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Another point is how *welcomed* would immigrants in Ottawa or Winnipeg feel if they insisted on speaking French with everyone they run into all of the time, and also looked down on the English spoken by locals?
Well, we may never know of course because even immigrants from francophone countries in Ottawa and Winnipeg (and Toronto and Vancouver and Calgary) all learn English very fast and use it at least part of the day every day of their lives in these places.
@ Acajack since I know you are already fervently typing out your rebuttal since Quebec in practice doesn't line up with what some people want it to be. Gatineau is an anomaly in Quebec and hardly representative of the province. Your experience as an out of province French Canadian isn't comparable to actual minorities who have to live in Quebec with no real chance of the acceptance that can be achieved in Anglo North America.
I can give lexdiamondz a pat on the back for honesty. If you don't want to learn Quebec French, then he is right that Quebec is not the place to be. If you have to learn French in the first place, steer clear of Quebec unless you have a particular cultural love for the place.
What really drew me to Quebec was the solidarity aspect. Hydro-Quebec is owned by the government and treated as common patrimony. People are willing to pay high taxes to support social goals like affordable child care and education. Of course sometimes the government in this province is incompetent and focus on stupid things like charter of values and languages. Overall though, I feel like Quebec is a society that can accomplish great things if it set out to do so. People don't just vote for whoever promise the biggest tax cuts just so they can blow the extra money on consumer goods.
Sometimes I would drive around Montreal with my wife and look at the infrastructure that was built back in the day. Olympic Stadium, Mirabel Airport, the Metro system, this was a society that built all those things in a short span of time. Quebec set out to make day care affordable and did so without threats of government shutdown, sequestration battles or other craziness. Toronto elected Rob Ford because he promised tax cuts, I would be really embarrassed if I were a Torontan.
Knowing what I like and don't like, which province would you recommend? I'm willing to move anywhere, even Nunavut.
Knowing what I like and don't like, which province would you recommend? I'm willing to move anywhere, even Nunavut.
Seems to me if you dont mind living under all the linguistic rules and regulations that Quebec imposes on its citizens then enjoy Quebec you dont need to move anywhere else.
... Overall though, I feel like Quebec is a society that can accomplish great things if it set out to do so. People don't just vote for whoever promise the biggest tax cuts just so they can blow the extra money on consumer goods.
Sometimes I would drive around Montreal with my wife and look at the infrastructure that was built back in the day. Olympic Stadium, Mirabel Airport, the Metro system, this was a society that built all those things in a short span of time.
Of course, Olympic Stadium wasn't fully paid for, for 30 years, and poorly-constructed, and drops concrete in the seating areas from time to time; and Mirabel Airport was a federal-government initiative (i.e. it was not built by Quebec) that turned out to be an unnecessary white elephant. Montreal's Metro, though, is very well-built and efficient.
For that matter, Toronto has the Air Canada Centre and Skydome (which has hosted World Series victories), Vancouver hosted Expo 86 and the infrastructure built for that event still serves Vancouver today, Calgary's Flames won the Stanley Cup in the Saddledome, and Edmonton hosts the largest football stadium in Canada. I'm unsure why sports stadiums are important, but as they seem to be to you, I'm offering my thoughts.
I'm not complaining about infrastructure in Quebec, as much as I am wondering what experience you have with the rest of Canada? Hydro-Quebec is pretty much the same as Ontario Power (or whatever is is calling itself these days); and Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver all have fast and efficient subways or LRTs. In each, and many more cities, while English is the typical language of instruction, French immersion schooling is available at no extra cost, with no questions asked as to what language parents were educated in. Heck, in Calgary, Spanish immersion schooling through the public system is available. No certification necessary--choose what school you want your child to attend, and off they go.
It seems to me that, given your wishes, you might wish to explore opportunities in the rest of Canada.
