I didn't read the 12 pages... obviously, but lovemakers comment in the first page make me cringer and smile at the same time... How he said voting for the PQ was voting for french extremist or something like that. I would like to point something out. I respect MERB is english mostly(even tough french is permited) because lots of tourist also come here and check reviews and such, and i guess montreal is really 50/50 in term of french\the rest. But you guys need to understand something, the province of quebec is FRENCH, its the official language, we where conquered by english back then just like france was conquered by nazis in WW2, but the difference is we never got back what was rightfully ours, and thats our province being independant. Outside montreal the province is MAJORITY french, there is only in mtl you will get serve in english first. Never i was served in english at any business in sherbrooke or quebec city, 2 of the other 'major cities".
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Oh my. Bringing up the Nazis.
Do you even know the history of your own province?
You do realize that "New France" was never a country - it was a French Colony right?
You do know that France gave Quebec (or New France) to the British after Britain (and parts of present day Germany) defeated France (and Spain and Russia) in "the Seven Years War". New France was never conquered by the British. The truth was that France did not want Quebec anymore because France simply did not have the money to finance Quebec anymore. (I think they were too busy paying for the King of France's lavish lifestyles.)
Here's the history of Quebec / New France.
The British defeated the French in the Seven Years War in 1763.
During the treaty negotiations "the Treaty of Paris", Britain agreed that France was allowed to "protect" (i.e. KEEP) some (but not all) of its various colonies.
It came down to France "protecting” Guadeloupe, or Quebec. The British said, "you can keep one but not both" (Brilliant.)
Guess what. France wanted Guadeloupe. Why? Because Guadeloupe had sugar and Quebec had rocks and beaver pelts and sugar was worth more than rocks and beaver pelts. So France gave away Quebec to the British. The French attitude at the time was one of jubilation at handing over Quebec to the British because Quebec was viewed as a huge drain on the wallet of France. The French attitude toward Quebec at the time was personified by the French philosophe Voltaire who wrote , “it’s nothing more than a few acres of ice”
So the bitter truth is that France did not want Quebec and the British did.
I don't know why but Quebecers seem to think that they were conquered in "the Battle of the Plains of Abraham". That was only 1 battle during the Seven Years War (and truth be told, "the Seven Years War" was really World War 1) and while it showed just how brilliant the British were when it came to military tactics and war, and how cowardly the French soldiers defending Quebec were, the truth is, "the Battle of the Plains of Abraham" was a minor skirmish in a very large European war. In fact, British General Wolfe (who defeated the snobbish French General Montcalm) would often lament how he was out of the real action that was going on in Europe. Some say he deliberately committed suicide on the day of the Battle in fact.
And if you know your history, the local population of Quebec at the time was quite happy to be rid of the corrupt and exploitative French Governors. (You see, at the time, the rule was that Quebec was not allowed to have industry that competed with France. If a Quebecer needed durable goods, he had to import them from France, he could not establish a competing industry in Quebec. The result was sky high prices and black market industry in Quebec that was well known about by the French overlords and the French Overlords would usually demand very expensive bribe money from the local Quebec entrepreneurs. The British took over New France and they changed all that. They allowed local commerce, encouraged entrepreneurs, gave language and religious freedoms, permitted the civil code and the Catholic Church to remain intact. The result was that the Quebec economy flourished for the first time.)
So many Franco Quebecers have been raised with the romantic notion that they are a “conquered people” who one day will reclaim what is rightfully theirs. (I guess it sounds better than you were traded away by your corrupt French masters and it looks good on your license plates.)
But ask yourself this. How did those other French colonies make out? Guadalupe today. Boy, they really did well under the French. Haiti, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Shining examples compared to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
