"Sleep Country Canada" Latest Victim of French Language Radicalism

Just as some in the French media are lambasting the Vancouver Olympics for it's lack of inclusion of French at it's opening ceremonies, other Quebeckers are massing to make an assault against a business for having the audacity to retain it's English corporate name in a Quebec location.

Jean-Paul Perreault, of Impératif français is organizing a coalition of French language militant groups to demonstrate their displeasure on February 27, in front of a location of a "SLEEP COUNTRY CANADA," a mattress store in Gatineau Quebec, in protest of it's Anglophone name. They are even organizing a bus from Montreal to bring in protesters.

If there's anything to rile this mob, it's the inclusion of the word 'Canada' in the moniker.

First a little background.

Sleep Country Canada is a successful Canadian retailer of mattresses operating throughout the country and one which entered the Quebec market a few years back via a buyout of a local competitor called "DORMEZ-VOUS?"

Further expansion in Quebec by the company used the "Dormez-Vous?' banner, but when the they opened a store store in Gatineau, right across the river from Ottawa, they chose to use the older 'Sleep Country Canada' name.

In an email sent to the militants a spokesman for Sleep Country, Penny Jerkovic explained the reasons for the company's decision.

She told them that Sleep Country Canada had been operating in the Ottawa area for many years and had cultivated a large clientèle on the Quebec side of the border, only a short drive away. The company had invested a lot of money in French language advertising, promoting the name 'Sleep Country Canada' in the Gatineau/Hull region and in order to maintain continuity and build on this legacy, they decided to retain the name in this region only. She underlined that the Hull and Gatineau stores were in compliance with the law and served customers in French.

She may as well have beaten her head against the wall. As you can imagine, the explanation fell on deaf ears.

There's no reasoning with this cabal of language militants. The fact that the company is well within it's rights to use the name, makes little difference to those who wish to drive any vestige of English out of the public eye.

And so, a rainbow coalition of Anglo haters, calling themselves the Coalition Québec français is planning to show it's displeasure in a demonstration later this month. This group includes unions (FTQ, the CSN,) as well as the regular cast of militant characters, the Impératif français, the SNQ, SSJB de Montréal, le Mouvement Montréal Français and the always threatening RRQ.

For Sleep Country there is no way to win.

I suggest they modify the name so as to read SLEEP COUNTRY CANADA/ DORMEZ-VOUS?
It sucks, but that's the price of doing business in Quebec, the radicals always win because people are too lazy too resist and businesses would always rather switch than fight.

That is also why so many companies just don't bother coming to Quebec.

I once had a conversation with a language inspector from the OQLF who was going through our office software to determine if we had French versions, I asked him why instead of hassling small fry for language infractions, they don't force big auto companies to add French to their car's dashboards.
While most of the warning lights and instructions on cars are pictograms, there remains a lot of purely English words on every dashboard.
He told me frankly that the car companies told the government that they would comply if ordered to, but it was quite a complicated affair and they would have to add several hundred dollars to the cost of each car sold in Quebec. Ouch!

Hmmmm.....I guess that the government felt that if Quebeckers had to pay more for a car than Ontarians, it wouldn't look so good and so they gave themselves their very own 'reasonable accommodation' and let the issue pass!

Lucien Bouchard sends Josée Legault into a Tizzy

 I've always maintained that the Montreal Gazette runs a column by separatist Josée Legault as an avant garde exercise in liberalism, wherein they publish opinions of those who hold views at odds with what the majority of their readers believe, in the guise of  'balance' and 'fairness'
It seems that not that many are interested in reading her drivel and few pay attention to what she actually says. Those like myself read it much as we are drawn to a gory car accident. Not even her editors were much interested in her last piece, they even didn't bother to correct a major typo in her banner.

I assume she meant to say that Lucien Bouchard, the ex- PQ Premier of Quebec  is "OUT of touch" with Quebeckers. Gazette editors were so embarrassed by their gaffe, theydidn't even bother making the correction in their online version. Maybe nobody complained, I wouldn't be surprised

In the article she rips into Lucien Bouchard in reaction to some painful remarks he made at a conference last week, wherein he tore a strip off sovereignists rather cruelly.

His remarks caused an uproar in PQ ranks because it touched on the fundamental raison d'etre of the Parti Quebecois- sovereignty.  Ms. Legault and other sovereignists, who are rabidly committed to the option, set out to destroy the messenger, rather than the message itself and so, the Internet and newspapers are rife with ad hominum attacks on Mr. Bouchard and his brother Gerald, who as you may know, represents 50% of the famous Bouchard/Taylor Commission on Reasonable Accommodations.

First let's summarize very briefly what Lucien Bouchard said. It isn't that complicated.

1. Forget about sovereignty, it's unattainable.
2. Shed your xenophobia and stop abusing immigrants over 'reasonable accommodations'
3. Concentrate on fixing up Quebec, especially in the areas of education and finances.

Those are fighting words for dedicated sovereignists and it was inevitable that the reaction was swift and furious.

