Marois laid out an agenda designed to promote "sovereigntist governance" in relations with the rest of Canada, to return Quebec to balanced budgets through higher taxes and debt reduction, to increase the use of French in public services, and to address resource development in Northern Quebec. Many aspects of these policies – such as restrictions on the use of English and on access to higher Education in English – occurred at a time when the use of French in commerce, education, and the workforce is increasing in Quebecand are widely viewed as an affront to immigrants and to citizens whose mother tongue is not French. Such measures have also been questioned by native speakers of French, who recognize the benefits of a knowledge of other languages, including English, and the fact that the knowledge of other languages will not cause them to abandon French as their primary language.