Friday, November 25, 2011

French Versus English Volume 40

Flag Controversy Spins out of control
"A resident of the municipality of St-Denis-de-Brompton, in the Eastern Townships, has lodged a complaint to the Quebec Provincial Police after he was bullied for flying the Canadian flag.

Jean Sanson saw his Canadian flag ripped down from his flagpole and hung upside down on his fence. Above the maple leaf, vandals scrawled the word "traitor," with the name of the victim in the middle of the emblem.

The incident comes just one week after a hundred citizens presented a demand to elected officials to return the flag in the Council Chambers.

"I think it's cowardly to come here and
damage my property , said Sanson, who said it is his right to display the flag. We are in a democratic system here. "

Readers will recall that the elected officials of the town, led by the separatist mayor,  decided in the wake of municipal elections in 2009 to remove the flag and fly only the provincial Fleur de Lys.

In a meeting in a closed session Thursday night, elected officials voted for the reinstatement of the Canadian flag in the council.

Earlier today, the mayor of the municipality and PQ member, Claude Boucher, condemned the vandalism, even if he himself had supported the decision to remove the Canadian flag.

"We received so many hate messages from English Canada, I understand the frustration of people, he said. Except that this is unacceptable. In a democracy, we speak and we try to understand." he had stated. 
LINK {FR}

Partial language victory for Montreal family
That family from Mexico whose children lost their eligibility for English school have won a partial victory. One of the children will be able to return to the English sector. Read the rest of the story
Language issue on backburner?
A prominently placed opinion piece in Quebec City's LE SOLEIL had me scratching my head over the shear absurdity of it all. LINK{FR}

First the author informs us that the language issue must be returned to the front burner...
I'm not kidding, according to him, in Quebec, language is on the back burner!

Then he claims that statistically, immigrants find English nine time more attractive then French.
His reasoning is that while French outnumber English eight to one provincially, immigrants choose to assimilate to the English side of the language equation half the time.

Ergo, English is nine times more attractive. (seems to me, even by his reasoning it should be 8/1)

But of course when you start with bad assumptions, you get the proverbial garbage in/garbage out scenario.

The author uses the total population of the Quebec demographic as a base, but immigrants don't live in the Rest of Quebec, over 90% settle in the western side of Montreal where the language dynamic (in spite of what French language militants tell us) is closer to 50% French and 50% English.
By falsely expanding the base to include francophones in regions where immigrants don't live, the results are easily manipulated.
By the way, if I were to expand the base to include all of Canada, where the English outnumber French by about four to one, I could deduce for immigrants in Quebec, French has a language attraction four times as large as English.

Ah Statistics!......Bouncy, bouncy bouncy....

Then, in complaining about immigrants that don't speak French, the author launches this pearl;
"Quebec is one of the few countries where you can settle and even become a citizen without knowing a word of the national language..."....
"...A dozen European countries require candidates seeking permanent resident status to take language tests"
Hmm readers, as they say in French,  trouver l'erreur
 
Compulsory French during recess
"Conversations in English or Arabic could be banned from school grounds and school cafeterias. The  Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) is considering requiring students to speak French in all school spaces.
It would be a way to improve the success of the French at school, believes the CSDM, which also receives the approval of parents, a survey reveals that the press has obtained."
LINK{FR}
The article goes on to say that over 70% of parents agree with this initiative, leading us to believe that it is widely popular.
But once again dear readers, I must call out another instance of 'bouncy' statistics.
Although not as an egregious misuse of numbers as the statistical gobbledygook that I highlighted in the story above, there remains a  basic problem with the 70% approval rating.
The survey included francophone parents whose children speak French in the schoolyard as well as parents of those students who speak English or Arabic.
Obviously all the French parents are in favour of this French only initiative, hence the high approval rating. If we consider only parents of the non-French speaking children, it's a different story and interestingly the story offered the data necessary to figure it out.

It seems that when you poll only the parents of these non-French speakers, that is, only those affected  by the initiative, only 44% are in favour, quite a difference!
That being said, even at that much lower approval rating, I'm surprised at how high that percentage is as well. Go figger.....

Aside from all that, can the state actually dictate the language of a private conversation, even that of a child under its jurisdiction?
Methinks it cannot.....

More fun from vigile.net?
It's good to see that the falling popularity of sovereignty hasn't affected two of vigile.net's most devoted separatists, Frick and Frack, whose prolific articles drip with the tears of the agonized suffering of the frustrated.
Their bitterness and exasperation perk me up every time I read another of their done-me-wrong screeds.

The always entertaining  has created a separatist ENEMIES LIST, just like Richard Nixon
L’adversaire HERE {FR}.  It's a jewel!!!

Réjean Labrie, from Quebec's National Capitale who has ripped a page out of the book of old southern racists who kept Black voter registration down by means of literary tests. Link {FR}
Mr. Labrie suggest that in any future referendum only the pure at heart should be allowed to vote.
He suggests that every voter be subjected to a purity test, that will determine a person's eligibility.
1. A minimum number of years of residency (10, 15 or 20 years)

2. An examination to see if the potential voter uses the  French language in public and at home

3. A written test (given in French only, because language proficiency is essential to demonstrate membership in a society) to determine if the potential voter has sufficient knowledge of the social, historical, cultural, political reality of Quebec
4. A review to ascertain a potential voter's successful integration into Quebec society (insuring that he/she is not practising communalism or self-ghettoization) (in other words, Jews living in Cote Saint Luc, Chinese who live in Chinatown or Brossard, Greeks who live around Park avenue, Hasids anywhere, Blacks who like reggae music, Haitians who listen to Creole radio, those who shop at Adonis, anyone who wears a Sari, turban, yarmake, hijab and of course the hated niqab! -editor) 
WONDERFUL STUFF!!! For Mr. Labrie's benefit that, here is an example of a literacy test imposed upon Alabama voters back in the early sixties. Translate the document into French and make some minor modifications to make it more Quebecois and it's off to the races. SEE THE TEST HERE

By the way I think 75% of potential voters would flunk the third hurdle, including francophones.

GENTLEMEN, KEEP UP THE ENTERTAINMENT!!!

Quebec mayor complains about English signs in Paris?
Visiting Paris, Quebec City's mayor  Regis Lebeaume was shocked by the amount of English signage in the City of Lights.
Unable to contain himself, the mayor unloaded at a press conference for a meeting of mayors
"We'll have to become concerned that at some point. It is astonishing to see the ads here," he said Tuesday at a press briefing at the end of a series of meetings on the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF).....
"We can not have a healthy Francophonie if we do not decide to think about it.
French politicians I talk to, whisper in my ear that I'm right, but it's a taboo subject...." 

 Asked about the growing use of English in his city, the mayor of Paris expressed concern about the phenomenon Tuesday.
"Sometimes when I listen to the radio or watch TV, I don't understand certain words," acknowledged Bertrand Delanoe after  a meeting with Regis Labeaume. "Particularly for new technologies that bring new words, a kind of language that is being created," he said. calling for vigilance, too.
"Language is something very precious...​​." LINK{FR}

Briefly... Quebec launches $100 fund to export its culture LINK{FR}
Mouvement Montréal français  calls for a boycott of stores that don't respect Bill 101  LINK{FR}
Official-languages czar scolds Tories for unilingual appointments LINK

Lastly... I'm thankful to a faithful reader who sent in a link to some recently uploaded photos of Montreal circa late fifties to seventies.
The colour pictures are especially outstanding and once again put paid to the lie that Montreal was always a "French" city.
The realty is that during my childhood and up until the Parti Quebecois was elected in the early seventies, the city operated bilingually and English signs were as prevalent as French.

I've included a couple of pictures to whet your appetite and even if you are not of a certain age to relive a precious era, you'll appreciate the beautifully English/French character of the city that was massacred by French language militants eager to re-write history.

Here is a link to the URBAN PHOTO website that first described the story of Alfred Bohn, the photographer. 


Here are two of the pictures that touched me personally.


The Van Horne shopping centre in the late fifties, looking East towards Victoria Avenue. 
My Dad took me shopping in the DUSKES HARDWARE store partly visible on the left. Aside from the stores which have all changed, the shopping centre looks remarkably unchanged.


