Globe editorial: Quebec injects politics into its health care system
Politics tamfitronics In Quebec, language is political. It was that way before the province enacted the Charter of the French Language, a.k.a. Bill 101, in 1977, and it has stayed that way in the nearly five decades since.But through two referendums and all the fractious debates about the use of English on signs, the right to an education in English, over whether pasta can be called “pasta” in an Italian restaurant and so on, the Quebec government has never inserted overt language politics into the place where people are most vulnerable and most in need of support – the health care system.Until now, that is.Last month, the Quebec health ministry released a directive outlining the permissible exemptions to an expansion of Bill 101 that requires that all written and oral communications in any health care...
