BonjourHi an irritant to National Assembly

The slight dip in French as the predominant language of business in Quebec, reported by Stats-Can on Wednesday, became the talk of Question Period at the National Assembly—and the frequent greeting of "Bonjour-Hi" you hear often around Montreal took the brunt of the scorn.

Parti Quebecois leader Jean-Francois Lisée called the greeting an irritant, and a "symbol of widespread bilingualism" in Montreal today, going on to accuse Premier Philippe Couillard of having a jovial attitude towards protecting French in the workplace.

Couillard responded with a barrage of counterfire, saying the PQ was blowing out of proportion a 2.3 per cent dip.

He also quoted Lisee from back in 2014, when he said all Quebecers should be bilingual and said he and his generation do not see English as a threat.

StatsCan reports the predominance of French in the workplace fell from 82 per cent in 2006 to 79.7 per cent in 2016.