[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[PRC]

Context.

Quebecois sovereigntism is grounded in a history of being treated as second class citizen, as well as genuine and significant linguistic and cultural differences. That seems to be a better basis for a separatist movement than whatever petulant crankery gets served up by Western separatists.

Then there's the fact that Quebecois sovereigntists speak for a larger proportion of the population they purport to represent, which gives them more weight than Western Separatists who are primarily a handful of Albertans deciding to speak for the Prairie provinces and BC.

That said, I'm in favour of Canada staying in one piece.

YMMV... i've spent many years on the West Coast and a handful now in Alberta and my experience is that the Cascadian independence voice is a louder one than any Albertan independence faction.  Not contradicting your experience, just offering an alternative one.

[Jacob]

YMMV... i've spent many years on the West Coast and a handful now in Alberta and my experience is that the Cascadian independence voice is a louder one than any Albertan independence faction.  Not contradicting your experience, just offering an alternative one.

I haven't encountered people in favour of Cascadian independence beyond the level of drunken bar conversations and alt-map enthusiasts; I mean, the Cascadia people are picturing a union of BC, Oregon, and Washington which is straight up laughable.

My impression of Albertan secessionist types is that they're marginally more organized and realistic, but I could be wrong. But if they're no more together than the Cascadian independence crowd they certainly don't rate anywhere near the same level of attention and seriousness as Quebec sovereigntists.

[Malthus]

But there is a history of the west being treated, at least economically, as second class citizens.  The NRTA, NEP, the Wheat Board.  In general most economic decisions made in Ottawa were to the benefit of central canadian manufacturing centre, and to the detriment of the western canadian resource sector.

Doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Does not the same objection apply to Francophone grievances?

[viper37]

Baird has unilingual business cards, in contradiction with the current laws specifying bilingual cards.

Now, while anglos are bitching about the costs of bilinguism in Canada, while we're supposed to apply austerity measures and cuts everywhere, what do we have?  A minister who violates the law and ordres unilingual business cards for 424.88$ a piece while the bilingual ones costs 197$ each.  I guess this is the real costs of bilinguism in this country...  It costs 3 times as much to satisfy the western anti-french sentiment than to respect the french minority of this country.

[Jacob]

That does seem a petty, unworthy gesture yeah.

[Neil]

1.  Francophones are stupid.

2.  $500 a card?  What's wrong with this guy?

[Jacob]

1.  Francophones are stupid.

2.  $500 a card?  What's wrong with this guy?

I'm hoping that's per order of cards...

[Agelastus]

Baird has unilingual business cards, in contradiction with the current laws specifying bilingual cards.

Now, while anglos are bitching about the costs of bilinguism in Canada, while we're supposed to apply austerity measures and cuts everywhere, what do we have?  A minister who violates the law and ordres unilingual business cards for 424.88$ a piece while the bilingual ones costs 197$ each.  I guess this is the real costs of bilinguism in this country...  It costs 3 times as much to satisfy the western anti-french sentiment than to respect the french minority of this country.

Are these cards gold and platinum plated? 

Anyway, assuming these are costs per order for similar quantities, what else was different between the two cards? Was he ripped off, or do they have some qualitative superiority (thicker card, for example) over the standard bilingual ones? Because the price difference on the face of it makes no sense (and I say this as somebody who had purchasing as one of their job duties for several years.)

[Jacob]

Are these cards gold and platinum plated? 

Anyway, assuming these are costs per order for similar quantities, what else was different between the two cards? Was he ripped off, or do they have some qualitative superiority (thicker card, for example) over the standard bilingual ones? Because the price difference on the face of it makes no sense (and I say this as somebody who had purchasing as one of their job duties for several years.)

I think you're missing viper's point. It's not that he wasted a few hundred bucks (though that's always extra ammunition); it's that he deliberately spent money to take the French language off his cards; contrary to the law/regulation/precedent.

A small but unfriendly gesture with little to explain it except deliberate unfriendliness.

[HVC]

Or it could be that he ordered cards and didn't think about adding French. Or more likely his assistant ordered cards.

[Agelastus]

Are these cards gold and platinum plated? 

Anyway, assuming these are costs per order for similar quantities, what else was different between the two cards? Was he ripped off, or do they have some qualitative superiority (thicker card, for example) over the standard bilingual ones? Because the price difference on the face of it makes no sense (and I say this as somebody who had purchasing as one of their job duties for several years.)

I think you're missing viper's point. It's not that he wasted a few hundred bucks (though that's always extra ammunition); it's that he deliberately spent money to take the French language off his cards; contrary to the law/regulation/precedent.

A small but unfriendly gesture with little to explain it except deliberate unfriendliness.

Oh, I understood that. I just wondered if he was a genuine "mark" as well as being stupid (for breaking the law) and biased/bigoted (for doing it in this fashion.)

If he's a genuine "mark" I may have some "swampland in Florida" for him...

[crazy canuck]

It would be more disturbing to me if a Minister of the Crown spent any time ordering his own cards.  It is much more likely that someone in his office or someone in a centralized purchasing office accomplished this feat.

[Jacob]

It would be more disturbing to me if a Minister of the Crown spent any time ordering his own cards.  It is much more likely that someone in his office or someone in a centralized purchasing office accomplished this feat.

Fair point.

I expct whoever is in charge of the person who made that mistake will have him fix it in short order.

[Malthus]

You know you live in a boring time and place (in the Chinese-curse sense), when the details of a politician's business cards form a truly significant public scandal. 

[Josephus]

You know you live in a boring time and place (in the Chinese-curse sense), when the details of a politician's business cards form a truly significant public scandal. 

Yeah. I mean I understand that a federal minister in a bilingual country should have bilingual business cards.....but yeah, the fact that this is the sort of stuff that makes scandalous news, is one of the reasons this is a great country to live in.