During question period on Monday, the NDP’s Francophone Affairs critic Guy Bourgouin (MPP — Mushkegowuk-James Bay), said the elimination of the Office of the French Language Service Commissioner and the cancellation of the francophone university of Ontario puts the constitutional rights of Franco-Ontarians in peril.

“By eliminating the French Language Services Commissioner’s office and the francophone university of Ontario, the Ford Conservatives are telling us clearly that we do not count, that our constitutional rights to be served and educated in French are unimportant,” said Bourgouin.

“What reasonable explanation can the Ford government provide to Franco-Ontarians about its decision to disregard our rights to be educated and served in French?”

Premier Doug Ford’s abrupt cancellation of the university proposed for the Toronto area, and for which francophones have been fighting for 40 years, is sending shock waves through the francophone community.

The university was supposed to open its doors in 2020.

Bourgouin said the cancellations are a sign of Ford’s “disdain” for francophone affairs in Ontario.

“It tells me that our language is not a priority to our government,” he said.

“What can the Ford government tell people in my riding, where more than six out of 10 speak French, about eliminating the only office defending their rights and canceling the university project for which that have fought for over four decades?”

Earlier this year, Bourgouin said he was astounded to learn the francophone ministry would be absorbed into another ministry.

Bourgouin accused Ford of treating francophones like “an afterthought” and said he has turned his back on more than 622,000 Franco-Ontarians.

“I am shocked, disappointed and disgusted by the Ford government’s decision to scrap the French language services commissioner and to cancel the francophone university in Ontario,” he said. “It’s a constitutional right to have your higher education in French in Canada, because there are two official languages.

“Transferring the powers of the French language services commissioner to the office of the ombudsman means that the constitutional rights of Franco-Ontarians are seriously at risk.”

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives announced the changes last Thursday in their first fiscal update since taking office in June.

The Ford government, which has vowed to find billions in efficiencies each year, has said the university was not a financially viable project, though it could not say how much would be saved by scrapping it. Nor could it say what savings would come from combining the watchdog offices.

— With files from Canadian Press