A Montreal Company Used The Bloc's 'Bonjour-HO!' As Inspo For Its New 'Bonjour Hoe' Shirts

Bloc Québécois' new campaign that asks people to start saying "Bonjour-HO!" rather than "Bonjour, Hi" has received a multitude of responses from locals, like this Montreal company that used a play on words of this slogan for its new item.

Local Montreal-based company Becca Love recently came out with a T-shirt that reads "Bonjour Hoe," which is meant to be "a joke and a poke at pop culture. Saying Bonjour-Ho to someone sounds like calling them a hoe," as Becca puts it.

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The shirts are sold for $45 on Becca Love's website and 20% of sales go to Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project.

"I think the Bloc Quebecois' idea is hilarious. It's also such a misuse of resources," the owner of the company, Becca, told MTL Blog.

"French-speaking Quebecers are losing their jobs, homes, and access to health services but money was spent on this campaign during a time when people barely see each other! Fighting for anything other than survival & basic human rights during the Covid-19 pandemic is a luxury problem."

Bloc Québécois' "Bonjour-HO!" idea had the goal of "promot[ing] the use of French," and so language politics were deeply embedded within it.

"When language politics are spoken about there's a big piece missing from the conversation because French is not the original language of Kébec," said Becca.

"Why aren't people who colonized or immigrated to Kanien’kehà:ka using the First Nations names for Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal? We're taught to respect Francophone culture while ignoring the history of this land."