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Quebec is at least 12 percent anglo. (1 million people). English doesn't have to be your mother tongue to be an anglophone. If you speak it more often than French outside of the home, you're an anglophone.
How was NationalistDefeator's post "anglo-supremacist"?
I agree with him on how the comparisons with other provinces are irrelevant. There is no Bill 101 in Ontario. There is no city in Ontario that was built from the ground up by the minority like Montreal was. There are no official languages in Ontario. I have much respect for Franco-Ontarians and what they have contributed to Ontario, but their rights aren't being suppressed at the government level like Anglos' rights are in Quebec.
And this is why Anglo-Quebecers are getting less and less sympathy from people outside Quebec - ''we deserve more because... we're just better''.
You guys should read up on Canadian constitutional law and you will see that anglophones and francophones are totally on equal footing. It doesn't have anything to do with what percentage of a city's buildings were built by a particular group's ancestors... And in any event, 90% of the descendants of the anglos who built stuff in Montreal 150 years ago aren't even living in Quebec anymore and haven't for generations.
Built from the ground up by the minority? This is getting ridiculous.
Maybe saying "built from the ground up" wasn't the best wording. I'm not saying that French Canadians haven't contributed substantially to Montreal's development. They have. The Metro was built under a francophone mayor. The early foundation years of Montreal in the late 17th and early 18th centuries were critical to creating the city we have today. This must be acknowledged in the addition to the acknowledgement that without the contribution of anglophones to Montreal, the city wouldn't be even half of what it is today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
And this is why Anglo-Quebecers are getting less and less sympathy from people outside Quebec - ''we deserve more because... we're just better''.
You guys should read up on Canadian constitutional law and you will see that anglophones and francophones are totally on equal footing. It doesn't have anything to do with what percentage of a city's buildings were built by a particular group's ancestors... And in any event, 90% of the descendants of the anglos who built stuff in Montreal 150 years ago aren't even living in Quebec anymore and haven't for generations.
I would be completely 100% content and I wouldn't say a word about language again if we had the same language rights in Quebec that French has in any province in the rest of Canada at the provincial level. Since the 1970s, we don't have that anymore.
Maybe saying "built from the ground up" wasn't the best wording. I'm not saying that French Canadians haven't contributed substantially to Montreal's development. They have. The Metro was built under a francophone mayor. The early foundation years of Montreal in the late 17th and early 18th centuries were critical to creating the city we have today. This must be acknowledged in the addition to the acknowledgement that without the contribution of anglophones to Montreal, the city wouldn't be even half of what it is today.
I would be completely 100% content and I wouldn't say a word about language again if we had the same language rights in Quebec that French has in any province in the rest of Canada at the provincial level. Since the 1970s, we don't have that anymore.
And this is where you are mistaken. The only ROC province where francophones technically have more rights than Anglo-Quebecers is New Brunswick.
Just taking the example of Ontario, things would have to be beefed up considerably for francophones in order for things to attain the level of English stuff in Quebec. Ontario francophones should have at least two French-only universities (they have none at the moment), several more French-only colleges, and several more francophone hospitals. And I have just touched upon the education and health areas here.
Just because francophones in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta have the "freedom" to post French-only signs in front of their businesses, doesn't mean they are better treated in French by their provinces, or even by the (anglo) majority in their provinces.
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On one hand you want Quebec to be ONLY French speaking yet you want to rest of Canada, traditionally English speaking, to become bilingual? Canada is already a bilingual country EVERYWHERE, technically, although French words aren't everywhere, they're on things like packaging. Quebec should be bilingual too, both French and English. All Canadian children should learn English. If anything, a lack of English signage would make Quebec LESS appealing for me to visit simply for it's inconvenience. Has New Orleans lost any of it 's character and charm now that it's mostly English speaking?
On one hand you want Quebec to be ONLY French speaking yet you want to rest of Canada, traditionally English speaking, to become bilingual? Canada is already a bilingual country EVERYWHERE, technically, although French words aren't everywhere, they're on things like packaging. Quebec should be bilingual too, both French and English. All Canadian children should learn English.
Is this directed at me? I never said that the rest of Canada should be wall-to-wall bilingual but Quebec French only. All of the stuff that exists in the rest of Canada (bilingual labelling, federal services, etc.) also exists in Quebec. Plus, except for New Brunswick, Quebec has the highest level of bilingualism on the ground in education, services, passers-by, tourism, etc. in the country by far.
And BTW all children in Canada do learn English, including those in Quebec. English is mandatory starting in Grade 1 for every single year of elementary and high school in Quebec. (Note that French is
The reason that some people in Quebec don't speak English in spite of having taken it in school is the same reason that English Canadians who took French didn't retain it: they have little use for it in their everyday lives so it lapses.
It's very provocative to say this but "on the ground", Quebec (along with possibly New Brunswick) is the model for the Canadian bilingual ideal, and even a certain Canadian multilingual ideal. Most of the rest of Canada, including even the most diverse cities, is certainly not.
. If anything, a lack of English signage would make Quebec LESS appealing for me to visit simply for it's inconvenience.
Not every potential tourist to Quebec agrees and also, one should not forget that "practicality" is first and foremost about the people who actually live in a place 365 days a year.
Do you limit your travels to places that have English signage all over the place and where you are absolutely sure you won't run into signs you can't understand?
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