If you're over 50 years old and lived in Montreal in the sixties, you've had to have eaten at the Woolworth's counter. I used to take my little sister out for lunch and we each had a hot-dog, French fries and Coke for 90¢ plus a 10¢ tip!

Can you get more bilingual than that!

Please visit the links above, even if you are young, some of the pictures are just outstanding! 

Have a great weekend!

109 comments:

  1. Quebec is one of the few countries where you can settle and even become a citizen without knowing a word of the national language..."....
    "...A dozen European countries require candidates seeking permanent resident status to take language tests"

    Quebec is a country? Does the UN know this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Quebec is a country? Does the UN know this?"

    Pas officiellement mais nous en avons les qualités et les caractéristiques.l'ONU n'est qu'une étape dans le processus.

    Bonne journée Monsieur Marcouille

    ReplyDelete
  3. Je suis fier de ma Nation,une belle journée s'annonce :)))


    "En fait, oui, une variable change complètement les résultats: remplacez le nom de Pauline Marois par celui de Gilles Duceppe et, soudainement, le Parti québécois double ses intentions de vote et prend la tête devant la CAQ, avec 10 points d'avance."

    http://www.cyberpresse.ca/chroniqueurs/vincent-marissal/2011
    11/24/01-4471344-1-800-duceppe.php?utm_categorieinterne=traf

    ReplyDelete
  4. ...to Anon @ 8:31AM: Duceppe isn't stupid enough to run for the PQ. Like all PQ leaders before him, the membership will eat him, and besides, he's probably making five times what you're making sitting on his ass doing absolutely nothing (he started earning $141,000 per years starting May 3rd, and it will be indexed to the cost of living the rest of his useless life).

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  5. Says hicktown mayor Claude Boucher: "In a democracy, we speak and we try to understand." Claude Boucher wouldn't know what a democracy was if it bit him in the ass. Quebec is a fascist state, not a democracy.

    The fact this supposedly federalist Quebec government is overtly sanctioning French as the only language to be spoken on school grounds makes me ponder how federalist they really are...NOT!

    I love that old toll sign by the Jacques Cartier Bridge...English first, and letters equal in size to the French! Ohhh...and that National House Furniture sign 100% in English on Papineau St. is to die for! Ahhhh....the good ol' days that kept Anglos in Quebec. Well...300,000 now gone from Quebec, like those old signs, can't be wrong...and paying their taxes elsewhere!

    ReplyDelete
  6. If the Harper government had any balls,, they would bring back the Death Penalty for Murderers, Pedophiles, Terrorists and Traitors... This would resolve the "question Nationale"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quebec debt, a ticking time bomb. Financial Post Nov 25,2011.

    http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/investing/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/2011/11/24/economists-warn-quebec-needs-to-act-on-debt-quicker

    ReplyDelete
  8. Seeing seppies entertain us like this is like watching Leslie Nielsen's movies once again...hilarious !

    ReplyDelete
  9. All, take a look here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YEUcD-dUUY
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWF2668jss

    Hmmm ... is this for real :) ? I wonder if he really is a lawyer. I guess he escaped from a mental institution.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The problem with people like Duceppe, Parizeau, Landry, and Quebec "sovereignists" in general is that they're not really sovereignists, but "sovereignists-associationsts". They want Quebec to function as a country, but don't want to lose the ATM machine called Canada, and the protections and preferential treatment that Canada affords Quebec producers on Canadian markets.

    This "have cake and eat it too" combined with the arrogant "distinct society" claims is what's annoying about Quebec.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Quebec debt, a ticking time bomb. Financial Post Nov 25,2011."

    And yet, the OQLF has found the way to hire 26, yes 26 new language nazis.

    Does this make sense to anyone?
    You can't get a doctor in this province, bridges and overpasses are crumbling, public transportation is overstressed, our education system is a joke, jobs are being cut all over the province, but we need more language police??

    This has got to be the most depressing news I've heard in a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good one adski. Me like your comment. Kinda like what's yours is also mine, what's mine is only mine.

    Can you please allow us to be a country, make our own laws & bs, but keep sending us money, let us use canadian passports and citizenship,...

    the common language should be : GET A F...ING JOB,live in the 21st century AND don't waste time ... dosome good to your society.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "This "have cake and eat it too" combined with the arrogant "distinct society" claims is what's annoying about Quebec."

    It seems to be a general mentality here in Quebec, that everything should be given to us. I like to call it the BS (Bien-Aide Social/Welfare) mentality.

    The french nazis want all english businesses gone, but they don't seem to realize the economic impacts. Why? Because they think that every business in Quebec belongs to us, and expect that they should just be handed over to some french people. Everything should be just like Hydro-Quebec!

    As for Duceppe, Landry and Parizeau, these are just typical Québécois screwing other québécois while working towards their own personal interests. You'll notice that the people who have screwed over Québécois the most in the past 50 years are other Québécois, but that doesn't matter if they manage to convince all the little sheep (low education québécois) with their anti-english/anti-canada propaganda.

    In the end though, all the "separatist heros" eventually become their enemies, just like Lucien Bouchard or Pauline Marois. Separatists don't even like and can't even get along with each other, forget the rest of Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "Seeing seppies entertain us like this is like watching..."

    Pendant que notre main gauche vous divertis,devinez ce que notre main droite fabrique.

    "This has got to be the most depressing news I've heard in a long time."

    Préparez-vous car ce n'est qu'un début.Enfin les différents médias Québécois (même La Presse!!!) ont commencé à faire leur travail de journalistes.

    J'adore la chasse à l'anglouille!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. "If the Harper government had any balls,, they would bring back the Death Penalty for Murderers, Pedophiles, Terrorists and Traitors"

    Vous voulez vraiment faire disparaître le sénat canayen?

    ReplyDelete
  16. @Anon 10:31

    You can bite us. That's all you can do. You can hunt our asses.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Je viens juste d'en acheter un...

    http://www.passeportquebec.com/

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Pendant que notre main gauche vous divertis,devinez ce que notre main droite fabrique"

    Tres probablement la tenue de votre queue en se masturbante. Comme tous l'hommes du Quebec.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Tree Stump: "I like to call it the BS (Bien-Aide Social/Welfare) mentality."

    Or more simply - a severe case of some sort of self-entitlement disorder, very common in the West these days (thank you parents of the 1970's for following the advice of the self-esteem shrinks and turning that generation into brats who run our governments, banks, and corporations today). BUT, in Quebec, thanks to the "linguistic situation" the self-entitlement disease has taken a form of its own, and manifests itself in a much more severe way.

    Tree Stump: "As for Duceppe, Landry and Parizeau, these are just typical Québécois screwing other québécois while working towards their own personal interests."

    As my spouse's Francophone mother (originally from Saguenay, in Montreal since the 1970's) said: Parizeau only discovered his people when he realized he could make a political capital out of them. Prior to that, he was an Outremont boy, isolated form the Francophone working class by a thick invisible wall, then sent off to England to study en anglais, socializing with the British upper class, and when back in Canada, trying desperately to break into the British Consular circles.

    Today, we have fools like Press 9 who think of that guy as some sort of a god, all the while he was taking a piss at them all all throughout his "career".

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Tres probablement la tenue de votre queue en se masturbante. Comme tous l'hommes du Quebec..."

    Hahahahaha!Oui en imaginant Sheila Copps nue sous un canadian flag.

    Votre français s'améliore de jour en jour...On continue!

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Hahahahaha!Oui en imaginant Sheila Copps nue sous un canadian flag.:

    J'ai soupconne que vous aimez beaucoup une grosse vieux Pauline nue sous un drapeau blue et blanc avec des fleurs. n'est pas? Ca va bien pour toi avec votre queue plus fort quand vous regardant les portraites de Pauline.

    Toe aimez mon francais, mantenant?

    "un canadian flag" Il n ya pas francais avec cette phrase...je pense un drapeau du Canada..Non.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Editor, good pick-up on two of Vigile's most bizarre "auteurs", Jacques Noel and Rejean Labrie. They are textbook examples of old school ethnic nationalists who constantly spout toxic anglophobia. You cited Labrie's October 29 comment but it is actually a moderated version of his July 6, 2011 comment in which he declares that only "Quebecois" - and for him that means ONLY a franco-Quebecois - should be entitled to vote in a sovereignty referendum ! He sees no problem in disenfranchising 20% + of the stakeholders in Quebec. Nor do most of the folks who comment on his suggestion.

