Mange ma bitte, Iggy!

Yep, that's the way a lot of Centralers think.  It's absurd, of course.  The further West you go in Canada, the less relevant French becomes and the more relevant other languages do — particularly Japanese and Mandarin (or Cantonese, though it's somewhat on the wane).

There are certain areas in the Lower Mainland where Mandarin/Cantonese as a second language could be the most useful thing you learn.

Garth

The ability to speak both official languages is a barrier to entry created by the LPC. Bilingualism was a mechanism to put a lock on power.

The economic engine at the center of the country is falling apart rapidly. The economic center of gravity of Canada is migrating west at an accelerating rate.

Typical LPC attempt to have it both ways, lest they piss off La Belle Nation and lose their chance of obtaining a majority.

Economics trumps everything, as every chart being produced of late shows.

The LPC have-it-both-ways strategy belies the credo of power for power's sake, so that Libranos can line their pockets with our wealth.

The West won't take their crap forever. At this rate, the Libranos will be left to suck the last bit of oxygen out of the rapidly drying up pond in central Canada.

This is an emergency, of course, which naturally requires all hands on the MSM spin machine deck to try to both kiss Western butt in the West, and demonize the West back in the shrivelling core of power. It's a mind-control sleight of hand perfected by Arafat.

Economy trumps everything. Our 'professional' journalists (LPC media relations agents) may figure that out some day - when they find themselves queued up for the dole.

To the liberals the main problem with the west is that it is not west enough, preferably mid pacific.

Don't read too much into either of these speaches...

He could likely be in Brampton next week licking the boots of the Tamil Tigers too!

It's just politics; a big show with no substance...

"Ignatieff called the ability to speak both official languages 'the essence of being Canadian'"

Geez, I knew Iggy was trying to scrub away the memory of Stephane Dion, but it seems a little harsh to slam the guy this hard...

I have no use for eastern Canada as is, simply because they have designed the government of this country to benefit them. Candid discussion of what goes on doesn't happen. Study the top down appointment of French speaking administrators in the federal government. I am well aware of a particular department which was slowly converted to French speaking even though only 5% of the work required bilingual capability. The cost to taxpayers is totally irrelvent.

Does anyone else find it utter B.S. that oilsands development went on for +30 years without any particular enviromental concern. Federal Liberal governments took a wack through equalization. They tried for more through a Dion pitch for a 'Carbon' tax. Disquised as an environmental Kyoto effort to save the planet, it simply was eastern Canada trying to take their 'cut', like always. This pretense continues today through a eastern controlled media.

What am I worried about? Efforts to tax oil have met with limited success so money is now simply being printed instead. The Feds will end up putting $10s of billions into a eastern auto sector which will not be saved anyway. Need I remind everyone that this sector was largely built with taxpayers money in the first place.

Shaken said it for me. One of the main arguments for GW is what if your wrong. Ok. Now it becomes is it worth my job, my car, and my life to allay any doubts? YOU have to pay to play now, not someone else.

Quebecers do not deserve to be in a permanent opposition in Ottawa. Their place is in power," Ignatieff said, pausing for applause.

and hands deep into the pockets of the west and thieving .

I think spanish will be the most valuable second language,as that will be our primary source of labor in the coming decades/i.e.Mexico and central america/especially in the west

I think spanish will be the most valuable second language,as that will be our primary source of labor in the coming decades/i.e.Mexico and central america/especially in the west

I think spanish will be the most valuable second language,as that will be our primary source of labor in the coming decades/i.e.Mexico and central america/especially in the west

Good comment by Ignatieff, shows how completely out of touch with the Country and the people he's become, living most of his life elsewhere.

In B.C., you would be far better off learning Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, or Japanese, than French.

French is only good if you've decided to give up on honest work, and apply for government jobs. And I've known a few people who have become completely fluent in French, and have been passed over for promotion while a person of French Canadian heritage was promoted, even though their English language skills were not up to par.

I've found Spanish a much more useful language to know than French. That will be especially so in the future as it will probably become an official language in the States.

I agree MSM is all hands on deck, if NNW is any indication. Nobody wants to talk to Harper apparently, he should have let Galloway in, he's too "Liberal."

Whatever. .1% of the population reads this stuff, 90% haven't even heard of Ignatieff, and more than 50%, IMO, are quite comfortable with Stephen Harper (despite the bleating from the "coalition") as PM.

