Thursday, June 28, 2012

Peel & Stick Solution for French Appliances

I've come out of my vacation to open up a new thread, since some are complaining that the comments section, with close to 300 posts, is getting a bit unwieldy.

I'm not going to get into a long well-thought out post, I'm supposed to be on vacation and so offer this quickie to allow for reader reactions.

Language bureaucrats take aim at appliance wording

"Quebec’s language bureaucrats are taking aim at appliances.
This time the offenders are appliances carrying words such as: bake, broil, spin cycle and sensor cook.
The Office de la Langue Francaise said that about 1,100 of the 7,600 complaints it received last year focused on the language of words printed on appliances.
Only about 20 percent of appliances sold in Quebec are souped up with French texts, according to the agency.
The government will ask appliance manufacturers to include French words on their machines."  " Read more:

Personally, I'd suggest providing each appliance with a sheet of Peel'n Stick French labels, but I'm not sure this will satisfy the OQLF.
Producing and replacing the instruction panel has some related costs to it and it begs several questions.

Question Number 1
Will those appliances that have additional French labeling cost more than the English counterparts sold in Ontario?

Question Number 2
Should all appliances sold across Canada be bilingual, even if it means an increase in costs?

Question Number 3
If the French labeling rules apply only to Quebec product, should Quebecers bear the cost or should the cost of bilingual labeling be borne by all Canadians?
In other words should the bilingual appliances and the English appliances sold in the rest of Canada be sold at the same, slightly higher price.

Question Number 4
If bilingual Quebec appliances cost more than those sold in Ontario, will the government ban retailers from shipping English only product into Quebec, even to anglophones.
Remember my blog piece- Buzz Lightyear?

Question Number 5
How come the car companies, the BIGGEST OFFENDERS aren't included in this new initiative by the Quebec government.

Question Number 6
How desperate is the Quebec Liberal government and to what lengths will it go to prove its bone fides in the language debate?
Come to think of it, if they apply the rules of Bill 101 to cegep, won't they MATCH PERFECTLY the Parti Quebecois language policy.

...just asking.


155 comments:

  1. You'll know you've bought a new "French" appliance cause instead of the humming sound you usually here from the "English" ones, the "French" ones will just whine all the time.

    They'll also be equipped with an rejection mode to stop any "English" product from being placed in it.
    The top of the line models will come equipped with a "Red Square" on them too.

    This place is nothing but a joke :( !!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its amazing how its taken approx 40 yrs for the language police to finally focus on the threat to the Francophone culture of English language home appliances, car dashboards, hifi equipment, TVs, toys (already covered?). Even bilingual food, drink, medical packaging must be a threat because English words can be observed. There is also the issue of business equipment, tools and facilities using English language lettering and labels. Neither the average francophone person nor the PQ do not seem to have made a big issue about this to date, so congrats Quebec Liberals, proving yourselves not to be quite as liberal as you may think you are. I have no problem with Quebec requesting appliances etc to be in French, why not, and let the consumer choose, but will residents of Quebec be permitted a choice, or will non-French labelled products be permitted to be sold in Quebec or to be used in business - it will be interesting to see where this goes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "I have no problem with Quebec..."

    Pourquoi j'ai l'impression que c'est faux ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paranoïa et presque trois générations de conditionnement émotif/ethniste séparatiste peut-être?

      Delete
  4. Question -- a little off topic, sorry Editor.

    Does anybody have trouble with the ``Load More`` comments when they reach 200+? It doesn`t work for me, at home or at work. I`m just wondering if anybody has a trick or a solution, it just says ``Loading`` indefinately and I never get to see them.

    I hate missing all those comments!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never had an issue with the "Load more' button not working.


      Please tell me you are not using "INTERNET EXPLORER"

      That browser is practically incompatible with BLOGGER.

      If so, switch to Google Chrome or better still, FIREFOX, even if it is just to read this blog.
      Both browsers download in a snap and can be up and running in a few minutes. You can keep IE for everything else, but I can't imagine why you'd want to.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the information, I will try one of those. I see by the comments below that others will benefit from your reply as well.

      Delete
    3. Excellent, works like a charm! Now off to read all I`ve missed.... :)

      Delete
  5. Laurie, I have the same experience.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you Editor for coming out of your vacation and writing this piece. Hey, my comment before had anything to do with this piece, did it not?

    ReplyDelete
  7. To answer the questions:

    1. Most likely yes.
    2. No. Remember most appliances come from outside Canada.
    3. Should or should not, L'Office quebecois contre la langue anglaise has no jurisdiction outside Quebec.
    4. I see that it will be hard to enforce if the customer makes the order in Ontario. Otherwise, there may be an inter-provincial trade war.
    5. Maybe later? Who knows.
    6. Fuck them, but they are the lesser of all evils.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This province is so screwed up! I've lived here for 2 years now and everyday I am more amazed at what Quebec considers priority. Some single mother just missed a shift of work because she had to wait 13 hours for her child to be seen at the hospital, all the while money is continually wasted on junk like this. The French freaked out about an English coach with the Habs and cry about them not having enough french players. Maybe if they worried more about why their children get barely any ice time due to communities having woefully insufficient numbers of rinks, they would develop a few decent players once in a while. This trivial bullshit takes money away from hospitals, schools, arenas and countless other things way more important microwave instructions, especially when all that will happen is making it more expensive. And for the point about Canada sharing the cost, I think they support this money pit more then they should already. Maybe they should learn to balance a budget before worrying about inconsequential topics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The french slang spoken in Quebec is spoken only in Quebec. The govt could pay to have classes on how to start a washer or mixer. Seriously the people are becoming retarded in so many ways. They will be like the Hutterites, TLC will film these folks stumblin around trying to work a can opener and blowdryer with no success because they can't read English instructions bless.

      Delete
  9. "This province is so screwed up!"

    No kidding.

    This appliance issue would be hilarious if it wasn't so ridiculous.

    Quick, call The Office of the Official Language commissioner. I am sure a grant can be made available to the manufacturers courtesay of the the vastly anglo ROC to assist in providing some poor Quebecois assistance in operating his/her range or microwave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WHY would this be ridiculous in any way? Would you want all your appliances in Spanish or Chinese? Think! There is nothing "screwed" up about this.

      Delete
    2. The fact of the matter is that appliances would never be in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. as we are in CANADA. If you live in Quebec and don't know what bake or broil means or can\t even figure it out ... oh boy!

      Delete
  10. Just when I think this province cannot give me any further reason to leave, up pops another. This one comes right on the heels of the French school board (Commission Scolaire de Montreal) evicting elderly English residents from a seniors residence in NDG. Or Quebecor ceasing the last English alternative-weekly paper in the province.

    The word "ridiculous" does not fit the OQLF and Quebec Liberals. More fitting is mentally retarded. How do you think companies like GE, Whirlpool, Panasonic, and others will react? I'll tell you how, they either will refuse to sell their products in this backwards so-called province, or, they'll refuse to make special labels and the government will therefore BAN the sell of their products here. The Quebec government already bans the sell or import of English toys in the province if there is not a French counterpart.

    Go ahead, let Quebec get deeper and deeper isolated in the bubble it is enveloped in. How does shit like this benefit anyone? Not only does this drive away people already living here, it makes Quebec unattractive to anyone on the outside looking to invest or live here. What company in its right mind would want to set up shop here? Absolutely pathetic, no other place in the world is as backwards as Quebec. No hope whatsoever for its future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why don't you leave? What is holding you back? Why be tormented on a daily basis by yet another incident of language lunacy? Move to Ontario where you will have a normal life where language is a non issue.

      Delete
    2. Jonah... that's such Bullshit.. 101 or 401... Why does it have to be... In a democracy, you have to right to express disenting views, protest, pressure elected officials. vote or not vote, take legal action or not take legal action...

      The English speaking community must start standing up for itself! If you are at a grocery store and the cashier refuses to speak English ask for the Manager. if he refuses, leave the groceries there, walk out... Write a letter to head office, CTV etc, etc..

      We need to stop accepting this CRAP!!! Stop voting LIBERAL....

      Delete
    3. Mr. Sauga (no relation to Mrs. Sauga)Friday, June 29, 2012 at 12:23:00 PM EDT

      Taz: Sadly, people stopped voting for a reasonable alternative - Equality! In fact, I think it's high time a more radical party is necessary - one that puts Anglophones and other minorities first.

      Unfortunately, the minorities (incl. Anglophones), FOOLS that they are, made Equality a one-term experiment rather than the norm. It's absolutely not worth it to vote Liberal because they aren't doing sweet f-all for the minorities except persecuting the easiest targets in society - small business!

