Monday, August 23, 2010

Heaven Help the Montreal Canadiens!

Nowhere in the language debate does the naked contempt for 'les autres' manifest itself more clearly than in the demand by language and cultural nationalists that the Montreal Canadiens hire more francophones.

The mantra that the Canadiens have to become more French is not only the obscure ravings of a rabid fringe element, the issue is also a topic in the mainstream press. Spear-headed by La Presse blowhard Rejean Tremblay, a clamour has gone up for an  affirmative action program targeting the ranks of the players and management, in order to insure that more francophones are on the team.

The latest salvo, launched last week, is entitled "CH Abuse Quebeckers," another mean-spirited attack which has morphed from a sports piece into a language harangue, complete with those familiar hackneyed phrases that are the stock in trade of the paranoid language militant constituency.
"Quebec bashing" "colonizer" "respect" "abuse" 'arrogance' and "contempt" 

We've all heard it before, but not in the sports section.....(sigh!...)

I've already commented on the many sneering and contemptuous attacks on Anglos penned by the nasty and self-satisfied, Rejean Tremblay. You can read a couple of pieces, here and  here.

With the team counting just two or three francophones among starters, the hysteria has risen to new heights of paranoia.

As a group, Quebec's francophone sportswriters are a bunch of whiny cry babies, howling every time a French speaking player is shipped out of town or dropped from the roster.

Now, adding insult to injury is the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning have put together a team which  boasts a plethora of francophones. Voices are being raised calling on the Canadiens to be more like the Lightning. Don't be surprised if RDS (TSN in French) starts broadcasting a few games, that's how keen interest is.

Writing on the website created by striking Journal de Montreal journalists, Rue Frontenac sportswriter, Serge Touchette, launched another tirade against the NHL for discriminating against francophone coaches. He cites the example of Mario Tremblay who has accepted a job with RDS after being forced to 'retire' as an assistant coach, after Jacques Lemaire called it a day as coach of the New Jersey Devils. A count of francophone coaches in the NHL confirms that they seem to be doing quite well, thank you very much, but Touchette has a novel complaint. Francophones assistant coaches are not given enough 'second chances' after leaving a job or getting fired.
Try on this convoluted line; 
"It would be too easy to blame the NHL coaches of racism against French, but it's reasonable to ask serious questions." LINK
What???
And note, these are the mainstream media complainers. The Internet is replete with French language militant crazies, who pull no punches.

In a moronic attack piece, on the  Mouvement Montreal Francais web site, Montreal  head coach Jacques Martin was subject to a vicious rant by a reader who was outraged that he organized a golf tournament outside Quebec.
"Why did this man hold his golf tournament in Rockland, Ontario, Canada. Are we missing golf courses in Quebec, or is it just because some people prefer English Canada??? ....apparently, 'it's  fuck you francophones!!' "
Hmm.... I wonder if the writer considered that maybe the tournament was held in Rockland because Mr. Martin is a Franco-Ontarian and it is his home town?

 Over on vigile.net, prolific resident nutter, George LeGal, puts forward a plan to safeguard French on the Montreal Canadiens, after claiming that there is an 'establishment' plot out of Toronto, hellbent on destroying the French language on the team...(I swear, I'm not making it up) Link(French)
  • The positions of president, general manager, head coach, his assistants and Captain must be reserved for Quebeckers only. 
  • Within two years the team must reach a threshold of 50% +1, Quebec players. 
  • French must become the working language of the organization, with interpreters for players who don't understand French. 
  • Players are to be encouraged to learn the language of the organization, the language of the nation- French. To this end, a program of French language and Quebec cultural immersion is to be instituted for players and their families. 
  • The name, 'Bell Centre' must be changed to a typically Quebecois French name, after having launched a public competition to rename the building. 
  • Announcements at hockey games shall cease to be bilingual, the same as in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. French should be prevalent.
  • The Organization should work with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Quebec and the Quebec government to radically reform the league so that it meets the aspirations of young Quebeckers while producing more players for the NHL, especially for its Quebec based club, the Montreal Canadiens

Whilst articles like these last two are comical, they are starting to have an overall numbing effect.
Sportswriters are notorious in requiring content to fill their columns and Anglo bashing seems to be the topic 'du jour,' that is filling the bill.

