You can't parody the Quebec language police anymore

They're upset because...oh, you read it:

A former Alliance Quebec president says the Office de la langue française is barking up the wrong tree by complaining about his use of the phrase "Call off your dogs."

The Office has asked the Quebec Bar Association to censure Brent Tyler, who last month called on Premier Jean Charest to "call off your dogs" in connection with a case the OLF had taken to court.

Tyler insisted he used the common English idiom in the sense of "back off" in reference to the OLF's prosecution of a western Quebec business owner.

He made the comment after his client, Lynne Wilson, who ran an H&R Block income tax preparation office in Shawville, was acquitted of refusing to supply information to an OLF inspector.

But the OLF board takes a more literal interpretation of news reports, including a Presse Canadienne story, about Tyler's remarks.

The Journal de Montréal ran the story with the headline: "Brent Tyler calls OLF inspectors dogs."

The OLF's mandate is to harass and threaten criminal charges against any Quebecois business owner who doesn't make French prominent on his or her signs. (In theory a sign in any language could violate language laws, but in practice it's English-speakers who get hassled.) Even France doesn't go this far. I've always said any society that would resort to coercion and threats in the name of "cultural protection" is fundamentally insecure - and if the OLF can't handle being told to "call off its dogs", there's your proof.

(via Andrew Coyne)

Posted by damian at March 14, 2004 12:14 PM