Maxime Bernier and Quebec's Sacred Cow

Everyday I wake up and take a measure of cynical satisfaction that I as a Quebec Anglophone am imbued with special rights that my Francophone brethren are denied.

The reality of Quebec society is that there are three distinct levels of citizen status, each providing special privileges (or lack thereof.)

Of course, first and foremost, is Quebec's Native population, who are provided extra-special rights and privileges, too numerous to describe, rights that non-natives in the province are denied.

Most of us begrudge the natives these rights as it seems a bit unfair to us that they can flit between the treaty world, chock full of entitlements, and our regular society, as it suits their fancy.

But Canadian Anglophones living in Quebec are also accorded a special status, one that the majority of Quebeckers are denied, based solely on language and birth, something that logic would tell us that the Charter of Rights, be it the Canadian or the Quebec version would preclude.

Of course we're talking about the right to attend English schools, a benefit that remains exclusive to those born with the proverbial silver spoon in their mouth, an English-educated parent born in Canada.

Most Francophones don't seem overly perturbed by the notion that as the majority, they enjoy the fewest rights of all Quebeckers.
In fact, most will say that while they'd like to preserve choice in education, Bill 101, the law that restricts access to English school, is a sacrosanct piece of legislation that is bedrock to the preservation of the Quebec 'nation'

It's a bit of a paradox, but no matter, Bill 101 is as holy to Quebeckers as is the U.S. Constitution is to Americans. A document worthy of biblical reverence, never to be questioned or disputed.

And so Maxime Bernier's rather flippant remark during an interview last week on Halifax-based radio is rocking the world of Quebec's language defenders.

“It’s like in Quebec — we don’t need Bill 101 to protect the French language over there,” Bernier is quoted as saying. “They know we speak French in Quebec and we will speak French for a long time, I believe it.” Read more in the Montreal Gazette

Mr. Bernier's statement will likely change nothing nor move even one person to the other side of the debate. Many journos are commenting that Bernier said what he said to establish his bona fides as a "conservative Canadian' and to position himself as a legitimate successor to Stephen Harper, a francophone acceptable to Anglos out West.

Hmmmm....Dunno...

I'm not going to discuss the veracity or validity of Mr. Bernier's statement on Bill 101, we've all got our opinion and it's a subject that's been flogged to death. It's about as useful a discussion as the debate whether God is real or not. There's nowhere to go, no road that hasn't been travelled.

But the ongoing reaction from Quebec's linguistic 'Defenders of the Faith' is at least fun to follow. 

I'm sitting back and watching for the most outrageous or angry reaction that will surely follow what can only be perceived as a blasphemous provocation by the militant language zealots.

So far it's Pauline Marois who has unleashed the biggest stupidity by inviting Mr. Bernier to Montreal to see what's going on language-wise.  Madame Marois has subtly voiced what so many of her backers believe, that Montreal has become a modern Tower of Babel, or perhaps a Sodom and Gomorrah, where the infidels are fiddling with the purity of the Quebec ideal.

“Mr. Bernier should come to Montreal more often, where we can see there is an anglicization now,” Ms. Marois told reporters at the party's regional convention in the city.

How one can "SEE"  'language anglicization' is beyond me. 

Perhaps Madame Marois was referring to the many black and brown faces, the many hijabs, yarmulkes, saris, turbans and wide-brimmed Hasidic hats as proof of anglicization.

Freudian Slip, perhaps?

The instantaneous reaction of militants to Mr. Bernier's statement reminds me of my dog's Pavlovian reaction to the doorbell--

RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!.........RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!......RUFF! RUFF! RUFF! 

It's hilarious to see how extraordinarily easy it is to trigger such an overwhelming reaction, like banging on the cage of a sleeping lion at the circus to see him roar, all for our amusement!

Other Bon Mots;

Francoise David, leader of Quebec solidaire;

“The fight for French in Quebec is not won. In fact, it will never be won,”

Keep them coming!

