Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Don't Count Sovereignists Out

There's little doubt that the sovereignty movement suffered a monumental setback with the massive defeat of the Bloc Quebecois in last month's federal election.
The electoral bashing was as painful to the sovereigntists as it was satisfying to federalists.

Things went from bad to worse with the recent defection of four hard-line sovereigntists from the PQ caucus, ostensibly over the Pauline Marois' forced support of Bill 204, a law designed to shield the city of Quebec from any legal action in relation to its arena with Quebecor, but in reality a denunciation of the party's go-slow approach to sovereignty.

Falling polling numbers indicate that the party is now trailing the Liberals, an unimagined turn of events that few would have predicted just one month ago.

To make matters worse, Francois Legault finally announced that he will be launching his new party in the fall and appears to have more support than anyone else. It's abundantly clear that Quebecers  are tired of hearing about sovereignty and referendums. Mr. Legault has cleverly positioned his party as nationalist, but has wisely excluded talk of  the big "R" or the big "S"

It's heady days for Quebec federalists, with newspaper article after newspaper article heralding the final demise of the Quebec sovereignty movement, but before breaking out the champagne we would be wise to reconsider that conventional wisdom.
I am reminded of the famous retort that the famous American novelist and humorist, Mark Twain made after hearing that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal.

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated!"

No, there's little doubt that the movement has suffered a setback, but those of us in the federalist camp who believe that the movement will peter out and die are sadly optimistic and perhaps are viewing events through rose-coloured glasses.

Looking at the situation realistically and unemotionally, we must reluctantly admit that despite recent events, not much has changed over the last ten or fifteen years in terms of support for the sovereignty option.
Notwithstanding the election results and falling polling numbers, support for sovereignty remains remarkably resilient and at a level that should continue to make life uncomfortable for federalist Quebeckers.
Despite all the sovereigntist bad news, between 35% and 45% of Quebeckers still remain committed to the ideal of independence.
And so if support for the movement remains stable, it would be fair to ask what happened in the last federal election and what happened to the Parti Quebecois' fall from grace.

In a word - fatigue.

Quebeckers have come to realize that right now and for the foreseeable future, the votes for sovereignty are just not there and they are tired of fighting and losing.
The 50% plus one referendum rule is a double-edged sword. Lose by just one vote and Quebec sovereignty is a no-go, as we came to learn in the last referendum.
As the old saying goes, "Close only counts in Horseshoes and hand grenades"

In many respects Quebec is less ready for independence than it was in 1995 when the second ever-so-close referendum took place.
Since then, the province has accepted almost 400,000 immigrants who will massively vote NO in a future referendum. Quebec's finances are in disarray and the province has piled on tens of billions of dollars in additional debt. Dependence on Ottawa's largess via equalization payments is at a record high and public confidence in its institutions and politicians (of all stripes) is at a record low.

Many Quebeckers who remain sovereignist are also pragmatists who realize that Quebec is in a mess. They've decided that it's time to put the sovereignty option on the back burner and concentrate on the more pressing issue at hand, getting the provincial house in order.

It's a concept that the old sovereigntist guard led by Jacques Parizeau have difficulty accepting. Facing down their twilight years, he and his aging cohorts simply don't have the time to wait for conditions to improve and so they selfishly demand that Quebec give it that another roll of the referendum dice, with the odds stacked badly against them. This reckless attitude, afforded by the comfort of a secure retirement, had the Young Turks of the Parti Quebecois seeing red. Just last week, they sent a polite letter to Parizeau telling him to butt out of affairs.

Intuitively, most sovereignist Quebeckers realize that the option must be put on hold until conditions improve, not necessarily sovereigntist conditions, but the general political and economic climate that has hit rock bottom.

Those Canadians smugly satisfied that the sovereignty threat is gone are sadly mistaken.

The 35%-45% number of sovereignty supporters remains problematic and disquieting.

