Thursday, February 3, 2011

Montreal and Quebec Veering Off in Opposite Directions

While Pierre Curzi and his entourage of language Apartheidists fulminate against the teaching of English in Quebec, it's good to see many of us on both sides of the language equation giving short shrift to the notion of restricting rather than expanding student's horizons.
"Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, a French-language junior college, and Marianopolis College, an English-language counterpart, will offer Quebec's first inter-college bilingual exchange program.
Students who apply and demonstrate a proficiency in their non-dominant official language will be allowed to study at the other college." Read more at CBC
And at two Montreal area private high schools, one Muslim French and one Jewish English;
"They came, Jewish and Muslim teens from English and French backgrounds, to meet and discover for themselves what keeps them apart.
Many of them live in the same community, but never meet or mingle with the other group. Each group has been somewhat fearful of the other.
To hear them tell it, what's been keeping them apart is hearsay, misconceptions and stereotypes." Read more at the Montreal Gazette
While watching an interview the other day with Pauline Marois, who was struggling mightily to give an interviewer a tiny sound bite in English, in regard to the shale gas debate, it occurred to me how far apart the gulf between Montreal and the rest of Quebec (ROQ) has become in terms of capacity and determination to speak the other official language.

Madame Marois was so ill prepared for the interview that she fumbled around rather clumsily before giving up and using the French term of '"gaz de schiste' for the English "shale gas."
While both terms have only recently become widely used, you'd think that she'd know the English term, or failing that, turn to an aide and ask for the translation for the word before giving an English interview on the subject, it wouldn't have taken a big effort.
Instead she was oblivious to the fact, or didn't care a whit that she came off looking like a stuttering tourist, instead of the next potential Premier of Quebec.
There's a word that language militants bandy about in describing we anglos that applies perfectly in this situation. mépris ( contempt, scorn.)

For a good laugh, watch this video of Pauline struggling in English.


Madame Marois is not atypical of the new political class who hail from outside Montreal and cannot speak English worth a damn. She is representative of the new reality. While Montreal is bilingual and getting more bilingual everyday, the rest of Quebec is unilingual and getting more unilingual everyday.
"....It's right up there in Chapter One, Article One of the city's charter: "Montreal is a French-speaking city."
But as just about anyone can tell you, the fact is that Montreal is bilingual. At least, that is the overwhelming conclusion of a survey last week for the Association of Canadian Studies.
Eighty per cent of Quebecers agree with the statement: "Montreal is a bilingual city,......" Read more in the Montreal Gazette
And so two visions of Quebec emerge, a bilingual (and multi-ethnic) reality as evinced by the greater Montreal region and an insular unilingual society that exists in the rest of Quebec.

Interestingly, the two camps are almost evenly divided in terms of population, but in terms of economic clout, productivity and creativity, the 'bilings' hold a massive advantage.

Considering the relative equilibrium in terms of demographic weight, one would think that the language debate would be a bit more balanced, but somehow it isn't. It seems that those proposing a more restrictive French language society hold a distinct advantage in the public debate.

To explain this one only has to look at the political structure of Quebec and it's supposedly representative National Assembly.

The greater Montreal area, home to over 3 million people (almost half of Quebec's population,) is sadly under-represented, to the point that there is a considerable bias in the National Assembly towards the boonies and the  'provincial' mentality.

Some Montreal electorial districts are so densely populated in comparison to rural districts that the effect is that a vote in the Gaspé has twice the weight compared to a vote in Montreal. The ROQ get up to 50% more members of Parliament than it deserves demographically.

NO FAIR!...but a fact.

And so the voices in Parliament are decidedly and unfairly unilingual. The number of Francophone members who can speak English above a high-school level continues to diminish, even in the Liberal party.

Gone are the days of René  Levesque and Jacques Parizeau, each wonderfully bilingual notwithstanding their politics.

It isn't a coincidence that each had spent time abroad, Levesque as a war reporter who worked largely in English while Parizeau studied at the London School of Economics in England.

Today's Parti Quebecois, with a few exceptions (Bernard Drainville, plus another half dozen) is largely unilingual with most members' idea of a foreign English adventure, a trip to Ogunquit beach.

The Liberal Party is not much better, even French cabinet ministers struggle to give a decent interview in English.
Only the Anglos members of the Liberal party and Premier Charest remain truly bilingual.

