French versus English Volume 51

Chateauguay to follow Huntingdon example?

"Over sixty English-speaking citizens protested against Bill 101 at the town hall meeting of Châteauguay  city council on Monday and got the support of Mayor Nathalie Simon and every aldermen except one. 
The demonstration  was in reaction to  the Office québécois de la langue française's complaint about bilingual communications by the municipality, considered not to be in compliance with the Bill 101.  

The "Châteauguay Magazine" is particularly targeted. 
For over an hour, citizens urged the board to stay the course, as did Mayor Gendron in Huntingdon."Many of the French support bilingualism," argued one citizen to the elected officials. "I know! I am one.  

"It is not I, who called OQLF, "responded the mayor. 
When asked if she would sign the petition circulated asking Châteauguay to maintain its bilingual publications, she responded, 
 "I will sign it," said Nathalie Simon on response to the request. After she had affixed her signature on the document, seven of eight councilors did the same. 

Only Alain Cote abstained. "I will not sign. Laws are made to be respected,"said the counselor. 
The protesters anticipate filing the petition at the next public meeting of the Board of Châteauguay, scheduled for April 16.
Mayor Simon said that she would present it to the MPP and Châteauguay Quebec Transport Minister Pierre Moreau. "The law is provincial, it is a provincial issue, she insisted. I will say that some of my people will be served in both languages. We are a family different from other cities. We must deal with it. "It also reflects the fact that 26% of residents of Châteauguay have English as their mother tongue.The mayor also argued that to produce separate documents for each language "will cost twice as much" because the city does not currently translate all texts. 
The disappearance of bilingualism in the "Châteauguay Magazine" which is in the crosshairs of OQLF is not cast in stone. "According to the OLF, we are respecting the letter, but not the spirit of the law, explained the Mayor.  
We'll see according to the Office which may be kept or not. Let's see what the best solution is, but we need to put water in our wine.  
If we do not respect the law, there will be fines. "

" Let's pay the fines!" responded the people in the audience. 
A bad idea because each subsequent offense would cost more and more, according to Nathalie Simon. But bilingualism in the "Châteauguay Magazine" will not be eliminated anytime soon. The file has been open for two years, said the Mayor. The complaint to the OQLF, originally focused on another publication of the city, which no longer exists."We had a meeting with the OQLF last year. The municipal machine moves slowly. The provincial machine is even slower, "commented Nathalie Simon. Read the original story in French

More OQLF inspectors

The Quebec government has caved to pressure from  French language militants and added more inspectors to the provincial agency charge with protecting the French Langaguage.

"Facing a barrage of linguistic controversies, the Quebec government announced Friday it is planning to give the provincial language watchdog more teeth.

Despite a hiring freeze across Quebec's public service, the government said it will hire 43 employees at the agency to fill vacancies left by departures.

That is on top of 26 who came on board several months ago.

The government is also asking the Office Quebecois de la Langue Francaise to bite more often. It is urging inspectors to be more proactive — and take action not only after they get complaints, but also beforehand.

Quebec law allows the agency to take legal action and seek fines from commercial establishments that don't respect rules like French predominance on signs.

But recent news reports have offered anecdotes of the laws being ignored in Montreal, and that has created political headaches for the Charest Liberals.

The governing party, heavily supported by Anglos, has faced severe criticism from opponents who accuse it of being too weak in protecting French.

Language controversies began ramping up last summer, when the Harper government announced the hiring of people who can't speak French as Supreme Court justice, auditor general and senior government spokesman.

Since then stories about slights against the French language and anecdotes of people struggling to get served in French are frequent features of news reports in Quebec." Read the rest of the story
Next on tap?.......Halal inspectors?

Language complaint at the Royal Vic

"A man says his mother hasn't been getting adequate care at the Royal Victoria Hospital because some of the staff can't speak French.

Royer Harvey, whose Alzheimer's needs constant round-the-clock care, filed an official complaint. He says that his mother, who only speaks French, has had great difficulty speaking to orderlies and nurses.

"There's a lot of staff that speak only English," he wrote in a letter. "We speak to them in French, and there are some who understand, but respond in English. There are others who don't understand French at all, have no idea what we're saying, and respond in English."

The hospital and Quebec's health minister are investigating. Read the rest of the story.

