The Parti Québécois is sounding the alarm over French in Quebec, calling the situation in Montreal “catastrophic” and warning the language is facing its worst decline in 50 years. The party is proposing tougher language laws, including stronger French requirements for work permits. But is French truly in crisis, or are the numbers reflecting a growing multilingual population rather than an abandonment of French? Sébastien Arcand, professor at HEC Montréal and co-chair of the Research Chair in the Demolinguistic Situation and Language Policies in Quebec, spoke to Andrew Carter.

Photo Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Elections Quebec