      Let's add up the score:

      Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest had his minions (Kathleen Weil, Yolande James, Geoffrey Kelley et al) vote in favour of the Bill 104 replacement and other anti-English legislation. Bastard quislings, all of them.

      Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest hired 26 new language policemen and women last year to stringently enforce the French language and squelch the English language wherever possible.

      Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest allowed a child who should have been protected by, believe it or not, the Charter of the French Language, aka Bill 101, did not lift a finger for a child who had to go to the State of Delaware, USA to continue his English language education.

      Premier John James "Goldilocks" Charest duped the federal government by taking a $700 million federal transfer for specific programs in Quebec and turning it into a $700 million Quebec tax reduction and taking full credit for the reduction.

      Need I go on?

      Delete
    4. Tax, because this has been going on for 50 years. It is like banging your head against a wall. It will never stop so why endure it? I repeat it, life is so normal in Ontario without language issues and an economy that will continue to grow unlike the opposite in Quebec.

      Delete
    5. I don't see the Equality Party as a viable or credible alternative. Convince me, guys.

      Delete
    6. "Why don't you leave? What is holding you back? "

      Jonah, what's holding you back from leaving this blog? You'll find much more pleasant views on JF Lisee's blog. Or if you like an Anglo blowing smoke up your a** and stroking your ego bruised by history that didn't go according to plan (Des Moines Iowa is today pronounced De Moinz), I'd suggest Christopher Hall's JdeM column.

      Delete
    7. Apparatchik: What is a viable or credible alternative to the Equality Party as you see it, or is there an alternative at all?

      What are the minorities to do because the Quisling "yes-men" and "yes-women" are clearly, blatantly and unequivocally not representing their constituents in the predominantly minority constituencies at all. They don't DARE vote against Fearless Leader else they'll lose out on their colossally generous perks and pension plans.

      I should check with my son who just completed a Civics course last semester and see how they wrote how they describe legislative representatives in relation to their constituents. I have a feeling it's all backwards when Quebec politicians are considered. I may be wrong in thinking so, but I always considered the elected politicians those who reflect the collective wishes of their constituents. Hmmmmm...

      Delete
    8. I don't really see the Equality Party or similar splinter groups as holding the key to an impasse like this one. I also believe in change from within, which is why I would rather start with the mainstream party that most closely matches up with my political views.

      Regarding your notion of "representation", I must say it's great in theory but frankly I don't see it borne out in practice -- in Quebec or anywhere else. MPs, MNAs, MLAs, congressmen, senators, more often than not, are delegated decision makers more often than a human symbol representing the collective wishes of their constituents.

      And then there's the more radical notion I hold whereby giving everybody within a society the right to determine EVERYTHING that happens within that society is inherently flawed. Call me undemocratic if you must, but lack of information and disinformation are potent underminers of this holy grail we call "democracy". I don't think my say on matters I know little or nothing about should count as much as those of someone who does. Look around and see the havoc that has wrought in so-called rep-by-pop.

      I wish I could chuckle at how those young "liberal" and "idealistic" Egyptians howling for Mubarak to get out of office will have plenty of bitter resentment now that their country (once the paragon of secular Arabism) has elected an islamist. Seems the youthful ideologues know to come out and protest but they can't mobilize to actually govern. That sounds awfully familiar in my neck of the woods.

      Better to integrate the system and effect gradual change from within, rather than radical change whose meaning is overstated in documentaries decades later. Gay rights, womens' rights, civil rights, welfare state, civilization. Change doesn't happen overnight, and it shouldn't.

      Delete
    9. Apparatchik: "Better to integrate the system and effect gradual change from within..."

      Oh, you mean persecuting the minorities with language legislation, amongst other things. From Bill 63 (Union Nationale) to Bill 22 (Bou-bou's so-called federalist Liberals) to Bill 101 (Separatist péquistes) to Bill 178 (again Bou-bou's so-called federalist Liberals) to Bill 104 (again the separatist péquistes) to Bill Whatever number it is that replaced Bill 104 (John James "Goldilocks" Charest's so-called federalist Liberals). Forty f***ing years of anti-English legislation, whether it's boiled, broiled, roasted, poached, smoked, grilled, etc. etc. etc. Yeah, Apparatchik, Quebec has come a long way, baby!

      Delete
    10. Adski. what the hell are you talkng about?

      Delete
    11. Oh, you mean persecuting the minorities with language legislation, amongst other things.
      Not at all; as I've already said, I disagree with a good chunk of our language legislation. I disagree with the Liberals not having the chutzpah to tell Quebecers the hard truth we need to hear on our repression of English in the public arena.

      But letting the PQ continue to ratchet up the repressive measures is hardly a good starting point.

      Delete
  11. ON = marche
    OFF = arrêt

    For everything else, our tax dollars pay for this:

    http://www.gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/

    Not perfect, but a good first step if ever anyone's confused.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are universal symbols for appliances as well. The uneducated could buy those if they can afford appliances

      Delete
    2. Yannick,

      Perhaps you can then explain this phenomenon. In Japan, the audio / video gadgets sold almost all have markings like Play, FFW, REW, Pause, REC. And these are the Japanese brands sold in Japan local market. Just go to random electronic stores in Shinjuku for examples. Why do the manufacturers not put kanji or kana on the equipments? After all, they are Japanese products sold to Japanese costumers in Japan. It is worth noted that the Japanese market is really multiple times bigger than that of Quebec. More specifically, Japanese-language market in Japan is multiple times bigger than French-language market in Quebec. (Quick calculation finds it to be 17 times bigger.)

      As a disclaimer, look, I am not against bilingual or multi-lingual markings on appliances. Considering that big appliances are made for more global markets than boxes of cereal or milk, what I am against are:

      1. If the implementation of such rule will cause the increase of the price of the appliances for the customers.
      2. Following point 1., if the implementation will restrict the availability of such items for customers. E.g.: English-speaking toys.

      Delete
  12. The Quebec Liberal Party is itself insane. All this madness with the OQLF is happing under their watch. And then they have the guts to say that the province will suffer under a PQ government, and most francophones don't believe them. I wonder why they don't. It's probably because the Quebec Liberal Party is acting and behaving like the PQ.

    If you want to make a point that you are a party that promotes a pro economic policy in the province, then you don't allow the OQLF to do shit like this. Don't they understand! The language hawks will always vote for the PQ anyway. Why waste your efforts on them. And in the process hurt this provinces' economy.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have a complaint to send to the Office at plaintes@oqlf.gouv.qc.ca:

    "Stop wasting the tax dollars of Quebec on pointless games!!"

    ReplyDelete
  14. The OLFQ should have an English website so the English can understand how they are not complying with the OLFQ. This way they can help the English francisize.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you mean like parrots in pet stores that greet customers by saying "hello"! Boy, Safer and Richler made Louise Beaudoin, Gérard Paquet and other OQLFers look like total jackasses to all of North America on 60 Minutes back in 1998!

      Delete
  15. Diogenes' Appliance Trouble-shooting Guide:
    Don't like the appearance of a product? Vote with your wallet. DON'T BUY IT. Problem solved.
    They all have English labels? Read the french user manual and learn what the labels mean. Problem solved.
    Can't grasp the concept that On = Marche? The operation of a microwave oven is going to be way beyond your mental capabilities, so get someone to operate it for you. Problem solved.
    Too lazy/stupid/unwilling to adapt? Whine to the OQLF that Big Brother isn't intruding enough in everyone's life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yannick,

      And I wrote my point to you about that on the previous posting. Politics or not, the issue does not make sense.

      Delete
    2. Yannick, exactly whom do you suggest voting for? We all await your revelation.

      Delete
    3. Yannick,

      I'm just not sure what justification we have to require some products to be bilingual, but not others.

      The justification? $, €, £, ¥, ₣, ₩, ₱.

      Delete
    4. Yannick, I get. It. You always consider yourself the smartest person in the room.

      Delete
  16. Pourquoi les anglos ne comprennent pas le mot "arrêt" et que nous devions écrire "stop" sur les panneaux dans les quartiers anglos?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Pourquoi les anglos ne comprennent pas le mot "arrêt" et que nous devions écrire "stop" sur les panneaux dans les quartiers anglos?"

      You answered you own question, because they are "quartiers anglos"

      Delete
    2. Anonymous at 15:17,

      Obviously you do not speak French well. "STOP" is a French word. You do not believe me? In France - the place of French language - the sign says "STOP".

      Delete
    3. Because that is the word used in France, Switzerland,Belgium and Luxembourg.

      Delete
    4. Dans le dictionnaire Le Petit Robert, il est écrit que le mot stop est un « mot anglais ».

      Delete
    5. Cretins,

      So are hockey, football, soccer, weekend, television, hamburger, hot dog. What is your point?

