Hey, remember Howard Galganov? He's that anglo-rights crusader who was popular back in the 90s, ran for office a bunch of times (and lost) and eventually gave up on our province and moved to Ontario.
Well, Howard doesn't let silly provincial boundaries stop him from opining, which he does now through his website. His latest diatribe talks about the declining anglophone population in Quebec, and he blames it on what's clearly the most logical source: the anglophone media. (Except The Suburban and CIQC.)
His diatribe is long and venom-filled with overuse of the words "sell-out", "racist" and other insults, so I'll boil down his arguments:
- They wanted to be nice. Their refusal to let slip the dogs of war and stab at government with their pens was surely a missed opportunity.
- They didn't support "anglo rights leaders". Translation: They didn't support me. As if the leaders deserve support regardless of whether their positions are sound.
- They're like Jews who supported the Nazis. Nothing quite like a Holocaust simile to get a point across when everything else fails.
- Some say we should celebrate Bill 101's anniversary. That's simplifying the issue a bit. The Gazette's opinion, for example, is that Bill 101 was a compromise that ensured linguistic peace. And even then, it also carried an opinion piece from Robert Libman saying it was devastating to the anglo community. CFCF's Barry Wilson certainly hasn't strayed from the anglo rights beat, and CBC doesn't really have an opinion section.
- They called me "Angryphone". That's because you're always angry.
- They equated me with francophone terrorists. Really? Has anyone called you a terrorist? You're a radical on one side, just like Impératif Français are radicals on the other side. You may disagree with where the middle is supposed to be, but that's something you have to live with.
- They didn't sponsor rallies to raise money for lawsuits against the government. Is that really the role of the media? They raise money for literacy, but they tend to take a back seat to, you know, actually trying to change the law.
- They never said ethnocentric nationalism is wrong. I don't see it that way. They routinely make the point of saying that the anglo and immigrant communities are important to Quebec. They were pretty united against the stupidity in Herouxville.
Galganov's solution to the problem is simple and stupid: Have all the anglos and immigrants leave, shut down tourism and watch as their economy self-destructs.
Howard doesn't seem to understand the problem. It's not that Quebec doesn't understand the value of its English-speaking citizens, though they do take us for granted. It's that many anglophones are leaving the province because they can't be bothered to learn some French.
In other words, the problem is people like Howard Galganov.
CONGRATULATIONS to Alexandre Bilodeau for winning a Gold medal in Moguls Skiing.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Yes, he did a great job didn't he. Too bad they have the french language controversy going on now over the opening ceremonies. I have come to expect this from the politicians from Quebec and from our illustrious federal government.
French at the Olympics...
Canada has made its choice. The French language and culture HAS been preserved, by enshrining it in Quebec, and our commitment ends there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PS - This bilingualism stuff really is getting petty and tiresome, every time someone complains that there is not enough French. But we can't give up due to the serious implications. For instance, anyone of us could be denied a management position in our own government simply because we are not bilingual (or French, sic) and that is just plain wrong!
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
CAB
If you’re not bilingual, you are not competent.
If the government would be shown to hire incompetent people, you’d be one of the first to howl at the moon.
One of the least competent people in my company recently quit for a job in the Federal government.
He was a lazy, incompetent, back-stabbing, brain-dead jerk who did not want to do any type of hard work. He was a screw-up in every which way.
However he was bilingual, and he is on track for a nice cushy job with the Feds.
You equate being bilingual for being competent, when in fact bilingualism trumps competency.
They are two separate concepts. We don't need incompetent people in our government.
Getting rid of the need for bilingualism will widen the pool of applicants. We can get the cream of the Canadian crop in government service and reward the best and the brightest.
Dear Mr. Brown and Westerner
I agree that the french language was not mention enough and that we should show the rest of the world that Canada is a good country and that the french language is spoken on an equal basis as the other great language that is english. Cansda could be the guiding beaccon to show the world that two languages can work well together in a country such as Canada but Quebec that is a questions that cannot be answered by none of us because they have a mind of ther own and refuse to bend to adapt to a gowing Canada.
