English Canada/French Canada

Tecumsehsbones

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I'm reading a book by a Canadian author (who knew there were Canadian authors?), obviously pretty TO liberal, who says (as one of his characters). . .

"Leave and go where? You can't move Quebec, you know. Separatism is dead -- it's like being a Leafs fan: It's something you do for fun, not because you think you're ever going to win."

That raised a question for me. Could it be that all the annoying shit Quebec does is just playing at separatism? And could it be that English Canada lets them play, because it has experienced relatively-serious separatism? Tanks in the streets in a usually-peaceful country's a pretty big deal. Letting them play at separatism is a pretty cheap alternative.

And. . . could it be that all the carping about Quebec's "inequality" is just that as well? English Canadians pissing and moaning about something the effect of which on their real lives is effectively zero? Just playing at crying "injustice!" for funsies?

If so, I have to present a warning. As we're seeing down here with the effects of letting the rubes play at hard-done-by, that shit can get serious if you let it go too far.
 
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Serryah

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I'm reading a book by a Canadian author (who knew there were Canadian authors?), obviously pretty TO liberal, who says (as one of his characters). . .

"Leave and go where? You can't move Quebec, you know. Separatism is dead -- it's like being a Leafs fan: It's something you do for fun, not because you think you're ever going to win."

That raised a question for me. Could it be that all the annoying shit Quebec does is just playing at separatism? And could it be that English Canada lets them play, because it has experienced relatively-serious separatism? Tanks in the streets in a usually-peaceful country's a pretty big deal. Letting them play at separatism is a pretty cheap alternative.

And. . . could it be that all the carping about Quebec's "inequality" is just that as well? English Canadians pissing and moaning about something the effect of which on their real lives is effectively zero? Just playing at crying "injustice!" for funsies?

If so, I have to present a warning. As we're seeing down here with the effects of letting the rubes play at hard-done-by, that shit can get serious if you let it go too far.

To your first question: yeah, I think at this point Quebec's 'threats' of Separation are bunk and the rest of us are pretty much "Whatever" about it. And, well personally, I think Quebec knows it won't separate because doing so would be suicide for their province/state/whatever it'd be after. So instead they're doing all they can to be 'separate' but still be within Canada.

The biggest issue is, of course, Language, and right now, there is an inequality in Quebec to people if they are not French. At least in Government. I went there a few years ago and despite having a bad grasp of French (speaking it anyway) I was still able to get along. But I think to your second question, no, there is problems with inequality at least on some levels, but it also depends on where you live.

(As for Canadian authors, yeah we have em. My cousin is one, I'd like to be one (but I hack at it more than seriously do it - fear mostly keeps me from taking it seriously) but it's a shock none the less I'm sure :p )
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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Hmm. . . as to the first, I met ONE person while travelling in Quebec who didn't speak English well. And she was north of 70 anyhow. So that's a problem that will solve itself.

As to the second, I agree that SOME of the West's concerns are valid, and Ottawa better start paying attention. At the same time, they should ignore the crap about "I don't trust anybody from Quebontario." That's just stupid. I suspect a politician who focusses on the West (and the Maritimes) whilst balancing that with Quebetario concerns, will reap a rich reward. And lose it just as fast if she doesn't follow through.
 

Serryah

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Hmm. . . as to the first, I met ONE person while travelling in Quebec who didn't speak English well. And she was north of 70 anyhow. So that's a problem that will solve itself.

As to the second, I agree that SOME of the West's concerns are valid, and Ottawa better start paying attention. At the same time, they should ignore the crap about "I don't trust anybody from Quebontario." That's just stupid. I suspect a politician who focusses on the West (and the Maritimes) whilst balancing that with Quebetario concerns, will reap a rich reward. And lose it just as fast if she doesn't follow through.

I was lucky, near midnight when I did my trip to Quebec, and in Quebec City, I stopped in at a gas station and the people there spoke okay English when they realized my French sucked, lol. Then we talked dogs (I was transporting a female for breeding to a kennel). It impressed me cause I'd always heard Quebec City was SUPER French and Montreal was the more English Friendly city.

And as for the second about the West, even I can agree their issues are valid sometimes. And yeah, Ottawa needs to start being smarter in handling them.

