Game over for international "FRENCH" hockey tourney
"Dreams of an all-Quebec hockey squad facing off in an international
tournament this summer have been dashed after organizers failed to find
any takers.
The original plan was to have Team Quebec face
Switzerland, France and Italy in Quebec City next August in a
"four-nation" battle for the Quebec Cup.
But after the Swiss
national team announced last December it had declined the invitation,
France and Italy have also bowed out, citing budget and scheduling
constraints." LINK
Only 15% of Quebeckers agree with radical French language stance.
Much
to the consternation of Curzi, Mario Baulieu, Mouvement Montréal
français, the RRQ and Imperatif-francais, only 15% of Quebeckers agree with them that bilingualism isn't important. Download a small PDF of the poll{FR}.
Canadian Revenue Agency to spend $42,900 to help dyslexic worker learn French
"The Canada Revenue Agency has 40,000 employees but the department is spending at least $42,900 helping one worker, who has dyslexia, learn French.
The employee, who has not been identified, has already had two years of federal French language training at two different schools all to no avail, CRA documents show. Now, the federal tax agency is turning to a private school in Ottawa for one-on-one training to help the staffer pass the government’s language test." LINK
Quebec company publishes English only report
A publicly-traded Quebec based franchiser, MTY Food Group, is being assailed for publishing it's annual report and other official documents in English only with the French versions available on the website. The chain owns the flagship banner of Thaï Express and Tiki-Min as well as over a dozen familiar fast food restaurants. It isn't a really matter of disrespecting the French language, the founder and CEO of the company, Stanley Ma is known by employees to be extremely
French skills to be downgraded as immigration criterion?
In an effort to up the quality of those immigrating to Quebec, the government is looking to make French language skills a secondary criterion in the selection of new immigrants. Ouch! LINK
Attending English cegep doesn't anglicize francophones
Montreal hockey fans ranked the worst
"Delegates to a Parti Québécois convention in Montreal next month will be
asked to approve a proposal to extend Bill 101 to CEGEPs, Quebec’s
network of public junior colleges.
The Conseil supérieur de la langue française, an advisory body to
the Quebec government with a mandate to promote the French language,
does not think this is a good idea.
..... a study on linguistic transfers by allophones, conducted by the
Conseil supérieur de la language française, says attending English
CEGEPs has hardly any impact on linguistic transfers." Link-Montreal Gazette
This will become its official policy once the report will be published in the near future. LINK
This will become its official policy once the report will be published in the near future. LINK
Montreal hockey fans ranked the worst
Gentlemen's Quarterly did a story on the worst fans in America. Maybe Montreal isn't in America but it still made the list:
"Forget the riots that erupted last May after the Canadiens made it to the Eastern Conference final; they were nothing compared with the hordes of looters who set fire to five police cars during the 2008 playoffs simply because Montreal advanced past the first round. Meanwhile, inside the Bell Centre, the only things people boo more frequently than the U.S. national anthem are their own players. In 2003, team veteran Patrice "Breeze-by" Brisebois was heckled almost every time he touched the puck; the jeering was so intense it likely induced a stress-related irregular heartbeat. How did then GM Bob Gainey feel about his bloodthirsty fan base? "I think they're a bunch of gutless bastards, to be honest," he said. GQ Magazine
Do Jutras have an anti-English bias?
"Quebec film awards don’t give major prizes to anglophone productions – despite an impressive crop this year....
The French language is irrelevant. Why is it that this medieval language hasn't caught on anywhere outside of Quebec's borders? Shouldn't such a great and marvelous language have at least some traction in other jurisdictions? The Quebecois I know that have moved outside the province refuse to speak it to their own kids (which I personally don't agree with). Groups like Mouvement Montréal français, the RRQ and Imperatif-francais are fighting a losing battle and should really mind their own business. How about channeling all that anger and energy into wealth creation and debt reduction? Things that will actually help society. Making English speaking citizens press #9 for English service on telephone directories rather than #2 will not save French in Quebec. Higher birthrates brought on by economic prosperity is what will. Give a man a good paying secure job and he won't have to worry about another mouth to feed.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe Léger poll results only confirm a longstanding belief that I’ve held. Let the SSJB, MMF, RRA, and IF have an apoplectic fit and may their militant base go the way of the Catholic Church’s stranglehold on political power in this province. I’ve had it with rotten apples getting way more than their fair share of airtime and spoiling it for the rest of us. These extremist militants have long been the problem in this province and not the solution.