To Ms Legault, because Mr. Bouchard's remarks don't reflect current popular Quebec thinking, he leaves himself open to becoming irrelevant and out of touch.

Now being in touch and pandering to the politics du jour is an ignoble and necessary trait for politicians that vie to remain in power.  For Ms. Legault's information, Mr. Bouchard no longer is an elected official and can reveal his true feelings without fear of alienating the electorate or his party.
For an intellectual, towing the line and parroting the mantra of conventional wisdom, is none to interesting and nothing more than a quick ticket to  ignominy.

If ever there was a role for 'intellectuals' like Mr. Bouchard, it is in doing exactly the opposite, confronting and challenging ingrained popular theories and beliefs that are in his opinion, flawed.

By Ms. Legault's estimation, Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton also risked being irrelevant and out of touch because they chose to challenge the scientific status quo.

Ms. Legault errs by holding to the theory that a majority opinion, by definition, is necessarily correct and those who attack it, are 'out of touch."

According to her, if 75% of Quebeckers believe that making 'reasonable accommodations' to immigrants is bad for Quebec, it must be true.

If that is so and 75% of Quebeckers believed that the Earth is flat, that too would make it true.
Like I said, drivel....

It takes a strong character like Mr. Bouchard to oppose this nonsense, someone who is impervious to  nasty personal attacks, launched by those who wish to discredit a contrary and inconvenient opinion.

A lot of PQ insiders are angry that Bouchard took a public swipe at them. They believe that it isn't  'cricket' for an ex-leader of the PQ to so publicly damage his own party. If he disagreed, they held, he should of just shut up.

But Bouchard didn't and the why he did it, is the question of the day.

Some believe that he seeks a return to the political arena and is looking to create a rainbow coalition of ex-PQ and ADQ members to form a nationalistic right of center party. There are oodles of talented intellectuals on all sides of the political spectrum who abandoned the political arena out of frustration.

But the truth is probably less glamorous.

Bouchard is said to be furious at the treatment his brother is receiving by French language and cultural militants, including senior members of the PQ.

Some opine that Bouchard's outburst is just payback for the abuse and mistreatment his brother received, who by nature is not political and too mild mannered to defend himself.

The most cruelest and most unflattering insult  compares his  brother Gerald to the fictional  character "ELVIS GRATION" created by uber-Canada hater and nasty separatist, Pierre Falardeau, a recently deceased Quebec filmmaker.

The character was a burlesque caricature of an Elvis impersonator, portrayed as a stupid, conservative, racist that the director linked to Quebec federalists.

It's hard to match analogies across language lines, but comparing the elegant, poised and highly intellectual Gearld Bouchard to Elivis Gratton is somewhat akin to comparing Christopher Hitchens to Homer Simpson.

In a quick opinion poll, gauging the reaction of Quebeckers to Mr. Bouchard's remarks, over 70% percent of Quebeckers agreed strongly or somewhat with what Bouchard said.

It must be true then. Right, Ms. Legault?

Olympic Dis-Inspiration

After one week of competition. 

Here are a few Olympic inspirational offerings for you armchair athletes;

...

.....and for the worst performance of the first week of the Olympics, a French skier.....

Should French Be Dropped From the Olympics?

Fearing that French would be under represented at the Vancouver Olympics, "La Francophonie " an organization that represents French speaking nations around the world, sent it's Secretary General Abdou Diou, to the Vancouver Olympic site to check on the state of affairs. Of course he was disappointed.

At the same time, President Sarkozy of France, sent his special envoy, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, to the United Nations to demand that French assume it's historic position at the international forum.

"The UN recognizes six official languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French and Russian. Of these, only English and French are the working languages. However, in daily practice, English dominates and remains unchallenged." AFP

There's little doubt that as a lingua franca (a third language used to communicate between persons not sharing a common mother tongue ) French is in rapid decline.

English has supplanted every other language as the one used to communicate between peoples of different linguistic backgrounds. Anyone who works internationally, be it in politics, trade, medicine, science, sport or entertainment and who can't speak English, find themselves with a serious handicap.
By international treaty, English is the only official language for aerial and maritime communications and this trend continues to grow in other domains.

France's very own higher education minister, Valerie Pecresse shocked her colleagues when she proclaimed to the press that she had no intention of speaking French when attending European meetings in Brussels, because, she said, it was quite obvious that English was now the easiest mode of communication. LINK

That is why other French language officials are so alarmed at what they consider linguistic imperialism, the de facto situation where French, although recognized officially internationally, is ignored in practice.

There was a time when France had an empire that stretched across the world from Vietnam to Africa,  the Caribbean, North America and across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia. The French language was heard around the world.

Until the middle of the 20th century, international relations and diplomacy were mostly conducted in French and the language's influence and culture flourished throughout both the eastern and western world. The height of this linguistic force reigned until the mid 1960's, at which time France lost it's colonies in Asia and Africa.