But balancing Ontario and Quebec, the West and us here on the East Coast, and then the Territories in the North... I don't see any leader doing that really. At this point, there's just too much regional differences and arrogances. That said, if someone COULD yeah, they'd probably be PM for a long time.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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I was lucky, near midnight when I did my trip to Quebec, and in Quebec City, I stopped in at a gas station and the people there spoke okay English when they realized my French sucked, lol. Then we talked dogs (I was transporting a female for breeding to a kennel). It impressed me cause I'd always heard Quebec City was SUPER French and Montreal was the more English Friendly city.

And as for the second about the West, even I can agree their issues are valid sometimes. And yeah, Ottawa needs to start being smarter in handling them.

But balancing Ontario and Quebec, the West and us here on the East Coast, and then the Territories in the North... I don't see any leader doing that really. At this point, there's just too much regional differences and arrogances. That said, if someone COULD yeah, they'd probably be PM for a long time.
Yeah, I spent much more time in Quebec City than in Montreal. And that's where I stumbled on the truth. . . your average Kay-becker couldn't give two shits about "separatism," except as a grounds for bitching over a beer. (The woman I spoke of earlier was on that island in the St. Lawrence across from Quebec City.)

As you say balancing the interests in a mature, thoughtful way (instead of just throwing money at whoever's being loudest at the moment, while catering rhetorically to Quebectario) will require wisdom, foresight, and a hell of a lot of staff work. Probably beyond most politicians.
 
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Serryah

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Yeah, I spent much more time in Quebec City than in Montreal. And that's where I stumbled on the truth. . . your average Kay-becker couldn't give two shits about "separatism," except as a grounds for bitching over a beer. (The woman I spoke of earlier was on that island in the St. Lawrence across from Quebec City.)

As you say balancing the interests in a mature, thoughtful way (instead of just throwing money at whoever's being loudest at the moment, while catering rhetorically to Quebectario) will require wisdom, foresight, and a hell of a lot of staff work. Probably beyond most politicians.

I was in High School when "The Referendum" hit and at the time, taking Political Science, so it was a HUGE deal. There were even people bussing out to go show 'support' for Quebec and to 'don't leave Canada'.

Now I don't think you'd get half the push back if the issue popped up again.

I agree too, wisdom, foresight and the staff to work is beyond almost every politician now, especially the first two. Wisdom doesn't normally equal politician and foresight is something rarely seen in them.
 

Jinentonix

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I was lucky, near midnight when I did my trip to Quebec, and in Quebec City, I stopped in at a gas station and the people there spoke okay English when they realized my French sucked, lol. Then we talked dogs (I was transporting a female for breeding to a kennel). It impressed me cause I'd always heard Quebec City was SUPER French and Montreal was the more English Friendly city.

And as for the second about the West, even I can agree their issues are valid sometimes. And yeah, Ottawa needs to start being smarter in handling them.

But balancing Ontario and Quebec, the West and us here on the East Coast, and then the Territories in the North... I don't see any leader doing that really. At this point, there's just too much regional differences and arrogances. That said, if someone COULD yeah, they'd probably be PM for a long time.
Not really. Harper was about the closest we've to that in Canada in a long time and yet, well, here we are stuck with the Canada-hating Turd-o 2.0. And no, I'm not saying Harper was the best PM ever, but he's certainly better than Mulroney was and is head and shoulders above the self-serving little man-child we have now.

By the way, that whole Meech Lake Accord and referendum was a Mulroney snow job. I can't remember if it was the highly unpopular FTA or the highly unpopular GST but Mulroney was smart enough to know that the biggest wedge issue in Canada was Quebec vs the RoC. That was used to distract the Canadian voter so Mulroney could push FTA or GST through, and it worked like a charm. Hell, it worked so well even the UN got involved with their 50%+1 crap.
That was the moment I realized what a goddam farce the UN was.

The other issue is Quebec favouritism isn't ideologically based. Mulroney was a Conservative but he was from Quebec. He did things like provide large incentives for Canada's pharmaceutical industry to relocate to Quebec. He put the CF-18 parts facility in Quebec. Considering where the repair facility was located you couldn't make a worse choice for where to build the parts facility, except for the Maritimes.