Also I predict that the U.S. will beat Canada on sunday in men's hockey and that Russia will win the gold medal in hockey.
Reasons for the backlash against bilingualism..
Quebec has been allowed to conduct a program of ethnic-cleansing where English-speaking people have been forced out of the province, particularly small-business owners who have operated under constant threat from the belligerent and vindictive "language police". Then, when they decided that they had had enough, the Quebec government forced them to sell their businesses and homes at fire-sale prices.
Throughout the rest of Canada policies have been put in place to discriminate against English-speaking people in terms of federal government hiring, particularly at the management levels. (It is pretty obvious to anyone that "bilingual" really means "French", since the majority of bilingual people are, in fact, French.) Then people look around and see the same thing filtering down to other levels of government as well. The municipal government of Ottawa now has a policy that "effective immediately, all external candidates considered for Level 1 to 3 management positions be bilingual." Despite a recent poll that shows "91% - "Revise the policy - English should remain the language of work - only services to the public should be bilingual".
Then at the Olympic Games, which should have been a unifying experience for Canadians, there comes a constant stream of complaints out of Quebec that there is not enough French. On top of that, the federal Olympic Organizing Committee deliberately hired hundreds of French-speaking students from Cite Colegialle in Ottawa to work at the Games, instead of hiring people from the local Vancouver population. I remember when the Olympics were held in Montreal, the vast majority of people hired to work at the games were from Quebec. I know, because I lived in Quebec at the time, and I knew people who were hired.
Politicians are simply not listening to the people, and are continuing to force the French imperative on Canadians. We just have to look at Quebec to see that these policies are not about "bilingualism", they are about imposing French on the majority of Canadians, who have had a belly-full of Quebec belly-aching, and are not swallowing it anymore.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
There were complaints coming from right across the country. But from what i was able to gather, a great many of these came from Quebec anglos. Bah, the whole "Olympic Movement" is rotten to the core anyhow.
The ethnic cleansing has been going on in Canada, rather than in Québec.
Manitoba was a french province, and it has unilaterally turned into an english one.
30 years ago, I went to northern Ontario and was totally amazed at not seeing any english people there. When I went back recently, the french were all gone.
Talk about ethnic cleansing!!!!
"Talk about ethnic cleansing!!!!"
And where are there language laws such as Bill 101 but in Quebec which restricts choice of education and elevates one language above others.
French is rapidly becoming of less importance in Canada (and the world) on a daily basis. Separate while you still have some control Johnny Boy or you may have to parle plus blanc. Pensez vous avec ca mon pauvre petit homme du Quebec.
Don’t tell me you do not think that english is “superior” to french when you state that you are against compulsory education in french!
Surely, if both languages were equal in your mind, you would not do so!
MR. NAIMARD,
What we are talking about is the right of all people to be treated equally under the law. Quebec is the only province which has laws to promote one language and to discriminate against another. In every other province anyone is free to post a sign in any language they want (except in Russell Township now), to educate their children in any language they want.
We are not criticizing French people or praising English people. We are criticizing the governments and politicians who enact these policies. If Quebec continues to enact such policies then it will be criticized. That's it.
Rob Brown.
All people are treated equally under the law in Québec.
The law states that no children can have education in english in Québec.
There is a privilege, though, that states that those children who have 1 parent who went to english school in Canada CAN have education in english in Québec.
I do not understand why you are bitching about being privileged (because your parents went to school in english, right?), unless you see absolutely indispensable that immigrants get education in english.
Now why would you want to educate immigrants in english??? Tell us why you really think this should happen.
MR. NAIMARD,
You say: "Manitoba was a french province, and it has unilaterally turned into an english one."
Response: This is simply because there are far more English people than French people in Manitoba. This is a matter of demographics, not government interference.
You say: "30 years ago, I went to northern Ontario and was totally amazed at not seeing any english people there. When I went back recently, the french were all gone."
