REGULATIONWATCH: Return of the Language Gestapo

Disheartening news from Ontario today: a small municipality outside Ottawa has passed a bylaw requiring new commercial signs to contain both English and French of the same size, under penalty of fine. According to the Mayor:

"Now the lettering will have to be exactly the same size in French and English...(a) bylaw officer will measure the lettering on the signs to make sure they meet the requirements..."

I can just visualise the bylaw officers with their rulers now.

Apparently the new bylaw was precipitated by public concern over the prominence of English on signs in the predominently French community. Ironically, though, businesses were responding to these complaints prior to the state's compulsion through the bylaw. The local BIA president notes:

"I would hope the bylaw would not discourage people from opening businesses in Clarence-Rockland...Canadian Tire made a decision to put up bilingual signs before this regulation was passed.

"There is a very high percentage of people who speak French here. When Canadian Tire opened in November on Highway 17, many people said they didn't want to do business with stores that had English signs only. I believe that businesses will provide what their clientele is requesting.

Which I guess begs the question: why was the bylaw enacted in the first place when the market was doing such an admirable job of responding to customer concerns?