Why is the language policy in Quebec bad? From my understanding, it was created to protected their right to be served in their native language. Not everyone has the luxury to learn and speak English fluently.
It's bad because people should be free to use whatever language they want to use. Dictating the size of signs in French and other such nonsense serves no good, and in fact is one of the reasons why Quebec is not exactly a hotbed of progress. (To put it very mildly.)
Isolation because of language is something fairly unique to Francophone areas, you see the same in Belgium.
Quebec is near the bottom of the pack when it comes to per capita GDP, close to the Maritime provinces and that's including all the government entities present there.
If Quebec would let go of the 'French first' mentality it would likely recover at some point in the next two decades but creating this barrier to commerce has not served it well.
I have to disagree with you, not everything is about money or commerce. Laws are put in place to protect people, so that everyone feels like they are part of the society they build. Honestly, it's about respect for the local people. I don't see how having a sign in both French and English so that people can understand you better is a big deal.
It's easy to say 'not everything is about money or commerce' if the rest of the country is being heavily taxed to support that region.
This is in the end not about having the sign in both French and English, the government can do with its signs whatever they want with their signs. They are telling people what to do with signs that are not theirs.
There is no 'protection' to be had from signs, nor is it a sign of disrespect to have a sign in English only.
There are plenty of 'English only' signs where I live and it's neither French speaking nor English speaking and nobody actually cares because they don't see it as a sign of disrespect or feel that they need to be protected.
If the Quebec government would combat corruption and actual crime as zealously as they go overboard on how-high-the-lettering-on-your-English-sign-is then Quebec would be in better shape already.
As for the last part of your comment: it isn't a big deal, that's the whole point, so don't make the language of a sign into a big deal. In fact, don't make language into a big deal. There is no need to protect it, it will change over time and fighting that will hurt you more than that it will help because of the inevitable isolation it will cause.
Isolation because of language is something fairly unique to Francophone areas, you see the same in Belgium.
Quebec is near the bottom of the pack when it comes to per capita GDP, close to the Maritime provinces and that's including all the government entities present there.
If Quebec would let go of the 'French first' mentality it would likely recover at some point in the next two decades but creating this barrier to commerce has not served it well.