I recall Richard Nixon's bold trip to China, at the height of the cold war in 1972  and the subsequent  opening up of relations between the America and the Eastern giant.
It seemed that a Conservative president accomplished what no Democrat was able to do. It was an unexpected and brilliant coup.

In this respect I believe that Stephen Harper, in a position of strength and power, can have the confidence and determination to do what no Liberal could achieve. That is to make a constitutional deal that would drive sovereignist numbers way down.
Now is the time.
While the militant sovereignist would bray at any deal, most Quebeckers realize that perhaps half a loaf of bread is better than none.

If Canadians think that the prospect is not in their interest, they are wrong.

40 comments:

  1. Editor, I think you've either got nerve, or you lost it! Exactly WHAT "deal" do you have in mind? What I have in mind is to take that knife held for so long at the Real Canada's throat and put it right back to Quebec's jugular.

    I am affronted you'd actually write what you did those last two paragraphs, and I'm NOT ready to use that proverbial knife to give Quebec a razor-thin SLICE of that loaf!

    I think if Harper opened that can of worms, it would set off what Obummer did when he said peace in the Middle East can only be achieved if Israel concedes its land holding won fair and square in the 1967 war. The Palestinians would say "OK" to that, for now, and in time still want all of Israel.

    Quebec would be NO different. Not one bloody iota! We (meaning the Real Canada) have given them one slice after another and they still wanted the whole loaf.

    I really think it's time to put Quebec to a test, and I'll fully accept the consequences if Quebec separates once and for all because it will end the squabbling once and for all. Quebec can suffer the consequences of its fiscal irresponsibility and Canada's fiscal drag. Saving the $10 billion plus will cut our deficit by $10+ billion! That's 20% of Canada's deficit from last year gone in one fell swoop!

    Better than that, with Quebec out of the way, we can eliminate official bilingualism as no more than 5% of the rest of Canada is French mother tongued, and besides, they already have no choice but to speak English. Their other choice would be to go live in Quebec since Quebec proclaims itself protector of the French language everywhere in Canada. The elimination of the Official Languages Commission and its commissioner would result in substantial cash savings. That means lower product costs and less tax.

    Half of Quebec's dairy industry would be dead in the whey. Who would want to buy foreign milk and butter when Canadian farmers could pick up the slack domestically? Their specialty cheeses may still sell, but that's only a small portion of their dairy industry.

    They could still export their asbestos to India, hockey players to the NHL teams outside Quebec (because they wouldn't want to play in Quebec due to economic conditions and taxes after separation, and the crazy French sports media).

    I remember Trudeau (the past PM, not the future leader of the federal Liberals whose relevance will be reduced to nil with a separated Quebec) once stating Quebec would have to speak MORE English if they separate than they do now...that is, if they want to sell their products and services in North America. I'm sure Guy Laliberté for one can fully attest to that.

    For those who have no ambition to conduct business beyond Quebec's borders (and those may be reduced when partition starts, and it will, given separation), being unilingual French will suffice, and what's to say one cannot make a good living in a market of 7 million people (given partition doesn't unsettle things). Maple syrup and La Belle Fermière food products won't suffer. Neither will minor league hockey and Humpty Dumpty and their savory snack foods.

    I dunno, Editor. I think it's time the Real Canada takes past concessions back slice by slice. Maybe the full half loaf in one fell swoop.

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  2. The Quebec separation debate is getting stale. We're all in the same canoe. It's high time we all start paddling in the same direction.

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  3. The movement cannot be discounted if you get to the bottom of it and realize what it really is - an extortion racket. In this sense, why end it? It keeps the goodies flowing Quebec's way.

    Even Quebec "federalist" politicians like Charest like to remind us from time to time that separatists are lurking around the corner, ready to pounce if we (Canadians in and out of Quebec) misbehave. So we better behave, or else...

    This whole thing makes me yawn, but many people in Canada and Quebec still buy it, and Quebec skillfully capitalizes on it as it has for over 50 years now.