      Delete
    6. "Pourquoi les anglos ne comprennent pas le mot "arrêt" et que nous devions écrire "stop" sur les panneaux dans les quartiers anglos?"

      Why do the french not understand the word Stop and that we have to write "arret" (or arretez) on the signs in the french zones like Hochelga and Montreal North?

      Delete
  17. What I like with No Dogs is that we always learn new things. A friend told me that most people on No Dogs have at least a master degree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who's your friend and how would he know that?

      Delete
    2. We all care about language that's for sure

      Delete
  18. Time to put a stop to this madness. How much should we take? This is enough!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Time to put a stop to this madness. How much should we take? This is enough!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Time to put a stop to this madness. How much should we take? This is enough!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I send emails to plaintes@oqlf.gouv.qc.ca asking them "why they are racists?". Everyone should!

      Delete
    2. Don't stop there. Send some to the following:
      - SSJB.
      - RRQ
      - Commission des droits de la personne
      - Impératif Français
      - Le Devoir
      - Parti Québécois
      ...

      No need to be incendiary. Just state your point categorically and lucidly. Repeat.


      Preferably en français.

      Delete
    3. Mister sauga, did they give you an answer to your quesion?

      Delete
    4. How about sending one to the OQLF etc, asking them why the stop signs in French are grammatically incorrect? Shouldn't it be arretez-vous, not arret? I've come to the conclusion that people don't stop at stop signs here in Quebec because they think that they are just suggestions, not imperatives ;-)

      Delete
  21. "why they are racists?"

    Parce que certains anglos refusent de s'intégrer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Integrate where? It's their home as much as it is the Francos'! Quebec does not belong to the Francophones alone.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous, define integrate.

      Delete
    3. After 3 centuries of franco/QC-"resistance" to anglicisation, and after 50 plus years of anglo/allo/ROC-"resistance" to legislation (101, OLA) that aimed to engineer conditions conducive to full or partial francisation, it is obvious that both sides reject "integration". The best we can achieve now is harmony with some knowledge of each other's language. This is now the case in QC (Sherwin Tija is an exception, not a standard). So you may as well give up trying to turn non-deferential people into deferential ones. The limit has been achieved (people won't budge much further in embracing of a highly minoritarian continental culture that acts bigger than it is and is looking more and more silly and unattractive). So you should be happy with your gains and cut your losses.

      Also, thinking that petty tactics are somehow conducive to "integration" (you obviously link them) is pure insanity. Their effect is opposite, it pushes people away from the language, and casts a silly light on the speakers of that language (why would your people wreak so much havoc over a tuition hike, but there was not a single protester in front of the OQLF offices holding a banner that reads: I know what on/off/bake/cook/timer mean. Stop treating me like a child). Unless you think that OQLF actions are meant to be punitive (for not "integrating") rather than integrationist. If that's the case, then you've hit a new bottom.

      Delete
  22. Integrate where?

    À la majorité,à la manière des francophones dans le RoC,ils s'adaptent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So you're saying that there is no difference between 5000 Francophones migrated to BC having to adapt to the ways of 4.5 million Anglos and Allos there and over 1 million Anglos born and bred in Quebec having to adapt to the ways of 6 million Francos. In the meantime, South of the Border they made Spanish the second official language of the US, but somehow they are seen as barbarians. I repeat: Quebec does not belong to Francophones alone, never did and never will.
      (and, no, not even when it was called Nouvelle France, you know, the small matter of the natives...)

      Delete
    2. South of the Border they made Spanish the second official language of the US
      I'm not sure that greater tolerance for Spanish-language signage is the same as making the language official, but I digress.

      Quebec does not belong to Francophones alone, never did and never will.
      You need to tell the SSJB megaplex that. And often. And use formulations they understand: tell them you're affirming your right to exist and that their right to exist doesn't trump yours.

      Delete
  23. Totally off-topic, but:

    Pierre Duchesne becomes Borduas riding PQ candidate

    I was wondering how long it would take.

    There ought to be a law against journalists becoming politicians, methinks.

    [naïveté] How could we retroactively have trusted their supposedly unbiased reporting ?![/naïveté]

    ReplyDelete
  24. Des étudiants des quatre coins du globe préparent une grève mondiale

    http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/education/201206/29/01-4539662-des-etudiants-des-quatre-coins-du-globe-preparent-une-greve-mondiale.php

    ReplyDelete
  25. Question Number 1
    Will those appliances that have additional French labeling cost more than the English counterparts sold in Ontario?

    Quite a few microwaves, phones, and other applicances come with a plastic faceplate that you can pop on and off, each of which having text in a different language. I like the idea that I can choose between faceplates and think it shouldn't be too expensive to print an extra piece of plastic for an applicance that's already designed to be sold in multiple markets.

    Question Number 2
    Should all appliances sold across Canada be bilingual, even if it means an increase in costs?

    Bilingual or separate language faceplates should be as mandatory as bilingual packaging/manuals/etc.

    Question Number 3
    If the French labeling rules apply only to Quebec product, should Quebecers bear the cost or should the cost of bilingual labeling be borne by all Canadians?
    In other words should the bilingual appliances and the English appliances sold in the rest of Canada be sold at the same, slightly higher price.

    Appliances are often sold in multiple language markets anyway. Once again, include a (very inexpensive) faceplate that can snap on and off the device. The cost of these should be negligible.

    Question Number 4
    If bilingual Quebec appliances cost more than those sold in Ontario, will the government ban retailers from shipping English only product into Quebec, even to anglophones.
    Remember my blog piece- Buzz Lightyear?

    Consider that buttons are being replaced with LCD/touchscreens that usually have menus in 6 different languages anyway and the point becomes increasingly moot.

    Question Number 5
    How come the car companies, the BIGGEST OFFENDERS aren't included in this new initiative by the Quebec government.

    See above; touch screen language selection is the way to go.

    Question Number 6
    How desperate is the Quebec Liberal government and to what lengths will it go to prove its bone fides in the language debate?

    Too desperate and has never had the courage to pummel and castrate the separatist fearmongering complex as it should.

    Come to think of it, if they apply the rules of Bill 101 to cegep, won't they MATCH PERFECTLY the Parti Quebecois language policy.
    They do. And both parties' policies will be irrelevant as more Quebecers realize it's not about legislation but about the institutions we can frequent that make our language relevant. Putting a French face on our city doesn't mean you've given it a Separatist soul. That's where the PQ went wrong in the seventies and that's what will lead to their dogma's eventual ruin. Not in my lifetime, but eventually.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a reason you have to legislate bilingualism of French... because no one wants to speak it!!!! You have to force people to do it!! That's the only way. What a waste of time... lol

      Delete
    2. @ Mrs. Sauga

      I won't publish any more comments under Mrs. Sauga, it is too confusing.
      Please choose another screen name.

      Delete
    3. I note a correlation between the former statement being made more often by federalists and the latter statement by separatists.

      The fact that Montreal was already bilingual before our language legislation leads me to side with the federalists.

      More broadly, I also think this is pointless legislation and for reasons both internal and external, it will fundamentally fail because you can't force anybody to love ANY language.

      Delete
    4. Non; j'estime que Sauga est un expatrié frustré dont le ton dur témoigne davantage de sa haine pour ceux qui l'ont mené à faire les choix qu'il à dus faire il y a une trentaine d'années. À vrai le dire, je partage sa haine profonde de Camille Laurin et des contemporains de celui-ci. Sauga a fait son choix entre les proverbiales 101 et 401 -- je soupçonne à contrecœur -- mais un choix auquel il avait pourtant droit.

      Je crois aussi que la majorité des RoCeurs qui voudraient nous mettre à la porte le feraient plus en raison de leur fatigue généralisée de nos menaces incessantes de quitter au cours du dernier demi-siècle. Bien que je désapprouve de l'idée qu'elle vienne des partisans d'un parti "bleu" ou encore d'un autre, je dois dire que depuis quelque temps je me trouve à fantasmer, voire à rêvasser d'un Québec où nos séparatistes seraient remplacés par un groupe qui veillait à la conscience idéologique du Canada entier. On a beau fêter 1812 comme le veut Harper, mais qu'à cela ne tienne. Je le dis souvent: le Canada, n'eût été pour les Canadiens-Français, ne serait fort probablement pas un pays distinct aujourd'hui. Et sans l'apport des nombreux Canadiens-Français qui ont façonné son histoire, son âme, sa conscience, et sa réputation, le Canada ne serait pas aujourd'hui le pays dont nous sommes en grande partie fiers, quelle que soit notre allégeance politique. J'en veux aux séparatistes parce qu'ils diminuent nos poids, influence, et épanouissement de par leurs gestes et ensuite nous disent que c'est justement pour ça qu'il faut soutenir leur option. Ça rappelle un peu le mafieux qui exige une "taxe de protection", mais bon.

