Quebecois Don't Deserve French Language Protection

A recent outburst by Quebec Cabinet Minister Nathalie Roy bitching and moaning about the rampant disregard for Bill 101 in signage in downtown Montreal had me seeing red.
With fighting words, she promised to teach those Anglo bastards a thing or two in the new year by re-doubling efforts to root out transgressions by issuing more strident marching orders to the petty language Nazis of the OQLF.
The done-me-wrong theme of victimization plays well in the boonies and in the radical nationalist circle where English isn't just resented but outright loathed as an existential threat.

"I fear there will be a decline in the French language in Montreal, said the minister in conversation with Le Devoir on Tuesday . When I walk around and see businesses in different neighbourhoods that only display in a language other than French, there is a serious problem. There is a lack of enforcement Bill 101.

What a crock of poop!!!
The Office québécois de la langue française published a study earlier this year on the language of public signage that contradicted the Minister completely.

"Montreal, March 29, 2018. - The results of the study published today by the Office québécois de la langue française show a significant improvement in the rate of compliance with the Charter of the French Language of Public Signage by businesses located in a commercial centres and on the street on the island of Montreal between 2010 and 2017."

Since 2010, mall-based businesses achieved the highest rate of compliance with respect to both the general signage (from 64% to 78%) and the brand name  (from 79% to 88%) Messages displayed (excluding the name) in the window or on an external sign improved from 78% to 86%. Link{fr}

If there's a recurring theme amongst French language nationalists it is that French is under attack by the dastardly English and Allophone communities and especially by those infernal immigrants that choose to speak English and embrace 'Canadian' culture over 'Quebec' culture.

The theme is played ad nauseam by cheap politicians, journalists and language militants who want 'Les autres' to assimilate into the great francophone culture by attending concerts by Marie-Mai, whilst they the francophones, embrace Drake and Shawn Mendes.

It seems that everybody must nurture and protect the French language, everyone that is, except Francophone Quebecers who generally show benign indifference at best or complete apathy towards their own vaunted Quebec culture.
French-language nationalists and separatists cast blame and nasty aspersions upon us as if it is our lone responsibility to protect their language and culture. The misguided attacks are sad deflections that serve to wallpaper Francophone laziness and apathy towards their language, conveniently shifting the blame and the conversation away from their own failings.

The famous Mathieu Bock Cote, Josée Legault, Gilles Proulx, Mario Beaulieu, Mario Dumont and every PQ leader have never demanded nor even asked or hinted that francophones take an ounce of responsibility for protecting their own language. Instead, they harp on us to save their skins.
I'm not interested in the doing their bidding...

There's an old saying that tells us that "God helps those who help themselves."
Too bad francophones and their leaders believe that the responsibility to save their culture and language lies outside their community.

 It's simple, if Francophones want to save their language and culture they need to;

• Produce an average of two and a half children per family. That means that not one hated immigrant would be required to fill the ranks.
• They need to avoid English culture, stop attending English movies, watching English TV and paying to see English artists instead of supporting local Quebec francophone talent. 
• They need to send their children to French schools, including cegep and university.
• If they don't like seeing stores with English or Jewish non-French names and are offended by seeing Birks Reitmans, Levis or Apple on the masthead, don't shop there.
• And if all that fails, hold a referendum and have just 60% of francophones vote for sovereignty.

Of the 27 concerts held and to be held at Montreal's Bell Centre between last September and next August, there is but one francophone Quebec artist (Marie Mai),... yup just one.
There are four English Canadian artists (Michale Bublé, Shawn Mendes, Drake, Bryan Adams) acts and two English Quebec acts Leonard Cohen Tribute and Corey Hart), with the rest being American or foreigners
Who goes to these shows?
Certainly not the newly-arrived immigrants, ticket prices are out of reach.
Is it the Anglo and Allophone communities that fill the seats of the Bell Centre to the rafters or is it mostly francophone Quebecers who prefer Anglo artists to their own?

Each July, Quebec City holds a highly successful music festival that attracts over 135,000 fans over its course. Last July the concert featured;
Foo Fighters, The Weeknd, Neil Young, Shawn Mendes, Beck, Lorde, Future, Dave Matthews Band, The Chainsmokers, Jethro Tull, Sum 41.
The year before it featured;
Muse, The Who, Metallica, P!nk, Gorillaz, Kendrick Lamar, The Backstreet Boys, Lady Antebellum, Flume, Melissa Etheridge, Migos, DNCE.

Of course, there are some local French acts, mostly offered as window dressing, the real appeal is the big name Anglo artists.
What is the reaction of language nationalists to this boycott of francophone artists by francophone Quebecers?
They ignore the reality of francophone indifference and instead complain that the Montreal Canadiens and the shopping malls play too much English music.
It's somebody else's fault....always.

