I recall my sainted mother’s biting comments about the Canadian bilingualism scam back in the Sixties. Any attempt at affirmative action always ends up rapidly becoming a racket, almost always enriching a very small elite at the expense of everyone else.
As someone from South Louisiana who is a cajun I consider that ridiculous.
I had a friend many years ago from Calgary whose father was francophone (the son had at least a reading knowledge of French). His view: “the only thing good that comes from the east is the sun”. He said every stop sign in Alberta said ‘STOP / ARRET’ even though there were no monolingual Francophones in the province. In Quebec, which had a considerable Anglophone population, public signs in English are illegal. This contrived insult is a point of pride among the Quebecois. Anglophone Canada should have the sense to show them the door.
Official bilingualism is a courtesy proper in New Brunswick and in a modest string of municipalities in Ontario. It would be in much of Quebec as well, if the government there had any courtesy. It’s a gratuitous nuisance in the rest of Canada.
You generally are correct when you assume that every.bloody.thing pushed by the elites on the left side is either a hoax or a scam; and generally is meant to control you: deplorable rabble.
This contrived insult is a point of pride among the Quebecois. Anglophone Canada should have the sense to show them the door.
Indeed.
It’s best not to get involved in the squabbles of someone else’s family. I suggest leaving this for “www.the-canadian-catholic.com”.
Howard, it’s also best to remember that this is Mr. McClarey’s
blog, and not yours. Who appointed you to be his editor?
The dual-language scam up north is also hardly an obscure internal matter that can’t possibly reflect on situations in the US.
Obviously, I’m a hockey fan. It is amazing to me that French Canadian players often arrive in the NHL with nearly nonexistent ability to communicate in English.
Nobody asked me but I would make the whole province learn English.
PF- I grew up around American citizens descended from totally legal immigrants who were “helped” with “two language” training.
One was a ranch hand who was probably at least as intelligent as I am, but incoherent in two different languages because he didn’t have any vocabulary beyond day to day use. (For example, “sprinkler” hadn’t been covered.) Another was a friend of a guy I dated in the Navy who only was able to enter the Navy because he signed up before 9/11– his ASVAP put him as much, much stupider. He wasn’t. He just couldn’t read very well in anything but some Filipino language. (No, I don’t know which one, I suspect a bastard form of Taglog from vague memories his family thought he talked funny when home from school.)
Both of them, if you could overcome the communication issues, were a LOT smarter than they tested or otherwise seemed.
Historically, my great grandmother taught at an “Indian school.”
They were taught how to read and write proper English, along with any Scottish, Italian or Basque kids who showed up. (Her kids among them.)
That really pissed off the guys who’d had a racket “helping” them make deals, which is why the parents wanted them in the school.
It’s best not to get involved in the squabbles of someone else’s family. I suggest leaving this for “www.the-canadian-catholic.com”.
Do you have a reason to make that suggestion other than just being an irritant?
@Clinton, Art Deco — It’s important to remember that it is my comment, not yours or Mr. McClarey’s; and you have not obvious reason to make your complaint other than to be an irritant. Hollow criticisms of this kind can be hurled back and forth equally.
However, let me be more substantial. Quebec’s weird obsession with the French language is indeed arguably a fault, but I doubt it makes the top 100 faults in Canada. It is at most a mote in the eye of Canada. By the same token, the USA has not one but quite a few planks in our collective eye. Someone has already given advice about situations like this.
It’s not just a matter of being able to see better, though; there is also a matter of manners. For example, I think it is a serious aesthetic mistake for a woman to get any tattoos or for anyone to get a large number of them. I think no one should dye his or her hair a color that is obviously not natural and that men should not get their ears pierced. It would be self-centered for me to think that my preferences in these matters are or should be important to any but a tiny handful of people, though; you are probably thinking right now that you are not in that handful, and not only are you right, that is the point. If I were to offer unsolicited advice on personal appearance, I would be in the wrong: I would be rude, and I would deserve to have the many flaws in my own appearance thrown back at me. I would have done absolutely no real good; the only good that would come of it would be the much-deserved humble pie coming my way. I would instead have done real harm to whatever relationship might have existed with the object of my criticism, and my more important warnings would be less likely to be taken seriously.
Coming from a not so long line of Minnesota Vikings fans, we have a saying: If you can’t beat Detroit, who can you beat.
Something similar applies to the United States and Canada.
Never forget: American Eurotrash wannabes pretend they’re from Canada when they’re on the other side of the pond.
It’s always good to have a carry on/ backpack with a big maple leaf on it when travelling in a country not fond of Yanks. Eh?
I can’t wait for my next trip to Europe. I’ll be wearing my American flag baseball caps & t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Greatest Country of All-Time!” in English & the respective countries spoken language.
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