By the way, Bernier isn't backing down. Read his reply to those attacking him, on his blog.

"Why should francophone parents not be allowed to send their children to an English or bilingual school for parts of their studies, so that they become completely fluent in both languages? English is the language of 350 million people surrounding us. It is also the most important international language all over the world. Mastering it is a major asset.

Not only this, but there has been an important English-speaking population in Quebec for 250 years. Unless we believe that Quebec today is simply an extension of New France, and that only descendants of the French settlers are real Quebecers, then English too is part of Quebec’s identity." LINK {eng}

I'm so happy I can't resist a little poem... (with apologies to St. Nick!)

With a handsome young driver, so hip and extreme,
I knew in a moment it must be Maxime
More rapid than eagles his haters alit,
They whistled, and shouted, and addled with spit!

"Now Curzi! Now Jacko! Now, Gilles and Pauline!

Stand up and be counted, pray call me obscene!
And rage from of the hill top, Your message transmit!
Now dash away all, cuz' I don't GIVE A SHIT! 

FURTHER READING:  
Bill 101- A Francophone Prison

Maxime Bernier Burns His Bridges

Canada Racing Towards English

The ongoing debate over the so-called assimilation of Francophone Quebeckers to the English side of the language equation through access to English cegep is nothing more than a desperate attempt by French language militants to make some sort of sense of the deteriorating position of the French fact in Quebec and to a much larger extent in Canada.

And so talk of extending Bill 101 to cover post-high school education is a sad and misguided attempt to somehow staunch what appears to be the inevitable and inexorable decline of traditional French society.

But for all the discussions over what's to be done and who's to be blamed for this decline, the rather simple and rather painful truth is hard to face.

The decline has nothing to do with anglophones or access to English cegep and it has nothing to do with francophones 'switching' sides.

It has everything to do with immigration and nothing else.

Canada (including Quebec) has the highest immigration level of any country in the western world. 

The rate of immigration to Canada is twice that of the United States and six times larger than France's. Strangely there is no policy or rationale that can explain this.

 See: Quebec's Immigration Dilemma- Part 2 Why So Many Immigrants?

Each year Quebec accepts 50,000 immigrants of which only 40,000 end up staying permanently (the others leave to other provinces.)

Of the remaining 40,000, half assimilate to the anglophone community and half to the francophone community. This is the key to the small, but inexorable diminution of the French proportion of Quebec's population. To maintain linguistic balance around 32,000 of the 40,000 would have to  assimilate in French.
Over a decade it means that over 110,000 people have shifted disproportionately to the English side and this and this alone accounts for the decline in the Francophone element from 81% to 79% over the last two decades.

The same is true of immigration in Canada where the difference is much more startling.

Each year 250,000 newcomers are welcomed to Canada, (this number keeps growing) 50,000 in Quebec and 200,000 in the other provinces. But Quebec bleeds 10,000 of these immigrants to other provinces, changing the numbers to 210,000 immigrants to other provinces against just 40,000 in Quebec.

Of course, all the immigrants that settle in the rest of Canada assimilate to the English community while only half of those immigrating to Quebec assimilate to the French community.

The final numbers end up looking like this;

Of the 250,000 immigrants who come to Canada (including Quebec) 230,000 become anglophones and only 20,000 become francophones.

Wow! It's rather shocking.

That's right, only about 9% of immigrants coming to Canada are assimilated into the French side of the language equation. This wouldn't be a huge problem if the number of immigrants was modest, but Canada enjoys the highest immigration rate among leading western democracies.

Canada increases it's population by a million people every four years by way of immigrants, yet only 95,000 become members of the French community.

In Quebec the changes are not so dramatic, but while the demographic shift is small, it is ongoing  and cumulative, as long as immigrants are welcomed in such large numbers and assimilation patterns remain as they are.

As for Canada, the French/English demographic change caused by immigration is monumental. 

