Counting ‘Bonjour’
in Quebec Stores

Quebec’s new OQLF campaign: secret shoppers and new language rules

By Irwin Rapoport

March 11, 2026

A new “secret shopper” operation by Quebec’s language watchdog will send undercover observers into thousands of businesses to record the language of greetings and service, with a particular focus on neighbourhoods where anglophones and immigrants live and work. For many in the English‑speaking and cultural communities, it feels like the latest step in a steady escalation of language surveillance and pressure.

French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge has publicly worried that too much English is being spoken in downtown Montreal.

Since coming to power in 2018, Premier François Legault and his Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government have repeatedly targeted the English community and its institutions. When faced with by‑election setbacks, unpopular legislation, or scandals such as the SAAQcliq fiasco, the government has often responded with new measures framed as necessary to “protect” French.

We have Bill 96, a sweeping law that strengthens and extends many provisions of Bill 101; Bill 40, which eliminated elected French‑language school boards and aims to abolish the constitutionally protected English boards; a 30 per cent tuition hike for McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s, plus a requirement that out‑of‑province and foreign students pass five French courses; and a stated goal of tying funding for English‑language institutions to an estimated eight‑per‑cent share of the population. French Language Minister Jean‑François Roberge has publicly worried that too much English is being spoken in downtown Montreal.

Against that backdrop, the new survey is not just a technical exercise. According to the public tender, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) plans to award a contract worth up to $350,000 to a private firm to send undercover observers into 7,800 businesses, some twice, for nearly 14,000 visits by the end of November. Stores on commercial streets, in malls and hotels, and virtually any place where money changes hands — from dépanneurs to clothing shops and restaurants — are included.

The island of Montreal is divided into five zones: Côte‑des‑Neiges/Snowdon/Town of Mount Royal; western downtown between Parc Ave. and Claremont Ave. in Westmount; the Saint‑Laurent Blvd. corridor between Little Italy and Old Montreal; the City of Pointe‑Claire; and the rest of the island. Outside Montreal, observers will visit Laval, Brossard, Boucherville and Longueuil, Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Magog, and Quebec City, where English‑speaking tourists are a major source of business.

‘Methodology is spelled out in detail. Observers are instructed to enter as regular customers and let the interaction develop “naturally.’

Methodology is spelled out in detail. Observers are instructed to enter as regular customers and let the interaction develop “naturally.” They must record the language of the first words spoken by the employee to welcome them, the language of the first words spoken when the observer asks a question (deemed the “language of service”), and, if service begins in a language other than French, what happens when they request French. Does the employee switch, find a colleague, or fail to offer service in French?

The OQLF presents this as part of its mandate under the Charter of the French Language to monitor the evolution of Quebec’s linguistic situation. Similar surveys were carried out in 2010, 2017 and most recently in 2023/2024.

The last report does not depict a province where French has disappeared from daily commerce. Across Quebec’s urban areas, customers were greeted in French far more often than in English, with a smaller share receiving bilingual greetings such as “Bonjour‑Hi.” On the island of Montreal, French‑only greetings have declined compared to 2010, while English‑only and bilingual greetings have increased. On the West Island, greetings are split among French, English and bilingual forms.

When it comes to actual service, the picture is even clearer. French‑language service was available in the overwhelming majority of visits across the urban areas studied. On the island of Montreal, only a very small percentage of customers were unable to obtain service in French.

These numbers suggest that French remains widely used in commercial settings, particularly as a language of service, even if greetings have become more mixed in Montreal. Yet just a few years after that report, the government is moving ahead with another large‑scale study, focused heavily on areas where anglophones and immigrants are concentrated.

‘The OQLF presents this as part of its mandate under the Charter of the French Language to monitor how Quebec’s linguistic situation evolves.’

On the surface, a survey of greetings and service languages might appear benign. However, several aspects raise legitimate concerns.

