Blackguard

By the gods, you are either very funny or very ignorant, I can't decide which.

Or if the Canadians (i.e. French Canadians) had joined the Americans in the independance war. The French ruling elite wanted to, but the catholic church had made deals with the English and suppressed the spontaneous desire to rebel against the English oppressor that animated the Canadians. It might have been the U.S.A that would have been a bilingual country. I'm sure the results would have been a lot less conflictual since both people would have joined in a common war against a common ennemy. France was already providing military support to the Americans against England, and were instrumental in their victory. After that we would have had to deal with the Loyalists. Oh cruel History! But for the treachery of the catholic church... It would have been formidable.

I agree with you Leafless : we do not need to argue further if your definite conslusion is that the people of Quebec need to thank the rest of Canada because they are allowed to speak French. In fact I think it is a hillariously preposterous proposition

I hope I will never hit my children as a form of punishment. I even hope I will never scream at my children. Since my son was very small, I have been teaching him that I'm the one who decides. When can negociate, and sometimes he can have his way if there is no reason for him not to, but if I say no and he insists, I remind him : "Who decided?" to which he replies :"Papa!". End of argument. If ever there is a temper tentrum, it is straight to the bedroom, or isolation if we're not at home. I tell him he has to stay there until he can stop crying and continue on. It is always the same. I go check on him, ask him, if he's done crying, and when he agrees we go back to what we were doing. What I think works the best is consistency. I think Kids respond amazingly well to that. I teach him to hit. I show him how. I hit him too, when we play (never hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough that he understands). I show him how to fight with a stick. He never hits any kids, me or his mother. I really like the "Don't hit first" rule, that's a great idea. I find that by being consistant about what is acceptable, what is not, and what is the response, I never have to get angry. I remember my parents being patient for a long time and then bursting in a violent act, be it screaming or hitting. I don't think I learned anything good from that, wereas I think my son is learning very well what the limits are, and he is growing into a really well behaved child. Knock on wood!

Wow. I had never thought about it that way. I had an immediate knee jerk reaction to the intrusion of Charia Law in Canada, and felt releived when the Nationnal Assembly of Quebec took a formal stand against it. I was thinking also about the rise of China in terms of demography. In a couple of years there will be an enormous number of Chinese man but many many less Chinese women because of the birth control policy that only let couples have one child, and most couples decided to only keep their sons. We better start adopting a lot of Chinese baby girls

I agree, it sometimes get silly, and people, even French people, can get very pissed off by some of the policies de l'Office de la Langue Française. But where do you draw the line? What do you decide is a big deal and what is a little deal? French was declining in Quebec. Bill 101 seems to be helping slow this decline, and even sometimes reverse it. Immigrants now sometimes learn French before Enlgish. It is serving it's purpose. How else would you have done it?

Quebequers live very differently. They speak another language, watch their own television shows, listen to their own music, organise their society according to their own values. The fact that a large part of Canada is programmed to denie this is part of the reason for our constitutionnal problems. That is such a bizare conclusion. Do you really think that a people's existence is determined by treaties? "All right folks, show's over, you no longer exist: it's written here, on this paper we brought from Europe.".

Another strange thing to think about is the fact that the CP and the Bloc are more or less issued from the same party, in Quebec. The old party of Jean Charest, who will see the results of this election as a blessing. In other words, things might just work out beter that generally expected. It could mean that the Bloc will become a federalist party, and eventually acheive it's purpose without the need for Quebec sovereignty. With an enormous amount of goodwill on both parts, federalism might be made to work.

I understand. You are a victim of racism, of petty acts of vandalism, something anybody should be angry about. I am certain most people in Quebec, as well as most Canadians, are repelled by such behavior on any cultural minority - I know I am. English have dominated the rest of the world for so long it is hard to beleive when they get bullied in their turn. And they don't like being thought of as a cultural minority, something which historically they are not accustomed to. But I know it is true and it happens in Montreal - things don't always go smoothly. But for the most part, English people in Montreal are treated with the respect they deserve, and their unilingualism is very well accomodated. Such incidents as you describe are very rare.

Except maybe for a small incident they call "The Civil War".