The francophone element in Canada is dropping by a rate of over 1% per decade!
Within 20 to 25 years, the Francophone element to Canada will fall below the 20% threshold, while at Confederation in 1867, it was 33%.

In 1971, one  in four Canadians (25.7 per cent) spoke French at home. By 2001, thirty years later, the proportion had gone down to 22 per cent.

All this has to do with immigration.

It has NOTHING to do with Anglophones in Quebec.

If Quebec wants to reverse this trend, it has to find a way to convince immigrating families to adopt French, right away.

Assimilation takes place within the first few years of arrival, not ten to fifteen years later in cegep.

If the government believes that changing access to English cegeps will change this in any way, they are sadly mistaken.

For French Canada to maintain demographic weight or at least to slow down the bleed, it will have to convince the Federal government to slash immigration and to find a way to francize immigrants much earlier.

Both tasks are rather daunting......

Montreal and Quebec Veering Off in Opposite Directions

While Pierre Curzi and his entourage of language Apartheidists fulminate against the teaching of English in Quebec, it's good to see many of us on both sides of the language equation giving short shrift to the notion of restricting rather than expanding student's horizons.

"Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, a French-language junior college, and Marianopolis College, an English-language counterpart, will offer Quebec's first inter-college bilingual exchange program.
Students who apply and demonstrate a proficiency in their non-dominant official language will be allowed to study at the other college." Read more at CBC

And at two Montreal area private high schools, one Muslim French and one Jewish English;

"They came, Jewish and Muslim teens from English and French backgrounds, to meet and discover for themselves what keeps them apart.
Many of them live in the same community, but never meet or mingle with the other group. Each group has been somewhat fearful of the other.
To hear them tell it, what's been keeping them apart is hearsay, misconceptions and stereotypes." Read more at the Montreal Gazette

While watching an interview the other day with Pauline Marois, who was struggling mightily to give an interviewer a tiny sound bite in English, in regard to the shale gas debate, it occurred to me how far apart the gulf between Montreal and the rest of Quebec (ROQ) has become in terms of capacity and determination to speak the other official language.

Madame Marois was so ill prepared for the interview that she fumbled around rather clumsily before giving up and using the French term of '"gaz de schiste' for the English "shale gas."
While both terms have only recently become widely used, you'd think that she'd know the English term, or failing that, turn to an aide and ask for the translation for the word before giving an English interview on the subject, it wouldn't have taken a big effort.
Instead she was oblivious to the fact, or didn't care a whit that she came off looking like a stuttering tourist, instead of the next potential Premier of Quebec.
There's a word that language militants bandy about in describing we anglos that applies perfectly in this situation. mépris ( contempt, scorn.)

For a good laugh, watch this video of Pauline struggling in English.

Madame Marois is not atypical of the new political class who hail from outside Montreal and cannot speak English worth a damn. She is representative of the new reality. While Montreal is bilingual and getting more bilingual everyday, the rest of Quebec is unilingual and getting more unilingual everyday.

"....It's right up there in Chapter One, Article One of the city's charter: "Montreal is a French-speaking city."
But as just about anyone can tell you, the fact is that Montreal is bilingual. At least, that is the overwhelming conclusion of a survey last week for the Association of Canadian Studies.
Eighty per cent of Quebecers agree with the statement: "Montreal is a bilingual city,......" Read more in the Montreal Gazette

And so two visions of Quebec emerge, a bilingual (and multi-ethnic) reality as evinced by the greater Montreal region and an insular unilingual society that exists in the rest of Quebec.

Interestingly, the two camps are almost evenly divided in terms of population, but in terms of economic clout, productivity and creativity, the 'bilings' hold a massive advantage.

Considering the relative equilibrium in terms of demographic weight, one would think that the language debate would be a bit more balanced, but somehow it isn't. It seems that those proposing a more restrictive French language society hold a distinct advantage in the public debate.

To explain this one only has to look at the political structure of Quebec and it's supposedly representative National Assembly.