Response: Again it is a matter of demographics. No one came along and banned French signs, and harassed French businesses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But in Quebec, there is a deliberate program of social engineering to eliminate English. It is still going on today, perhaps more than ever. The following news story is from this month (Feb 2010) and it shows how adamant these people are to eliminate English from Quebec.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Sleep+Country+signs+French+language+crusader+nightmares/2519008/story.html
This does not happen in any other province, where a particular social group is deliberately targeted like this. In fact, it would probably be illegal in any other province.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
RE: Manitoba.
I suggest you read about Louis Riel before you make more of a fool of yourself.
ROB BROWN gives the following answer to something
You say: "Manitoba was a french province, and it has unilaterally turned into an english one."
Response: This is simply because there are far more English people than French people in Manitoba. This is a matter of demographics, not government interference.
ROB,
It would seem you don`t know your Canadian history. Manitoba entered the confederation as a BILINGUAL province where French and English had legal and equal status. The Manitoba government legislated french OUT OF EXISTANCE illegally and it took years to rectify that attempted cultural genocide on franco Manitobans
QUEBEC has not legislated ENGLISH out of existance. It has merely made FRENCH the official and common language.
English still has legal status in Quebec because ALL LAWS must be passed in English and french.
Jacques
MR. NAIMARD,
How can you say that all people are treated equally?
"All people are treated equally under the law in Québec. The law states that no children can have education in english in Québec. There is a privilege, though, that states that those children who have 1 parent who went to english school in Canada CAN have education in english in Québec."
By your own words you say that some people can be educated in English, and others not. You call this a "privilege". But this is just double-speak for "some people are more privileged than others". In other words, people are not treated equally at all.
Rob Brown.
You did not answer my question: why do you want immigrants to be educated in english in Québec???
I suspect freedom choice would be one reason. After all, isn't Canada a country with two official languages. Seems to me there was an outrcy of not enough french at the olympic opening ceremonies. So, I suppose if french is to be put on an equal platform with english that the same should exist in freedom of education in Quebec, which is within the Dominion of the Country with "two official languages". The door swings both ways and we all know how to end this divide, don't we?
Well, either Canada is bilingual or it is not.
Which is it???
Quebec is unilingual because of Bills 22 and 101. Quebec is part of Canada. Follow the logic.
Bilingualism has gone way over the top. It started as a program to provide government services to the public in both languages. Ok, fine. This requires a small number of bilingual front-line workers. But now it has escalated into a situation where Francophones believe they have the right to speak French on the job, and governments are bending over backwards to accommodate this. So now we see that government managers, mail-sorters, etc have to be bilingual as well, even though they do not serve the public at all. Since the majority of Canadians are not bilingual, then this policy clearly discriminates against them, for the sake of accommodating a small minority of the population - about 10% (outside Quebec, which makes no pretense of being bilingual in the first place.)
Governments show no interest in listening the majority, despite polls such as "91% - Revise the policy - English should remain the language of work - only services to the public should be bilingual." Unfortunately, it seems like the only thing they listen to are the "squeaky wheel" and "threats" (of separation, etc). This is why I believe we have to continue playing the squeaky wheel, encouraging Alberta to separate or opt-out of the Transfer Program, etc.
Once the discrimination against the unilingual majority stops, both in Quebec and in the Federal Government, then we can start listening to the concerns of Francophones and other minorities, but on terms suitable to the majority.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
To Mr. Brown and all of you canadians
TEAM RUSSIA WILL WIN AND BEAT TEAM CANADA AND AS A VERY PROUD PO RUSSIAN SUPPORTER I SAY GO RUSSIA GO! GO RUSSIA GO! . Mr. Fagstein please do not stop me from allowing me to have a bit of fun with many of your people on this website please I do not mean to hurt there pro canadian feelings.
Sorry Ron, The Russian bear was more of a Teddy Bear in the Canada/Russia game.
