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| Doug, say it ain't so..... |
I'm even more disappointed because this decision seems to have the Premier's nasty fingerprints all over it. It is a petty provocation that surly must have been opposed in cabinet by those who understand that the reputational damage to the Ontario Conservative brand will be considerable.
As for cost-cutting, like any program, the money-savings have to be measured by the value of the loss of the program as well as the political implications if any.
I'm sure Doug Ford thought that the decision would be well-received by his constituency but it is indeed a misstep that may lead to a one and done government.
Most Ontarians didn't vote for Ford but rather against Kathleen Weil. Many of those who voted for him understood his limitations but judged him the better of two evils.
So far he hasn't impressed.
But whether Doug Ford succeeds or not, one thing is for sure, that is that Caroline Mulroney's political career will be permanently wedded to Ford's. As the responsible cabinet member for Francophone affairs, being forced to defend the Ford cuts is the kiss of death politically. Her dreams of perhaps succeeding Ford as leader are dashed and any idea of federal politics is out of the question. She has overnight become as toxic as a Chernobyl three-headed fish, a quisling who chose expediency over her cabinet responsibilities..
Privately, Mulroney should have threatened to resign from cabinet if Ford went ahead with the cuts, and should have done so if Ford called her bluff.
Doing so would have been painful in the short term, but it would have propelled her to superstar status nationally, a politician with backbone and principles, something all Canadians would appreciate.
She'd be a shoo-in to replace Andrew Scheer, if and when he loses to Trudeau in the next election.
Fighting the good fight and accepting the consequences would win her eternal love in Quebec, as well as with Ontario progressives (of which there are millions,) while garnering grudging respect in the rest of Canada.
She missed a golden opportunity to do the right thing and I'm disappointed.
At any rate, the decision to reduce francophone services was wrong not only on a political level but on a moral one as well.
Shelving the creation of a French-language university can also be seen as payback to the progressive city of Toronto which largely voted against Ford. Perhaps he saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
Ontario has as many francophones as Quebec has anglophones, yet not one dedicated French-language university. All this while Quebec has two and a half English universities, McGill, Concordia and the tiny Bishop's.
Those who argue that Ontario francophones don't deserve their own French-language university, by extension, must believe Quebec anglophones don't deserve theirs either.
Building such an institution in Toronto which actually has a small francophone community may seem paradoxical, but because the institution would become a shining beacon for all Ontario francophones, attracting them from all over the province, it is the logical location.
As they say...build it and they will come.
Such an institution could grow according to need, but if it developed an expertise in certain categories it could become an important Canadian institution.
Today while bilingualism is not an absolute must in the top echelons of government and the civil service, it is an important element and those who possess both languages have a giant advantage. Ambitious anglophones could use the university to develop their language skills if the right program would be offered.
That is just one idea, I'm sure there are other exciting options that would attract a wide base of students.
A French-language university would polish Toronto's already stellar reputation as a university centre, offering an alternative to Montreal for international francophones.
Those neanderthals that tell us that French is just a minority amongst minorities in Ontario do not understand the beautiful reality of Canada's two founding nations, proof to the world that two-language nations can work and flourish when mutual respect abounds.
Yes, the minority English in Quebec are a privileged lot, and so too should the minority French in Ontario.
Respected, protected and nurtured.
Doug Ford needs lessons in civics and history.
He badly misunderstands what Canada is.
Instead of reducing Ontario francophones opportunity to flourish, he should get up in Queen's Park and apologize to Ontario francophones à la Justin Trudeau, for past wrongs.
"Regulation 17, which was enforced from 1912 to 1927, was a shameful chapter in the province’s history that banned elementary schools from using French as a language of instruction beyond grade two. It also capped the amount of teaching time in French for elementary school students to one hour per day, and permitted French-language education only at the specific request of parents. The measure helped permanently weaken the presence of French in southwestern Ontario." LinkThat regulation wiped out the francophone culture in southwestern Ontario. It was a shameful act that back then was perceived as reasonable, but by today's standards, cultural and linguistic genocide.
In all this, I am comforted that the large majority of Ontarians feel differently. They value bilingualism and they cherish and respect the Francophone community that enriches Ontario's culture.
Doug Ford is wrong and if Anglophone activists in Quebec don't call him out, we cannot ask for support ourselves.
I call on our community to publically rebuke and reject Doug Ford's regressive and mean-spirited policy.
Philip writes:
ReplyDelete"Doug Ford is wrong and if Anglophone activists in Quebec don't call him out, we cannot ask for support ourselves."