Sixty-six years ago  Hugh MacLennan wrote of the Two Solitudes that represented the gulf between Francophone Quebec and Anglophone Canada.

Today a new gulf has emerged, one that could never have been foreseen, even thirty years ago. It is the gulf between Montreal which represents a bilingual multi-ethnic society as opposed to the unilingual, mono-cultured society that is the ROQ.

As time goes by, the two societies seem to like each other less and less, with Montrealers scornful of the provincial rubes and the unilingual ROQers terrified that their world is evolving out of their comfort zone. 

Which societal path will Quebec follow in the future?
With the economic power of the province lying with Montreal, but the political power lying with the ROQ, which faction will gain the upper hand?

Will the province become more like Montreal or will Montreal become more like the province?

Readers.... it's time for you to weigh in.

38 comments:

  1. Wow... I am so proud, my English is even better than Pauline Marois! (And mine is pretty broken, but sound English, with -ing, -ang-, -ung...) lol :)

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  2. What is most interesting in all this is why Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest didn't exercise his majority clout his first two mandates to balance this out through electoral reform. Charest lost the 1998 election despite having the majority of the votes.

    Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest was a damn fool during his majority mandates not to cut his West Island and Central Montreal constituencies in half geographically, and increase the geographic size of those in predominantly PQ ridings. The PLQ would get elected forever with all those easy Anglo votes in the entire West Island and ridings like Mount Royal, D'Arcy McGee, Westmount and the ones in Park Extension. I remember this problem going back to 1994 when both the PQ and PLQ were split down the middle with 44.7% of the vote apiece. The PQ won handily because of the constituency imbalances.

    I can't believe electoral reform wasn't the first thing Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest attended to when he got his FIRST majority, or at least by the second! A glorious opportunity gone to waste!

    Oh well! Too late now and he has been on shaky ground for the last several months. Then again, Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest may be on his high horse figuring Queen Pauline may fall hard off her high horse and blow her election chances when the opportunity next arises.

    Neverless, in the meantime, Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest is doing the PQ's dirty work by passing restrictive legislation on the few kids looking to get into English schools and punishing those with severe learning challenges by not lifting a finger to prevent one kid anyway from having to go to Delaware for his English schooling despite a couple of mercy clauses in Quebec's Holy Grail 101 that Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest could have intervened and helped this one Quebec citizen that really needed the help!

    If Charest was too much of a clown to just sit on his ass bumping on a log while this family had to make very hard decisions to help their child, which way do you think things are going?

    It's the government, stupid!

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  3. Under separate entry I wanted to add that while I have zero respect and a plenitude of disdain for the likes of Pauline Marois, Louise Beaudoin, Louise Harel and [gaaaag meeeee] Josée Legault, I will not ridicule the ones who cannot speak English. They segregated themselves by choice. Beaudoin and Legault speak respectable English. So did Bernard Landry despite his heavy accent.

    I find myself playing the devil's advocate in part because I speak a lot of French here in Mississauga and my grammar needs work. Alliance française, here I come...peut-être!

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  4. There is no point trying.... the anglos cannot do any better, we know that, so why doing more than we should ?

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  5. “C’est une fois quand tu vas en Regions, ça commence à devenir Twilight Zone pour les ethniques” – Sugar Sammy

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxo0e0UDN08

    (2:58)

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  6. Well, not that I am a fan of official bilingualism but just listen on the flip side to Flaherty and other anglo policitians speaking french including Harper himself. Sometimes its best to leave this up to the translators as with the Supreme Court bilingual issue. Translators do a better job in the end. Canada is not a bilingual country. Interesting, however, the editors comments on Montreal vs the balance of Quebec. Charles Castonguay has yet another article hammering away on the erosion of french in Quebec and Canada (check vigile.net for thos that can stomach it). Marois, on the other hand, should make a better attempt as she, if elected premier (prime ministre) of Quebec will have to interact on the national stage in English. What she does now will just make here look like an idiot much like Stephane Dion.

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  7. "There is no point trying.... the anglos cannot do any better, we know that, so why doing more than we should ?"

    Excuse me? The anglos cannot do any better? Up untill the PQ came into power everything in this city was English owned and operated and Montreal was the most productive and wealthiest city in Canada. Now it's slipped to 4th or 5th. Care to explain how you "know that"?

