seabee

The stronger implementation of bilingualism in federal bureaucracy (and elsewhere) happened without Meech being recognized. Bilingualism laws are federal and existed before anyone thought of Meech. What more could have happened it had passed.

The word "distinct", according to dictionaries, both french or english, means only "different", with no allusion or connotation of superiority. Another formulation of the Meech clause could have been that both Québec and the rest of Canada form distinct societies. Suggesting that Québec was looking for a recognition of superiority rather than simply of the fact it is different is misinformed.

One should not forget, on this topic, the role of the First Nations via Elija Harper (no relation to the present PM). Some view his role as more determinant than that of Nfld or N-B.

This isolated incident might nevertheless have interesting repercussions if it ever goes to court.

Nobody in Québec cares a hoot about the inconsequential battle of the Heights of Abraham Martin during this year"s celebration, which is not about France or Britain but about the foundation of the city. period. Next year there will be some commemoration of the incident on the Heights. That is another story. The conquest changes nothing to the fact that Samuel Champlain founded Québec 400 years ago. Québécois are much less interested in what happens in France as they are to what happens in the U.S. The celebrations are not meant to remember a possible attachement to France. Nevertheless, that country will officially participate. And neither the Treaty of Paris, nor the Royal Proclamations nor the act of Québec makes any mention of French or of any language. None of these documents changed anything to the language situation. In fact, particularly at the time of the Act of Québec, the Brits did not want the Canadiens to learn English. The rise of the separatist movement in the British colonies in America was quite worrisome, and the Brits certainly did not want their freshly conquered preys to be influenced by it.

Next thing, the health nazis are going to make people believe that a person who smokes in a car in which there is a child is as dangerous as the gas death rooms in Germany before 1945. Will they forbid people with children to smoke in their own homes? In other words, if you smoke, don't have children. To make sure, smokers should be sterilized. [sarcasm, obviously]. People have been smoking much less in the last few decades. Results? Increase in childhood asthma, not a decrease. Increase in smog. Increase in mortality due to smog. What if lung cancer was never due to smoking but from cars? And the overly sedentary lives that goes with it. What about the drastic increase in childhood obesity, in juvenile diabetes. I have a solution to please everyone: forbid children in cars. [sarcasm, of course). Smoking does not kill people; people kill people, or something like that.

This is just making it worse. If he indeed speaks french, why does he not speak it in public?

I agree. Koivu's attitude is racist.

Or there may be another, simpler explanation. Quebec has the largest proportion of french-english bilingual people, and also of trilingual people. Other things being equal, they have a definite advantage for getting a better job, even with a premium, in other provinces where fr-eng bilingual people are hard to find.

Marijuana will never be decriminalized or legalised. Organized crime thrives from it. Legalising it would make it lose billions annually. Any politician who would be rumored to present a law to legalise pot would be killed within minutes. Any politician presenting or supporting such a law, as well as his entire family and his friends and associates, would require enormous around the clock protection by police, and possibly the army.

Conquering a nation is the simple part. Keeping it conquered is a never-ending, costly, energy and time consuming process which frequently ends by giving up the conquest and granting the conquered their independance. Nobody accepts to be conquered, even when the conqueror says its for their own good.

I am a bit short of time at present, but I had a good glimpse at the Haudenosaunee Statement. It seems to me to be a far superior kind of template for a constitution than whichever was used for the incredibly long, legaleeze template of the Canadian one. The U.S. of A.'s constitution is also a very good one, but inspired by the Iroquoian template. We have a lot to learn from the First Nations. As for the value of conquests, they are essentially crimes against humanity, or at the very least government-sponsered armed robbery. I'll come back on this later.

Assimilation is the thing to do, some say. So the Québec government should do exactly that to its reluctant anglo-cultural minority which still lives in its mind in the "glorious" days of its colonialist supremacy. and close down all its schools and hospitals and... whatever. If need be, it should also forcibly take its kids away from their backward parents and, for their own good, place them in special schools where they would be punished for speaking their language or manifesting any of their antiquated "cultural traits". What is good for he who gooses is ....

People who think like the one who wrote the opening poat come from Hérouxville.

On the other hand, there has been documented cases of agents provaceurs in the police. Look up on the Murray Hill riot in Montréal circa 1769. The police agent provocateur was killed by the owner of the Murray Hill bus line, against which the riot took place.

The law of unintended consequences is second only to the law of gravity.

I have also heard (but not verified) that in the U.S. Mexican workers were reputed to be lazy; this was attributed to the fact that they smoked marijuana. By making it illegal, this was alleged tp increase their productivity. Today, this would be called discrimination. (Can anyone confirm this?)

Just FYI Around 1670, intendant Jean Talon, in an effect to revitalize industry in Canada, ordered that hemp be grown in large quantities in order to make sails and ropes. Over the centuries, this practice was abandonned, but a lot of hemp has grown wild all over the place. According to those who now use it for reasons unsuspected in the 17th century, it is supposed to be of very good quality.

Education or brainwashing? the difference can be infinitesimally small.

I just saw a brief report of the Canada Day parade in Montréal. From the pictures, a rather thin attendance. And when asked what they liked about it, they said something to the effect that they like to see ethnic communities. The organiser also said that this year might be the last parade, for lack of funding. Where has all the federal money gone. The events in the Old Port will have strong attendance, simply because this is tourist season, and Old Montreal and the Old Port is full of tourists anyway. Is Canada day supposed to be a tourist event.

Bear in mind that 70% of Québécois are opposed to the war in Afghanistan.

You may use this link: La Presse to get more information. One set of figures, if I understand properly, is for Canada as a whole, the other for Québec only.

I may be completely off, but I suspect that one of the basic laws of history, if there are any, about unintended consequences is about to play. Living in Québec and following the political, sociological and cultural scenes closely, I have absolutely no idea or opinion as to what will happen, but I have a strong feeling, not unlike the one I felt in the last years of the Duplessis regime, that something big has been unleashed, with unforeseen results, some (possibly most) positive, some negative. I'm expecting the unexpexted.

That is what Québec has been asking for for decades, under the Union Nationale, under the Parti Québécois, and under the Liberals. And the ADQ would be prompt to say yes.

Québec does provide services in English.