Really? My right to government services in English is dependent upon whether I support some other group's ability to get government services in their language?
I don't think so.
Agreed. There is absolutely NO correlation in this or any other situation. Enough screaming has fallen on deaf ears in Quebec, so let the Franco Ontarians scream for themselves. As it is, call 416-326-1234 for questions about any and all Ontario services, and you'll have the choice to be spoken to in English or French. You won't have to prove you can't speak one of the languages. Sorry, I don't know the toll-free number but it is available online at Ontario.ca
DeleteAnother alternative: I, along with 52 other people, lodged a formal complaint approximately two years ago with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages when PM Gorgeous addressed an Anglophone woman who asked him a question in English and he responded in French. This took place in Sherbrooke, and Gorgeous's response, in French, was since Quebec's official language is French so he would answer in French.
Earlier this year, I received the response to the complaint: IT WAS FOUNDED! Empty-Headed PM Gorgeous was found responsible, so it was up to the OCOFL to come up with a resolution via a policy change. Imagine that...the son violated the policies his own father set 49 years earlier!
"At any rate, the decision to reduce francophone services was wrong not only on a political level but on a moral one as well. Shelving the creation of a French-language university can also be seen as payback to the progressive city of Toronto which largely voted against Ford. Perhaps he saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone."
ReplyDeleteCutting the services - probably not a good idea, and morally dubious.
Shelving the plans to build the university - probably a good practical decision, even if motivated by malice imputed to Ford by some francophone media and this blog.
"Such an institution could grow according to need, but if it developed an expertise in certain categories it could become an important Canadian institution."
They would be spending all that money not on something that seems practical and logical and would lead to having a popular well-attended institution from the get-go, but on something that "could" (most likely would not) work out based on a lot of "followup effort" put in after all the initial effort and money spent to get the project off the ground.
It seems like it would be another wasted effort exerted in the name of social justice - giving les peuples fondateurs an institution that may be impractical in the given location, but would serve as a symbol and an ego boost of sorts.
"Today while bilingualism is not an absolute must in the top echelons of government and the civil service, it is an important element and those who possess both languages have a giant advantage."
Correct. So in the name of that, you would spend all that money to build a French university in Toronto? Aren't there other ways to learn French?
"Ambitious anglophones could use the university to develop their language skills if the right program would be offered."
Ambitious anglophones can come to Montreal for a year or two and enroll at UdeM or UQAM. No need to stand up a new university for these feisty ambitious individuals.
"Those neanderthals that tell us that French is just a minority amongst minorities in Ontario do not understand the beautiful reality of Canada's two founding nations"
Even accepting the dubious claim of exceptionalism of the francophone population based on their history as peuples fondateurs of this country, you still need some scale and proportion. A university is not a library or an exhibit, or a consulate, or a museum. It is a huge and expensive undertaking.
"Yes, the minority English in Quebec are a privileged lot, and so too should the minority French in Ontario."
My suggestion for Quebec anglophones would be to start receiving services in French. It is not so hard to read official documents and to talk to government officials in French - documents are clearly written and the officials are usually very articulate and speak clearly.
It is precisely those services in English in Quebec that serve as a bargaining chip for the sometimes preposterous demands made by Quebec towards the rest of Canada.
Philip writes:
ReplyDelete"Yes, the minority English in Quebec are a privileged lot..."
There is so much wrong with that statement I don't know where to begin.
INTRODUCTION...or PREAMBLE...or Preface, or however you want to label this first entry by moi! This is just far too delicious to pass up!
DeleteHi Tony! I'll do you the service of beginning, but once I get started, I may not be able to finish...but I'll try, or maybe create a cliffhanger and write again another time. I was about to turn in for the night when I saw this piece of infamy (sorry, Phil), and it got my adrenaline flowing like a raging tsunami! Can neither help nor contain myself.
Phil, thanks for publishing this piece. I never thought I'd see the day you'd do this; in fact, the only reason I'd bet you didn't write this to goad me (as if you thought I was going to ignore it) only because I have too much faith in you to believe you would.
PART I (of I don't know how many this will end up being)
DeleteWow! Tony K. was right. It's tough to find the beginning, but the above entry allowed me to get the giddies out of my system and get serious, but not before I point out an important typo.
Phil, not to ridicule you, but you wrote above: "Most Ontarians didn't vote for Ford but rather against Kathleen Weil." Sorry, but I had to LOL,L,L and hard to the point it jerked tears out of my eyes and doubled me over with a bellyache!