Already, stories are appearing in the press hailing the return of the 'future' Quebec Nordiques as the saviour of the French language in the NHL LNH.

Like generals fighting the last war, these sports writers and bloggers are living in the past, believing that while the Canadiens are a lost cause, the Nordiques will resurrect past glories and lead to a glorious renaissance of French in the league.

That ship has long sailed.

In the meantime, Heaven help the Montreal Canadiens if they fall for this nonsense.

So far so good, but cracks are appearing...

50 comments:

  1. They will fall for this nonsense of Geoff Molson remains skittish and easily bullied.
    BTW, small typo in your article: it should be vigile.net and not vilige.net.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mississauga Guy, a loyal Habs fan of 41 years and counting, said...

    1 of 2:

    The Habs of 2010-11 will need more than a new goal horn and a prayer this season. Jaroslav Halak's goaltending was largely responsible for the Habs making the playoffs last year--BARELY! Then to top off that narrow foray into the playoffs, Halak almost single-handedly took the team to round #3 after beating the first place team in the League AND the prior year's Stanley Cup champs.

    If letting Halak go was a Pierre Gauthier move, then, yes indeed, heaven help the Francophone-studded front office Habs! I mentioned previously that in 100 years of Habs history, the team was owned by Francophones for only 36 of those years, mostly be Senator Donat Raymond in the 1940s. There hasn't been Francophone ownership in over 60 years now!

    At what time were the Habs over 50% Francophone? I've been following the Habs since 1969, and back then on the team were "Gump" Worsley, Ralph Backstrom, Dick Duff, Ted Harris, Terry Harper, Pete Mahovlich, John Ferguson, Mickey Redmond, Larry Pleau and Tony Esposito. That's already about half the bench! Too, in those days, what helped keep the roster more French was thanks to (ye gad, Sam Pollock, an Anglophone GM) who manipulated the League into letting him first draft two Franco Québécois before the regular draft began. That practice was ended by the League very quickly, and rightfully so, because it discriminated against the rest of the League...oh...maybe THAT practice is what Quebec wants because it discriminates in THEIR favour.

    Sorry, Quebec, but no. The Habs are still my team, but salary capping has created a level playing field. Too bad baseball can't adopt this concept what with the $200 million NY Yankee payroll that is only matched by the Boston Red Sox and maybe the two LA teams. Unless you're a Yankee fan, this fixed MLB thing is boring because it's money that will always prevail, not the sport itself. You ALWAYS know which six-or-so teams will make it every single year into the MLB playoffs.

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  3. 2 of 2:

    Back to the Habs. It was the same Sam Pollock who started to draft American college players, and smartly so because these guys had all kinds of time to develop compared to semi-pro Jr. players. College players, mostly developed in the States thanks to their deep pockets full of scholarships, could complete their educations playing for their teams and THEN jump into the Jr. ranks for up to two years before the drafting club would be forced to play them, release them to free agency, or re-enter the draft. Jr. players had only up to two years to develop, and many at that point weren't ready for the big team.

    The Habs drafted great players this way, players like Rod Langway, Chris Chelios, Bill Nyrop, Alfie Turcotte, Craig Ludwig, Bill Baker, Tom Kurvers, Rick Shartraw, Chris Nylan John LeClair and a host of others.

    How about the Nordiques? They have always had a plenitude of non-Francophones on their teams. In the early 90s, they had the very first pick and took Owen Nolan in 1990 then foolishly drafted Eric Lindros in 1991. Why was Lindros booed so by the fans whenever he came to Quebec while playing for the Flyers? The Nordiques got a slew of players, draft picks and cash for finally giving up their rights to Lindros (any Frenchies?), and in the end, his career was less than illustrious. Too many raps in the head.

