Should Quebec be its own country?

Ive heard alot of people tell me that when they went on vacation or on a buisness trip to Quebec because they were not from there they were treated like shit.

 

It's a common complaint and in most of the situations. It is someone from France that feels the need to "correct" our grammar. Or it is an anglophone visiting Québec do not even make an attempt to speak the language.

For the people from France.
It is without doubt that we speak french. But this is Québec and not France. If you want to visit or live in Québec.. Learn to speak Québécois. ((( Please note that my experience has shown this problem does not exist with the Belgique or the Swiss))


For the anglophone visiters.

Everyone knows at least 4 words in French. 1) Bonjour 2) au revoir 3) Merci « and merci beaucoup » 4) S'il vous plait

Québec is not like California... Which is an anglophone state with a lot of spanish speaking people. Québec is a FRANCOPHONE state with a lot of english speaking people. Over 85% of the people in Québec speak french as a first language.

Nothing makes me more mean and nasty then when an anglophone comes up to me and just starts speaking in english without even so much as saying « Bonjour » It's rude and ignorant. And if you're rude and ignorant to me, I'm going to be rude and ignorant to you.

I'm not being mean or nasty and I understand learning another language can be difficult. But it would not kill any person coming to Québec to learn the phrase « Parlez-vous anglais » ? (Translation : do you speak english)

It's 3 words..
1) Parlez
2) Vous
3) anglais ?

And if they add the word « Bonjour » before saying that phrase. I'll gladly switch to english and treat them like a welcomed visiter. But when a person approaches me and starts that anglophone bla bla bla....

I'm not going to try and figure out if you're looking for « Micheal » street or avenue « Michel ».

 

Merci Mark.

Voici d’abord des statistiques sur la langue française au Canada.

 

Quebec is nothing like france. You probably haven't ever been to France to say such a thing.

Better yet, have you travelled across Canada to be able to say such a statement?

because last I checked, Western Canada is pretty different than the prairies, just as eastern canada is different than the rest... Let's not even get into Northern Canada...

 

This animosity across Canada is never going to end. Especially when we have to listen to minority languages leading inappropriately in every God damn ceremony we have. This remembrance day, I believe I heard "God Save the Queen" in french! That is just plain FUCKED UP! Not that I consider myself a loyalist or anything but that is just plain disrespectful.

It is not EQUALITY to give PREFERENCE to minorities or let 30% of the population control 70% of the government! Quebec has their distinct culture, don't force your culture on English Canada and ruin every fucking event. If Quebec ever separates I will fight to make Canada monolingual country with an English capitol and government.

 

and water is different from ice.. cheese different from milk.. blue different from green.. youre so right!!!

 

First of all francophone canadiens are 43% of canada. This number reflects not only the québécois but the acadiens, métis of manitoba, franco-ontarians, etc

Second, Québec will never seperate. And the majority of the Québécois don't care if we stay part of canada or not. All we want is what we have always wanted. The right to services in our language all across canada.

Third, Québec and english canada have more or less the same culture. In fact, we are most like Alberta. Right down to the cowboys, country music and rodeos.

Fourth, Québec seperatisme is all about money. Québec's gouverment is a bunch of assholes and it doesn't matter if they are federalist or seperatist. They could care less about the average citzen of Québec. They treat us all like dirt.

In Québec it comes down to :

1) Shut up and don't ask questions

2) Go to work or collect a cheque

3 Pay your taxes

4) Don't ever try use any gouvernment services (including your health card) because peope that do are put in a lottery to have their lives made a living hell by portuguese beureaucrats.

Plus our gouverment is racist. If you have a québécois accent, you're fucked if you try to get a job. But if you walk in with a Parisien accent, you'll get made king of parliment. French immigrants come to Québec and they get (on average) paid 20% more. They also get hired for jobs that most better qualified Québécois can not even get a job interview for.

 

If there are those who do not wish to be part of Canada...

GET THE FUCK OUT...

How's that for simple...

As for the bag of hot air that has been posting here, on this predominantly English site in french... Then claiming that English people are rude for speaking English in CANADA...

Well, his words demonstrate what he is, clearer then I ever could.

 

funniest thing about this is that here in quebec, majority of the province don't want to seperate.

 

And the majority of canada doesn't want it to seperate, and most don't have any problems with the whole idea of a unique culture... until that 'unique culture' tries to make it the ONLY culture...

 

What I find ironic is that on a site like this one, "peace and love, accept everyone for who they are, etc etc etc" we get some people who are pissed at minorities, and would rather have everyone speak english and only english.

We're a multi-cultural country. Especially in Quebec, where we have bits and pieces of the whole world in one provice. It's amazing. There's so much that can be learned from it... Rather than embracing the idea of it all, we get comments like:

 

Go through and re-read what I said. What I have said in every post that this comes up in...