Over the course of this blog, the comments section has been full of defenders of the faith scoffing at Canadian culture and vaunting the vibrant and culturally exciting francophone arts.
What a crock!
The Quebec movie scene is a desert wasteland, where but one or two decent films are presented each year.
The only saving grace is television where Radio-Canada, the French CBC functions well, but which is largely over-funded by taxes from English Canada.
The rest of the independent networks are chock full of banal talk and cheap game shows, with a solid base of English dubbed movies and TV shows from Hollywood and American networks.

Even here francophone Quebecers are displaying a stunning lack of loyalty by embracing Netflix by the millions, forsaking traditional Quebecois TV to the financial detriment of the local francophone TV industry.
Who's fault is that?  Netflix of course!
Language fanatics up to now have been making the faux-argument that Netflix has an unfair advantage because it doesn't charge Quebec sales tax on its product. In reaction to the uproar, Quebec imposed the tax on Netflix which did not exactly calm the storm of dissent, where demands are now being made that Netflix provide original  Quebec French content.
When Netflix did create a fund to produce Canadian content, Quebec militants howled that French content is not getting their fair share, that being 40% of the money that they expect, despite having 23% of the Canadian population.
By the way, if Quebec can demand that Netflix produce Quebec based content, why not the American networks of CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox?

In the Journal du Montreal the usually level-headed columnist Lise Ravary wrote an out-of-character and nasty screed about English-named stores, where she reaches back into history to carp about days of yore, intimating that the situation of French then is where we are headed now.

When I look at pre-1977 photos of Montreal, I'm flabbergasted by the almost exclusive English face, with names like Pink Poodle, Dunn's Famous smoked meat and Montreal Light and Power. Link{fr}

MLH&P Montreal head office. Where's the offending sign?

So it is the English names that bother Madame Ravary. The fact that today the signs in the stores are French, the service offered by French-speaking employees is in French, the product manuals and packaging is in French is of no consequence, it is the bastard English store name that is so offensive.

I wonder if Ms. Ravary is flabbergasted by an office co-worker's desk name-plate that is clearly English. Is it an affront to her and all francophones co-workers?

Ms Ravary seems to be engulfed in a rabid case of hyperbole, complaining about the bygone blight of signage by the Montreal Light and Power, a company that disappeared when it was nationalized in 1942, morphing into Hydro-Quebec. I've hunted high and low on the internet for a glimpse at the offending sign without much luck. I challenge Madame Ravary to put up or apologize. Even the company's power station in old Montreal had no offending signage. By the way, had Ms. Ravary actually seen a picture, she'd know that the company wasn't actually called Montreal Light and Power but rather Montreal Light Heat and Power.

The only other picture I could find is this photo of a service truck;

If this the sign that flabbergasted Mme Ravary, she's got an exceedingly thin skin. Perhaps it is the sign on the side of the truck urging the purchase of war bonds in English, which is actually quite apropos because it was only the English that bought war bonds anyways.

Lets us examine what Ravary is all hot and bothered about the Apple store in downtown Montreal. She couldn't be upset about the actual service offered in the Apple store because French is the default language of employees. The signage in the store is completely French and the computers, tablets and phones themselves offer French keyboards or interfaces and a French operating system.
What Ravary actually dislikes is the English name, which she whines is sadly protected by international law.
What would she think of an Ontario Anglo boss who during a performance review told a Franco-Ontarian employee that his work is excellent, his English skills both oral and written exemplary and his value to the company immeasurable. That being said the boss complains that the one employee deficiency that he can identify is that the employee's name is not English and therefore offensive to him and the rest of the company.
Perhaps he hints, the employee might consider changing his name from Jean LeBrun to John Brown in order not to offend the majority.
Gentle reader, this is the real complaint about the English face of Montreal.... the hated English names.
When it comes to complaints about service offered exclusively in English it should be noted that it is so rare that every instance is newsworthy. A poor Chinese immigrant running a depanneur by working 100 hours a week is pilloried mercilessly by the French media for his lack of French skill as if he committed a heinous crime.
Off with his head!!!!
Haters like Benoit Dutrizac will run a whole radio talk show on the outrage fanning the flames of intolerance.
This isn't about the defence of the French language, it is intolerance and hate, pure and simple.

As for the referendum loss in 1995, nationalists, led by the ghost of anglo and ethnic blamer Jacques Parizeau continue to bitterly blame the 18% non-French element of Quebec society at the time for voting No, conveniently forgetting that 45% of the francophone voting population did not vote for sovereignty.
As I said, it's always somebody else's fault.

As for Madame Ravary, what would be her reaction be to the Cirque du Soleil being criticized for operating in Las Vegas under its French name? What would she say about a journalist or politician demanding that the word "Circus" be added to 'Cirque du Soleil' out of respect for the English majority?
Mais voyons donc!..... It's not the same because we are a special case, I imagine she would say.
For once I agree, Quebec francophones are certainly a very special case.

And so the nationalist and separatist leaders, whining journalists and cheap politicians peddle the done-me-wrong fantasy, all while average francophones do little or nothing to protect their language. The francophone public doesn't care or they don't care enough to make any effort.

If francophone Quebecers are not willing to lift a finger, why on Earth should we?