A Disgusted Canadian

[Cereal]

I was born in Montreal and grew up bi-lingual, attending elementary school in French before moving to an English school.

I am old enough to remember being escorted to school in Montreal by armed police during the FLQ crisis - they found Pierre Laporte's body in the trunk of a car where me and my friends used to play.

I remember the rise of Rene Levesque and Seperatisme and Le Parti Quebecois.

Le Bloc, a federal political party with Members of Parliament in Ottawa whose mandate is to destroy Canada were once very powerful, and their original leader the PM's best friend.

It's against the law in Quebec to have an English sign in front of your store. It's against the law to fly a Canadian flag - unless you have a Quebec flag of equal size flying higher or a Quebec flag of greater size flying at an equal height.

It really makes me sick that my country bends over backwards to please these people (me!) and those people expect more constantly.

Canada, one of the greatest countries on this planet, and seemingly bent on self destruction by petty infighting over the ridiculous notion of French vs English.

And now this! An employee of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (French Division) is causing yet another uproar over the French thing.

It makes me sick and embarrassed and disgusted.

Is there any other country in a similar position that is hell bent on self destruction?

I'm so glad I don't live there anymore. Barring the most ridiculous scenarios, I never will.

I have my passport...that's plenty!




MONTREAL - Within hours of a blast by a popular TV host suggesting he's ready to boycott the National Bank of Canada, the financial institution promised on Monday to beef up its use of French.

Guy A. Lepage, host of Radio-Canada's "Tout le monde en parle," says he's a longtime customer of the bank but may close his account after finding out one of the bank's senior executives can't speak French.

"I think this is terrible," Lepage told Montreal Le Devoir in an article published on Monday, adding he was keeping a close eye on the situation.

"And I'm afraid to say I'm keeping my options open."

But the Bank says it wants managers who aren't fluent in French to improve and says its going to bolster its use of French in meetings and exchanges.

It also says John Cieslak, the unilingual vice-president, will take French lessons.

"In Quebec, National Bank employees work almost entirely in French," the bank said in a statement issued Monday.

"It is a source of great pride and motivation for the bank to continue to improve its efforts and completely satisfy the needs of its staff and clients."

There have been multiple stories in Quebec media lately about a perceived regression in the use of French, inside the province and in Ottawa.

The National Bank came up last week in the House of Commons when the Harper government announced it would examine the use of French in companies operating under federal legislation.

The NDP, which now draws most of its 103-member caucus from Quebec, has tabled a bill to extend francophone rights in federally chartered companies.

The Bloc Quebecois has long argued that those companies should be subject to Quebec's language laws when operating in that province

[Jeff619]

I'm not Canadian but I've heard the stories about Quebec.  They've never been well received in the US (where I'm from, anyway) and I found it pretty funny that they are liked even less in Canada.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

I'm not Canadian but I've heard the stories about Quebec.  They've never been well received in the US (where I'm from, anyway) and I found it pretty funny that they are liked even less in Canada.

The people are great but the politics is farcical. The separatists took a real !@#$-kicking in the last federal election and will be very eager to agitate. My favourite incident is when Renault was banned from advertising 'Le Car'.

[cherylblossom]

Come to Africa, buddy.

[Seoulian]

The recent elections suggest that the separatist movement is slowly dying off (probably literally, wit older Quebecois passing on). It's hard to think the Bloc will last much money without the significant funding provided by having seats in parliament.  The federal government is largely dominated by western canada (Harper) at the moment, which would explain some of the supposed regression of French in Canada. The French/English thing will be around for a while, but I really think it's past it's golden years and will be a non-issue in the future, aside from things remaining bilingual and public officials being expected to speak French. Also, members of the Montreal Canadiens will probably start getting it harder than others for not speaking french. 

[joseph921]

But Canada is still by far one of the best countries in the world to live in.  It's also one of the top choices of destination for global immigrants.

My guess is Sweden is the best country to live in the world.  Everything just works there.

[kps1]

Yea that was totally messed up when Tooth Decay stole your Princess. The little mushroom people of Nova Scotia were really freaked out.