Thanks to the blundering on the left with their minority coalition and dream on team, the federal safe harbour for Canadians will, in the next election, become a CPC majority, rather than minority.

Ignatieff made a serious tactical error when he signed the coalition agreement. That hasn't been made clear to the public yet; it will. The soft-landed LPC leader then made a strategic error when he offered he could have taken the job of PM when he wanted, but didn't feel it was good for Canada.

Oh, really Mr Ignatieff! So the coalition was still an option in Feb 09, and, in a sure slip on your part, you told Canadians you didn't think it was in their interests that he be PM!

Many gaffes, misjudgements and misstatements await, especially during an election. The Grits are having their strategy session right now (going something like this: "WIN, WIN, HOW CAN WE WIN).

Here's a hint. Raise some money, propose some legislation, repudiate once and for all any cooperation, post election with NDP and Bloc.

There is only one reason why we're not in an election right now; the Liberals know they can't WIN. They prefer to wait until the "momentum" of the voter not in an election builds. It isn't going to happen until the Liberals repudiate their cronyism and coaliton brinkmanship, convincing Canadians they are again fit to govern.

From my corner that isn't happening at all. Nick Nanos can prognosticate with his rolling averages all he wants, but we are not in an election, so polls that are somewhat close are meaningless.

If the Grits choose to go for it (everybody seems to be lining up their ducks right no), I for one am ready for it. I think Harper has learned too, tweaking the party a bit more right to isolate Liberals in large urban centres, having to fight it out with NDP in the Atlantic.

Who knows, the NDP might even get a leader and actually challenge for Official Opposition. No, never mind.

Everyone was getting alone fine in Prescott-Russell until recently there was this push for bilingual signs. Now Iganatieff is adding fuel to the fire to get francophone votes in the area.

Next there will be an Office de la Langue Française measuring signs and making sure all stores serve in both languages, instead of letting the market decide. Most businesses in Hawkesbury, for instance, serve customers in both languages, but not everybody in Eastern Ontario is bilingual.

Will Ignatieff also scold the Quebec government for taking federal money for minority languages and putting it in the general education budget, so most of the money doesn't end up going to English schools.

As usual, the Liberals and their friends on the left, still ascribe to the bilingual, multicultural monstrosity that THEY deliberately created during the Pearson and Trudeau years.

If you haven't already, you should see if you can find a copy of "The Patriot Game, National Dreams and Political Realities" by Peter Brimelow. He explains that "Canada's bilingual experiment has been, above everything else, a supreme exercise in social engineering. Its immediate effects have been highly regressive, reinforcing precisely the groups from whom power in Canada has been slipping"

Ignatieff holds to the old Liberal definition of Canada. It is the central Canadian view of Canada which dictates that the Golden (soon to be Rust) Triangle will rule over all of Canada.....that areas outside the Triangle are colonies and of little consequence...except to utilize and abuse them as the rulers see fit.

The notion is not unlike any Imperial model that we have seen in history. The prime difference is that rather than having water separating the rulers from the ruled, we have terra firma, but the model is precisely the same. The rulers go about their business with little if any regard for the colonies. Until, that is, the ruled get tired of the dictators. Then all hell breaks loose.

This guy's an internet meme begging to happen.

We've seen some pretty dishonest politicians in Canada but this guy's propensity to make perfectly contradictory statements depending on the audience is in another league.

The awesome thing? The people who agree with Kate on this the most are immigrants. Ujjal Dosanjh "broke the seal" on bilingualism when he recently questioned whether one language is hard enough for immigrants. He's right; large scale immigration seems incompatible with this Bobby Gimby-reeking anachronism which is really a job creation program for Quebeckers.

I don't often see prospects for positive change in Canada, but ditching bilingualism would seem doable, let's support it. Let the immigrants play Neil Lumsden to our Jim Germany on this one. Lumsden was said to run so low to the ground he could light a match on it, a suitable analogy for the kneecap tactics of the ethnopolitical cadre. To paraphrase Parizeau, give me one Quebecker stomping on an immigrant's flag and we've got this one in the bag.

Hang on. Most Ontarions do not speak BOTH languages, most Torontonians do not speak BOTH languages. Most Quebecers, outside of Montreal do not speak BOTH languages.

Either language I could 100% agree with, so I am sure that Iggy agrees with Jason Kenney that immigrants must have a working knowledge of one or the other.

