Thursday, August 25, 2011

Weekend Update volume 34

Gilles Proulx's Adventures in Fantasyland
Once again, Quebec's resident anglo basher Gilles Proulx has passed off as fact what is not, in his continuing battle to cast Quebec's English community as unilingual and arrogant.

Brian Mulroney's famous grouse against Bryce Mackasey, that "There's no whore like an old whore, can be aptly paraphrased to describe Gilles Proulx-,  'There's no bigot like an old bigot.

In another one of his tedious screeds that he penned in the Journal de Montreal he outlined a series of measures that he believes that Jean Charest needs to address. One of these issues is;
"The need to teach French in English schools starting in Grade One"
("La nécessité d'enseigner le français chez les Anglos dès la première année du primaire ") LINK
Readers, is there an English school in Quebec that doesn't teach French from grade one?

Clearly Mr. Proulx is out of touch with reality and its a bit sad that idiots like him are given a forum to misinform the public with outright nonsense, in an attempt to besmirch the reputation of an entire community and to foster discord.

Perhaps Mr. Proulx should have read this letter sent to Le Devoir by a French teacher in an English school, before mindlessly shooting his bigoted mouth off.
"I am writing to help demystify what English school in Quebec is .
Did you know that most schools of the English Montreal School board offer a bilingual education program (50% of the courses are in French and 50% are in English)? In addition, other English schools offer a more extensive program (immersion): Kindergarten to Grade 2, instruction exclusively in French, and in the third to sixth years, a bilingual education.

I am a French teacher in Grade 6 at  Gardenview
, an English school with a French immersion program. I teach the following subjects: French, social studies, art and religious ethics to a class, while my partner teaches English (first language) and mathematics. So I teach 50% of the curriculum in French with two classes and my partner 50% of the curriculum in English.

Believe it or not, my English students follow the same curriculum as the French school (we use the grammar book Guillemet 6). They converse, read and write without problems in both languages​​. Many of my students were accepted to private French schools. In addition, the immersion program continues in
Lauren Hill high school, but that immersion will be 70% to 30% French and English.

My question is: why is it that this aspect is never addressed by the Quebec media?"
Jean-Michel Brunet - June 3, 2010 LINK{FR}
Quebec government looking to muzzle free press
With most of the francophone media (87%) in favour of government regulation of the press and the creation of a 'professional' status bestowed by the government oversight agency, the group that represents mostly English and ethnic media is aghast at the idea.
An Affront to Free Expression ... by Beryl Wasjman for the Suburban 
"Over a year ago Dominique Payette, a former journalist and now professor at the Universite de Montreal, was mandated by Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre to study ways in which media in the regions of Quebec and independent presses in the cities could be helped in light of new technologies. Her final report, presented last week, went far beyond her mandate. In fact, it is the greatest affront to free expression since the language laws. It deserves a resounding rejection. Among her fifty-one recommendations are the following: mandatory membership by all news organizations in the Quebec Press Council; use of the state's money power to coerce membership by withdrawing provincial advertising to all those who will not submit; giving the council - now a voluntary organization with only moral suasion - sanction power; controlling who is called a journalist by organizing a professional corporation  to control admission and demanding language testing for all those seeking professional accreditation. "Accredited" journalists would be given preference for matters ranging from government information flow to protection of sources."
Read the rest of this article in the Suburban 

McGill 'modifies' MBA program to defend tuition hike 
With a wink and a nod McGill has been given permission to continue charging  $32,500 for it's MBA program.
The education department accepted a 'modified' plan and will no longer impose a 2 million dollar fine on the university for charging more than allowed.  LINK

Unionized Hydro Quebec workers to spend $2 million to fight progress
Union- Don't replace the tried and true!
The unionized workers of Hydro-Quebec are raising money by taxing members in order to raise a war-chest to fight the monopoly's decision to install automated electricity meters in homes and business', which would mean the loss of about 800 jobs among meter-readers. LINK
Said a union spokesman;
"If we lose this battle they'll be coming after our adding machines and fountain pens, carbon paper and fax machines. We'll be forced to give up our IBM Selectrics in favour if these newfangled computers which are completely unreliable"
WE'VE GOT TO DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND!"

