Here is my view but I am just a 白人 who has never visited HK so keep that in mind. To begin with that news article is from 2012 and it looks like it's coming from a Taiwanese newspaper (so then more of the regular readers speak Mandarin and they would enjoy the article more). Newspapers are meant to create headlines and embellish and hype situations, but for Mandarin to cripple Cantonese in Hong Kong and other parts of the world (United States, Australia, Canada, Malaysia and others ) it will be decades, not anytime soon. The roots of Cantonese are just too strong and Cantonese is very spread out because of past expansion.
From where I am in New York City Cantonese is just fine, supported by a lot of good Canto restaurants, businesses and stores. I admit that now more Chinese immigrants are speaking Mandarin but it just shows how strong HK culture used to be when New York's first Chinatown accommodated a heavy majority of Cantonese speaking immigrants. I wasn't here to see it in the past but I'm sure it was common for almost every Chinatown store to need a Cantonese speaker even if they sold Japanese merchandise. I can see maybe a decade from now a majority of Mandarin speakers in New York but Cantonese will hold steady in other places like Canada or Australia (I am guessing this because Australia and Canada supposedly have a lot of HK families and no one is told not to speak it). There are new restaurants that pop up now close to where I live and they are owned by Cantonese speaking businesses just the same as new Mandarin restaurants. It seems 50/50 Canto and Mando from where I am but I like that Cantonese speakers help other Cantonese speakers, it's a super fast way to make friends and connections when one gets fluent enough. I speak horrible Mandarin so I don't know if it has that friendly, family building quality to it (maybe I'm wrong about 普通話, I just haven't been around enough speakers).
For what it's worth, I am only speaking Cantonese because of my wife. If my wife was from Taiwan or Shanghai I'd jump into Mandarin but Cantonese surrounded me almost constantly and I took the challenge. At first a lot of people told me to learn Mandarin but I think it was only because my Canto sounded like a confused parrot. When you learn Cantonese you see how valuable it can be, it's not trash. HK created amazing film and music, almost all of it Cantonese. HK is a true global city that New Yorkers envy now believe it or not. I really hope Cantonese will still be strong in HK 50 years from now but I can't see the future or fortune tell. It's good that local people there are pushing back, at the least the world itself won't forget it anytime soon. I heard that a millionaire gave a lot of money to a Canadian university to support new Canto language courses, that shows how important it is at a local level even when it's far away from HK.
So my opinion is if you are a foreigner learning Cantonese outside of a major Cantonese city then be prepared for lonely and difficult study if it's tough to find people to help you. There will be more study materials in Mandarin and more classes to learn from or take. That's life but you can find a way through trial and error if you're committed enough or want it bad. But if you moved to HK for work or it's your family's first language or if you live next to a huge Cantonese population and you were always curious then don't be afraid of Mandarin. You don't need to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I think Canto's fine and now I see the positives of learning it. Mandarin has other positives too but Canto opens plenty of doors in certain big cities.
From where I am in New York City Cantonese is just fine, supported by a lot of good Canto restaurants, businesses and stores. I admit that now more Chinese immigrants are speaking Mandarin but it just shows how strong HK culture used to be when New York's first Chinatown accommodated a heavy majority of Cantonese speaking immigrants. I wasn't here to see it in the past but I'm sure it was common for almost every Chinatown store to need a Cantonese speaker even if they sold Japanese merchandise. I can see maybe a decade from now a majority of Mandarin speakers in New York but Cantonese will hold steady in other places like Canada or Australia (I am guessing this because Australia and Canada supposedly have a lot of HK families and no one is told not to speak it). There are new restaurants that pop up now close to where I live and they are owned by Cantonese speaking businesses just the same as new Mandarin restaurants. It seems 50/50 Canto and Mando from where I am but I like that Cantonese speakers help other Cantonese speakers, it's a super fast way to make friends and connections when one gets fluent enough. I speak horrible Mandarin so I don't know if it has that friendly, family building quality to it (maybe I'm wrong about 普通話, I just haven't been around enough speakers).
For what it's worth, I am only speaking Cantonese because of my wife. If my wife was from Taiwan or Shanghai I'd jump into Mandarin but Cantonese surrounded me almost constantly and I took the challenge. At first a lot of people told me to learn Mandarin but I think it was only because my Canto sounded like a confused parrot. When you learn Cantonese you see how valuable it can be, it's not trash. HK created amazing film and music, almost all of it Cantonese. HK is a true global city that New Yorkers envy now believe it or not. I really hope Cantonese will still be strong in HK 50 years from now but I can't see the future or fortune tell. It's good that local people there are pushing back, at the least the world itself won't forget it anytime soon. I heard that a millionaire gave a lot of money to a Canadian university to support new Canto language courses, that shows how important it is at a local level even when it's far away from HK.
So my opinion is if you are a foreigner learning Cantonese outside of a major Cantonese city then be prepared for lonely and difficult study if it's tough to find people to help you. There will be more study materials in Mandarin and more classes to learn from or take. That's life but you can find a way through trial and error if you're committed enough or want it bad. But if you moved to HK for work or it's your family's first language or if you live next to a huge Cantonese population and you were always curious then don't be afraid of Mandarin. You don't need to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I think Canto's fine and now I see the positives of learning it. Mandarin has other positives too but Canto opens plenty of doors in certain big cities.