    "You should hear some of these idiots try to speak English in Ottawa. Blackburn, Parise, Verner…just dreadful. Can’t understand a bloody word they say when and if they even make the effort to speak English. They have made no effort to become fluent in English. They should be ashamed of themselves. Its beyond embarrassing…a complete joke. What a bunch of clowns. If they only knew have funny they were when they spoke English. Dumb and dumber…yes it has left Quebec and like a bad disease is spreading all across Canada. ESL dummies, ESL."

    At least they're making the effort. You should help someone who is making an attempt to speak your language, not ridicule them. Accents are something you can tease about but never authentically laugh at. It makes a person feel humiliated and small. Your thinking is ignorant and just plain wrong.

    And don't refer to the French language or French people as a disease. The languag is easily as beautiful a language as English is, if not more so; and the French people, for the most part, are very kind and fun individuals.

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  8. I don't think the political class should be representative of the population. I grew up in Quebec City, and it's getting more and more multi-cultural all the time. You still get the unilingual, English-rejecting nationalists from les fonds de rangs. I think people there are quite open to learning English. I used to teach ESL. No want of desire there to send their kids to English classes, let me tell you.

    But don't Marois, Beaudoin and Harel represent the old guard more than the new? If you attend university in French in Quebec, chances are you need to know how to at least read English unless you do a degree in French lit. I did a degree in history at Laval university, and my knowledge of English was quite handy.

    In the age of the internet, I think the rejection of English is going by the wayside. You might get some blowhards in Montreal who make a lot of noise who say that everything should be unilingual, but I think they're a dying breed just given the day-to-day realities of Quebeckers today. I think nationalism as we knew it in the 80s and 90s is on the wane. I don't think Quebec will ever completely shed nationalism, but it's far less virulent than it once was.

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  9. Reine Marois is a uni-lingual Quebecois Franco-supremacist despot. She personifies the ideal Quebecois, and makes the perfect leader. She represents her people well.

    The seppies have the Quebecois brainwashed and they hold the political power. I think Montreal will become more like the province, at least in the near term.

    The seppies will do everything they can to restrict Montreal’s natural evolution as a bilingual city state. They will continue to demonize Anglos and the deadly Anglicization of Montreal; I see dark days ahead for Montreal in the coming years, especially when the PukeQue return to power.

    In the long term, the Quebecois’ fascist and protectionist policies won’t work economically, and Montreal will inevitably have to break free of Quebec’s xenophobic shackles in order to survive. Montreal will eventually evolve into its own distinct society apart from Quebec, and begin to assert its independence and economic clout.

    The seppies won’t willingly relinquish any power to Montreal, so it could get ugly before it gets any better.

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  10. adski your link "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxo0e0UDN08" @ 2:58... CLASSIC!!!!!

    LOL

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  11. An awful language English: seppies, dude, etc...

    Chacun d'entre vous restez dans votre langue.
    Of course I agree when people say Harper speaks a mediocre French, vice-versa. THe effort of speaking another language is not appreciated. Too much bickering. This is why we should stay independent in each our world.

    People have the right to protect French in a French province, a language which is eroding every second in contact with English. They are the ones who are species endangered and they are the ones who needs more and more protection.

    I regret to have invested in learning English. My efforts are/were worthless, especially with the poverty of education anglos which are displaying today. The correspondants from this site, having no knowledge at all of our French culture/history/linguistic history. They are people who work with computers, telephones, sales, who don't need real education.
    In fact the future of Quebec should change when they will separate, they should become university specialists, with contacts and links with European communities (latin based languages). Already they are doing a good job in business innovations with Belgium,France and Swiss.

    The cold war with the Anglos are making Quebec's future dim and their life miserable. The protestors should be ousted out, when they complain, and reduced to pay a huge fine and/or imprisonment, if opposed to bill 101.

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  12. "Chacun d'entre vous restez dans votre langue."

    You say this and then you post in your second language? I'm curious as to how your brain works.

    "a language which is eroding every second in contact with English."

    If the world actually opertaed on that retarded logic, French would already be non-existent.

    "They are the ones who are species endangered and they are the ones who needs more and more protection."

    Your species is Human Being retard. Wake up.

    "I regret to have invested in learning English. My efforts are/were worthless"

    Well your ability to speak English has allowed you to converse with us, and will enable you to speak with millions of other humans if you so wished. Yes this is indeed a huge disadvantage.