Vile Weil! A Kapo, a traitor not unlike Daddy Kelley and his equally Kapo son, and other Anglophones who didn't dare cross their fearless leader(s). Caroline Mulroney will swallow herself whole just like every politician who values their position in politics above their true beliefs. Of course, you meant to write Kathleen Wynne who, if elected again, would have placed Ontario into fiscal and financial oblivion. That spendthrift dike actually managed to put Ontario in a worse financial position than where Quebec is now. Prior to her and McGuilty, Ontario put Quebec fiscally to absolute shame.
You can partially blame Donald Trump as being a bad influence as nationalist policy seems to be becoming the way in several European Countries and now Brazil. That's today.
PART II
DeleteNow let's go back 42 years ago this month when the PQ was elected. We can actually go back 46 years to the summer of 1974 when the supposed federalist premier, one Robert Bourassa, gave the minorities a good stab in the back. In my observations, the pattern has been the federalist party, namely, but barely, the PLQ, is the one to deliver the first stab from the dagger only to make it easier for the separatist PQ to push the blade in deeper, and sometimes turn the handle at the same time.
In early 1977, the first separatist bill, a.k.a. Bill 1, came crashing out of the starting gate. To nobody's surprise, at least not mine, it was the first go at the Charter of the French Language. The author and creator of said Charter was none other than a Psychiatrist no less, who received the better part of his education in the U.S. of A., namely Boston University. His name was Camille Laurin, a hateful little man who would have liked to, among a slew of his confrères, publicly guillotine English heads off, especially those from Westmount and Hampstead, the affluent Anglo bastions that surprisingly still exist today.
Laurin himself stated the objective of this Charter was "To make Quebec as French as Ontario is English," i.e., he saw Ontario as 100% English. About six months later, after much criticism by the Chambre de Commerce and other organizations of affluence and influence, the final draft absolutely had to be, and was put into law about a week or so before the start of the 1977-78 academic year to ensure children that otherwise would have been able to register and attend English schools were prevented from doing so.
According to Reed Scowen in his book Time to Say Goodbye written near the end of the Second Millennium, Scowen, in the footnotes pointed out that in just 20 years, the number of French schools in Ontario was 419, while English schools diminished to 305. I haven't see the numbers since, but I'll betcha buncha blintzes that disparity has grown since, and I'm sure by a fair bit. The book also pointed out the number of students in English schools over that same period dropped from a quarter million to 100,000, a 60% drop in just 20 years or so.
Phil, I'll throw your bleeding heart liberal readers a bone. One thing that has happened in Ontario is the supply of French immersion schools hasn't been able to keep up with the demand. Some school boards have no French immersion at all, but paradoxically, French schools in Ontario will not admit children where not at least one parent is mother-tongued, or measured to be sufficiently fluent in French. That therefore excludes parents who would like their children to become proficient in French from doing so. How about that? The canned excuse is the children will not take too much time to adapt and slow the learning process down for those who are proficient in French.
In Quebec, for newcomers who are not familiar with French, their children first go to «classes d'accueil» or welcoming classes. Not so in Ontario schools, so in actual fact, children who win spots in these schools (often done by lottery) get that advantage while the ones left out don't. Quebec doesn't give choices to those who don't fall under Section 72 of the Charter, so it's Anglophones who have free choices where that section applies.
TO BE CONTINUED ...sorry folks, I need sleep, but I hope you're enjoying! I know I am!
PART II½
DeleteIn my fatigue I made a couple of errors. In the above, I meant to write "The canned excuse is the children will not take too much time... That of course should read WILL INDEED take too much time. Too, it was Section 73 of the Charter I was referring to for the narrow exceptions in allowing children who were, back in 1977, descendants of attendees who received their elementary school education in Quebec and Quebec only. Section 72 declared all children in Quebec must receive their school instruction in French. Now you're up to date!
PART III - Here it comes!
DeleteOK, in the last part we established language legislation with its updates, permutations and iterations. We've established that French Ontario schools 20 years ago were already about 35% more than Quebec English schools with the disparities rising I'm sure within those last two decades.
Onward and upward. Ontario has put more bilingual signs over the last 42 years while Quebec made a concerted effort to eliminate English as much as is humanly possible. Only exceptions, or so it seems, are at the U.S. borders where some "courtesy" bilingual road signs have been tolerated to accommodate the Americans who neigher understand French and never will with Spanish being their "courtesy" language. Spanish will nev-ver gain official language status given the lessons they've learned from Quebec...if indeed they have. There are enough ex-Canadians in congress to remind. Oh, yes, and with great resistance from the majority, Hampstead, Côte-St-Luc and Westmount (and maybe TMR?) have too been able to post bilingual signs, but it's not as if efforts were not made to amalgamate cities and towns in such a way to ensure that "50%" rule could not possibly be met. Ridiculous!