    Labrie and Noel and many others who write to Vigile constantly imply that Quebec's territory belongs to franco -Quebecois and, therefore, the natural rights of the rest of us are necessarily inferior to the rights of franco-Quebecois. This version of the "collective rights" of french speaking Quebecois provides a chilling insight into the way many sovereignists still think about current issues. It's right out of Maria Chapdelaine and demonstrates why we have to speak up whenever these wacky anti democratic opinions surface in mainstream media. This does not apply to Vigile which is just a fringe blog and a waste of time, except for its huge comedy value as you point out. Most of its commentators are so lost in their personal existential wilderness that not even Mantracker could find them.

    Nothing would be more delightful than Pauline Marois espousing Jacques Noel's "enemies" list or suggesting that anglos and allos should not be allowed to participate in any future referendum but, sadly, it won't happen.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "J'ai soupconne que vous aimez beaucoup une grosse vieux Pauline nue sous un drapeau blue et blanc avec des fleurs. n'est pas?"

    J'apprécie Pauline pour son intelligence et Sheila pour son corps.Dieu aurait pu faire un effort supplémentaire en croisant ces deux magnifiques créatures.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I like Labire's point#2 for voting eligibility:

    2. An examination to see if the potential voter uses the French language in public and at home

    So the object is not only to test proficiency in French, but to test if the candidate lives in French, breathes in French, dreams in French, and thinks in French...

    I wonder how they would test that? I show up at the polling station days before the vote get a "handler" assigned to me, who follows me around for a few of days to check if I qualify?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anyone here know if "covering" an officially issued Passport breaks any laws?
    I'd love to see the poor cretin get in trouble in some foreign land to then slip off the faux-leather cover so s/he can get help from the Canadian (or helping country's) embassy/consulate.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "I'd love to see the poor cretin get in trouble in some foreign land..."

    Vous ne voyager pas beaucoup,n'est-ce-pas Frank?

    ReplyDelete
  27. @ Tree Stump,

    "And yet, the OQLF has found the way to hire 26, yes 26 new language nazis."

    All Anglophone and Allophone business owners should be prepared to film the language police on their cellphones if they visit their premises and then post the videos on Youtube. We need to expose the fascist activities of these slimebags to the international community.

    ReplyDelete
  28. "We need to expose the fascist activities of these slimebags to the international community."

    Attention surtout à l'image des canadiens anglais : Majorité essayant d'envahir une minorité...Tss!tss!très mauvais par les temps qui courent.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "All Anglophone and Allophone business owners should be prepared to film the language police on their cellphones..."

    J'oubliais.C'est une bonne méthode afin d'augmenter le montant de la contravention :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. @Anon 6:30PM
    Mon passeport avec l'unifolier en premier plan a toujours été présenté avec fierté a chacun de mes voyages à l'extérieur, cher Monsieur.

    ReplyDelete
  31. La laideur matérialiste dans toute sa splendeur...Bravo les anglos

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-K7xDHAfdA&sns=fb

    ReplyDelete
  32. In three or perhaps four generations from now, all these Québécois language fanatics will be worm food and their English speaking  descendants (if they even have any) will be scratching their heads at how foolish and ignorant their forefathers were.  Demographics is destiny and les Québécois' days are numbered. 

    ReplyDelete
  33. "Demographics is destiny and les Québécois' days are numbered."

    Attention aux Chinois les canayens!

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/canadaworld/article/1459125

    If we permit this we prove that we are cowards and that the bigots will win their country after all.
    It is a major violation of human rights ! This kind of forced assimilation is condemned everywhere in the world but we in Quebec are keeping our eye to the ground.
    Not even Nazis were imposing german language in their concentration camps.
    The democracy, the free speech is massacred in Quebec and apparently we allow this to happen.
    Next we will be tapped on our shoulders on the street not to speak in other language than french?

    Again, if this will happen we are the most coward people in the world and besides other things, this Blog is a joke compared to Vigile. At least their propaganda and their stupid ideas are promoted and accepted !!!!!

    Shame on us, shame on Canada for allowing this !

    ReplyDelete
  35. "If we permit this we prove that we are cowards and that the bigots will win their country after all."

    Nous n'avons aucune permission à recevoir de personne et notre pays nous l'avons depuis longtemps.Nous sommes au Québec pas en ontario.

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  36. "Nous n'avons aucune permission à recevoir de personne et notre pays nous l'avons depuis longtemps.Nous sommes au Québec pas en ontario. "

    This is really the best example of a nutcase. Not even worthy of pity.

    When I woke up this morning to go to work ( I assume that this is something that you wouldn't understand ) Quebec is not a country. The meaning of "a distinct nation" is NOT EQUAL with a "distinct county"
    And as I told you, a couple of hours ago, we, BOTH, were still in Canada !

    ReplyDelete
  37. "Not even Nazis were imposing german language in their concentration camps"

    Si vous voulez mon avis,je crois que ces personnes n'avaient pas beaucoup de temps pour apprendre l'allemand.

    Comment pouvez-vous être aussi stupide?

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  38. In Sherbrooke the francophone owners of the new junior hockey team chose the english name Phoenix over the french Phenix. The language NAZIS are all upset. One of the owners stated that it reflected the bilingual character of Sherbrooke.
    They can't blame this on the Anglophone population since there is so few of us left in Sherbrooke!! Here is the article from La Tribune.
    http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/sports/201111/25/01-4471488-le-nom-phoenix-fait-jaser.php

    ReplyDelete
  39. @ Troy
    Yup, on rotation. IT. Security.

    ReplyDelete
  40. "Si vous voulez mon avis,je crois que ces personnes n'avaient pas beaucoup de temps pour apprendre l'allemand.

    Comment pouvez-vous être aussi stupide? "

    The ultimate proof that you are uninformed: not all concentration camps were death camps, were people, with ideas not very different from yours, were burning Jews.
    Actually most of them were just prisons. But let's not go into details.

    ReplyDelete
  41. "One of the owners stated that it reflected the bilingual character of Sherbrooke"

    90% de la population de Sherbrooke est francophone!Caractère bilingue???

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymouses at 11:32 and 12:03 yesterday,

    What the fuck, men? Sheila Copps and Pauline Marois naked draped in flags? Eeewww... Those are images that will haunt a tough man and make him weep for the rest of his life.

    ReplyDelete
  43. ...to Sandy M: You must be very young. Re only «Québécois pur laine» should get to vote in referendums, what those two vigile shmendricks yap about is nothing new. This all goes back to the 1980 referendum, and really took root after that sound defeat. That mid-1960s Alabama questionnaire that Editor put in a portal link was quite the eye-opener, and I'm sure some separatist zealot already has a questionnaire kebek-style ready to go.

    That whole questionnaire in Alabama was unconstitutional even back then, and I shudder to think anyone filled it out, but when you have shit-for-brains like that whole society, you can't expect better. There are still those who still have their heads back in the U.S. Civil War. It ended almost 150 years ago. I like to think with time the "Quebec Confederates" will minimize, but will never completely go away.

    To Anon @ 9:21AM yesterday: That Financial Post article was quite the eye opener. Thanks for posting the portal link. It also made me think of Ontario. While almost 62% of Quebec's GDP is debt, Ontario's is at 37%, double that of BC's. The McGuinty Liberals ran a $25 billion deficit last fiscal year, and with another expected to come in at $16 billion, that's $41 billion in just two fiscal years. Sick! Alberta has NO debt! This deficit financing madness has to stop. Inevitably, Quebec is going to hit the wall eventually, but the Ontario deficits the last two years are just too much!

    Anyway, I hope Quebec's rude awakening will happen sooner rather than later if for no other reason than to wake Ontario up. Hopefully Harper will be in office when it happens because I don't want the Liberal goody two-shoes or NDP to bail out Quebec. Quebec got itself into this mess, now they have to pay for it and dig their way out!