I have no problem with people speaking french... I dont give a fuck what language you or anyone else speaks...

My problem is that in Quebec, it is the ENGLISH who are told they CAN'T use their language... In all of canada, we are bilingual, EXCEPT QUEBEC WHICH IS FRENCH....

Do you not see the hypocrisy?

 

Quebec should not be allowed to go anywhere.

That is like my kid telling me that they are going to put up a fence on my property and take a chunk of it for their own, after slapping me in the face and telling me they hate me...

Ridiculous.

 

You can call it hypocracy, I see it differently. First off, I never have any problems communicating with anyone in Montreal. Most of the time french people are willing to try to speak english, and I do the same. When I go out of Montreal, (Quebec City, Gatineau), I'm always surprised at the willingness people have to accomodate english speakers.

There are a few stupid issues... Including some quebec government forms that are only available in french, Quebec government website only in french. That stuff bugs me, but again, it;s not the end of the world.

I'm sure I'll get trashed for this, but let's face it... Majority of Quebec has french speaking people, and if they don't try to keep Quebec french culture as a strong point, the province will quickly turn into a boring melting pot.

It may sound weird but one of the reasons people from Montreal keep strong ties with their cultural background is because of the french. So we owe them that much, even though it happened by accident. We didn't turn out to be a melting pot community like so much of the rest of north america.

 

What do you call it then?

In all of Canada, every government service must be offered in english and french, every government employee is supposed to be english and french...

Because all of Canada recognize that both french and english are OUR heritage...

EXCEPT quebec, who has passed laws OUTLAWING english signs, who has no requirement for english workers. Who has laws that make it damn near impossible and in some cases illegal for non-quebecors to work in quebec, yet many quebecors work outside quebec...

There is definitely oppression going on... From QUEBEC to anyone english.

This is why there is always, and always WILL be such a dislike for those who whine about how unfair the french are treated.

 

I spent half of my life growing up in Quebec and my mother worked their for 21 years. When I was growing up I never encountered a person in/from Quebec who would not speak French to me (stork clerk, Tim Hortons, food place, etc.). The French people from Quebec have been more than accommodating to us english. Hell, my dad was born there and spent most of his life there and never spoke a word of french. Anyone remember when Maurice Richard was in his prime? Everyone thought he was stupid because he could barely speak english. So there was a big deal about how French players deserve the same respect the english ones got, who btw never spoke french. It seems that it's always been the french who are expected to speak english because they're the minority here, we don't force the english to speak french.

That being said, Within the 21 years of my mother working in Quebec for the government of Canada they rarely bothered her to learn French. Everyone in her department was french/bilingual. 2-3 years ago people (I'm not sure who) started cracking down on english people working in public service jobs. My mother was forced to learn french to an exceptable degree otherwise she'd lose her job. She had to take six months off work to learn french 8 hours a day in a class. Her job had absolutely nothing to do with french anything, most everyone there spoke english (despite being french). Long story short, she learned french, passed the grade, and they still let go of her because she is english. The french department wanted someone french to fill her job, which they found while she was still in school.

Same deal with the fire chief here in ottawa. He was threatened to be let go because he didn't speak french. Not sure what the hell french has to do with his job, but he was forced to learn it. (Under 2 years ago)

Anyone know where Pakenham Ontario is? Miles away from anything worth mentioning. The post office there was forced to fire an employee because they didn't speak french. (Under 2 years ago)

It seems when it comes down to any issue regarding the french in Canada it's always about some matter of respect. The french seem to always feel slighted over some triviality. Whether they feel that they're not represented in Parliament, people in the rest of Canada don't bother speaking french, etc. It's always something.

Quebec can't separate, it doesn't have the means to do so and it would be way too costly to them. It's a pipe dream and it'll never happen. Besides, do you really think that Parliament would let the French and Native population have 1,542,056 square kilometers to run. Not in a million years.

Though something I noticed Tom wrote. Although things like Post Offices, some banks etc. are required to speak french across Canada, I think it's safe to assume that outside of Ontario, Canadian citizens don't really speak french, or want to. As far as I know it's only something Ontario has to deal with (because Parliament/the government is here).

 

C'est la vie

 

So your bilingual. Ok, then you should be able to continue this conversation in french. N'est-ce pas ?

You're still just a goof.

 

Quebec will never separate. The population of the province have made that clear.

As far as any one in any province being rude to a tourist who is bringing money into the coffers, they are idiots.

 

Oui, je suis d'accord avec toi.
(I agree with you)

It depends on how you approach a person. Does it not ?

I'm certain you wouldn't like people from france or china or any other nation comming to Ontario and barking their language at you and getting angry when you don't fully understand.