ReplyDeleteWhen you’ve got 80% of Quebecers who believe bilingualism is a good thing and an overwhelming majority who realizes that you can be francophone, speak English and not be threatened in any way, I think if anybody needs to review their policy, it’s the PQ who has been relying far too much on its tributary groups of radical friends. Wouldn’t it be a delicious irony if, in response to such numbers, the PQ actually won the next election having committed to updating our Language Charter by bringing it in line with what “the majority” view? Protect French but don’t keep us captive by locking out English? A radical idea to be sure (not betting the farm on it), but bill 101 was itself a radical idea in its own time.
@DrunkGuyReneLevesqueKilled
I can’t disagree more with your assertion that the French language is irrelevant. We can argue over the comparative importance of native and secondary speakers, as well as emerging economies and changes in lingua franca, but the argument that French is a medieval relic is disingenuous at best. To this day its number of speakers (primary and secondary) sits between that of Arabic and Russian (are these languages “medieval” too?). Two major world languages are official in this country (and several others are spoken by many). We would be foolish to advocate monolingualism on the very shaky basis of “it’s just easier that way”.
Slightly off-topic (but largely on-target), I view much of the English-only movement in the U.S. as being ideologically similar to the policies advocated by our province’s hawkish francophone “primacists” (primates? supremacists?) in that their purpose is to cloak in political language the bigotry that they could never get away with advocating publicly without being found guilty of inciting hatred. Indeed, even a cursory examination of some of these groups would show their often strong links to anti-immigration groups. And I say this with more than just a slight understanding of the well-worn themes of language, territorial integrity, ethnic isolationism, ethnic nationalism, and potential for political instability. At the same time, you’d be a fool to live next door to over 300 million Spanish-speakers and (in)directly legislate against that language.
(1)
The reason French has little traction in other places *in Canada* is because of the comparatively minor demographic weight of its speakers outside Quebec, and because of no “new blood”. Francophone communities outside this province are endangered for the same reason that many Quebec Anglophone communities outside Montreal have all but vanished over the past century. Both phenomena stand as regrettable reminders of our inability to maintain some of our best cultural assets absent some genuine vigilance both by and on behalf of minority groups.
ReplyDeleteA while ago, I suggested that it might be beneficial if Quebec francophones genuinely committed to the survival of such “declining” francophone RoC communities willingly emigrate to such places to foster, build, renew, and ensure the continuation of these communities, just as RoC anglos willingly move to Quebec to fulfill the same objective here. Even with the deliberate caveats and dampers I was careful to temper my suggestion with, I was denounced by what to me were some unlikely participants : [http://nodogsoranglophones.blogspot.com/2010/10/quebec-in-2020-veritable-paradise.html].
On the other hand, I agree with channeling the energies of not just radical French-language groups (by the way, these groups don’t even think you should be allowed to press 9), but of all of us toward more constructive initiatives that strengthen us locally and foster overall unity.
I know dozens, literally dozens of people from Montreal (both Anglo and Franco) that have traveled around the world to teach English as a Second Language courses (ESL). From Taipei to Tokyo to Turkey, there is a worldwide thirst to learn English. Quite frankly, I don't sense the same momentum or feeling towards learning French. I was in Paris a few weeks ago and practically everyone I met was eager to practice their English with me even though I addressed everyone in French. Basically, if you want to get ahead in this world, you have to have a grasp of the English language.
ReplyDelete"By God, I'll boot the rear end of anyone (in QC) who can't speak English. In our day and times, a small people like us must speak English." Jacques Parizeau Time Magazine Monday, Apr. 13, 1992
> From Taipei to Tokyo to Turkey, there is a worldwide thirst to learn English. Quite frankly, I don't sense the same momentum or feeling towards learning French. I was in Paris a few weeks ago and practically everyone I met was eager to practice their English with me even though I addressed everyone in French.