[Artist Formerly Known as Moderator Jason]

Pardon my stupid question but how to most other Canadians relate to people from Quebec?  In general, do you treat them like brothers or as a red headed step child, rhetorically speaking of course.  Do many other Canadians in other territories learn French?  Can you travel through Quebec with little or no knowledge of  the French language?  Do most people there know English?

I have a few Canadian friends but this topic has never came up before so I am curious.

[FloridaGator314]

Yea that was totally messed up when Tooth Decay stole your Princess. The little mushroom people of Nova Scotia were really freaked out.

As is tradition.

[leejs]

Yeah, the separatists can be pretty XXXXXX' ridiculous at times. I worked at a crown corporation based in Gatineau and most of the francophone employees were great people, but we always had some separatists. I always got a good laugh out of it. They would talk about how Quebec was so great and how it was being dragged down by Canada, yet their salary came from the federal government and their union (PSAC) was a nationwide union.





Profanity will not be tolerated. (XXXXXX)

[Cereal]

The recent elections suggest that the separatist movement is slowly dying off (probably literally, wit older Quebecois passing on). It's hard to think the Bloc will last much money without the significant funding provided by having seats in parliament.  The federal government is largely dominated by western canada (Harper) at the moment, which would explain some of the supposed regression of French in Canada. The French/English thing will be around for a while, but I really think it's past it's golden years and will be a non-issue in the future, aside from things remaining bilingual and public officials being expected to speak French. Also, members of the Montreal Canadiens will probably start getting it harder than others for not speaking french. 

This has been going on for awhile now. Does anyone remember the tempest that Mike Keane stirred up when he said this?

Mike Keane was captain of the Canadiens from April 1995 to December 1995. Upon inheriting the team's captaincy from the departed Kirk Muller, Keane drew controversy in the French media after saying he did not believe it was necessary to speak French, since players on the team spoke predominantly English.

Ridiculous!

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Pardon my stupid question but how to most other Canadians relate to people from Quebec?  In general, do you treat them like brothers or as a red headed step child, rhetorically speaking of course.  Do many other Canadians in other territories learn French?  Can you travel through Quebec with little or no knowledge of  the French language?  Do most people there know English?

I have a few Canadian friends but this topic has never came up before so I am curious.

Ask ten different Canadians and you'll get ten different opinions. I like the Quebecois. My uncle loathed them. He even went to my cousin's school to complain to the principal about her having to take one year of French. But on a personal level it often goes like this:

'Those arrogant bastards. They take all our taxes and it's still not enough to make them happy. We should just cut them off, close the border, and let them live in their own dump'.

'But Claude's from Quebec'.

'Yeah but he's OK'.

In some ways I see a lot of similarities between nationalist Quebecois and nationalist Koreans. The biggest is that no one from the outside will ever be one of them.

[minamteacher]

Cereal,

Have you been following Quebec politics recently? The Bloc is dead and the PQ is dying a slow death by a thousand cuts. These things happen in cycles and this tiny non issue will calm down in a few months. The separatist movement is not what it once was. Hell, I don't like Harper, but he proved you can win an majority without Quebec.

Before I forget, try asking an English person about Scotland and you will soon see we aren't the only ones.

[Spongeblob]

Yea that was totally messed up when Tooth Decay stole your Princess. The little mushroom people of Nova Scotia were really freaked out.

It's ah me ... Canadian Mario.  Has anybody seen my little American ah buddie ... Luigi?  He called and said he hada no more money for pizza. 

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Parts of it are very cool, but most Canadians for whatever reason live in the same boring suburbia as those south of the border.

[Jrong]

You country is still better than it's southern counterpart, imo, and your capital is beautiful compared to ugly D.C. The first time I visited I felt like Neuschwanstein got tractor-beamed by aliens and deposited in Canada's capital. Very cool.

Parts of it are very cool, but most Canadians for whatever reason live in the same boring suburbia as those south of the border.

