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The members of the National Assembly in Quebec City have twice in the last two years unanimously voted to condemn the practice of merchants greeting customers with ‘Bonjour-Hi’, but francophone standup comic Thomas Leblanc thinks the controversial bilingual catchphrase is just fine.

In fact, he has borrowed it to use as the title for his new bilingual comedy show, Bonjour Hi!, which features a mix of anglophone and francophone comics along with Leblanc cracking wise in both of Canada’s two official languages. It premières as part of Zoofest at the Monument National on Sunday and continues July 19, 20 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.

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“Language is such a sensitive subject here and there was a vote in the National Assembly to make sure the language of business would be French, which it has to be,” said Leblanc, in a phone interview this week.

“They see Bonjour-Hi in a very negative way. But for me, it just reflects the language melting pot of Montreal and I’m just re-appropriating that story — and that negative press that it got in a positive way.