Big retailers challenge French sign law in court

[Locutus]

MONTREAL - Some of North America's largest retailers have taken Quebec's language office to court over its demands that they modify their outdoor signs to comply with the province's language laws.

Costco, Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Old Navy and Guess have officially petitioned Quebec's Superior Court to judge whether or not the province's language office has the right to make them change their signs.

All six retailers, along with many other companies operating in Quebec, received a warning letter from the language office demanding they comply with the province's French requirements or be fined, said Nathalie St-Pierre, a vice-president at the Retail Council of Canada.

The retail council represents five of the six petitioners and said the fines threatened by the office range from $3,000 to $20,000.

Quebec's French-language office demanded that stores like Walmart modify the signs outside their stores to sound more French. For instance, Walmart can change its outdoor signs to read "Le Magasin Walmart" (the Walmart Store), which would technically comply with the charter, St-Pierre said.

Section 63 of the Charter of the French Language states that "the name of an enterprise must be in French."


more of le same


Sun News : Big retailers challenge French sign law in court

 

[gerryh]

My answer would be for those retailers to get outa dodge. Middle finger to Quebec and tell the quebecuois to suck their hind end. Then we'll see how the people REALLY like their sign language laws when a few 10's of thousands lose their jobs and they have fewer choices as to where to shop.

 

[bill barilko]

God Rot the French!

 

[TenPenny]

Section 63 of the Charter of the French Language states that "the name of an enterprise must be in French."

What part of 'Walmart' is not French?

 

[Tonington]

Wâlmàrt

Does the Charter say anything about proper punctuation? :lol:

 

[Ron in Regina]

My answer would be for those retailers to get outa dodge. Middle finger to Quebec and tell the quebecuois to suck their hind end. Then we'll see how the people REALLY like their sign language laws when a few 10's of thousands lose their jobs and they have fewer choices as to where to shop.

I agree to a certain extent, but on the flipside is the fact that 1/4 of Canada
(population wise) is inside the Quebec borders, so prospective consumers
numbering around eight million or so. That's a lot of potential customers to
walk away from, on top of the fact that I believe these are existing stores &
not future locations.

The Quebec language police step on and crush small business's that don't
conform to their....insert your own phrase here...so maybe these bigger
players together can stand up and fight the fight that would ruin the smaller
companies.

 

[Cannuck]

I agree to a certain extent, but on the flipside is the fact that 1/4 of Canada
(population wise) is inside the Quebec borders, so prospective consumers
numbering around eight million or so. That's a lot of potential customers to
walk away from, on top of the fact that I believe these are existing stores &
not future locations.

That's one large city. I doubt Walmart is too keen on being told how to run it's business when it comes to such silliness. I would not be surprised if they move out of Kweebeck rather than cowtow to the language cops.

Maybe I should add Kweebecks language cops to my "Stupid, Dumb and Just Plain Ignorant Cop Thread"

 

[taxslave]

I agree to a certain extent, but on the flipside is the fact that 1/4 of Canada
(population wise) is inside the Quebec borders, so prospective consumers
numbering around eight million or so. That's a lot of potential customers to
walk away from, on top of the fact that I believe these are existing stores &
not future locations.

The Quebec language police step on and crush small business's that don't
conform to their....insert your own phrase here...so maybe these bigger
players together can stand up and fight the fight that would ruin the smaller
companies.

There is always a chance that the Queerbec thought police will come up with a two tiered plan. Do what ever you want for the companies that have a higher gross revenue than the province and our way or no way for mom&pop.

 

[Ron in Regina]

That's one large city. I doubt Walmart is too keen on being told how to run it's business when it comes to such silliness. I would not be surprised if they move out of Kweebeck rather than cowtow to the language cops.

Maybe I should add Kweebecks language cops to my "Stupid, Dumb and Just Plain Ignorant Cop Thread"

I thought we where dealing with a provincial issue & not just one city.
If I'm wrong, then it's my bad.

It's not just Walmart, but Costco, Best Buy, Gap, Old Navy and Guess
also involved in this latest round of silliness. Maybe all of this can be
solved using the French of Pepe Lepew?

pepe le pew cartoon - Bing Videos

 

[damngrumpy]

Inside the boarders of Quebec the French speaking people are the majority.
Its no different than if we in the west decided to implement an English sign law.
The big companies are mostly foreign owned and should be subject to the
laws of Canada and our Provincial regulations. That means in Quebec if the
law is different and the companies don't like it then too bad.
The fact is in Quebec the people probably couldn't care less if Walmart left.
or a few others for that matter.