Of course, Olympic Stadium wasn't fully paid for, for 30 years, and poorly-constructed, and drops concrete in the seating areas from time to time; and Mirabel Airport was a federal-government initiative (i.e. it was not built by Quebec) that turned out to be an unnecessary white elephant. Montreal's Metro, though, is very well-built and efficient.
For that matter, Toronto has the Air Canada Centre and Skydome (which has hosted World Series victories), Vancouver hosted Expo 86 and the infrastructure built for that event still serves Vancouver today, Calgary's Flames won the Stanley Cup in the Saddledome, and Edmonton hosts the largest football stadium in Canada. I'm unsure why sports stadiums are important, but as they seem to be to you, I'm offering my thoughts.
I'm not complaining about infrastructure in Quebec, as much as I am wondering what experience you have with the rest of Canada? Hydro-Quebec is pretty much the same as Ontario Power (or whatever is is calling itself these days); and Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver all have fast and efficient subways or LRTs. In each, and many more cities, while English is the typical language of instruction, French immersion schooling is available at no extra cost, with no questions asked as to what language parents were educated in. Heck, in Calgary, Spanish immersion schooling through the public system is available. No certification necessary--choose what school you want your child to attend, and off they go.
It seems to me that, given your wishes, you might wish to explore opportunities in the rest of Canada.
I have visited many other places in Canada but I have only lived in Montreal thus far. It's not sports stadiums that are important to me, but I like to live somewhere where the society can set common goals and gather the resources to accomplish them. I don't know enough about the rest of Anglo Canada to generalize, so I want to keep an open mind. What I would like is a sense of social solidarity. What I don't like is Thatcherism, the there is no such thing as society, just individuals and families worldview.
Of course, Olympic Stadium wasn't fully paid for, for 30 years, and poorly-constructed, and drops concrete in the seating areas from time to time; and Mirabel Airport was a federal-government initiative (i.e. it was not built by Quebec) that turned out to be an unnecessary white elephant. Montreal's Metro, though, is very well-built and efficient.
For that matter, Toronto has the Air Canada Centre and Skydome (which has hosted World Series victories), Vancouver hosted Expo 86 and the infrastructure built for that event still serves Vancouver today, Calgary's Flames won the Stanley Cup in the Saddledome, and Edmonton hosts the largest football stadium in Canada. I'm unsure why sports stadiums are important, but as they seem to be to you, I'm offering my thoughts.
I'm not complaining about infrastructure in Quebec, as much as I am wondering what experience you have with the rest of Canada? Hydro-Quebec is pretty much the same as Ontario Power (or whatever is is calling itself these days); and Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver all have fast and efficient subways or LRTs. In each, and many more cities, while English is the typical language of instruction, French immersion schooling is available at no extra cost, with no questions asked as to what language parents were educated in. Heck, in Calgary, Spanish immersion schooling through the public system is available. No certification necessary--choose what school you want your child to attend, and off they go.
It seems to me that, given your wishes, you might wish to explore opportunities in the rest of Canada.
The rest of Canada is certainly a good and even an excellent place to live (I often say Anglo-Canada might be the world's most successful diverse society, pound for pound), but if I may be honest this post smacks a bit of "us too! look at us!"
I have visited many other places in Canada but I have only lived in Montreal thus far. It's not sports stadiums that are important to me, but I like to live somewhere where the society can set common goals and gather the resources to accomplish them. I don't know enough about the rest of Anglo Canada to generalize, so I want to keep an open mind. What I would like is a sense of social solidarity. What I don't like is Thatcherism, the there is no such thing as society, just individuals and families worldview.
Anglo-Canada is not a Thatcherite society, but like the U.S. is it is a much more individualistic place than Quebec is.
Another point I'd like to make is this particular facet of Quebec is largely related to the language difference. It's not primarily because the language is French, but more because Quebec speaks a different language. If Quebec spoke Klingon or Romanian you'd still have societal differences on a similar level between it and the rest of the continent.
Agreed on all points. But the anglo left in Montreal did not and would never have supported the PQ even if that party represented (at the time) the best hope for social justice in Quebec.
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