The Leger web online poll asked young anglophones what they thought of the language situation in Quebec and while the results probably surprised nobody in our community, francophones reacted with shock at the temerity of Anglos to complain.
For most francophone intellectuals, the notion that Anglos are treated badly in Quebec is an impossibility, repeating the oft-told fantasy that Anglos are treated with kid gloves.
While anglophones are indifferent or oblivious to the poll, the French media has gone apeshit over the results which sent editorialists into a frenzy. The Journal du Montreal is running story after story of anglo angst followed by savage and mean-spirited rebuttals by op-ed journalists.
Here are the questions, that the poll put to the anglophones;
Are current relations between Quebec francophones and anglophones harmonious or conflictual?
- 57 % Harmonious
- 33 % Conflictual (Under 35 years 49 %)
- 9 % Dunno
Have you considered living in another province?
- 60 % Yes
- 38 % No
- 2 % Dunno
Do Quebec francophones make an effort to understand the realities that anglophones face?
- 63 % No
- 20 % Yes
17 % Dunno
The comments section were largely closed for each and every article but in those articles that were open, readers vented in rage heaping down contempt on anglophones for daring to complain
In a nasty and sarcastic article written by Richard Martineau entitled 1-800-SAVE-AN-ANGLO, he sums up his opinion rather succinctly.
"I read the piece on the Anglos in the Journal and their ordeal broke my heart....Boo, hoo, hoo"
"We're smothering them, crushing them, strangling them! Call in the United Nations!
Quick stop the massacre!"Hmmm....
According to Denise Bombardier of the Journal de Montreal who in a nasty opinion piece dripping with venom claimed that anglophones don't get jobs because they aren't sufficiently adroit in written French.
I laughed out loud when I read this considering that prospective French-language teachers flunk their written French leaving exam at a rate of 50%. Passing this exam is required in order to obtain a teaching license and so because of the massive failure rate the government allows them to take the test over and over again until they pass. If this is the case for prospective French teachers, I can only imagine the proficiency of francophone students barely making it through high school.
A few years ago a Quebec Muslim received a $15,000 award from the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal because the government agency to which he applied for a job refused to even give him an interview. It seems that after having his C/V ignored repeatedly the complainant sent in identical C/Vs with only the name changed from Arabic sounding to Francophone sounding, the latter all of which were granted an interview!
So, Ms. Bombardier, I imagine it wasn't his written French that sunk his application. Ha! Ha!
And while hard to prove, how many applications with English sounding names are passed over by Quebec employers (including the government) in favour of applications submitted by francophones?
Her article goes on to complain that anglophones refer to her hero, the father of Bill 101 Dr. Camille Laurin as a Nazi and a fascist, when in fact in her opinion, he was just an eminent psychiatrist.
All I can say is Dr. Mengele was also a physician.
Dr. Camille Laurin was a rabid Anglophobe who deliberately and dishonestly loaded Bill 101 with all sorts of unconstitutional clauses meant to incite linguistic conflict. He sold the blatant manipulation to René Levesque as a necessary stratagem to raise linguistic conflict to the boiling point, a tactic he constructed to bolster the case of sovereignty.
When those clauses were ultimately rejected by the supreme court, he portrayed it as a gross humiliation and used it to incite hatred of Canada and Anglophones. Dr. Laurin wanted Bill 101 to be as punitive as possible, not only to protect the French language and eliminate English in Quebec but more importantly to chase Anglos out of the province. Some hero.
Nope, the real reason anglophones hate Bill 101 so much is because it is tinged with contempt and hatred.
For example, for a city or town to be recognized as officially bilingual, the English minority must number 50% plus one. Yup, in order to be recognized as a minority, the anglos have to be in the majority, an idea that is fodder for a Monty Python sketch. Even if the town council votes unanimously to communicate in English with members of their town, the province refuses to allow it.
This clause is unadulterated hatred.
To think that in Canada, a country where 77% of its citizens are English, a province may ban the language with the tacit consent of the federal government is outrageous.
Richard Martineau also went on to remind the ungrateful Anglo bastards that;
"Permit me to remain impervious to the crocodile tears shed by Quebec anglophones. Your community is the most pampered minority in the world."Alas, Mr. Martineau, you are wrong.
Anglos are not the most pampered minority in the world, not even in Canada.
That would be of course francophone Quebecers, who with just 22% of the population are guaranteed one-third of the Supreme Court judges and where English Canadians in the ROC shovel about ten billion dollars of 'foreign aid' to Quebec each year. Where Radio Canada receives double the allotment it deserves demographically and where English Canadians subside bilingualism to the tune of 75%. The law provides that on a flight from Vancouver to Victoria, francophones (which make up 2% of BC's population, ) are entitled to order a seven-up in French while on a bus ride through Pointe-Claire, Quebec where perhaps 75% of riders are Anglo, the driver is not required and indeed encouraged not to offer English instructions.
