Francophones do care about the French language, the French visage of Quebec, they care a lot and they will protect it. Bouchard's reading of the public's feelings on bilingual signs was in sharp contrast with that of Alliance Quebec president Bill Johnson. Johnson was unable to provide documentation or statistics to support his contentions.
Opinion polls show strong support for bilingual signs among the city's English-speaking population.
A province-wide survey, conducted by the Sondagem polling house for Le Devoir in September 1996, indicated that 84.5 per cent of Quebecers were satisfied with the allowing English on signs. Another poll conducted in 1996 by Alliance Quebec showed that 90 per cent of Quebecers were content with the provisions of Bill 86 and wished to preserve the status quo on language, which allows for English on signs. Indeed, the government's own research suggests that Montrealers are content with the law, which allows English on signs, provided French is given more prominence. As always, these statistics and observations are subject to interpretation - in this case, wildly divergent ones as to what constitutes the status quo. This is the status quo that must be preserved out a sense of responsibility.