Royal Bank embraces Bill 101- in New Brunswick!
It seems that the Royal Bank of Canada remains fully committed to French language rights and Bill 101, applying its rules to signs in of all places- a New Brunswick branch of the bank.
Activist Buddie Miller wrote to the bank seeking clarification of its policy. Here is the response;
Dear Buddie:
Your email message requesting clarification on RBC’s signage at our Dieppe, N.B. branch has been forwarded to my attention.
We recognize that New Brunswick is Canada's only official bilingual province and we work hard to ensure we are incorporating bilingualism into our business activities. Wherever there is a need for bilingual services, we have signs, information and advertising in both English and French, as well as staff who speak both languages.
When we make decisions regarding signage, we consider our merchandising rules, the size of our information material, available space and the configuration of the premises. We also want to be sensitive to the cultural and community environment in which we operate. In Dieppe, where the population is considered 75 per cent Francophone (according to the Town of Dieppe website), we elected to use a bilingual sign for the entrance of our branch which displays the French language first.
Through our investigation we determined that the signage you refer to was in fact developed by our national office to comply with Quebec language laws, as you reference in your email. Recognizing that this type of signage is not required in New Brunswick, we have begun taking steps to have this sign replaced to reflect French and English equally.
Thank you for highlighting your concerns to us.
Kind regards,
Hmmmm. Do you think the RBC would apply this noble policy to branches in Quebec towns that have a majority of English residents and make English the priority language?
How about making English the priority language at the RBC branch at branch at Cavendish/Kildaire  branch in Cote St. Luc where English residents outnumber Francophones by 3 to 1.
Ha!
Readers, say it with me--- "NOT A FRIGGING CHANCE!"

Montreal opposition leader proposes a "Diversity Office" to get rid of diversity
You'd think that the function of a "Diversity Office" would be to promote diversity, but not according to opposition leader Louise Harel.  She wants to create this office to hire ethnics minorities for city jobs, not to reflect Montreal's ethnic reality, but rather to assimilate them into Francophone culture and in order to promote the French language.
Very clever!     LINK

Note to Readers;
Last Monday I wrote  a piece entitled "Early Quebec Election? Don't Count on It,"
in which I predicted that, in spite of speculation, Premier Charest would not call an early election. On Wednesday, the Premier did in fact announce that such was the case. Link
No, I had no prior information as some readers emailed to inquire.
_________________________________________
Best line heard immediately after Tuesday's earthquake felt in Montreal'
"Oh, Oh! You think the Champlain bridge is still standing!"

Best line heard immediately after the Montreal mayor announced funding for a plan to knock down the Bonaventure Expressway
"Just give it time, It'll fall down by itself!"
 _________________________________________

Further reading:Weekend Review Volume 33

Have a good weekend!

37 comments:

  1. “to study ways in which media in the regions of Quebec and independent presses in the cities could be helped in light of new technologies.”

    I like the euphemism “helped”. It doesn’t sound as bad as “controlled”...

    The plan by the gov’t to set up this umbrella over the media is the end of the media. The fact that the media reps are willingly embracing the idea is a sign that they have no clue as to what their mission is – which first and foremost is to scrutinize the government and curb its excesses, NOT to collude with it.

    --------

    “In Dieppe, where the population is considered 75 per cent Francophone”

    And to think that I am a loyal RBC customer...

    OK, so if we go with this logic, then in any area of NB where francophones are in minority, the sizing on signage should be reversed, i.e. French half the size of English. Has this been done? No.

    So a double standard again in favor of the French language...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Intéressant.Les anglos du Québec imposent leur langue...En France!

    http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/330065/lettres-l-arrogance-anglo-quebecoise

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  3. "Intéressant.Les anglos du Québec imposent leur langue...En France!"

    Moi qui croyait qu'ils apprenaient le français dès le primaire...Étrange.

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  4. "Intéressant.Les anglos du Québec imposent leur langue...En France!"

    Intéressant, un québécois avec un sentiment d'infériorité et de persécution envers les gens qui parlent l'anglais.

    Voudriez-vous m'expliquer comment ces gens "imposaient" quoi que ce soit?

    Vous donnez énormément de pouvoir à la langue anglaise, surement parce que vous la croyez supérieure au français. Vous devriez étudier l'anglais, et vous verrez rapidement que cette langue n'est pas inférieure à l'anglais comme vous le prétendez.

