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Premier of Quebec makes you walk instead of taking the bus if you can't speak french
The Premier of Quebec wants to strengthen the law 101 which consist of making french the official language of the province of Quebec.
Anglos/ immigrants or tourists who can't order their tickets in French can WALK instead of taking the bus & subway. Here is the story (If you can't read it, make sure to say so on your post) http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/you-can-walk-prominent-bill-14-supporter-tells-people-who-can-t-order-metro-tickets-in-french-1.1191752 What do you think about this? |
I don't like the idea of banning the use of other languages. I live in the US where most people speak English, but when I have to help someone who doesn't speak it very well I don't just tell them to go away until they can speak it better. I mean, really, that's not helpful at all.
You're better off encouraging people to speak a language. Give them a positive incentive. |
Quebec's always been weird with nationalist things like this, basically "if you aren't French or speak it, gtfo"
It's no different than idiots we have here that do the same to people speaking Spanish. |
The current Premier of Quebec is crazy, she got elected because of so many promises she said she would do. But the only thing she have been doing was making Quebec a pure french province. She even banned the word pasta from restaurants and wants to replace it with the french word 'pate'..
Back to topic, I don't think she's doing a good thing here. Montreal consist of a crap ton of immigrants and a lot of them can't speak french. According to studies, more than 45% of immigrants will go to Ontario if this keeps up. What about the tourists and visitors that will go and visit there? They have to learn to speak french just to stay there for a couple of days? I think that she's forgetting that Quebec is also part of Canada... and Canada is mostly English or bilingual. |
I think this is pretty unreasonable. Its very hard to learn foreign languages, and to learn it just because you might be taking a short visit to Quebec may not be worth it. Its one thing to encourage people to learn your native language, but anothetr for them to say "learn French or you get no transportation"
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Stupid idea. You're essentially telling other non-Francophone Canadians or English-speaking Quebecer, immigrants, businesses, and tourists that they aren't wanted.
You want them to walk? Fine. Enact this and they'll all walk right out of your province. Want to take the economic hit Quebec? It says in our Constitution, or more specifically our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that both official languages (English and French) "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions". Provincial services are supposed to be provided regardless of language. French is Quebec's only official language since the '70s, but they're still required to follow the Federal legislation on this. Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois' constant nationalism and sovereignty stuff is tiresome. Quote:
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Anyway, that is unreasonable. Especially in the case of tourists, because that would require learning a new language just to go on a, per se, week long vacation. Although I encourage learning new languages, especially French as I've been taking it for four years now, if you have no reason to learn it other than to be able to ride a bus when you visit Quebec, what's the point? If anything, it would deter people from even wanting to go there. But maybe this lady would like less tourists. Less tourists = less non-French speaking people! |
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This is just another step toward Quebec's secession from Canada. They're alienating everyone around them by doing things like this. No one likes them and they know it.
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Well, there's one place in Canada I won't be going to now. It's funny that people think people in the southern US are a bunch of racists and unwelcoming foreigner-haters...at least we don't have laws preventing people from visiting and enjoying the states lmao. At least that I'm not aware of. ...Gee, something the US is doing right in comparison to another country. That's funny. |
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Good thing that the Liberal party and the Coalition Quebec are against this idea. They want to keep the province bilingual. And Pauline Marois (The premier of Quebec) can't even speak English properly herself, she probably feels so bad that she wants everyone to be the same >.> |
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You might be thinking of the margarine thing - http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2008/07/08/qc-margarine0708.html |
It's like other countries saying that if you can't speak their language, then gtfo also. It's not like French is gonna become non existent; A lot of places speak French in Europe and also in Africa. I mean, if you know even a tiny amount, then use it, but English is the universal language at this time.
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Maybe some other part of Quebec don't have those as much as other regions.