ReplyDeleteI have made similar observations, including with colleagues in France, some of whom greatly appreciate speaking to a “cousin Québécois”. Interestingly, others there began to very nearly refuse to speak to me in French once they heard me give conferences in “good” English, preferring (I suppose) to practice their English with me in private as well. (I doubt my comparatively mild Quebec accent has anything to do with it because other colleagues in North Africa seldom if ever switch over to English).
I take it that “non-ingérence, non indifférence” must be limited to public statements of politicians alone.
> "By God, I'll boot the rear end of anyone (in QC) who can't speak English. In our day and times, a small people like us must speak English." Jacques Parizeau
Yet here we are, nearly twenty years later. So much water has flowed under the political and constitutional bridge, yet little has tangibly changed. The drive for independence certainly has to do with giving Quebecers exclusive control of all the levers of their politics and economy. But the actions and policies of the separatists, in particular with regard to language, seem generally to be at odds with allowing the essence of Parizeau’s quote to ever be organically achieved.
I know of many French-Canadian parents (of all political orientations) who ship their kids to Ontario or B.C. for the summer to learn English in an “anglophone environment” because they think their children can’t learn and perfect their English as easily here. If the PQ’s Curzi types advocate strengthening restrictions on English, rather than promote genuine and thorough reform on language issues, one wonders whether this ludicrously overengineered approach is precisely how most Quebec children will be expected to learn proper English.
Don’t get me wrong – while I applaud all efforts toward any language acquisition, I find their rationale tragic if not intriguing since I fluently learned at least three languages growing up in Montreal.
Parizeau was himself quite the anglophile until he was put off by the stark realization that Canada’s WASP Establishment (as late as the 1960’s) had little to no interest in accepting (much less promoting) French-Canadian upward mobility, but rather quite the opposite. This rejection must have been doubly off-putting given the context of Parizeau’s own considerable behind-the-scenes involvement throughout the Quiet Revolution.
My conclusion is that this realization shaped the psychology and philosophy of Parizeau and other like-minded advocates of the time. The effect was surprisingly unoriginal. Like many of our leaders before him, his view echoes tacit support for the creation and maintenance of a vanguard that makes deals in English abroad while hawkishly preserving our Frenchness at home.
A philosophy with ample historical precedent, perhaps. The only difference – post-Quiet Revolution – is that the political *and* economic vanguard is now ethnically French-Canadian and not Scottish, English, or Irish.
Plus ça change…
"...if you want to get ahead in this world, you have to have a grasp of the English language."
ReplyDeleteVotre égo se porte assez bien,merci.Arrivez-vous toujours a franchir les portes ou votre tête reste-t-elle coincée dans l'encadrure.La situation de la France n'est pas la même que le Québec.Votre vision géo-politique est tordue et inappropriée.Laissez-nous donc conquérir le monde dans la langue de notre choix.Faites le en globish si vous voulez,moi je le fais en Français.
Merci!
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm
ReplyDeleteThe old English blood in Canada is renewed in this "punk" correspondence. How awful. What a vilain country the English Arrogant Majority is !
ReplyDeleteHell to you all Nazi soup eaters I wouldn't serve you any either. You deserve a hot foot.
Bravo Press 9. Il est temps de répondre à ces rabat-joie. Le Québec se transforme avec la venue des Français, en français. Des locuteurs de français provenant du Sénégal et de d'autres pays se régalent et transforme le Québec. Un jour lorsque les Québécois comprendront ils réaliseront qu'une révolution à moitié faite n'en vaut pas la peine (comme Cocteau le disait d'ailleurs). La protection d'une langue est légitime dans une pays et l'Otan encourage plusieurs pays à conserver leur culture et leur langue. Qui a besoin d'usurpateurs comme ceux du Blog ! Frivoles imposteurs de l'histoire
ReplyDeleteJ'aime ce que j'entends au Québec et il est plus que temps que des forces amicales se rejoignent.
Le mot utilisé par les gens du blog comme "French Canadian" prouvent qu'ils sont tordus. Il semble que cette mode qui est apparue à l'époque Trudeaumania est maintenant désuette et messieurs les Anglais l'ignorent toujours. Joignez vos amis pour répondre à ces sales blogeurs ils sont peu nombreux et ils se croient le nombril de monde.
