Introduction
On June 6, 2025, the Liberal Carney government introduced its flagship bill, Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act. Bill C-5 establishes establishes a statutory framework to remove federal barriers to the interprovincial trade of goods and services and to improve labour mobility within Canada.
We are interested in this bill less for its economic objectives (whch some contest. See Daniel Dufort et Larysa Harapyn) than for the absence of provisions seeking to protect and promote the French language in Canada, including in Quebec. The absence of such provisions speaks volumes about the Carney government's priorities.
Sister Bill in Quebec
In parallel with the federal bill, the CAQ government of François Legault introduced Bill C-112, entitled An Act to facilitate the trade of goods and the mobility of labour from the other provinces and the territories of Canada. This bill sets out the principle that despite any inconsistent provision of an Act or of a statutory instrument, any good that is manufactured, prepared, cultivated, raised, sold or used for commercial purposes in another province or a territory of Canada in compliance with the standards applicable in that province or territory may be commercialized, used or consumed in Québec without any further requirement.
The similarity between the two bills is evident, with one major exception: the protection of the French language.
Bill C-112 and French
Section 1 of Bill C-112 states that:
It in no way limits the application of the provisions aimed at protecting the French language..
The text may seem rather laconic on this point, but the principle is well established. Commerce must respect language.
And at the federal level?
Bill C-5 and French
Bill C-5 takes great pains to state that:
4 The purpose of this Act is to enhance Canada’s prosperity, national security, economic security, national defence and national autonomy by ensuring that projects that are in the national interest are advanced through an accelerated process that enhances regulatory certainty and investor confidence, while protecting the environment and respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples..
So, trade must take into account health, safety, well-being, the environment, and indigenous peoples. But what about French?
The Official Languages Act (OLA)
Since the amendments of Bill C-13 in 2023, the OLA has provisions with the following objectives:
Recognizes Bill 101
(b.1) advance the equality of status and use of the English and French languages within Canadian society, taking into account the fact that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English and that there is a diversity of provincial and territorial language regimes that contribute to the advancement, including Quebec’s Charter of the French language, which provides that French is the official language of Quebec;
Recognizes the need to maintain a Francophone majority in Quebec
(b.2) advance the existence of a majority-French society in a Quebec where the future of French is assured;
Commits to positive measures that take into account the dominant use of English
41 (2) The Government of Canada, recognizing and taking into account that French is in a minority situation in Canada and North America due to the predominant use of English, is committed to protecting and promoting the French language.
(7) In carrying out its mandate, every federal institution shall, on the basis of analyses, (a) consider whether positive measures could potentially be taken under subsection (5); and...(b) consider the possibilities for avoiding, or at least mitigating, the direct negative impacts that its structuring decisions may have on the commitments under subsections (1) to (3).
.
Bill C-15 and the Protection of French
Despite these new objectives in the OLA, and despite Quebec's explicit provision that trade must take into account the protection of French, the Carney government has not provided anything equivalent in Bill C-15. We must consider patients, indigenous peoples, workers, social benefit recipients, and environmental protection. But protecting French from the predominant use of English is not worthy of mention.
Conclusion
The Carney government was elected with a very weak platform for protecting French; see our text. Bill C-5 is a repeat. This is nothing to be proud of. It needs to be corrected.
Marc Ryan
Author