Vive Le Quebec libre
>>Why are you guys treating it as if I said the Quebecois needed reasons to want independence? I believe Canada and Quebec should be separate and should have been a long time ago. I have stated my views on this more than once. My point of contention is becrying the "evil anglos" when the truth is far from that!<<
Of course, saying one believes such doesn't mean much in practice. Actually bringing about an independent Quebec is a whole nother matter from simply saying such.
>>Greg, I do not need a reason for them to separate, but "they" (the Quebecois) seem to. They can't just simply want to separate - they must talk about how they've been trodden on and mistreated and get a raw deal in Canada. Despite the fact that Quebec is the province in Canada that gets the most funding, they still talk of how they've been mistreated.<<
The only matter is that it is clear that the nat'l gov't in Canada is not going to easily accede to the secession of Quebec, as one can see from the aftermath of the 1995 vote on this very matter, when Quebec nearly did do just that, and furthermore it is such that Quebec cannot simply unilaterally secede, at least on a legal level, even though I don't think that the Ottawa gov't is likely to wage a civil war over the matter if Quebec did decide to unilaterally secede.
>>Canada has bent over backward to please them. The only thing it seems they haven't done is order everyone in Canada to speak French and change the country's name to Quebec.
We won't talk about the pro-French laws in the rest of the country and the anti-English laws in Quebec.<<
Having French as an official language and actually treating it as such in practice is "bending over backwards to please them"? I think not. If anything, it is just token in practice, just like much of that which which is meant to favor minorities is here. If anything, calling it such smells of pure reaction of the same sort that people complaining about how white males are discriminated against and how English is threatened here is.
Travis, I can see the other side of this argument well and it is well represented here. The other side needs to be represented as well because this is not a one-sided situation where everything is black and white. I am picketing with other Quebecois that Canada needs to let go. I think it's a shame they want to hold on to something that does not want it. Pathetic. However, this is the Canadian government. It's jsut likethe American government. It hardly stands for most of the population.
As my cousins live in Quebec, I know they are not trying to force anything down the Quebecois' throats. I take offense to the suggestion that it is otherwise. I have met many kind and rational Quebecois - some who want to separate, some who do not. This is fine and I support them. And then I've met ones (only two, thank God) that go on and on and evil anglos and spout lots of propaganda - except for my cousins and I of course. We're ok.
Canada has done much to appease Quebec, this is true. Of course, they have done this because they want to KEEP Quebec and keep it happy. I do not agree with these practices, and neither do many Canadian anglophones. I admit I may have gone a little overboard because neither is the Canadian government innocent in this (and rereading my post now, I see it may have sounded like this), but neither is Quebec.
Oh and Travis, as for doing something about it - alas I cannot, as I cannot vote in the next referendum. Just as many people here are helpless to do anything but add a voice to an internet forum. My cousins can though and they plan to vote for Quebec to separate.
As for the discrimination of white males and English being threatened.... yea right. Next the KKK will be telling us how the black man... oh wait, they already do.
<<The Anglo can say in a paper "French language and culture is not under attack" but in the reality when you go to other parts of the Anglo Canada and you don't speak English you can be sure that your chances of getting the same opportunities given to the Anglos are zero.>>
But is that really discrimination against French-speakers, or simply a fact that most of Canada outside Quebec is Anglophone, so obviously you'll need to speak English to find a (good) job? It's the same anywhere in the world! Here in Europe, as a citizen of the European Union, I technically have the right to get a job in any other country of the EU. In practice of course, it's not so simple, because of the language barriers. I could say "I can't get a job in Portugal because I can't speak Portuguese - this is discrimination!" Of course it isn't - it's a simple fact that most Portuguese jobs require a knowledge of Portuguese. Why would Anglophone Canada be any different? What are the chances of getting a job in Quebec if you don't speak French?
Tiffany : je vais en effet raccourcir ce message.
Mais permets-moi de te citer : « Ne parlons pas des lois favorables au français dans le reste du pays et des lois anti-anglais du Québec ».
Mais parlons-en Tiffany, au contraire ! La minorité anglophone jouit de droits spéciaux au Québec : elle est protégée et c'estr prévu par la « Charte de la langue française » ou loi-cadre n° 101. Exemples :
— toutes les lois québécoises sont publiées en français, seule langue officielle, mais aussi en anglais (langue protégée) ;
— les anglophones peuvent s'adresser en anglais aux tribunaux québécois ; (est-ce que l'inverse est vrai en Colombie-Britannique ?)
— les jugements sont rendus en français mais aussi, le cas échéant, en anglais sur simple demande de toute partie.
Gracias greg por el link.
Para los francófonos he aquí un link que explica el proyecto de Québec como un pais:
Pour les francophones, voici un lien qui explique la viabilité de le pays du Québec.
http://www.pq.org/tmp2005/programme2005.pdf
there will be no Quebec independency just like there will be no Waloon independency...Montreal is practically bilingual and Brussels is pratically bilingual. Knowledge of both official languages is needed for most better paid jobs in both Montreal and Brussels.
Montréal is the second biggest French city in the world after Paris even you like it or not Viola:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal
You hear FRENCH CITY not Anglo city, there people that speaks English and other languages but it's still a French city, like in Washington D.C are many languages spoken is still an ENGLISH CITY.
Et Bruxelles est une ville francophone.
No it's not.It's bilingual.
Les Flamands sont très minoritaires à Bruxelles même : 10 %, contre 90 % de francophones. Dans la région Bruxelles-Capitale, les francophones constituent 85 % de la population, contre 15 % de néerlandophones.
La région Bruxelles-Capitale en Belgique :
http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/images/belgium-provF.GIF .
Les communes de la région Bruxelles-Capitale :
http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/EtatsNsouverains/images/brussels-map.gif .
Le pourcentage de francophones (indiqué en rouge) dans les communes francophones du Brabant-Flamand — la région flamande qui borde la région Bruxelles-Capitale :
http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/europe/images/belgique-periferi.gif .
Bruxelles — ville, agglomération et région francophone — accorde pourtant des droits très étendus à la minorité néerlandophone puisque le néerlandais est considéré comme langue officielle. On ne peut pas en dire autant des villes flamandes où les francophones sont majoritaires ou constituent une minorité importante : Drogenbos (75 %), Crainhem (76 %), Linkebeek (80 %), Rhode-Saint-Genèse (56 %), Wemmel (50 %), Wezembeek-Oppem (75 %), Grand-Bigard (35 %), Zellik (20 %), Stroombeek (40 %), Tervuren (20 %), Overijse (32 %), Beersel (22 %).
Autre carte sur la périphérie bruxelloise :
http://www.carrefour.be/images/carteperipherie.gif .
>>there will be no Quebec independency just like there will be no Waloon independency...Montreal is practically bilingual and Brussels is pratically bilingual. Knowledge of both official languages is needed for most better paid jobs in both Montreal and Brussels.<<
Just so you know, Montreal is practically the only city in Quebec with a significant English-speaking population; to claim that Quebec as a whole is bilingual because of such is to claim that, say, Flanders is bilingual overall just because of the French-speaking enclave of Brussels.