Fresh Attacks on Halal and Kosher food

A story in the Montreal freebie newspaper "24H" is attacking the fact that prisoners are demanding and receiving Kosher or Halal food while incarcerated.
The paper complains that the government is paying an extra $114,000 on a whopping 57,000 meals per year.... quite a scandal according to the newspaper.
The Journal de Montreal reports (without quoting figures,) that the Halal meals are so tempting that prisoners are converting to Islam!

But wait a moment, let your editor do some rapid math for the benefit of Le Journal de Montreal and other alarmists......

Each prisoner eats three meal a day and has one snack and this for 365 days a years, for a total of 1,465 meals each.  When divided by the scandalous figure of 57,000 Kosker or Halal meals paid for by the government, it means that there are but 39 prisoners in all of Quebec jails demanding this accommodation.
 Horrors!!!!!
But it makes a good story.   Link{Fr}

NDP speaks with forked tongue

It seems that Thomas Mulcair is off to an inauspicious start as the new leader of the NDP.
His less than impressive acceptance speech at the convention had party speechwriters shaking their head at the fact that Mulcair refused their help.

It seems that now that the NDP is the official opposition, it will not be able to play the duplicitous game of telling Ottawa one thing and Quebec another;

"The New Democrats did a very peculiar thing on Thursday afternoon.

Canada's official opposition party issued two English-language press releases about the Harper government's budget: one was for Canadians, and the other was for Quebecers.

....Interestingly, and perhaps as damage control, the NDP has issued a B.C. specific press release more than 16 hours after the Quebec press release.

We're still waiting for press releases for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario... Read the whole story

Louise Beaudoin returns to PQ fold

With her tail between her legs, Louise Beaudoin has been reintegrated into the caucus of the Parti Quebecois, her adventure in sitting as an independent an abject lesson in marginalization.
Don't confuse this re-integration as a magnanimous gesture of solidarity and sisterhood on behalf of Pauline Marois.
Beaudoin was accepted back into the fold under the condition that she will not run in the next election. POW!
Payback's a bitch

Easy to live in Montreal in English

Not exactly Earth-shattering information, but the Journal de Montreal hired a unilingual reporter to live in Montreal and report as to whether she could get along in English only.

Doh.....

Shock of all shocks, the newspaper reports that incredibly it is possible to live in Montreal without French!!!
Read the story in French

Montreal an English and French City?

A kind reader send in a note concerning a spread in FAST COMPANY magazine that has a very large advertising section touting Montreal.

"Hi, You may have come across this but I picked up a recent copy of Fast Company Magazine. It has a 20 page special
advertising section for the city of Montreal. It is sponsered by the Quebec government, Tourisme Montreal, Montreal chambre de commerce,
Laurentian Bank, and the city of Montreal. To my surprise the second paragraph reads as follows:

" Arts and Culture enjoy celebrated prominence by a diverse people with a variety of interests and its bicultural status as a French and English city
strongly sets it apart from other North American cities.

Thanks DAVID!

Another sad day.....

 DEVELOPERS GENTRIFY FRANCISIZE  GRIFFINTOWN MONIKER

By the way I did my first interview on radio this Thursday afternoon on CJAD in Montreal about Bill 101
I was a bit nervous .


Have a Happy Easter!
Have a Happy Passover!

STOP The Insanity... Everybody's Culture is Beautiful!

Monday's rant wasn't just a reaction to linguistic idiots calling Canadian culture second rate, it was a wake-up call to language zealots to step back from insulting others just because they can. 

I really wanted to put an end to the idiocy in the comments sections and to remind fools like Benoit Dutrizac that he isn't the only one clever enough to make injurious remarks about somebody else's culture.

When we were kids, the classic insult of this sort was "YA MUDDER WEARS ARMY BOOTS!" which if I recall, was first enunciated by none other than 'Bugs Bunny.'
It sort of means 'Shaddup already.'

When readers in the Comments section complain that Canadian culture is a pale imitation of American culture, it's nothing more than a lame attempt to annoy, as is likewise when English readers do the same .....Your mother wears army boots!

At any rate, I'm surprised that nobody cottoned to my tongue in check reference to the 'PRICE IS RIGHT.'

For Pete's sake!!!!

If you are a regular fan of the 'The Price is Right" in French or in English you are not exactly a paragon of cultural superiority.
It's a piece of crap in any language and 'showcases' the very worst of us. All it proves is that people on each side of the language divide are equally greedy and stupid.
So I guess we are not so different from each other, language aside..