Hey Press 9, if you want to conquer this world in French, that's great stuff and I encourage it. But don't you think that people should have the choice to do it in another language too? Language laws are so 1970's.
ReplyDeleteSqueeze 9 and éTOILETTE: go back to the Est End where you belong. Avoid showing up in th West of Montreal!
ReplyDeleteNo, anon, it is since 1774 from the Act of Quebec. The Queen herself said we could retain our language and French laws. IDIOT!
ReplyDeleteEtoile, French Laws (Napolianic Code) and Language laws (Bill 22,101,178) are two separate things. Language laws have no place in a free society. Especially in this day and age. Now stop being a douche-bag thinking that you lay claim to this land. If that were the case I have some Mohawk friends that want their land back! The Quebecois nation, Iroquois nation or Mohawk nation, everyone has the same rights.
ReplyDelete"...Language laws are so 1970's."
ReplyDeleteJustement la grande tendance actuelle est le retour aux années 70-80(musique,mode et pouquoi pas lois).BANG!!!Vous êtes out!
I see French Colonial attitudes are alive and well in Quebec. Funny, I thought the King of France was dead?
ReplyDelete"...But don't you think that people should have the choice to do it in another language too?"
ReplyDeleteQui vous empêche de le faire?L'État Québécois ne peu interdire a quiconque de s'exprimer dans la langue de son choix surtout a l'extérieur de son territoire et de sa juridiction.J'espère que vous ne comptez par sur nous pour creuser notre propre tombe.Nous ne sommes pas aussi stupide que vous le croyez.Désolé,c'est la vie!
I think when you study law as long as I did I kow what I am talking about. Bill 101 is a legitimate fence to people's right and to preserve their intellectual property.
ReplyDeleteTo Etoile:
ReplyDelete"I think when you study law as long as I did I kow what I am talking about."
So now you're a lawyer too...more lies.
You should hitch up with Robert Barberis-Gervais, who also likes to brag about his qualifications, but at least he *may* be telling the truth.
"...I think when you study law as long as I did I know what I am talking about. Bill 101 is a legitimate fence to people's right and to preserve their intellectual property..."
ReplyDeleteHéHé!Bien dit étoile,vous êtes une star parmi les stars!Faudrait peut-être cependant rappeler a nos amis a têtes angulaires ce que veut dire le mot "intellectual" car certains semblent en être cruellement dépourvu.
"...I thought the King of France was dead?"
ReplyDeleteChose certaine c'est que votre reine se porte plutôt bien.Quel jolie collection de chapeaux elle possède.On dirait des abats-jour.
> Le Québec se transforme avec la venue des Français, en français. Des locuteurs de français provenant du Sénégal et de d'autres pays se régalent et transforme le Québec.
ReplyDelete…et bon nombre de ces nouveaux venus, y compris libanais et haïtiens qu’on recrute d’abord en raison de leurs compétences linguistiques, se joignent à nous non pour participer à une bataille démographique d’un petit peuple, mais pour échapper à faim et guéguerres nées de petitesses et jalousie meurtrières. Ces nouveaux immigrants – le plus souvent polyglottes – cherchent d’avantage à se tailler une place dans notre économie. Ils parlent certes fièrement français en plus d’une ou deux autres langues.
> La protection d'une langue est légitime dans une pays et l'Otan encourage plusieurs pays à conserver leur culture et leur langue.
Tout à fait. Alors à quoi sert mettre en question le caractère bilingue de Montréal ? Plutôt que de légiférer contre une langue, moi je préfère qu’on fasse la promotion de deux.
> Qui a besoin d'usurpateurs comme ceux du Blog ! Frivoles imposteurs de l'histoire
Usurpateur ? J’ai des racines qui remontent à l’époque de la Nouvelle-France. Les usurpateurs sont ces politiciens démagogues qui font carrière à semer discorde là où on pourrait bien s’en passer.
> Le mot utilisé par les gens du blog comme "French Canadian" prouvent qu'ils sont tordus.
