City buses in Montreal have dropped the expression “Go! Canadiens Go!” following a grievance to Quebec’s language watchdog.
Montreal’s transit agency is now using the French expression “Allez! Canadiens Allez!” on the electronic displays on the front of its buses to point out support for the Montreal Canadiens’ NHL playoff run. The choice was made since the word “go” is an anglicism, said spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay.
The expression “Go Habs Go!” is used extensively in Quebec to support the Montreal hockey team. Additionally it is used widely by the team itself, including on social media. The hashtag #GoHabsGo appears in oversized letters outside the Bell Centre in Montreal, the house arena of the Canadiens.
But Tremblay said Quebec’s French-language office received a grievance last 12 months about buses displaying the words “Go! CF Mtl Go!” — a reference to Montreal’s skilled soccer club. In response, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) decided to remove the word “go” from all of its messaging.
“Any such message provided STM employees with a solution to salute national sports teams, support the STM’s official partners and establish the STM as a player in its community,” Tremblay said in an email statement. “Note that the usage of the word ‘Go’ was utilized in a sports context …. It allowed for quick understanding and a way of belonging to those teams.”
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Tremblay said replacing “go” with “allez” — the French equivalent — “maintains unity” while complying with Quebec’s recent overhaul of its French language charter.
The agency has been progressively changing the language on its fleet of buses because the end of last summer. Tremblay said the modification should be made manually on each bus, so the work was only accomplished earlier this 12 months. The change was first reported Thursday by the Montreal Gazette.
A spokesperson for the Montreal Canadiens declined to comment on the matter. The team clinched a playoff spot last week, and trails 2-0 within the best-of-seven matchup against the Washington Capitals. The Canadiens will host Game 3 of their first-round series on Friday.
In an email statement, a spokesperson for the Office québécois de la langue française stressed that the watchdog agency didn’t launch the intervention by itself, but was as an alternative responding to a grievance. Still, the office informed the transit agency that public bodies “must use the French language in an exemplary manner, which incorporates not using English terms of their signage,” said Gilles Payer.
In Quebec City on Thursday, the move was widely panned by opposition parties, including the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, which positions itself as a champion of the French language.
“Now we have other priorities for the French language in Quebec,” said PQ legislature member Catherine Gentilcore, adding that leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon will proceed to make use of #GoHabsGo on the X platform.
The Quebec Community Groups Network, which represents English-speaking Quebecers, dismissed the choice as “silliness” in a social media post, and said the language watchdog and the transit agency “scored on their net.”
“EVERYONE yells #GoHabsGo! on the Bell Centre,” the group said. “Our buses must be allowed to do the identical.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