Did not one of you readers appreciate a belated April's Fool's Joke!!!!!

Monday's post was meant to prove that we can all make arguments that hurt when we are angry or in the mood to punish.
Lawyers do it every day, make a great argument to support a bad premise.

Calling someone's culture second rate or lame is like calling someone else's kids ugly.

WHY?

What good can come out of it?
Everybody loves their kids and it's the same for culture, everybody loves their own and if one culture is more sophisticated or complicated is it automatically better?

Who really is to say what is good or bad?

Here in North America, including the ROC, Quebec and America, we live in a fast food culture of crap. Greasy, fried, fatty, bad for your health CRAP!

I'm sure that no one among us will argue that our food culture is superior to anything offered elsewhere the world, even in poorer countries.
Yet we like our food and are used to it and wouldn't want to change it for a 'superior' food culture.
What would you say to someone from another country telling you that your food culture is crap?
You'd probably tell the insulter to take a hike.

Telling English Canada that it's culture is a pale American imitation or telling French Quebec that their culture compares to a second tier hockey league, makes as much sense.
You're not going to convince anyone and you'll just annoy people with such comments.
It is an argument not worth having. Really, think about it.

We seem to be living in a charged atmosphere where a few hotheads aided by the media are whipping up people into a linguistic frenzy, brainwashing the public into believing that the sky is falling in on the French language in Quebec when nothing can be farther from the truth.
And so as the inflammatory rhetoric against English rises, it is to be expected that the English defenders riposte.

But is all this emotional debate necessary. Is language such a big issue in Quebec?
I'm not talking about the media, which has a vested interest in pushing disharmony.
How many people are really involved in this movement to protect the French language in Quebec?

Are people really so worked up about language in their own personal lives?

Every time the language militants call for a massive demonstration to denounce this or that, concerning the French language, they barely get a turnout.

When they called for a massive display of indignation over the hiring of a unilingual English coach of the Canadiens, about 150 turned out to protest. This in a city of two million and this after tens of thousands of dollars of free publicity in television news coverage before the protest.

Consider the 25,000 to 50,000 students who protested last week over a tuition hike and one can easily come to the conclusion where the language issue actually stands in this province.

On a scale of one to ten, language as an issue must rate between zero and one.

Sure if you take a poll and ask Francophones if they are worried about language, they will invariably answer YES, but ask them to make some sort of a sacrifice to defend their language and culture and the answer is NO.
They won't even attend a demonstration.

It's clear that the entire French language movement is composed of a tiny group of serial complainers.
It's the same faces on TV, over and over again.
Gilles Proulx, Mario Beaulieu, Mathieu Bock-Côté and the Parti Quebecois.

As they say in French... Dats it, Dats all!

Let us consider the 'shocking rise' in complaints over at the OQLF where we are told that complaints are way up this year to over 3,500 from 2,400.
Most of this increase, by the way, stems from the fact that the OQLF issued false and erroneous public information that businesses in Quebec who have trademarked names, must use French descriptors.
There is no such stipulation in the law or in the rules.

At any rate, even with this increased number of complaints it boils down to not very many in a province of eight million people seven million francophones.
The OQLF will not reveal the actual number of complainers or the percentage of complaints that are unfounded, but we can draw some inferences.

Many French language militants admit to making hundreds of complaints! One dear lady, Marie-Thérèse Rioux,  received an award for making over 200 complaints. Others like Louis Prefontaine and Gilles Proulx and Mario Beaulieu are also serial complainers and so it may very well be that 90% of these complaints are made by a couple of dozen fanatics.

I reviewed a number of these complaints on a site run by Mouvement Québec français, which ran a contest whereby readers send in copies of their complaints. About one third of the complaints were completely unfounded and as for the famous Madame Rioux, she should actually check out the rules before complaining. 
Here she complains  about a Café Chill-Out, because there's too much English in the name, despite it including that famous descriptor!

We are letting ourselves get carried away.

All of this language hate is only about getting people to vote for sovereignty. A classic case of sleight of hand.

In the meantime it masks the real issues of a province on the road to financial ruin and remains a wonderful mask that keeps us from debating the pressing societal issues.

Readers, please don't get caught up.
Francophones and Anglophones get along just fine in Quebec, if only the radicals would leave us alone.