Qu’y a-t-il de faux ou de mal à appeler les choses par leur nom ? N’en déplaise aux indépendantistes pour qui le terme « canadien-français » serait évidemment gênant politiquement, bon nombre de gens comme moi dont les ancêtres sont venus de France il y des centaines d’années n’hésitent pas à s’appeler toujours canadiens-français. Avec l’arrivée de plus en plus d’immigrants, l’étiquette « Québécois » devient de plus en plus floue. Or, « Canadien-Français » pour faire référence aux Canadiens d’origine française qui comptent pour 80% de la population du Québec n’a rien d’inexact. Ce qui est tordu, c’est que vous essayez de rendre flou ce qui est clair et évident.
> Il semble que cette mode qui est apparue à l'époque Trudeaumania est maintenant désuette et messieurs les Anglais l'ignorent toujours.
Faudrait reculer beaucoup plus dans le temps. Ce n’est qu’au Québec pour des raisons politiques que certains ont tenté d’abandonner le terme. Cet abandon ne fut cependant pas universel et même des Québécois d’origine française (même partiellement) nés suite à la Révolution tranquille s’autoidentifient fièrement ainsi.
> Joignez vos amis pour répondre à ces sales blogeurs ils sont peu nombreux et ils se croient le nombril de monde.
Nos homologues chez Vigile et cie. se croient eux aussi détenteurs de la vérité et de toute la vérité.
> No, anon, it is since 1774 from the Act of Quebec. The Queen herself said we could retain our language and French laws. IDIOT!
ReplyDeleteActually it was a king (George III). You might also want to check out the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in which he gave our ancestors 18 months to get the f&%$ out of Quebec if they didn’t like the idea of being British subjects. Check out Article IV. It’s all there. RETARD !
> Justement la grande tendance actuelle est le retour aux années 70-80(musique,mode et pouquoi pas lois).BANG!!!Vous êtes out!
La tendance actuelle est en fait « anything goes ». Voilà ce qui explique le free-for-all.
> I think when you study law as long as I did I kow what I am talking about.
It’s not how long you spend *doing* the program, it’s the skills and knowledge you pick up while you’re there. You might want to ask for your money back because they don’t seem to have fostered (or encouraged you to develop) strong reason and debating skills.
On the upside, you should be able to land a job at that FOX News-style channel that PKP’s looking to start without trying too hard.
> Bill 101 is a legitimate fence to people's right and to preserve their intellectual property.
“Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
The Russians thought the Berlin Wall was a legitimate fence to put up to protect their system and the people they were holding hostage against all those “corrupting” Western freedoms. The Wall fell and the Russians have had to play catch-up ever since. Quebecers have no need for fences whose only effect will be to hamper the integration we deserve, and which will inevitably happen soon.
By the way, intellectual property is a federal jurisdiction. You don’t even need to be a Law student to figure that out.
Besides, some things are best left unpatented...
> You might also want to check out the Royal Proclamation of 1763 […]
ReplyDeleteCorrection: it was the Treaty of Paris (also 1763) whose Article IV provided the departure clause:
“His Britannick Majesty farther agrees, that the French inhabitants, or others who had been subjects of the Most Christian King in Canada, may retire with all safety and freedom wherever they shall think proper, and may sell their estates, provided it be to the subjects of his Britannick Majesty, and bring away their effects as well as their persons, without being restrained in their emigration, under any pretence whatsoever, except that of debts or of criminal prosecutions: The term limited for this emigration shall be fixed to the space of eighteen months, to be computed from the day of the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty.”
Appareil à shit:
ReplyDeleteAlways the same insults from you, always the same style, you are your own monster, your own King in a Chateau de cartes.
Live and Let live
appareil à shit.
"By God, I'll boot the rear end of anyone (in QC) who can't speak English. In our day and times, a small people like us must speak English." Jacques Parizeau Time Magazine Monday, Apr. 13, 1992
ReplyDeleteSo are they a small people that need to speak English, or are they a big proud people with their own language that will suffice? I've heard both versions of this story, often uttered by the same individual.
Nothing beats the separatist double talk. These people flip flop and contradict themselves at every turn. Latest example of this split personality double talk nonsense is Pierre Curzi. On the Jean-Luc Mongrain show, he was defending his idea of extending 101 to cegeps in order to “defend” French, at the same time adding that English is so important in today’s world that he supports the idea of more intense English instruction in francophone schools. Go figure.
