The Lucknow Sentinel, 1990-02-21, Page 3Bruce County Council
Heated debate by councillors
over unilingual status
•A furor broke out • at Bruce County: tion also failed to specify which tsng ate
council rr ebruary 13 as some omen Bruee County 'fid adopt in its -
members a p � la►hc3'•
hat ingual
they cellFrench • ���i�ia� rv��es�on way to halt � the "Could be C 'bwa " Mowry esti•
rnnwnicipality. language ' while other cilors. bid fo Japanese,
Roy . Peniiingtoh of Culross .Township.
and Harry Tiede of Saugeen Township
made :a motion declaring Bruce County
"analogue' and Stating French language
ability won't be needed to get a job inn •
Bruce "County.
Pennington said the motion came from
a recent conference of the rural Ontario'
Municipal Association, where ` it • was
feared Bill 8 is the first step in forcing
municipalities to provide bilingual
services.
"We should protect people so they can
have a job in their own municipality,"
Pennington said, citing the case of an
Orillia contract worker who lost his Job
when it was declared bilingual by the
province. -
The Motion launched a heated debate
over French and English right ,with
some councillorspointing a finger at
Quebec for starting the ill -feeling With its
sign by-law.
'Others, including Durk • Botma of
Chesley, defended bilingual rights.
"It's a bad situation when you start
condemning French. in your own land,"
he said. "I canspeak three languages if
I have to. Instead of this motion we
should send a letter to. Quebec if that's
the problem".
Rob Thompson of Paisley called the
whole debate "a\ garbage issue."
"It should go in the garbage can," he
said, referring to Pennington's motion.
The motion was eventually withdrawn.
when Stu Mowry of Kincardine noted it
would technically stop the county school
board from hiring French teachers.
Another councillor said the motion, as
worded, would override not only the
school board's hiring policies, but also
those of Parks Canada and other federal
and provincial bodies, as well as private
business.
Warden David Thompson noted the mo-
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Dutch and German.
A' new motion by Pennington and
Thede declared French language ability
won't be a factor when the county hires
employees. ..That in effect confirms the
existing policy. . .
Opponents said it stilly. sounds "red.
neck" without addressing either the issue
of equal language rights m Ontario and
Quebec, or of costs to municipalities for
bilingual services. • -
The second motion was eventually
defeated in a tie vote, leaving the coun-
ty's language status unchanged. But the
no-rnlajority ballot result proves, council'
members are still strongly and evenly
divided on the language issue;
66
PP Report
Kincardine Detachment of the Ontario
Provincial Police investigated 39•general
occurrences and- 10 'traffic accidents
during the past' week. Two accidents
resulted i