The greater Montreal area, home to over 3 million people (almost half of Quebec's population,) is sadly under-represented, to the point that there is a considerable bias in the National Assembly towards the boonies and the  'provincial' mentality.

Some Montreal electorial districts are so densely populated in comparison to rural districts that the effect is that a vote in the Gaspé has twice the weight compared to a vote in Montreal. The ROQ get up to 50% more members of Parliament than it deserves demographically.

NO FAIR!...but a fact.

And so the voices in Parliament are decidedly and unfairly unilingual. The number of Francophone members who can speak English above a high-school level continues to diminish, even in the Liberal party.

Gone are the days of René  Levesque and Jacques Parizeau, each wonderfully bilingual notwithstanding their politics.

It isn't a coincidence that each had spent time abroad, Levesque as a war reporter who worked largely in English while Parizeau studied at the London School of Economics in England.

Today's Parti Quebecois, with a few exceptions (Bernard Drainville, plus another half dozen) is largely unilingual with most members' idea of a foreign English adventure, a trip to Ogunquit beach.

The Liberal Party is not much better, even French cabinet ministers struggle to give a decent interview in English.
Only the Anglos members of the Liberal party and Premier Charest remain truly bilingual.

Sixty-six years ago  Hugh MacLennan wrote of the Two Solitudes that represented the gulf between Francophone Quebec and Anglophone Canada.

Today a new gulf has emerged, one that could never have been foreseen, even thirty years ago. It is the gulf between Montreal which represents a bilingual multi-ethnic society as opposed to the unilingual, mono-cultured society that is the ROQ.

As time goes by, the two societies seem to like each other less and less, with Montrealers scornful of the provincial rubes and the unilingual ROQers terrified that their world is evolving out of their comfort zone. 

Which societal path will Quebec follow in the future?
With the economic power of the province lying with Montreal, but the political power lying with the ROQ, which faction will gain the upper hand?

Will the province become more like Montreal or will Montreal become more like the province?

Readers.... it's time for you to weigh in.

Shoe Boycott Brings Unintended Benefits.

Watching an interview with Yves Archambault, the owner of the LE MARCHEUR shoe boutique (the store subject to an anti-Israeli boycott,) had me playing the devil's advocate in my head, as the owner told Mario Dumont how terribly debilitating the boycott was.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not in favour of the boycott, but my 'Doubting Thomas' nature had me watching the interview with a pronounced measure of skepticism.

I've added subtitles (they are not comprehensive, so no complaining) so that you yourself can watch and make your own determination

My journalistic radar was triggered by Mr Archambault's tale of woe. Certainly it isn't as bad as all that?
Now as an old retailer myself, I understand that this type of publicity is priceless. The store has seen its sales skyrocket, notwithstanding what the owner tells us.

There are stories telling of people making large purchases including one of a woman buying $3,000 worth of shoes in one shot! Link

Each week people who never heard of the LE MARCHEUR before, cross the city to descend on the store to do their part to show solidarity and to participate in a 'buycott"
It's become a bit of a tourist attraction, always a good thing for business!

I remain sympathetic, but pleeese, Mr. Archambault, you're laying it on a bit thick!

As for PAJU, the group organizing the boycott, even in spectacular failure, they have accomplished what they never have been able to do before before- get exposure.

This rag-tag group of communists, socialists, Israel-bashers are finally getting their fifteen minutes of fame, so I don't imagine they're going to give it up!

Although they temporarily called off the boycott because of the threat of a fascist group attending the demonstration, they'll be back, count on it.
These people have spent a lifetime being ignored, yet they persevere. Do you honestly think they'd give up the limelight over a little detail like success or failure?

And so they'll return, much to the secret appreciation of Mr. Archambault and the press which is having a field day covering the story.
Everybody's a winner.

Everybody, except for one lonely politician.....

