16, 2024 1:30 pm.
Last Updated September 16, 2024 4:31 pm.
A new publicity campaign by the Quebec government promoting the use of French in daily life says that it’s everyone’s job to protect the language.
The ad, part of $2.5-million multimedia publicity campaign by the Legault government, also suggests that saying “Bonjour-Hi!” isn’t necessary since all one needs in Quebec is “Bonjour.”
Premier François Legault posted the ad on his X account, saying that Quebec is the “only francophone state in North America. It is through our language that we express our identity and out culture. I will never stop defending it. Here in Quebec, it happens in French.”
Montreal’s popular bilingual greeting of “Bonjour-Hi!” has long caused the ire of language activists who consider it part of the reason they say the use of French is declining in Quebec.
The bilingual greeting has created such unease among some pundits and politicians that Quebec’s National Assembly even unanimously adopted a motion in 2017 calling for an end to its use.