From my experience visiting friends in Ontario that sounds about right. Manitoba was boring as h#$ until I got stuck there when it flooded and got to take a plane ride to see what looked like a "farm-island" in the middle of a huge sea. Vancouver also struck me as the most beautiful city in N. America (imo), but the suburbs there were the same as in the US. I guess the experience to Ottawa seemed extra magical b/c I accidentally showed up a few days past the middle of April to see the centre of Ottawa engulfed in some sort of a mystical cloud that made the little "castle" there look like something out of a fairytale...

[vlhuynh]

Pardon my stupid question but how to most other Canadians relate to people from Quebec?  In general, do you treat them like brothers or as a red headed step child, rhetorically speaking of course.  Do many other Canadians in other territories learn French?  Can you travel through Quebec with little or no knowledge of  the French language?  Do most people there know English?

I have a few Canadian friends but this topic has never came up before so I am curious.

I'm from Toronto, Ontario and most of my friends and I (mid 20's) don't really care for the political motives of our neighbors to the east. I'd say their feelings towards their existence is fairly neutral amongst most other Canadians. There's no hate but there's no special love for them either lol. In Ontario it's mandatory to learn French from grade 3-9 in public schools (at least it was for me). After that it becomes optional. There are also French immersion schools that you can attend that'll get you the same requirements as you would in a regular public school. Most of the people in Quebec are able to speak English and it has never been a problem for me when I visited Montreal/Quebec. Barely have to break out my rusty Quebecois French too hehe.

[Incredagogue]

Truth is, life in general is pretty good for most Canadians....doesn't leave much to get riled up about so they get into these petty arguments to keep things interesting.

[ACofOntario]

Pardon my stupid question but how to most other Canadians relate to people from Quebec?  In general, do you treat them like brothers or as a red headed step child, rhetorically speaking of course.  Do many other Canadians in other territories learn French?  Can you travel through Quebec with little or no knowledge of  the French language?  Do most people there know English?

I have a few Canadian friends but this topic has never came up before so I am curious.

Ask ten different Canadians and you'll get ten different opinions. I like the Quebecois. My uncle loathed them. He even went to my cousin's school to complain to the principal about her having to take one year of French. But on a personal level it often goes like this:

'Those arrogant bastards. They take all our taxes and it's still not enough to make them happy. We should just cut them off, close the border, and let them live in their own dump'.

'But Claude's from Quebec'.

'Yeah but he's OK'.

In some ways I see a lot of similarities between nationalist Quebecois and nationalist Koreans. The biggest is that no one from the outside will ever be one of them.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I have met some Canadians who constantly make fun of/hate on Quebec, but even they are mostly indifferent about the whole situation...

As for me, my mother is Quebecoise and so are her 9 brothers and sisters (as well as my cousins, all 30~ of them).  I visited Quebec every summer and nearly every Christmas of my childhood...so obviously, I love Quebec as it is a part of my identity. 

In my experience, the further West you go, the less Quebec matters to Canadians.  They see them as outsiders.

But the further East you go, perhaps starting in Manitoba, sentiments toward Quebec become more positive... in some cases worse. It truly depends who you're talking to.

Although they are rare, there are some communities in Ontario that have a high percentage of primarily French speaking people (ei: Sudbury, Hearst, Cornwall, there are probably others).

You could live in Montreal and never have to learn a word of French, but in smaller cities and communities, it's a different story.  My mother tongue is Quebec French... but sometimes even I don't understand what the Northern bush workers say...

On another note, everything cultural that stems out of Canada seems to be somehow related to the French... just sayin

[LemonWater]

If it wasn't for Quebec, Canada would have become a US State long ago  . . . Quebec allowed us to form a separate identity.

Most people that hate Quebec have very little understanding about their demands and their history. People don't like them because they demand more French language, but they need to. In North America,  they are a little island of French in a sea of English. If they were not so vocal about preserving their language, it would easily be assimilated.

I don't agree with everything they do, but I can't blame them for wanting to preserve their culture.

And, in response to the OP, Harper has made a series of high-level government appointments to his English-only speaking buddies.   ..  .the job descriptions specifically call for someone who is bilingual. It's just another example of how Harper has broken the law and broken tradition, to suit his own ambitions.