MR. NAIMARD,
You asked: "why do you want immigrants to be educated in english in Québec???"
Reply: I did not say I wanted immigrants to be educated in English in Québec. I said that people should have a choice of what language to educate their kids in. It is about freedom of choice. I don't believe the government should be legislating language or culture. It should be up to the parents to decide.
However, I suppose that immigrants do have a choice of moving to Quebec or elsewhere. Since they will educate their kids in French in Quebec, then I presume that mostly Francophone immigrants will move to Quebec, and mostly Anglophone immigrants will move to the rest of Canada. I suppose this will polarize the population in the long-run with an increasing French population in Quebec and an increasing English population elsewhere. I suppose in a sense that this should make both sides happy.
I say this in the most sincere manner. Thanks for your discourse.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown.
MR. NAIMARD,
You say: "I suggest you read about Louis Riel before you make more of a fool of yourself."
Reply: I would have supported the rights of Louis Riel and the Metis people to challenge the government. I understand that they were trying to defend their land from British incursion. But anyone who resorts to armed conflict would likely get hanged, by the British government, the French government, or whoever.
However, I honestly do not care what happened in 1885 (I looked it up in Wikipedia). We have to look at the situation as it is today. Otherwise, we could conclude that Canada belongs to the Native Indians, or even the cavemen. While we should be sensitive to the differences in cultural backgrounds, we should not let ourselves be pushed-around because of something that happened 100 years ago.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown.
MR. NAIMARD,
The strange animal of "Canada".
You ask: Well, either Canada is bilingual or it is not. Which is it???
I say that Canada is not bilingual because a major part of it, Quebec, is not. We cannot say that an entire country is bilingual, yet one part of it is not. It is like saying that an animal is a horse, but its head is a giraffe. It makes no sense. Possibly we could create a new animal which is a cross between a horse and a giraffe, but this would be the entire animal.
The only way we can say that Canada is bilingual is that Quebec is French and the rest of Canada is English, with a number of minority groups. So basically, we have a horse, with a giraffe's head, and leopard spots. This is the reality that the politicians have created over the last 40 years, and people need to get used to it, starting with the politicians.
Sincerely,
Rob
Nicely written, succinct, and accurate. You have a talent for brevity. I tend to take longer to make my points. I enjoy your comments.
The Maple Leaf Forever!
Dear Mr. Brown
WOW!!! french canadian and Quebec athletes won most of this countries medals that is a slap in the face for english canadian athletes it just proves that if it was not for french canadians this country would never win a medal at all in olympic sports.
Also I predict that team Canada will loose in men's hockey against Slovakia to-night.
Thats a bit of an exaggeration....Ron...but I also congratulate the athletes from Quebec.
Ron,
Can you make a prediction than the US will win in the gold medal game on Sunday. Pleasse!
HI RON,
I am really happy for any athlete who wins a medal. I say good for those French Canadian athletes.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Jean Naimard says on February 25, 2010 at 7:08 am
Well, either Canada is bilingual or it is not.
Which is it???
Tough Question. Official English-French Bilingualism seems to have support at the Federal level, but not at the provincial level. The percentage of Francophones outside Quebec and New Brunswick does not seem to be high enough to support the need for two official languages. Official English-French Bilingualism is being pushed onto the Provinces (except for Quebec) and the Territories.
Let's examine the facts. Canada has two official languages at the Federal level. Provincially, only New Brunswick is officially bilingual.
Ontario, Manitoba, and New Brunswick are are required to provide services in French where numbers warrant.
Manitoba had provisions for two languages according to the Manitoba Act of 1870. However, many Métis left the province and many English-speaking settlers arrived via the newly constructed railways.
Quebecers did not emigrate to the new province, and many English-speaking Canadians resented the terms of the Manitoba Act because they had been granted while Louis Riel had engaged in rebellious acts, for which he was subsequently hanged. Reflecting the new sentiments and demographics, the Manitoba Schools Act of 1890 removed French as an official language of the province.
Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905 and their only official language was English. There were not enough French-speaking settlers to do otherwise, and Canada was a colony of the British Empire.
Quebec was bilingual at Confederation. The BNA Act contained only one section (section 133) dealing with language. It read:
"Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec...The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages."
In spite of the guarantees provided by the BNA Act, the Liberal Government of Robert Bourassa passed the Official Language Act of 1974, also known as Bill 22, which made French the only official language of Quebec. Bill 22 restricted access to English schools to children who could pass a language test.
Bill 22 was replaced by the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) in 1977. Bill 101 made French the language of the civil service and of business in private workplaces with over 50 employees. Bill 101 cut off access to English schools to all but children who had a parent who had received their education in English in Quebec. Bill 101 also eliminated the Constitutional guarantee to English legal proceedings, eliminated English translations of Quebec laws, and banned the use of languages other than French from commercial signs.
There have been some bitter language fights in Quebec which has resulted in the decimation of the Allophone and Anglophone population.
In Northern Quebec the Cree and Inuit are attempting to resist French challenges to their sovereignty. In the Nord-du-Québec region English, French, and Inuttitut are recognized as languages of government by the Kativik Regional Government. http://www.krg.ca/
According to the "new definition of Francophone," Ontario has a declared Francophone population of 4.8%. http://www.ofa.gov.on.ca/en/franco-map.html. The new definition is very liberal, and is designed to boost the numbers.
I travel extensively thoughout Northern Ontario and Francophone presence is increasing. French schools boards are now widespread in many communities and Sudbury has a new medical school geared towards Francophone enrollment.
Ontario is drifting towards unofficial bilingualism. Ontario government offices have both English and French on the telephone directory and laws are not official in Ontario unless they are promulgated in both offical langages. The fact that 95.2% of the population does not speak French seems to have escaped the attention of our political masters.
Nunavut has four official languages, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, and French. The Official Languages Act of Nunavut was ratified by the Canadian Senate on June 11, 2009. The language breakdown in Nunavut is Inuktitut, 69.54%, English 26.75%, French 1.27%, and Inuinnaqtun 1.02%.
Yukon has two official languages, English and French. The English-speaking population comprises 85.69% of the population and the French comprise 3.69% of the population.
The Northwest Territories has eleven official languages, Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Innuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, and T??ch? (formerly known as Dogrib)
French was made an official language in 1877, but this gave rise to some bitter debate because of the low number of Francophones. On January 19, 1892, the assembly members voted for an English-only territory.
In the early 1980s, the federal government pressured the government of the Northwest Territories to reintroduce French as an official language. Some Native members walked out of the assembly, protesting that they were not permitted to speak their own language. It was decided that if French was to be an official language, then the other languages in the territories must also be allowed.
The percentages of the linguistic groups are as follows. Engilsh 77.5%, Dogrib, 4.8%, South Slavey, 3.25, French 2.4%, North Slavey, 2.1%, Inuktitut, 1.7%.
So, to answer your question, M. Naimard, Canada is not bilingual in terms of the narrow English-French definition. The demographics show that French is a tiny minority outside Quebec and New Brunswick.
Policies of bilingualism are creating the balkanization of our country. It is time that we did away with this undemocratic, costly, and social divisive program.
Yours,
T. Kirke,
Canadian.
To all of you, Canada is a bilingual country and thank God for that and if any of you refuse to accept this tough!. Also the only reason team canada won the gold in men's hockey was because the american coach is the coach of the Toronto Maple leafs that explains why they lost to team canada.
And here I though you were going to tell us the reason they won was all those francophone players from Quebec on Team Canada.
Canada is a bilingual country by "official law" but the reality is quite different when you look at the numbers of french speakers in the various regions.
Not much french spoke outside of Quebec and New Brunswick.
And so the lie to the world continues.
RON,
Canada is not a bilingual country. It is only that politicians have declared it to be bilingual, but that does not make it bilingual. If a politician looks at a horse, and declares it to be a giraffe, that doesn't make it a giraffe.
