Too Many 'French' Stores in English Shopping Centre

I don't imagine a newspaper story with the above storyline, would go over big in the Montreal Gazette, wherein the writer complains that there are too many stores with French names in the Fairview Mall, in the decidedly English-speaking town of Pointe Claire, a suburb of Montreal.

I think it would be fair to say that the spectre of racism would be raised rather quickly by readers who would rightfully wonder as to what kind of twisted mind would write such a story and what rag of a newspaper would print it.
No, the Montreal Gazette would not print such a story, but transpose the word  'English' with 'French' and yesiree, the Journal de Montreal has no problem printing that very same story, written by Quebec's most renowned Anglophobe journalist Gilles Proulx. LINK 

"Walking through the Champlain Mall, the 2011 version, with a plethora of stores with English names, I've seen the Quebec of the future. And yes, Greater Montreal will end up a giant West Island (Montreal's anglophone bastion-ed.)
(En me promenant dans le Mail Champlain mouture 2011 avec sa pléthore de raisons sociales anglaises, j'ai vu le Québec de demain. Eh oui, le Grand Montréal finira par devenir un immense West Island.) LINK 

Ever since the death of Pierre Falardeau, Gilles Proulx acceded to the position as Quebec's most vocal Anglophobe, but unlike Mr. Falardeau, who in spite of his Anglophobia, was a likeable and talented artist, with a rakish sense of humour and an impish smile, Mr. Proulx has no such redeeming characteristics.
Proulx is a nasty sort, who on an ongoing basis, launches into  the most hysterical rants casting Francophones as the sad and unfortunate victims of the evil Anglo colonizers.

When Mr. Proulx gets into the subject of the English or Canada, his voice rises an octave or two, into a annoyingly high pitched screech that  mocks and denigrates, which he uses to underline his visceral hated of the English.

The facts are not particularly useful to Mr. Proulx, his sarcastic portrayal of Anglos is based on outdated stereotypes, false impressions interspersed with outright falsehoods.

In a recent rant on television, during which he used the perjoritive "Têtes carrée" to decribe the English  he  accused English high school students of being unable to carry on a conversation in French, an outrageous falsehood.

In a typical rant, Mr. Proulx complains that on a recent visit to a shopping mall in the the Montreal suburb of Brossard, he noticed that too many stores names had English names and concludes that Quebec is on the way to Anglicization.

"David's Tea, Jugo Juice, Foot Locker, USA, Only, Naturalizer,  Children's Place, President Stone, Foxy, Trade Secrets, Game Buzz, Style Exchange, Faces, Little Burgundy, Key West, Payless Shoe store, Access, Urban Planet,  D-tox, RW Co, Jones and Sweet Factory...
...And I'm not mentioning  Stokes, Starbucks' Coffee, Bentley, or all the other  Italian names followed by an 'S' . No doubt its no longer necessary to impose Bill 101."

What an utter crock!
Mr. Proulx complains he found about 50 examples of stores with English appellations.
According to the shopping centre's own website there are 137 and restaurants stores in the mall.
Here's a list, with the stores with clearly English names highlighted by myself.

1850   A&W   Access   Aldo  Amir   Amnesia   Archambault   Ardène   Atmosphère   Banque Scotia   Bell   Bentley   Bijouterie Sirène   Bikini Village   Bizou   Bleu Lavande    Bowring    Brûlerie St-Denis (Les Ailes)   Café Dépôt   Caleçons vos goûts  Calin Caline   Caroline Néron   Cazza Petite   Centre du Rasoir   Clair de Lune    Claire France    Mode 14+   Clinique Dentaire Champlain   Colori   Comneuf    Le fil Enchanté   D-Tox   Dans un Jardin   David's Tea   De Neuville Coiffure et Spa    Diamants Élinor    Doucet    Dynamite     Ecco    Emotions    Ernest   F.X. LaSalle    Faces  Fido  Foot Locker   Foxy   Freedom   Fruits & Passion   Gaby  Game Buzz    GNC Bien Vivre   Gourmet Santé   Greiche & Scaff    H&M   Hallmark   Hugo Boss   Jack & Jones    Jacob   Joshua Perets   Jugo Juice    Key West    Kojax    Koodo Mobile    La Baie  La Bonbonnière   La Capsule Sportive    La Crémière   La Forfaiterie    La Senza   La Source par Circuit City   La Vie en Rose   Laura Secord   Lavigueur   Le Château   Le Naturiste   Le Tambourin   Les Ailes de la Mode  Les Gaufres    Les Montres Ramnik   Limité   Little Burgundy  Locale   Loto Québec   Venise  Magenta Studio Photo   Manteaux Manteaux   Marie-Claire  Masako Sushi    Monaco   Naturalizer  Panda   Paris Coiffure Elle et Lui   Payless Shoesource    Pik Nik  Place Tevere  Polar Ice  President Stone RBC Banque Royale Reitmans    Restaurant L'Académie   Ribelle   Rinascimento   Roger Roy   Rogers Sans Fil   Rudsak  RW & Co.  SAQ Classique   Sears   Sirens    Sports Experts   Spring    Starbucks    Stokes   Stylexchange   Subway  Sul Posto   Suzy Shier   Swarovski  Tabagie Champlain    Taylor    Télus    Mobilité   Tendances Chaussures     Teriyaki   Terra Nostra    Thaï Express    The Children's Place  Zara   Tiki Ming   Toxik    Trade Secrets    Tristan     U.S.A.    Urban Planet  Van Houtte Café   Vidéotron    Virgin Mobile    XXI Forever  Yves Rocher 

All of a sudden the English predominance doesn't seem so high when compared to the total. Now by my count, there' only about 20-25 stores with English names, about half what Mr. Proulx claims.
Typical.
I haven't included proper names like Stokes or Bentley, as Mr. Proulx must have, to arrive at his figure. To do so is pure unadulterated racism. Under his scenario, F.X Lasalle and Van Houtte are kosher while Stokes and Bentley are offensive.  Bah!
By the way, a bunch of those stores with the offending English names are owned by Quebec francophones!

Now it would be easy to cite the current trend of globalization and the American retail invasion of Canada as an answer as to why there are more English stores, but that would be to admit that Mr.
Proulx's premise is true, which it is not.

Mr. Proulx intimates that the overall collective of stores is getting more and more English when in fact it is getting more and more French!


As an old retailer, I can tell you that forty years ago, there was hardly a French name in the retail game.
Mr. Proulx has either a very short or selective memory.

Eaton's, Morgan's, Direct Film, Fith Avenue, Sam the Record Man, Discus, Martinizing, Sweet Jeans, Steinberg, Dominion, A&P, Miracle Mart, Wise, to name just a very few.
There are literally dozens and dozens of English chains, big and small,  that have disappeared, to be replaced by up and coming francophone retailers.

Mr. Proulx uses the same false argument that says Montreal signage is becoming more bilingual. Hogwash.
When I was a kid, there wasn't a commercial, traffic or government sign that wasn't bilingual.

It's tired and false, but repeated often enough, well...............