    The Nords were never even 75% Francophone on the roster, and I'll bet English was STILL the language of communication in the dressing room! The Nords were 24 years in the WHA then the NHL, and how many Avco Cups did the win? NÉANT! How many Stanley Cups did they win? NÉANT! NIL! NADA! BUPKIS! 24 YEARS of Francophones in their front office and no championships to show for it!

    Back to the Habs. Since my birth in the late 50s, the Habs have won 14 Cups (I missed a 15th by less than a month!), and the only Francophone GMs in place were Serge Savard (Cups in 1986 & 1993), Réjean Houle (no Cups) and André Savard (no Cups). From what I see of Pierre Gauthier and his signing Tomas Plekanec and his zero playoff contributions for years over Jaroslav Halak convinces me he'll join the League of Franco GM also-rans! One or two sports magazines call for the Habs to make 8th place and again squeak into the playoffs. I really don't think they'll do much better than the Leafs, IF they do better than the Leafs at all!

    Unless Carey Price's game suddenly picks up (and I absolutely don't see that), the Habs won't be within a sniff of a playoff spot. Plekanec may have a very good regular season, but if by luck they make the playoffs, he'll do his usual nothing in the playoffs. The $8 Million Man, Gomez, with his 12 lousy reg season and two playoff goals may as well just stay in Alaska and count his millions. His measly 12 goals were his worst production in years last year, and with some luck he may make it back to the 16 he scored in each of the two prior years. That was (Anglophone) Gainey's stupid acquisition, and the best day of Glen Sather's life ridding himself of that way overpaid albatross. Acquiring Gomez is the major reason they had to let Halak go, and they're on the hook to him this year and for THREE MORE YEARS! Maybe if his last year is an option year (I doubt it) they can then drop him or bargain him down.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm surprised George LeGal didn't put a mandatory minimum on ice time for Francophones and maximum for non-Francophones. Also, I would have expected that the golie position be reserved for French speakers as well.

    I got a name for the arena he might like "La 'Bell' Province Centre"!

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  5. Hey Editor,

    I thought your French was good enough that you did not need Google Language Tools to help you with the translation. :-)

    A question for those who have been here long before I do. Were the Nordiques really a haven for Francophone players? I read the names of their players and I saw Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic and Peter and Anton Stastny. I also read the story of Eric Lindros and his refusal to play in a French city.

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  6. For the Mississauga Guy:

    You wrote, "The Nords were 24 years in the WHA then the NHL, and how many Avco Cups did the win? NÉANT!"

    However, according to Wikipedia, the Nordiques won that Cup in 1977.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976%E2%80%9377_WHA_season

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  7. Mississauga guy tends to go on rants, so facts take a beatings sometime at his hands, you know like brother bluto and the Chinese invading pearl harbour (re: animal house)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mississauga Guy said...

    OK, Troy, thanks for the correction. So they won a championship as the Good Ship WHA was sinking...BIG DEAL! In fairness to Marcel Aubut and the Nordiques, he did do a respectable job in maintaining the success of the team. I DO miss the Nords because they did create a wonderful rivalry with the Habs, for me it was better than the Leafs-Habs rivalry because by the time I developed an interest in hockey, the best of the Leafs-Habs rivalry was passé. That Good Friday brawl in 1984 told the story.