That they don't is sad, but we need to react as adults.

Canadian Culture versus Quebec Culture...Gimme a Break!

Anglophones embracing Quebec culture...er....'Non Merci!'

I'm a bit annoyed over today's subject, so readers be prepared for a cranky rant.
If you are a French language militant, you just may want to skip it.

At least you've been warned......

Over the last months I have been reading numerous posts in the Comments section mocking Canadian culture and classifying it as a pale imitation of America.
 
These comments parrot the idea that since Canada has no distinct culture of its own, it has no culture at all.

Sadly, most of these posts are based on an inferiority complex and a profound jealousy explained perfectly in the age-old parable of the Fox and the Sour Grapes wherein one disparages what one cannot possess.

It reminds me of those jealous types (usually female) who watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show on television and comment that the girls 'aren't so hot'.....Yah, sure.

Now I wouldn't have undertaken this post based on a few misguided Anglophobes in the comments section, but last week Quebec's most important radio Anglo hater, Benoit Dutrizac  in a fit of pique, made a similar statement, this time on his Twitter account.

"Obviously you aren't interested in francophone culture. Second class American wannabees.
Évidemment, tu ne t'intéresses pas à la culture francophone du Québec. Un anglo simili américain de 2ème ordre." - Benoit Dutrizac

And so the narrative is spun that Canadian culture is second rate because it is not distinct, a pale imitation of its American big brother, an idea so patently foolish that it reflects on the utter ignorance of its propagators.

First let me say that Canadian culture is not based on American culture, it is based on international English culture of which America does take a prominent role, but all English speaking countries contribute to varying degrees.
In fact, so powerful and overbearing is this culture that even those not born to English adopt it as a prerequisite to international success and this, in just about every field of human endeavor.

Canada as well as other English speaking nations (representing hundreds of millions of people) all contribute their share of artists, entertainers, writers, scientist etc. etc. to create the most elite culture in the world, bar none.

To complain that Canada doesn't have its own distinct culture because it foolishly allowed itself to be drawn into and become an integral part of the greatest international culture ever created on this Earth, plumbs depths of stupidity........Welcome Mr. Dutrizac!
 
Let us consider the example of the National Hockey League where elite players from all around the globe gather to create a product unrivaled anywhere in the world.

Now let us compare it to the minor LHJMQ hockey league which operates in Quebec and the Maritimes and where the Quebec teams are composed primarily of Quebec Francophones, players of decidedly inferior talent as compared to the NHL.

I suppose that there are those who prefer attending a junior LHJMQ hockey game rather than the NHL, but to pretend that the product is somehow better or more entertaining is nothing short of laughable.

The above analogy actually fits to a tee the difference between 'Quebec culture' and 'Canadian culture' and those who mock English Canada for being a part of a greater world-wide English culture, actually defend their own mediocre choice.

I'm not knocking Francophone culture, it is what it is, and produces talent commensurate with its tiny population base, certainly when compared to the English cultural community which draws on a pool of at least 500 million people and perhaps another couple of hundred million foreign language speakers who adopt English, in order to get in the club. (Celine Dion, ABBA, Julio Iglesias, etc.)

So yes, English Canadian music culture includes powerhouses like Beyoncé from the USA, U2 from Ireland, Justin Bieber from Canada, Rihanna from the Barbados, Lady Gaga form the USA and Arcade Fire from Canada.

Quebec culture includes  Marie-Mai from Varennes, Éric Lapointe from Pointe-aux-Trembles and Bridgette Boisjoli from Drummondville.

Take your pick.......NHL or LHJMQ.

Sorry, Mr. Dutrizac, English Canadians have made a choice for quality over nepotism.

The sad reality is that a big part of Francophone Quebecer's choice towards local French talent is attributed to nothing more than the language handicap.

A couple of weeks ago the most popular television show on French Quebec TV,  'Star Academie'  ended its season.
If you were to ask the average Quebec Anglophone who won the contest, the answer would likely be "What the heck is Star Acadamie?"
This, while more than one-third of Quebec Francophones, about two and a half million people watched the finale.

But the reality is that there is no reason for an Anglophone watch a second rate production like Star Acadamie when he or she could watch an infinitely more talented group of singers compete on the  more glitzy American Idol?

