I posted this in another thread on seperation. I thought it sufficently states where many other Quebec'rs have of their points of view of.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by RawAlex
painintheass, your experience is like many people living in rural Quebec. Thankfully, the arrival of the internet, satelite TV, and other things has helped to broaden the horizons, ever so slightly, of the people least in touch with the world.
The question of seperation beings on the question of seperating the parts... does quebec city want to leave but montreal stay part of Canada? Where do you draw the line? Would perhaps the cote nord like to go, leaving the rest of us as canadians? It's a hard question.
I give up. 
Alex |
Thank you for saying that this does happen. Being from Rural Quebec often
feels like we are not part of Quebec at all. It's like we are another country caught in a "Tail of 2 Cities", Montreal and Quebec.
Think aout it, someone from Gaspe decides to visit Montreal. It's at least 15 hours by car or over $125 cdn by bus. And the bus isn't even an option for someone outside of Gaspe. They would have to commute to, ie: drive for over an hour, to the bus stop.
From my perspective, most politicians don't give a shit about us... but when an election comes around they go out into areas like mine, because it is the rural communities that put them in power and not the big cities.
In the rural areas they find the all the elderly and iliterate and basically tell them these things:
- "The Liberals/english are going to make it worse for you."
(***Note to a rural Quebec'r the Liberals and English are the same thing***)
"The english are not your friends."
"They don't care what happens to the french. Thats why your schools, hospitals, etc are bad."
"Do you want your grand-children or children not being able to speak french. Because thats what they will do. Take your children away from you."
etc etc etc.
They never say this stuff on a stage. But they sure as hell have no problemes talking like this when they sit down with you during a Lions club dinner.
You must understand the average person in Rural areas of Quebec has never been further than Quebec city. You should hear how they talk about thier visit for the next 10 years. They have no concept of understanding of the nation outside of their little communities.
Most Rural Quebec'rs are not scared to get into a fight. Hell, most of us have no problemes with a "Nock down and drag away" fight. But the above scares the shit out of us.
And yes this is scary shit to these kind of people. My parents were once one of them and so was I.
Ok, let me deal with the first part of your comment. The arrival of communications.
Satelite TV has changed things slightly. It has made many Quebec'rs in rural areas a little more peaceful. It means that instead of causing problemes on a saturday night they can sit at home and drink Wildcat beers because there is something good on Television.
As for Internet connection....
My friends are still screwed in my home ville. They can only get connection from one provider, the phone company.
The most they can get is dial up connection and although they say it is 56k. The best speeds they can connect at is apx 33k. The signal is cut off many times so it is not reliable. And for this service they pay...$29.95 with a one year contract.
To get highspeed they must petition the Hotel de ville to ask the company to put in a highspeed connection. Then they must get 100 people to sign up for 1 year contracts. And even if they do all that the best speed we get is 2meg adsl for a price of $56cdn a month including modem rental. (And you MUST use their modem. But you can choose to purchase it for close to $300cdn)
Again, it is not opening our horizons for us. Montreal and Quebec city are as out of touch with us as english Canada is out of touch with Montreal and Quebec.
You know... not to sound like I'm tooting my own horn. But I'm going to start another thread with this post. Seperation and the Rural Quebec'r