Two colourful members of the crowd enjoy the annual St-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal, Tuesday, June 24, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesGraham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Longueuil is a city of about 230,000 people across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. Only six per cent of its population is anglophone, but a local councillor has become partial to speechifying in French and English.
The mayor, a former Bloc Québécois MP, and her allies have remonstrated, but not for the usual reasons; mostly, they seem annoyed about time-wasting.
Last week, the provincial government vowed to tighten signage laws for large out-of-province companies that have English names. Companies like Best Buy may soon have to include an French-language description of what they sell (électroniques?). The announcement barely registered.
This is what "la paix linguistique" looks like. And there's more.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands will gather at outdoor concerts in Montreal, Quebec City and elsewhere for the Fête Nationale. The official holiday is on Wednesday, June 24, and will be marked in 700 different locales.
Unusually, Montreal's extravaganza will be held in a downtown venue. Not only that, Premier Philippe Couillard will skip the big soirées; he's in New York and will fly to his riding for a smaller gathering.
Some might interpret deeper symbolism in moving the show from a park in the predominantly francophone east end to downtown. Once upon a time, that and the Premier's travel plans might have cocked various eyebrows.
But lately, June 24 is not the politically weighty occasion it once was. A glitzy Montreal concert will be hosted by politically discreet comedian Louis-José Houde, who replaced overtly sovereigntist talk-show maven Guy A. Lepage last year.
Perhaps it's a reflection of the zeitgeist. Thirty-eight years after René Lévesque rebranded St-Jean-Baptiste Day and a quarter-century after Meech Lake failed, support for sovereignty is at low ebb.
June 24 festivities will presumably be even more muted next year when a 20-per-cent provincial budget cut kicks in.
A week ago, the separatist newspaper Le Devoir published an open letter signed by 181 culturati, intellectuals and politicians who complained 2015 could be the last large-scale celebration.
That's a good thing. In an era of "values" charters, may the holiday celebrate what makes Quebec – all of it – unique.