      Dans un autre ordre d'idées, pourquoi dis-tu qu'"il se peut"? Tu penses t'installer chez nous? Si c'est le cas, permets-moi de te souhaiter une très cordiale bienvenue. ;-)

      Delete
    5. There is so much hypocrisy regarding the French language in Quebec. I will give you an example close to my heart; my father, an immigrant, came to montreal as a young teenager with his parents in the early 60s. He had learned French as a foreign language in elementary school, but when he came here, to Montreal, was told that immigrants had to go to English school, which held him back a couple years. Fast-forward, immigrants are forced to attend French schools and why you ask? Pour protéger la langue? What changed? Why can't we coexist? Take personal pride in "protecting your language" I speak 3 languages because my parents felt it was important for me to learn English, French and my father's mother tongue which I obviously couldn't learn in schoool.

      Moral of the story? If you're afraid of "losing your language" put your pants on and stop being lazy, starting at home. OH! and BTW, learning English or any other language will not, I repeat WILL NOT make you lose your French. Don't piss people off ... live and let live!

      Delete
  26. Replies
    1. Bonne fête du déménagement, tout le monde!

      Delete
    2. Faut relativiser la chose.

      Moins de 80 000 Québécois (sur 8 000 000) déménagent aujourd'hui.
      Au moins 50% des Québécois voteraient NON.

      Happy Canada Day, seppie.

      Delete
    3. Totally unrelated comment:

      The Governor General is wearing McGill tie - also known as the "Babcock tie" - for the Canada Day celebration. I think that tie is the most famous tie in Canadian contemporary history.

      Delete
    4. Apparatchik,

      One small thing to consider:

      St. John the Baptist celebration is done mainly on the East End on the city, in a locale decidedly dominated by a specific demographic group. Canada Day celebration is done in many parts of the city. The main celebrations (the ceremony and the parade) are in the downtown core where the population comes from all walks of life.

      Delete
    5. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

      The problem I have is with those who say that you shouldn't be able to celebrate the one and the other. Since when is balance and inclusiveness wrong?

      Bush's famous "you're either with us or with the terrorists" was rightly lampooned; I find it pathetic that separatists can see right-wing fascism when it's dished out by everybody but themselves...

      Delete
    6. Apparatchik,

      You are missing my point. My point is to augment your statement that the fact is more people care about Quebec being in Canada rather than out of Canada. If we can simplify that St. John the Baptist celebration equals the celebration of separatist cause and Canada Day is the celebration of, well, Canada, then we can see that St. John's seems to be more fringe while Canada Day to be more mainstream.

      Of course, one is free to attend both celebration. Or as in my case this year, none of them. Euro 2012 simply prevailed. Come to think of it, this is the year in so many years that I spent both holidays completely at home.

      Delete
    7. Fair enough. I suppose I'm annoyed that either side tries to co-opt the public into what degenerates into an essentially political statement about one's ethnic and political loyalties because that's not what either "fête" is really about.

      Cheers on your third (UEFA) way. But even THAT is still a celebration of nationalism, only from a different angle... ;-)

      Delete
    8. Apparatchik,

      I am Asian. I have no European ancestry whatsoever in my blood. Therefore there is no nationalism in the Euro Cup for me. I just enjoy and appreciate the beautiful game - a point that our Dear Editor strongly disagrees. :-)

      Yannick,

      I live in Montreal and while usually I went to both, I went to none this year. The reason was above.

      Delete
  27. I have no clue what problem the english have with Quebec. It makes no rational sense. Quebec is a french nation and all aspects of that country should be french in every way and enforced in all ways. Why would anyone have a problem with that? It should be supported and admired not put down. Quebec should be free but at the moment they are not, so there should be mutual respect but the english have shown very little respect and understanding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let me clue you in, since you obviously have no clue.

      "The English" are just as likely to be prone to fits of idiocy and irrationality as "The French". This is true both in Quebec and outside.

      Quebec is not a French nation. Québécois form a nation -- in a sociological sense -- within Canada.

      You are projecting your own angst, insecurity, and frustration when you make statements like "all aspects of that country should be french in every way and enforced in all ways". Not to mention the fact that you are deliberately confounding the sociological notion of the word nation and the idea of country, which Quebec is not. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but Quebec is not a country, not de facto and not de jure, and screaming it until you're blue in the face won't make it any more so.

      There is a huge difference between having unique regional attributes within a large country and chauvinistically and cavalierly engaging in macho chauvinism wrapped in endless reams of journalistic, editorial, and endless blogospheric victimology. Structurally, Quebec is free and its progress isn't any more or less hindered than any of the provinces in Canada from unfolding as it should by virtue of Quebec's membership in the federation. If anything is keeping Quebec back, it is the petty, anglophobic, insecure, neverending separatist brainwash that never defines precisely what it is we're lacking but somehow through the magic of post hoc ergo propter hoc knows that all of it can be magically solved by demolishing our federation's shared decision-making arrangement and allowing the parliament in Quebec City to appropriate all such power. It's a false pretense maintained by the separatist media-political industry in this province designed to keep us in a perpetual state of insecurity, and with a purpose to crush any mutual respect between the communities from ever taking permanent hold unless it is done according to the diktats of these self-appointed charlatans.

      I won't presume to speak for anybody else here but I recommend that you read my interventions on this blog dating back almost two years now and at the end of it you'll hopefully achieve a beginning of an understanding about this conflict from the perspective of a moderate federalist who believes in a can-do, secure, bilingual Montreal in an equally secure Quebec and Canada.

      Delete
    2. The problem is YOUR understanding. Quebec is indeed a nation, that you must understand for this to go anywhere. Quebec is a conquered nation fighting for it's survival. It is Quebec destiny to be free as it should be...and it should be with Canada's full support.....also if it does remain in Canada for the time being, it should be regarded as a separate nation and it's laws respected fully. There should be NO problem with that at all. Many of the things you stated are absolute pure nonsense, it is YOU that lacks understanding of this issue.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous at 12:29,

      Thank you for the ranting, so to speak. However, do you have any evidence for your statements?

      Let us start with: Quebec is indeed a nation, that you must understand for this to go anywhere. What is the justification you have? How do have to understand this?

      Next: Quebec is a conquered nation fighting for it's survival. Quebec is never conquered. The British forces defeated French forces who then surrendered Nouvelle-France in exchange for, among others, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

      It is Quebec destiny to be free as it should be... Says who?

      ...and it should be with Canada's full support... Why? Why should Canada care?

      ...also if it does remain in Canada for the time being, it should be regarded as a separate nation and it's laws respected fully. Anybody not respecting laws of Quebec? How about the laws of Canada? The Constitution Act of 1982, for example.

      Delete
    4. @ Anon. at 12:29 PM,

      "....also if it (Quebec) does remain in Canada for the time being, it should be regarded as a separate nation and it's laws respected fully."

      Do you mean the same language laws that were condemned by the United Nations for violating basic human rights? You should show some respect before demanding it for yourselves!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous, here's a WORLDWIDE known FACT, Quebec is NOT a country. It is and always as been a province WITHIN the country of Canada.

      Here are a few more facts for you:

      - The province of Quebec and the city of Montreal were Canada's crown jewel before the PQ came to be and rose to power in 1976.

      - Before the PQ came to be, Montreal had an international reputation that was envied by numerous other countries and major cities. Our achievements (ex: The Metro, Expo 67, Ile Notre Dame, etc...) made international headlines

      - After the PQ was 1st elected, major corporations who had their head offices here moved to Toronto and Vancouver resulting in thousands of lost jobs.

      - The few head offices who didn't move out of Quebec (ex: Air Canada and Bell Canada) elected to stay here because the PQ government begged them on hands and knees and paid them to stay here. To this day, the Quebec government is still paying them to stay here in one form or another.

      - Stephen Harper declaring Quebec to be a nation within a united Canada in 2006 means nothing other than the fact that Quebec was recognized as a distinct society. Basically the same as the first nations. We however, unlike most of the first nation communities in Canada, have the MAJOR advantage of not being forced to live on reservations lost in the middle of nowhere with very limited resources and amenities.

      I could go on and on but, if I did, this reply would go on for pages and pages. I'll conclude with the following:

      - I'm a french born Quebecer BUT, unlike a lot of Frenchmen in Quebec, I've traveled outside of Quebec and unlike the snowbirds, I did not only travel to areas of the world where there are large communities of Quebecers (ex: Cuba and Wildwood)

      - Not one country I've visited INCLUDING France, thinks Quebec's fight to become a country is a cause worth fighting for. As a matter of fact, most every country out there sees separatism as a joke because WE ARE NOT REALLY BEING PERSECUTED!