    De plus, j'ai trouvé ceci très amusant:
    "Une fois de retour au Québec, mes deux concitoyens feront-ils partie de la «minorité anglo-saxonne» qui joue les victimes en demandant des accommodements à la «majorité francophile»?"
    J'aurais aimé que l'auteur donne des exemples des "accommodements" auxquels il fait référence.

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  5. "Voudriez-vous m'expliquer comment ces gens "imposaient" quoi que ce soit?"

    Lorsque vous êtes en dans un restaurant en Alberta ou dans le Maine,dans quelle langue commandez-vous votre repas?

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  6. "Vous donnez énormément de pouvoir à la langue anglaise"

    Avez-vous remarqué qu'il a 350,000,000 d'anglophones qui vous entourent?

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  7. "Lorsque vous êtes en dans un restaurant en Alberta ou dans le Maine,dans quelle langue commandez-vous votre repas? "

    It's probably more informative to ask you this very question.

    In Maine, you'd order en anglais (no matter how broken), so you can kiss American ass that you Quebeckers do so well.

    In AB, you'd probably insist on service in French, because, as we're told, Canada has 2 "official" languages (and in Canada and especially Quebec, officiality seems to override reality). And if you don't get service in French, you'll write a letter to LeDevoir, or you'll file a lawsuit in court, which will then rule in your favor, because in this country the issue of "national unity" trumps all the laws, charters of rights, and even common sense.

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  8. Pathetic.
    Multiculturalism for a québékuo' - with a genetic inferiority complex, boosted up by low-profile francophone schools and junk papers like 'Le Pourboir' or 'La Fesse' - means that 'the others must speak my language, but I choose not to speak theirs'. Not to mention the genetic grudge québékuo' have towards people, healthy people, who can and want to speak more than one language.

    Anyway, French from France are not québékuo': the former can speak languages, are not afraid of trying to speak them, have a stable identity and a country to be proud of; the latter cannot and don't want to speak languages, are afraid of everything, have neither an identity nor a country (with half of the population unable to write French properly, with a huge illiteracy and drop-out rate, huge debt, lack of basic knowledge...despite all they still want to build a country...sic!...sick!).
    As our wise Adski said, "you can kiss American ass that you Quebeckers do so well".

    WESTALLOPHONE++

    ReplyDelete
  9. À Maxime Berné: À ce compte-là, mettez le ROC et les États-Unis car ils partagent un partie de leur continent (Amérique du Nord, Centrale et du Sud) avec une grande majorité d'hispanophone !

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  10. Haïti chérie dit: J'aimerais rappeler à l'Éditeur que le Nouveau-Brunswick est la seule province officiellement bilingue au Canada... Le règlement de la ville de Dieppe n'a rien d'anormal, puisque cette ville est (de beaucoup) majoritairement francophone et qu'elle est dans une province bilingue. On ne peut en dire de même de Moncton qui je vous signale porte le nom de Monkton, maître d'oeuvre de la Déportation de 1755... Tout un héros ! Dans mon pays d'origine, le créole haïtien prédomine sur le français même si cette dernière est très importante ! Je suis déjà allé dans le Pontiac, pas beaucoup de français pour une région du Québec... Au lieu de vous offusqués, commencez par intégrer le Québec français majoritaire au lieu de ruminer votre haine... Comme disait Toussaint Louverture ''Je suis de la couleur (politique) de ceux qu'on persécute (sur ce blogue) !

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  11. @anon 11:23

    The anglo quebecers probably didn't want to get laughed at by the waiter in speaking Quebecois French. So to avoid embarrassment they avoided speaking Quebecois. Also its non of the scumbags business what language someone speaks if an establishment is willing to accomadate them.

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  12. @ Haiti cherie:

    "...le Nouveau-Brunswick est la seule province officiellement bilingue au Canada... Le règlement de la ville de Dieppe n'a rien d'anormal, puisque cette ville est (de beaucoup) majoritairement francophone et qu'elle est dans une province bilingue."

    Then you should be in complete agreement that English be twice as large as French on signs in New Brunswick where Anglophones are the majority (as Adski said).

    "commencez par intégrer le Québec français majoritaire au lieu de ruminer votre haine..."

    By the same argument, you should integrate into the Canadian and North American English majority instead of spouting your racist garbage.