Politician, looking at a horse: "I decree that you are a giraffe."
Citizen: "Oh now I see the giraffe."
Horse: "Are they both nuts?"
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Lucky Ron...
I don't accept the fact that Canada is a bilingual country. The percentage of Francophones and bilingual Canadians is too low to support this concept.
Also, regarding your cheering for the Russian hockey team.
Nyet, Nyet, Soviet! Rah, Rah, Canada! Henderson has scored for Canada! (1972 Summit Series).
Too bad about the Olympics! The Russian performance was so bad that their Sports ministers have been told to resign or be fired. Bye Bye!
Regarding your cheering for the Americans.
3-2 overtime victory in overtime for the gold. Nice work Sid the Kid! Nice pass Iginla.
Canadian gals blanked the American gals, and then enjoyed some cigars and some Molson Canadians on the ice.
Regarding your cheering against the Maple Leafs. The last time the Leafs won the Cup was in 1967 in overtime against Montreal in Montreal during Expo 67 and Canada's Centennial celebrations. Sweet!
We'll do it again in 2067, and it will be worth the wait to kick some Montreal butt. Quebec will probably have separated by then and the victory will be twice as nice.
(If Quebec separates, what will the Montreal Canadiens be known as?)
The Maple Leaf Forever!
Regards, and good luck with the packing.
T. Kirke,
Canadian.
MR. KIRKE,
Would you mind if I email your stats to some friends?
Thanks,
Rob Brown
Not at all sir. Please forward these stats to anyone interested in the issues.
The stats are all easily verifiable through the links provided or through government websites.
The truth will set us free!
Dear Thomas Kirke
I live in a bilingual Canada that threats it's poor people who do not qualify for any benefits like dirt, and beleive me this country as allot to learn when it comes to treating it's own people in this democratic system. Beleive me I am one of them that as fallen between the cracks and there is nothing out there to help me so do me a big favor never become poor in this country you will soon find out how fast this country really cares about you.
The reason I am very pro Russian is because I have learned to respect a great nation that is was not for them we would be under Nazi rule today. The Russian faced 98% of the German military and fought against the Fins, Italians, the Japanese and other nations during the second world war. My father did patrols in Berlin along with the Russian army who was patrolling Berlin after the defeat of Germany and he always thought me to show respect to the Russian people and to this great country. I love Russian music, there food and the great history and the courage and the determination of this fantastic people.
I do understand you like Canada allot and I respect your opinion and that is you but we are all different as people and I learn by personal experiences that this country can be a real enemy to it's own people and that is a tragedy .
Mr. Jacques From Laprairie,
You say: QUEBEC has not legislated ENGLISH out of existance. It has merely made FRENCH the official and common language. English still has legal status in Quebec because ALL LAWS must be passed in English and french.
Response: I would like to thank you for taking the time to become involved in this debate. We should always respect people who stand up for what they believe in. It is only through discourse of this kind that the problems of the world will eventually be resolved. Otherwsie, it will become the "George Bush" mentality for resolving problems. (Heaven forbid.)
However, I have to disagree with you on a couple of points.
1. It is clear to me that the English language is not welcome in Quebec. I have experienced this first hand, and so have my parents. We left Quebec because we were made to feel ridiculous, when we lived in Chicoutimi, which is a small city on the Saguenay River to the north of Quebec city.
2. When we left Quebec, then we encountered discrimination of a more subtle kind. When we arrived in Ottawa, I applied for a job with the federal government. The first thing they did was to subject me to a language test. I was extremely surprised to see that in my own country of Canada, that people would be subjected to cultural "tests" of this kind. I had always thought that this kind of thing belonged in China or the Soviet Union. But, now, I was seeing it in my own country.
From that moment on, I decided to fight against cultural bias of any kind. And I began to understand that when any culture is given preferential treatment by the government, then this status will become abused to the detriment of others. It is this fight, towards fairness and opportunity for everyone, that we, at CAB, are currently engaged in.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
CAB
Dear Mr. Brown
What do you think of the survey that English and French Canadians will become a minority in this country and that immigrants will make most of the Canadian population in this country and what language do you want to speak in the future?.
