OLF boosting French computer software
Internal memo points to agency's attempt to artificially increase commercial demand for product
JONATHON GATEHOUSE
The Gazette
The Office de la Langue Francaise's crackdown on the use of English computer software by Quebec businesses was partially motivated by a desire to create an artificial market for French versions of the programs, an internal OLF document indicates.
The confidential June 1996 memo, prepared by then-director of francisization, Jean-Marie Fortin, explains the two principal reasons behind the Office's decision to bring software under its scrutiny when reviewing companies for certification as francicized workplaces.
Under OLF policy, all Quebec companies with more than 50 employees must provide their workers with French-language software. With a few exceptions, English versions of the programs are only acceptable if the French version is also installed on the computer's hard drive.
The first justification, wrote Fortin, was the need to ensure employees' rights to work in a French atmosphere. The second was to create commercial demand for software companies to make their products available in French.
"Another argument justifies our choice: the supply of French software is greater than the demand," Fortin explained. "This situation puts in peril the development of French software. It is fitting, therefore, for the Office to give as much space as possible to French software in businesses."
Yesterday, Alliance Quebec executive director David Birnbaum said the memo proves that the government is using the OLF to do more than promote and protect the French language.
"We think a lot of Quebecers will find it hard to swallow that one of the reasons behind the limitation on English software is to get rid of surplus French programs," he said.
"Let's stop getting caught up in petty politics."
Birnbaum said the OLF has always told Alliance Quebec that it's not trying to get in the way of economic development in the province. But the increased costs and aggravation incurred by businesses forced to switch to French programs are having that result, he said.
"There are much easier ways to promote the use of French software," Birnbaum said.
Office spokesman Gerald Paquette confirmed that creation of a domestic appetite for French software had been one of the OLF's concerns when it formulated its policy.
"In requiring that businesses install French versions, it's very clear that there will be a strong demand on software producers," Paquette said. "When we say to Microsoft or the others that we're asking them to produce French programs, and companies ask for them, they'll say, 'That's right, there is a demand for that.' "
However, said Paquette, that is no longer the case.
"Now there are lots of companies demanding the French versions."
A spokesman with the Quebec City office of Louise Beaudoin, the minister responsible for the OLF, said he had no knowledge of the memo and couldn't comment on it, but said such a commercial objective wouldn't be in keeping with the Charter of the French Language.
"That's certainly not the charter's goal," said Martin Roy.
"The charter was designed to make French the common language of Quebec ... but if it has a beneficial effect on the French software industry, all the better."