Canada to firmly re-assess its status as a British colony

[viper37]

They strike me as sort of people who are in a perpetual state of outrage.

You should read Canadian newspapers to get things into perspective.

Well I might be projecting a bit there.  We have many segments in the US that, politically anyway, are always outraged.

One recent example is the man who sued Air Canada for being, repeatdly, denied french service on board the aircrafts of the company (they have a monopoly on interior flight so long as they provide bilingual services).  he won.  But the amount of vitriol and call for deportation of the Québécois back to France was... Beyhond measure.  Not only from comments allowed to be published on newspapers sites&blogs, but also from editorials.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/15/a-12000-7up-mon-dieu
comment's section...
comment's again
A blogger's view on this

They are the cry babies.  They're all "multi-culti" when it suits them, but when it comes to respecting french-speaking citizens, there's just as much respect as there was in 1840 with the Act of Union.

[crazy canuck]

Seems to me asking for 500,000 in punitives in this case deserves the same kind of treatment as any other excessive claim.

[garbon]

Well I'm happy for you that you are no longer inferior.  Still, these complaints about paintings being taken down are a bit tiresome.  You guys kind of remind me of Southerners and their stupid confederate battle flag.  "It's our culture and heritage!".  That's not really fair. You guys aren't that bad, but it's a similar vibe.

Yes that isn't fair. After all, one is going to come across as somewhat vitriolic and extreme - if they are attempting to preserve their culture through the rule of law.

[Razgovory]

Do people have the right to be served in English in Quebec?

[Malthus]

They strike me as sort of people who are in a perpetual state of outrage.

You should read Canadian newspapers to get things into perspective.

Well I might be projecting a bit there.  We have many segments in the US that, politically anyway, are always outraged.

One recent example is the man who sued Air Canada for being, repeatdly, denied french service on board the aircrafts of the company (they have a monopoly on interior flight so long as they provide bilingual services).  he won.  But the amount of vitriol and call for deportation of the Québécois back to France was... Beyhond measure.  Not only from comments allowed to be published on newspapers sites&blogs, but also from editorials.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/15/a-12000-7up-mon-dieu
comment's section...
comment's again
A blogger's view on this

They are the cry babies.  They're all "multi-culti" when it suits them, but when it comes to respecting french-speaking citizens, there's just as much respect as there was in 1840 with the Act of Union.

Fully bilingual dude asked for $525,000 for failure to obtain a 7-Up in French. On a flight, mark you, to that hotbed of the French Language - the US.

I would have thought that this would strike any reasonable person as an absurd working of the system.

[Malthus]

Do people have the right to be served in English in Quebec?

On an airplane, yes (federal sphere and all). In businesses under Quebec provincial jurisdiction, no.

[HVC]

Do people have the right to be served in English in Quebec?

Probably... but they have to respond 50% quiter in english then in french

[Grallon]

Fully bilingual dude asked for $525,000 for failure to obtain a 7-Up in French.

I would have thought that this would strike any reasonable person as an absurd working of the system.

The point is this company advertises itself as providing services in both languages.  If it cannot comply then it should either address the issue or stop pretending to be bilingual.  But *that* would give the lie to all the myths you people believe about yourselves.  In other words Canadians' hypocrisy would be exposed for all to see.




G.

[garbon]

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/07/27/air-canadas-biggest-mistake/

Michel Thibodeau admits it: he is probably the loudest of the roughly one million French Canadians living outside Quebec. Over the last decade, the Ottawa resident and his wife have filed some 100 complaints over the dearth of French language services against the federal, provincial and Ottawa municipal governments—everyone, he says, except the police.

http://metromonctonnews.com/?p=5118

"I'm not doing this for fun. It's a lot of time: weekends, evenings. I do this on my own. I have no lawyer, no money for a lawyer and nobody wants to go through this. But at some point you have to stand up for your rights or lose them."

[crazy canuck]

Fully bilingual dude asked for $525,000 for failure to obtain a 7-Up in French.

I would have thought that this would strike any reasonable person as an absurd working of the system.

The point is this company advertises itself as providing services in both languages.  If it cannot comply then it should either address the issue or stop pretending to be bilingual.  But *that* would give the lie to all the myths you people believe about yourselves.  In other words Canadians' hypocrisy would be exposed for all to see.




G.

You can ignore the fact that someone tried to enrich themselves over this by taking about "myths" but in reality what happened is someone didnt get to order a 7up in the language of their choice.  A violation of a statutory obligation yes. Worth punitive damages of 500,000 - laughable.

[Malthus]

Fully bilingual dude asked for $525,000 for failure to obtain a 7-Up in French.

I would have thought that this would strike any reasonable person as an absurd working of the system.

The point is this company advertises itself as providing services in both languages.  If it cannot comply then it should either address the issue or stop pretending to be bilingual.  But *that* would give the lie to all the myths you people believe about yourselves.  In other words Canadians' hypocrisy would be exposed for all to see.




G.

Normally, a violation of regulatory requirements would be treated as a matter of regulatory law. Damages in a civil lawsuit are usually awarded as compensation for injury or as punitive sanctions for contemptuous behaviour (though the latter less so in Canada than the US).

What possible justification is there for giving this guy over a half-million dollars because he couldn't get a 7-Up in French?

By all accounts, he wasn't treated "contemptuously" and he suffered no damages whatsoever.

[Malthus]

In any case, this fellow is a very odd choice to bring up as an example of "Quebec people are not whiny complainers". 

[Oexmelin]

CC, you are probably right. But Air Canada is singled out in every report of the Commissioner of Official Languages for not complying with their statutory obligation. At some point, either we change the statutes of Air Canada (which many are loathe to do, hence Grallon's accusation of hypocrisy) or we make such behaviour costly. As it stands, nothing happens. 

(And quite frankly, I doubt Thibodeau is in for the money. He might be an opinionated bastard, but he is a politically motivated one, not a gold-digger)

[crazy canuck]

CC, you are probably right. But Air Canada is singled out in every report of the Commissioner of Official Languages for not complying with their statutory obligation. At some point, either we change the statutes of Air Canada (which many are loathe to do, hence Grallon's accusation of hypocrisy) or we make such behaviour costly. As it stands, nothing happens. 

(And quite frankly, I doubt Thibodeau is in for the money. He might be an opinionated bastard, but he is a politically motivated one, not a gold-digger)

I think you are ignoring that no airline could expend the kind of resources Grallon would require in order to give full voice to the "myth".  Some degree of reasonableness is required which is the polar opposite of what happened in this case.

Air Canada is a good whipping boy because it has the most routes in Canada.  What would Grallon want instead - no airline flying Quebec routes?  That would be the alternative.

(And quite frankly, I doubt Thibodeau is in for the money. He might be an opinionated bastard, but he is a politically motivated one, not a gold-digger)

It is always good to claim its not about the money  - the best evidence is did he keep that money or donate it to charity.  My guess is he kept it but I stand to be corrected.

[Razgovory]

Did he ever get his 7-up?