Although French continues to be spoken in many countries to some degree, it has not been able to build a momentum or conserve it's position. While some form of French is spoken in Africa, Quebec and Haiti, it has in some cases, become incomprehensible to a Parisian. The decline is not only linguistic, but cultural too. There is little exchange in literature, music and cinema between countries in the Francophone world.

The English language, as well as it's culture has grown to dominate the world.
More people speak English as a second language than any other and it is growing exponentially. More people across the world are studying English as a second language, than all the other languages combined.
Today English is the lingua franca of the world. To deny it, is to live in a fantasy world.

For people who can't master English completely, there is always the abbreviated form of 'GLOBISH' (Global English,) a compendium of about 1,500 English words that when learned can get a non-speaker by quite nicely in an English world. See a video about how Globish is expanding the world of English.

And so the question begs asking; Should French be dropped from the Olympic movement, leaving only English and the host nation's own language as the only official languages of any future Games?

Is it reasonable to impose the expense and hardship of French, in the face of so little demand?

Vancouver may be the example that sparks the debate. It seems that Canada, an officially bilingual country cannot muster the necessary resources to give French it's authorized position as an equal.
There is so little demand for French, that the 15% of volunteers who speak French,  have almost nobody to speak to.

In a little publicized move, the Vancouver Olympic Committee, last summer, considered as a cost cutting measure, the elimination of French signage from 27 venues, citing lack of demand.
Ottawa was forced to cough up over $5 million to translate internal documents and technical manuals into French and another $1.5 million for the signs.

Getting enough referees, marshals and officials who speak French remains a challenge as well, considering that most international athletes have already learned to speak English.

Defenders of French will argue that the modern Olympic movement was born in France and as such, French should remain an official language.
That argument has seen it's day.

French is as pertinent to the Olympic movement as is Greek. Perhaps, as a compromise for dropping French, the team can march into the stadium right after the Greeks as a sign of respect.

As for speaking French at the Olympics, it should be history.

Quebec Language Nationalists Go Ballistic over Perceived Olympic Snub

It was with a certain smug satisfaction that I reviewed the scathing and venomous remarks by Quebec sovereignists and French language nationalists that have been burning through the press pages in reaction to the perceived snub of the French language at the Olympic opening ceremonies.
I don't know how serious these objections really are. You'd think that for nationalists and separatists, they'd be happy with any controversy that would tend to drive an emotional wedge between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

Here's some of the more interesting comments;

In a piece entitled "The Limits of Indecency" on Vigel.net, author Ivan Parent compares the organizers to Nazis;

"...and after watching on many occasions the opening ceremonies of these Olympic Games around the world, never have I seen a country, use these games for such crass politics...."

" ....In the past, when we talked about propaganda, it was Nazi propaganda, communist propaganda, Soviet or Chinese and even Vietnamese. For what purpose? ... To convince their people that they lived in the greatest country in the world, instilling national pride..."

What's the problem? by Eric Tremblay, the leader of the most militant sovereignist political party in Quebec.

"Let us not ask on bended knees that Canadians respect French, in their country that is falsely bilingual.To ensure the sustainability of what we are, including our national language, French, there is only one solution: make Quebec a free and independent French country."

Pauline Marois the PQ separatist leader complained in Le Devoir that, Canada shows it's contempt.

"This showed that we don't even exist, that we are invisible, a negligible quantity. We are not important and ultimately, just a burden."

Gilles Rheame is a long established hater of Canada and has been described as a fascist admirer in a biography. He is now is spokesman for the organization that portends to fight discrimination against Francophones. He is so upset over the lack of French at the opening ceremonies, that he is making a complaint to the Official Language Commissioner in Ottawa, which is in itself unbelievably ironic. That he would even consider asking Canada, his hated oppressor, to intervene on his separatist organization's behalf is beyond the pale!

"...The level of French throughout the course of this momentous event,  projects a distorted image of the legal reality in Canada...."

(to Quebeckers) "...Keep voting NON and remain 'Drawers of waters". You're paying the price for your absurdity!"

...and finally La Presses' Rejean Tremblay, a sportswriter with a deep and abiding dislike for Anglos of any sort;

"...At any rate, they now realize that Quebeckers love to be mocked. I am so proud that the false sense of politeness is now history. No need to believe that they respect Quebeckers, they can rub it in our face and we say nothing. In Vancouver, they understand."

Hmmm.... Pardon me if I'm not particularly sympathetic to  these whiners. One thing Mr. Tremblay got right is that most Canadians don't give a rat's ass about their complaints.

These are the same people who take delight in torturing Quebec Anglos and who work dutifully, on a daily basis, to rid the province of any vestige of English. They talk about 'bilingualism' as if it is a four letter word when speaking about it here in the province of Quebec, but as a noble ideal when it applies to Canada.

Here's what Anglos put up with in signage in stores, even those located in Montreal suburbs that are 80% English. Talk about humiliation;

This is what Francophones got in Vancouver;

I wonder how they'd feel about this;



What do you think?