[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Anglophone Canadians are often mocked by Quebec Francophones — or, sometimes we get the “je ne parle pas anglais” treatment. OTOH, if let it be known that you're American; you'll find that nearly every urban dweller speaks English. They won't mock your attempts at French either.

[WayneS]

That was exactly my wife’s and my experience when we were in Montreal for the F1 race a number of years ago.

Store clerks, waiters, taxi drivers, etc., would all start out speaking French to us, but as soon as they noticed our blank stares or heard us say “We’re from the U.S., sorry, but we don’t speak French”, they would switch to near-perfect English - and not one of them seemed to resent “having” to do it, either.