When militants complain about the poor language options for minority French communities outside Quebec it would be useful to compare their situation to those of Anglophones in rural Quebec.
But the biggest concession to pampered Quebec minority is the tacit permission to terrorize English citizens from speaking their native language and living their native English culture in a country that is 77% English.
Attention Mr;. Martineau. While we may live in Quebec and we may speak French, we in no way are required to embrace French Quebec culture, no more so than francophones must embrace Canadian English culture by virtue of living in a province outside Quebec.
And no.... I don't want to listen to second-rate artists like Marie-Mai and watch lame French TV, usually poor copies of American English TV anyways.
When we are reminded to embrace the culture of the majority, I always ask....which majority is that?
All these blowhards make arguments as if Quebec is a defacto country where everyone within its borders must embrace the Quebec francophone reality, forgetting deliberately that Canada and English is the majority in Canada. I will remind these idiots of the fact that Quebec athletes wear the Maple Leaf at the Olympics and that the Quebec flag is banned at the Olympics.
Francophones outside Quebec can listen to Marie-Mai or watch the dreadful Julie Snyder or watch the insipid Tout le Monde en Parle, no anglophone will tell them to assimilate into the majority culture of the province they live in.
To those who tell anglos that if they don't like the situation in Quebec, then they should get out, I remind them, we are not tenants, we are owners. What we do not like, we work to change.
If you do not like having anglos as co-owners, vote for sovereignty and kick us out.
I dare you.
Til then understand that our rights as Canadians are equal to yours.
While these commentators demand that anglophone Quebecers respect the French majority in Quebec, they bridle at the notion that francophones owe the English majority in Canada the same.
So, Mr. Martineau, I shed no tears for you and your cry-baby cohorts who tell us how great and strong Quebec is while demanding special political treatment, asymmetric advantages and massive financial transfers from English Canada.
Of course, many Quebec commentators argue that it just isn't so, throwing out misleading statistics to muddy the reality of the advantages Quebec receives by remaining in Canada.
To illustrate my point to those who bear Quebec's entrenched sense of entitlement, I always put this simple question....
In Quebec Hollywood movies are required by law to be dubbed into French, failing which the English version cannot be played. The cost of the dubbing may run up to $100,000 and so the question I put is... who should pay for it?
Should a surcharge be placed on each ticket shown in theatres showing the French version or should Canadians across the country all pay a slightly higher price to subsidize the dubbing.
I have heard all sorts of answers, some hemming and some hawing, but I have never heard a francophone say that those who watch the dubbed version should pay.
Let the English pay....
While slagging and denigrating those nasty Canayans for time immemorial, Quebec has never stopped grabbing the money like a disaffected wife who stays with her husband because the money is good.
Say what you will, the naked contempt and aggression demonstrated by these commentators underscore the reality that was laid bare by the Bonjour/ Hi controversy, that is that there remains in Quebec a latent pathological enmity towards anglophones that even the progressive francophones bear.
In Quebec Hollywood movies are required by law to be dubbed into French, failing which the English version cannot be played. The cost of the dubbing may run up to $100,000 and so the question I put is... who should pay for it?
Should a surcharge be placed on each ticket shown in theatres showing the French version or should Canadians across the country all pay a slightly higher price to subsidize the dubbing.
I have heard all sorts of answers, some hemming and some hawing, but I have never heard a francophone say that those who watch the dubbed version should pay.
Let the English pay....
While slagging and denigrating those nasty Canayans for time immemorial, Quebec has never stopped grabbing the money like a disaffected wife who stays with her husband because the money is good.
Say what you will, the naked contempt and aggression demonstrated by these commentators underscore the reality that was laid bare by the Bonjour/ Hi controversy, that is that there remains in Quebec a latent pathological enmity towards anglophones that even the progressive francophones bear.
Thank God someone is willing to tell the truth
ReplyDeleteThis is God speaking,
DeleteYou are welcome
I'm afraid that the vehemence with which this guy attempts to make his case could actually be weakening it.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid the Ignorance with which YOU Deny Reality, could actually be Viral !!
DeleteYou know you're in trouble if your latest cultural culinary specialty is a dish comprised of french fries, brown gravy, and cheese curds. I suppose that when you are isolated you are number one in the universe.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sauga here. Poutine is sold in the U.S. now, although they make their own version that often has alternate ingredients, save the fries!