And if you think Quebec Anglophones should have a better connection to a contestant from Maxville or Paquetville, Quebec, rather than a contestant from Murfreesboro, Tennessee or South Kingstown, Rhode Island, you've got another think coming. All these places may as well be on the Moon.

Why on Earth would an English Quebecer watch a local French version of the Price is Right instead of the original English version which has richer prizes and better production values?

The above example serves as an analogy for ALL QUEBEC  CULTURE and is the reason why Anglophone Quebecers will never embrace it.

That the likes of Jean-François Lisée wonders aloud why English speaking Quebecers don't embrace and support French culture instead of a superior English product, is the height of effrontery.

Now for those of you who are going to say that as an Anglophone, I am not qualified to judge French culture, all I can say is for the last forty years of my life I have worked almost exclusively in French and have traveled more extensively across this province than almost any of you reading this blog. My French isn't just good, it's pretty much impeccable and I have lived with Francophone culture all my life.

To those who brand me as a Francophobe or Angryphone, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Like many Anglos on this blog, we complain not because we hate Quebec or Francophones, but rather because we see our province going in the wrong direction.
I actually adore French, speaking it and living it. I could have moved away years ago but I haven't because this is my home.

Readers, I make it point to listen to French radio, watch French television and everyday I read six newspapers, three of which are French.

When I tell you that Francophone culture is inferior to Anglophone culture, it is just a function of the math.
When you are drawing talent from 7 million people versus 800 million persons, there's going to be a qualitative difference.

International English culture is richer, more diverse and is comprised of infinitely more talented artists, entertainers, authors, musicians etc. etc.

Asking a Quebec Anglophone to embrace Francophone culture is like asking Sydney Crosby to choose to play in the LHJMQ instead of the NHL....not going to happen.

Sorry to be cruel, but such is truth. 


Now someone in the comments section recently complained that my references to The Price is Right, poutine or sugar shacks is but a cheap representation of pop culture and not reflective of 'real' Quebec culture.

So what is this real Quebec culture that is so wonderful?.......I haven't seen it.

Sunday Housekeeping - Volume 7

Readers, I want to tell you that BLOGGER still hasn't fixed the problem with timestamps on the comments and they continue to reflect PACIFIC time.
I don't know about you, but it's a bit annoying.
At any rate I can't complain, the platform remains FREE, but I do hope they fix it soon.

Never mind all that, I am launching an appeal to ALL OUR READERS, to help out with content.

Did you come across a news story that would be of interest to readers?
Don't depend on someone else or assume I've seen the story. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!

How about a serious or humorous picture, video or a story suggestion, etc.etc.

Or a personal story reflecting the Anglo experience?

English or French, please drop me a line at anglomontreal@gmail.com.

To those who email me and take the trouble to help me correct typos or inadvertent errors, your efforts are most appreciated.

Aside from my wife who heroically edits this blog for grammar after a hard day's work, I am alone.

I have no fact checkers or editors and so I appreciate your effort in making this blog more accurate.

Incidentally, this last month of March registered the highest traffic ever on this site, over 66,000 page views.
And soon we are approaching our 20,000 comment!

All of this success is attributed to you the reader and I do appreciate it, because if you didn't participate, I wouldn't continue.

After all, I'm not getting paid to write this blog and you are not being paid to read it and comment.

We all need to make an effort to participate in order to keep things going.

It isn't a threat, it is an appeal.

THANK YOU!!!!

Curzi's Proposed Bill 101 an Orwellian Nightmare

With  his political career winding down, (not by his choice) Pierre Curzi decided to go out in a blaze of glory, offering his unadulterated vision of Quebec society to the National Assembly, a separatist wet dream if you will, free from the constraints of real world politics.

Mr. Curzi presented his version of an updated Bill 101 (Bill 593) to the Quebec National Assembly, a bill that has no chance of passing, but a document that represents what language militants, obsessed with tilting at the windmill of anglicization, view as ultimate response to a culture and language 'under siege.'

Mr. Curzi shares with us his vision of the linguistic question that holds that not only is English a threat to the French language but bilingualism as well, and as such should be removed from public life.
And so to support this view, the OQLF shall be imbued with enhanced powers worthy of the Thought Police, interfering in everyday life so as to order society in the image of the majority, based on the tenet that diversity is a cancerous lesion that will inevitably spread and kill its most generous host.

