MONTREAL -
Do you speak French? If the answer is no, life can be confusing and indeed, tougher north of the border.
French is the primary language in Quebec and there's a renewed push to keep it that way.
Pastry shop worker June Downie grew up in Quebec. Her first language is English, but "In Quebec we need to know French to advance in schooling, in jobs and in life"
Increasingly so.
McGill University political science professor Antonia Maioni says, "40 years ago a generation ago even in Montreal everything was in English, all the signage was in English people you would have spoken to would have done so in English..Things have come a long way since then."
Since the 1970's and the passage of the French Language Charter also known as Bill 101.
If you live in Quebec and you have a big business your signs have to be in French.
If you work in a big company the language of your workplace is French.
Now 40 years later, in 2013, there's a new move to strengthen that charter…making even stricter french language laws.
Why?, Pourquoi?
The people who speak French in Quebec don't want to feel like strangers in their own country.
People like Denis Mathieu.
He say "the United States and all the other provinces in Canada speak English we know that..that's why we're happy to speak both languages but we don't want to get away from our language we want to keep it."
Mathieu voted for Pauline Marois in 2012.
Marois,the first woman elected premiere of Quebec is also the torch bearer for the P.Q….the Party Quebecois whose long term objective is win sovereignty for Quebec and separate from Canada.
Short term the P.Q. is trying to pass something called Bill 14 requiring even mom and pop stores to communicate through signs and speech first in French.
Bill 14 would also require students at high schools where English and French are both spoken to pass a French proficiency test. Some educators are disgusted with the bill and premier Marois a former education minister.
Montreal teacher Ruth Rosenfield says "it's beyond stupid. She should know we are doing our best to make these kids proficient...we don't another lashing which is what this is.
I think the way that most people would interpret that is, if you want to tell us you don't want us, we heard you."
Quebec's French Language Office has already mailed warnings to businesses:
Fail to display names translated into French and you could lose government contracts and be fined up to 25 thousand dollars!
Why aren't English speakers "Anglophones", fighting harder?
Maybe because there aren't that many left to speak up.
Over the last 40 years Anglophones by the tens of thousands have voted with their feet...leaving for Toronto, Vancouver, and the U.S. where they could do business and raise families entirely in English.
Maioini says "People who stayed tended to embrace the French fact in the sense of becoming bilingual and immigrants who come to Quebec now normally know that they are entering into a Francophone environment."
Of the nearly 8 million people who live in Quebec, fewer than 8% percent speak English as their first language.
78% say their first language is French.
Maioni says English speaking tourists feel more enchanted than outcast.
"What we found in Montreal is that the french fact actually appeals to a lot of people,you can go to Europe without going to Europe."
As for Quebec separating any time soon even under Marois...Maioni says she is a pragmatic politician.
"and she knows Quebecers aren't looking for sovereignty these days"
Back at the pastry shop, June agrees...French will forever be the first language of Quebec..but Quebec should never break away from Canada.
"I think it's silly since you cant separate we're in between...you can't leave"
Quebec has certainly changed, but English speakers and Americans are critical to the economy of the province.
So if you're crossing north of the border : bring your passport, a GPS if you have one, and learning some French even a little, (un petit peu) wouldn't hurt!
