Pastagate

Pastagate is the informal name of an incident that began in 2013 in Quebec, when, on February 14, an inspector of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) sent a letter of warning to an upscale restaurant, Buonanotte, for using Italian words such as "Pasta", "antipasti", "calamari", etc. on its menu instead of their French equivalents. The incident occurred as the Assemblée Nationale was debating on Bill 14, a bill to toughen the province's Charter of the French Language.

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 Office abusing its powers. The incident also received international attention in newspapers, thus causing an embarrassment to the provincial government. [1] The incident led to the resignation of Louise Marchand, head of the OQLF, on March 8.[2]

History

Dan Delmar of radio station CJAD in Montreal first broke the story on his blog, [3] February 19th, 2013. A group called putbacktheflag [4] was credited for fueling 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 has been instrumental in starting protests against Quebec's new Bill 14 in Montreal, Quebec.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Pignataro, Luciano (21 February 2013). "Quebec, vietato scrivere pasta nel menu dei ristoranti". Il Mattino. Retrieved 23 September 2015. (Italian)
  2. ↑ "La présidente de l'OQLF quitte son poste". canoe.ca. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Delmar, Dan (19 February 2013). "The OQLF has a problem with "pasta" (Pastagate)". CJAD 800 AM. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Put Back The Flag". Put Back The Flag. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Quebec language cops target 'pasta'". Sun News Network. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
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