    "poverty of education anglos which are displaying today"

    lol absolutely, captain Denial. Here's what I posted earlier to respond to your other retarded post:

    "I was just reading today in a French newspaper, that the Quebec francophone high school dropout rate has just reached 12% (19% for boys and less than 10% for girls) wich is the highest dropout rating in Canada"

    Don't lie to make yourself feel good. It isn't very befitting

    "The correspondants from this site, having no knowledge at all of our French culture/history/linguistic history"

    Based on what? Your assumption? (make an ass out of you). As if you could possibly know the historical knowlege of the correspondents of this site. Do you have magical powers? I think not.

    "They are people who work with computers, telephones, sales, who don't need real education."

    Based on what? Your assumption? (make an ass of you). And if those jobs don't require any education, and quebec francophones are leaders in unemployment, you yourself are implying that Quebec francophones have less than "no real education".

    "Belgium,France"

    Both have stated that they are agaisnt Quebec separation. Good luck with that.

    "The cold war with the Anglos are making Quebec's future dim and their life miserable."

    If it's so dim turn on the light. Burn the 8 billion dollars of transfer payments. That should be enough to light up the sky I think.

    "The protestors should be ousted out, when they complain, and reduced to pay a huge fine and/or imprisonment, if opposed to bill 101."

    Jawohl Mein Fuhrer!

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  13. “C'est arrivé que les gens me considèrent pas comme étant Québécois aussi. Comme après "Le Show raisonnable", à un moment donné, il y avait quelqu'un qui m'interviewait puis il y avait des gens qui passaient derrière moi, puis ils m'ont dit: "Hey, c'est pas des importés qui vont nous dire des affaires de même."

    Sugar Sammy a.k.a "L’importé"

    (6:20)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6vy63lvLds

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  14. Etoile,

    If a culture or language needs protection enacted by laws which discriminate against another culture or language, the object of the protectionism is doomed to extinction.

    Note that the OLA provides for French services across the entire country. In Quebec, you have bill 101, which openly discriminates against Anglos or those wishing to engage in learning english. People protect language and culture, not laws. If Quebec is becoming more anglicized it is not the fault of the anglos or Canada. The problem lies with the people whom realize that english is essential to their well being.

    Your other comments with regards to fines/imprisonment are spoken like a true Nazi.

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  15. I don't mind that any francophone or anyone else for that matter has problems speaking or don't know english. IF they are not comfortable, just let the translators do it.

    Only issue I have is, when their lack of English means they want to prevent everyone else from speaking english.

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  16. To Etoile,

    Your comment:

    ‘People have the right to protect French in a French province, a language which is eroding every second in contact with English. They are the ones who are species endangered and they are the ones who needs more and more protection.’

    Say’s who. The seppie dudes? Seppies tend to lie about stuff like that, so whatever. Don’t look at me for help; you already took away my rights to protect yours. I owe nothing to militants like you who want to see me shot or imprisoned for speaking against your intolerance and subjugation.

    Sorry if you regret learning English. You should learn to use your time more effectively. Anyway, your efforts would probably be pointless, since your hatred of Anglos would likely preclude any civil dialog.

    The cold war with the Anglos will continue mon cher fascist. You have pushed us into a corner, and that’s as far as you go. I’m sure you know that it’s dangerous to antagonize a cornered dog.

    We know our history and we know yours well, despite your dismissive assumptions and accusation. In fact, the articles and comments on this blog are proof of that. Seppies often accuse their detractors of ignorance, saying we don’t know their history; otherwise, we would agree with their desperate racist agenda.

    Yes we know your story, 400 hundred years…blah, blah, blah...we are supreme…blah, blah, blah…we hate Anglos…blah, blah, blah…Bill 101 or death, blah, blah, blah. What we also know for sure is that English speaking people helped build this province, especially Montreal. Do you know our history?

    Protestors should be ousted out, when they complain, and reduced to pay a huge fine and/or imprisonment, if opposed to bill 101? Your obsession with yourself and Bill 101 is perverted. How exactly would you measure a person’s opposition to Bill 101? What if a Quebecois were to disagree with this holy law?

    Etoile’s Quebec = NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH and NO RIGHTS FOR ANGLOS. It gets better by the day.