More Language Nonsense from Pierre Curzi

Last week Parti Quebecois language critic Pierre Curzi came out once again in favour of extending Bill 101 to Quebec cegeps (junior colleges,) and it appears that the separatist party is reluctantly moving towards that position, egged on by language militants and 'Chicken Littles' who are parroting the refrain that Quebec is in imminent danger of becoming as English as Ontario. LINK

Mr. Curzi's argument in favour of enforcing the language law is twofold, the first notion is that students who graduate from French high school and opt for English cegep, will magically transform into 'cursed' anglophones (a racist concept to begin with.) His second assertion is that the numbers of these 'turncoats' is alarming. LINK{fr}
Both ideas are utter tommyrot.

He references a self-serving 'sky is falling' study that he himself prepared, one which is fatally flawed, biased and scientifically unsound.  LINK{fr}

See my blog piece debunking his nonsense conclusions in another language study.

From this study, he builds from a false foundation to arrive at a similarly flawed logical conclusion.

Mr Curzi claims that about 3,500 Francophone and Allophone students (about half and half) who graduate French highs school opt for English cegep and that this fact, in and of itself, represents a danger to the French language. He further posits that when they finish their education they are more likely to accept an English-speaking job in Quebec, which will ultimately complete their descent into the hell of Anglicization.

Let us consider the alternate truth;

According to Mr. Curzi this means that an additional 135,000 students will have passed through  English cegep over the next 35 years.
Exactly how and why he chooses 35 years is as unfathomable, his rational that 35 years is the usual length of a career is about as relevant as the price of tea in China.
It's more likely that he chose this number to pump up the volume, he could have chosen 100 years, 10 years or 1 year.
Even at Mr. Curzi's own reference point, it's hardly a frightening scenario, even for language militants. The number represents about .005 percent of the population per year, or about 1.5% of the population over 35 years. Not exactly earth-shattering.

But let's keep it simple and discuss the 3500 students a year that opt for English cegep after having attended French high school.

Mr. Curzi intimates that these students will be 'lost' to the French side of the linguistic equation by virtue of their attendance at English cegep, but here's where Mr. Curzi conveniently ignores reality by failing to consider or refusing to accept the following;

• Of the 3500 students, the majority are already bilingual (and already lost) before entering English cegep.
• Of the 3500 students many are already eligible for English schooling under Bill 101 and have chosen French high school out of choice.
• Of the remaining minority of 'bone fide' francophones who make the balance of the 3500 students, very few give up their linguistic heritage just because they learned English or have accepted an 'English' job.

How much these factors mitigate Mr. Curzi's contention that all these students are 'linguistically transferred' or lost to the French side is a matter of conjecture, because no data really exists. I would suggest that the number is exceedingly small.

Again, let's consider some other truths; (I'll refer to these above-mentioned students as 'the 3500')

Most of the 3500 who Mr. Curzi refers to, are hardly francophones at all, about half are allophones and about half of the remainder are the children of French/English families who have chosen a French language path.

Almost one-third of Quebec anglophones choose a francophone or ethnic (or combination thereof) life partner, an amazing statistic that testifies to the fact that anglophones, francophones and ethnics get on pretty well.
Of these 'mixed' families about 65% of the children graduate from French high school, notwithstanding that ALL OF THEM are eligible for English education.

At any given time, almost 13% of all English-eligible students attend FRENCH school, by choice. 
(Readers can attest to this fact in the comments section. Please do.)

But going to French school doesn't change the fact that one of the parents of these mixed couples is English and almost all these children are BILINGUAL, based on their two-language home life. For these children going to English cegep makes sense, their parents keen that their bilingual children have the best of both worlds.
And so, sadly for Mr. Curzi, applying Bill 101 to cegeps, would not affect these students, as THEY ALREADY QUALIFY for English schooling and would continue to attend English cegep even if Bill 101 was extended to cegep!
You can safely knock out a significant number of the 3500 as being affected by Bill 101.

As for the balance of the 3500, how many have already chosen English as a language path before entering cegep? Well, almost all of them, to be sure......

