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

[Berkut]

My pool had french language manuals, and all the warning stickers were in French, Spanish, and English. We put up some of the French ones because the kids thought it was funny. I don't know why.

[Valmy]

Did the guy in question not speak English at all, so he just had to be thirsty?

The guy in question speaks English and was not at all prevented from having a 7-up by language issues. His hobby, apparently, is making complaints of this sort, as a sort of self-chosen language inspector.

I am having a lot of trouble resisting the "Damn, what a whiny bitch" response.

Not really.  If you believe in the Trudeau message that Canada is a bilingual country than using the courts to make sure people, you know, comply with the laws seems to be perfectly reasonable.

People in the US do that all the time about whatever their particular agenda is.

[Barrister]

Did the guy in question not speak English at all, so he just had to be thirsty?

The guy in question speaks English and was not at all prevented from having a 7-up by language issues. His hobby, apparently, is making complaints of this sort, as a sort of self-chosen language inspector.

I am having a lot of trouble resisting the "Damn, what a whiny bitch" response.

True, but if you're going to enshrine something as a right, you can't make it only a right when it's for a noble purpose.

A lot of the French trials we've run otu West have been for perfectly bilingual individuals (or at least they seem perfectly bilingual to us), but we still give them their French trial because it is their right.

[Malthus]

Not really.  If you believe in the Trudeau message that Canada is a bilingual country than using the courts to make sure people, you know, comply with the laws seems to be perfectly reasonable.

People in the US do that all the time about whatever their particular agenda is.

If the guy was suing for a mandatory order or a declaration, I'd agree with you.

Suing for a half-million dollars because you weren't served a 7-Up in the language of your choice is obnoxious, any way you slice it.

[Valmy]

My pool had french language manuals, and all the warning stickers were in French, Spanish, and English. We put up some of the French ones because the kids thought it was funny. I don't know why.

French is awesome and appealing to children

But seriously almost everything I buy in Texas is in three languages.  But maybe we are classified as some sort of multi-language zone with so many Spanish speakers.

[Berkut]

Did the guy in question not speak English at all, so he just had to be thirsty?

The guy in question speaks English and was not at all prevented from having a 7-up by language issues. His hobby, apparently, is making complaints of this sort, as a sort of self-chosen language inspector.

I am having a lot of trouble resisting the "Damn, what a whiny bitch" response.

Not really.  If you believe in the Trudeau message that Canada is a bilingual country than using the courts to make sure people, you know, comply with the laws seems to be perfectly reasonable.

People in the US do that all the time about whatever their particular agenda is.

Yeah, and plenty of them are whiny bitches too.

But I take your point - I look at this much more as a practical issue, and taking it beyond that seems silly to me, and I admit that is almost certainly because I have no political or emotional investment in the issue.

The "right" to order 7-Up in French? Really?

[crazy canuck]

You guys only get three languages.  Pikers.

[Razgovory]

Did the guy in question not speak English at all, so he just had to be thirsty?

The guy in question speaks English and was not at all prevented from having a 7-up by language issues. His hobby, apparently, is making complaints of this sort, as a sort of self-chosen language inspector.

I am having a lot of trouble resisting the "Damn, what a whiny bitch" response.

Not really.  If you believe in the Trudeau message that Canada is a bilingual country than using the courts to make sure people, you know, comply with the laws seems to be perfectly reasonable.

People in the US do that all the time about whatever their particular agenda is.

Never was a Doonsbury fan.  And yeah, people do this in the US all the time.  People who are actively looking for things to insult them are annoying.

I do support the government making reasonable accommodations for other languages.  For instance documents printed in Spanish or Navaho or whatever, or courts proceedings translated in to the defendants language.  I don't care for making private businesses comply with this.  I hold public and private entities to a different standard.  I don't fully understand how the airline works, is it public or private or a combination of both?  Anyway, demanding to be served in French even if you know English and then suing for half a million dollars strikes me as absurd.

[Ed Anger]

Fuck all foreigners. Get the hell out.

[crazy canuck]

I don't fully understand how the airline works, is it public or private or a combination of both?  Anyway, demanding to be served in French even if you know English and then suing for half a million dollars strikes me as absurd.

You are not the only one a bit confused by it all.  It was a crown corporation - so basically a Public entity.  Then it was privatized to a certain extent to allow for the possibility of more competition but being Canada it wasnt completely privatized and so you have these odd vestiges that require it to continue to act as a psuedo Crown Corporation.

Which, as I said much earlier in the thread, makes it a perfect whipping boy for people with a political axe to grind.

[Valmy]

People who are actively looking for things to insult them are annoying.

I do support the government making reasonable accommodations for other languages.  For instance documents printed in Spanish or Navaho or whatever, or courts proceedings translated in to the defendants language.  I don't care for making private businesses comply with this.  I hold public and private entities to a different standard.  I don't fully understand how the airline works, is it public or private or a combination of both?  Anyway, demanding to be served in French even if you know English and then suing for half a million dollars strikes me as absurd.

So how else should one attempt to advance their political agenda?  If there are laws that are not being followed doing a highly public lawsuit that gets a corportation's attention by attacking their bottom line is a good way to bring attention to that fact.  I mean it is not like he can attack the problem at the voting booth, the laws already exist.

[crazy canuck]

I mean it is not like he can attack the problem at the voting booth, the laws already exist.

You could easily advocate for legislated penalties that were more "meaningful". 

[Razgovory]

So how else should one attempt to advance their political agenda?  If there are laws that are not being followed doing a highly public lawsuit that gets a corportation's attention by attacking their bottom line is a good way to bring attention to that fact.  I mean it is not like he can attack the problem at the voting booth, the laws already exist.

I am unclear what the agenda is exactly.  But as CC pointed out, raising the fine for complaints would be a good place to start.

[Valmy]

Well even if he did do that he would have to fight the battle to get 7-Up served in a bilingual way eventually.

[Malthus]

If what you really wanted was to force Air Canada to carry out its statutory duties, you could seek an order for Mandamus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandamus

No need to ask for a half mil in punitives.