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  17. Great blog entry, I totally agree. The rift between Montreal and the ROQ is growing. It will only fan the flames of Montreal becoming an eventual city-state. Montreal has always been a bilingual, melting pot while the ROQ has managed to stay presque pur laine. Montreal is more like Toronto than Quebec City by far. The sad thing is, if you meet any Quebecois of a certain vintage chances are they can teach you how to speak English, they speak it so well. Those in their 40's and under can't speak English well at all, in general. I do a global conference call every day at work and its down right embarrassing when a unilingual Quebecois chimes in with their barely audible broken English. People from Hong Kong speak it better. I always argued that keeping les Quebecois in the dark when it comes to learning English was always a way of reducing their mobility and making them captive taxpayers (whose money feeds the Quebec bureaucratic machine). They cannot vote with their feet, unlike Anglo/Ethnic Quebeckers, and have no choice but to pay taxes here even if they disagree with the government's politics. A captive taxpayer is the best taxpayer.

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  18. From what I see,

    the Anglo are vary racist and close minded.

    Anglo are very open minded as long as we speak english... Lol

    Should I remind what you did to french speaking people in Canada history?

    Get back to school and learn your history.

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  19. Anonymous II will add to Anonyous I"

    Nobody in Quebec should speak English. Contest, protest, they will speak English alone and they will have to pay their bill anyway.... after a while they will go away.
    When we speak English:
    They laugh at us,
    They say we are imbeciles,
    They insult and say we are worthless,
    They refuse jobs we would normally apply with their silly language.
    SO; DONT SPEAK english,
    Make them suffer with Bill 101
    Give them a test to verify their French history, French language, French culture because they live in French Quebec majority;
    If they fail,
    They will have to pay huge FINES!!!!!
    We will see who will laugh the most here.
    What is a seppie!
    I spent 9 years in French Universities,
    If I use English is to be polite, because of the site. Really they are blaming us for the quality of French some people have, and the cause is the friction with English. Yes, they don't have any notions of linguistics at all,not at all. Those poor, poor minded people, they are connected on a site with an empty mind.
    Get rid of those people,
    Quebec needs la crème de la crème,
    not scavengers.

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    Replies
    1. I SPEAK SEVEN LANGUAGES,AND SIGN LSQ AND ASL. I AM RICHER WITH EACH ADDITION TO MY REPERTOIRE. LANGUAGE IS NOT THE ISSUE; COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY.

      I ONCE LIVED IN MONTREAL AND FOUND, SADLY, THAT IT WAS BECOMING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS. I NOW LIVE OFF ISLAND IN A PREDOMINANTLY FRENCH SPEAKING COMMUNITY AND AM ALWAYS AMAZED AT HOW THE PEOPLE STRIVE TO COMMUNICATE TO ME IN ENGLISH. IF I AM SPEAKING WITH A FRIEND IN ENGLISH, THE SERVER WILL SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH, EVEN IF I ORDER IN FRENCH, WHICH I DO. I BELIEVE THEY SPEAK TO ME IN ENGLISH SO AS NOT TO BE RUDE TO MY ENGLISH SPEAKING FRIEND. I FOUND THAT ATTITUDE RARER IN MONTREAL IN THE PAST FEW YEARS. I LOVED MONTREAL BUT HAVING LIVED IN MONTREAL, THEN SHERBROOKE, THEN BACK TO MONTREA AND NOW IN THE MONTEREGIE AREA, I FEEL SAFER SPEAKING ENGLISH ONF ISLAND. I STIL WORK IN MONTREAL SO THERE 5 DAYS A WEEK...


      AS FOR THE ONGOING LANGUAGE DEBATE: I COME FROM A TRUE TOURSIT TOWN WHERE FOLK LEARN EARLY ON, THE MORE LANGUAGES THAT YOU SPEAK, AND THE MORE INCLUSIVE ONE IS, THE RICHER THE COMMUNITY, THE STRONGER THE ECONOMY. IT IS SMALL MINDED TO EXCLUDE PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE. LEARN THEIR LANGUAGE, THEN JUDGE. I AM GUESSING IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO REALLY KNOW THE CULTURE AND ITS PEOPLE,MAKING SOME FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY, YOU MIGHT BE DISINCLINED TO THROW A ROCK IN THAT FRIEND'S DIRECTION. ONE WOULD HOPE.