    Dr. Dave, the proper name for the Centre Bell would be le Centre Pepsi et May West, but Colorado already has the Pepsi Center. Le Centre Poutine, maybe? Maybe if Quebec Inc.'s Péladeaus can get involved, it would be Le Centre Québécor...ohhhh, no...maybe not. Then there'd be bitching about Jews taking up too much space...well, maybe just the Anglophone Jews. Jacques Parasite would add there would be too many Jews, Greeks and Italians usurping the Francophone pur laine cheers, so Premier Goldilocks would have to set up a $5 million royal commission on the situation and they'd have to set up a committee empowered with full discretion to decide if Anglphone attendees could buy tickets or not, or would be relegated to the top rows of Le Centre Poutine, Pepsi et May West, etc. etc. etc. Oh, lest we forget, a language cop would have to be placed in the residence of each non-Québécois pur laine player to ensure they aren't breathing in English or some other foreign language. Even Pouliot, the Franco Ontarian, should be subject to patented Louise Beaudoin tongue trooper because his maudit tabernacking accent just isn't right!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You paranoid, wackjob radical French racists just don’t get it do you? We couldn’t care less about Quebec or the Montreal Canadians any more. You are digging your own graves, slowly mind you. Just look at what you clowns did to the Expos. As you brought in more and more anti-English language laws, a la bills 22, 178, 101…as more English speakers left the province, less of went to Expo games to the point where attendance was the lowest in the league and eventually the team left. So go ahead, continue these racist language laws, this pro French only crap in the province, we are also starting to boycott all Montreal Canadian merchandise, games…etc. You really don’t know the feeling, the hatred against you bigots outside Quebec. We are watching what you are doing, we stopped going to Expo games and we are not going to Canadians games as well. Its pretty simple, if our language isn’t respected, then I guess our money is no good either, right?

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  10. So basically, once again, if you are not francophone then you are not a quebecois! What a sick place this is.

    Also, off subject, I read at the Fagstein blog site a few posts that indicate that the CRTC puts limits on Ottawa, and Montreal english radio stations in percentage of hits that can be played in order not to give french stations a hard time. This sounds very much like a Bill 101, 103, 104 language policy being practiced by the federal government. Somebody needs to expose this.

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  11. Mississauga Guy here again!

    After reading Fagstein's rant against Howard Galganov, I stopped reading his blog. Yes, Howard Galganov is very good at saying one intelligent thing only to then neutralize the valid point with an idiotic one that puts his foot in his mouth. Anyway, on Galganov.com, Howard's new passion is Obama bashing. He hardly writes about Quebec anymore. Why? Because he's always looking for donations, and the Americans send him far more than Canada does. I asked Galganov once why he's much more into American politics now than Canadian. He wrote me back that Americans take their democracy far more seriously than Canadians. I still say they fill up his Paypal account more than Canadians so it's money doing the talking.

    As for the CRTC, it's head is a European (German, I think), not even an indigenous Canadian, so there's a big problem right there. As far as I'm concerned, the CRTC is a totalitarian bureaucracy out to thwart free speech along with Stephen Harper. Chrétien did this very effectively with his caucus as well. Good to know free thinking is alive and well in Canada...that is, if you freely think and unconditionally agree with the party leader. At least Paul Martin had the gonads to challenge his leader, but the leader was too vindictive to not shut up when he SUPPOSEDLY left politics for good.

    Now Michael Ignatieff was elevated to the Liberal top job by committee, not by democratic means, and I'm sure Justin Trudeau is the on-deck leader with the former former PM, Chrétien behind his undemocratic ascent to the mantle. Then again, Justin Trudeau was being groomed for greatness and the throne long before he actually and formally leaped into politics.

    Is Justin Trudeau a Habs season ticket holder like Brian Mulroney was? I can't begin to count the number of times the cameras showed Mulroney in his choice seat at the Forum even before his foray into politics back when he was bilking the Iron Ore Co. of Canada for all it was worth.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "...if you are not francophone then..."

    Si vous n'êtes pas en mesure de communiquer en Français...Nuances.

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  13. "...You really don’t know the feeling, the hatred against you bigots outside Quebec..."

    Bien sur que nous le savons,c'est pourquoi nous ne sortons jamais de notre territoire.Trop dangereux.