First, the methodology relies heavily on a single moment—the greeting—as a proxy for loyalty to French. In a city with a large tourism industry and many multilingual residents, employees may reasonably adjust their greeting based on a customer’s apparent language or simply out of habit. If a salesperson starts in English or another language and then switches to French when asked, that nuance may not be fully captured by a check‑box form.

Second, there is a real staffing crisis in retail, hospitality and food service. Many businesses struggle to hire at all, let alone hire staff who are fluent in French and English. Some rely on newcomers still learning French, or on workers whose strongest languages are neither French nor English. Designing a survey that presumes ideal staffing does not reflect the pressures merchants actually face.

Third, there is the question of who the observers are and how their own characteristics may influence interactions. The tender calls for observation teams that are “representative of the local clientele” in terms of age, gender, and ethnocultural background. In a previous study, most observers were from visible minorities. This approach aims to mirror the diversity of customers, but earlier work has also suggested that factors such as perceived ethnicity can influence the greeting a “mystery shopper” receives. Yet the names and qualifications of observers are not public, even though this work is funded by taxpayers and feeds into highly sensitive debates.

Most importantly, the survey does not exist in a vacuum. Given the government’s recent track record, many expect that any measured drop in French‑only greetings will be treated not as a sign of a bilingual, cosmopolitan metropolis, but as evidence that more restrictive laws and enforcement are required. The fear among merchants is not that this survey will lead to a calm discussion years from now, but that it will justify new inspections and penalties much sooner.

‘On the island of Montreal, only a very small percentage of customers were unable to obtain service in French.’

The OQLF’s upcoming survey is also part of a broader pattern of enforcement that reaches into everyday life. Last year, after a complaint to the OQLF, the City of Montreal and the STM removed the popular “Go! Canadiens Go!” slogan from bus destination signs and replaced it with “Allez! Canadiens, Allez!” The change drew widespread mockery. Months later, after further discussions and a ministerial intervention, “Go Habs Go” and “Go” were deemed acceptable again and are returning to buses. The substance of the language issue was minimal; the symbolic message about priorities was not.

More recently, a family‑run bakery in Montreal’s Villeray neighbourhood, Lahmajoune Villeray, received a letter from the OQLF after a complaint about English‑language TikTok posts. Following an inspection of the bakery’s social‑media accounts, the office concluded that most posts were not “available in French.” For a small business using social media to reach a diverse clientele, this came as a source of stress and confusion rather than constructive guidance.

These cases, along with the decision to significantly increase the OQLF’s budget and staff in recent years, contribute to a perception that language enforcement is expanding into more corners of public and even digital life, often triggered by anonymous complaints.

Within the context of Quebec’s language debates, too many measures have been justified by invoking vague notions of “collective rights,” as if those automatically trump the rights of actual people who live, work, and study here. Yet languages themselves are not native to this territory in the way that peoples are. French, like English and the many languages brought by immigrants from around the world, arrived through migration and colonization.

The only truly indigenous languages of this land are those of the Inuit and First Nations peoples. Many of those languages are now at serious risk of extinction, and it is they — not French — that urgently require robust, sustained support from federal and provincial governments. By any reasonable measure, French in Quebec is firmly established in law, public administration, education, media, and culture. It is not, and has never been, on the brink of disappearing here.

‘The OQLF’s new survey forces a choice: protect French with confidence, not by testing every greeting or policing every shop.’

Seen from this perspective, there is no defensible justification in a liberal democratic society for a suite of laws such as Bills 63, 22, 101, and 96 that systematically constrain individual choice and mobility in the name of a perceived collective linguistic vulnerability. A democracy that genuinely values individual rights and liberties can promote French confidently — through education, culture, incentives, and inclusion — rather than by turning other language communities into the perpetual “problem” to be managed.

The OQLF’s new survey provides an opportunity to reflect on that choice. A confident French‑speaking society can defend its language without turning every greeting into a test and every small business into a potential suspect.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.

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Irwin Rapoport is a freelance journalist and community advocate from Westmount with bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science from Concordia University. He writes extensively on local politics, education, and environmental issues, and promotes informed public discourse and democracy through his writing and activism.