To my Canadian friends and other "francophones"...
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I was born in Brussels, Belgium, therefore, can be considered as francophone yet most of my career was in USA or with US air carriers, and now in Argentina since 15 years, meaning that I am fully proficient in the "massacre" of 3 (or even 4) languages, as you can see on some of my threads in the forum.
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For me, since starting to learn about airplanes, and learning to fly (first in Belgium, then USA) all has been in English. And yes, I use French at times, and obviously Spanish. Of course I favor English for ATC purpose, anywhere, but I have to survive in different environments.
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As much of my English is "American" (when I go to the UK, they think that I am a California boy), but I know that in London, I should say "hire a car" rather than "rent a car", and should write "pilot licence" rather than "license", same thing applies with the French language. There are notable differences between French as it is spoken in France, or in the Province of Québec.
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If you are a Frenchman, Belgian, Swiss, or African, beware of the "Français du Canada" as it is spoken by ATC people there. Long ago, I once used French while on approach and landing at Dorval, and soon realised that I had problem to understand their "aeronautical French language"... Dorval or Mirabel "French" is not the same as the one used in Roissy or Casablanca.
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When being "social" with the people in Montréal, hotel, restaurants or in the streets, I adore speaking French, and they immediately know that my French is not "Québecois". The vocabulary is often different.
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If you fly in international airspace (and for me, Dorval is international) I stick to English. Now, if you want to use French for VFR on small airfields, go for it but think about people that will not understand a word you say.
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Now, as I am an "adopted Latino", you can criticize me, as I often use Spanish, in South America with ATC (and even position reports in Portuguese in Brazilian airspace) but if I hear an American, Canadian, European or Japanese airplane on the frequency, I immediately switch to English with ATC as a courtesy to these guys. I am sure they have no interest if I inquire about the latest "football/soccer" Argentina games with Resistencia Radio, as I myself know nothing about the NFL. Dont you worry, if you are United Airlines, I will give you the latest ceiling and visibility and trend, for Buenos Aires if you need any help in "plane English"...
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I am a training manager, here in Argentina, and insist that all "my guys" use their best ICAO English with ATC, but we, foreigners, besides our native languages, have to learn to speak English, then, why is it, that if you are a native of the English language cannot at least learn the basics of one or two major languages used in many other nations. Have you ever looked at your own spelling of your own language (English) here in this forum...? A real disgrace, at times. When I lived in USA, this "Brussels Sprout" had to help some Americans to spell their language correctly. Decent, and descend is NOT the same thing, even if it sounds the same, for heaven's sake...
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When you guys go to college/university, studying physics and aeronautical sciences, why not take courses in, i.e. French or Spanish. I believe that any Canadian should learn at least some French. Belgians have to learn French and Dutch/Flemish (besides English, and sometimes German), and the Swiss have to suffer with French, German and even Italian, in addition of English. Or is it that Anglo-Saxons have a mental atrophy to study languages...?
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Let us clean up our act, in the skies... and on the ground, we can have a beer together and laugh at our respective language differences and accents. When I am in Madrid, the folks there are pulling their hair with my Buenos Aires dialect. As a Belgian native, I am ashamed of the "language politics" of my country, as you Canadians should be about yours.
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Besides all that, "Happy contrails" -