      I UNDERSTAND THAT DISCRIMINATION IS BASED ON FEAR. IF I ONLY SPOKE ONE LANGUAGE IN THIS ERA OF GLOBAL ECONOMY, I WOULD BE TERRIFED. THOSE WHO SPEAK THE LOUDEST AGAINST SPEAKERS OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (FRENCH, ENGLISH, FARSI OR WHATEVER) ARE MOTIVATED NOT ONLY BY A PARALYZING FEAR OF WHAT IS BEING SAID ABOUT THEM, BUT ALSO MOSTS CERTAINLY DEEPLY FRUSTRATED BY THE REALIAZATION THAT THEY ARE STUCK HERE, WITH NO HOPE OF MOVING ELSEWHERE TO MAKE A BETTER LIFE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CHILDREN. BUT IS IS NOT A RIGHTEOUS FEAR: IT IS THE FEAR OF COWARDICE AND IGNORANCE, NOT TO MENTION DOWNRIGHT LAZINESS. SO TO ALL UNILINGUALS UNDER THE AGE OF 101: TAKE A CLASS, TAKE A CHANCE, AND GET OVER YOURSELVES!

      FOR THOSE BRAVE INDIVIDUALS: I OFFER FREE CLASSES AND MEET AND GREETS FOR FRENCH AND ENGLISH SPEAKERS. FIND ONE IN YOUR NEIGBORHOOD. MEETUP.COM IS A GOOD PLACE TO START!!

      Delete
  20. Editor,

    Do you know who Michel David is? Either you or a contributor to your blog sometime last year I believe it was posted a link to a bilingual hypothesis by Mr. David about Montreal as a trilingual city-state.

    If you know Mr. David, or can somehow get in contact with him, I'd love to see his posting put back on the internet. He obviously knows Quebec and Montreal very well, I believe he is some sort of business consultant and I thought his exposé was very thoughtfully written.

    Seems Étoile is attracting a lot of attention, an unjust reward for trolling. If what he/she wrote is true and regrets having learned English, then this is to be pitied. I don't have an easy time with French, but even though I'm far less than fluent in French, it has been rewarding to know as it has added value to me as an employee, and I cannot believe it hasn't done the same for him.

    Beyond the usual financial reward at work, it is good for the brain to be multilingual. It's great for fighting off mental illnesses like Alzheimer's disease and uses other parts of the brain that may not otherwise be well used. That can help in other ways. It's ALL good!

    There are days I just want the nationalists to go jump in the lake and that's that. Even if I don't get my way in this manner, I am seeing a Quebec that is digging itself into an increasingly deeper hole from one time being the #1 city. If the Montreal of old was able to continue, it would still be #1, and I'm sure I and the other 300,000 Anglos who left never would have. Anyway, things are how they are and the bell cannot be unrung, but it's still a pity to see this once great city fall back the way it has and is still falling.

    If nothing else, Toronto winters are less cold and less snowy and shorter than Montreal winters. My life partner who moved in from Montreal last year is still enjoying the comparative ease of Toronto winters. Lucky her! Last year Toronto barely had a winter! This is winter #27 for me and I guess I'm spoiled now. I guess this is "the good" in "Toronto the Good!"

    In more recent years, I'm still hearing English on The Main, and shopkeepers on rue St-Denis will try or succeed in speaking English, a far cry from a couple of decades ago. Try as they may, I don't think the Quebec government will succeed in killing the city-state concept due to relentless attempts at provincial francization, and if they do, it WILL come at even greater costs than Quebec has already suffered.

    As more federal parliamentary contituencies are being created outside Quebec, leverage in Quebec is being lost and that can only be to Quebec's detriment.

    Québécoise et Québécois: It's up to you!

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  21. "the Anglo are vary racist and close minded."

    Excuse me? From what you can see?

    "Protestors should be ousted out, when they complain, and reduced to pay a huge fine and/or imprisonment, if opposed to bill 101"

    "Make them suffer with Bill 101"

    "Yes, they don't have any notions of linguistics at all,not at all. Those poor, poor minded people, they are connected on a site with an empty mind."

    "Get rid of those people"

    Get your eyes checked

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  22. "They laugh at us,
    They say we are imbeciles,
    They insult and say we are worthless,
    They refuse jobs we would normally apply with their silly language"

    Again, nothing but projections based on zero evidence. You make me sad.

    "Nobody in Quebec should speak English. Contest, protest, they will speak English alone and they will have to pay their bill anyway.... after a while they will go away."

    Lol go away? The english language is on the rise in Montreal you stupid twat.

