The minister responsible for French in Quebec says the province’s language watchdog will, from now on, ignore complaints related to the use of English in the phrase “Go! Habs Go!”
The Montreal Gazette first reported that city buses changed the message of support to the Montreal Canadiens on their electronic displays to avoid using the word “Go” because it was an Anglicism.
On Friday, Jean-François Roberge posted on X that the Office québécois de la langue française, or OQLF, has been receiving a flurry of backlash.
“OQLF employees are currently receiving threats. This is completely unacceptable. It must stop,” he wrote.
Roberge said the office would no longer respond to complaints about “Go! Habs Go!” because it is “an expression that is a part of our DNA, our identity.”
No more ‘Go! Canadiens Go!’ on Montreal buses after language watchdog intervenes
He and OQLF president and director general Dominique Malack both maintained that the French-language watchdog had no problem with the expression.
They emphasized that the STM had changed its bus messages following a complaint to the OQLF about the phrase “GO! CF MTL GO!” in support of Montreal’s professional men’s soccer team.
The OQLF said it approached the STM and suggested they change the language.
The complaint led the STM to change their message of support for the Canadiens, who are currently battling the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, from “Go! Canadiens Go!” to “Allez! Canadiens Allez!”
“The term ‘go’ can be found in a French dictionary and is used in everyday language,” Malack wrote on X. “However, it is an Anglicism. … The charter [of the French language] is clear about the government’s obligations regarding the exemplary use of French, and the [OQLF] is mandated to ensure that it is applied.”
On Friday, the Société de Transport de Laval (STL), the transit authority responsible for Laval, Que., just north of Montreal, said it was also changing the signs on its buses that expressed support for the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens’s American Hockey League affiliate.
“Following the OQLF’s intervention at the STM, the STL has decided to replace the message ‘Go! Rocket Go! by ‘Allez Rocket!'” a spokesperson said in an email.
Like the STM, changing the displays has to be done manually and the spokesperson said it will take some time to be completed.
The removal of “Go! Canadiens Go!” sparked furor online and in the halls of the National Assembly.
Even the sovereignist Parti Québécois said its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will continue to use the phrase “Go! Habs Go!”
Catherine Gentilcore, the PQ’s culture and communications critic said her party has “bigger” priorities when it comes to the protection of the French language. She cited expanding Bill 101 to junior CEGEPs (junior colleges), improving francization efforts and strengthening culture and language programs in schools.
“We’ve been using ‘Go! Habs Go!’ for a hundred years now. So I think ‘Allez! Canadiens Allez!‘ is good, it’s fine, but ‘Go! Habs Go!’ it’s fine too.”