 

[Ron in Regina]

So...in Quebec, is "McDonalds" on the signage as "Le McDonalds", etc...?

 

[PoliticalNick]

Inside the boarders of Quebec the French speaking people are the majority.
Its no different than if we in the west decided to implement an English sign law.
The big companies are mostly foreign owned and should be subject to the
laws of Canada and our Provincial regulations. That means in Quebec if the
law is different and the companies don't like it then too bad.
The fact is in Quebec the people probably couldn't care less if Walmart left.
or a few others for that matter.

Who cares if the majority in Quebec speak french (really they don't they speak some bastardized version the french cannot understand). Quebec is part of Canada, the majority of Canadians speak English, ergo English should be the dominant language of all of Canada especially in public areas.

It's not like I don't understand the 'distinct society' thing. It is a distinctive society indeed to find 5 million guys all named Pierre or Jean-Paul who all bat for the other team or at least play for both teams...;-)

 

[Cannuck]

I thought we where dealing with a provincial issue & not just one city.
If I'm wrong, then it's my bad. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...D749F9C5AEC8812FA2A3D749F9C5AEC8812FA&first=0

It is a provincial issue. I was referring to the population of 8 million being the equivalent of a large city. To put it into perspective, greater Houston is over 6 million. Closing down in Kweebeck would be like closing down in Houston...something a company like Walmart could easily do.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Sorry Man. I misunderstood....but I got it now. Bit slow on the uptake tonight I guess.

 

[PoliticalNick]

I'm just glad it is a group of major retailers not just one. This will defray the legal costs and make it manageable whereas one alone, even Walmart, may find it prohibitive in pursuing the action if it begins to look like a long challenge. Good luck to them!

 

[DaSleeper]

We are actually pretty multi-lingual. I was at a real Chinese buffet in Toronto a while back where even the bill was in Chinese characters, but the bottom line in dollars so I could understand, Then when I paid with my debit card, the receipt was in French:smile: (Caisse Populaire debit card);-)

 

[Bar Sinister]

My answer would be for those retailers to get outa dodge. Middle finger to Quebec and tell the quebecuois to suck their hind end. Then we'll see how the people REALLY like their sign language laws when a few 10's of thousands lose their jobs and they have fewer choices as to where to shop.

Getting out of Dodge as you put it would have very little impact on Quebec language policy. There are many other stores that could easily fill the gap (no pun intended) that would be happy to comply with Quebec's language laws. None of the stores mentioned fill a vital serve and in fact there would be no real loss of jobs as the stores that do stay would have to hire more staff to pick uip the slack. Let's face it, a low wage store like Walmart is far from vital to the economy, and if Walmart can put up signs like the one below in China it can certainly comply to Quebec's language law.

I can remember a similar situation in Quebec in the 1960s, prior to the Quebec language laws, in which Ford claimed that all of its signs at the Quebec assembly plant were in English because that was Ford's policy worldwide. It didn't take very long for to discover that Ford changed its signs to the local language in every other plant in the world except Quebec. This is just another example of big retailers mistakenly believing that their services are essential, when in fac thay are not. Not only that but they are playing right into the hands of the more exctreme Quebec nationalists who will use this confrontation as further proof that an independent Quebec is the only option.

 

[TenPenny]

if Walmart can put up signs like the one below in China it can certainly comply to Quebec's language law.

What part of 'Walmart' is not French? Why does it have to be 'le magazin Walmart'?

 

[SLM]

I can understand signage being in an/the official language of an area (country, state, province, whatever) to an extent, but to require a company to change it's name/sign in order to "sound more french"???? That's ridiculous, incredibly arrogant and must be really insulting to the population of the province.

This just takes things too far.

 

[DaSleeper]

Although I did not take the pictures these picture two stores I have gone to in Gatineau Quebec, in past summers .

Notice Giant Tiger name change.......any suggestions for Walmart?

If a Supercenter it would be Supercentre.....
Big frickin' deal

And lookee lookee they have them in Quebec.......:lol: