Farmers Forum staff
OTTAWA — Large grain elevators and other federally regulated private businesses in a big chunk of Eastern Ontario will be forced to offer services in both official languages, under new draft federal regulations proposed by Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s department.
The rules kick in for federally regulated enterprises with at least 100 employees operating within areas designated as having a “strong Francophone presence.” In Eastern Ontario, this specifically includes Ottawa, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, and the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. The minimum employee threshold is counted nationally, according to the published draft, which could potentially trigger the rule on some chain-affiliated grain elevator sites in Eastern Ontario.
All other designated areas of the province are located in Northern Ontario.
The changes stem from 2023’s Bill C-13 aimed at halting the decline of French outside Quebec. Affected operations must actively offer customer service in French and produce bilingual contracts, purchase orders, brochures and sales literature.
Canadian Heritage acknowledged that the transition won’t be seamless, noting that compliance costs will hit early and the new requirements could limit career advancement for unilingual English workers during the initial two-year rollout expected to begin in 2027. The department estimates it will cost the affected Canadian businesses $360 million in compliance costs over 10 years.