Pierre Trudeau in effect created the fucking political bubble the RoC is expected to live in. What I mean is Official Bilingualism pretty much ensured that our PM's would come from Quebec. Take a look at the PMs of Canada. Prior to Pierre of all the PM's we had from Confederation to Pierre, only three were from Quebec, including Pierre.. The rest came from all across Canada, including the Maritimes and the Yukon.
Since Pierre Trudeau, about 75% of our duly elected, sitting PM's have been from Quebec. That's not mere coincidence. Now, there's no written rule or law that says the PM must be able to speak both languages and yet, they kind'a do. Since we're paying for bloody translators anyway, use 'em!
 
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IdRatherBeSkiing

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I was lucky, near midnight when I did my trip to Quebec, and in Quebec City, I stopped in at a gas station and the people there spoke okay English when they realized my French sucked, lol. Then we talked dogs (I was transporting a female for breeding to a kennel). It impressed me cause I'd always heard Quebec City was SUPER French and Montreal was the more English Friendly city.
It is generally speaking. There are some tourist areas in Quebec City where English is spoken as it is the language of tourism. But outside that area, you can find people that cannot or will speak English. A friend of mine and I were travelling through in the 90s, We stopped at an A&W in Quebec City for supper (a fine dining experience). I tried to order a Teen Burger with no onions with finger pointing and really really really bad French. The waitress walked off in a huff. We wound up giving our order to the dishwasher because he spoke a little bit of English.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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It is generally speaking. There are some tourist areas in Quebec City where English is spoken as it is the language of tourism. But outside that area, you can find people that cannot or will speak English. A friend of mine and I were travelling through in the 90s, We stopped at an A&W in Quebec City for supper (a fine dining experience). I tried to order a Teen Burger with no onions with finger pointing and really really really bad French. The waitress walked off in a huff. We wound up giving our order to the dishwasher because he spoke a little bit of English.
Interesting. As I said, I found one person who did not speak English. But my visit was 20-25 years after yours. I would suggest the ubiquity of the internet, and the fact that it is primarily in English, may have had an effect.
 
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Ron in Regina

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Can you imagine the Trudeau Liberal government proposing new regulations that threaten development of the aerospace industry without first consulting the Quebec provincial government? I can’t.

Indeed, the Liberals did the exact opposite in the SNC-Lavalin affair. Far from proposing new anti-corruption regulations for Quebec’s largest engineering firm, the Trudeau Liberals tried to rig the criminal prosecution of the company in the guise of saving Quebec jobs.

Or how about proposing dramatic reductions in emissions from the transportation or manufacturing sectors – reductions that would put job creation and economic growth in real danger – without giving Ontario’s government a heads up?

Sure, the Trudeau Liberals despise the Ford Tories, but they wouldn’t risk alienating Ontario voters by deliberately targeting one or more of Ontario’s key industries, unilaterally.

Monday’s announcement came as a complete surprise to the governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta, two provinces whose economies are centered around energy development. Rest at the link.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Not really. Harper was about the closest we've to that in Canada in a long time and yet, well, here we are stuck with the Canada-hating Turd-o 2.0. And no, I'm not saying Harper was the best PM ever, but he's certainly better than Mulroney was and is head and shoulders above the self-serving little man-child we have now.

By the way, that whole Meech Lake Accord and referendum was a Mulroney snow job. I can't remember if it was the highly unpopular FTA or the highly unpopular GST but Mulroney was smart enough to know that the biggest wedge issue in Canada was Quebec vs the RoC. That was used to distract the Canadian voter so Mulroney could push FTA or GST through, and it worked like a charm. Hell, it worked so well even the UN got involved with their 50%+1 crap.
That was the moment I realized what a goddam farce the UN was.

The other issue is Quebec favouritism isn't ideologically based. Mulroney was a Conservative but he was from Quebec. He did things like provide large incentives for Canada's pharmaceutical industry to relocate to Quebec. He put the CF-18 parts facility in Quebec. Considering where the repair facility was located you couldn't make a worse choice for where to build the parts facility, except for the Maritimes.

Pierre Trudeau in effect created the fucking political bubble the RoC is expected to live in. What I mean is Official Bilingualism pretty much ensured that our PM's would come from Quebec. Take a look at the PMs of Canada. Prior to Pierre of all the PM's we had from Confederation to Pierre, only three were from Quebec, including Pierre.. The rest came from all across Canada, including the Maritimes and the Yukon.
Since Pierre Trudeau, about 75% of our duly elected, sitting PM's have been from Quebec. That's not mere coincidence. Now, there's no written rule or law that says the PM must be able to speak both languages and yet, they kind'a do. Since we're paying for bloody translators anyway, use 'em!
If it's any contribution, we've actually done quite well with "no official language." We produce paper in English, and local jurisdictions, or local offices of state/Federal agencies, have broad latitude to pick which other language(s) they'll provide service in.