And to those reading this last sentence and who are shaking their heads, telling themselves that the editor is on a hyperbolic flight of fancy at the idea that Mr. Curzi and friends are trying to moderate not only how we speak, but also how we think, I ask you to consider the L'Acualité's primary complaint, which is that Anglos do speak French, but are disinterested in joining or promoting the majority culture.
As pointed out in our comment section in regards to Wednesday's post, Curzi's friendly cohort, Benoît Dutrizac, complained exactly of this fact, that Anglos don't embrace French culture.

"Evidently you aren't interested in Quebec culture. An Anglo is a second rate American."
("Évidemment, tu ne t'intéresses pas à la culture francophone du Québec. Un anglo simili américain de 2ème ordre.")

And so Anglos are chastised for not embracing poutine or the sugar shack and the myriad of second and third rate talents like Julie Snyder, Les Cowboys Fringants or Ginette Reno or insipid television snorefests like Tout le Monde en Parle.
We Anglo Quebecers are branded as culturally insensitive because only 10% of us can name the mayor of Quebec City, while there is not one Francophone in 50,000 who can name the mayor of Vancouver.

To French language militants, it remains a holy tenet that Anglos who wish to maintain their own separate culture within Quebec are evil pariahs, while Francophones who cultivate and maintain a separate culture from the majority of Canadians are heroes.

Deux poids deux mesures, a double standard extraordinaire.

And so language militants are lining up to applaud a document proposing changes to the law restricting English, a vision that is nothing less than an Orwellian nightmare, where the state controls not only how citizens act in public, but how they think in private.
 

"le Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois (MNQ) welcomes this initiative with great enthusiasm........"

"The Mouvement Québec français  congratulates Pierre Curzi for his immense contribution to the political debate on the French language..."

The initiative of the Member for Borduas, Pierre Curzi, is significant. It is a difficult job and this is a useful approach. We share the same concerns and same objectives. We must take much more daring actions than those put forward by the Liberal government which is negligent and complicit in the anglicization of Quebec..." Parti Quebecois

The Anglo Press, so freaked out by the article in L'Acualité that characterized Anglophones as not only unsympathetic to the French cause, but purposely engaged in its destruction, issued a slew of articles defending the community and labeling the article alarmist and misinformed.
In their zeal to counter the conclusions, all failed to realize that the article said more about the attitudes of the francophones authors, than anglophones.

It reminds me of the old major league baseball story (I can't remember the characters) wherein a batter hits a tiny infield pop fly and the catcher, as is his role, hollers an instruction at the top of his lungs to the infielders, to allow the third baseman to catch the ball.
The pitcher ignores him, attempts a catch and promptly drops the ball. As the fuming catcher walks back to home plate and passes the opposing team's bench, a player in the dugout gives him a nasty dig;  "Hey, he had to consider the source!"

Yup, all these Anglos journalists reacted in a knee-jerk fashion defensive manner to a skewed story written by a quintessential Anglophobe fanatic, instead of pointing out the obvious fact that anything prepared by Pierre Curzi has zero journalistic credibility.

"Curzi was forced to apologize and retract a statement he made in October 2007 during a radio interview that appeared to suggest that a sovereign Quebec would have "more teeth" and could potentially remove the voting rights of Quebec's English-speaking community living on Montreal's West Island.  He faced some criticism in 2008 as one of two MNAs, along with Daniel Turp, who endorsed a controversial petition opposing Paul McCartney's performance at Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations. In September 2010, Curzi expressed on the television interview show Les Francs-tireurs his theory that there was a shortage of Francophone players on the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadiens and that this was "damned well political" and the result of a federalist plot." Wikipedia

On Monday, the headline to my  blog piece read  L'Actualité  Poll on Anglophones Says More about Francophone Perceptions

It seems that I was alone in decrying the fact that the article was more an indictment of French attitudes, than English.
Well, I was almost alone.
In an Op-Ed piece in the Montreal Gazette, Jean-François Lisée responded to those detractors and in doing so, let this slip in.

"We at L’Actualité are totally aware that the questions asked reveal just as much about the questioner as the respondents. The questions reflect exactly what we, bilingual French-speaking journalists, wanted to know" Link{Fr}

Either Mr.  Lisée reads this blog or my observation is obvious to all, obvious to all except those Anglo defenders in the Press who completely missed the point that the article was nothing more than Anglo-bashing dressed up as journalism.

There's a lot of this journalistic fraud going around the French Quebec Press and I'll have more to say on the subject next week.

