[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Barrister]

But to what I think your point might have been - I'm totally not following my own ideals here, or practicing what I'm preaching. Which I think speaks to some of the barriers that are in place, because I'd take the opportunities if they were at all practical (I'd like to have one of my kids be Prime Minister one day too, why not, though probably in a different mold than what I think you'd like from yours). And for the record, no, I don't speak French beyond what I retain from grades 9 and 10.

I'm hoping I can find ways to help my kids develop French fluency at some time in the future - maybe by means of some long immersive vacations and/ or camps in Quebec or France - but "hope is not a strategy" as we all know. Which underscores my reasoning for wanting more structural support for bilingualism. Because my own shortcomings notwithstanding, I think maintaining and supporting the bilingual myth of our country is pretty important for its long-term health.

So you're like me.  I'd love for my kids to learn French.  I'm certainly not some anti-French bigot who thinks that knowing French would pollute their minds or something.

But in order to go to french immersion would mean significant strain and difficulty for our family, and the possibility that "maybe one of them can be prime minister one day" just doesn't come close to pushing the balance in favour of french immersion.



Just as an aside - with the advances in AI and translation software, is this whole issue going to be moot in 20 years?

[Jacob]

Immersion programs in our school board are allocated by lottery, and they're over subscribed. So you can choose not to apply, but there's no guarantee whether you'll get a spot even if you want one.

[Valmy]

Just as an aside - with the advances in AI and translation software, is this whole issue going to be moot in 20 years?

That would be a weird world. You can just choose whatever you want your native language to be. You could go around speaking nothing but Classical Latin and everything would be seamlessly translated into Classical Latin for you.

[crazy canuck]

Being in French immersion causes significant strain and difficulty for a family?

[Barrister]

Being in French immersion causes significant strain and difficulty for a family?

Getting 3 kids to and from a non-local school every day would, yes.

[crazy canuck]

Being in French immersion causes significant strain and difficulty for a family?

Getting 3 kids to and from a non-local school every day would, yes.

I assumed there was one nearby. 

I think it was a huge benefit for my boys.  And neither wants to be PM or sit on the SCC 

[Valmy]

I assumed there was one nearby. 

I think it was a huge benefit for my boys.  And neither wants to be PM or sit on the SCC 

At least one of them can now mine for crypto-currency bilingually though.

[Sheilbh]

Not really political - but can someone explain Canada's position on this chart (it can't be density - see Australia):

[Barrister]

Not really political - but can someone explain Canada's position on this chart (it can't be density - see Australia):

We have a telecom oligopoly (Rogers / Bell) who are connected very closely to the governing Liberals.  As well foreign companies are prohibited from entering the Canadian market.  We have the illusion of mobile phone choice because the big two companies have set up various sub-brands, and will lease use network to other carriers, but obviously they don't allow them to compete on price.

There is a third carrier - Telus - but really it just splits the country with Telus having Sask- through BC, and Bell having Manitoba and everything east.

[Barrister]

Speaking of cell phone bills, in the last election the Liberals promised to cut Canadian's cell phone bills by 25%.

Needless to say two years later this has not happened.

[viper37]

As BB eluded to, the jargon in common law cases is completely different from the jargon in civil law cases.  In your world you might as well be talking to a botanist.  Sure there are similarities to the math you are using in your respective fields.  But the deeper knowledge required to understand the rest of the jargon has to be learned - in a different language.

law is a bit different, but we learn both english&french terminology in business classes.  Bilinguism is a requirement to graduate in Business Admin and engineering schools, probably others too.

[viper37]

Accepting for the purposes of argument that only someone who speaks the language should hear cases in that language, the vast majority of cases outside of Quebec would be in English - some 3/4. That means a unilingual English judge could still work on 3/4 of cases, while a unilingual French judge could only work on 1/4.

the last time it came up, we were told a translator was sufficient, for an english only judge.  Let's do the same, the English Canadian politicians and journalists will all agree it's a valid idea.

[Jacob]

Yeah, it's the traditional story of successful rent seekers keeping competitors out of the market to increase profits.

[Barrister]

It's not a co-incidence that until two weeks ago, 4 of the 7 NHL arena were named after Bell or Rogers. (Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Rogers Place in BC, Bell-MTS Place in Winnipeg, and Bell Centre in Montreal).  Those are the companies with enough disposable wealth to spend millions on ostentatious branding.

Bell-MTS Place's naming deal recently expired and was renamed to Canada Life Centre.

[viper37]

I'm trying to think of an example... it's as if to say that because Canada is such a racially diverse society that every SCC appointment much be of mixed-race heritage, to better reflect that diverse society.  And I suppose that would do a better job than Canada's all-white court (until the most recent appointment).  But it ignores the fact that comparatively few Canadians are of mixed-race heritage, and thus leads to a non-representative court.

It was spelled in bold letters for the most recent appointment: MUST BE FROM A VISIBLE MINORITY.  Bad example.  It certainly caused no problem among the polical and mediatic classes.  And apparently, the Libs found a very good candidate despite that criteria being at the top of the list.