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Thursday, major provisions of the new law take effect across the province, ones that could have tangible effects on people's everyday lives and which have stoked anxiety in English-speaking and bilingual communities, that a delicate balance they've reached could falter.
'The next six months or or one year will be crucial. Bill 96 will become much more concrete,' says McGill prof
Among other new language rules that take effect Thursday is a provision that government bodies give services in French only, with some exceptions.
Francis Scarpaleggia is the Liberal Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis riding. He voted for his party's Bill C-13 (An Act to amend the Official Languages Act, to enact the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act and to make related amendments to other Acts) despite some criticisms from the Quebec Anglophone community, many of whom live in his riding.
It "ruptures the equality of English and French," says Colin Standish, leader of the Canadian Party of Quebec.