diff --git a/clients/python/generate-proto.ps1 b/clients/python/generate-proto.ps1
index a98eb29..863a21c 100644
--- a/clients/python/generate-proto.ps1
+++ b/clients/python/generate-proto.ps1
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ function Resolve-Python {
 function Assert-GrpcioToolsVersion {
     param([string]$Python)
 
-    $version = (& $Python -c 'import grpc_tools; from importlib.metadata import version; print(version("grpcio-tools"))').Trim()
+    # Windows PowerShell 5.1 strips embedded double quotes when passing an argument to a native
+    # exe (pwsh 7 does not), so a Python literal quoted with " " here would arrive at Python as
+    # print(version(grpcio-tools)) -> NameError. Use single quotes for the Python string literal
+    # inside this double-quoted PowerShell string so the quoting survives on both hosts.
+    $version = (& $Python -c "import grpc_tools; from importlib.metadata import version; print(version('grpcio-tools'))").Trim()
     if ($version -ne $PinnedGrpcioToolsVersion) {
         throw "grpcio-tools $version is installed, but regeneration is pinned to $PinnedGrpcioToolsVersion. " +
             "Install the pin (python -m pip install 'grpcio-tools==$PinnedGrpcioToolsVersion') before regenerating, " +