1. JACK JEDWAB ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN STUDIES MAY 2013 ENGLISH OR FRENCH ON THE DECLINE IN QUEBEC? VIEWS FROM THE ROC

2. INTRODUCTION In Quebec there is ongoing debate about the perception of threat to the French language felt by many francophones and to the English-speaking community as expressed by many anglophones. The divergence between Quebec anglophones and francophones is very difficult to reconclie. Rarely however is the opinion of anglophones outside of Quebec solicited as regards this matter. It might be assumed that anglophones outside of Quebec would be far more likely to think that it is the English language that is threatened. Indeed an April survey conducted by the firm Leger Marketing reveals that they are more likely to think so but not by a large margin. Indeed there is no province in Canada where a majority agrees that the English language is threatened in Quebec with many in the ROC saying that they are unaware. Yet another survey conducted by the Official Languages Branch of Canadian Heritage suggests that interest in learning about Official Language Communities within and outside of Quebec is not especially high.

3. METHODOLOGY The findings were collected from a survey of 2000 Canadians by the firm Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies between February 27 and March 9, 2013. Done via web panel, the probabilistic margin of error is 2.9 percent 19 times out of 20 The survey done for the Department of Canadian Heritage was conducted by the firm TNS Canadian Facts between May 9 and 29, 2012 by telephone with 1504 Canadians.

4. ENGLISH ON THE DECLINE IN QUEBEC: THE REST OF CANADA MAJORITIES NOT PERSUADED AND MANY SIMPLY DON’T KNOW The English language is on the decline in QuebecTotalAtl.QCONMB/SKABBC NET AGREE33%36%21%38%30% 43% Strongly agree11%9% 12%11%13%12% Somewhat agree22%27%12%26%19%17%30% NET DISAGREE 41%37%73%30%34%29% Somewhat disagree 27%28%41%21%31%21%18% Strongly disagree 14%9%31%9%4%8%10% I don't know25%26%5%30%36%40%28% I prefer not to answer 2%1% 2%0%1%

5. REST OF CANADA: ONE IN FIVE THINK FRENCH IS ON THE DECLINE IN QUEBEC The French language is on the decline in QuebecTotalAtl.QCONMB/SKABBC NET AGREE 30%19%63%21%26%18% Strongly agree 10%4%26%5%0%5%6% Somewhat agree 20%15%36%15%26%14%12% NET DISAGREE 43%45%33%47%49%44%48% Somewhat disagree 24%21% 25%31%25%22% Strongly disagree 19%24%11%21%19% 26% I don't know25%35%3%31%24%38%33% I prefer not to answer 1% 0%

6. REST OF CANADA MORE LIKELY TO THINK THAT ENGLISH IS ON THE DECLINE THAN FRENCH ESP IN BC NET AGREETotalAtl.QCONMB/SKABBC The English language is on the decline in Quebec 33%36%21%38%30% 43% The French language is on the decline in Quebec 30%19%63%21%26%18%

7. INTEREST IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT QUEBEC ANGLOPHONES OR FRANCOPHONES OUTSIDE OF QUEBEC IS SOFT AMONGST ENGLISH CANADIANS Anglophones outside of Quebec INTEREST IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT QUEBEC ANGLOPHONE COMMUNITIES INTEREST IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT QUEBEC FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITIES 00 - NOT INTERESTED AT ALL 12.8%15.5% 01 3.8%4.2% 02 5.1%4.1% 03 6.0%6.6% 04 5.9%4.8% 05 16.4%15.4% 06 9.1%9.0% 07 11.4%12.2% 08 14.2%14.9% 09 3.9%3.0% 10 - EXTREMELY INTERESTED 10.9%9.8% DON'T KNOW 0.4%0.3%