Google and Facebook were, up until just a couple of days ago, in a cold war within the Canadian government.
Google made a deal to pay 100M/year to news organizations in Canada but Meta is continuing to block news links.
You'd think Google would devote its resources to improve search, but instead they're paying journalists (who hate tech) to forge the very chains that bind us.
I think there are still some pretty onerous laws about French localization of products and services made available in the French-speaking part of Canada. Could be that...
I originally thought so too, but as far as I know Bard is available in France- so I have a feeling that language isn't the roadblock here.
Can confirm Bard is available in France and the UI has been translated to French.