🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <517qsn$j8p@wpg-01.escape.ca>, jbuchy@escape.ca (Opus) writes:
>Elie Charest <turgon@mlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Well, all I can say is this. I lived for two years in Toronto, the
>>metropolis of this supposedly bilingual country. I never spoke french,
>>and I would not have lived in French if I had wanted to. Paradoxically,
>>I lived for a year as an anglophone in Montreal (lived with anglophones,
>>studied in english, worked in a Westmount boutique). I never had a
>>problem, only when I called back home in Quebec (my vocabulary
>>seemed...distant).
>
>>What we have here are two visions: one in the realm of the "official"
>>word, where Anglophones cannot put signs in English only and Francos
>>outside of Quebec can supposedly live in French. The other is the actual
>>real world, where it's a LOT easier to live in english in Montreal than
>>it is to live in French in the greater part of Anglophone Canada. This,
>>of course, from personal experience - though I know of other who've
>>shared similar experience.
>
>I shall pick up the gauntlet. You have done a fine job of comparing
>apples to oranges. The Anglophone/Allophone minority in Quebec is HUGE
>comepared to the Francophone minority here in Manitoba which has the
>largest Francophone population in NA outside of Quebec. I am sure you

Are you sure about that?  The Ontarois number around 500,000 in Ontario;
Acadiens number roughly 250,000 in New Brunswick.  Both Ontario and New
Brunswick do have policies to assist these communities- Ontario has bilingual
universities in Sudbury, Toronto, Ottawa, a French university college in
Hearst, several bilingual colleges, a French provincial television station,
French schools, bilingual hospitals, and a policy of official bilingualism
where numbers warrant (I think the guidelines were something like if either 10%
of the city/region/town population was French, or more than 50,000 were French,
the provincial policy of bilingualism would be used).  Mind you, this doesn't
dictate what private companies can and can't do.....so market conditions
vary considerably from the provincial policy.  In New Brunswick, the entire
province is officially bilingual....with a large concentration of Francophones
in the northern region.  During the reign of Richard Hatfield, New Brunswick
built a whole host of modernized hospitals, schools, community centres and
other infrastructure in French regions of the province....while hiring more
Francophones in the provincial civil service.  He partially alienated the
provinces Anglophone majority...who viewed it as favouritism....but
nonetheless, he carried out the initiatives.  In addition, during the reign of
NB's first Acadien Premier, Louis Robichaud, a Francophone university and
teacher's college was established in Moncton...and the "policy of equal
opportunity" was created.

>are aware that most of the non-Francophone population in Quebec lives
>in Montreal so it should be no surprise that English is such a common
>language in that area. I am of Ukranian descent. The Ukranian
>population in Manitoba is larger than the French population yet it is
>easier to get French services. I guess my culture isn't as good as
>yours. There are also several German communities near Winnipeg. It is
>difficult to do business in those towns without speaking German. I
>have yet to hear them lament the lack of Geman language services.

This is rather interesting to hear.