"canada is too big to fail" o rly

[beemo]

It takes a century and a half of political imagination, heroic toil and, to be sure, great geopolitical luck to build a country like Canada. It takes but a year or two of hubris, lassitude and ignorance for the whole thing to be lost.

There is today in Canada a dangerous line of argument that must be checked by all thinking citizens: It holds that

Comments

Re: on the topic of french in school

[lurkch]

The problem with the whole bilingual thing is that the Quebecois seem to expect everyone else to be bilingual while clinging to their monolingualism in their home province. I did an exchange in high school with a school in Quebec and all of us anglos could easily get by speaking French because we were taught by native French speakers (I went to school in 3 provinces and was consistently taught by native French speakers at every school). The Quebec kids, on the other hand, were taught English by native French speakers with atrocious accents/grammar (we spent a day at each other's schools going to classes) and couldn't even understand something as basic as "Dinner is ready."

Until English isn't a dirty word in Quebec, I don't see bilingualism catching on. Heck, the province that gains the most from bilingualism isn't even officially bilingual yet expects bilingualism everywhere else in Canada.

Re: on the topic of french in school

[wisdomsawoman]

I don't know where exactly you went, but I can tell you that learning english is very much encouraged in Quebec schools. More importantly, to get a job you practically HAVE to speak english (some employers will even do half the interview in french and the other half in english). Of course, the further you get from the big cities, the less people will speak english. But I think you are judging very quickly the level of bilingualism in Quebec.

Re: on the topic of french in school

[lurkch]

I have much more experience with the Quebecois than that that leads me to believe there is a resistance to learning English. Like my university French professor who prided himself on the fact that he's lived in an English speaking province for years yet still can't get by in English in the wider community. Like my friend in elementary school who was in the French immersion class with me despite that fact that she was fluent in French because her parents didn't want her learning English. It's not a quick judgment. It's one formed over decades based on dealing with Quebecois living outside of Quebec--the same people who should be the most willing to learn English since it benefits them directly and immediately

[farchivist]

All of a sudden, I envision moving to Calgary on the advent of this and using our Super-Effective American Conservative political tactics to take over the nascent republic. Then, there will be a coup - and the Farchivist Party will rise. From this, it will only be a few short steps to create the Glorious Liberal Canadian Empire that will conquer North America.

[romp]

Thanks for posting this. I feel like we're far from secession happening but I don't know anyone who really cares about the topic.

[ohprecioustime]

wish Quebec separated and we abolished bilingualism tbh, such a hassle to cater to a decaying province

[uluviel]

Comments like yours are part of the problem.

[iolarah]

+1

[beemo]

kay, i'll just say it... those are bold words for someone from hamilton.

[metatrix]

I went to an event in Montreal organized by the university there, and they spelled the name of our university wrong! On everything! Ugh. They could have spent 2 seconds to google it.