Thread by @MartinPatriquin

I wrote this on Quebec's #bill96 and its effect on tech and business in the province.
A thread.

thelogic.co/news/quebec-in…

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"The law allows the state to enter your business based on an anonymous complaint, without warning or warrant, & inspect data on computer systems & electronic devices. The state can fine businesses up to $20,000 should said data not contain the requisite amount of French."

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More specifically, language inspectors can take photographs and obligate anyone on the premises to give these inspectors access to any “electronic device, computer system or other medium” so that they may “verify, examine, process, copy or print out such data.”

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A note: The province's ministry of justice took pains with me to say these are 'inspections', not 'searches.'

“The OQLF does not currently carry out searches or seizures during its inspections, and Bill 96 does not allow it either,” spokesperson Isabelle Boily told me.

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Boily confirmed, however, that photocopied and/or photographed material could be removed from inspected businesses, and that inspectors can do all of this based on an anonymous complaint and without a warrant.

#polqc

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And the law preemptively invokes the notwithstanding clause, allowing it to override Sections 2 and 7 to 15 of the Constitution Act—including the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure.

thelogic.co/news/quebec-in…

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“Before, the govt and the OQLF had to act under the supervisory jurisdiction of the courts. Under Bill 96 the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms has been suspended and there will be no recourse to the courts,” business and public law lawyer Eric Maldoff told me.

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For tech companies, this is troubling to say the least. “I believe institutions in Quebec should be French, but English is the lingua franca of tech, & with this law we’re going to regress our economy by being less integrated & connected,” CloudOps founder Ian Rae told me.

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Remember, the govt is all for diversity + inclusion when it comes to attracting investment to Quebec.

“Share in our linguistic and cultural diversity!” trumpets Investissement Québec, the provincial government’s investment arm, to would-be businesses and investors.

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Montréal International (@MTLINTL), the city’s economic development agency funded in part by the Quebec government, boasts that the city is home to more English speakers than Vancouver.

thelogic.co/news/quebec-in…

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@MTLINTL The worst part about the government’s small-minded legislative austerity: it’s all for naught. As the OQLF itself noted in a 2018 study, more than 70 per cent of workers speak French.

thelogic.co/news/quebec-in…

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@MTLINTL And as La Presse journalist @PaNormandin recently pointed out, the %age of French-speaking immigrants between 2011 + 2016 rose compared to immigrants who arrived before them—part of a larger trend that saw French gain ground over time, in part at the expense of English.

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@MTLINTL @PaNormandin The govt will flog openness + inclusion when hunting for foreign investment, just as it will appeal to Quebecers’ baser fears to win elections. Quebec’s people, its economy + its society are forced to bear the brunt of this hypocrisy.

thelogic.co/news/quebec-in…

via @the_logic

END