Explainer: How Quebec's new French language law will impact business, hiring?

MONTREAL, May 27 (Reuters) – Backers of Quebec’s sweeping new law to promote French usage in the Canadian province hail it as the most important measure in nearly half a century to protect the language in mostly English-speaking North America.

But the law passed by a majority of Quebec legislators on Tuesday faces vocal opposition from minority English-speakers, businesses, health-sector advocates, and indigenous peoples just as the province heads to the polls in October.

Drafted by the nationalist Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government, Bill 96 requires students to take more French classes in English colleges, and impacts areas from court hearings to hiring.

Language remains a sensitive issue in mostly French-speaking Quebec, where unhappiness over the dominance of English fueled the rise of the separatist Parti Quebecois (PQ) in the 1970s.

In 1977, passage of Bill 101 made…