Too, let's go right back to 1978 where on July 3rd, with extremely limited exceptions, English had to be wiped off the Quebec visage. I remember the English sign graveyard lined behind commercial lanes and allies in the back of said buildings. English had to be REMOVED from all traffic and road signs, i.e., they TOOK AWAYr bilingual signs while Ontario ADDED French to many of their signs, esp. in Eastern Ontario and on their 400 series (major) highways, especially Highway 401. Cross into Quebec (Highway 20) and booya! Bumpy roads and unilingual French signs.
Too, Mr. Ford backpedaled and retained a Francophone Affairs portfolio. As for the French school thing, don't baaaaathah me! French in Ontario 419 English in Quebec 305* (*as of 1998). Quebec isn't exactly bending over backwards to possibly allow English to grow in Quebec, so why should Ontario bend over backwards to accommodate French anymore. Perhaps demand for French immersion will finally cause Ford rue the day, so smile smile smile!
Please note I'm not against second language teaching anywhere, especially if the taxpayer so demands, but right now Ontario, no thanks to ex-premier Kathleen Wynne (not Vile Weil) and how her ship of fools and our money were too easily parted. With all her reckless bleeding heart Liberal spending, why didn't Wynne look at meeting the demands for more French immersion? She was very accommodating to the teachers and education, yet she didn't respond to that issue!
Did Ms. Wynne really get more votes than Ford? REALLY? If so, they were pretty spread out as her party won only seven seats--7! No longer official party status, but it seems these days bad government ends up eventually getting its just desserts. Too bad it didn't happen in the 2014 mandate where it should have! Remember Kim Campbell and the now-defunct federal PC party dropping from 169 to two seats? In several Quebec constituencies the Liberals were relegated to 4th place! In all fairness, Kim herself didn't exactly deserve it, but she took on a sinking ship that was doomed before she became the party's last leader.
PART IV - Conclusion...until I rebut what other contributors have to say that I disagree with!
DeleteBTW, the following Ontario institutes of higher learning offer ample French programs: Collège Boréal, Laurentian University, University of Sudbury (all in the concentrated Francophone region around Sudbury), Université de Hearst amply serving Hearst, Kapuskasing, Timmins, and other Northern Ontario French speaking populations; uOttawa & St-Paul U (under uOttawa) and Dominican University College (affiliated with Carlton U.) and La Cité serving the NCR and Alfred that also serves Rockland, Hawkesbury and Vankleek Hill. Toronto the Good? Look no further than Glendon Campus of York University AND le Centre de recherches en éducation franco-ontarienne within the U of Toronto.
There you have it! Plenty of choices. Too, I've worked with a plenitude of French speaking people who now live in the GTA. Most of the ones I meet are NOT from Quebec, but from Africa. Many decided to by-pass immigrating to Quebec and instead chose Toronto. Other Africans, even French people chose the GTA for its diversity, acceptance of others, and ability to learn English and yet attend French schools (non-immersion). In other cases, they have friends and family from "the Old Country" who tell them about racism against non-whites, even from La Francophonie, and suggest locales outside Quebec. In a previous job, I met a fellow who was fresh off the tarmac (3 months) from Morocco and chose to pursue, through correspondence, his MBA from either St. Francis Xavier or Dalhousie (can't remember which), and another from Congo who did long distance learning with U Laval. With Skype and webinars, the possibilities are endless, but don't say Ontario lacks access to post-secondary French language education. Big misnomer. Want further assistance? Contact Alliance Française. They have an office in Toronto and I'm sure would be more than happy to refer any callers to French language education.
Finally, when John James Charest was premier of Quebec, it was under his tutelage that referrals to English assistance in government had to wait until the French message was over before arriving at that help, and civil servants were to speak only French to «les autres» unless communication in French proved to be insurmountably difficult...even then I wonder how many would switch to English?
Caroline Mulroney would need to set just a toe in Quebec...
ReplyDeleteMel: Is that a threat?
DeleteOn the other hand, you're right. Sweet Caroline did indeed sell her soul to the devil à la Dr. Faustus. No matter. After this gig, she'll just go back to her far more lucrative law practice, so I won't even play Sweet Caroline a tune on my Stradivarius.