      - Quebec's cause isn't lost, we could again be what we once were. We could achieve that almost overnight if we just stopped living in the past and held politicians, who are supposed to work for us, accountable for their actions.
      a
      - Jean Charest who is nothing else but a political animal who knows he wouldn't survive in the private sector, is nothing more than a separatist in disguise. He's implemented a number of stupid policies. He should have gotten rid of the OQLF when he first came to power but no, because he realizes that if he did that, he'd never get re-elected. This going after the appliance manufacturers is his latest move to insure that he and not the PQ nor the CAQ get the separatists votes. Nothing more!!

      - I love Quebec. I think it's beautiful province with amazing potential. The only problem is, to me and to the rest of the world, it seems that the majority of people who live here barely have a high school education, have no understanding of world economics and are insecure xenophobes who love complaining and blaming the anglos for every woes, real or imagined, that befalls them.

      Delete
    6. Ti gars de St-Jerome,

      Stephen Harper declaring Quebec to be a nation within a united Canada in 2006 means nothing other than the fact that Quebec was recognized as a distinct society.

      I am sorry, a little correction here.

      The parliament motion recognizes that the Quebecois form a nation within united Canada. The motion is silent about Quebec as a territorial and political entity. As such, Quebec is but a province in Canada, no more and no less than the other nine.

      Delete
    7. The problem is YOUR understanding. Quebec is indeed a nation, that you must understand for this to go anywhere.
      I hope Troy's clarification above disabuses you of any residual lack of comprehension on the matter. Quebec is not a nation. Quebecers form a nation, just the way Mohawks do. Don't like it because your white superiority complex doesn't stomach being on the same level as the Natives we stole this land from? Too effin' bad. If everybody's special, then nobody's special.

      Quebec is a conquered nation fighting for it's survival.
      You are apparently the descendent of French colonizers in North America who chooses to view history and current events with a severe complex of the colonized. I on the other hand am a Montrealer, a Quebecer, and a Canadian, and I have no difficulty harmonizing those three identities into a coherent value system without resorting to apprehension about my own survival. The vast majority of Quebec federalists are either ambivalent about this "survival" crap or they see it the way I do without much difficulty. Besides, we've been supposedly threatened with extinction since 1759 and we're still here. Proof positive we aren't going to die anytime soon.

      It is Quebec destiny to be free as it should be...and it should be with Canada's full support.....
      This is a value judgment that you've made all on your own. It is no more valid than the opposing view that doesn't endorse a dogmatic fanatical view on the notion of "freedom". Nothing and nobody in life is ever truly "free", we all form a complex web of interdependence. I don't need the National Assembly in Quebec City to make ALL political decisions in order for me to feel "free". And if you gave some non-partisan thought to what granting full "sovereignty" to only one of our two existing levels of governments really entails, chances are you'll be more worried at the monopoly and potential abuse of power that will result. Think outside the box and outside your ethnolinguistic fears and you'll see what I mean.

      also if it does remain in Canada for the time being, it should be regarded as a separate nation and it's laws respected fully.
      The provincial government of Quebec is a member of a larger Canadian constitutional framework and abides by the rules of that framework, under which it enjoys certain rights and bears certain responsibilities. No "charter" treatment of any kind exists or is necessary, especially when you consider that all we have that's different is a different European language.

      There should be NO problem with that at all.
      Speaking in the conditional won't make it any more real. Learn what really IS and why it's that way and while you're at it, quit pontificating to make yourself feel good. Nobody cares.

      Many of the things you stated are absolute pure nonsense, it is YOU that lacks understanding of this issue
      I respectfully disagree. I've lived in Quebec my entire life and feel as much a part of Canada's French and English fabric. I certainly don't need to be told I lack understanding when I can articulately explain the reasons I hold the opinions I hold, rather than arm-wave and speak in conditional "Canada should"/"Quebec should" statements.

      Delete
    8. "It is Quebec destiny to be free as it should be...and it should be with Canada's full support.....also if it does remain in Canada for the time being, it should be regarded as a separate nation and it's laws respected fully. "

      Freedom is good as long as you don't infringe on other people's freedom and dignity. Your freedom to swing your fist ends at my nose. So swing freely, but mind my nose. You want your laws to be respected fully, first make sure they respect others fully.

      Your QC version of manifest destiny has one problem - you're constrained on all sides by more powerful states, and within Quebec you're facing civil disobedience. You first have to circumvent these obstacles, yet you don't pack a punch to do it. Your punches constantly miss the target. This latest attack on appliance labels, for example, will only drive Quebecois merchants out of business, as people will start buying all their appliances in the US (and border exemption amounts have recently been raised so you can easily buy an appliance on a 24 hour stay in the US and bring it back to Canada).

      Delete
  28. By the way, my post was to answer Anonymous who posted on Sunday, July 1, 2012 11:05:00 AM EDT

    ReplyDelete
  29. "The only problem is, to me and to the rest of the world"

    Votre égo se porte assez bien à ce que je vois.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Troy, I believe what you and I are saying pretty much amounts to the same thing. Like you I agree that Quebec is nothing else but a province. Just like the others.

    AnonymousSunday, July 1, 2012 2:41:00 PM EDT let me say that yes, my ego is just fine thank you very much.

    Now let me answer in a way that you will understand. I also believe that a number of people on this blog will also understand and agree with me here

    Les séparatistes sont un irritant pour moi, mes homologues ainsi que les Québécois Anglophones mais, vous êtes un irritant qui demeure toutefois tolérables. Pourquoi je dis ça?

    - Votre complexe d'infériorité et insécurité est la raison pourquoi le standard de vie au Québec est si bas, comparativement au reste du Canada et le reste des pays industrialisés

    - Votre complexe d'infériorité, insécurité et ignorance est la raison pourquoi moi, les gens comme moi ainsi que les politiciens peuvent vous manipuler facilement.

    En ce qui concerne les politiciens, ne soyez pas confus par leur belles paroles. Ils ne sont pas stupides. Loin de là. Ils ne visent pas votre bien être. Leur agenda est d'avoir le pouvoir et de le garder à tout prix. That's it, that all!! Pour ce faire, ils vont dire se qu’ils doivent et vous et les vôtres êtes trop stupides pour le réaliser. FYI, Jean Charest et Pauline Marois sont les plus beaux exemples qui existe depuis plus de 10 ans!

    - Votre complexe d'infériorité, insécurité et ignorance est la raison pourquoi moi et les gens comme moi avons des propriétés qui nous appartiennent à 100%, des voitures de luxe et que nos entreprises réussissent là ou les vôtres échouent. Nos avons une vue mondiale des chose et non pas des œillères.

    Continuer comme vous faite présentement, bien que ça nous frustre, et parfois beaucoup, à long terme, ça fait notre affaire car vous dévaluer tout et nous pouvons l'acheter pour des peanuts!! Sant compter que sans nous et notre argent, vous êtes incapable d’exploiter ce que vous avez!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Technically we are a province but in the minds of the Quebecois we are absolutely a nation and should be treated and respected as such. No one should disagree with this.

      Delete
    2. By the way it is impossible that you are french. You would have never written such garbage. Quebec is just trying to correct the wrongs of the past. Why in the world would Quebec remain in Canada? Quebec is a french nation, that isn't up for debate if you are Quebecois......if we remain in alliance with Canada, we should be treated and respected as independent. There is just absolutely no valid reason to be against this. It should be supported and applauded, commended, and respected by all Canadians. Why would it not be? Again biotry and ignorance is to blame.

      Delete
    3. Technically we are a province but...
      Translation: technically this is reality but it doesn't suit our political agenda so we're going to pretend to follow a fantasy we invented as though it were reality and talk very very loud when you say otherwise.

      in the minds of the Quebecois we are absolutely a nation and should be treated and respected as such.
      Again, be careful not to conflate the word nation simultaneously with the terms "group" or "country". Quebec francophones are the best-treated minority in English-majority North America. No other ethnic minority has control of a subnational legislature or powers that are on par with those of Quebec as a province. This all as a result of the constitutional framework that separatists decry as being humiliating, retrograde, and culturally genocidal. People who think like you would do well to look around and undertake an honest reality check.