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  44. ...to Tree Stump: Yes, Quebec hired 26 new tongue troopers, probably to go to those French schools and eavesdrop on conversations in the school years. In the meantime, my thoroughfare to work keeps getting paved. I've said it many, many times before and I will do so again: paving our roads here in Mississauga is language police money very well spent!

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  45. Sorry, re my post above: School yards, not school years.

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  46. @ Mr. Sauga & evbdy

    Joke or no joke, what are the chances of this things happening? Will the freedom of speech will be thrown to dust?

    ReplyDelete
  47. > Jean Sanson saw his Canadian flag ripped down from his flagpole and hung upside down on his fence. Above the maple leaf, vandals scrawled the word "traitor," with the name of the victim in the middle of the emblem.

    I’m pretty sure that could qualify as a hate crime against federalists.


    > Readers will recall that the elected officials of the town, led by the separatist mayor, decided in the wake of municipal elections in 2009 to remove the flag and fly only the provincial Fleur de Lys.

    If John Carmichael’s C-288 National Flag of Canada act becomes law (hopefully after working out the bugs it currently has), the Canadian flag will finally get the respect it deserves from the same separatists who demand that everyone “respect” their language with punitive laws. Wanna be petty, seppies? You’ve met your match.

    > That family from Mexico whose children lost their eligibility for English school have won a partial victory. One of the children will be able to return to the English sector

    The problem isn’t bill 101 so much as the Supreme Court not having the intestinal fortitude to give everybody the same rights. I still don’t get why the Supreme Court believes their argument about not needing to guarantee minority language rights to people outside some historical and arbitrarily defined minority (French in the RoC, English in Quebec) is a just one. It punishes people interested in learning French in the RoC and English in Quebec. If we have this problem today, it’s also because our country’s highest court was too chicken to guarantee the same rights to all citizens. Hopefully one positive byproduct of Harper’s Supreme Court Justice appointments will eventually allow the Court to revise its previous stand…

    > Duceppe, Landry and Parizeau, these are just typical Québécois screwing other québécois while working towards their own personal interests. You'll notice that the people who have screwed over Québécois the most in the past 50 years are other Québécois, but that doesn't matter if they manage to convince all the little sheep (low education québécois) with their anti-english/anti-canada propaganda.

    Spot on.

    If there is a disease that we (and yes, I say “we” because some of my ancestors have been here for nearly four centuries) French-Canadians have been suffering from ever since Wolfe and Montcalm had it out it’s that we have constantly trusted “our own” who have claimed to act on behalf of our interests, but who screw us royally and better their own lot. This isn’t a 50-year old pattern; it’s at least five times that long with only a minor change in the storyline and cast. Our clerical brainwashers have given way to political brainwashers. Our religious obsession has given way to our linguistic obsession.

    > Ah Statistics!......Bouncy, bouncy bouncy....

    It’s classical confirmation bias, Editor. Anybody in an inferior position, whether real or perceived, likes to say and quote things that confirm their own bias. Seen it before.

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  48. > Compulsory French during recess
    Gotta love how they wrap it within some kind of social insertion/academic “success plan”. By the way, although she’s got a conchy job at the CSDM, Diane De Courcy is a well-known hardcode seppie activist in local political circles. But of course, we can’t just hate on her alone; wrapping initiatives behind God, children, and the flag is a manipulative measure known to all manipulative populists throughout time.

    Maybe our French-Canadian linguistic national socialists ought to get some shock treatment of their own by at least accepting that the language of 98% of our neighbors not be considered anathema to our ability to breathe.

    > More fun from vigile.net?
    Remember how after Iraq was “liberated” all the crazy fundamentalists came out to play? It might seem fun now, but I’ve gotta say that as a francophone, reading their drivel doesn’t really encourage me to turn Quebec into a country. We all know about Stalin’s purges; the fact that the writers of vigile bemoan their impotence to put into force ALL of their ideas by curtailing the rights of every citizen shouldn’t be seen as humorous. I’m in favor of helping a language and a segment of our country that needs it, but for Allah’s sake, do it in a way that is positive and encouraging, not negative and psychotic.

    Or go extinct. I’m starting to think a thousand Louisianas on the territory known as Quebec is preferable to a nation-state governed by has-beens and would-be’s from the 60’s and 70’s and their repressive ethnolinguistic doublespeak.

    > Quebec mayor complains about English signs in Paris?
    Really hard not to see Labeaume as a shit-stirring populist instigator on a good day. This just confirms my perception.

    > I'm thankful to a faithful reader who sent in a link to some recently uploaded photos of Montreal circa late fifties to seventies
    I’m not of a certain age as to have been able to appreciate the natural bilingual character of Montreal. But with any luck, my generation will live to see its return.


    Finally, I should hope that the seppie posting in French as Anonymous should come up with some much more mature points to bring to this debate than what he thinks are smart-alecky one liners which in practice underscore how low his movement has truly sunk and how frustrated he really is. Two-line posts, recurrent suffixing of “-ouille”, multiple emoticons, puerile name-calling, pas-rapport obsession with Tim Hortons doughnuts and stereotypes — all in what is presumably the poster’s native language — really don’t enrich the debate.

    This blog has everything it needs to be more than just an old-school anglo gripe-fest. Editor, if anything, it ought to mobilize more of us – francophones like me included – to move beyond a simple chit-chat and engage our society into a real debate about where our current situation is really taking us. Both sides need to challenge the opinions and assumptions they hold as gospel, and yield a bit of their pride.

    Montreal is in Quebec and Quebec is in Canada. At least for now. Let’s not forget that.

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  49. "This blog has everything it needs to be more than just an old-school anglo gripe-fest. Editor, if anything, it ought to mobilize more of us – francophones like me included – to move beyond a simple chit-chat and engage our society into a real debate about where our current situation is really taking us. "

    My point exactly. This blog should go beyond it's limitations. Maybe the idea of having a political party is not bad at all. I'm sure that there is big support for that.
    Maybe we should start doing something REAL instead of discussing the same issues over and over again...

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  50. What do you propose, NM?

    I'm not into a Park Avenue Gazette or Equality Party-style movement. I think Quebec needs a serious political earthquake that can stand up to CAQ, PQ, QS, and the provincial Liberals who kowtow to the nationalists' every whim.

    A tough sell indeed. What have you got in mind?

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  51. Note: you need to be able to overcome the SSJB and their various splinter groups like MMF, MQF, etc., as well as the Impératif Français crowd, and RRQ.

    And you also need to get the support of mainstream federalist Quebecers.

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  52. Filming OLF raids is a great idea. There is nothing more that Quebec fears than being exposed, especially in the US. M.Richler wasn't necessarily dangerous because of what he was writing, but because he was writing it in Amercian press, which gave his articles a wider exposure, asnd the feds in Ottawa couldn't stop it or bash it (like they did with the recent McLean's article - Harper, Ignatieff, and Layton joined Duceppe in condemning the article. The message was clear - do not pick on the sacred cow).

    ----

    About OLF raids, an old friend of mine has witnessed a one-man OLF raid on his company, an IT company downtown Montreal, where the language of communication is English given the make-up of the workforce (Asian, European, international), foreign origin of the company (American/Australian), and worldwide business dealings. The OLF guy got to inspect NOTHING. The emloyees refused to open their computers for him so he could check if their software came in French versions. Instead, they referred him to the management. The management refused to grant access on the basis of privacy and confidentiality laws which apply on the market. The OLF stooge left with nothing.

    The point is: The OLF clowns are bound by confidentiality regulations, and can only "inspect" if allowed. Private companies are not school boards which fall under the gouvernemaman. So for all those who work in the private sector, when one of these twits show up, close your PCs and direct them to your team leads. Your team leads will then show the ass clowns the door.

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  53. agreed, me and a friend have been discussing the idea of political pushback for awhile. enough is enough, we need to expose these racists once and for all.
    my boss got a letter from the Language Nazis the other day. Seems to be a form letter sent out to all restaurants...or just those owned by people on Parizite's ethnic shit list. What a joke.

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  54. er... to the two last comments:

    http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=/C_11/C11.html

    have a look at sections 166 through 177.