This is faux pas that belies his "elite" status. Most bureacrats do, since it is a requirement to work there. But my he just described 98% of Canadians as not Canadian, not just Western Canadians.

My mistake, 82% of Canadians arent Canadian enough. Most of those who are Canadian enough live in Monreal, Ottawa, New Brunswick and along the Ontario Quebec Border...small concentration in Manitoba and northern ontario.

Now my kids are in french immersion but the reasons for that are complex and have more to do with giving them a challenge, the quality of an immersion school vs a uniligual school and the quality of their classmates.

Thanks for bringing attention to this, however I think the real story of the article you link to is that fact that Iggy SUPPORTS LAWS WHICH WILL MAKE IT MANDATORY FOR BUSINESSES TO HAVE BILINGUAL SIGNS.

Completely obsurd for our hostess to ascribe the trait of speaking but one of the official languages to the west alone.

dmorris -
You are so right - the important issue in civil service employment is not whether you can SPEAK French-it's whether you ARE French.

Iggy said last week in Ontario "If you asked me where I stood on the subject of bilingual signs, I’d respond without equivocation, ‘I am for it’,"

Will he make a point of saying exactly the same thing in Quebec this week-end?

Garth
Or we could ensure they speak OUR language before they come here.
Canada speaks English so should any wanting to come here! Speak English and believe in freedoms and democracy or don't come here!
Iggy can kiss my left testicle with his French language BS, Canada would be better served by a single language, it's the first move of any uniting of a country.

Our hostess ascribing to one language? We are talking about Mr.Iggy and bilingual signs.Make them legal in Quebec,then talk to the rest of us.Someday you are going to realize what Trudeau and his gang of henchmen did to this country.

Because of the ridiculous mandate that any job that's higher than "peon" in government requires that you be bilingual, a bunch of my colleagues and friends, supremely qualified and who would do a tremendous job, have been passed over.

As I tend to say every time this comes up: thanks you very much Pierre Elliott F**king Trudeau.

Stephen,
I don't believe for a second that 18% of Canadians speak, read & write both English & French, if not fluently, at least without major problems.

Generally, Canada would be much better off declaring Quebec an officially French speaking province and the rest officially English speaking provinces.
Then we should encourage everyone (especially students) to learn at least two foreign languages (potentially, but not necessarily, the "other" official language).

A very unilingual Quebecer once said to me, in the mixture of Cornflakes box English and French we were using plus a smattering of Spanish we'd both learned, that the government had told him that British Columbians were quickly learning French. He was surprised to learn there were more Chinese in BC than there were French speakers.

So it must be concluded that not only do the politicians lie to Western Canada, they lie to Quebec as well.

Which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Well I'd be happy if more people in Vancouver actually spoke EITHER official language, let alone both.

“THE EAST IS NOT CANADIAN ENOUGH”!............Urban East anyway.

Why else would they be so willing to sell Canada out? Everything that has denied Canadians the preservation of their unique cultural history is born in the east. Everything from blind third world multiculturalism to the gun registry, from black history month to the feminist movements to eliminate hockey violence, the Leftist Liberal powers of Eastern Canada struggle to evaporate “Canadian” cultural history.

These socialist morons are Canadian sellouts, who deceive the public with grand false statements about who cares for the preservation of Canada and who doesn’t. If they had their wishes come true, the new history of Canada would be completely rewritten to include the Mexicans and Africans as the founders of the nation. Traditional families would be outlawed for people of white European ancestry unless supplemented with third world adopted babies. Sharia law would prevail over a communist style government. The deluded exception in their minds of course is that gay and feminist rights would trump all other rights for family, career and leadership in such a country.

The west needs to separate from these idiots, before they drag us down any further. The few conservatives remaining there would be welcome to come along.

Michael Ignatieff, March 14th

"the Quebec government should be involved in protecting French throughout the country alongside the federal government"

I'm a sixth generation English speaking Canadian born in Quebec(descended from United Empire Loyalists), who the h*!! is protecting the rights of English speaking Canadians in Quebec. Certainly not Iggy.....The official federal government definition of bilingualism is "French/English", if you're English/French, sorry, that doesn't qualify as being bilingual, no promotion for you.

...and a big fat "go to hell" for Iggy from this Canadian who doesn't know a word of French but is more Canadian than he is based on the amount of time he's spent in this country...by choice.

Oh, and let's not forget those speeches he gave where he referred to himself as "we" Americans.

