Pastagate is the informal name of an incident that began in 2013 in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, when, on 14 February, an inspector of the (OQLF) sent a letter of warning to upscale

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

restaurant Buonanotte, for using Italian words such as , and on its menu instead of their French equivalents. The incident occurred as the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

was debating Bill 14, a bill to toughen the province's

Charter of the French Language The ''Charter of the French Language'' (french: link=no, La charte de la langue française), also known in English as Bill 101, Law 101 (''french: link=no, Loi 101''), or Quebec French Preference Law, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada ...

. Instead of complying with instructions on the letter he received from the OQLF, the owner of Buonanotte went public, and it generated a widespread public outcry across the province, even among francophones, about the OQLF abusing its powers. The incident also received international attention in newspapers, causing embarrassment to the provincial government. The incident led to the resignation of Louise Marchand, head of the OQLF, on 8 March.

History

Dan Delmar of radio station

CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...

in Montreal first broke the story on his blog on 19 February 2013. A group called putbacktheflag was credited for fuelling Pastagate by sharing over 20,000 links on its Facebook and Twitter pages within the first day of the initial story breaking. According to Sun News, "the story has gained traction on social media, with the Facebook page entitled 'Put Canadian Flag Back In Quebec Assembly', leading the charge". The group was instrumental in starting protests against Bill 14 in Montreal. Following the Buonanotte incident, other businesses went public with tales of being hassled by language inspectors. The controversy led to the resignation of OQLF chief Louise Marchand.

Aftermath

Following Louise Marchand's resignation, OQLF inspectors were given more discretion in applying the language law. Specifically, the office investigates complaints on the basis of whether they affect an individual or are of concern to the general public. Also, certain culinary terms from other cultures may be used in Quebec restaurants. Position to investigate complaints against the OQLF was established in June 2014.

References

{{reflist Culture of Quebec Quebec language policy Restaurants in Quebec Italian-Canadian culture Language conflict in Canada Censorship in Canada Food labelling Controversies in Canada