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Access to English services provided by the provincial government, like electricity bills and automated telephone menu options, will be restricted going forward under new language guidelines.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, the Coalition Avenir Québec minister responsible for the French language, said Monday that while the rights of the “historic English community” to access services will be preserved, newcomers and those not part of that community will no longer be able to ask for certain government services in English.

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“For the historic English minority, there is no issue. They will always be able to receive services in their own language,” Jolin-Barrette said, without specifying the criteria used to determine who is a member of that minority.

Email requests for clarification from his communications director were not returned before publication.

“For the English community, it will change nothing … because they have the right to receive these services in English,” Jolin-Barrette said.