Ignatieff needs a swift kick, and clearly for him it's all about pandering to Quebec...but, hey, wasn't that the same criticism the LPOC hurled at Harper?

Posted by: Mark>

“I'd be happy if more people in Vancouver actually spoke EITHER official language”

Sad to say, but many in the west consider that the west starts west of Ontario and ends at the Vancouver city limits. From there you have Asia.

Vancouver seems to have lost its Canadian sovereignty years ago, are you enjoying the growing Indo gang violence the police have zero control over? Not attempting to be smug, Calgary is following right along in Van’s footsteps, just saying it’s in a better position to control it at the moment, but is losing that small advantage FAST.

http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=e3f0eac7-1f33-47d3-82d7-bef6d7efb9c7

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080919/calgary_gangs_080919?s_name=medExpress2007&no_ads=

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/relationships/Calgary+gang+violence+taking+police+other+beats/1305556/story.html

http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/calgary/story.html?id=1389271

This is not home grown it’s IMPORTED!

This will not get better at the current immigration policies and the blind acceptance of multiculturalism by Canadians. The future does not look bright at all unless Canadians speak up and demand NO MORE!

>>in the mixture of Cornflakes box English and French

Speaking of Cornflakes boxes (and other packaging), the law of unintended consequences has made bilingual packaging discriminatory to seniors. The requirement to print both 'official' languages on packaging has resulted in the use of smaller fonts to accommodate the duplication, which are much harder to read for those who require reading glasses (many older people). Thus, it becomes necessary to carry reading glasses whenever one goes shopping, or to be constantly asking passersby and grocery clerks to read the packaging for one. Considering the great push to make our society easier for the handicapped, this is one instance where that requirement has been totally ignored for the purpose of political correctness.

Via Orville H, who adds " I am eager to hear if Ignatieff has the same message for Quebeckers this week-end..."

Why would he? He'll acknowledge that his party has blundered in its treatment of Quebec ...

"God knows this party has made mistakes out in Quebec and I know them," Ignatieff told ...

Any interest in an Upper and Western Canada Party or Western and Upper Canada Party. I used to be concerned about the Atlantic Provinces, but the continual whining and bombast from Newfoundland and Labrador; plus the contribution from the late comer to the Federation, PEI; (it is to small to warrant being a fully written name) and New Brunswick (have more children so we will get more equalization money). I do feel some angst about Nova Scotia but the important thing is when Quebec and the Atlantic Canada become the leavings the the Ontario Eastern border is adjusted so that Ottawa goes with the aforementioned leavings. Cheers; Mike Sr.

john luft: "Ignatieff holds to the old Liberal definition of Canada."

Probably because that definition is the one that was ascendant in Canada when he left Canadian shores to seek fame and fortune not as a Canadian but as a British/American ACADEMIC. That's how he defines himself in a recent speech in Winnipeg, viewed on CPAC the other night. He actually said, "I am an academic."

What a joke. 'Just what Canada needs in a Prime Minister: an ivory tower, out-of-touch-with-the-real-world, elitist.

His twitchy eyebrows and languid arrogance are deeply annoying, and his views on Canada, just regurgitated Librano lies. "Official bilingualism" is one of the most bogus, partisan, let's-keep-Francophone-Quebecois-in-power-forever schemes devised by PET to cement his and his confreres' legacy which, thank G*d, is coming unraveled under the graceless and oafish mismanagement of the present LPC "leadership."

Count Iggy's debonair Librano swagger, though championed by the Canadian MSM (how come he's not polling far higher than 3% more than the CPC in the latest Nanos poll? His numbers should be in the stratosphere with all the positive press PR ... ) is a flimsy construct which most Canadians can see through. PMSH is giving him enough rope to hang himself, and I'm pretty sure with all of The Iggster's verbal inconsistencies, he will.

Canada is the bumblebee of politics - shouldn't be able to fly, but still manages to get from right to left and back again...

Iggy employs Warnout the cat fancier. That is all I need to know about Iggy.

Iggy, baby. Take note, eh?

"I'd be happy if more people in the Canadian Government actually spoke EITHER official language"

Most don't. The anglophones are generally rudimentary in French, and the francophones are illiterate in English, even thought they believe they are not. The influx of Asian, South Asian and Middle Easterners, along with the resident Franglais have made Canada unintelligible in any language. Good luck with that EI claim talking to the punjabi FSL with the Chinglish colleague....