I hope to be dead very soon so not have to see this happen to this country because I want that English and the French language be very strong and alive in this country.
Also what do you think of seal meat being served at the house oc commons cafeteria ?
I find this personally very discusting since I am against hunting seals for meat and furs.
Bilingualism: No Conspiracy?
I am sure that many people believe that "Official Bilingualism" is intended specifically for the purpose of making French Canadians be a part of the whole. The initial intention was to provide government services to the public in both languages at the federal level.
But "rights" are always a slippery slope. For example, once people saw that the federal government was willing to provide services in both languages, a few bureaucrats decided to push further, demanding that they be allowed to work in French, even though this had nothing to do with serving the public. The bureaucracy decided that this was another good intention, and allowed them to work in French. The French workers then demanded that they be supervised in French. Again the bureaucracy agreed and designated management positions "bilingual imperative". The result was that only a small minority of bilingual people can apply for these management positions. So, we now have a policy where the majority of Canadians are frozen out of management positions in their own federal government for the sake of a small minority of workers being able to speak French on the job, even though they are not serving the public directly.
This is clearly a case of the "tail wagging the dog". Whether this has happened through some devious conspiracy or through bureaucratic bumbling is not really the point. The problem is that once people's rights to work as managers in their own government have been lost, they are very difficult to regain. We have to look at the consequences of any policy to decide if it is a "good" or "bad" policy. The initial intention has little to do with it.
The only reasonable way to evaluate a policy is to examine whether it is the best policy for the majority of people. A policy which discriminates against the majority of Canadians in terms of government hiring cannot possibly be a good policy. A policy which allows one person to sue the Manitoba government over a traffic ticket and force the entire province to spend billions conducting its affairs in both languages cannot possibly be a good policy, particularly while at the same time Quebec is allowed to enact discriminatory laws against its English-speaking population.
In the final analysis, we can only conclude that "Official Bilingualism" is a bad policy for the majority of Canadians. If Quebec can opt out of "bilingualism" then so can the other provinces. I suggest they do it quickly before people find out that they are frozen out of management positions in their own provincial and municipal governments as well. (It has already happened in the municipal government of the City of Ottawa, over which a law-suit will be launched shortly.)
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
Canadians Against Enforced Bilingualism (CAB)
Is there a part of the Charter I missed that says people have the right to work as managers in the civil service?
MR. FAGSTEIN,
I believe it is a fundamental right of any person to work in their own government. If they have the necessary skills, then they can be a manager. Speaking French on the job is not a necessary skill (except possibly in Quebec). It is sufficient to have one language of work in the government. Particularly since having a bilingual workplace results in discriminations against the majority of people, and gives an unfair advantage to Francophones who are naturally bilingual. But, of course, this is the whole point, if we believe in the "conspiracy" which started with Trudeau who said "unilingual Canadians will be sentenced to a lifetime of job immobility". It is pretty clear what his intentions were.
As Ron points out, one day Muslims will likely be demanding to speak Arabic on the job. Then all managers will be required to speak 3 languages. Obviously a ridiculous situations.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown
I tend to agree with Mr. Brown in that people do have a right to work in their own civil service. Bilingualism is as we know, a requirement for some positions. There is no doubt that if you compare the number of francos to anglos in senior civile service positions that this requirement is biased in favor of Quebec where bilingualism due to exposure to two languages is higher than in other areas. Just look at the last names in government registries of personnel.
Of course bilinguilism is a fraud...But there are many frauds commited by the government in Canada. Just look at health care where the government claims they are insuring your health with huges taxes that you pay...or at least some of us pay.....then, when you need health care they put you on a waiting list thus witholding treatment while your condition gets worse or in some cases you expire while on the list. They (the gov"t) have taken your money but not provided timely service thus committing fraud.. This is just one of many frauds the government inflicts upon the taxpayers of this nation.