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  13. Adski said,

    "In Maine, you'd order en anglais (no matter how broken), so you can kiss American ass that you Quebeckers do so well."

    So true. I have visited the U.S. three times this summer, and I was amazed at how much the Quebecois licked the asses of Americans.

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  14. So true. I have visited the U.S. three times this summer...

    Canadian summer project...Fail!
    Hahahahaha...Regardez le sondage...Hahahahaha!


    failblog.org/page/3/

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  15. "and I was amazed at how much the Quebecois licked the asses of Americans"

    Vous n'avez jamais vu Harper au travail.

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  16. Au moins,lorsque nous irons au Vermont l'an prochain,nous n'aurons plus a faire d'efforts.
    Aux dernières nouvelles,plusieurs commerçants locaux se sont déja inscrits aux cours de français intensifs.J'ai hâte d'entendre l'accent des sympathiques Vermontois.

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  17. "Au moins,lorsque nous irons au Vermont l'an prochain,nous n'aurons plus a faire d'efforts.
    Aux dernières nouvelles,plusieurs commerçants locaux se sont déja inscrits aux cours de français intensifs.J'ai hâte d'entendre l'accent des sympathiques Vermontois"

    De mon côte, j'ai hâte d'être servi en anglais à Montréal et d'entendre l'accent des québécois obstinément unilingues...

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  18. As our wise Adski said...

    ...Je suis un polonais qui rêve d'être un amarrrican mais je n'ai pas les moyens financiers ni,le gabarit,donc je demeure au Québec.

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  19. English has 10 times as many words as French ..hence it is a better language.

    There is no way anyone.. not even a linguist can justify a language like French being better than one with 10 times the number of words .

    French 85 000
    English 850 000

    In Quebec its always French v.s English ..those are the numbers .English wins .

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  20. "plusieurs commerçants locaux se sont déja inscrits aux cours de français intensifs."

    Now, this is funny.

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  21. Fact 1: There are over 300 million English speakers in North America, and 7 million French speakers.

    Fact 2: 300/7 = 42.8

    Fact 3: Quebec is in North America.

    Conclusion: the size of English on signs in Quebec should be at least 40 times the size of French.

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  22. "Conclusion: the size of English on signs in Quebec should be at least 40 times the size of French."

    Il serait plus simple pour vous de porter des lunettes.Ce ne doit pas être évident pour un vieil anglo de Montréal de lire les indications.Même moi qui a une vue impeccable,je n'avais jamais remarqué les inscriptions en english.

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  23. I doubt any that any english speaking quebec residents (LES MÉCHANTS ANGLAIS!!) really care about the language that shows up on advertisements and road signs.
    I case you haven't noticed, the english speaking population of quebec usually also understand french. The entire population around us is french, so it's only logical to know french. (hint hint)

    And anyways, who cares whether it's "STOP" or "ARRÊT"? I guess a french Jean-Guy could be confused by the word "STOP", or he might feel oppressed and dominated by the dirty englishman and decide not to stop in protest, causing accidents.

    It probably looks dumb to all the tourists who come here from anywhere else in north america, where everything is english. Most places try to accommodate others (Vermont are currently adding more french to accommodate tourists from quebec), but not here. Cause we all know that french people don't like money (ref: Jacques Parizeau 1995), especially when it comes from english speaking people.

    Really, who cares about the signs? What gets to me is the fact that as a "Québécois de souche" (born in quebec from 2 french canadian parents, white, catholic, french as first language - does all that qualify me for the "De Souche" certification?), I cannot decide in which language to send my kids to school in... Basically removing the freedoms of the actual population for some racist / xenophobic agenda.

    Maybe you Jean-Guys don't mind having the government decide for you, but I do, because once it begins, who knows where it will end.

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  24. "It probably looks dumb to all the tourists who come here from anywhere else in north america..."


    Faux! :

    http://blogues.cyberpresse.ca/pleinair/2011/07/07/montreal-troisieme-meilleure-ville-d%E2%80%99ete/

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  25. Ouais ok, mais ton article n’adresse pas vraiment ce que je disais.

    Pour être plus clair dans mes propos: Je ne crois pas qu'on devrait changer nos façons de faire pour les gens de l'extérieur.
    Cependant, un touriste américain, ou d'une autre province (anglophone), va probablement avoir plus de difficulté à se retrouver ici au québec, à cause de nos langues sur l'affichage.

