bilanglomo

Le SoleilThis is based on a CROP poll: Since this poll was conducted during the federal Liberal Party convention, these results are striking. In all likelihood, Harper will coinserve the 10 Quebec seats. Maxime Bernier has proved to be an excellent cabinet minister. It is fascinating to contemplate the long term consequences of this. I'm not prepared to say that Quebec City and the Beauce are more representative of Quebec than Montreal is. I think Dion is now identified more as a Montréalais than a Québécois - to the extent these distinctions matter.

Le SoleilThis is based on a CROP poll: Since this poll was conducted during the federal Liberal Party convention, these results are striking. In all likelihood, Harper will coinserve the 10 Quebec seats. Maxime Bernier has proved to be an excellent cabinet minister. It is fascinating to contemplate the long term consequences of this. I'm not prepared to say that Quebec City and the Beauce are more representative of Quebec than Montreal is. I think Dion is now identified more as a Montréalais than a Québécois - to the extent these distinctions matter.

I am an anglophone in and ADQ riding. I am not so appalled as I am confused. What exactly was PM Charest refering to concering Mr. Dumont's speech in Toronto. I am originally from London,Ontario so I would be interested to know. The ADQ have certainly shown nothing in the way of 'inclusion' here in the Beauce and in fact my impression from my experience and interaction during the four years I've been here is that 'anglophones and minorities - visible or not' are openly and blatantly excluded here. It seems to be a matter ill-placed of protectionist pride. So I'd really like to know what, if anything, Mr. Dumont said in Toronto that would change the dismal impression I have. I haven't been able to get an answer of any kind from my ADQ MNA. Is the ADQ for seperation or not ... can anybody tell me that before the vote. I lived here before - quite successfully, from 1982 - 1990. My contribution was welcome in the job market at that time because anglophones with any business competency were in short supply. They still are but now the quality of english and english market savy offered is dismissed in lieu of hiring young, bilingual, francophones that we hope will not move away once they have acquired some professional experience. The salary incentives are not great here. I don't know why professional bilingual young people would want to stay in a closed society, but that's the theory anyway. Mr. Charest seems to support - in theory - the notion of a 'unified' and 'inclusive' Québec but I'd like to see more oversight into the actual discriminatory service delivery in this area. He seems to turn a blind eye because we are of course - the invisible minority here. For me, Mr. Boisclair, appears to promise the most 'inclusion' for all Québecois and Québecoise regardles of age, ethnic background, language ... didn't I read something about that kind of protection somewhere else ... but the seperation issue still scares me. Where would I fit in a soverign Québec once my vote is cast. It occurs to me that in an independant Québec, my contributions might actually be seen and valued as the assets they are, rather than the threat they are suspected to be in the current circumstance. So I could either go for the status quo and hope for improvement and accountability ... go for the PQ and hope for inclusion in something different ... or go for the ADQ and get more of what has already done me in ... I remain as confused and undecided as I was when this began ... I appreciate the comments here though ...

Is it just me that finds all of this out of touch with the new global economy? What is going on here? Is this how a vital, sophisticated, avant-garde society really wants to present itself on the global stage. Do we really want to parade the 'ignorance' of a few for the entire world to see ... or maybe there is an urgent problem in Hérouxville ... of people burning their wives alive ... but I doubt it ... However we must take into account that the average Joe does not know where Hérouxville is or how much of the population it represents ... average Joe would see this as a typical position in Quebec ... have you read the english version of their code of conduct ... yes they were very accomodating in providing the english translation of this particular document ... even though they are under no 'legal' obligation to do so ... where are the language police when you need them ... I imagine the document didn't translate very well because it is absolutely absurd as it stands in english ... they shouldn't have bothered ridiculing themselves by translating this one ... What on earth would they do if say a Mennonite family moved into town ... ban ancestral dress codes and demand that everyone own a t.v. and a pick-up ... what if I wanted to wear a head scarf and sunglassess while walking downtown Hérouxville ... would I be arrested ... there are days I find my uncovered hair and the dark circles under my eyes to be far more offensive than any head scarf and glasses would be ... believe me ... Maybe it's just me but I find this whole thing to be offensive - I thought we had progressed - along with the rest of civilized society - beyond the point of intolerance ... how can Quebec expect to thrive - seperate or not - in a global market - with this portrait of a closed, narrow-minded, ill-informed atypical 'red-neck' example of Quebec culture broadcast for all to see ... how proud can we be portrayed this way? If you haven't already ... please check this out ... http://municipalite.herouxville.qc.ca/Standards.pdf

