These two local entrepreneurs had recently received letters from the dreaded Office québécois de la langue francaise (OQLF), ordering them to remove offensive words from their signs. Even a seasoned journalist like Safer could not hide his amusement.

This was not the first time Quebec's dirty linguistic laundry was hung out in full view of its American neighbours, for just a few years earlier Mordecai Richler had sent some ripples across the border with a damning piece in the New Yorker, in which he wrote frankly about the Parti Québécois and the inherent language problems that have plagued this province for years.

The resulting publicity caused a storm of shame. Richler was condemned in Quebec, not only for daring to write the truth but for doing so in an American magazine, where everyone could laugh at us and, when it came time to plan their vacation, tear up their Quebec travel brochures.

The OQLF, as it turns out, has served only to embarrass Quebec, time after time, yet it continues to exist — in fact one of its inspectors was recently in Westmount, writing up the Cavallero grocery store on Sherbrooke Street for some minor lettering complaint.

Can we justify the existence of "language cops," especially during hard economic times? They are among the most expendable of provincial employees and should be delegated to other departments, where they could serve a positive — not negative — purpose.

The French language is a cherished, fundamental feature of Quebec and there is no question that it must be preserved — but at a more cerebral level than squabbling over the size of letters by minor bureaucrats straight out of some Orwellian spoof.

Quebec cannot hold its head high on the international scene until the OQLF is either dismantled or significantly modified, with all savings redirected toward more important areas such as health care and education, which can always use all the help they can get. The result may amount to a mere drop in the bucket — but at least it would be a drop in the right direction.