I've heard Mandarin is actually Canada's second-most spoken language, not French. (Somebody check me on that, please.)

Silly examples, of course, abound. Everything from "Rue XXXX Street" signs to the cloning of Tim Horton.
 

Jinentonix

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I'm reading a book by a Canadian author (who knew there were Canadian authors?), obviously pretty TO liberal, who says (as one of his characters). . .

"Leave and go where? You can't move Quebec, you know. Separatism is dead -- it's like being a Leafs fan: It's something you do for fun, not because you think you're ever going to win."

That raised a question for me. Could it be that all the annoying shit Quebec does is just playing at separatism? And could it be that English Canada lets them play, because it has experienced relatively-serious separatism? Tanks in the streets in a usually-peaceful country's a pretty big deal. Letting them play at separatism is a pretty cheap alternative.

And. . . could it be that all the carping about Quebec's "inequality" is just that as well? English Canadians pissing and moaning about something the effect of which on their real lives is effectively zero? Just playing at crying "injustice!" for funsies?

If so, I have to present a warning. As we're seeing down here with the effects of letting the rubes play at hard-done-by, that shit can get serious if you let it go too far.
Quebec separatism was always a joke. They had no real beef with being part of Canada. In fact, they liked being part of Canada so much they actually proposed the idiotic idea of "Sovereignty-Association". This is the equivalent of a teenager stating they're going to be independent by moving out of their bedroom and down into mommy and daddy's basement.
Quebec decided that they would still use the Canadian dollar, keep the military bases and equipment, continue receiving transfer payments from the ROC, In other words, nothing would change except that Quebec would be "independent" while still leeching off the RoC while contributing even less to Canada than it did previously.

Alberta is a different matter. Albertans and to lesser extent the people of SK have a genuine beef with Ottawa. Whereas Ottawa treats Quebec like the favoured child, they treat Alberta like a red-headed step child.
This new "industry specific" carbon pricing is a direct attack on AB and SK. Note that it won't affect Quebec's refining sector or Hibernia, the world's largest oil platform. And let's not forget that this attack is just weeks after our ex-con of an Environment Minister green-lighted Bay du Nord, a deep sea drilling project.

Then there's the Libshits' plan to force bilingualism on private enterprise in the RoC while letting Quebec get away with eliminating, or greatly reducing the use of English in both the private and public sectors. The ridiculous idea that forcing French on private enterprise in the name of national unity is even more laughable when you consider that the cunts in the Libshit party are thoroughly engaged in the politics of division.

If the assholes were truly interested in national unity, they'd quit playing favourites and Trudeau would quit shitting on Alberta because they didn't want to play the NEP game with his daddy.

This new breed of "liberals" are not liberals at all. They are petty, small-minded, vindictive little cunts.
 
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Jinentonix

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If it's any contribution, we've actually done quite well with "no official language."
So did Canada, until a previous Trudeau brought in Official Bilingualism in the name of "national unity". While in effect what OB did was make Quebec the de facto province of power in Canada.
We produce paper in English, and local jurisdictions, or local offices of state/Federal agencies, have broad latitude to pick which other language(s) they'll provide service in.

I've heard Mandarin is actually Canada's second-most spoken language, not French. (Somebody check me on that, please.)

Silly examples, of course, abound. Everything from "Rue XXXX Street" signs to the cloning of Tim Horton.
You know there is. Take the fictional name "Cinderella". In Quebec it's Cendrillon. When Star Wars came out, movie theatre marquees in France displayed the title as "Star Wars". In Quebec it HAD to be titled Les Guerres D'Etoilles.
Those racist fucks are so anti-English they even feel they have the right to alter trademarked names.
 

petros

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Interesting. As I said, I found one person who did not speak English. But my visit was 20-25 years after yours. I would suggest the ubiquity of the internet, and the fact that it is primarily in English, may have had an effect.
Go to Saguenay, and try again. Give calling for a taxi in English a crack. While waiting for the taxi that isnt coming go try meeting someone who will speak to you in English. Montreal and QC are nothing like the rest of Quebec.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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So did Canada, until a previous Trudeau brought in Official Bilingualism in the name of "national unity". While in effect what OB did was make Quebec the de facto province of power in Canada.