      No one should disagree with this.
      Why shouldn't anyone disagree with a fictitious rendering of our cultural, linguistic, constitutional, and political status? The separatists and their ideology have been causing enormous instability not just to Montreal and Quebec, but to all of Canada for almost half a century now. It's time to cut the head off this poisonous ideological snake once and for all.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous Sunday, July 1, 2012 4:59:00 said "Technically we are a province but in the minds of the Quebecois we are absolutely a nation and should be treated and respected as such. No one should disagree with this"
      Right on! I'm with you, buddy. I insist we start treating and respecting Quebec as a nation. Transfer payments stop tomorrow.

      Delete
    5. @ Diogenes,

      "Right on! I'm with you, buddy. I insist we start treating and respecting Quebec as a nation. Transfer payments stop tomorrow."

      We can also cut their guaranteed 50% share of the Canadian dairy market immediately and prevent Quebecois from working in the construction industry in other provinces (as they do with other Canadians here).

      Delete
  31. Just complete nonsense and a complete ignorance regarding this subject. The replies just represented the ignorance, hatred and bigotry of the anglos. The replies just don't make any sense.

    I was born and raised in the US by the way. My very large family is Quebecois and still live there. My parents were born and raised there. They are Quebecois NOT Canadian.

    The post was not a rant by any means. There apparently will always be friction because the english just can't seem to comprehend the issue. Quebec is a nation that was defeated by the english. We have been captured and conquered through war. We are a people, a nation. We should plan our destiny...and eventually freedom.

    Canada should be in complete support and agreement with that. It's the least they could do. How could anyone disagree with that?

    It would be unbelievable for any Quebecois disagree with this. If they do they are forgetting history and our people. It is treasonous really. you are defending the occupation....that is morally wrong.

    Why would Canada care about our independence?..how about to correct the wrongs of the past?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then the same should be applied to the natives, no? Have they not been conquered?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous, you must be completely ignorant of the means that Quebec Inc. has been resorting to for the past 50 years in trying to reclaim the alleged losses and trying to "right" the "wrongs". For people who were at the receiving end of these means, it's totally normal to be rather cold about the revivalist tendencies of this province.

      The 1930's Germany, it can be argued, also strived to right the wrongs of the Versailles Treaty (which DID treat post-WW1 Germany unfairly). And look where this restoring of pride ended up.

      Also, if we start to right the wrongs of the past, why stop at the "conquest" of Quebec? Every ethnicity in thew world has suffered some form of injustice at one point or another. Why don't we start with the Cree of QC?

      Delete
    3. The replies just represented the ignorance, hatred and bigotry of the anglos. The replies just don't make any sense.
      Your vacuous replies in which you reiterate repetitive statements aren't any more substantive.

      I was born and raised in the US by the way. My very large family is Quebecois and still live there. My parents were born and raised there. They are Quebecois NOT Canadian.
      Clearly you're describing a state of mind. If your parents were born in Quebec, they most certainly ARE Canadian, unless they've renounced their citizenship since then. Their identity ("Quebecois NOT Canadian") is clearly governed more by emotion than by rationality. Being Hispanic, for example, doesn't make you less of an American if you happen to be a U.S. citizen. Screaming "viva la raza" over and over again won't make this any less true.

      The post was not a rant by any means.
      Sorry; it sure reads as though it were one.

      There apparently will always be friction because the english just can't seem to comprehend the issue.
      Don't you think there's hot-headed lack of comprehension on both sides of the fence? I'm from a "mixed" background myself and I'm often horrified by some of the moronic crap I hear coming from BOTH sides.

      Quebec is a nation that was defeated by the english. We have been captured and conquered through war. We are a people, a nation. We should plan our destiny...and eventually freedom.
      I read here what I consider to be too much resorting to emotional vindictiveness and a drive to correct "historical wrongs". I look at the collective civil, political, and economic rights enjoyed by all Quebecers and I don't see how we have any less than anybody else. We have been dealt a fair hand and demanding more than they have is what I think makes us greedy, self-absorbed, self-indulgent pigs.

      Canada should be in complete support and agreement with that. It's the least they could do. How could anyone disagree with that?
      Why in God's name should Canada support/agree with giving special privileges to one province which other provinces/peoples do not have? Quebec is essentially North America in English; not a piece of France in North America. What makes us more special or deserving than anybody else? If we can't make it work with what we have (which is enormous), giving us more won't make it any better. Few in their right mind who are able to discard emotional ethnolinguistic appeals from this debate would ever argue otherwise.

      It would be unbelievable for any Quebecois disagree with this.
      You're reading one right now.

      If they do they are forgetting history and our people.
      I believe in moving forward. I am an emancipated francophone, anglophone, and allophone and continuing the victimology by "remembering" the past is not what is going to strengthen my emancipation. All it will do is weaken it and cause me to put faith into those who repeat the victimology to me and 8 million others for their own political gain. I don't need or want that.

      Delete
    4. It is treasonous really. you are defending the occupation....that is morally wrong.
      What is treasonous is the Quebec politicians who have spent the last half century resorting to intellectual gymnastics and emotional pride-based ethnic politicking to manufacture an ethnolinguistic complex that includes the time-honored industries of fear, trauma, insecurity, and bullying. I am not impressed and as the descendent of French Canadians myself I think we ought to do better. The Trudeau model holds more appeal than the Bourgault/Allemagne/Lévesque/Laurin/Parizeau/Landry/Marois model. And no, I don't worry about my grandchildrens' assimilation. It's great to keep ancestral customs alive, but if you don't adapt to the place, needs, and time you live in, you're not doing it right. And THAT, in my view, is what is morally wrong.

      Why would Canada care about our independence?..how about to correct the wrongs of the past?
      For the same reason Quebec's provincial government should care about the desire certain people in several pockets of Quebec have expressed to partition Quebec. Our system works surprisingly well in practice and it is certainly not because of a few political has-beens or wannabes that we need to demolish it and start from scratch. The happiness of a hard-core segment comprising about 25% of the Quebec population is no reason to destroy Canada from sea to sea as we know it. There were a lot of wrongs committed in the past towards a lot of different peoples and if we start carving up the map in a perverse "repayment" scheme, you'd have to decide whose sufferings deserve rewarding and whose don't. And that's a slippery slope I don't think anybody can genuinely navigate properly, irrespective of their political orientation.

      Delete
    5. US-born Anonymous, let us know if you're for real. I have a feeling you're just "taking a piss", as the Brits would say.

      Delete
    6. If your parents were born and raised in the U.S. and still live there, I have news for you: they are American, not Québécois. To even enter Canada they would have to comply with Canadian immigration law. BTW if they want to be Québécois why don,
      't they try to emigrate to Canada?

      Delete
    7. @ HENRI BOURASSA
      Thank you for participating in our comments section.
      Rules of the blog are that you cannot post under a screen name that is another person's name, dead or alive.
      Respectfully, please choose another moniker.

      To the person posting under MRS,SAUGA, I would also ask you to change screen names...it's confusing,

      Delete
    8. I think that Anonymous is just yanking a few chains here and fabricating his background. A Québécois family born and raised in the U.S and still living there and being Quebec nationalists is farfetched

      Delete
    9. Quebec is a nation that was defeated by the english. We have been captured and conquered through war. We are a people, a nation. We should plan our destiny...and eventually freedom.

      WRONG. And please shut the hell up with this mantra and listen to real truth:

      -Quebec is a Canadian PROVINCE.

      -You (yes, YOU, specifically) were not defeated anyone. Nor were your parents, grandparents, great grandparents or great great grandparents, and so forth.

      -Your own destiny is to collect welfare, while expecting you deserve something for free and getting old and bitter hiding behind your racist, loathing hate for English (blaming them and ethnics for your woes, which YOU AND YOU ALONE HAVE CAUSED).

      -Quebec is a backwards, broken, misguided province filled with redneck hillbillies that speak an Ebonics version of French. Don't insult the French language, it is a beautiful sounding linguistic spoken in France. What you speak is not French, and causes pain to the ears.

      Grow up and accept you are a Canadian citizen, and you have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT OR BASIS FOR THINKING YOU ARE ABOVE ANYONE ELSE, IN ANY PROVINCE. THAT INCLUDES OTHERS LIVING IN QUEBEC WHO DO NOT SPEAK FRENCH. If you do not agree, then leave, go live on some island somewhere or some place in the world more suited to your attitude. Like, say, Iran, Zimbabwe, or another planet for all I care. In the meantime, please do shut up and stop whining.

      ps - Happy CANADA day!

      Delete
    10. Editor! My name is Dong Macpherson. My parents gave me that name in honor of famous quebecois duo "Ding et Dong".

      I hope you'll do not erase my comments because my name looks like the famous Don Macpherson, journalist at The Gazette.

      Delete
    11. LOL so many giveaways make that comment (and its poster) not legitimately credible.
      What say you, Editor?
      Dong Macpherson? ;-)

      Delete
  32. Another unrelated post.