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  14. @Mississauga Guy

    Although I am also a staunch critic of Howard Galganov (I still think he's a zionist right wing kook, sorry Tim Machine), I also stopped reading Fagstein's blog. Not only because he spits out 10 posts a days about banalities and every mundane aspect of life in this overhyped city called Montreal, but also because at some point he has gone beyond being just overly complacent and ventured into the realm of bending over backwards. For me, the last straw was his post from a few months ago celebrating the 100th anniversary of that angry nationalist rag Le Devoir, wishing it a happy anniversary and many more happy years to come...despite the fact that for all these years of existence Le Devoir has done nothing but shit on the likes of Fagstein and anyone/anything non-Francophone.

    Well, I am happy that Le Devoir is slowly going under, and that I'm not reading Fagstein's blog anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  15. French Quebeckers don't even want to play in Montreal unless plainly dumb or suicidal.

    For instance take Vincent Lecavalier and the buzz of January 2009 when all rumors were sending him to Montreal.

    Now where would one like to play: Somewhere where you could come to the arena in sandals and where almost no journalist harrass you or somewhere deep in snow storms, slushy and icy roads and a horde of journalists that follow your every foot steps so that you cannot land a foot quietly in a restaurant without the JdeM and La Presse making a front page about it.

    To ask the question is to answer it no?

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  16. À adski: Je ne sais pas ce que vous considérez comme ''rag'' Le Devoir mais je me souviens que vous ayez déjà citer The Sun comme référence... Cordonnier mal chaussé. Le Devoir a la plus forte progression au Canada http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/medias/287788/tirage-des-journaux-le-devoir-connait-la-plus-forte-progression-de-tout-le-pays ou

    ''The broadsheet, founded by politician and journalist Henri Bourassa, has a circulation of 28,000 on weekdays and 45,000 for its weekend edition. The totals are modest, but have increased steadily over the last 10 years.

    Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/01/08/montreal-le-devoir-celebrates-centennial.html#ixzz0xS7WWyNt
    '' Vous devriez peut-être le lire avant de le juger !

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dartagnan said...August 23, 2010 12:36 PM

    "Bien sur que nous le savons,c'est pourquoi
    nous ne sortons jamais de notre territoire."

    You should get out more, it'll open that narrow
    mind which will help prevent dumbass statements
    like:
    "Si vous n'êtes pas en mesure de communiquer en
    Français"

    A language test to qualify as a Quebecer?
    I'm shocked! You do realize if Canadians
    were that racist about the English language several million Quebecers would be screwed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Anonymous 1:50PM

    Yes, it's true that I offered an article from The Sun tabloid - I did a Google search and the first relevant article that popped up was from The Sun. Following your criticism, I agreed that The Sun isn’t the strongest source so I offered an article on the same subject from The Guardian.

    Yes, I consider Le Devoir a rag.

    And yes, I am happy Le Devoir is going through financial difficulties, and may go under as a result. I sure hope it will happen sooner than later.

    And obviously, I do not care who founded it, or what its circulation is. It's irrelevant.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "...The French-Canadian newspaper Le Devoir – can you imagine a British paper selling a single copy if it called itself "Duty"? – published a cartoon of Wong with exaggerated Chinese slanted eyes. Definitely not pure laine for Le Devoir..."

    Robert Fisk, The Independent, 21 July 2007

    Reprinted in: Robert Fisk "The Age of the Warrior - Selected Writings", p.72

    ReplyDelete
  20. "...A language test to qualify as a Quebecer?"

    Très bonne idée et nous travaillons sur ce projet.Je crois que nous l'appliquerons prochainement avec les nouveaux arrivants.Si les tests sont concluants,nous l'appliquerons sur les anglos.N'ayez craintes,ce ne sera pas avant 2 ans,vous avez le temps pour vous préparez.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mississauga Guy's ode to le Devoir: Donnez-moi une grande commande du poutine puis un grand Pepsi. Et pour mon déssert, un May West. Pure reading for the câsse-croute crowd!

