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Originally Posted by svenski
I wouldn't go as far as saying the French helped build Canada, it was more of a case that after they were soundly beaten by the British, the British instead of killing them all off, let them be.
Now you have all the problems about which language is official, English only speaking people being denied jobs, that sort of thing, inside Quebec.
You've got to love the French attitude though. Whilst the UK moans about the EU and fights its corner, they tend to do it through the proper channels and faithfully sign off the legislation and enforce the rules when the EU finally agrees.
The French fight their corner by strikes, blockading ports and telling new members to shut up (hi Poland), then when they get their way they hardly enforce anything anyway.
If only they'd been a bit more ballsy against the Nazis.
Just my  , the French ain't all bad , after all they do have the TGV. |
Read your history about the French getting their ass kicked by English in Canada. The French "out gunned" them but they still choose to surrender instead of fight. Oh well......
I'm Quebecoise and I've lived and recieved my education in both Ontario and Quebec. I will the first one to say that some of the biggest problems facing Canada in the french-english relationship is the prejudice from the french and the lack of a clue from the english.
Add to this that the goverment of Quebec is only concerned with 2 cities in a very large province and is quite content to let all other Quebecors recieve sub-standard education or rural living accomodations. The iliteracy rate of the Gaspesie or Laurentides is alarming to say the least. Many of these people have never even been as far as Quebec city and have no clue about the rest of Canada. And the politicians like it this way because they play on their fears and phobias. ("Oh the english will beat you up if you leave the province, they want to wipe out your language, etc etc.")
Our goverment would do well to make the entire country bilingual and be done with it. (IE: No french and No english.. everyone is both)
But that's niether here nor there.
As for France.....
I was married to an American and lived in the United States for close to 5 years. And it has been just over 2 years since I moved to France. These two nations are polar opposites!
American tends to be an agressive capitalist society that hates paperwork and goverment intervention.
France is anything but agressive and is a republic-socialist society that loves paperwork and goverment interference.
But France has many things in common with the United States. Xenophobia, prejudice, extreme religious right wing policies, etc. They might not have a KKK out here but any black man that lives some place other than Chateau Rouge area can't get any job other than grocery store bouncer regardless of his credentials.
My biggest complaints with France are the cowardice, xenophobia and beaucracy.
On a daily basis I get attacked for the way I speak french. Hell, they go as far as to say that I'm not even Quebcoise because I don't speak like a Montreal'r. (Sorry I was raised a closer to Labrador than Montreal) I have an Acadien friend here and they just won't let up at all on him.
As for the xenophobia...
Well man I have no words to describe it. In france everything not french must be english. In a market I watched a Russian man stuble over a word or two of french and in seconds he was litterally assulted with people barking english out at him. It was sooo bad it scared the shit out of him. (It was like vultures in the Nevada dessert on a feeding frenzy)
I also watched a friend of mine from Havre meet a Parisian friend of mine. The two assumed each other was an anglophone and switched to english. It took several minutes of argument from me to convince them they were speaking to fellow countrymen.
(The most amazing thing is this goes on soooo frequently and the majority of frenchmen don't even realize they are doing it.)
And the cowardice....
The first month I was here I was taught a french proverb. "To be happy you must hide." Even confronted with the truth many (not all) frenchmen will still try to avoid all and any confrontation. They do not want to fight and will do anything to stay out of one. Perhaps the most disgusting example of this was during world war 2 when the french goverment deported thousands of jews into the hands of the Nazis to try and placate them. They knew what the Nazis where doing and still shipped them off. Many of these Jews were children of less than 6 years of age.
I don't like the American way of hostility or dealing with things. But this is the one thing that turns my stomach in disgust. But than I'm Quebecoise and Canadienne, not French. And if I was alive during that time period I would have taken a gun and assasinated the French president and priminister.
Sometimes a line does have to be drawn. As a nation, France has a hard time doing that.
As for the paperwork....
Well I have my bank account in England. It was just easier to get one there than in France.
Ok, I said my two cents.