I'd say what @IzzyGraze was the most spot on from what I've seen.
I'm from that portion of New-Brunswick that speaks french. We are two major pockets of french speakers, the first one being in the south-east. Essentially, everyone from the south east is bilingual and can maintain a conversation in both languages. Some only speak rudimentary English, while others are perfectly bilingual. For a French speaker, English in more or less a necessity to function. For English speakers, you can do just fine without knowing French, in most cases. For example, if you go in a store, you will be served in English, but you might not served in French.
In northern New-Brunswick, the same still applies, but you have a smaller percentage of the population that is bilingual. The skill level of English for French speakers might be a bit worst in the north compared to the south-east. You have less chance of meeting someone who speaks perfectly English and more change to meet someone you might not speak English. Being to the northern of New-Brunswick, they border Quebec; hence, having a good understanding of English is less essential.
One of the things that is interesting of the french in New-Brunswick is the enormous amount of different dialect. We all speak french, but we use different slightly different words, pronunciation and grammar. Some of these dialects are so different that you might even be able to know which city someone is from. Two of the most know dialect, and maybe categories are Chiac and French Acadien. Chiac is known for it's use of english words while speaking. (We even conjugate them with French rules!) "Je starterais mon car dans la minute" "I'll start my car in a minute". French Acadien is more known for it's differing vocabulary that employs old french words that no other french speaker would use.
As it was previously stated somewhere else, New-Brunswick is officially bilingual, that means that you can get service in both English and French from the government of NB. around 2/3 of the population is English, while the rest is French.
I do know that in most of the other provinces, excluding Quebec, they have very small areas that are predominantly french. We might be talking about a small village or city that is French, while all the neighboring cities are English.
The language subject in Canada, as you might have noticed, is can be quite heated. You have some English that don't want French around, and you have some French that want to be assholes and not speak a word of English to someone even if they can speak the language. So it can degenerate pretty quickly.
As for the English speakers, the more you are West, the less you need to know french. You probably don't even need to know a word of French and you will be fine. As for Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, this includes New-Brunswick, not knowing French might limit your jobs, and more so in NB. In Quebec, you might have a hard time, with Montreal and some communities being exceptions.
If you have more questions don't hesitate!
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