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  4. Anonymous said...@8:41 AM
    "We're all in the same canoe. It's high time we all start paddling in the same direction."

    What a perfectly "Canadian" way to phrase it.

    @Editor. Seriously? The last time a conservative
    majority tried to get a deal it worked so well!
    It made the bloqheads and Bouchard.

    DD

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  5. Editor: "The 35%-45% number of sovereignty supporters remains problematic and disquieting. "

    Editor, have you ever paused to think why this number always hovers around 40-45%? I mean, it never goes down to negligible levels of 10-15%, and it never surpasses the 50% (both of these scenarios could put the issue to rest). Instead, it stays at a level that doesn't resolve the issue and creates an atmosphere of uncertainty.

    Hmmm....is it possible that there are political forces that profit from this uncertainty? I wonder...

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  6. Don't count out the separatists, they have an anthem!

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  7. No deal with kebec period, until they repeal the racist, bigoted anti-English language law, bill 101.

    Enough is enough. Decades of blackmail, fraud, money laundering, equalization payments (billions) anti-English language laws, bills 22, 178, 101…it just never ends. People from your province forced phony bilingual laws on the rest of the country while these same hypocrites knowingly allowed the English language and culture to be wiped out in kebec. Thats right, Trudeau, Chretien, and Quellete are the only people to sighed the constitution, all from Kebec.

    The charter needs to be repealed ASAP, bring this mess to Kebec where it belongs, where it came from… we need to go back to our proud and real BNA, the founding constitution of a united Dominion of Canada.

    Ac for kebec, separate, but you will leave with boundaries of 1867, partition yes, ask the natives…then get lost language Nazis, we have had it with you. You are a disgrace to the country.

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  8. Editor: "That is to make a constitutional deal that would drive sovereignist numbers way down."

    Editor, there is nothing a Canadian Prime Minister can or cannot do that would bring the numbers down. Why? Because it is in the interest of Quebec that the numbers remain safely high - safely meaning so as to keep Quebec in Canada, and Canada on its toes. 40% is a perfect number for that purpose.

    No matter what Harper does, it will just lead to more demands. And the support for "sovereignty" will remain as manufactured: at 40%. No matter what.

    Editor, we're not dealing with oppressed people who just want justice here. We're dealing with conniving hucksters and manipulators.

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  9. ...to adski: "Or else", you say. Tell Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest that as far as I'm concerned, WE'RE ON!

    DD, well put. Tu te souviens, et je me souviens!

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  10. I fully agree with Adksi on all of this. The level of separatistes is carefull left at 40% or so to keep up the charade that they might leave and harm Canada to some degree. The sooner the ROC wakes up to this blackmail the better Canada will be. Read Scowen's book " Its Time to Say Goodby (building a stronger Canada without Quebec). A stronger Canada in the subtitle of the book says it all. In fact, Canada would be a much stronger country without Quebec.

    Why you might ask?

    No more equalization payments to fund the expensive social programs of those in Quebec that other provinces don't enjoy themselves.

    No more official languages act as MG referred to. This program by conservative estimates has cost the country 300 to 400 billion dollars and has produced no tangible results except for a lot of money being pissed down the river. This, brought to us by PET in and effort to bring better unity. Give me a break. It was a damned make work project for francos in the civil service of Canada. Get real with bilingualism. Outside of Quebec and NB there really is no significant amount of French spoken (and never will be).

    No more farm subsidies to Quebec such as the dairy subsidy guaranteeing Quebec over 50% of subsidies when they represent only 23% of the population.

    No more need to stack the supreme court with 33% of positions for 23% of population. Quebec has always been over-represented.

    No more embarrassment on the international stage with idiots such as Charest in Copenhagen criticizing the West. ( All the time exporting Asbestos to third world countries) Again, don't you all see the hypocracy that is Quebec.

    Quebec has systematically been blackmailing the ROC for years and it is time that it stopped.