    The only thing about as annoying as rags like le Devoir are the boors who ask for mayo with their smoked meat. GAAAAAAAAAAAG MEEEEEEEEEEE!

    ReplyDelete
  22. For d'Artagnan:

    Out of curiosity, how do you define a "Québécois", in a legally-binding term? And how are you going to enforce it? Mme. Marois launched the stupid idea about "Quebec citizenship" and that idea was shot down rather quickly. Citizenship is 100% federal jurisdiction and I think you do know that the federal government can not discriminate between French and English.

    As such, nationality laws bound to everyone in a particular nation. Since Quebec is not a nation, but merely a PROVINCE, Quebec can not create any kind of law defining one's nationality. And there is that. As long as Quebec is a province under the nation of Canada, there is simply no way Quebec can choose its residents based on language. What the province can do? Evicts everyone who can not speak French?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Can we please get back to the post at hand!

    Pleeeeeaaasssseee!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. @ Anon. at 9:38 AM:

    "Mississauga guy tends to go on rants, so facts take a beatings sometime at his hands, you know like brother bluto and the Chinese invading pearl harbour (re: animal house)"

    Actually, Bluto said the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor in "Animal House," so facts are taking a beating at your hands. Not that this has anything to do with the topic being discussed...

    ReplyDelete
  25. "...but merely a PROVINCE..."

    ...dont les habitants sont reconnus comme étant une nation doublée d'une société distincte au sein du canada.Un Québécois est un individu qui aime le Québec et qui désire s'intégrer a la majorité qui a comme langue commune et officielle : Le Français.Pour les autres ils ne seront a jamais qu'une minorité marginalisée par choix ou encore pire,isolée par mépris.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Language issues aside the NHL is a for profit sports organization. Did Malkin speak good english when he joined the Penguins (still pretty rough). This goes for a plethora of other players including former Captains of the the Montreal Canadians who didn't speak french. Who cares as long as they can score goals, get shut outs or play good defensive hockey.

    I doubt the Montreal Canadian organization will pay much attention to the sports writers who are essentially commentating on the language issues and not about the sport itself, which at the end of the day, is what really matters.

    Quebec Nordiques, tried and it eventually failed. So did Winnipeg..why ...not enough fan base or corporate sponsors I would conjencture.

    Then, one must look at the current hockey draft.

    Would the Nordiques only draft Quebec players...kind of difficult with the way the system works and the lower placed team achieving better draft choices.. Would a Quebec player wish to stay in Quebec if drafted by the Avalanche where taxes, for one, would be far lower. (not an expert but I understand this is an issue for professional sports players). Or consider an anglo Canadian where if drafted would have to be put in language training classes as part of the process (when others would be willing to draft a good player without restrictions). Might be a lot more thinking as Eric Lindros did.
    In reality, in sports, people should concentrate on the best players attainable and good coaches and management. In this instance, language should not be an issue and placing it above competence will result in failure.

    The Habs have fans across Canada and the US. Too bad the zealots of language in Quebec want to alienate a team from people over issues that only matter to themsleves: due to their self inflicted paranoia.

    When I was growing in in the West the team was referred to as the Habs as now or in many instances the pea soupers. I don't know of anything in this country that identifies the french canadians more than pea soup.

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  27. "a la majorité qui a comme langue commune et officielle"

    Odd, I thought French was one of Canada's official languages.

    Quebec is in reality just a province and not a state as you well know. The nation within Canada is something fuzzy and warm but in reality has nothing to do with special status. I believe the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord made this abundantly clear.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Good comment!
    That's more like it.

    How about giving yourself a pseudonym like "The Westerner" or "Pea Soup" so that when you post next time, people can commentto your post by name.
    Thank for your participation!!!!!

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  29. To Dartagnan;

    I'm not publishing your last comment.....
    You are better than that!
    I also won't tolerate anyone calling you names either....

    ReplyDelete
  30. "...Odd, I thought French was one of Canada's official languages."