ReplyDeleteAs usual, endless griping, griping, griping. Since non-Francos are 20% of the population and 40% of the wealth and taxes paid, it should be YOU who has the leverage, but you're not using it. You've said before that Jewish billionaires outnumber Franco billionaires by 53.33 to 1 via ratio comparison, and of 17 billionaires altogether, minorities make up nine of the 17, yet are 1/5 the population of Francophones. More leverage.
Despite all this leverage, there is so much indifference to do much about it, so you get what you deserve, you owners who figure that's good enough reason for living in Quebec. If you're aggravated and don't want to leave, then don't just sit there...DO SOMETHING!
I have never seen an option of "Dnno" in an opinion poll....at least not a real one, but then agsin, I "DON'T know" everything
ReplyDeleteI meant "dunno"
ReplyDeleteIs there a single issue that, by itself, turns the English and / or non-franco populaces on the head of a pin?
ReplyDeleteExcellent piece and so truthful. Its the vindictive spirit of many francophones towards anglophones that is most disturbing..you can tell they have been taught from a young age to hate anything english.
ReplyDeleteWhats most vexing is how many Quebecois dont see how spoiled they are vis a vis the massive amounts of canadian money that flows here directly or indirectly to institutions like Radio Canada. I would love to see Quebec try and stand on its own two feet without the billions in money coming in from Canada.
Mr. Sauga here: So would I! In fact, I don't know why there isn't a movement outside Quebec to throw Quebec out of Canada for all its griping and ingratitude. Without Quebec, we'd be a smaller country, but a better own. Quebec costs the federal coffers more than what they put in.
DeleteIn short: FRENCH QUEBEC ISN'T WORTH OUR WHILE ANYMORE! You, the minorities harness too much of the wealth to not strike back, but you don't ergo you get what you deserve.
DON'T JUST SIT THERE, DO SOMETHING!
A poll conducted for a single purpose of attacking the polled sample for providing the ‘wrong’ answers to questions with predictable answers.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking into this further I think Philip and I were baited by PKP and his media empire. The poll was paid for by Le Journal de Montreal which is owned by PKP.. What better way to boost the PQ popularity then to reignite the french english tensions. They have published 14 articles about this in a week so they are really going into overdrive to be provocative.
DeleteI expect more and more of these types of stories to pop up over the next few months as the PQ try to boost their numbers by angering francophones against les autres. How else will they have a chance to win..its always been their mantra..les maudits anglais are to blame for all their woes and if we just wave the independance magic wand then all will be perfect in Quebekistan..
Hmmm.... Your point is well taken. I hadn't thought of this, but
Deleteyou are right, we may very well have been trolled.
Mr. Sauga here: Agree with Philip, adski. It's a good hypothesis. As you wrote, the fanatical seppies need to rile up their crowd through manufacturing lies, lies and more lies. This has been going on half a century, and with nothing to shut the fanatics up, it will go on another half century, maybe another millennium, maybe longer!
DeleteAs Reed Scowen stated in his Time to say Goodbye book, even the federalists didn't sell federalism as Canada being one of the top rated countries by the rest of the world in which to live, they only sold the monetary costs of separation.
When I leave Ontario, Canada to come to Quebec, I almost NEVER see the Canadian flag, even in English schools. You'll only see it on federal government properties, and, with very, very rare exceptions, on private properties.
The government is increasingly refusing to serve the minorities in English, you can't file a corporate Quebec tax return in English anymore (is that even constitutional?), and for any kind of professional driver's permit, forms may be accessible in English, but you can't file them in English. The screws are tightening, and are only going to continue to tighten against English.
If you don't like it, either leverage your collective wealth and force them to regain the political will to do this, or put up, shut up, and then cancel this blog. This endless whining is going to do NOTHING to help yourselves, so what's the point?
Francophones are not all Quebecers and Quebecers are not all francophones. It's sad that there remain some poor souls who have yet to digest this simple fact.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sauga here: WTF is your point, Chicken? Non-Québécois French speakers are also treated like aliens? Don't the police regularly intimidate French speaking Africans and Asians living in Montreal North? You are either a multigenerational white, Roman Catholic and French mother-tongued person (a.k.a. Québécois de vieuille souche, or Old Stock Québécois), or you're not and labelled «les autres». It's that simple, because that's how their simple minds think.
DeleteThat that ethnocentric majority thinks and acts like ignoramuses due to their having been duped by their church for 200 years is nobody's fault but their own. Unfortunately, they make up 80% of the population and make up only 60% of Quebec's wealth, but votes are not based on wealth, only heads and those brain deadheads keep voting as they do because they perpetuate the lies that somehow their ignorance is to perpetually blame on the minorities, all lumped together as "The English".
