The CAQ dropped a new commercial sh*tting on 'Bonjour-Hi' and people online are riled up
The ad is part of a $2.5 million campaign.
A screenshot from the CAQ's new commercial.
The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) just dropped a new commercial sh*tting on the phrase "Bonjour-Hi" as part of a $2.5 million ad campaign promoting the French language — and it's causing quite a stir on social media.
"We are the only French-speaking state in North America. It is through our language that our identity and culture are expressed. I will never stop defending it. Here, in Quebec, it happens in French," wrote Premier François Legault on X (formerly Twitter) where he posted the 30 second advertisement.
"It starts with one word," a narrator says at the beginning of the ad — in French, of course. This is followed by someone in a car and someone who appears to work in a store saying, "Bonjour."
The narrator continues, "That's it. Just Bonjour."
Unsurprisingly to anyone who lives here, the Quebec government's new campaign is getting a lot of heat across the Internet.
"The preservation of French language and culture in Quebec is a given. That said, there are better approaches to consider that don't involve disregarding the rights and dignity of English-speaking communities," wrote Facebook user Michael Benitah in French beneath Legault's post of the video.
Meanwhile, on Instagram, Isabel Urdaneta's comment on a Montreal Only post about the commercial has garnered more than 700 likes: "The more money they spend on this, the less we want to speak French."
On X (formerly Twitter), Julie Leroux writes in French: "#Loi96 asked for a CERTIFICATE from ENGLISH SPEAKERS to see a doctor who speaks English, you deliberately did NOT TALK ABOUT IT? #discrimination@jfrobergeQc An ad on 'speaking French' that costs millions but you cut millions in FRANCISATION?"
The CAQ recently came under fire for directives that could have required Quebecers to show proof of eligibility in order to be served in English at local health care facilities. However, last week, MNAs adopted a motion that says a certificate won't be required to verify that patients are entitled to health care services in English per Bill 96.
The Legault government also recently announced that it's ending its $28 a day incentive paid to people enrolled in part-time French-language courses.
In April, the Minister of of Immigration, Francization and Integration, Jean-Francois Roberge, unveiled a $603 million plan to counter the decline of the French language.