DeleteIMPORTANT UPDATE, READERS!
ReplyDeleteUnlike Vile Weil, Aunt Thomasina Yolande James, Kapo Kelley & Son (or should that read "et fils"?) and the rest of the quisling Anglophones who weakly, readily and willingly knuckled under now ex-Premier Goldilocks et al, we finally, after almost 30 years, have an Ontario MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament) who has put her principals before her well-paid salary and mountain of perks: Amanda Simard.
Mlle Simard was just elected in June, and yet she put her principals first. At this point, she'll in all likelihood be kicked out of the Ontario PC Party and end up crossing the floor. I'll applaud her if she sits as an independent, and why not? It would be a shame for her to resign her seat after less than six months as a rookie member. She was elected, and as an independent can still serve her constituents. Unfortunately, given her youth and aspirations, I'm sure, for a long political career, she'll likely latch onto another party for leverage and opportunity. Too many politicians become opportunists for self-preservation, but I give her an "A" for sticking to her principals. We haven't seen action like this since early 1989 when French, Marx and Lincoln resigned from the National Assembly. Score one for Amanda Simard!
Not sure if the comparison is valid between French/Marx/Lincoln and Simard, at least not from the point of view of a political career. With the official policy of multiculturalism and bilingualism in Canada and rejection of multiculturalism and bilingualism in QC, French/Marx/Lincoln may seem like antisocial misfits refusing to integrate with the majority, while Simard may seem like a defender of the minorities crusading for linguistic and cultural diversity. In the former case you become a pariah and standing by your principles may cost you, in the latter case you may become a hero and standing by your principles may pay off.
DeleteThough mutually exclusive and contradictory, perquisite belief now imposed on the federal and other provincial governments in this country is this: in Quebec - one language a culture for all due the benefit of fostering social cohesion and facilitating integration, in RoC - enforced bilingualism with some multiculturalism due to it fostering diversity which is a value that must be cherished.
I am not debating whether Canadian bilingualism/multiculturalism, or Quebec inter-culturalism are good or bad or whether the benefits ascribed to each are true. There probably are benefits and costs to both but I am pointing out the selective (hypocritical) application of costs and benefits by the pequsites to suit their interests and sadly this view may have been accepted in politics across this country.
Sorry, adski, I don't see such contrast. French, Marx and Lincoln were all fluently bilingual, so I don't see how they didn't ALREADY integrate. That especially would have been true in the case of Herbert Marx since he was a lawyer, and had to be highly proficient in French as required in studying law in Quebec. That trio were all in the premier's cabinet, his appointees, so they had far more to lose than Ms. Simard, not to label her move diminutively. This showed the most intestinal fortitude since the above-mentioned trio.
DeleteIf the public in general doesn't want to cherish multiculturalism, it won't! Just drive an hour due south and you'll see for yourself, and unfortunately, this is becoming the trend in other countries.
One thing for sure, unless she is far more creative and crafty than we think, Caroline Mulroney's alleged federal political aspirations are up the creek.
ANOTHER UPDATE DEAR READERS!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure by now you have all heard or saw on a TV newscast the protest held by Franco Ontarians on Parliament Hill.
While I don't dispute the Franco Ontarians certainly had a right to protest, what I did find perplexing was the sight of Vile Kathleen Weil. On the CTV newscast, she protested along with the Franco Ontarians. She should talk! As the MNA for NDG with a significant number of minorities there, if they don't make up the majority of that constituency, she has alienated her constituents time after time after time. What a hypocrite! What a Kapo!
If seeing that vevolting and vile character there wasn't enough, there were Quebec flags seen as well. Again, what hypocrites! According to former PMO press secretary Michel Gratton, who was born and raised in the Ottawa suburb of Vanier, he faced a plenitude of alienation from those who were supposed to be his own! Gratton wrote a book on growing up French Canadian and chronicled his Vanier community. In his book, exposé really, Gratton wrote about the constant alienation he faced when his family, at the recommendation of their priest, had young Michel sent to a boarding seminary school on the Quebec side in Papineauville. He was labelled a «vendu», a sellout, by not only his fellow students, but also by the brothers, the faculty at the school.
