Politicians and the matter of Ottawa’s bilingualism

Since Bado’s arrival at Le Droit in the early 1980s, numerous politicians from different government levels commented on the federal capital’s official bilingualism status. Historically, Ottawa’s mayors have, at best, settled for the bare minimum or, at worst, vehemently opposed the idea. Among the most anti-francophone mayors, none surpassed Charlotte Whitton. Upon being relegated to being a mere Councillor, she noisily stormed out of a Council session during the adoption of a simple policy on bilingualism in the 1970s.

Dalton McGuinty, at the time Leader of the Opposition at Queen’s Park, had promised to make the City of Ottawa officially bilingual. But once elected as Ontario’s Premier, all he did was recognize the City’s policy on bilingualism.

John Baird, Conservative critic for Francophone Affairs, slammed the Ontario Liberal Government’s draft legislation on the City of Ottawa’s bilingualism, true to his reputation as someone who did not support Franco-Ontarians.

There was also Larry O’Brien (2006‑2010), who, coming from the business world, won because of his distinctly entrepreneurial vision of municipal politics. Rather dismissive of francophones’ requests, Mr. O’Brien’s absence from many key Ottawa Francophone events did not go unnoticed. As well, bilingualism was seldom a criterion when hiring senior municipal employees.

Despite the City of Ottawa’s policy on bilingualism, the City hired a unilingual Anglophone chief of police without the agreement of City Council.

Anti-francophone Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien loses in the municipal elections after just one mandate.

Other elected officials advanced francophone causes, or at least opted for the status quo. Marion Dewar, who was mayor when Bado started at Le Droit, believed in the benefits of bilingualism, and had set in place a policy for French-language services. She was followed by a succession of mayors open to the francophone cause, although none of them resolved the issue of official bilingualism. Over the past several years, Mayor Jim Watson (2010‑2022), while generally favourable to Ottawa’s francophones, always considered that the existing policies were largely sufficient, and refused to expand on them.

Conservative Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2009 to 2014 Tim Hudak affirms that learning French is not a priority for him.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson still refuses to change his mind about Ottawa’s designation as a bilingual city.

At the provincial level, the Liberals have historically been more open to francophones’ requests…as well they should given that Liberal candidates are well supported by Franco-Ontarian votes. The arrival of a Conservative government is often a sign of crisis. For example, there is always the saga of the Montfort hospital’s rescue or the funding for Université de l’Ontario français. As for the federal level, the pretext of municipal jurisdiction is often raised to avoid commenting or taking a stand on the topic. It is not unusual to hear federal politicians declare that it is up to the municipal government to decide on its official bilingualism status.

Commenting on the fact that the City of Ottawa was not officially bilingual, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted that Gatineau is not bilingual, overlooking the fact that Gatineau is not the capital of an officially bilingual country.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, a no-show at celebrations of Ottawa’s bilingualism because of a snowmobile accident.