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Describing it as part of an “all-out offensive” to promote the French language in Quebec and “halt the decline in Montreal,” a Legault government task force will seek to increase tuition fees for foreign or out-of-province students attending English-language universities in Quebec.

“We’re fed up with managing a decline, of protecting the language, of slowing the erosion of the language, these are defensive terms. It’s time to regain ground,” Quebec French-language minister Jean-François Roberge said in an interview with La Presse. “If we want to change the linguistic profile of Montreal, to stop the decline in Montreal, we must focus on the question of rebalancing university networks.”

Roberge said that while 80 per cent of Quebec students attend French-language universities, only half of the 32,000 foreign or out-of-province students who study here do so as well.

“There are a lot of people who come to Quebec, who attend an English-language university and who very often express themselves in the English language on a daily basis.”

The task force also intends to table legislation that would oblige online giants such as Spotify and Netflix to make Quebec-produced content “more visible.”

Roberge’s announcement comes a little over a week after the Coalition Avenir Québec suffered a stinging defeat at the hands of the Parti Québécois in a byelection in the Quebec City riding of Jean-Talon.