Canadian politics

Umm, no. It wasn’t due to the Bloc. The liberals lost seats in every province. People were surprised when the Bloc gained some seats in Quebec, because the liberals blindly believed that quebecers would keep voting for them. But why should they? They were just as angry as the rest of Canada. It’s just most Quebecers would rather vote for a liberal slanted party, rather than conservatives. Now that the liberals proved inept, it was Bloc or nothing.

Note that reform is now gone, they have become, or taken over, or whatever you want to call it the conservative party. The Bloc however, remains and will almost guarantee going forward minority governments – which is why I said that they were the biggest change in Canadian politics, as the other largest change has now been resolved (although it took ~10 years).

The only thing guaranteeing minority governments is the liberals’ inability to keep their shit together, and the fact that Canadians so far have not been ready to actually hand the country over to the conservatives.

And Hannibal Lecter is a great guy other than the murdering, and so on. They are a separatist party. I don’t care if their economic policies are left of center or if they support gay rights, or whatever, they are for the dissolution of federation. Further, even if one could forget that they are axe murde… I mean separatists the fact remains that they are wholly a regional party and their only concern is what is best for Quebec (and I do not know if I agree with their definition of best, but like I said I don’t follow it too closely). That platform does not sell particularly well to other provinces.

Yes yes, spoken like a typical Canadian ignorant of Quebec or Bloc politics. Oooh, it’s the boogey man! Fear the boogey man! Fact is, seperatism was absolutely dead in Quebec until Harper started pressing buttons in the last election. The Bloc had all but quit mentioning seperatism previously because they realized it only lost them votes. And yes, they are currently a regional party. Apparently you don’t understand hypotheticals.

I don’t know how this cancer will be excised from Canada. Quebec has always thought that it is special and they have whined for generations. Sometimes I think it would be best if they were allowed to go on their way (although that would mean that I would have to move family members) … although I have no idea how such a policy could be enacted or what it would mean.

Ignorant again. After having lived here for four and a half years now, I can tell you that Quebecers were finally ready to become part of canada. Most of them have made peace with the fact that the language is going to fade away (the smart ones anyway), and don’t really harbor much anger anymore. People my age are fine with Canada, and are ready to be a part of it. Or at least, they were, until Harper started treating the whole province like some evil villain in a poorly written movie.

Of course, ignorance from such as yourself doesn’t help either. How can you ever expect someone to be a part of of something when you sit there saying “yeah, you might as well just go”.

Four and a half years! My god, I had no idea I was talking to such an expert! Can I subscribe to your informed newsletter about the intricacies of the separatist sentiments within Quebec? You seem to have such a firm handle on everything. Wait, why stop at just Quebec, please regale me about your vast experience in any subject. I’m listening.

I remember an interview where a retiree Bloc supporter expecting to keep receiving her Canadian pension after Quebec separates. They want their cake and eat it too – they were/are happy that the Canadian government has been bending over backwards to keep the Quebecois happy with subsidies and government jobs (Hull, Quebec, across the river from Ottawa, has A LOT of federal department jobs) while demanding independence.

Apparently kids today are not being taught the history of the FLQ because I had to explain to a younger coworker that Canada went through its phase of terrorism and martial law thirty years ago under Trudeau.

There’s a decent size francophone population here in Vancouver. Outside of work (there are a number of French and Quebecois employees, which is a given considering it’s Ubisoft…) I hear French spoken around downtown at least once a week.

I think that the francophones, in order to keep their language and cultural heritage alive, need to live elsewhere in Canada (New Brunswick is the only province that’s officially bilingual). They should do what us Chinese do, live everywhere – we’re like cockroaches! The Chinese population here in Vancouver is so big and influential that businesses, such as banks, cater to our linguistic needs (such as ATM or customer support).

Hardcore seperatist support has never really wavered from 35-40%, it may be in the low end of that range but by no means dead right now. Harper fanned the flames which is sad… however the issues that brought the province close to seperation in the 70’s and 80’s have long since disappeared.

After having lived here for four and a half years now

You do know that Huz is in fact, a Quebecer with French family, and that he and I and other Quebecers have actually lived there ALL OUR LIVES, and we actually remember what has happened and how we got here…

I can tell you that Quebecers were finally ready to become part of canada. Most of them have made peace with the fact that the language is going to fade away (the smart ones anyway), and don’t really harbor much anger anymore.

This is fundamentally untrue. Fundamentally. There is certainly a growing population of highly educated and liberal Quebecers who want to see the province succeed economically, but the anger still simmers and the vast majority of the French population, particularly outside Montreal, does not at all agree that their language (which they correctly identifiy as being nearly synonymous with their culture) will fade away.

Several times in the last two years I have heard again and again from French friends that they think Quebec (specifically Montreal) is too tolerant of English, and that they beleive that the power of English is growing and must be combatted. It is actually a ridiculous and paranoid fear (the indiginous Anglo population in Quebec is generally being assimilated by the French, not the other way around), but it has it’s roots in a distrust of the English and fear of return to their dominion that spans generations and will not go away anytime soon.