    Yes,really odd,only Quebecers are bilingual in this artificial country.

    ReplyDelete
  31. To Editor at 5:44 PM:

    the "pea soup" comment must have really upset our new resident troll, Dartagan.

    ReplyDelete
  32. À Adski: Vous n'avez pas compris l'essence du message. Revoyez vos sources, Le Devoir une hausse constante de ses ventes. Mais pourquoi vous en voulez à ce journal ? Parce qu'il n'est pas fédéraliste comme La Presse ? Trop intellectuel pour vous ? En passant, Robert Fisk n'a aucune crédibilité sur la question québécoise, sa spécialité c'est le Moyen-Orient !Madame Wong a eu l'air d'une vrai cinglée avec son commentaire complètement indigne d'une journaliste ! À Virginia Tech, s'était un étudiant d'origine sud-coréenne, les États-uniens seraient-ils aliénants avec leur politique d'accueil ? Vous êtes des extrémistes, des méchants ''freaks''...

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  33. À Adski: Malheureusement, les Britanniques ne sont pas bien placés pour donner des leçons en matière d'intégration des immigrants...
    Lisez cet article:
    http://afriqueactu.net/4064/monde-2/leurope-ce-malade-imaginaire

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  34. To Anon. at 6:19 PM,

    "Vous êtes des extrémistes, des méchants ''freaks''..."

    No...you are. This is a classic case of projection if ever there was one. I'm sure that you are a regular on the various Quebec nationalist websites.

    The people on this blog are simply reacting to the constant attempts by Quebec Francophone zealots to fuck around with our lives.

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  35. "Yes,really odd,only Quebecers are bilingual in this artificial country."

    Canada is a country with two official languages and is not a bilingual country. Many are bilingual but not necessarily anglo/franco...Vancouver for instance has 16% mandardin spoken in the house.

    ou'

    Êtes-vous pêchez pour un complimente de moi. Desole, j'ai pas du temps pour ca. En tout cas votre commentaire est pas en ligne avec le sujete. Je pense que l'autres serez accord avec moi.

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  36. À Anonyme August 23, 2010 6:55 PM ''I'm sure that you are a regular on the various Quebec nationalist websites.'' Non, vous vous trompez, seulement sur celui-ci car le dénigrement systématique des Québécois que j'y retrouve me fais bien marrer. Et que j'aime bien vous remettre les pendules à l'heure pas de l'Ouest... il va s'en dire !

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  37. Mississauga Guy said...

    I see we're getting off topic again, and this happens with clocklike regularity on this blog.

    I can't pin Eric Lindros's evasion of the Nords on French, but I'm sure it was an "unofficial" factor. Eric's parents were the biggest buttinskys, and what they wanted was for Eric to go to a team where he would stand to make $$$$$ in endorsements. Very often superstar athletes make more in endorsements than they do playing their sport. Some far more in endorsements, but that's usually football, basketball and baseball players. Hockey less so, but the Lindroses had dreams, I suppose.

    It's more the Francophone players looking to escape Montreal and the pressure cooker created by the media. Daniel Brière, when he became a UFA after his Buffalo Sabre days, was given a very good offer by the Habs, but he chose the Flyers. Care to guess why? In addition to the media circus, there are tax considerations (Rod Langway wanted out of Montreal decades ago and he SPECIFICALLY said taxes were a consideration).

    So let's add up the score: Quebec is the highest taxed jurisdiction of all the pro sport cities, your performances on the ice or field are constantly under scrutiny, your personal life, and your knowledge of French, or worse yet, your lack of knowledge of French. Other cities: Less taxes (esp. in the States, and even Alberta), your personal life is that: Personal, and language is a non-issue.

