Numerous times during visits up to Canada, I have heard the opinion expressed that French Canadians go to far in trying to preserve their Francophone identity and culture, and obviously the French language, particularly in Québec. This included the news, where I remember seeing one reporter kind of smiling in that "there they go again" tone while reporting on yet another apparently tiresome effort by the Québec government to preserve the French language there.
Here's the thing: the threat to the language is real. It is large province in terms of size, and large in terms of population by Canadian standards. Yet, it is really just an isolated pocket in many respects, standing alone as the only major political body in North America, north of the Mexican border, where English is not the dominant language. As such, the people there are only too aware of the fragility of their language in a continent dominated by English.
Is that an exaggeration? Paranoia, perhaps?
Well, let's look at history. Dutch used to be the dominant language in New York City. It has completely gone away. German used to have a strong presence in various parts of the United States. One of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, remembered a time when German was commonly spoken in his neighborhood in Indianapolis. But it went away, disappeared. And French itself was largely extinguished in Louisiana, largely because it was regarded as an inferior language representing a decadent culture in the Deep South, and needed to be gotten rid of. For the most part, it has been. When I went to New Orleans some years ago, I was wondering how much of a French presence actually would be in evidence. For the most part, the only evidence that I saw that it ever existed were in the bilingual signs and maybe a few signs for stores here and there. But I heard not one person speaking French in the streets or anywhere else.
The only other example of a fairly large group of people speaking another language, other than English or Spanish, on the North American continent would be the Amish, who speak German. In short, nowhere else in North America will you see or hear another language spoken or used commonly. And remember: French was treated almost like a second class language in Canada until not that long ago. The Constitution and the laws were not translated until shockingly recently, and French only gained officially equal status with English in 1982. Hardly ancient history.
And now, yet another attack on the French language in Canada. This time, that threat comes from outside of Canada proper.
Part of the terms of Trump's negotiations on tariffs towards Canada was evidently to limit the use of the French language.
To his credit, Prime Minister Carney declared that to be a non-starter, immediately shutting down the tariff negotiations. Here is some of what he said:
“You’re at war when you’re attacked, and we got attacked,” the Canadian prime minister told reporters in Ottawa. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered and we will not give what they’ve asked.”
So Carney walked away because he felt that the demands made by the Trump administration were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
Carney went on to say:
“In short, they asked too much, and they offered too little.”
The province of Québec has been hit particularly hard by these tensions and tariffs placed by American President Trump. Québec Premier Christine Fréchette expressed support for Carney, saying that he did the right thing. Then, she went on to explain how important French is to her province:
“Our culture, our language, is central to our identity, and it is important to exclude that from the negotiating table,” Fréchette told reporters Saturday. “Even though we are threatened with different tariffs, it won’t change. We will stay the way we are.”
Fréchette went on to state that U.S. alcohol would remain off Société des alcools du Québec shelves for as long as the trade war continued. She also made clear that Québec would continue to place limits and penalties on U.S. companies bidding on public contracts.
“As long as the Americans continue to wage this tariff war against our businesses, against our workers, I will not put American alcoholic products back on the shelves of the SAQ,” she said.
Bad feelings and growing distrust between the two countries is at a modern high. Many Americans, particularly those who agree with Trump and identify as MAGA, tend to rally behind every move he makes. However, there is also a strong presence of many prominent Americans who openly criticize Trump and blast him for starting conflicts with traditional allies, especially Canada.
Despite some Americans being critical of Trump, distrust and distaste towards Americans seems to be running very high in Canada presently. There was a 21% drop in the number of Canadian entering New York state last year, with three million fewer visitors than the year prior (before Trump took office). American consumer products have been taken off the shelves of some Canadian stores. And if all of that was not enough, here is more:
Furthermore, a petition to expel the US ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, from the country has gathered about 248,000 signatures since late July, according to the Associated Press.
This year a poll by Globe and Mail newspaper found that only 9% of Canadians agreed that the US was a “trustworthy ally”, and that 51% of those polled had cancelled American trips in reaction to comments by Trump.
Let us remember that prior to Trump, Canada was widely regarded as a trustworthy ally and solid economic partner all around by most Americans. There were never any serious problems between Canada and the United States in recent times before the Trump presidency, which saw the president routinely referring to Canada as the "51st state" and referring to the then Canadian Prime Minister as "Governor Trudeau."
And Trump once again seemed to hint at Canada possibly becoming the "51st state" again after the talks broke down, saying on social media:
“Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!”
He then added:
“They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of tariffs,” he added. “No more!!!”
What a stubborn, stupid jackass. Once again, he is showing why he lacked the qualifications needed for the presidency, and how utterly and completely he is failing both Americans and the rest of the world, at that.
Below are the links to the two articles I used in writing this entry, and from which I obtained the specific quotes used above:
Threat to Quebec’s French language, identity key reason Carney ends trade talks with Trump by Harry North August 22, 2026:
Fresh U.S. tariffs called a “worst-case scenario” for the province’s businesses.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec-wakes-to-worst-case-scenario-as-trump-slaps-new-50-tariffs-on-canada/
Quebec wakes to ‘worst-case scenario’ as Trump’s tariffs hit
‘No more!!!’: Trump lashes out after US-Canada talks devolve into trade war by Lauren Almeida Sun 23 Aug 2026.
PM Mark Carney says ‘we got attacked’ as tariffs come into force on items from hockey sticks to tongue depressors
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/23/donald-trump-lashes-out-after-us-canada-talks-devolve-into-trade-war
‘No more!!!’: Trump lashes out after US-Canada talks devolve into trade war | Canada | The Guardian
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