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  55. An interesting thing I forgot to add is that shortly after the OLF raid, the guy who everybody suspected of being the OLF mole and source of the leak (the OLF is a "complaint-based" organisation, and acts on denounciations) got let go from the company. My friend said it could have been unrelated and coincidental that the company's resident nationalist Quebecois got offed just after an OLF raid, but most likely it was related. In which case the rat got what the rat deserved.

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  56. @Appartchik

    "I think Quebec needs a serious political earthquake ..."

    Well apparently, this shouldn't be so hard. If the Bloc was able to reach the House of Commons, why not an anglophone party in Quebec?

    I'm sure that somehow we can attract brilliant minds to join a party that would try to make Montreal ( because, let's be honest, Montreal is the engine of Quebec ) bilingual, and attract more industries by doing so.

    The Equality Party used as a political program some desperate ideas, directly opposed to SSJB and bullshit-Q's other movements and that's why the party lost it's credibility and momentum.
    The fact that an Anglo-emigrant-minority party would compete with such separatist movements implies the fact that we don't want to aim high !
    Our vision is not of suppressing french language and imposing an english Montreal as they do. As a matter of fact over 50% of the population is bilingual.
    Our goal is to make Montreal ( at least) , the city that once has been: an important financial city.

    "And you also need to get the support of mainstream federalist Quebecers. "

    Do you really think that this is impossible?

    I, for sure, am not suited to talk politics, but maybe among us, not only bloggers, there are people prepared to represent us.

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  57. I mean, for real, are we just going to sit and do nothing? Our kids cannot talk between themselves anymore in their preferred language ! This is outrageous ! This is going to far.
    Everyday we tolerate this madness, everyday we read about language police and measures from middle ages, everyday slabs of concrete and liquid cement are falling in our heads, everyday we pass the Champlain bridge with some sort of fear, everyday our cars suffer ( and our wallets ) from huge potholes, everyday we need doctors ...

    WTF? Cowards? Blind? Mute? Paralyzed ?

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  58. @NM

    Take the 401 asap!

    @adski bottine

    Pouvez-vous nous donner le nom de l'entreprise de votre "old friend"?

    Merci!

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  59. Some time ago, Josee Legault wrote about, IIRC, 'legal guerrilla'. Basically she advocated that the government issue unconstitutional legislation aimed at curbing the use of languages other than French and to promote French. While the legislation is unconstitutional and surely will be shot down in the court of law, at least the law will be applied.

    The subjects of the law will need to go the the court, exhausting their time, resources and energy. If at the end the law is reverted, the subjects have been exposed to the law and it will be harder for them to reverse themselves from the exposure.

    That opinion was in relation of Bill 104. While that Bill was ultimately declared illegal, children have been affected and for some continuing studies in French may be better than to start again in English.

    I think this is what is happening with CSDM and its schoolyard rule. Remember that this is just a directive. It is not a law or bylaw that issued by an elected, legislative body. Meaning that this rule does not have much of legal power. Therefore, the chance of its surviving legal scrutiny is slim, IMHO. Not to mention that it does infringe of individual right and freedom of speech.

    However, children - particularly the ones on very early age - will have been exposed to the rules. They will grow consciousness that speaking other language is something very bad, and will lean more toward French, even when the rule is deemed illegal.

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  60. Apparatchik,

    I the Bill like you suggested. However, my not having legal training leads me to some questions, particularly regarding articles 174, 175, 176.

    174. A person making an inspection for the purposes of this Act may, during business hours, provided it is at a reasonable time, enter any place open to the public. In the course of the inspection, the person may, in particular, examine any product or document, make copies, and require any relevant information.

    The person must, at the request of any interested person, identify himself and produce the certificate attesting his capacity.

    175. The Office may, for the purposes of this chapter, require a person to forward any relevant document or information within the time it fixes.

    176. No person may hinder, in any way, the actions of the Office or of a person designated by the Office when acting in the exercise of their functions, mislead the Office or the person by withholding information or making false statements, or refuse to provide any information or document the Office or the person is entitled to obtain.

    The question is, does OQLF have more legal power of search and seizure than law enforcement? Will they not need a warrant to do their search, particularly if there is issue about privacy or proprietary? To expand the question further , I also want to know if the person / body accused by a complaint to be in violation, does the accused have the right to face his accuser? If not, the law is subject of abuse, for complaints made in bad faith. Also, I wonder if complaint can be deemed as probable cause for them to initiate the search.

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  61. I hope that Sandy, the self admitted lawyer, can shed some light on this Bill 101 matters.

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  62. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  63. Anonymous at 13:40,

    My point is that while CSDM rule is illegal and can be challenged relatively easily in court, they will go ahead with it with the reason I wrote.

    The other point is that this move of issuing illegal ruling is one play in separatists' playbook, a play that they use quite frequently.

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  64. The Global Language Monitor announced that the English language had crossed the 1,000,000-word threshold on 10 June 2009.[80] The announcement was met with strong scepticism by linguists and lexicographers,[81] though a number of non-specialist reports[82][83] accepted the figure uncritically. However, in December 2010 a joint Harvard/Google study found the language to contain 1,022,000 words and to expand at the rate of 8,500 words per year.[84] The findings came from the computer analysis of 5,195,769 digitised books. The difference between the Google/Harvard estimate and that of the Global Language Monitor is about thirteen thousandth of one percent.




    French has 85 000 words

    English has 1 000 000

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  65. If saying "speak White" to a francophone was wrong, then saying "tut tut, en français" with the deliberate motive of forced assimilation and denying freedom of speech during off-periods is as wrong as it is insidious.

    You can tell I have no problem knocking the sanctity of the age-old doctrine of “la Survivance” off the pedestal we collectively hold it up on. Languages, ideas, mentalities, cultures, practices, and philosophies evolve. Nonetheless, the notion that we’re under attack by the big bad English (who we have to somehow fear, hate, and get back at) has remained constant for two and a half centuries. I don’t know whether this is a colonial thing about France hating England or the former’s not accepting the outcome of the colonial period but I don’t think it’s my job – or anyone else’s – to have to do either “nation”’s bidding on a daily basis. I want to live my life in whatever language(s) I want. And I don’t see why the state can’t respond to that – I pay them enough taxes, dammit.

    The point I'm advocating is not to force people to assimilate one way or another. For too long, the attitude has been one that expects allegiance to one language group and not another. I reject this notion outright both in theory and in practice - I am living proof that a francophone can also be an anglophone and that that anglophone can also be an allophone and - SURPRISE! - not forget who he is. The idea that you can (or should) have only one cultural and linguistic allegiance is fast losing ground in an era where many people have multiple citizenships, speak multiple languages, and are more and more mobile. I'm all in favor of exporting our culture - we've got loads to offer - I just have a problem with our own culture being limited to the revisionist narrative of one people alone (besides, artsies everywhere love to see dualities, conflict, turmoil and harmony expressed openly).

    Troy, the legal guerrilla you're referring to isn't anything new and is actually an old instrument the seppies have been using forever to vilify the evil anglos and the Fed forever. The strategy consists of instilling within a population ignorant of our federal system the idea that our provincial legislature ALONE (rebranded "Assemblée Nationale" which sits in the "Capitale Nationale") speaks for our interests, and when a provincial law is smashed, howl about how our "culture" and way of doing things is under attack by evil external forces. Then they use it as fodder for more melodramatic pro-seppie rhetoric ("If we were 'souverain', this humiliation would never happen") and keep hammering the point home, no matter how much their movement is out of gas.

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  66. Love him or hate him, nearly a decade of Charest heading this province's government has frustrated many a seppie attempt to push ahead with more draconian "nationally affirming" measures. This spring's federal election which swept the NDP to power - in no small part due to the francophone media taking a shine to Layton - sent shockwaves through separatist ranks. Why else would the harcore militants be foaming at the mouth over any opportunity recently to draw attention to the language issue? Because their movement needs to come back to the front burner and they know they need to use fear and exaggeration to do it. I see the seppies active on discussion boards and compare it with the francophones I personally know and I feel there’s a serious disconnect between the rabid stuff I see online and on TV and the French-language people I know who just want to live in peace (and in their case – in French). No more, no less.

    The only question now is whether Quebecers are fed up with the politics of fear and ready to live and let live - with no strings attached - or whether we're doomed to repeat the same pattern of populist, ethnonationalist, religio-cultural and emotional shepherding that has been a mainstay since our ancestors first set foot on this continent?