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  26. Je crois bien que c'est le contraire,les touristes (normaux) aiment bien être dépaysés,n'est-pas le but des voyages?Lorsque je vais en Allemagne,je ne m'attend pas a voir des indications en français,même chose pour l'Angleterre ou les É-U.
    Ceci dit,je n'ai jamais eu d'accident dans ces pays,serais-je plus intelligent qu'un américain?

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  27. "Most places try to accommodate others (Vermont are currently adding more french to accommodate tourists from quebec), but not here."

    I was at the Church Street Mall in Burlington several years ago and noticed that they placed some Fleur-de-Lys flags on the lampposts outside. When I asked one of the vendors why the Quebec flags were there, he responded: "so that's what they are." The Quebecois think they are the centre of the universe but the fact is that very few people outside of Canada know what the hell the Quebec flag is. I suppose the merchants in Burlington threw the Quebecois tourists a bone by putting up a few of their beloved flags (which are unrecognizable to virtually everyone else).

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  28. @ Anonymous aka Press 9 and Stephen Harpon:

    "Ceci dit,je n'ai jamais eu d'accident dans ces pays,serais-je plus intelligent qu'un américain?"

    You're not more intelligent than Americans. Your comments on this blog indicate that you're not much more intelligent than the average chimpanzee.

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  29. "When I asked one of the vendors why the Quebec flags were there..."

    Si j'avais été ce vendeur,j'aurais dit:

    Quel imbécile,80% de nos touristes proviennent du Québec!

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  30. When I see the Swastika Fleur-de-Lys, I make a point of talking to the businesses, letting them know how racist, how bigoted Quebecers are a la bills 22, 178, 101…Tell them to take down the flag down, boycott the province…

    The Swastika Fleur-de-Lys is the most disgusting, racist flag in North America, without a doubt. Burn it, use as toilet paper, light in on fire…may you rot in hell scum bags.

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  31. "Burn it, use as toilet paper, light in on fire…may you rot in hell scum bags."

    Êtes-vous un orangiste?

    http://genocideculturel.lequebecois.info/complements.html

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  32. "When I see the Swastika Fleur-de-Lys, I make a point of talking to the businesses [...]"

    For my part when I talk with an English-canadian I make a point to say to him : do you know that the name of your nation was the name of another nation before your nation take it ?

    When I see an English-canadian with the maple leaf emblem I make a point to say to him : do you know that your national symbol was the national symbol of another nation before your nation take it ?

    When I ear an English-canadian singing O Canada I make a point to say to him : do you know that the national anthem of your nation was the national anthem of another nation before your nation take it ?

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  33. @ Anonymous at 3:07 PM,

    Both the names "Canada" and "Quebec" were stolen by the Quebecois from First Nations languages.

    The Quebecois step dancing style was stolen from Irish and Scottish immigrants.

    The maple leaf flag and "O Canada" were adopted by Canada in order to placate Francophones, which is impossible to do. We should have stuck with the Union Jack or the Red Ensign flags and retained "God Save the Queen" as our national anthem.

    The Conservative government has reinstated the term "Royal" to the Canadian Navy and the Air Force. Perhaps one day we will return to other non-French symbols.

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  34. "The Conservative government has reinstated the term "Royal"..."

    Raison de plus de nous séparer de ce pays d'attardés retrogrades.

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  35. "Raison de plus de nous séparer de ce pays d'attardés retrogrades"

    Oui, faites-le le plus vite possible, mais sans NOTRE argent, sans lequel vous mourez, mourrez ou seriez déjà morts de faim de plus long temps.

    WESTALLOPHONE++

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  36. Bilingualism! | Bilinguisme!
    Bilinguisme! | Bilingualism!


    No matter which way you order it, it still looks and feels a lot more tolerant and welcoming.

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  37. "Bilingualism! | Bilinguisme!
    Bilinguisme! | Bilingualism!"

    If you mean it nationwide, then we can add unicorns, elves, and leprechauns to the list of wishes.

    Back on planet earth, Quebec can either accept the linguistic reality of Canada, or it can go. The worst thing it can do is what it has been doing to date, i.e. stay and refuse to accept reality, to rail against reality and be frustrated by reality.

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