    You want to stay, no more special treatments and entitlements, just because you speak "Joual".

    If Quebec wants to leave let them go and negotiate a hard settlement as well as give Montreal a chance to partition and remain in Canada as the Natives will do anyways.

    The separation issue is one which has been utilized by Quebec to milk the ROC.

    Hopefully, the people in the real Canada will wake up one day, and force the politicians to end this planned extortion by Quebec, inflicted on the honest taxpayers in the ROC. In fact, the separation issue is akin to a dog with rubber teeth. We all know, including the editor, that Quebec is in dire straits economically and a distinct country would be a recipe for disaster.

    This leads me to my final comment which is from past actions over the last 40 years Quebec (and the Quebecois) are a greedy, self serving people who have no regret about screwing the rest of their neighbors to benefit themselves.

    The facts clearly speak for themselves.

    Westerner

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  11. Editor, is it this comment that prompted you to write this last entry?

    Haïti chérie dit: Je vous signale qu'il y a un appui constant à la souveraineté qui se situe autour de 40 %, c'est sans compter les indécis qui changent d'avis comme ils changent de cravates

    Well, we cannot disagree with her about the actual percentage, but we must also remember what people like this are really about, and that this percentage is manufactured for political ends.

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  12. "Haïti chérie dit: Je vous signale qu'il y a un appui constant à la souveraineté qui se situe autour de 40 %, c'est sans compter les indécis qui changent d'avis comme ils changent de cravates."

    Tellement vrai que si vous réalisiez un sondage le jour de notre fête nationale,vous auriez un score se situant entre 45% et 60%.
    Que voulez-vous nous sommes un peuple émotif.

    Vivement un référendum le jour de la St-Jean Baptiste!!!

    Hors propos : DD est-ce en rapport avec votre poitrine?

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  13. Editor, is it possible that I miss such an Untermensch like Press9? People, people, I need advice from you...

    By the way, the sovereignty idea is dead. Who keeps on wallowing in it, leaves in the past. Who leaves in the past is dead. And as my favorite German author, Werner Koch, says: "you cannot love dead people anymore: you can just remember them, but cannot love them anymore".

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  14. "La soif d'autonomie et d'indépendance de la nation Québécoise est comme un volcan dormant.
    Ne vous fiez surtout pas au apparences."

    -Wiener Cock

    Traduction libre de l'oeuvre originale allemande.

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  15. "We're all in the same canoe. It's high time we all start paddling in the same direction." Vous avez bien raison, quand allez-vous vous décider à voter oui ?

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  16. Haïti chérie dit: À WESTALLOPHONE: Il ne faut jamais vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué, vous connaissez l'adage ? Vous pourriez être surpris... Je vous signale qu'entre 1980 et 1995, il y a eu 9 % de plus pour le oui... Je vous signale aussi qu'on ne peut forcer un prisonnier à aimer son gardien...

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  17. Haïti chérie dit:Pour un fois, Jean Charest avait dit quelque chose de sensé à ce sujet en disant que l'option de l'indépendance était toujours légitimes pour un bon nombre de citoyens. Contrairement aux fédéralistes qui font l'autruche en mettant de côté l'insatisfaction constitutionnelle des souverainistes...

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  18. Press 9 said...
    "est-ce en rapport avec votre poitrine"

    No, my stomach. Bullshit and stupidity make
    me nauseous.

    "l'insatisfaction constitutionnelle des souverainistes"

    Yeah, like that.

    DD

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  19. Haïti chérie, you give me an impression of someone who thinks that people are STILL fazed by a possibility of Quebec's secession. Let me burst your bubble - most people aren't.

    The bureaucracy in Ottawa might be fazed to a certain extent, but that's only because their personal interests (their livelihood, source of income) are on the line. Outside of Ottawa, nobody cares.

    And remember, a lot of bureaucrats in Ottawa are Francophone Quebeckers. Ironic, isn't it?