The vast majority of students who hail from all-francophone families and who have attended public French school all their lives, cannot attend English cegep because they cannot speak English.
Students graduating from the French public system are generally unable to order breakfast in English, let alone successfully attend classes in English.
That is why 96% of these students go on to French colleges and universities.

It is only the already bilingual graduates of French high schools who have the capacity to go to English cegep, a fact that is never considered by Mr. Curzi.
If he thinks that dissuading these already bilingualized students from attending English cegep will forestall their ability to work in English he's a day late and a dollar short, that ship, as they say, has already sailed.

Most of the allophone students (half of the 3500) who opt for English cegep are already firmly assimilated in the anglophone community. According to MR. Curzi's own figures, 39% (or about 600 of the 3500) of them already speak English in the home, notwithstanding the fact that they were forced to attend French schools as per Bill 101. These are the students who talked English among their friends at recess (much to the chagrin of teachers) and who lived their lives completely in English outside school.
Recovering these students to the French side by virtue of forced French cegep is well nigh impossible, they've maintained their English language and culture for over a dozen years during French primary and high school. The die is already cast.

Of the remaining students of the 3500, who are bone fide francophones and who have chosen cegep  in order to become bilingual, what proof does Curzi offer us that they will become anglophones? Its my observation, that for those who have lived their entire school and home life in French, learning a second language and even working in a second language will not magically turn them into anglophones.

Just because a bilingual francophone speaks English at work, doesn't mean that he or she has abandoned French at home. Actually far from it. Remember, their children must still attend French school and in almost all cases the language of the home is French.

So how many students are actually being 'linguistically' transferred to English because of the open door policy of admissions at English cegeps?

Impossible to say, either for me or Mr. Curzi. There is no usable data available.

Mr. Curzi intimates that the number is 100% of the 3500, a ridiculous notion.

Me, if I'd have to pick a number, it would be less than one hundred, no more. Really.

Now consider this;

Almost two thousand students who graduate from English high schools choose to go to French cegep, of their own volition. A reverse 'language transfer' if we were to accept Mr. Curzi's logic.

Do these anglophones magically turn into francophones by virtue of the French cegep experience? Hardly.
But if Mr. Curzi was honest and applied his logic evenly across the board he'd have subtracted these students from the the number transferring to English cegep. Fair is fair.

Somehow I doubt that will happen.....

Here's an interesting  comment written under the Montreal Gazette story concerning the issue of imposing Bill 101 on English cegeps;

I am a child of bill 101. My parents are immigrants, came to Quebec 45 years ago.

I went to school in French (elementary and high school). I then chose to go to Marianopolis (English) and McGill (english). I had a choice between engineering at McGill in English or at Ecole Polytechnique in French (I got accepted to both) but opted for McGill due to the better reputation. While at McGill, i took the opportunity to study two courses at Polytechnique. The only french aspect to engineering courses was putting a french spin on non-french words and units.

I then went to grad school, in french, at HEC. The freedom to flip back and forth between french and english schools (starting in CEGEP) allowed me to develop my language skills and writing skills in both languages, making me a tremendous asset to my employer.

I spend my days correcting my colleagues and supervisors' emails. And the worst of them are the ones written, IN FRENCH, by unilingual, FRANCOPHONE QUEBECOIS. You know, the "pur laine".

Lets keep this province in the dark ages, keep voting for PQ and keep sacrificing our economic prosperity to preserve an archaic, destitute form of "french". Lets keep blaming the English language for all the ineptness of the francophone "leaders" of this province (nation har har). LINK

And so, good readers... every time you hear a French language militant quoting statistics invoking the spectre of French language doom, you can safely stick your fingers in your ears and shout;

"LA-DEE-DA!.......LA-DEE-DA!.... I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

It is all self-serving crap. Balderdash!

It's the same logic that militants use to remind us that Quebec gets a raw financial deal from Canada.

It just ain't so!......but hey, I'm only one voice in the wilderness....

Further reading Does Going to French School Make You a Francophone?

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