pierre-etienne la porte is the director of a government-run research organization called the french language keep in mind that quebec is in a very special situation as a result of its proximity to the american giant. from a geo-linguistic perspective, english has an influential presence here, because we are deeply integrated into american civilition, which is the civilization that surroundss. narrator: nearly half of quebec's seven million people live in the city of montreal, and it is here that the battle between french and english is most heated. the québécois recognize that protecting language is the most effective means of preserving culture. to help get protection from english, the quebec government turns to the federal government. historically, it was montreal's english-speaking minority who held theconomic we inhe province. although this community was only one-quarter of the population of montreal, the language used in business and commerce, and on many public signs, was english. but signs like this one are now a relic of the past, since the french majority enacted laws to protect the