She's also doing that because they think that the french language is dying in Montreal which is really not what's happening. There's just more languages in Montreal now, so it's not only 100% french everywhere. |
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I don't support these ideas at all, but I at least see where they're coming from. They're trying to preserve an identity (Since they are a minority don't forget that). It's just... ways like this are ridiculous and won't get you anywhere. |
That's why I wrote mostly english also :P
And I think the way Quebec is right now is good. Asides from Montreal, the rest of Quebec is like 95% french. And everything like restaurants, shops and other stores are all written in English unless they are trademarks or american stores. |
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Imagine if it was someone Chinese, Indian, Korean, German, etc.. and they got kicked off the bus for not being able to speak French. How ridiculous! And it's discrimination!! WTF is with their Quebecois elitist attitude? Damn government.. Wanting to separate and use the same currency? PFFTTT.. Yeah right. |
Maybe English will be allowed as long as people speak half as loudly? XD [/only people who've been to Québec will get this]
Though seriously, first of all, I believe that the Parti Québecois only got elected because people were against the alternative Charest government that was planning huge tuition hikes. Not because they were supportive of the policies that Marois is implementing. And think about it like this: if Francophones in Ontario were kicked off buses for not being able to speak English, French Canada would raise hell. So English Canada, you should exercise your right to do the same. |
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That was so worth electing Parti Québecois for. |
She promised to freeze the tuiton fee for the students and that's why she got voted for. A few weeks ago she said that that was impossible and that the tuition rates will still go a little higher, lol.
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Which doesn't mean that it's still not discrimination. It's still wrong, but I can at least see the sentiment where she's coming from. |
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And at the fact that nobody had actually served you French in a Federal Government building, that's weird. I thought you had to speak at least 2 of Canada's official languages to be applicable for a Government job. Seems I'm wrong. @Kura: It's not mandatory that you learn both French and English in school, I've had the option since I started in 4th Grade and for each subsequent year. Only in New Brunswick is it mandatory (I think) because they're officially bilingual. Quebec is the only province to declare themselves unilingual (that being French). |
Quebec is mostly french with a bit of english. The only part where it's multilingual is Montreal, you'll see tons of different ethnicity here. So as for French being a dying language, in Quebec I'm not so sure about that. In Montreal tho, It's not that it died, there's just more people that knows a lot of different language and she think that it's dying.
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She did. The main thread was actually set for Montreal's buses and subway services.
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Anyway, I do understand the issues that Canadian Francophones are having. They are a literally a secluded group in a sea of over 320 million English-speakers, and they feel they need to be more firm about keeping their language alive than we English-speakers have to be. And it is also very evident that French-speakers often have more pressure to learn English than the other way around for aforementioned reasons. But having said that, I don't agree with the method at all. They should get people to want to learn French, rather than force them into it. In my own case growing up, I was against learning French simply because it seemed like it kept getting pushed down my throat. And I only started learning French because I wanted to prove to myself that I could learn something I didn't want to learn. However once I began learning I quickly started to enjoy it, and have regretted not getting into it sooner. Nonetheless on the national level English and French have equal weight, and while not everyone should be required to speak both languages, everyone should be required to receive federal services in the language of their choosing, whether the province is unilingual or not. And in services covered by lower levels of government than in Ottawa, as the local transit system is, having a unilingual French-speaking bus driver would be considered legal, though only in Québec. And similarly a unilingual English-speaking driver could legally be prevented from getting a job there. But this issue is about the customer, not the employee, and services should not be denied on linguistic grounds. This smells like an issue that could be resolved by taking a look at the Charter. |
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As for having to be able to order your bus tickets in French in Quebec, it does makes sense. Technically, Quebec is it's own "nation within a united Canada," meaning it has a little more freedom in enforcing their laws, one of which being Bill 101 (status of the French language). I can look at it from both sides of the fence, and agree with points on both sides. If you were trying to order something in BC but can't speak English, then you probably won't get any service. The same thing can be said for Quebec, where an overwhelming majority only speak French. However, just because you can't speak French doesn't mean you should be denied the right to public transit. As long as you're paying, I don't see why you should be denied the right to use any public service. Also, making it a province-wide law isn't the best idea, since the largest city and tourist destination is the biggest hub for English in Quebec. This is why I'm sure a lot of this backlash is coming out, rather than if a single city like Quebec City enacted this law. I understand the want to preserve the French language in an English dominated environment, but the refusal of basic services really isn't the best way to go about it. |
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It seems pretty extreme to crack down on English. There are many Anglophone people in Quebec, especially Montreal. And they might have trouble getting around if the buses won't let them speak English.
And replacing the word pasta is silly. Quebecois French actually has tons of English influence (in comparison to French spoken in France). It's a side effect of being surrounded by English-speakers. As for other provinces...there are various French-speaking communities in other parts of Canada. New Brunswick and Ontario have some. But a lot of the French-Canadians outside of Quebec don't speak French - some haven't for generations. Ontario has tons of people with French last names, but only a fraction of them actually speak French. Personally, I think the Premier of Quebec shouldn't be so nationalistic. Let's just hope they kick her out and replace her with someone else. |
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