On last week’s episode of The Corner Booth, Tom Mulcair said Quebec’s new premier, Christine Fréchette, was “steadfastly refusing” to speak English and steering clear of anglophone media.
After a week where the CAQ leader had her first official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and the latest poll showed a bump in support for her party, Fréchette’s multi-hyphenate minister Christopher Skeete joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand to shed some light on where the new premier stands with anglos on a linguistically charged episode of the podcast.
Aaron Rand and Bill Brownstein chat with CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete on The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli in Montreal on Friday, May 22, 2026. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette
”I wouldn’t say she’s ignoring you,” the minister responsible for international relations, francophonie, English-speaking Quebecers and the fight against racism said.
”I’ve spoken with Madame Fréchette, and the intention is to reach out to the English community via the media in short order.”
While the latest poll may have put some wind in the CAQ’s sails ahead of a provincial election later this year, the party will have to contend with the fact a number of holdovers from François Legault’s cabinet remain, and linguistic issues stand front and centre.
One example is a proposal to extend Bill 101 to move 27,000 adult and vocational students to the French system, which Skeete supports.
“ We think that it’s important that people who want to live and work in Quebec know French,” Skeete said, brushing back at the notion students already want to learn French without the need for legislation.
“ An immigrant who chooses to go to an English vocational school is losing an opportunity to be immersed in a francophone environment, which will then assist them in finding a job later.”
Skeete also reinforced the CAQ’s position the “concentration of English in the downtown core” of Montreal puts pressure on French.
“ I’m a student from the U.S., and I come to study in Montreal. I think it’s a great opportunity for me because I get to be immersed in a new culture, and I probably get to pick up a little bit of French,” he said.
“I have a student visa, which allows me to go work at my local Second Cup or a Café Depot. That person is serving other people like them, and so in the job application, it’s going to say: ‘Must be bilingual.’ So the person who’s going to have that job must be bilingual, and so what it does is it creates an incentive for people to be English more than French.
“ The reality is they often don’t speak French because of that concentration.”
The Corner Booth is also available on The Gazette’s YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.