At any rate, let me help enlighten readers as to what changes Mr. Curzi and his supporters would like to see in Bill 101.
I'm sure a detailed analysis will be made available soon in the Anglo Press, but let me give you the highlights lowlights.

Now I'm not going to make direct translations, it would take too long. What I am going to do is to set out what Mr. Curzi attempts to do with his new interpretation of Bill 101 and my interpretation of the impact of these changes.

Chapter 1 Article 1
French is not only the  official language of Quebec it is the common denominator among its citizens.
(An Anglo walks into the license bureau in a predominantly English town and is served, not surprisingly, by an English (albeit bilingual) employee. They both are obliged to speak to each other in French unless a special written request is made beforehand. The same goes for an Anglo employee of the town Huntingdon answering a phone call from a fellow Anglophone resident.)

Chapter 1 Article 11
French is the language of the courts and the legislature, subject to rights already in force in Quebec.
(Pure nonsense, a clause that contradicts itself. The BNA forbids this and the clause actually admits it.)

Chapter 1 Article 17
The government will use French only in writing to immigrants.
 (POW!)

Chapter 1 Article 25
English school commissions must expressly offer their services to the public in French.
(Teachers in English schools must be prepared to have parent/teacher conferences in French )

Chapter 4 Article 32
Someone making a renewal or new demand that the  Health board communicate with him/her in English must prove that they are eligible.
 (English is no longer an option for ethnics and immigrants)

Chapter 5 Article 44
Speaking French for all professionals is an obligation. Temporary permits  may be authorized until the professional passes a French test. Flunk three times and you must stop practicing 
(An English speaking doctor who serves a 100% Anglophone clientele, cannot practice if he/she cannot pass a French test, which by the way is not that easy to pass)

Chapter 7 Article 57-58
The OQLF will impose French rules on companies with less than 50 employees. 
(Massively complicated rules including the establishment of internal French committees will bring a mess of bureaucratic pain to companies without the ability or the financial resources to comply. )

Chapter 7 Article 62
Companies with 25 or more employees must register with the OQLF and furnish all sorts of information and must obtain a certificate of conformity
(Was my reference to BIG BROTHER really out of line?)

Chapter 7 Article 86
All companies must use a French name or in the case of a legal trademark, a French descriptor must be added
(A complete and TOTAL admission that the present act has no requirement for descriptors.) 

Some other highlights

Pertaining to education, the new Bill 101 will apply from kindergarten to university and eligibility to Dawson college or McGill University will no longer be an option to ineligible Francophone or Allophones.

Businesses would no longer be able to make bilingualism a condition of employment unless approved by the OQLF. It would remain to be seen if it were to be legal to ask that a clerk in a downtown Montreal speak English as a condition of employment. (probably not).

As to Bill 103, a law passed in response to a Supreme Court decision allowing students who had some private English education entry into the public education system in English, Mr Curzi suggests that the Draconian Notwithstanding Clause be implemented to deny about 150 students a year an English education.

On and on it goes, but perhaps the most telling nightmarish clause of all, is the frightening Article 43, which authorizes the OQLF to monitor the behavior and mindset of its citizens.
Do not be fooled with it's reference to linguistic groups, it targets Anglos and ethnics only.

Article 43.
The Office shall monitor the linguistic situation in Québec and shall report thereon to the Minister at least every three years, especially as regards the use and status of the French language and the behaviour and attitudes of the various linguistic groups.

WOW! Welcome to our Brave New world. 


 If you speak French you can do your own clause by clause comparison of the the new Bill 101 compared to the old law by downloading a PDF HERE.

You can download  an English PDF of this proposed bill (without a comparision to the old Bill 101) Here  (Thanks Tony for the link) 

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I'd like to share a chart with you which I lifted from antagoniste.net where DAVID writes some blistering pieces in his famous series "Arguing with idiots"
I gave out all sorts of links in Monday's post

Not all of you speak French, so I'd like to share this chart which will put paid to the arguments made in the comments section about Ontario also receiving Equalization payments.


The charts shows how much each citizen in Ontario versus Quebec receives in Equalization.

Finally here's a laugh to send you off.

It's a video wherein the interviewer stops people in a Toronto street and asks them what they think of bilingualism.
I didn't embed the video because it is definitely NSFW.
You've been warned......... WATCH IT HERE

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!