Barbershop vs OQLF
Every now and then, anglo media get het up about some businessperson who’s in trouble with the OQLF because they’re flouting the language law. But if you’re putting up a storefront business, surely you need to find out what the law says before you pay to register the business name and have a website built and put up signs. You don’t just do what you fancy and then complain to the media when the consequences fall on you because you broke the law.
But besides that, what are we (as anglo readers of the news) supposed to make of the choice to make this a news story? (It isn’t being reported in the franco media.) Are we supposed to feel angry or sad? And if we do, what possible use is that to anyone?
Ian 08:56 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
I mean I feel bad for the guy but how is it a surprise?
steph 09:12 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
What’s this about “prohibits publishing commercial content on social media in a language other than French.”? Are businesses in Quebec not allowed to advertise in English anymore? I don’t tune into traditional media, but does CHOM, CJAD or the Gazette not run ads in English for local businesses?
MarcG 09:18 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
I think the desired feeling is righteousness.
Joey 10:18 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
I’m familiar with one instance of someone launching a business who’s really struggling to make sense of the new law. But this guy is just being egregious. Like look at that sign.
Robert H 11:06 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
It may be just be my anglophone frame of reference, but I don’t see what’s so concerning here for the OQLF. He’s ready to serve clients in both languages, his Instagram is bilingual, and just in case there’s any doubt, it’s on the sign: “salon du barbier” with a big “bienvenue.” It does look like Padulo is being harassed, and the OQLF comes off looking like The Big Bad Tonguetroopers of anglo lore. Maybe that’s why this is getting so much attention in the English media; because it fits so neatly within the narrative of an obsessive and meddlesome anglophobic government coming down on a small business just trying to get by.
But yes, I would also ask Padulo why he didn’t anticipate all this. He had to have known what would happen. Is he cynically exploiting indignation and sympathy at his plight, milking publicity and hoping that public opinion will force the OQLF to back off?
As for the OQLF itself, it seems like they have reached some kind of an impasse: they’re at a point where they’re trying to confront the sheer dominating might of English in popular culture and specifically commerce. Business drives so much of the anglicization one can see around town: concepts, colloquialisms and attitudes from the continent outside of Quebec wind up on Montreal storefronts and in the expression of Montrealers, especially youth. This crackdown on English signs reflects official anxiety about how to respond. I believe there’s a sentiment in L’Assemblée nationale that if Quebec loses Montreal, it’s the beginning of the end. I’m not accusing them of being paranoid. The erosion of French in the city is a valid concern. But the OQLF has to learn to operate with more nuance than prohibition.
bob 15:23 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
It is a flagrantly unconstitutional law, conceived and enforced by bigots.
Kate 15:42 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
It’s still the law, so you have to be circumspect if you want to break it.
Kevin 16:35 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
Robert H.
Quebec’s chattering class hasn’t lost Montreal, it ran away while they abused it, and now they get all upset that it has no interest in returning their calls.
Robert H 19:24 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
Haha! Well, Kevin, I had another thought about that: if francophones, chattering classes and all, want to keep Montreal, they ought to stop leaving it.