Are you communist? You must be communist to demand such a right!
The Government has the absolute and total duty towards the taxpayer (surely you don’t like it when the taxpayers are snubbed by the Government) to insure that every single one civil servant has the utmost competence possible. Bilingual personnel are much definitely more intelligent, because they see the need to know more than a single language, and that being cognizant with more languages will expose oneself with more cultures, and that exposure will give a new insight in how the work can be performed, which is extremely likely to result in greater optimization (another plus for the taxpayers’ dollar).
Therefore, it is perfectly normal to deem incompetent those people who are too stupid to learn another language and deny them employment in the civil service.
Oh, this is great. So, therefore, you say that french is not necessary in Québec.
Which figures, given the extremely poor rethoric you have been spewing forth on this thread.
Why would french people be “naturally” bilingual? Do you realize that what you said is just as offensive as saying that the english are too stupid to learn french?
No? You don’t realize it? Well, it figures.
Trudeau was a snotty asshole who wanted to make sure that stupid people would be tremenduously punished. It seems he succeeded beyond the wildest expectations…
Typical stupid right-wing red-herring argument. This will not happen because arabic will never be an official language (chinese will be way before arabic, but knowing the chinese, they will never ask for something like that).
HI RON,
I will continue to fight to preserve my culture and heritage. It is unfortunate that other people seek to eradicate my culture and heritage, such as the province of Quebec, but as they say "c'est la vie".
As for the seal meat. I don't think we need to kill seals whether for fur or meat. If we want to eat seals, then we should farm seals just like any other animal. We have already decimated the fish and whale populations of the oceans, and the buffalo population of the prairies. Can you imagine how many cows would be left if we simply resorted to hunting them in the forest, so we can have a Big Mac. The answer is that we need to make the effort to farm a particular species, before we have the luxury of eating it.
Sincerely,
Rob.
On Feb. 16 former PQ Premier Lucien Bouchard made an interesting statement at an event organized by Le Devoir. He stated that he did not expect to see a winning referendum during his lifetime.
See the following links for more details.
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/283286/la-souverainete-n-est-pas-realisable-dit-bouchard
http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=2578091
Earlier in this posting, I mentioned a series of intolerant incidents in Quebec, including some remarks made by PQ member Yves Michaud.
M. Naimard dismissed my observations, of course, and painted a rosy picture of how Michaud's remarks to his barber were taken out of context.
However, the articles describes how Bouchard's 2001 resignation was affected in part by Michaud's comments.
It is hard to argue with the observations of a former Quebec Premier, M. Naimard.
Don't give up on the separatist dream, though. You can do it!
Yours,
T. Kirke,
Canadian.
Sure it is, when that premier is a right-wing puppet of big finance and therefore not representative of the population. If he ran for premier today, he would lose big-time. Let’s not forget that when he became a premier, he was not elected by the people but by the party who selected him after Parizeau left with his celebrated “money and ethnic votes” comment that shocked so much because it was so true.
Sure, we like Bouchard very much. But he’s just like that old uncle that everyone likes but no one listens to because he gets senile and says things that don’t make sense. And what he says may make some sense on Baystraße*, but Bay Street never has Québec’s best interest at heart.
* Let’s not forget that Baystraße was cooing Mario Ducon, the little fascist who got whipped badly at the last elections.
MR. NAIMARD,
1. Calling Francophones "naturally bilingual" is not offensive at all. It is simply a statement of fact. Anybody who lives in a predominantly English country will naturally pick up the English language. The evidence bears this out. I know many Francophones, and all of them can speak English fluently. I also know many Anglophones and very few of them can speak French fluently.
2. Calling people "lazy" and "stupid" is offensive. But we have come to expect that, so it no longer offends. But it is a sad commentary on how the debate on bilingualism has typically proceeded over the last 40 years. However, it is now time to start talking facts, not mud-slinging.
Sincerely,
Rob Brown