MONTREAL – What is encouraging about the National Assembly committee hearings on Bill 14 is that voices of reason from both sides of the linguistic divide are speaking out against the Parti Québécois’ unnecessarily repressive — and unnecessary, period — language legislation.

In a stellar display of cross-cultural unity, two Longueuil municipal councillors, one anglophone and one francophone, appeared side by side before the committee on Wednesday to plead for the retention of bilingual status for the small South Shore borough Greenfield Park.

One of only three boroughs in the province to have bilingual status, Greenfield Park finds its situation in jeopardy because the language legislation includes a provision allowing the government to revoke such status for municipal entities if the percentage of their population whose mother tongue is English dips below 50 per cent. In the case of Greenfield Park, which was a town in its own right before being merged with Longueuil a dozen years ago, that appears to be an imminent possibility since its anglo population has slipped to 34 per cent. Read more:

See: Montreal Gazette