You know there is. Take the fictional name "Cinderella". In Quebec it's Cendrillon. When Star Wars came out, movie theatre marquees in France displayed the title as "Star Wars". In Quebec it HAD to be titled Les Guerres D'Etoilles.
Those racist fucks are so anti-English they even feel they have the right to alter trademarked names.
Love that hard-done-by sense of grievance! If I recollect right, Germany called it Star Wars, not Sternenkriege.

But again, the question is "How does this actually hurt you?" And "To what extent is playing the Acadian rebel a harmless outlet, vastly preferable to terrorism, and to what extent does it feed the stupid (and violent)?"

We have long tolerated the veneration of traitors in the U.S.
 

Jinentonix

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Love that hard-done-by sense of grievance! If I recollect right, Germany called it Star Wars, not Sternenkriege.
Exactly, And do you know WHY they called it Star Wars in Germany? Because Germans don't have their heads shoved up their arses about how fucking special they think they are, to the point of altering trademarked and copyrighted names. Neither does France.
But again, the question is "How does this actually hurt you?" And "To what extent is playing the Acadian rebel a harmless outlet, vastly preferable to terrorism, and to what extent does it feed the stupid (and violent)?"

We have long tolerated the veneration of traitors in the U.S.
Official Bilingualism has cost Canadians almost $2 trillion since its inception. That doesn't include the cost of goods. Everything is more expensive up here than it should be because labels MUST be bilingual. Packaging and labeling already tend to cost more than the cost of the product inside. Adding needless languages to those labels makes it even more expensive.

Then there's the Federal Transfer Payment program. It was predicated on the provinces' ability to generate tax revenues and to transfer money to the less wealthy provinces. But that's not how it works anymore. Alberta doesn't charge a provincial sales tax but Quebec does. Yet Alberta is a net contributor to the transfer program while Quebec is a net taker, to the tune of about 50% of the total federal transfer payments while having around 10X the population of Alberta.
That's because Quebec intentionally keeps their other taxes and fees, that the other provinces also charge, lower than most of the other provinces. They do this because they know the RoC will be forced to subsidize them.
Quebec is in effect abusing the federal transfer system while the Fed has been and still is complicit in letting the abuse continue because Quebec is "special".

You see Tec, ever since the PET era, Quebec is only allowed to gain, they are never allowed to lose anything. They don't even think they should lose seats in parliament as their proportion of the population gets smaller.
And now, despite the discriminatory language laws in Quebec, Trudeau wants to force private enterprise in the RoC to be bilingual, "in the name of national unity". The same pathetic, didn't work rationale that his daddy spewed about OB. And guess what, the forced bilingualism on private enterprise will make the cost of goods and services even more expensive.
Seems kind'a disingenuous to preach unity via bilingualism when Quebec is going out of its way to remove as much English use in the province as it can.
You know how many unilingual Francophones there are in Ontario? Three, and they all live within a few miles of the Quebec border. Yeah okay, I'm being facetious there but in all seriousness the number of unilingual Francophones in Ontario is only a tiny fraction of the number of unilingual Anglophones in Quebec. And yet Trudeau feels life isn't quite expensive enough for us yet so he'll just legislate some pointless, needless language law to help everyone financially suffer even more. Ya know, in the name of "national unity".
 

Jinentonix

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To your first question: yeah, I think at this point Quebec's 'threats' of Separation are bunk and the rest of us are pretty much "Whatever" about it. And, well personally, I think Quebec knows it won't separate because doing so would be suicide for their province/state/whatever it'd be after. So instead they're doing all they can to be 'separate' but still be within Canada.

The biggest issue is, of course, Language, and right now, there is an inequality in Quebec to people if they are not French. At least in Government. I went there a few years ago and despite having a bad grasp of French (speaking it anyway) I was still able to get along. But I think to your second question, no, there is problems with inequality at least on some levels, but it also depends on where you live.
One needs to also know there are two-different groups of Francophones in Quebec. The 1st are French-Canadians. They are usually bilingual, though not always, but consider themselves to be Canadian first and foremost.
The 2nd group are Quebecois. They hate everything about the RoC except for the federal transfer payments and the Crown Corps HQ'd in Quebec.
The 2nd group makes up much of Quebec's govt. There was a man in Quebec who lived a few miles from the Ontario border. He had a very small business operating out his garage. He did small engine repair and had a hand drawn sign our front stating so, in English . It was a one-man operation, himself. And yet Quebec's language gestapo pulled up to his house. tore down his sign and threatened him with a $500 fine if his next sign wasn't in French, or at least bilingual with the French on top and in bigger letters than the English.