    Have you seen Denis Trudel and Mario Beaulieu's (of the MQF fame) latest act?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Self-serving propaganda:

      "...sans compter tous les ennemis exterieurs [...] qui nous viennent de l'immmense empire qui est à nos portes: l'americanus uniformicum, dont la culture se répand partout à travers le monde [...] "

      When they aren't foaming at the mouth about "reasonably accommodating" Muslim immigrants who wear hijabs and burqas and refuse to "integrate", they're hating on the opposite pole which stands for the total opposite. Must be nice to have such a panoply of real and imaginary villains, SSJB.

      Bunch of fucking clowns.

      Delete
    2. Trudel and Beaulieu should be put on the no fly list so they can spend their winter vacations in Sept ISles.

      Delete
    3. Their magic potion is La Charte de la langue française.

      The magic potion in the cartoon made the characters invincible. Beaulieu's and Trudel's magic potion manages much less - it makes them extremely annoying and petty.

      Delete
    4. I'd like to see someone investigate the corruption/collusion/influence peddling and unholy alliance between the SSJB and the PQ.

      And in a similar vein, if we can have Pierre Duchesne make the leap, who knows how many of our supposedly "impartial" journalists covering, ironically -- corruption and collusion -- aren't already in the pockets of various political parties in the first place?

      At least Christine St-Pierre had the decency to make the leap into politics while she was covering a different beat than the one she'd be jumping into as a politician...

      Delete
  33. Ah grow up will you Anonymous Sunday, July 1, 2012 4:56:00 PM EDT. With the inaccuracy of your statements and totally one sided views, you sound like the only thing you're seeking here is attention. Nothing else.

    Although I doubt it as I deal with Americans daily and have had many good American friends for year, if this view of yours is based on what you were taught in the US schools you attended, your teacher were teaching out of their asses

    Quebec was NEVER a nation. Canada is and always was the only nation and, way back when, it extended well into what are now US States.

    Canada was conquered by the British more than 200 years ago. Quebec was a province within Canada back then and still is to this day.

    Quebec is the only PROVINCE which wasn't completely conquered by the Brits. Unlike the rest of Canada, the French were able to stop the Brits from conquering Quebec in the battle that took place at the old Fort in Old Quebec City.

    That is HISTORICAL FACT. So before you talk about the plight of the Quebec "nation", check your history. And I mean the real history, not the re-writen drivel the PQ put out there years ago.

    Hell, even the Wikipedia version with all its inaccuracies, is better than what you've said here so far

    And by the way, was your family's passport issued by Canada or the "nation" of Quebec? If it was issued by the "nation" of Quebec, don't look to your family traveling anywhere outside of Canada anytime soon!

    It's high time Quebecers stopped living in the past (especially a 200+ year old one) and joined the rest of the world (not just Canada) in the 21st century.

    On the other hand, as per my previous post, if Quebecers decide to keep on going the way they are, that's fine to. My peers and I will keep on taking advantage of the situation and keep on prospering for as long as we can.

    Enough said,

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    1. Yannick,

      The story of New France did not actually end by the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Spain returned the Louisiana Territory (area of 12 modern day United States) in 1800. However, Napoleon sold it to the USA in 1803. That point is the end of French presence in North America, except for St-Pierre et Miquelon.

      The point is, I consider it silly for some (particularly separatists) to keep on blaming the English for what happened to the fate of French culture and language in North America. Most of the downfall of New France was, I think, by their own mismanagement. There were numerous opportunities squandered by the rulers of France to maintain their dominance and presence in North America.

      Which is a pity actually, consider that many places in the US Midwest have French names but now totally perverted by the anglophone Americans. If adski has Des Moines as an example, my favorite is Dubois / Du Bois as the name of a number of cities. That name is pronounced today as doo-boys.

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    2. Expanding on what Troy said, I always had trouble accepting the myth of francopones as "conquered" people and thought of them more like a colonialist knocked off the pedestal. The history of French colonialism, today's life style of QC francos, their self entitlement and materialism typical of Americans and Canadians, etc...all that makes them not very much different from those that are supposed to be a "threat"...

      What I always saw as the real conquered people, living like conquered people and possessing a culture that could be truly unique and alternative to the white North American one (if restored to original), are the Native Americans. Although their culture has been corrupted by the whites, in its original it would be a culture worth of a fight to preserve it, unlike in the case of a French-speaking USA.

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    3. This history lesson is irrelevant. We all have to live in the here and now. The fact is that Quebec is the homeland of 6 million francophones who want to have their language preserved, which, in the present circumstances of North America, requires extraordinary measures. This may not make anglophones happy, but it is essential. Yes, in some instances language legislation is heavy handed, sometimes draconian, but we feel we have no other recourse. We need to admit this to ourselves. Our language cannot survive the onslaught of English and we have had to override the rights and even the civil liberties of anglophones, but we are not torturing or arresting and imprisoning them. Anglophones can survive and prosper in a French Quebec. No one is going to persecute them, but they have to accept that we must feel that we live in an entirely French society. If we have to interact with anyone outside Quebec we will communicate in English but here in our homeland we must live fully in French.

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    4. Let's get real. Corporations face far greater impediments around the world than language. Corporations invest in Russia (corruption, biased judicial system, expropriation of assets and crime), China (corruption,intellectual property theft, undeveloped judicial system),Latin America ( crime, kidnappings, corruption, biased judicial system, expropriation of assets), Eastern Europe (corruption and crime), Africa (corruption, crime, undeveloped judicial system, terrorism, war) and muslim countries (authoritarian, terrorism, biased judicial system, unfamiliar legal system, sexual harassment of women, hatred of non-muslims). Judged against this, Quebec will do just fine.

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    5. Charles-Antoine,

      Let's get real. Corporations face far greater impediments around the world than language... Judged against this, Quebec will do just fine.

      Then why many major corporations moved / are moving most of their operations out of Montreal since the implementation of Bill 101? Remember that the move is still going on even now.

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    6. This history lesson is irrelevant. We all have to live in the here and now.
      Pour savoir où l'on va, il faut savoir d'où l'on vient... n'est-ce pas?

      The fact is that Quebec is the homeland of 6 million francophones who want to have their language preserved, which, in the present circumstances of North America, requires extraordinary measures.
      What about the White slaveholders in the U.S. South who wanted to preserve their "way of life"? Hiding behind preserving one's way of life is a slippery slope because its justification becomes a highly subjective and polarizing debate.

      This may not make anglophones happy, but it is essential. Yes, in some instances language legislation is heavy handed, sometimes draconian, but we feel we have no other recourse. We need to admit this to ourselves.
      Says who? Taking your Machiavellian repression orgy to its logical conclusion, all this "protecting" would in theory also make it illegal for any other language to ever become the main language in Quebec. Ever. If the Roman Empire had ever descended to this level of linguistic pettiness, France would have never been allowed to turn its bastardized Latin dialect into this sacred tongue whose extinction you falsely conflate with the slaughter of our descendents.
      The reason I can't respect the spirit of our legislation (and respect even less those like you who have allowed themselves to believe in it) is that I don't believe in ensuring my rights by eroding yours. Whatever happened to freedom of speech being about our not having to agree with what others believe and say but our staunchly defending their right to say it? Voltaire, if he truly believed this, must read you and be spinning in his grave.

      Our language cannot survive the onslaught of English and we have had to override the rights and even the civil liberties of anglophones, but we are not torturing or arresting and imprisoning them.
      How very big of French-language militants of the péquiste variety. It shows great restraint on their part that they have not found it necessary to descend to torturing/arresting to assuage their linguistic insecurities. I find this "French-at-all-costs" attitude a compass that has lost its bearing. Not all people care if their grandchildren don't speak their language. There are much worse things that can happen to a population.

      Anglophones can survive and prosper in a French Quebec. No one is going to persecute them, but they have to accept that we must feel that we live in an entirely French society.
      Again, why? By that logic, Quebec Francophones should need to accept that Canadian Anglophones must feel that Canada is an entirely English society and that mild state-sponsored legal repression is simply a fact Francophones will need to submit to. I find your eagerness to defend this willful repression when the tables are turned absolutely horrendous.

      At least the attraction/assimilation value of English in much of North America is not the product of current systematic legal repression. And yes, English-only laws, wherever they exist are in my opinion ridiculous acts of supremacy waged by insecure hate-mongers. It cuts both ways.

      If we have to interact with anyone outside Quebec we will communicate in English but here in our homeland we must live fully in French.
      English is a Québécois language. If anything it is you who needs to be disabused of the idea that French is the ONLY language that deserves legitimacy in this province. Clearly, the péquistes have done a job on your moral compass, my boy.