Hi - I've been reading with great interest and am appropriately dismayed. I'm an anglophone from ON, married to a Québecois, and we moved to his rural hometown in the Beauce region of Quebec - one of Canada's Cultural Capitals no less, in 2003. I thought it was me - I thought I was being paranoid and defensive - I thought I was over-reacting - I thought my rights as a Canadian were protected ... wrong ... it's not the people on the street - I've been visiting here for many many years and I couldn't have been treated better - when I was visiting ... you can visit here, you can invest here, you can spend your money here - but do not think of staying here - the systemic discrimination at the provincial government level is blatant - is encouraged - and is not monitored ... I had to beg for access to a french language program and finally found my own - 450 employment applications later and still no interview even though both the federal and provincial governments are funding english language training - and there are many bilingual positions available - what they don't tell you - and I imagine they don't tell their anglophone business partners - is that here - bilingual means a francophone who speaks english and NEVER the reverse - despite qualifications ... and there is no recourse - employment programs are routinely denied - I've been told many times that no one will hire me with my accent - and on it goes - they don't even hide it - it's a given - it wouldn't happen in Ontario - and I've experienced both sides - I actually met Mr. Harper during his visit here for Saint Jean Baptise - I called to him from the crowd - in english - saying I was from London On, and he immediately asked me - WHAT are you doing HERE ? ... I was still in my proud to be bilingual mode and loving all things french and I explained that to him but I didn't understand his total shock that I was actually here by choice ... I believe I now understand what Mr. Harper already knows - anglophones are NOT WELCOME here - and there certainly is 'linguistic cleansing' and there is no representation for anglophones either at the provincial level or the federal level ... why can't the federal government see that the threat of seperation is just that - a threat - most people here do not want to seperate and those that do - well they can - all parties at the provincial level must keep the threat alive to hold on to the leverage it provides ... I actually had a business prof (french) who would routinely use english terms in his lectures and he would immediately apologise for doing so ... over and over and over until finally I spoke up and said - you know it's not as if you're cursing ... and then all of my classmates tottered off to their english as a second language class ... learn it ... but don't you dare use it ... the experiences I have had here would be funny and very amusing were the results not so devastating to me on a personal level. But it's not the guy on the street - it's the government - it's one thing to speak about cultural pride - systemic exclusion of fellow Canadians is quite another ... ... economical development my a** ... one last little story to illustrate my reality - I was checking out the local CLD ... economic development group - and I got there from a federal website sponsoring various Cultural Capitals ... and I noticed that this local website which is concerned with economical development initiatives was available in french of course, and in spanish - no english ... so with nothng else to do - I contacted them and offered to provide the english translation, I went into my heartfelt speel about wanting desperately to integrate here in my new community and how I felt this was a way I could contribute ... blah blah blah ... but I was sincere - the answer came back from the Director - he said basically - it's not in english because by law we don't have to put it in english - this is Quebec - and he said it's available in spanish because we do business with Bolivia (?) ... so asked about accomodating english speaking business partners or tourists who might be checking out the area from say maybe - the rest of Canada or the US ... to which he replied his budget wouldn't support the translation costs - so I offered to do it for free - and I finally got the cold hard - there are no plans to translate the site at this time ... and so it goes ... but I had no idea ... I thought this picture-perfect little town would welcome me as a resident as they had when I merely visisted ... whole different ball game ... and everyone here knows it - and now I am making sure that all of my buddies on the outside are aware of it too ... forwarned is forarmed ...