    I’m not sure. But it’s worth a try

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  67. The CSDM initiative is especially infuriating, and seems like a blatant attempt at trying to shove Francophone/separatist sensibilities down the kids' throats (exactly the kind of thing that Bill 101 itself was supposed to do), rather than actually helping the kids to learn French for the sake of education. Jeez, what's next? Kids under a certain age have to have a special permit (enabled by being enrolled in an English school) to go see movies in English?

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  68. > French has 85 000 words

    > English has 1 000 000

    Come on, are we really gonna start this stupidity all over again? Sure, English accepts words a lot more uncritically than probably any other (major) language, but I can tell you it's a lot less about the number of words than it is about how you use them.

    If you weren't partisan, I'm sure you could find a colorful work in Joual or some obscure dialect of any language just as compelling as one you'd consider in any other language.

    And besides, when a language hasn't got a way of saying something, it either makes up its own or imports a word for it. All languages have done this since the beginning of time.

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  69. @Troy:

    Regarding title III.1, I'm not a specialist in the matter whatsoever, but yes indeed it does seem from the getgo that the law confers on inspectors what appear to be powers that even police in most instances have.

    However, I'm not sure about the details (this isn't an area whose internal mechanisms I am intimately familiar with), so I'll have to await the feedback of someone who is more knowledgeable in the matter. Nonetheless, I encourage you to have a look at the OQLF's website to soak in a bit more on the topic.

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  70. @Apparatchik: Great comments, I must say I entirely agree with just about everything you said. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

    I noticed one little detail:
    174. A person making an inspection for the purposes of this Act may, during business hours, provided it is at a reasonable time, enter any place open to the public. In the course of the inspection, the person may, in particular, examine any product or document, make copies, and require any relevant information.
    A private office is not open to the public, nor are any of their internal documents accessible to the public.

    As for the whole french anywhere on school grounds issues, I kind of find it funny.
    I grew up in the West-Island of Montreal (Beaconsfield), where we mostly spoke english, but I always went to french schools.
    Even 20 years ago, teachers were always telling us to "parlez français!" when we were caught speaking english, even outside class. Thinking back, it was one of the most annoying things as a kid, but we went back to speaking english as soon as the teacher was out of sight anyways. In retrospect, I appreciate it now. It was a french school, after all.

    These measures are nothing new, nothing special, and impossible to enforce (from experience). It's just language extremists looking for a cause, and pathetic Quebec media which have nothing better to write about.

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  71. Apparatchik,

    Love them or hate them, IMHO the Quebec Liberals make government multiple times better than the Parti Quebecois. Let us step back from English vs French and independence for a while. Just yesterday the report on Turcot Interchange was released. Its assessment is very bad. The cause is decades of neglect, particularly during the 90s.

    Is it not coincidence that from 1994 to 2003 the government was Parizeau, Bouchard and Landry? Not only maintenance, but was there any major infrastructure project at that time?

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  72. @Troy:

    Is it not coincidence that from 1994 to 2003 the government was Parizeau, Bouchard and Landry? Not only maintenance, but was there any major infrastructure project at that time?"

    Spot on, I've mentioned this many times in my comments on this blog. Nothing was built or even properly maintained on a provincial level during that time; I'm sure many of you will remember the state of our provincial highways and other roads in the mid and late 90s.
    Not to mention that Pauline Marois' time as Minister of Education and Minister of Health left both with serious problems that we're still dealing with today.

    Jacques Parizeau even stopped any further hydroelectric development after being elected:
    Two months after the 1994 general election, the new Premier, Jacques Parizeau, announced the suspension of the Great Whale Project, declaring it unnecessary in order to meet Quebec's energy needs.

    The result:
    The moratorium on new hydro projects in northern Quebec after the Great Whale cancellation forced the company's management to develop new sources of electricity to meet increasing demand. In September 2001, Hydro-Québec announced its intention to build a new combined cycle gas turbine plant — the Centrale du Suroît plant — in Beauharnois, southwest of Montreal, stressing the pressing need to secure additional electricity supply to mitigate the effects of any shortfall in the water cycle of its reservoirs. (Source: Wikipedia)

    I think it goes to show that government needs to focus on real issues which affect us today; the PQ is still trying to deal with issues from the 60s and 70s which are irrelevant in today's world.

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  73. > The CSDM initiative is especially infuriating, and seems like a blatant attempt at trying to shove Francophone/separatist sensibilities down the kids' throats (exactly the kind of thing that Bill 101 itself was supposed to do), rather than actually helping the kids to learn French for the sake of education.

    I agree; in my great-grandparents’ time it wasn’t necessary to “sensitize” newcomers to this country that if you didn’t learn the language, you couldn’t get far. Within a decade, they mastered broken French and English. What we’re seeing now is separatist francophone nationalist supremacy masquerading as benevolent “integration”. It’s a humiliating echo of the federal government’s barbarous Indian residential school system, whose purpose was to civilize and Christianize the savage natives whose lands we stole (I’m still not sure how that didn’t make the White man the savage, but I digress), and forbade their children from speaking their ancestral languages amongst themselves even outside class. In my opinion, such neocolonialist echoes are inappropriate in 21st century enlightened White society.

    > Jeez, what's next? Kids under a certain age have to have a special permit (enabled by being enrolled in an English school) to go see movies in English?

    Truth is stranger than fiction, Mike.

    Don’t you find it a bit disturbing that in a “free” and “democratic” country that calls itself “bilingual” and in a province where the loudest fearmongers claim that English can very likely wipe out French in the next generation that children need to have an eligibility certificate to even BE enrolled in an English-language school?

    The greatest irony to me is that when this province had a much higher percentage of anglophones spread out over many different regions, we didn’t need language legislation like 101 to tell immigrant children how to assimilate. Yet even with the massive exodus of anglos and forced francisation of immigrants, our nationalist French-Canadian compatriots have the balls to scream bloody murder even louder. And insist that Montreal is a FRENCH city and NOT a bilingual one. And yet bemoan that fewer than 50% of the inhabitants are native French-speakers.

    But I guess that’s the great thing about being crazy. You can talk from both sides of your mouth and still elicit sympathy.

    > A private office is not open to the public, nor are any of their internal documents accessible to the public.

    I’ll have to get back to you on that.

    > Even 20 years ago, teachers were always telling us to "parlez français!" when we were caught speaking english, even outside class. Thinking back, it was one of the most annoying things as a kid, but we went back to speaking english as soon as the teacher was out of sight anyways. In retrospect, I appreciate it now. It was a french school, after all.

    I call BULLSHIT. I’ve attended both French schools and English schools. Not once did any of my English-institution teachers ever punish (or provide Orwellian correction theory) to anybody for speaking French. I can’t count how many times the opposite happened (talking in class got you a reprimand; speaking English in class got you two).

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  74. > These measures are nothing new, nothing special, and impossible to enforce (from experience). It's just language extremists looking for a cause, and pathetic Quebec media which have nothing better to write about.

    It’s one sick feedback loop.

    1. Pressure groups with an extremist nationalist agenda and connections both inside and outside government and other political parties masquerade as concerned and legitimate citizens rights groups.
    2. Random and ambiguous events take place that the group seizes on to confirm and justify the need for their own existence.
    3. Various media outlets pick up the story up with all the dramatic and righteous indignation that are their trademark, making very suggestive connections and appealing to emotion and pride.
    4. The people think their sacred rights are being threatened.
    5. Pressure group and/or media and/or “spontaneously interviewed citizens” go on the record confirming steps 2, 3, and 4.
    6. Depending on how egregious the offense, the story goes away, turns into a scandal, or is stored in media-political weapons cache for later retrieval and full-on assault.

    Note 1: The media is never wrong and will react swiftly to any allegation to the contrary.
    Note 2: In Quebec, many hot button issues are really proxy wars between federalists and separatists, despite outward appearances. Need proof? Just look around (calls to nationalize mineral deposits, inquiry into shale gas, party funding, the construction industry, Marc Bellemare, union opposition to Charest, reasonable accommodation, municipal mergers)

    > Let us step back from English vs French and independence for a while. Just yesterday the report on Turcot Interchange was released. Its assessment is very bad. The cause is decades of neglect, particularly during the 90s. Is it not coincidence that from 1994 to 2003 the government was Parizeau, Bouchard and Landry? Not only maintenance, but was there any major infrastructure project at that time?