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    7. "Our language cannot survive the onslaught of English and we have had to override the rights and even the civil liberties of anglophones, but we are not torturing or arresting and imprisoning them"

      Apparatchik already dealt with this garbage very astutely, so there is really no more to add than to lament on how fascism can become so mainstreamed.

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  34. "...les gens comme moi avons des propriétés qui nous appartiennent à 100%, des voitures de luxe..."

    Alors tout va bien...C'est quoi le problème des gens comme vous au juste?Un complexe de quéquette? XD

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  35. "Les séparatistes sont un irritant pour moi..."

    Essayez Vasiline!Paraîtrait que ça fait des miracles.

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    1. D'abord ça s'écrit Vaseline; un être crédiblement soucieux de la langue ferait attention à cela...

      Et non, les séparatistes militants sont trop irritants pour qu'on applique une seule couche de Vaseline sur les irritations qu'ils provoquent.

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  36. "The only problem is, to me and to the rest of the world"

    Vous n'avez pas remarqué que vous et le reste du monde allez plutôt mal?

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  37. "D'abord ça s'écrit Vaseline; un être crédiblement soucieux de la langue ferait attention à cela..."

    Merci pour la correction mais je ne suis pas familier avec ce produit et selon sa réputation,c'est une substance dont l'utilité n'a rien à voir avec la langue.

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    1. Si vous n'en êtes pas familier pourquoi la référence, d'abord?
      Une personne moindrement soucieuse de ses propos vérifierait son orthographe et ses faits avant d'appuyer "Publish"

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    2. Selon sa réputation.Vous me semblez fort pointilleux Tchiko,seriez-vous un utilisateur assidu de ce produit aux qualités supposément magiques? :)

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    3. Pas depuis mon enfance. Désolé, kiki.

      Ma pointillosité vient d'abord de mon amour des langues française et anglaise et de l'utilisation qu'en font ceux qui se disent grands amateurs de celles-ci.

      De grâce, ayez comme moi le courage de nos convictions mutuelles à cet égard et cessez de publier trop hâtivement vos commentaires.

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  38. Question Number 1
    Will those appliances that have additional French labeling cost more than the English counterparts sold in Ontario?

    Quelques auto-collants de plus ne seront pas trop cher, donc je dirai Non... au moins, j'espere que Non.

    Question Number 2
    Should all appliances sold across Canada be bilingual, even if it means an increase in costs?

    Oui, pourquoi pas? Mais je croix que la question soit fausse; quelques auto-collants ne seraient pas cher

    Question Number 3
    If the French labeling rules apply only to Quebec product, should Quebecers bear the cost or should the cost of bilingual labeling be borne by all Canadians?
    In other words should the bilingual appliances and the English appliances sold in the rest of Canada be sold at the same, slightly higher price.

    IKEA dirait a ajouter des auto-collants, ou mieux encore, des plaques qu'on mettrait en place avec des vis, facile et vite.
    En francais, en anglais, en mandarin, en espagnol, en symboles simples.
    IKEA dirait ainsi parce que la coute ne serait pas trop cher - on pourrait même choisir parmi plusiers langues, sur papier, pour faire entrer dans un plaque affiché avec des vis. Facile.

    Mais, a mon avis ces regles devrais être appliqué partout le Canada.

    Question Number 4
    If bilingual Quebec appliances cost more than those sold in Ontario, will the government ban retailers from shipping English only product into Quebec, even to anglophones.
    Remember my blog piece- Buzz Lightyear?

    Je ne sais pas, mais j'espere que non. On devrait avoir le droit a commander des choses par livraison, de n'importe ou.
    Mais je ne peux pas deviner le futur du gouvernement.


    Question Number 5
    How come the car companies, the BIGGEST OFFENDERS aren't included in this new initiative by the Quebec government.

    Ahh bonne question. L'histoire se corse.

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  39. Apparatchik I don't know you but after reading your answers, I wish I did so we could have a beer together.

    Anonymous, I see by your last few replies that your intellect has reached it's level of incompetency.

    Have fun living in your bubble where only the Quebecers were done wrong by the rest of Canada while the rest of us grow and prosper.

    My hope is that one day, all of this Quebec separatism, inferiority, insecurity and xenophobic non-sense is done and over with, so this province can regain what it lost in 1976 and can join the rest of the Canada and the world in harmony.

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    1. I share your sentiments, ti-gars. Maybe one day we will have a beer together.

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  40. Apparatchik, je voudrais te demander si tu suggererais quelques blogues en français?

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    1. Cela dépend naturellement de vos intérêts. Vous cherchez des blogues portant sur quel(s) sujet(s)?

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    2. Surtout sur le bilinguisme, sa promotion, ses bénéfices, etc, mais aussi le français et sa promotion... puisque vous me semblez vous intéresser en ces choses autant que moi (même si je ne suis pas aussi talenteux que vous).

      Il me semble souvent que les réponses ici ne sont pas vrai, c'est a dire qu'il me semble que bien des réponses en français sont écrit faussement par des anglos (et vice versa)... mais aussi, je preférerais a communiquer en français - mais les blogues nationalistes a propos du Québec ne m'intéresse trop (je n'y habite pas actuellement). Je lis Le Devoir souvent assez déja pour avoir une bonne dose du nationalisme. Merci, et bien sûr, je comprends si vous ne connaissez pas un lien. :-)

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  41. JBG si vous me permettez le commentaire, il en existe oui mais très peu et, il ne sont pas vraiment intéressants.

    Sur l'internet, comme dans le monde des affaires, au désespoir du PQ et de l'OQLF, l'Anglais domine.

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  42. "« Le français est une langue dont le nombre de locuteurs augmente et qui est très demandée dans le monde entier. Je parle notamment de l’Afrique anglophone, de la Chine, des pays du Golfe. Si tout se passe normalement, à l’horizon de 2050, il devrait y avoir plus de 700 millions de francophones, dont 80 % en Afrique. Cela suppose que l’Afrique ait réalisé sa scolarisation universelle et que sa démographie demeure aussi vivante qu’aujourd’hui. »" (ecrétaire général de la Francophonie, Abdou Diouf.)

    Lol, the quality of franch language will improve for sure. It will be the best language in the world ! Spoken in third world countries, it will be the new language of success.
    I see great future for it...( sarcastic )

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    1. In the name of linguistic diversity, I propose a language law for francophone Africa. French must be half the size of any local language on all public and commercial signs. All these local African languages are endangered by this one dominant colonialist language, the African cultures are endangered, and the continent faces a risk of "uniformization".

      As for China and the Gulf countries (and even anglophone Africa), I don't know where this guy gets his sources. The trends are exactly opposite.

      http://theworldwidedeclineoffrench.blogspot.ca/

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    2. Yannick,

      To be fair, countries where the number of population is rising the most rapidly are in the "Third World" as well (India, China)

      However, I need to take exception on India. India has been English for centuries. Do you have data showing the rise of the percentage of Indian population that speaks English?

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    3. Yannick,

      One more thing. China is not third world. It is Second World.

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  43. Abdou Diouf is an idiot.

    "Le francophonie besoin le Quebec"

    Ask where Mr. Diouf gets most of his money.

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  44. Ce matin j'ai acheté de borécole... il vien des É.U., du Texas en fait, et l'affichage était completement bilingue (sauf pour la marque, "Little Bear"). Je ne peux pas imaginer que ça me coutais plus que si j'achetais la meme chose en anglais seulement. Il me semble (depuis quelques temps) que la plupart des produits destinés au Canada sont emballé en anglais et français. (Moi, j'aime ça)

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  45. A propos des blogues: Tous les conversations en français m'intéresse...
    Je peux trouver des blogues sur google, mais puisque je partage la plupart des avis d'Apparatchik sur le bilinguisme ou le multilinguisme, je me demande les blogues qui'il connait.... mais j'accueili tous les commentaires, merci Ti Gars de St. Jerome. :)

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  46. Le français est une des langues officielles de l'ALENA avec l'espagnole et l'english

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    1. Quelle surprise, LOL, puisque l'ALENA est compris des É-U, le Canada, et le Mexique: l'anglais, le français, l'espagnole.

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  47. D'ailleurs, j'ai lu (sur ce blogue en particulier mais aussi ailleurs) récemment que les fêtes du Canada attirent beaucoup des immigrés mais pas les blancs. Ça m'a tellement fasciné que j'ai assisté une telle fête a Toronto et vous ne devinerez quoi --- c'était presque entierement assisté par des blancs, et j'ai promené ma chienne ailleurs par la journée.

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  48. Plus la langue anglaise sera populaire dans le monde plus les anglos de notre ville seront pénalisés.

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