I was personally told the story of a Franco Ontarian who grew up in North Bay, just separated from Quebec by the Ottawa River. He got into fistfights with Québécois who didn't consider him really a Francophone proclaiming only Québécois are the real deal. Ain't that a kick in the head! The way I see it, those who crossed the Ottawa River were there primarily to guard their paranoid self interests. I left Quebec for the same reasons the Franco Ontarians are now protesting except Anglophones are the minority in Quebec. I left Quebec due to the cuts to living in English in Quebec. Yes, there are good English universities and CEGEPs in Quebec (if you can call CEGEP good at all), and yet it is the French students clamoring to get into those universities hence often squeezing out Anglophones who apply. The demand is there!
As for Ontario, there is NO plan to cut funding to French schools, there is NO plan to suppress the teaching of the French language, there is NO plan to cut French immersion schools and funding and there is NO plan to cut any post-secondary programs where French is currently the language of instruction.
ReplyDeleteI personally have no objections to building a French language university, but, as previously shown, there are adequate facilities for those who wish to attend French language post-secondary institutions in Ontario. The demand for expansion is NOT there! As for that crap about "if you build it, they will come", is that a given? Ask the people of Quebec City who built a super sports arena fit for an NHL team with that mentality. Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, withheld the bid as there is nowhere near enough corporate sponsorship for a team. Seattle won a bid for team #32 with an entry fee in excess of USD600 million. That's over 100 times more than Marcel Aubut paid for a WHA franchise, and as we well know, the WHA died after seven years and was never on a solid footing. Aubut got in cheap and managed to get USD75 million when the team was transplanted to Denver. Nice return on investment for Mr. Aubut!
Mr. Ford has nothing to apologize for. The other Kathleen, Wynne that is, did a good job of just about putting Ontario's fiscal house in tatters! Another $15 billion in Ontario Power Generation debt was recently uncovered as off the government books, so add that burden to the Ontario taxpayer! I'm sure others will be uncovered.
Finally, English post-secondary institutions are also seeing unfortunate cutbacks and cancellation of proposed expansion. All that is being done with the government bureaucracy in Ontario is the Francophone Affairs services are being put under the Ombudsman's services, and the Ombudsman is already a Franco Ontarian as complaints filed receive equal treatment in English or French. No French signage is being revoked and anyone calling for French language services may continue to do so.
"As for Ontario, there is NO plan to cut funding to French schools, there is NO plan to suppress the teaching of the French language, there is NO plan to cut French immersion schools and funding and there is NO plan to cut any post-secondary programs where French is currently the language of instruction."
ReplyDeleteThis may be, but I think the pequiste view (which Anglos and ethnics involved in QC politics have internalized) is that Anglos already have a lot, while Francos have much less. Someone like you (and someone like me who is not from this country) may not understand a deep psychology of this which allows to rationalize both the systematic undercutting of your language in QC and systemic promotion of their language in the RoC.
The way they see things, I think, is through the prism of equality which can be achieved by both undercutting the side that they view as stronger and building up the side which they view as weaker. At least this is my understanding of pequiste psychology and morality, morality based on a different set of ideas - not on whether your actions here and now are ok but based on the lofty goals that you have yourself defined and are trying to achieve. With morality and ethics so redefined, they can look themselves in the mirror at the end of the day, while the rest of us unable to perform such mental acrobatics are left scratching our heads.
Interesting analogy, adski, but I truly have internalized nothing! Anglos (and certain ethnics, too) have a lot because they EARNED it. They did the hard work and took the risks to get where they did. That Francophones were gullible enough to be suppressed, oppressed and totally duped by their own corrupt politicians and the Church is NOT the fault of those making up the minorities.
DeleteInstead of trying to build themselves up to the level of the minorities who made it, the tyranny of the majority is to tear the successful down to their level. The economic pie is now much smaller in Quebec than it once was, but the majority is, if not happy, then more satisfied because they used legal force to "succeed". They "succeed" by their failure to do better and attach those who have. Is that really a win? I don't think so, and I'm sure most readers would agree with that.
Now the dumb-dumbs in charge are going to reduce the number of immigrants coming into Quebec, many of whom are needed to fill the shortfall of diminishing skilled workers. That's the flip side of the record. The true problem was when the minorities with the skills left Quebec and it resulted in a brain drain. The fruits of that brain drain are being felt right now, and stupidity is the policy being adopted.
I think the real reason this immigration reduction is being imposed is their endless paranoia of diluting themselves too much, and Old Stock Québécois will become a smaller minority ergo, at least in their minds, increasing the chances of their base race (race, my ass) being usurped eventually, with the possibility of French being eliminated. Paranoia runs deep...into their minds it will creep (it already has). Once again, their policies are going to have the reverse effect of their intention! Go figure!