Montreal’s largest English-language school board is denouncing the Quebec government’s plan to extend Bill 101 to adult and vocational education, calling it a “political stunt” that could hurt immigrants, weaken the English school system and worsen labour shortages.

The proposed legislation, promised by Premier Christine Fréchette during the Coalition Avenir Québec leadership race, would apply French-language requirements to adult education and vocational training programs. The government says the move would close a loophole in Bill 101 and strengthen the use of French in the workplace.

French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge has defended the proposal as necessary to protect the French language.

But the English Montreal School Board says the measure could redirect as many as 27,000 students from English-language programs into the French system, even as many newcomers struggle to access government-funded French courses.

“This isn’t just bad for the English school boards,” EMSB chair Joe Ortona said. “This is bad policy, it’s bad for Quebec’s economy, it actually hurts the people who are immigrating here who want to be contributing members of society.”

Ortona said immigrants already face major challenges learning French while trying to enter the workforce.

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“The immigrants here are already facing significant challenges of mastering language and what the government should be trying to do is implement the courses of francisation that they said they were going to implement,” he said.

He added that many newcomers want to learn French and acquire job skills at the same time, but have been unable to access language training.

“They want to learn French, they want to learn a trade, they want to enter the workforce and the government has made it difficult for them at every stage,” Ortona said.

English-language advocacy group TALQ also condemned the proposal, accusing the CAQ government of continuing divisive language policies that could damage the English education system without significantly helping French.

“The intent is the real problem,” said the group’s director general, Sylvia Martin-Laforge. “The intent of the impact of strangling again the English-speaking system.”

Martin-Laforge also questioned the government’s justification for the proposed changes, saying Quebec has not released studies or data supporting the need for the measure.

“The government has not produced any study or numbers to justify the necessity,” she said. “All they talk about is the decline of French at home, in the workplace. But actually, everything is more nuanced than cut-and-dry numbers and we know that.”

Opposition parties say they are reserving judgment until legislation is formally introduced.

PLQ leader Charles Milliard said he wants to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed bill before deciding whether to support it.

“The CAQ has been saying a lot of things when it comes to this particular topic,” Milliard said. “I want to see what would also be the efficacy of such a bill before we vote for or against.”

The legislation has not yet been tabled at the National Assembly. The current parliamentary session ends June 12.