I was alarmed to find this headline in Canoe.ca today. It was in fact quoting a study by the Parti Quebecois (suprise suprise). For those of you, French and English, who know even a bit about how it works, this could only be compared to an Enron/Arthur Andersen type of accounting. However, the troubling thing about that headline is that it seems to make the point for the separatists, or the fence sitters who speak either official language. Considering that the side is being run by Quebecor Media, it really makes you wonder on whose side they are on.
If I may address the people of Quebec, (en francais) I would just like to say that as far as language and cultural protection go, right now is as good as it could ever get, particularly when you factor in your current economic situation, which is known across the country as being not so rosy. It has apparently been all downhill since our Centennial Year, when we had Expo 67 and de Gaulle's infamous speech. Up till then, Montreal was Canada's cultural centre, but since separatism became popular, there has been nothing short of an exodus of non-francophones along with business, and even cultural values. Today, you are fast becoming a "have-not" province.
Also, since the '60s, you have had three prime ministerial regimes, and each one seemed bent on giving you everything that you ask for, or try to anyway, but for some of you, it's just never enough. Because of what I consider to be cowardly and incompetent policies of appeasement (particularly the long-standing practice of begging, and with the Sponsorship scandal, bribing you not to separate), there has been an ever widening gulf between French and English Canada. You act as if you can never be satisfied and we in English Canada are galled by what we perceive as the federal government being over-indulgent. Speaking on behalf of English Canada, you are already separate from us, particularly of you treat us as though we are the enemy.
However, it is my sincere hope that we will stop treating each other like we are inherently different, and realize that together, we have built a great nation, but that it is being undermined by a small percentage of people who are decidedly never satisfied and openly hostile to Canada as well as people who profess that they want to keep it together but end up doing the opposite. We need to work together to help Quebec regain the cultural and economic might that it once had so we could all be one people again. The only alternative to that is that you could separate, and finish the job of impoverishing and ultimately destroying both French and English Canada.
Lastly, the federal government has in the last few decades, unintentionally it would seem, given you the idea that you are too good for us, and in effect, making the separatist's argument for them. Some of you may believe it now, and it certainly does not make you want to stay in Canada at all. What I would like to say to you in closing is that I believe that we do deserve each other (make of that what you will), and that we can put up with and even embrace each other's differences, and put an end to all the squabbling that is creating all of the fear and uncertainty that is slowly but surely destroying us.
If I may address the people of Quebec, (en francais) I would just like to say that as far as language and cultural protection go, right now is as good as it could ever get, particularly when you factor in your current economic situation, which is known across the country as being not so rosy. It has apparently been all downhill since our Centennial Year, when we had Expo 67 and de Gaulle's infamous speech. Up till then, Montreal was Canada's cultural centre, but since separatism became popular, there has been nothing short of an exodus of non-francophones along with business, and even cultural values. Today, you are fast becoming a "have-not" province.
Also, since the '60s, you have had three prime ministerial regimes, and each one seemed bent on giving you everything that you ask for, or try to anyway, but for some of you, it's just never enough. Because of what I consider to be cowardly and incompetent policies of appeasement (particularly the long-standing practice of begging, and with the Sponsorship scandal, bribing you not to separate), there has been an ever widening gulf between French and English Canada. You act as if you can never be satisfied and we in English Canada are galled by what we perceive as the federal government being over-indulgent. Speaking on behalf of English Canada, you are already separate from us, particularly of you treat us as though we are the enemy.
However, it is my sincere hope that we will stop treating each other like we are inherently different, and realize that together, we have built a great nation, but that it is being undermined by a small percentage of people who are decidedly never satisfied and openly hostile to Canada as well as people who profess that they want to keep it together but end up doing the opposite. We need to work together to help Quebec regain the cultural and economic might that it once had so we could all be one people again. The only alternative to that is that you could separate, and finish the job of impoverishing and ultimately destroying both French and English Canada.
Lastly, the federal government has in the last few decades, unintentionally it would seem, given you the idea that you are too good for us, and in effect, making the separatist's argument for them. Some of you may believe it now, and it certainly does not make you want to stay in Canada at all. What I would like to say to you in closing is that I believe that we do deserve each other (make of that what you will), and that we can put up with and even embrace each other's differences, and put an end to all the squabbling that is creating all of the fear and uncertainty that is slowly but surely destroying us.
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