In the meantime, those of us Anglos who remain here must accept that it is our language and culture that will slowly dissipate, long before the French language and culture is overwhelmed by external pressure. Our only saving grace will be to cultivate and spread a new culture of bilingualism (which I am happy to say currently thrives in Montreal and environs) which I would hope will be the salvation of Quebec and it’s economy.

My experience is similar to that of Soapyfrog’s. Sorry, Charles, I expect you must work with Francophones, but I suspect that they are highly involved in the very English tech industry and probably almost all come from Montreal. This may be colouring your perceptions of what highly educated francophone Quebecers want.

In terms of my background: I’m a native anglo Quebecer, reasonably bilingual, who lived here for 23 years, moved away for 12, and moved back just over 2 years ago. I’ve worked and gone to school with Francophone Quebecers for years, and I like to think I know the politics here. I ran a polling station during the last Quebec referendum, and I was a Parliamentary Page in the Canadian House of Commons during Charlottetown Accord debates, and I briefly majored in Political Science with a focus on Canadian Politics at McGill in the early 90s.

I currently share a lab with several young Francophones from various places in Quebec. They’re highly educated (they’re all PhD candidates in Neuroscience at McGill, directly addressing Charles’ “the smart ones” comment). I’ve noticed what seems to be a distinct divide between them. The ones from Montreal are not actively separatist but are highly wary of the erosion of the French language on the island. The ones from outside of Montreal (including Quebec city and the small towns in the province) are actively separatist, believing that Quebec would be economically better off once the fallout from separation faded. They believe that this is a necessity to protect their culture from the dominant North American English. They thoroughly believe that Quebec would do just fine on its own and they outright reject the possibility of their language and culture ever disappearing. They will do whatever necessary, including suspension of basic minority rights, to protect their endangered culture.

All this to say that separatism is alive and well, even amongst highly-educated Francophone Quebecers attending an English University. I can’t imagine what the more radical CEGEPS in the smaller towns, as well as the activist folks at UQAM think… I don’t believe that any political party can bring about, or save us from, Quebec independence. It requires that will of the people and a particular set of circumstances that hopefully will never arise again.

I’m in Vancouver, a dual citizen, and have lived in Canada for 4 1/2 years. I work with a number of Quebecois all of whom are fluent in English. The take I get from the Quebec natives is that the language is central to their culture but they regard separation as economic madness.

However, my small, unscientific poll of BC natives concludes that no one really cares if Quebec leaves as long as the western provinces get to stop supporting them. The disdain for Eastern Canada in general and Quebec in particular is palpable.

What’s more surprising to me is the number of people in BC who speak no French at all. French immersion education is available for free in every school district around Vancouver and is only taken advantage of by a small minority of, mostly educated, parents.

Well, considering that large population of ethnic Chinese in Vancouver you would think more people would learn Mandarin or Cantonese (I know the latter and need to learn the former).

I lived in Ottawa for ten years (I left back in 2000) and I regret not continuing my French language education to be fluent in it. I finally realized after traveling to Europe this past summer that the more languages I know the better off I would would be in travel and in life.

I’m guessing by “eastern Canada” you mean Quebec and Ontario, not the Atlantic provinces?

Quebec separating is economic madness I’m not sure the province has ever run in the black and it gets more federal dollars than any other province by a significant margin. Anyone thinking Quebec would be a viable country on it’s own in any reasonable time frame is living in a fantasy land.

Quebec and Ontario are the “East” as far as I can tell. I think the Atlantic Provinces exist in some kind of bubble of fondness.

Meanwhile, Alberta’s full of fucking stupid redneck farm people who voted in the Tories for the last few decades and now have overwhelmingly shifted favour to an even righter-wing untested, unproven (formerly separatist) Wildrose Alliance.

Who the fuck did you think would gut health care, seniors and education while letting infrastructure crumble? Honest Ed was minister of infrastructure during King Ralph’s reign.

Texas North fucking sucks and its sheeple are redneck retards.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/01/04/calgary-mlas-conservative-wildrose-alliance.html

If you want to kill a few brain cells, I encourage you to peruse the reader comments on any Canadian political story on the CBC news website.

They’re better than the comments found on Youtube videos.

That’s like the definition of damning with faint praise.

yeah, you should listen to the right-wing radio talk shows full of people spouting “common sense” and “traditional values” on 630 ched (edmonton) and am-770 (calgary) – they’re republicans lite–just as brainless, ignorant and xenophobic.

Point conceded.

Canada tip for you: Quebec and Ontario are called “central Canada”. I know it doesn’t make sense in absolute geographic terms, but it makes sense in absolute awesomeness terms.

When you find out where Upper Canada and Lower Canada are, you’re going to lose your mind.

What… Quebec and Ontario are Eastern Canada… never heard them referred to as “Central”.

It’s never too late to learn things!

You’re right! But the label simply is not in common (or even uncommon) use…

At least Upper and Lower Canada still have vestigial meaning.