Pourquoi l'anglais

[Techman]

Eb

Here is a link to the complete chronology of the October Crisis. http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/chronos/october.htm
and a link to other documents http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/docs/october/index.htm
What is not mentioned is that Paul Rose, convicted terrorist and murderer, received full parole and went on to be elected to public office, details here: http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Paul_Rose.
Although I believe that it would be impossible for a convicted murderer to hold public office in the US, it serves as an example of how distinct our society here really is, though others could also use it as an example to prove that people can be rehabilitated.
In Quebec today, Montreal in particular, most language tensions have all but dissappeared in day to day living. People tend to be functionally if not fluently bilingual for the most part and many of us carry on conversations switching from english to french without even realizing we are doing so. But on occassion some one makes a bonehead move, such as Best Buy stores sending out unilingual english flyers to announce their arrival in Quebec, which awakens the language gestapo known as the Office de la Langue Francais or OLF for short. This opens the old animosities again for a short time until some real news occurs. It also doesn't help when this happens on the 25th anniversary of the first referendum as it did this week. But no matter what your political beliefs may be, the one thing we tend to agree on is that Montreal, and Quebec, women are among the most beautiful and possibly the most sexually open women in the world. In that we truly are distinct.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Techman,

Thanks for posting that history of the October crisis. It is amazing to me that Rose was paroled after 11 years after being convicted of murder. By comparison, Sirhan Sirhan, the Arab terrorist who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in June of 1968 because of Kennedy's pro-Israeli position in his Presidential campaign that year, is still in a California prison and has been denied parole many times.

You are correct that convicted felons cannot vote or hold public office in the USA.

Getting back to the language issue, it always surprises me how on the streets of Montreal I am mistaken for a Francophone, or at least bilingual. I can recall one time years ago at the Novotel when a young man got into the elevator with his friend and began speaking to me very excitedly in French, for about a minute, not giving me a chance to get in a word edgewise. His friend could see I did not understand, and when this guy finally ran out of breath - whatever he said, he said frantically - his friend apparently told him in French that I had not understood a word. The guy then sort of looked at me with an embarassed smile. Still have no idea what he was talking about.

Regarding Best Buy, I am not surprised to hear about their gaffe. They are a terrible company to do business with, and have the worst customer service ever. I wonder who the bonehead was that sent out that unilingual flyer. He/she has probably gotten fired for the horrendous PR it generated.

 

[Doc Holliday]

FLQ Crisis movie

In 1994, a movie was released which depicted the Laporte kidnapping and eventual execution. It starred Luc Picard, today a well-known Quebec actor. He played one of the terrorists. It's available on dvd, but i believe there is no english version.

Octobre DVD .

 

[Techman]

EB about Best Buy

When you think of it, it may have been a calculated publicity stunt. They hit the front page of the papers and were heavily mentioned on both tv and radio news. They gave a fervent apology which seems to have been accepted and got free press all over Canada. If you would like a very humourous point of view on the language issue here pick up a copy of the Anglo guide to survival in Quebec. I believe that it has been out of print for awhile but you can find it used at amazon.com for under 5 bucks. Or you could PM me the next time you're in town and I will pass you my copy to read.
It came out in '83 and I still pull it out now and then when I need a good chuckle.

 

[EagerBeaver]

"If you want to be spoken to in English in Montreal speak French badly--Francophones will immediately switch. But if you want to speak French, insist on speaking English."

Cool! I can speak French horrendously in a very natural way........this should do the trick nicely in terms of inducing the ole Anglo switcheroooooo!

 

[BackDoorMan]

Rene Levesque...one of Pierre Laporte's best friend

PQ and Rene Levesque always rejected the act of the 3 guys of the FLQ. ALWAYS. Levesque was one of Laporte's best friend. And all the people in PQ rejected the violence.

Nowhere in french media you will see people talking about any PQ member speaking about violence to anyone. It is just mentionned in CJAD and local english newspaper to stimulate the aggressivity against the francophones and soverainists.

FLQ was a very very little group of people. 3 kidnapped James Cross and 2 kidnapped Laporte. Pierre Trudeau invaded Quebec with the army and arrested 800 peoples in 1 night. Result: nobody was in FLQ, nobody was accused. Beside 6 peoples (3 kidnappers flew in Cuba, and the 3 murderes of Laporte where arrested and judged 25y sentence), RCMP and secret services did not find anyone else in FLQ, eventhough electonical and spying actions in PQ headquarters and union's headquarters.

French people pay for the act of 6 individuals. And all rejected those felons. But english canadians still use this as "an example" of the supposely "potential racism and terrorism" among french canadian

But as I remember, I assisted in D-D-O at a partitionist convention. 300 persons (anglos of west island, riches and educated) where there. And almost all applauded when someone suggested to build a wall on St-Laurent and shoot any separatist that would cross it. Those 300 anglos spent 5h promoting not just separation from Quebec, but violence, creation of militia and a war system in case of "referendum". I saw more speech of violence in 5h from those rich-educated-owners-anglos of west island than in 25 years of "soverainist-bs-uneducated-as you say" conventions...

MORE THAN THAT:
PQ presented the 2 first colored people elected as member of national assembly. PQ in last elections had 10 "ethic" candidates", 4 being in "safe" counties, where liberals had only 2, 1 in a "non-safe" county (a safe county is a county where the candidate as chance to be elected). Bloc Quebecois have in Quebec more MP elected from other ethnic origin than Liberals in Quebec and Maritimes included.

Can someone explain why immigrants have more place in PQ and BQ than in Liberals (Canada/Quebec)? Maybe as some people say and repeat, PQ-BQ are "hidden monster ready to prepare annihilation of english in Quebec....woooooooooooooo

 

[BackDoorMan]

Other thing about Parizeau

Jacques Parizeau was married 30 years with Alice, his first wife. She was a very intelligent and brilliant writer from Poland. Alice Parizeau suffered during the Nazi invasion in WW2, while she saw her family killed and she fighted in the polish resistance. She was arrested and deported in camp and almost killed, saved by the russians. Alice Parizeau always fought against violence, racism and intolerance. She was proning a safe world of compassion and cooperation between nations. But she always talk about the importance of each nation to govern their destinity, no matter their economical status or else.

Alice Parizeau, as a deep victim of war and racism, but a very strong character, would never spend her life with someone that doesnt follow her values in this. And her love of Jacques Parizeau was deep because Jacques Parizeau is a democrat, someone that will never use violence to obtain soverainty, a tolerant person...not the racist monster that many please to talk about him.

Pointing the finger to him and call him racist is a disrespect against Alice Parizeau memory. It is done by people that NEVER lived a situation of a nation abused by another like she did.

Parizeau made a political mystake by putting defeat of referendum on "cash and ethnic vote"....but his mind (and he was upset that night) wanted to point the finger to all those "french-canadians" that used cash and fears to obtain the vote of ethnic people, people unaware because of propaganda, of the real roots of why Quebec wants and needs to govern and have tools of its destiny.

 

[Canadian Joe 652]

Do no get the argument

Why people write in English here?

Well because we can not write in french. I have made my efforts to post and reply in french on MERB, particularly in the Quebec City section which is more french sided, yet it takes me twice as long and becaues I have less control over the language I migth not be able to put out the rigth message, so there you go.


Bien, parce que nous ne pouvons pas ecrire en francais. J'ai fait des efforts pour ecrire ou repond en francais sur MERB, particulierement dans la section Ville de Quebec qui est plus francophone, mais il me prend deux fois plus de temps a ecrire et comment je ne controle pas assez bien la langue, je ne suis pas capable de transmettre mon message comme il faut. Voila.