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Amanda Simard, the MPP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, left the PC caucus this past week to sit as an independent because of her former party’s decisions on the francophone file.

Photo by PATRICK DOYLE / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Following the initial controversy, the PCs announced they would create a French-language commissioner in the ombudsman’s office and create a Ministry of Francophone Affairs under Minister Caroline Mulroney. Ford also announced he would hire a senior policy advisor for francophone affairs. Plans for the university, however, remained cancelled.

Coun. Mathieu Fleury compared the rally at city hall to a massive demonstration at TD Place arena, then known as the Ottawa Civic Centre, when the Mike Harris provincial PC government threatened to close the Montfort Hospital. Fleury was 13 years old when, just over 20 years ago, Franco-Ontarian students packed school buses and headed for Lansdowne Park to send Queen’s Park a message.

“It feels like today,” Fleury said behind the stage after he revved up the crowd with a passionate speech.

Fleury said there was strong evidence of the importance of French-language resources in Ontario in the number of anglophone parents wanted their children to attend French immersion programs.

“We’re not looking for a fight, but we’re also not going to sit on our hands if we feel at risk,” Fleury said. “Toronto’s shaking today.”

Photo by PATRICK DOYLE / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jean-Francois Lacelle of Gatineau, whose family is Franco-Ontarian, remembered the influence of the Montfort rally, too.