That you all do nothing but whine on CJAD and this blog is therefore on you!
They just want to whip up tensions between people who, if left alone, would get along just fine.
ReplyDeleteThe poll was a set up from the get go. Martineau might have penned his piece even before the results were in. It was so contrived and predictable.
Mr. Sauga here: Yes, adski, and the ignorant perpetuate their ignorance, but it is to an ignorant majority like I replied above.
DeleteYou have 40% of the wealth, so leverage it with real action, and stop whining here and on CJAD.
"While these commentators demand that anglophone Quebecers respect the French majority in Quebec, they bridle at the notion that francophones owe the English majority in Canada the same."
ReplyDeleteIt has been written on many separatist / French-language defender sites by various writer that considering the language situation in Canada and in North America, the equitable solution for official languages of Canada is indeed that French gets full protection as the sole official language within Quebec border and it gets the privilege as an equal co-official language in the rest of Canada on all levels of government.
One of Philip's best. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous parts of this blog I'd like to comment on and, time allowing, I will. Here's the first one that pops up. Philip writes:
"To think that in Canada, a country where 77% of its citizens are English, a province may ban the language with the tacit consent of the federal government is outrageous."
This is, of course, a theme I have often written about on this website but it is worth repeating again: "consent of the federal government." This is the very crux of the problem. A solemn promise and obligation was given to the federal government at the time of Confederation. The Fathers of Confedration weren't idiots and realized that with the creation of Canada came the creation of provinces with significant powers alloted to them under this new system of federalism. And with the creation of provinces came the creation of provincial minorities which did not exist prior to 1867 (it was a unified state: the United Province of Upper and Lower Canada).
So, the anglos of what was to become Quebec became a provincial minority when prior to 1867 they were part of the majority. And the Fathers put in specific protections -- given to the federal government -- so that if a provincial majority through their legislatures were to use their "tyranny of the majority" to violate the rights of the anglo/protestant minority in Quebec or the franco/catholic minorities of the other provinces, that the federal government would veto such legislation. And legislation like the race law/hate law Bill 101 would never have seen the light of day.
And what, pray tell, is the tally since 1867 of the federal government vetoing said provincial legislations?
ZERO.
I contend that had the federal government lived up to its responsibilities since 1867 and when francophones had their rights violated and then anglos in Quebec had their rights violated that all of these problems never would have occurred in the first place.
The thing I find most fascinating about the poll is that it is the most bilingual demographic of anglos that seem to be unhappiest: young anglos.
ReplyDeleteI recall an opinion poll published by Jack Jedwab in 2001 on anglos and what struck me in that one was, again, it was the young anglos -- the most bilingual -- who were the most opposed to Bill 101. It would seem that those most comfortable with the French language would be the ones least opposed to Bill 101, but it was the opposite. And this time round, things seem to be the same.
Here's a link to that 2001 report. Note the first graph on page 6 which breaks down opposition to Bill 101 by age group:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070809121805/http://chssn.org/en/pdf/New%20Anglo-final.pdf
In Richard Martineau's article, the following comment of his was reproduced, above:
ReplyDelete"...Call in the United Nations!"
Actually, they have been called in. Recall that in the early '90s, Maurice King of CVESPA brought the MacIntyre sign case to the U.N. and prevailed, resulting in the Government of Robert Bourassa amending Bill 101 to conform to the U.N. ruling.
Indeed, the language of education provisions should also be brought to the U.N.'s Human Rights Committee. Canada in the '60s signed a U.N. treaty against racism in which one of the definitions of racism was "descent" which, of course, is what is used in Bill 101 to determine whether one is eligible for English language schooling and keeps most francophones and immigrants (including English-speaking ones) from freely choosing between English and French public schools in Quebec.
Hey, Mr. Sauga, I think we're open to suggestions. What do you suggest?
ReplyDeleteMr. Sauga here. Yo, I.A.M., I'm not suggesting anything. I made my choice to leave Quebec, many of you made the choice to stay, so you all can damn well work it out.
DeleteI've stated before and I'll state it again that I'm fine with Quebec separating. We federal taxpayers outside Quebec are the ones paying into your inept government. You think you'd have subsidized child care if not for the difference the feds put into Quebec coffers through equalization and other payments? I'm OK with separation here because I'm outside Quebec now, the people nearest and dearest to me are now gone, so I have no stake in Quebec. You stayed, you figure it out...and good luck!
At least you had enough money to leave. Not everyone does.
DeleteMr. Sauga here. Huh? Refugees are coming here. I imagine the percentage of those "stuck" there is very small. The majority who have chosen to stay did exactly that...MADE that choice.
Delete