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  20. ...to Haïti chérie, Press 9, and actually back up the page to Grant as well: I DARE, DOUBLE DARE AND TRIPLE DARE Quebec to separate. I too read Reed Scowen's book, Mordechai Richler's book, Michel Gratton's book (the out-of-print "French Canadians: An Outsider's Inside Look...") and a whole serious study by Marc V. Levine from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee entitled "The Reconquest of Montreal: Language Policy and Social Change in a Bilingual City". A lot of information learned.

    I'm also in the hunt for another out-of-print book by Yolanda East Cossette, entitled "The Weak Link: Quebec: What the French fact is Costing Canada".

    Scowen most interestingly points out that the so-called federalists who are Francophone (I think the two are mutually exclusive and they are a rare breed) don't sell their French speaking cohorts on the positives of Canada, but on endlessly estimating how much separation would cost, both monetarily, and in terms of what it would take to provide the current level of goods and services paid for on the public purse.

    Marcel Côté, a good friend of Scowen's, a self-proclaimed staunch federalist and a founding partner in a successful management consulting firm serving government, wrote in a publication of his that Quebec's first voice is the Quebec government, not the federal government. If this is how staunch a federalist gets in Quebec, we don't need more Francophone federalists!!!

    Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest's antics last year about replacing the unconstitutional Bill 104 and how he sat on his hands while brutal bureaucrats absolutely would not allow a child with learning challenges to attend an English school. Section 81 of Bill 101, the Great Charter of Charters, makes provisions under such circumstances for challenged children to attend English schools. Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest's reaction to this story convinced me once and for all there are no Francophone federalists left in Quebec.

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  21. "Bullshit and stupidity make
    me nauseous."

    Vous êtes une personne fragile.Je vous suggère d'éviter tout sujet politique et qu'un peu de repos hors du Québec vous ferait le plus grand bien.

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  22. "...Charter of Charters, makes provisions under such circumstances for challenged children to attend English schools."

    De plus en plus difficile de trouver des écoles anglophones au Québec.Le choix est beaucoup plus vaste au Canada et aux É.U.Parfois les gens se retrouve au mauvais endroit au mauvais moment et que voulez-vous?La loi,c'est la loi.

    "I DARE, DOUBLE DARE AND TRIPLE DARE Quebec to separate."

    Alors,j'espère que vous serez des nôtres au prochain référendum.Vous savez,les anglos pro "oui" se font plutôt rares et je vous trouve de plus en plus sympathique ;D

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  23. To adski

    Je trouve que pour quelqu'un d'indifférent au sujet de la nation Québécoise,vous intervenez très souvent sur ce blogue,quotidiennement en fait.

    Chez nous,nous avons ce merveilleux dicton:
    "Faudrait que les bottines suivent les babines".

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  24. "Je trouve que pour quelqu'un d'indifférent au sujet de la nation Québécoise,vous intervenez très souvent sur ce blogue,quotidiennement en fait."

    I am not indifferent, however, to the exploitation of the culture and language issue by Quebec to further its interests at the expense of other people inhabiting this country.

    Two different things. You may be totally indifferent about the culture and the customs of the Sikhs and feel no need to have anything to do with them, for example, but the minute they start knocking at the doors of your power centers demanding privileges for their religious groups, you will react accordingly.

    So an ideal situation would be if you took your culture and your language out of politics and make it a private matter. Then, you would hear nothing from me on the subject.

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  25. Press 9 said...

    "Vous êtes une personne fragile."

    Really? You're the one (and the rest of the
    sepperheads) that constantly lives in "fear"
    of "les autres" and feels racist laws are a
    justified response.

    As for the rest of your post, you've already
    quoted an appropriate response.

    If you want something REAL to worry about:

    http://strats4ever.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/silver-sale-continues-why-paper-is-trash-a-french-hstory-lesson/

    As adski put it...
    "So an ideal situation would be if you took your culture and your language out of politics and make it a private matter" or you could keep
    wandering around with your head up your arse.

