British citizen creates national uproar in Quebec

[viper37]

What's a problem is that the signs which the company may have on hand for places like France will not do in Quebec, because typically they will be bilingual and so French does not "predominate" to the degree required by Quebec sensitivities.

a sign is a big physical thing.  And you have various regulations, in cities, provinces and countries about what is acceptable and where
You really think that companies will have these signs made in France to import over here?

Let's quit being silly please.  These signs are built in Quebec or Ontario or United States.  Custom made for the clients.

Looking around me, I see such businesses as Future Shop, Subway and McDonald's, all of them companies who originate from outside of Quebec, and they have no problem with the French.
Actually, Future Shop had a lot problems with French, until they were sold to an American company.
Then everything became 100% bilingual.

On the top of my head, the big companies I remember who went to court and had complaints about our laws were: Sears, Zellers, Simpson's, Laura Secord, Sun Life, and some SMBs owned by anglo-Quebecers.

Funny how things are.  American businesses seems to have less problems with our language laws than Canadian ones.  Hey.  Go figure

[Oexmelin]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

[HVC]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

really, you should have included english at half the size, it'd only be fair

[Berkut]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

really, you should have included english at half the size, it'd only be fair

being so very concerned about the rights of the predominant language, I am sure Oex will be posting this in twice the size, in English, shortly.

He is a fair and objective man, after all.

[Oexmelin]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

really, you should have included english at half the size, it'd only be fair

Votre souhait est mon ordre. 
Truly, Vip, threads like this one, when we usually agree on nothing, prove to me Quebec is truly a nation.

[Berkut]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

really, you should have included english at half the size, it'd only be fair

Votre souhait est mon ordre. 
Truly, Vip, threads like this one, when we usually agree on nothing, prove to me Quebec is truly a nation.

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!

[HVC]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

really, you should have included english at half the size, it'd only be fair

Votre souhait est mon ordre. 
Truly, Vip, threads like this one, when we usually agree on nothing, prove to me Quebec is truly a nation.

Merci thank you i understood most of your post... well everything after the first comma at least

[ulmont]

If I go traveling in Europe, and get some belgian waiter who is a rude ass, I will think "Damn, that guy is a rude ass!" but if I am in France when that happens I think "Ha! Typical French!" because that little nugget of bias is already planted in my mind that the French are rude.

http://xkcd.com/385/

[viper37]

Quebec, on the other hand, seems to have not cared in the slightest that France was actually being invaded and conquered by Germany.

that's a common misconception spread by the English Canadians.

During the First World War, it was seen by French Quebecers as it was: a traditional European conflict, just like the Boers war was a British Empire war and the people of Quebec didn't feel the need to get involved, not even pay for "volunteers" to fight in that war.

So, when Canada entered war with Germany at the same time Great Britain declared war (we were still officially a colony back then), most French Canadians were reluctant to fight for a foreign country (UK) and fight in a foreign war for something that did not really concern them.  I'd say it's the same mindset that prevailed in the USA at the time: not our fight.  So, the English Canadians decided to tried the same recruitment tactict they did with their people, appealing to the patriotic values of the Motherland, albeit this time they changed "Mother England" for "Mother France".
And it was a failure.  French Canadians had no more desire to fight for France than to fight for England, and Canada not actually being a real country at the time, volunteer recruitment was pretty low.
And there was only mixed regiments, were french canadians often took order from english officers.


Then came WWII.
And that was a different matter.
For starters, this time we had language based regiment, were officers and soldiers were all French speaking or all english speaking.
And actually, as a % of the population, volunteer recruitment was higher in Quebec than in the rest of Canada.
But people don't really like to be forced to do something, so there was a lot of opposition to the idea of Conscription.  There were people totally opposed to the war, but for the majority of the population, they simply opposed to forced recruitment.  Probably more so than the English Canadians.
And at the time (1939-1940; conscription was voted in 1941, despite MacKinzie-King promise of not doing so).


So, many Canadians to this day still believe that French Canadians never wanted to fight in the war, wich is simply not true.  English & French Canadians fought in this war, but on both sides, it can be argued that volunteer recruitment was too low.

[viper37]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

Aucun doutes là-dessus! 

[crazy canuck]

As someone who has spent some time serving tables, I never understood that.

I mean, it is usually rather obvious if someone wants something - they will be looking around and such. Otherwise, just making yourself visible and available is perfectly adequate. I generally refused to follow managements "rules" about how often you were supposed to go back and check on a table. One check a few minutes after meals are served, and otherwise just be around if needed while you deal with other tables.

If you notice a drink is empty (coffee, soda, whatever) just refill it. You don't have to bug them about it - just do it.

The best service I get is the service I hardly notice and my needs are met before I even realize I have them.

Like your example of filling hte water glass.

[Sheilbh]

The best service I get is the service I hardly notice and my needs are met before I even realize I have them.

Like your example of filling hte water glass.

Yeah.  The less I notice you the more I tip.  Although sometimes it's nice to have the whole small-talk thing sometimes.

[crazy canuck]

According to the latest data, 40,5% of Quebecers declare themselves bilingual. That percentage is 10,3% in Canada. Studies also show that level of bilingualism is systematically underestimated in Quebec and overestimated elsewhere in Canada. In other words, English-second-language speakers in Quebec tend to devaluate the quality of their English (because we have examples of very bilingual persons around us) while French-second-language speakers outside of Quebec tend to overestimate their level of mastery (because the French they possess usually permit them to do simple task in that language).

That is very interesting and a huge number for bilingual speakers in Quebec.  Although given my experience there I should not be all that surprised.  It often struck me that people were at first hestitant to speak English because they thought they did not speak very well when in fact they spoke extremely well - which confirms what you were saying.

[Grallon]

Ce sont des enfilades comme celles-ci, alors que l'on ne s'entend habituellement sur rien de rien, qui me prouvent que le Québec est une nation... 

Indeed.  But then again I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it, if only to piss in the face of our canadian posters' conceits, their nation is based on the denial of ours.  All sorts of convoluted arguments are constantly used to justify said denial.  And nowhere is it more obvious than when it comes to our language laws.  *shrug*




G.

[HVC]

Indeed.  But then again I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it, if only to piss in the face of our canadian posters' conceits, their nation is based on the denial of ours.  All sorts of convoluted arguments are constantly used to justify said denial.  And nowhere is it more obvious than when it comes to our language laws.  *shrug*
G.

Actually, on a daily basis no one really thinks about quebec, language laws or not. And if denail and hate creates a nation, then Toronto is a nation onto itself since far more canadians (even within the nation of quebec ) hate Toronto .