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  23. Etoile, the reason French is eroding is because francophones aren't reproducing themselves. That's the truth. You can't expect immigrants to be more Quebecois than the Quebecois. Generation after generation of French Canadians lasted in Quebec with far fewer means than the French have today simply because they had kids.

    And I wish to state that I don't mean to say I oppose immigration. I think immigration is fine IF it's not used to solve demographic problems. Once it becomes the staple of your population's growth, your society is screwed. You can't assimilate if you don't have children.

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  28. "You can't expect immigrants to be more Quebecois than the Quebecois"

    I agree with a lot you say, it makes sense, but when I see Sénégalais, Haitiens etc... speak Quebecois, I am shocked. I mean French, not Quebecois. When I say French it has to be in Quebec, it doesn't mean necessarily Quebecois.

    J'ai un sens plus entier/global le Français change et se transforme au Québec. Je ne parle pas du joual, voyons.... le Québec est le pays qui recoit la francophonie, ayons l'esprit un peu plus large, voulez-vous ? Sachant que le français est un "adstrat" chose que j'ai dit tres souvent, vous devriez saisir l'idée générale de parler français dans un endroit qui le rassemble et non penser comme les anglais de l'Ontario qui ont besoin costamment d'un règle à mesurer et de statistiques. Voyons!!! une langue maternelle ne compte pas tous les seins qui ont nourris les bouches en comptant le nombre de fois. Soyez plus raisonnables dans vos commentaires et montrez de l'intelligence.

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  29. Etoile is saying the Anglos are racist and try to say they are proud to make us disappear like in the time of the Acadians. They burned us inside churches,separated families,let a lot of them adrift and a few ones made the costs of USA only. It is in the blood of the English to diminish the French. Nothing to say about that than removing everything from a blog administrator?

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  30. Etoile,

    Why then are all these senegalais and haitiens in Toronto complaining how the Quebecois treat them like garbage and that to make a decent living they had to come to Ontario? I remember one Mauritanian called the Quebecois "enfants de puts" because of the way he was treated in Quebec. His French was of the France type, very understandable. His English was not good but they still gave him a chance doing bilingual technical support. People didn't complain about his English,

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  31. English, french...

    Canada will believe in Allah faith!

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  32. Perhaps he was convicted for drugs and he is trying his chance somehere else, why are you so gullable ?

    You think the English Hospital (mental health unit) are not full in Ontario because those poor French are well treated in Ontario. No, you treat them like shit anglo, and they end up in a nut house. We know that, but I won't declare my source.

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  33. "You think the English Hospital (mental health unit) are not full in Ontario because those poor French are well treated in Ontario. We know that, but I won't declare my source."

    That's because you are the source.

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  34. Please come and join us on April 17th, McGill gates at Noon to Rally in support of the abolition of this law that violates our Human Rights to express ourselves in our own province. So far, with over two months away, we have about 400 persons willing to march in support of a law that a modern QC does not need anymore.
    It has only led to the forced departure of hundreds of thousands from the Province by the 'Maitre-chez-nous' franco-supremacist minority.
    No longer shall we stand idly by while this situation continues unabated by a failed provincial government.

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  35. Your minority inside a minority is your problem Hugo. Minorities have the right to protect themselves.

    You are a shitdisturber on the wrong side of the fence. Grow a square inch moustache and everyone will recognize you : le nono des Teddy Bear-Shebbeare!

    You are cruzing for bruising.
    If they are saying Maitre chez nous, which is part of songs, literature and cinema as a logo, a philosphy is well known in Europe. Your complex of inferiority is not being supported. If you feel you are a minority, you shouldn't be in this province. Join the majority... and shut your mouth. Other speak French, you eat French anyway, what a shit disturber you are, filling the sewers of Montreal with the kind of s...t you have.

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  36. To Anon. at 8:20 pm:

    "You are cruzing for bruising."

    "Join the majority... and shut your mouth."


    You should show up at the anti-Bill 101 rally at Mcgill and identify yourself there. Some of us would love to meet you in person...

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  37. I am a french Canadian and I truly think that we should just stop using french altogether and let the province become an english province like the rest of Canada. That's what most Anglo wants anyways. What's the point of trying to preserve a language and culture that most don't value (especially minorities). We lose, take over. Do what you want - we can't fight back especially when french canadians are too coward to speak out in fear of being called racist.

    PS.: Take Montreal. It stinks of corruptions anyways.

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