At one point their govt tried to force Walmart to call their stores "Le Walmart" in Quebec. Ostensibly because the Quebecois were too stupid to know what a Walmart is without "le" in front of it. Which begs the question, how did they decide that Walmart was a masculine noun?

As for Quebec itself and it's non-Quebecois population, it's a beautiful, friendly province. I think if you visit Quebec with the attitude of "I only speak English so you better speak it back to me", you're probably not going to enjoy your visit outside of maybe, Montreal. I always found that if you at least attempt to speak in French, they'll figure out pretty quickly you don't speak it well at all and will switch to English without much, or any attitude.

In fact, of all the times I visited Quebec I can honestly say the only real asshole I ran across was from New York City.
 
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Tecumsehsbones

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One needs to also know there are two-different groups of Francophones in Quebec. The 1st are French-Canadians. They are usually bilingual, though not always, but consider themselves to be Canadian first and foremost.
The 2nd group are Quebecois. They hate everything about the RoC except for the federal transfer payments and the Crown Corps HQ'd in Quebec.
The 2nd group makes up much of Quebec's govt. There was a man in Quebec who lived a few miles from the Ontario border. He had a very small business operating out his garage. He did small engine repair and had a hand drawn sign our front stating so, in English . It was a one-man operation, himself. And yet Quebec's language gestapo pulled up to his house. tore down his sign and threatened him with a $500 fine if his next sign wasn't in French, or at least bilingual with the French on top and in bigger letters than the English.

At one point their govt tried to force Walmart to call their stores "Le Walmart" in Quebec. Ostensibly because the Quebecois were too stupid to know what a Walmart is without "le" in front of it. Which begs the question, how did they decide that Walmart was a masculine noun?

As for Quebec itself and it's non-Quebecois population, it's a beautiful, friendly province. I think if you visit Quebec with the attitude of "I only speak English so you better speak it back to me", you're probably not going to enjoy your visit outside of maybe, Montreal. I always found that if you at least attempt to speak in French, they'll figure out pretty quickly you don't speak it well at all and will switch to English without much, or any attitude.

In fact, of all the times I visited Quebec I can honestly say the only real asshole I ran across was from New York City.
Yeah, that's what the Big Apple calls a "goodwill ambassador."

You gotta problem wid dat?
 

Ron in Regina

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One needs to also know there are two-different groups of Francophones in Quebec. The 1st are French-Canadians. They are usually bilingual, though not always, but consider themselves to be Canadian first and foremost.
The 2nd group are Quebecois. They hate everything about the RoC except for the federal transfer payments and the Crown Corps HQ'd in Quebec.
The 2nd group makes up much of Quebec's govt. There was a man in Quebec who lived a few miles from the Ontario border. He had a very small business operating out his garage. He did small engine repair and had a hand drawn sign our front stating so, in English . It was a one-man operation, himself. And yet Quebec's language gestapo pulled up to his house. tore down his sign and threatened him with a $500 fine if his next sign wasn't in French, or at least bilingual with the French on top and in bigger letters than the English.

At one point their govt tried to force Walmart to call their stores "Le Walmart" in Quebec. Ostensibly because the Quebecois were too stupid to know what a Walmart is without "le" in front of it. Which begs the question, how did they decide that Walmart was a masculine noun?

As for Quebec itself and it's non-Quebecois population, it's a beautiful, friendly province. I think if you visit Quebec with the attitude of "I only speak English so you better speak it back to me", you're probably not going to enjoy your visit outside of maybe, Montreal. I always found that if you at least attempt to speak in French, they'll figure out pretty quickly you don't speak it well at all and will switch to English without much, or any attitude.

In fact, of all the times I visited Quebec I can honestly say the only real asshole I ran across was from New York City.
This, in my experience, is so true. You have absolutely nailed it!! The First group are super easy to get along with!! The Second group…..Holy Cow!! It’s bad….