They announced on Friday that two political party leaders in Quebec, including Premier "François Legault," will not participate in an English-language debate.

All party leaders were invited this week to participate in a single English-language debate on September 20, hosted by a media union made up of several English-language outlets in the Montreal area, including CTV News.

"Legault's" party is expected to sweep the provincial elections in the fall, according to the latest polls. While a spokesman for "Legault" said the premier declined to reduce his workload, the leader of the "Parti Québécois" had a different reason he frankly posted on Twitter.

"PQ" party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon wrote, "The "Parti Québécois" will not participate in the leaders' debate in English.

The official and common language in Quebec is French, and we will, of course, be ready to answer questions from English-speaking journalists."

"Legault's" spokesman, Yvan Soucy, said in a statement that the English debate is not the only one the premier refused.

He said, "We have declined invitations to two debates, one of which is in English."

"The premier will indeed participate in discussions organized by the "TVA" and "Radio-Canada" networks. It must be understood that each debate requires significant preparation time."

He did not respond to a question about whether "Legault" or the party is concerned about the message this might send to English speakers in Quebec.

The media union hosting the debate has not yet issued any statement in light of the two refusals, or any kind of controversy imagined without them. Liberal leader Dominique Anglade targeted Legault in a statement on Friday.

She said, "Today, François Legault is turning his back on English-speaking Quebecers." "We, the Liberals, always seek to form a government that represents all Quebec residents regardless of the language they speak or where they come from."

The refusals by the two leaders come amid final discussions on Bill 96, the massive new provincial language law that will have far-reaching effects in every aspect of life in Quebec, including schools, the justice system, and healthcare.

The bill, which also bans the use of English in certain places and permanently limits the size of English colleges, is very likely to be passed into law in early June under the CAQ majority.