All this points up to an unfortunate reality about Canadian politics.....Quebec has the balance of power...thanks to the BLOC...
No majority governments are really possible without a victory in Quebec...
This was the case pre-BLOC....hence the disproportionate influence evidenced by the preponderance of "pure laine" Quebers in the cabinet and senior civil service....
The emergence of the GTA as a voting block is the result of decades of LPC social engineering....designed to be a fall back redoubt if their influence in Quebec wains....

Expert's name: "Scott Murray". "canadian".
Its not fare.
...-

"Quebecers' literacy skills lag
Last among canadian provinces. Half the population won't be able to function in marketplace in 10 years, expert warns"
urlm.in/bygj

Can there be any doubt left that Iggy and the Liberal Elite Party only cares about Ontario and Quebec? From east to west the only two provinces with any political clout are in Central Canada the rest of us matter naught.

And the scary thing is he'll likely be the next PM and he'll further Balkinize Canada.

When does the West get the extra ridings? Soon i hope! Before the next election?
(toronto resident here...)

"God knows this party has made mistakes out in the Western Canada and I know them..."

I think the most telling part of Iggy's comment is the 'OUT' in Western Canada reference. In other words, Western Canada is somewhere 'OUT' there relative to his location at the centre of the world - which is temporarily the GTA - until he relocates to Harvard after he gets thumped at the polls and loses interest -remember BelinDUH?)

Hey iggy. I'm holding up my middle finger.

Ignatieff the White man who speaks with many forked tongues. I figure certain politicians have forgotten already how pathetically easy it is to spot the lies. Its a pathetic show. All of these jokers ought to go back to actors school. Learn some real Gore like deceit.
If only Ignatieff could be TOTUS like Barry, is probably his plea to hiself each day.
The day's of talking out of both sides of their mouths are done. It will take a wee bit of time to sink in.
JMO

Iggy has never specified what mistakes his party made 'out' West so this does not qualify as a real apology or rethinking.

Peter @ 1:23...
right on!
I'll bet he doesn't have a clue that signs in Quebec are not bilingual.
Will someonoe in MSM ask the question again with reference to that quote?

Yeah, right!

All Iggy needs is Quebec and Ont. The west is no mans land for the Liberals and they know it. Just listened to the Iggman on Question Period. Ole hawkeye asked him about the long-gun registry and he said that he supports it and we need to keep it (paraphrased). Kind a goes against the "God knows this party has made mistakes out in the Western Canada and I know them..." statement. He knows he has no chance out west because of the coalition agreement with the Bloc and Jack from TO. So you might as well appease Ont. & Quebec.

The west needs to separate now. Eastern Canada will not let our western ideas influence the fed government.

We will get screwed again, outside looking in while the east tells us what is good for us as they know better than we do.

CTV is rejoicing about Iggy's visit to Quebec...but the commenters on the site are not.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090322/liberals_quebec_090322/20090322?hub=TopStories
Comments will soon be closed because the Iggy is getting a huge thumbs down.

The Liberals have only one agenda; the one they've retained and maintained for generations. Power. Liberals lack, utterly lack, principles and integrity.

They have no interest in the well-being of Canada or Canadians. They have only one interest. Power.

Therefore, Ignatieff is deliberately going after Quebec votes because our terrible electoral system privileges Quebec, giving them at least 75 seats in the House. AND, our Charter privileges Quebec - for most of the Charter and indeed, its main focus, is on inserting bilingualism into the governance of this country.

As others have pointed out, over 80% of Canadians are not, and never will be, bilingual. And this is one full generation after it was made law and after billions - that's billions - of taxpayer money was poured into forcing bilingualism on us. Result?

A civil service dominated by francophones (many who can barely speak English); a civil service dominated by the quebecois perspective of socialism and entitlement; a civil service viewing with contempt any and all 'anglophones' and particularly, those west of the Ottawa River as 'without any culture'; a civil service focused on socialism, contemptuous of capitalism and utterly indifferent to Canadians because, well, there's the ROC and there's Quebec.

But Ignatieff is after votes. He's not interested in the well-being of Canada. He's after the Quebec vote. And he's after the latte-crowd in Toronto - who have been programmed for a generation to promote bilingualism, to promote multiculturalism...ie...flinging immigrants into enclosed and isolated ghettoes rather than enabling them to integrate with 'the latte crowd' and actually develop a common, shared, Canadian identity.

