I was in Quebec City back in April. I’m used to Nicoise French speaking heavily accented English. I must admit it being disconcerting to have someone speak to me in French, who upon realizing I didn’t speak it, immediately dropped into perfect North American standard English. Not everyone there, of course, but enough that it happened several times in the course of a week.
I’ve found that in Quebec everyone’s English improves a lot when they see American greenbacks. I’m not kidding; I love traveling there, and genuinely like the people (I have no complaints about rudeness as I’ve seen from others), but it seems money is a great motivator.
I do sympathize with them, as it is becoming more and more common here in NJ to have someone approach you and just start jabbering in Spanish...