    The more players catch whiff of the language nonsense and media circus, the harder they will be attracted. The Habs haven't been able to get an impact player out of free agency now for YEARS! Alex Tanguay didn't last a season, and I don't hear any other Francophones who are particularly feeling jilted that they're not going to the Habs. Lecavalier isn't pushing hard for it, St-Louis isn't, Simon Gagner could have come, didn't, and I doubt the Habs will ever again attract any impact players, especially when they're too busy paying a nobody like Scott Gomez $8 million for five years to score a dozen goals a year. THAT is what they should entice Lecavalier or St-Louis with, not Gomez! Scott Gomez, another American, and the most overpaid player in the League!

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  38. "...but merely a PROVINCE..."...dont les habitants sont reconnus comme étant une nation doublée d'une société distincte au sein du canada"

    Separatist contradiction #2435432

    "We want to become "independent" of Canada because we feel enslaved in the federation we don't belong in...but...the same confederation gives us the right to proceed against the Canadian Constitution because we are a nation recognized by this Canada and given a free hand when it comes to provincial matters...So...We are a nation, a semi-autonomous unit (so don’t come talking to us about Canadian standards, we can reject them if we want and we are free to impose our rules and values)... but... we want to separate because Canada is imposing its standards and values on us...”

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  39. @ Adski

    Rather ironic that Quebec is the only province with language laws which put french above other languages including the majority language in Canada, but yet some in Quebec (separatists) indicate they are being trampled and smothered by the ROC. Of course last Friday a Judge in Ontario ruled that in the township of Russel/Embrum that commercial signs must be bilingual and cannot be posted in either french or english unilingually. I find this to be a breach of free expression and as such a breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights. Point, would a person advertising a Vietnames restaurant have to post in three languages? The lunatics are obviously running the asylum these days.

    Back to Hockey so as not to digress....maybe the language police and government of Quebec should institute french competency tests for all players of the Canadians Hockey Team. The penalty for not passing the test, automatic game misconduct with no pay. This would ensure that the best interests of the Quebecois would be respected with regards to culture and language. Of course it wouldn't matter if the team came in dead last as long as they were compliant. Afterwhich, the Molson's could apply for a heritage grant from the ROC to cover any shortfall :):)

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  40. Blabla we are a bunch if whiners please spank us.
    Ok if you say so.

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  41. Blabla we are a bunch if whiners please spank us.
    Ok if you say so.

    No doubt you are...spank you..maybe but only with a fly swatter

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  42. À adski: Regardez cela

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGjya9wMFqM

    Après ça, dites-moi que vous êtes meilleurs que tout le monde.

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  43. It turns out that our good friend M. Louis Prefontaine has created a group on Facebook to boycot the Habs for their contemptuos practice.

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=146703508684385

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  44. For d'Artagnan who said, "Un Québécois est un individu qui aime le Québec et qui désire s'intégrer a la majorité qui a comme langue commune et officielle : Le Français."

    So who created that definition? You? Duceppe? Marois? Beaulieu? Prefontaine?

    If it is not a law it is not a law. You can make all definition you want but if it is not enforceable it is worth nothing.

    But then again, you did not answer my question. In a hypothetical situation, how are you going to treat Quebec residents who can not speak French?

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  45. To Aug.24, 3:46 PM:

    The guys in the video appear to me to be of French ancestry.

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  46. À anonyme août 24, 2010 4:41 PM: Faux, il s'agit en fait d'un film canadien. You know deep deep Canada...

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  47. "...So who created that definition? You? Duceppe? Marois? Beaulieu? Prefontaine?"

    Non,simplement une question de bon sens et la majorité des Québécois.

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  48. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  49. My 9:55AM comment got double posted. It can be removed from this thread, I suppose.

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  50. To the person who insists on sending in comments that are direct quotes and poems from various French 'luminaries,' be advised that they will not be printed.
    If you have something to say for yourself, fine. Even if you are a nationalist/sovereignist and you comment is in French. Fine...
    But I draw the line at having quotes by racists and anglophobes dished up on an English blog for no other reason than to spread hate.

    You are posting to the wrong blog.
    Really, I don't understand your mentality

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