    In Canada, c'est votre choix.

    DD

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  26. "The Quebecois are gutless group of people..."

    Les fédérastes...Oui.Pas les seppies :D

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  27. "...but the minute they start knocking at the doors."

    Petit problème adski car si je comprend bien il s'agit de NOS portes.Se pourrait-il que vous viviez sur un territoire qui ne vous convient pas du tout?Ça ne doit pas être évident de vivre en conflit quotidiennement avec son environnement.De plus,vous devez certainement comprendre le français puisque vous me lisez.

    J'avoue que j'ai du mal a saisir votre situation:Un anglophile américanisé presque anglophage selon vos propos,vivant au SEUL et je dis bien,LE SEUL endroit en amérique ou il est interdit d'afficher en anglais.Êtes-vous stupide ou simplement très très malchanceux?

    Je crois bien que c'est la quatrième fois que je vous pose cette question mais toujours sans réponse ou si peu.Y'a quelque chose qui cloche.XD!XD!

    "You may be totally indifferent about the culture and the customs of the Sikhs and feel no need to have anything to do with them."

    Adski!Youhou!Je n'habite pas chez les sikhs et
    si c'était le cas, je ferais des efforts d'adaptation,croyez-moi.
    Vous débutez votre affirmation sur une prémisse totalement fausse.Adski,vous vivez au Québec,vous ne pourrez pas nous éviter XD!XD!

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  28. ...to Press 9: You responded «Alors,j'espère que vous serez des nôtres au prochain référendum.Vous savez,les anglos pro "oui" se font plutôt rares et je vous trouve de plus en plus sympathique»

    You're reading into what a wrote what you WANT to believe. I've said and written many, many times that people see what they WANT to see, hear what they WANT to hear, and belive what they WANT to believe. It's self-interest, and I suppose we act on our self-interests, i.e., it's human nature.

    Anyway, I'm sure you realize our agendas for separation couldn't be more different. Those old relics of the past, like Parasite, Landry, Laurin, Lazure et al were looking to be the first royal family of a politically new state. You want to exalt and revere them, that's your privilege.

    My agenda would be to watch the rats go down with the ship. While Parasite spoke of keeping the Canadian dollar, that would be quite the paradox. After aspiring to found a new nation, politically autonomous to being tied to Canada, why would a new nation want its monetary policy set by a foreign country, especially the one they loathe?

    Considering 4 million Quebeckers speak little or inadequate English, have the highest

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  29. "So an ideal situation would be if you took your culture and your language out of politics and make it a private matter"

    Pourrions-nous parler français dans les endroits publiques? SVP maître,dites oui.
    Typiquement anglo-colonisateur du début du siècle...Totalement pathétique même si c'est
    une blague!

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  30. "Considering 4 million Quebeckers speak little or inadequate English...."

    Tout a fait normal car voyez-vous,nous ne sommes pas anglais!N'ayez crainte,nous maîtrisons le globish lorsqu'il est nécessaire.

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  31. ...to Anon @ 4:14pm: Actually, I never finished my thought before posting. No, you're not "English", but given separation, who's going to speak French to you from outside Quebec? St-Pierre and Miquelon? Unless they import milk, they'll have no business with Quebec. Haiti? They're still living in the ruins created by that earthquake a couple of years ago, so they can't even afford to buy your milk! La Martinique? I guess they only learned there is a Quebec when the first tourists arrived, and only because they speak French.

    No, Anon, 4 million of your ilk can't "maîtriser" English when necessary, and it is THOSE of your ilk who WILL become Parasite's proverbial "lobsters trapped in the boiling pot". The only parts of the Americas they'll be able to frequent are those tiny island nations that are pretty much satellites of France.

    It's no skin off my nose if NO Francophones speak English because it limits you commercially, and how can you hope to prosper by limiting your prospects for clients in your neighbourhood.