Because you decide so? Many provinces rely on the federal government to survive - a fact that is depicted by Ontario's premier who is starting to speak out the province's discontent. Ontario is paying the cost of maintaining an inneficient federation on artificial life support. As a matter of fact an independent Quebec would generate surplus while maintaining the same services to it's population as both levels of governement are presently providing. By staying in the federation, Quebec has two choices : going into dept or reducing it's services to the population. see here : http://www.pq.org/tmp2005/finances_english.pdf Exactly. Deal with it. It is not discrimination. It is part of a people's aspirations to self determination, and to dictating it's terms on it's territories. Many countries declare the language of law and government in their constitutions. The Ontario governement bills the Quebec governement for the treatment. The process is super efficient on Ontario's part, and should be an exemple to the rest. Quebec's health system is being stiffled by the federal government's refusal to transfer funds. Instead the federal government is amassing surplusses which it does not have the power to spend without stepping into provincial jurisdiction. And you are advocating for bilingual policies in another province, for a linguistic group that represents 8% of the population, clustered in ghettoes on the Montreal Island.

I have heard arguments like Leafless's many times, truly anti-quebecois, frankly racist, and deeply insulting. That kind of attitude has fuelled enmity between the French and English people of Canada for generations, and it's not about to stop. I've seen it many times. Once it was that old woman who asked about French people in Quebec why they would not just send their children to English school for a couple of generations and be done with it? Another time it was that woman from Ontario who started talking in a very insulting way about "separatists" to a bunch of quebequers she didn't even know - she assumed that if they were in the same circle of people as her, none of them could be sovereignists. I've seen tens of times an English person walk into a room full of French people, be the only English person, and be insulted because people kept speaking French to each other. I don't know if other provinces should enforce bilingual laws, but I think the question is meaningless. Ontario deos, in the Ottawa area, because the percentage of French citizens is pretty high, and it is just across the river from Quebec, so the demographics justify it. The rest of Canada does not enforce any kind of bilingualism. I've met people who have been through French immersion programs through high school. What a joke. Not a single one of them can speak any French, probably not enough to order a drink or a sandwich. The whole "liberal French conspiracy theory" is utter nonsense. Trudeau and Chretien are very much disliked in Quebec, seen as traitors and English yesmen. Comparing the departure of English people from Montreal to the deportation of the Acadians shows a total lack of historical perspective. These people were removed from the best land in New France at gunpoint and forced to settle in a swamp in Louisiana. After the elections, I was wondering if it was truly possible that federalism could be reformed to include Quebec. But I would be very surprised. I think the attitude I find here is very common in Canada, and Quebec is despised. Quebec's desire to control it's destiny is seen as arrogant. While Canada encourages democracy in other parts of the world, on it's territory it interferes with democracy and violates a nation's aspirations. The Quebec referendum is not unique, the Liberal government acted in a very similar way during the annexion of New Found Land. We truly are two different people. Sometimes we manage to get along well, but those are very special instances. At least we are not shooting guns at each other. The English language is well and safe. In Canada, being bilingual is defined as a French who also speaks English. A big number of Canadians don't want to accept that Quebecv will be fine (I think it will be better off) outside of Canada. It looks like an emotional response to a feeling of rejection. Cheer up, it's not about you. It's just a bunch of people who have the desire to take up their own path, go their own way, do their own thing. Something most of you would appreciate from another people, or from an individual decided to make it on his own in the world. A lot of people would prefer federalism to work for Quebec, but a lot of those people also feel that Canada is not up to it. Jump!

Hello, In 2005 the Parti Québécois published a document that demonstrated that an independant Québec would generate a surplus on the first year, and a surplus of 5 billions after 5 years. According to this document, the State of Quebec will do better economically as an independant country than as a federal province of Canada. You can read the document in English on the Parti Québecois website here : http://www.pq.org/tmp2005/finances_english.pdf The reason of sovereignty is not only economic one. It is a question that the people of Quebec need to resolve for themselves. Do they want to take their destiny in their own hands, or do they want to continue to participate in the Canadian federation. I don't undestand comments such as Black Dog's : "I simply can't see Quebec existing as a truly soveriegn nation. And they know it." Keep in mind that more than 49% of Quebequers voted for sovereignty in 1995. It was a very close call. Would it have been different without all the money put in by the federal governement? Without the fast-paced inclusion of immigrants granted citizenship voting rights in Quebec on the premise that they would vote No during the referendum? It might very well have. That's what Parizeau was talking about in his bit about "money and ethnic votes" after the referendum. The possibility of sovereignty for Quebec is a very real, democratic process. The people of Quebec will all go to Ottawa and have a big rally, saying "We love you Canada!". It worked the other arround didn't it? Maybe Canada should take the initiative, instead of waiting, and have a referendum to exclude Quebec from Canada