Marc Miller meant what he said about the French language debate in Quebec

Federal culture and official languages minister Marc Miller addresses the backlash to his recent comments on language and fractures within the Quebec Liberals.

Marc Miller, Canada’s minister responsible for culture and official languages, says he isn’t sorry about his comments on the French language debate in Quebec and that he is “on the same page” as Quebec politicians.

Just a day into his new role as minister in early December, Miller said he was tired of the politicization of the language in Quebec. Premier François Legault immediately responded, calling Miller a “disgrace to all Quebecers” while the leader of the Parti Québécois said anyone supporting Miller was “disloyal” to Quebec.

But Miller meant what he said, he told CTV News anchor Maya Johnson, even though he found the comments “hurtful” as a Montrealer.

“I take no pleasure in having the premier and the head of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, prove me right that this issue — while we’re all saying pretty much the same thing, we need to protect the French language — has gotten heavily politicized,” Miller said.

He acknowledged that the federal government “hasn’t done the best job in the world protecting the French language” but said improvements were made over the last decade, like increasing the number of francophone immigrants and creating a $4-billion program to promote French across the country.

He pointed out that French is “exceedingly vulnerable” outside Quebec and that English is considered a minority language in the province that must be protected.

“I have a very positive vision of Quebec inside a unified Canada where we can thrive with the French language, where we can protect minority rights, including anglophone rights, including Indigenous rights, and we don’t pick on immigrants,” said Miller.

“That’s a positive vision of Quebec that I think the majority of Quebecers share.”

Miller was in Montreal Thursday to highlight investments in the television industry. The federal government earmarked $6 million in funding to acquire French-language Canadian content for TV5 Monde+ and is allocating another $8 million for public service media like TV5, CPAC and APTN.

Miller warned that as a Quebecer, he “will have a voice in the next election” and hopes the Quebec Liberal party can find a way to come back after leader Pablo Rodriguez’s resignation, who Miller called a “close friend.”

With files from CTV News Montreal’s Maya Johnson