    Anon @ 4:06: Certainement vous pouvez parler français n'importe o⌂, n'importe quand. We are NOT your masters (you're obviously being sarcastic). A long time ago at my work, there were two ladies speaking an East Asian language and I asked facitiously if they could provide subtitles. They said they couldn't quite jovially, but that's the enriching diversity of life in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

    Cultural diversity is educational and rounds out the individual without leaving one's environs. The homogeneity Quebec society seems to be demanding makes for what could be described at best as a two-dimensional society, even less than that if it's at all possible.

    The $5 million waste of taxpayers' money known as the Bouchard-Taylor commission sized up how Quebec is attempting to culturally imprison itself, and you can have it!

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  32. "who's going to speak French to you from outside Quebec?"

    Les mêmes qu'aujourdhui:57 États dans 29 pays
    et surement vous-même,puisque nous avons cette conversation.

    D'autres questions faciles?

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  33. “Je n'habite pas chez les sikhs”

    Montreal is more than half non-Francophone at this point, so you may find yourself living amongst people of many different backgrounds and cultures. People who are taxpayers too, so they are entitled to self-serving expectations and aspirations. Some of these aspirations may even come at the expense of Quebec's Francophone population.

    Considering demographic shifts (immigration and birth rates), you can expect non-Francophones to be increasingly (NOT decreasingly) demanding, independent, and even cheeky.

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  34. It's funny how in the opening post of this thread MGuy compares Palestine to Quebec. To me, it's Quebec that Israel resembles more than anything, especially in the sacred cow aspect, its expansionism, and the wall of lies on which both Quebec nationalism and zionism are built.

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  35. "Considering demographic shifts (immigration and birth rates), you can expect non-Francophones to be increasingly (NOT decreasingly) demanding, independent, and even cheeky..."

    Aucun problème adski!Avez-vous remarquez la déconfiture de Montréal dernièrement?Ça ressemble de plus en plus a toronto,une ville sans âme ou tout le monde baragouine le globish,le SEUL point commun de cette tour de babel.

    On dirait que moins il y a a de Québécois plus ça dégénère.Totalement invivable!Vous pouvez garder votre ile en totale décrépitude nous conserverons les zones humainement habitables.

    Bonne chance!

    Have nice week end kiki!

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  36. "People who are taxpayers too, so they are entitled to self-serving expectations and aspirations."

    Ces gens savaient (enfin ,je l'espère) avant d'immigrer ici,que le Québec est francophone et qu'ils doivent être assujettis a nos lois comme dans tout pays civilisé.

    N'ont-ils pas signé le contrat?

    Tant pis pour ceux qui l'apprennent aujourd'hui.

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  37. "Avez-vous remarquez la déconfiture de Montréal dernièrement?"

    Avez-vous remarqué la déconfiture du monde entier dernièrement?

    The world is becoming one huge, cheesy, and pretentious Disney themepark in which all languages other than American English are becoming exotic. And that includes the "non-standard" English like the UK English.

    In this mix there emerge people like your heros who offer no alternative at all. Unless you consider strict legislation, limited mobility, surveillance, financial penalty, intrusion into small business (with big business usually given a pass), social engineering, and excessive protectionism an alternative.

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  38. "N'ont-ils pas signé le contrat?"

    A memo needs to be sent out to remind them all about the contract. They must have forgotten about it.

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  39. ...to Anon June 17, 2011 9:16 AM: I was pertaining to your neighbours, wise guy, like nine other provinces and three territories of Canada, 50 U.S. states and her other seven posessions and the 29 United States of Mexico.

    These are YOUR neighbours, the closest customers in your proximity and the most likely people with whom you'd conduct business!

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  40. "Avez-vous remarqué la déconfiture du monde entier dernièrement?"

    Mais adski,votre français est excellent,vous avez même corrigé ma faute d'inattention....Bravo!

    Je sais très bien qu'au fond,vous êtes un brave type adski.

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