    No; but that’s because the PQ had more pressing business – “sovereignty” – to tend to. What’s the matter with you? That should be a justified knee-jerk reaction to you. [sarcasm]

    I completely agree that we’re letting the PQ governments since 1976 off the hook far too easily – with little to no scrutiny actually – while focusing on the most recent events. But what do you want? The villagers with torches and pitchforks have short memories and want heads to roll. Quickly.

    And the federalists happen to have been at the wheel for a while that we can safely forget most of what came before except for the revisionist and oversimplified sound bites about our own history and how we tick handed down to us without question.

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  75. Are they going to make it compulsory for the Montreal Alouettes to speak french on the field and in practice?

    If those in Quebec think that the language law should be everywhere...why don't they have french lessons for those players...who, by the way, are mostly from the USA (which amuses me because in the comments in the previous post, a french "anon" made a derogatory remark that english Canadians were "pitiful copy of americans"..... I guess they change the rules to suit themselves.....

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  76. French has 85 000 words

    English has 1 000 000

    There are many linguists who agree with me ..Chomsky isnt one of them , but the idea that all Languages are equal is false .

    It isnt about how many words the speaker uses ,i used few but the authors of the books i read use many .

    There is no way a language with 8 500 words could be equal to French which has 10 times more words .
    Bigger is better , Language is a form of communication using WORDS

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  77. Re Apparatchik comments above, "It’s one sick feedback loop". Excellent analysis. I would add that the use of Polling Data plays into this Quebec Crisis Manufacturing model as well. An issue bubbles up to the surface (ie; religious accommodation for a tiny speck of society), the powers that be (newspapers, media conglomerate, think-tank or political party)commission a poll, people ad their two ill-informed cents to the debate and voila! Two or three days of free stuff to write about, analyze and report as real "news" for a starved media machine. Its a sad state of affairs. Real day to day bread and butter issues get sloughed off to the side while the BS gets top billing.

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  78. The recent CSDM directives are one of the reasons that anglo and allo parents must vote as block in the French School boards. It would be rude awakening once the parasites lost their seats and were replaced with Anglo and allo trustees that reverse their decisions.

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  79. Anonymous at 01:24,

    "Are they going to make it compulsory for the Montreal Alouettes to speak french on the field and in practice?"

    If they can get their way, they will.

    http://www.vigile.net/La-langue-du-maitre

    And please do not write about the Alouettes yet. It is Grey Cup Sunday and it is quite painful for me not to see them on the field. :-)

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  80. "Even 20 years ago, teachers were always telling us to "parlez français!" when we were caught speaking english..."

    Nous on nous disait "Speak white!" et pas juste à l'école.

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  81. "If those in Quebec think that the language law should be everywhere...why don't they have french lessons for those players..."

    Ces sportifs n'ont pas seulement besoin de cours de français mais aussi d'anglais.

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  82. http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/bought+Quebec/5771308/story.html

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  83. The current Liberal government is implementing the "Plan Nord" to develop the northern regions of Quebec. Note that the a-holes included Labrador on the map of Quebec on the Plan Nord website. Last time I checked, Labrador was part of Newfoundland. That's why it's called "Newfoundland and Labrador."

    http://plannord.gouv.qc.ca/english

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  84. Anonymous at 14:53,

    The article in National Post is good, factual and well-thought. However, looking at the author, that piece may just lose all credibility, particularly among those implicated by the article.

    This is just in: In the Grey Cup, the O Canada anthem was sung completely in English. Harper is in the stands. Wait for the separatist shit storm tomorrow,

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  85. "Wait for the separatist shit storm tomorrow"

    Nous les séparatistes on trouve ça tout à fait normal et presque comique ce genre de comportement.Ce sont les fédéralistes qui se sentent trahis,exclus et tristes.

    Tant pis pour eux! :))

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  86. > There are many linguists who agree with me ..Chomsky isnt one of them , but the idea that all Languages are equal is false .

    See this: http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/englishmostwords

    One important flaw in this “English vocabulary is bigger and better” argument is that it uses similar statistical manipulation based on definitions and misconceptions similar to those we’re used to seeing from the seppies. While I personally appreciate the word-formation flexibility and richness that English enjoys (inherited both from Germanic and Latinate sources), I don’t believe “octomom” and “recessionista” are really “new” words, but rather creative (and often trendy) applications of existing roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

    > I would add that the use of Polling Data plays into this Quebec Crisis Manufacturing model as well. An issue bubbles up to the surface (ie; religious accommodation for a tiny speck of society), the powers that be (newspapers, media conglomerate, think-tank or political party)commission a poll, people ad their two ill-informed cents to the debate and voila! Two or three days of free stuff to write about, analyze and report as real "news" for a starved media machine. Its a sad state of affairs. Real day to day bread and butter issues get sloughed off to the side while the BS gets top billing.

    And here we thought only FOX News Channel sank so low…

    > The recent CSDM directives are one of the reasons that anglo and allo parents must vote as block in the French School boards. It would be rude awakening once the parasites lost their seats and were replaced with Anglo and allo trustees that reverse their decisions.

    Hahaha… so you’re advocating fighting insidious language directives by demographically ganging up against good white beleaguered francophones? The rules of white flight suggest the angry white man will either regroup or self-segregate. That’s why we have suburbs, after all.

    > Nous on nous disait "Speak white!" et pas juste à l'école

    Admonestation déplorable peu importe qu’elle soit destinée à un anglo ou à un franco.

    > Ces sportifs n'ont pas seulement besoin de cours de français mais aussi d'anglais.

    Triste et dur constat… mais rares sont les athlètes qui s’expriment comme Molière ou Shakespeare...

    > http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/bought+Quebec/5771308/story.html

    We’ve brought our own irrelevance onto ourselves. We were once the center of Canadian

    > The current Liberal government is implementing the "Plan Nord" to develop the northern regions of Quebec. Note that the a-holes included Labrador on the map of Quebec on the Plan Nord website. Last time I checked, Labrador was part of Newfoundland. That's why it's called "Newfoundland and Labrador."

    To their credit, Labrador has a paler color on the map. But also an amusing subtle irredentist reference to how Quebec never accepted the 1927 boundary “imposed” by evil scheming anglo power brokers.

    > This is just in: In the Grey Cup, the O Canada anthem was sung completely in English. Harper is in the stands. Wait for the separatist shit storm tomorrow

    Idiotic… for so many reasons. Anyway, I always thought the original French words were much more poignant.

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  87. "so you’re advocating fighting insidious language directives by demographically ganging up against good white beleaguered francophones?"

    Where were those "beleaguered" francophones when it was time to stand up against the nationalist element? Were were they a few weeks ago when they could have spoken up against the idiotic marches downtown Montreal? I haven't seen any of them. The francophones I saw either supported the rally (tacitly or explicitly), or remained silent. The francophone television did their bit too.

    Common sense dictates that "beleaguered" Francos do exist, but reality doesn't verify this assumption. I'm still waiting for them to come out, wherever they're hiding. But my patience is running out. Soon enough, I'll have to agree with the Anon above that some Allo/Anglo party is necessary here. We're a 20% block, and totally shut out of politics and power sharing. Those who claim to represent us don't. They fail us consistently. And there is no hope on the horizon. Legault's initiative is more of the same shit.

    Incidentally, the Hispanics in the US constitute 20% of the US population as well, and they've began organizing in the last decade, enough to scare the shit out of the US versions of Beaulieu and Trudel (Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, etc...) who are now all the airwaves warning Americans about the "dangerous" minority, and spawning movements like the tea party that one commentator on some American show described perfectly as a "symptom of white people's fear that one day they won't be the majority" (parallels to the SSJB are obvious) . I also saw a program on tv where a Hispanic American activist said something along the lines of: "we started organizing because we were sick of being pushed around"...I must say that these words stuck with me. They sure rang close to home.

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  88. @ Apparatchik:

    "To their credit, Labrador has a paler color on the map. But also an amusing subtle irredentist reference to how Quebec never accepted the 1927 boundary “imposed” by evil scheming anglo power brokers."