You literally cannot tell what the Quebec elite stands for, what they really think, what they really want, what their ideals are, where they’re going. They cannot be taken seriously, and neither can their apparent goal – the so called (mutually exclusive) idea of “sovereignty-association”. This oxymoron perfectly encapsulates the ambiguity, indecisiveness, and the lack of coherence of this entire movement, and underlines its true nature – that there is really no definable end objective. The only goal is to maintain confusion and uncertainty, and keep the people (i.e. the cattle) on their toes.
@A non uh moose, 5:05 PM
ReplyDelete> Always the same insults from you […]
With the exception of my “RETARD” outburst in response to Étoile’s previous “IDIOT” comment, I wasn’t being insulting. I was responding methodically (and in most cases, quite respectfully) to comments that I read and felt strongly enough about to answer.
Perhaps you’re overly sensitive to what you consider “insults” when it would be better to focus on the substance of my comment.
> […] always the same style […]
You got me! But to be honest, I wasn’t trying to be somebody else. And I always use the same pseudonym. So I don’t see what you’re getting at.
> […] you are your own monster […]
I like to think we’re all responsible for our own shortcomings. But somehow I doubt this is what you were getting at.
> […] your own King in a Chateau de cartes.
I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not. I’m a concerned citizen who loves my city, province, and country. I speak multiple languages and I want to keep it that way. I think if I can find a way to happily and successfully balance (I prefer the term “integrate”) my franco, allo, and anglo “identities” without making it a personal obsession, then I don’t see how nearly 8 million others can’t do the same. I happen to be sick and tired of spin doctors who distract us from our real problems. Put two languages (or more) on all the fucking signs; teach people that they don’t have the luxury to resist learning either one, work twelve hour days, and, rather than whine about it, be glad to live in a multilingual environment.
No matter where you live, EVERYBODY speaks coin.
> So are they a small people that need to speak English, or are they a big proud people with their own language that will suffice? I've heard both versions of this story, often uttered by the same individual. […] Nothing beats the separatist double talk. […] The only goal is to maintain confusion and uncertainty, and keep the people (i.e. the cattle) on their toes.
Agreed. More than simply being put off by the notion outright, I’m personally made exponentially more uneasy by the dearth of clear vision associated with the independence project. Even if I agreed to the idea in principle, I haven’t been convinced that “entering the lobster trap” is such a good idea. Especially not with the current crop of snake oil peddlers. The only thing that surprises me is that the idea has held the appeal that it has – uncertainty notwithstanding – for so long.
If the effect of the Quiet Revolution on Catholicism has taught me anything, it’s that we can rebel against our “own” shamans just as well as we can against our “invaders”. I suspect we’ll one day denounce the religious zeal with which some of us currently believe we should apply certain parts of our language laws for the repression and missed opportunities that they wring upon our society.
Maybe after that we could be as comfortable being francophones as we are being Catholic.
[@anonymous 5:05 PM
ReplyDeleteAlways the same insults from you, always the same style, you are your own monster, your own King in a Chateau de cartes.
Live and Let live
appareil à shit.]
Funny he demolishes your retarded point that you presented as fact, it seems he proved your facts to be incorreect, and what is your answer...yep usual seppie soupe au lait he throws insults.
Grow up.
I AM JUST SICK OF BEING SINCE AS A "PHONE" INSTEAD OF A HUMAN BEING!!!! I am sick of these excuses that the hateful anti-anglos give that they treat us as second-class citizens because they are trying to preserve Quebec culture. It's time to wake up and realize that we are part of Quebec culture. WE EXIST! STOP TRYING TO SWEEP US UNDER THE RUG!!!! If the type of discrimination that anglos undergo in Quebec were directed at any other ethnic or linguistic group there would be international outrage. It is absolutely ridiculous and all these crazy French people need to stop being paranoid, stop discriminating and grow up. English speakers: don't accept Quebecois hate and bigotry, you HAVE human rights, despite what they would have you believe. You are a person, not a phone.
ReplyDelete