    If you look closely, you will notice that southern Quebec is also a paler color on the map.

    "This is just in: In the Grey Cup, the O Canada anthem was sung completely in English. Harper is in the stands. Wait for the separatist shit storm tomorrow,"

    All of the announcements were bilingual. There was too much French as it is. I was very glad to see that "O Canada" was sung in English only. After all, two teams from English Canada were playing...not the Montreal Alouettes. Would you hear English at any game between two Quebec teams? Not likely.

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  89. > We're a 20% block, and totally shut out of politics and power sharing. Those who claim to represent us don't. They fail us consistently.

    Agreed. Two options, really. Either a grassroots pushback with questionable chances of success, or like virtually all politicians, hypocritically pay lip service to the nationalism we know is used as a new Catholic opium to keep our masses existentially fearful, reactionary, and manipulable.

    As I said earlier, the latter pattern has proven its worth and paid dividends throughout Quebec history. Frankly, I sometimes wonder whether it’s laudable that we’re still willing to openly state the inconvenient truths of this setup, or whether we ought to just shut up and enjoy our privileged status as truly bilingual franco/anglo go-betweens to (ironically) profit handsomely off the backs of impressionable francophones who we see being deliberately kept in a bubble of political pastoralism that has changed comparatively little in the last 400 years.

    And yet, while I can play the part flawlessly, this second option upsets me. As you know, I’m of part French-Canadian, English-Canadian, and “new”-Canadian heritage myself. Having grown up in what I am now extremely grateful was an excellent mix of all those communities, I believe you fight fear not with appeasement, but with knowledge and by forging genuine bonds across cosmetic lines to INTEGRATE different people and interests, not DIVIDE them. And while I deplore how nationalism the world over is used too often as a populist rallying cry, I also sympathize with my French-Canadian compatriots who, despite conquest by the British, have been unwitting pawns of their OWN higher-ups throughout the generations.

    As a result, I couldn’t help but personally feel both negligence and extreme guilt for being yet another well-heeled francophone professional, willing to sell out and tell the masses what they want to hear. I’d feel doubly guilty being yet another anglophone getting rich off French-Canadian conditioning, but who really hears one megaphone at a rock concert? And finally, my immigrant-descended side takes a step back and wonders whether part of my family’s experiences as “others” sandwiched between the two solitudes is precisely what qualifies me to speak out on the excesses of both sides, or whether it’s just a third liability justifying going along to get along.

    > Incidentally, the Hispanics in the US constitute 20% of the US population as well […] enough to scare the shit out of the US versions of Beaulieu and Trudel […] warning Americans about the "dangerous" minority, and spawning movements like the tea party that one commentator on some American show described perfectly as a "symptom of white people's fear that one day they won't be the majority" (parallels to the SSJB are obvious) .

    The truth is that there’ll be change no matter what. History teaches us that. I for one favor lining all our opportunities in a row so that the future changes will be less of a culture war and more of an gradual evolution that responds to everybody’s needs.

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  90. > I also saw a program on tv where a Hispanic American activist said something along the lines of: "we started organizing because we were sick of being pushed around"...I must say that these words stuck with me. They sure rang close to home.

    You know what’s also sad? The Black population was largely imported forcefully as slave laborers and got/get pushed around too. And hated. And feared. Then we got the Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, and NAACP. Organize, sure. But what really needs to happen is a mental shift across ALL lines.

    > If you look closely, you will notice that southern Quebec is also a paler color on the map.

    Sure is. But note that southern Quebec is a different color than Labrador.

    > All of the announcements were bilingual. There was too much French as it is. I was very glad to see that "O Canada" was sung in English only. After all, two teams from English Canada were playing...not the Montreal Alouettes. Would you hear English at any game between two Quebec teams? Not likely.

    No French and no English are both problematic, in my humble opinion.

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  91. http://www.languagemonitor.com/no-of-words/

    it doesnt have 10% more words than french ..it has 10 times ....or 1000% more words .

    They want people in Quebec to speak an inferior language.

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  92. "I haven't seen any of them. The francophones I saw either supported the rally (tacitly or explicitly), or remained silent."

    Nous croyez-vous assez stupides pour sortir dans la rue pour l'anglicisation de notre Nation?

    Qu'est-ce que vous fumez adski bottine?

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  93. @adski
    "I'll have to agree with the Anon above that some Allo/Anglo party is necessary here. We're a 20% block, and totally shut out of politics and power sharing. Those who claim to represent us don't. They fail us consistently. And there is no hope on the horizon. Legault's initiative is more of the same shit."

    THANK YOU ! After all these years maybe we can do something !

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  94. "THANK YOU ! After all these years maybe we can do something !"

    Bonne chance...Losers (Equality party,alliance Quebec,etc.)

    Ils ont tous pris la 401 à grands coups de pied au cul.Hahahahaha!

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  95. @ anon 9:49

    401 goes east and west. I wonder how you would react if we sent a couple of 100 K welfare recipients to settle in Quebec and then use them to partition your province. Then we can have 401 end in Pointe Aux Trembles instead of Rivire Beaudette.

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  96. "...Québec and then use them to partition your province.

    Que diriez-vous d'avoir un parti anglo avant de parler partition?Nous n'attendons que ça.Nous aurions enfin un peu d'action et nous adorons celà!

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  97. "Nous croyez-vous assez stupides pour sortir dans la rue pour l'anglicisation de notre Nation?"

    Ask Apparatchik. He was talking about beleaguered Francophones. My personal experience brings me closer to what you're implying: a vast majority of francophones, no matter how nice they are, have been successfully manipulated by their elites and duped into fears of assimilation. That combined with the cultural mistrust, dislike and envy of anything English, the propensity to privilege on account of their majority status, and historical memory of the "negres blancs" times, means that even the nicest ones of them will clam up and refuse any real accommodations or equality for non-francophones. Thus, the 20% non-francophone block does need a political initiative of their own.

    I'm not a big fan of protests and pressuring, but I do agree with pushing BACK. And I do believe in karma and backlash. Sooner or later, it will come.

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  98. "I'm not a big fan of protests and pressuring, but I do agree with pushing BACK. And I do believe in karma and backlash. Sooner or later, it will come."

    Aucun problème adski.Nous sommes prêts à vous accueillir.Ne sommes-nous pas une société démocratique?Ma seule question est à savoir quel fou (leader) se proposera d'aller au bat par les temps qui courent.

    Peut-être vous adski?

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  99. "Peut-être vous adski? "

    Pas moi. I happen to work in the private industry at an IT job that keeps me busy throughout the week and tired in the evenings. My only political activity is contributing to this blog. But maybe some anglo or allo from the public sector, with more time on their hands? Maybe the initiative could come out of McGill?

    One thing is for sure - such a movement could count on my support (tacit rather than active), and they could count on my vote in political elections. That I can guarantee.

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  100. "My only political activity is contributing to this blog."


    Wow!ClapClapClapClapClapClapClap!Bravo!ClapClapClapClapClapClapClap...

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  101. "Maybe the initiative could come out of McGill?"

    Pas vu aucun McGillois lors de la manif Anti-101,encore trop occupés...J'imagine :)

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  102. @Anal 12:03 PM

    ...more words ending in "-ouile" and "-ois", no wonder everybody knows the joual French in Q has 400 words.

    You know, the ability to sustain a point of view with valid arguments is completely absent in a seppie.

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  103. "Wow!ClapClapClapClapClapClapClap!Bravo!ClapClapClapClapClapClapClap.."

    Well you showed us that you know something else besides flapflapflapflapflapflap... ( everyday by the way ).

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  104. "Visiting Paris, Quebec City's mayor Regis Lebeaume was shocked by the amount of English signage in the City of Lights."

    Padon me, but was this the same Quebec City mayor praised in this blog for having the courage to learn English, or is this somebody else?

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  105. Language is fluid; I don't understand why or how any French person could say that French is "superior" to any other language on earth. Languages borrow from each other; thousands of English words are literally French words or derivatives. Also, French speaker in Canada don't speak FRANCE French but I don't see them beating themselves up for "soiling" the purity of French with their dialects.

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