He's after the latte crowd with their anti-Americanism...and that will be interesting because this crowd, mindless as they are, are swooning over Obama. So, who will the new Evil People be? Hmm. I suspect he'll fine tune it - it will be any and all who reject Obama.

Ignatieff, as a Liberal, doesn't operate by principles or integrity. Just power.

I heard a short clip of his Quebec speech on Radio-Canada. What I heard translates to, "I respect Quebec wanting to exist as an independent nation." Hardly the words of a true Canadian leader.

How do you say in French " 25% of our provincial revenues come in the form of transfer payments from the "Have" provinces". Ontario, BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan must keep paying us and the other "Have-Not" provinces must be willing to get less so we can have our entitled entitlements. Sorry Danny Williams, but you are a loud mouth whack job and do not deserve any money - we want your gift money as well.

It is because our culture is superior to yours that you must pay us."

Stephen writes: "Now my kids are in french immersion but the reasons for that are complex and have more to do with giving them a challenge, the quality of an immersion school vs a uniligual school and the quality of their classmates."

Sure, Stephen; in the Atlantic provinces, too, the major impetus behind French Immersion is the desire of parents that their children not have to go to class with "those people". That, and giving their children a chance to realize the Canadian dream of having a job with the federal government.

Mr. Igghead,

I am a westerner and I speak all the French I need to.

Here is my Franco comment to you sir.

Manger la merde!

I spent years in Ottawa before seeing the light and returning west. I worked in Transport Canada in the Aviation Department ... to be full time staff we were required to be bilingual even though the world wide language of aviation is English ... yes ... Wolrd wide all communications regarding aircraft is conducted in english ... Even the mechanics are supposed to be competent in English ... but we had translate all the manuals and all the other stuff into French for what. Colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.

I keep wondering when the rest of Canada is going to be tired of being held hostage by a bunch of french speaking discontents. And when the rest of us are going to be tired of minority government because of these discontents. The BQ has no business in Ottawa and the sooner the rest of canada realizes this the better.

I'm one Canadain that's tired of the whole bilingual thing.

In other news, Trudeau's abomination - Petro-Canada is about to wiped out.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123777025337310041.html

In other news, out of pure self-interest, Ace decided to purchase Petro-Canada shares at 28.01 and stands to profit by 40%.

sheila - yes, the waste of taxpayer dollars on this sham bilingualism is a monstrous injustice.

Furthermore, it restricts the rights, and I use that word deliberately, of Canadians to work in government. So many positions are required to be bilingual, as you point out, and since over 80% of Canadians are not bilingual - and don't have the linguistic ability to learn it at age 25+ - then this restricts these positions to those who have lived and heard both languages from childhood.

That is - the Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa corridor. These people become the mandarisn, the bureaucrats of Canadian government. They bring with them a narrow perspective of Canada, a socialist welfare-state perspective, and a restricted view of Canada as essentially operating within that Ontario-Quebec centralism.

That's what the Charter did to us - and no-one has the political courage to change it. What should be the change? Unilingualism. Quebec, remember, is unilingual. It rejects bilingualism. There's no such thing as bilingual signs in Quebec. Try it- and the "Language Police' will come after you.

So- unilingual in Quebec. And unilingual in the rest of Canada. If any Quebec wants to live and work outside of that province -fine. Learn English. Many do - and just as many consider the 'rest of Canada' a foreign country and refuse to set foot in it.

Our governance is held hostage by this bilingualism, and by our privileging Quebec, with its Bloc Party - an outrage in a federal legislature - its predominance in all civil service positions and its constant extortion of money from the taxpayers.

As a westerner, I'm used to the lefties from Toronto and Quebec always ramming their mushy socialism down my throat.
When I said I'm a westerner, I meant southwest Ontario.
When the west separates, remember the east starts at Toronto.
Windsor doesn't count.

As a westerner, I'm used to the lefties from Toronto and Quebec always ramming their mushy socialism down my throat.
When I said I'm a westerner, I meant southwest Ontario.
When the west separates, remember the east starts at Toronto.
Windsor doesn't count.

I have lived in Ontario all my life, but if the western provinces seperate and Ontario chooses to remain aligned with Quebec and the rest of eastern Canada I will move to the west.There is no way that I will remain in a country that is dominated by Quebec if I have a choice of living in a free unilingual English country.I am tired of my tax dollars being pi%$^d into the Quebec treasury to support a lifestyle they could never afford on their own dime.I hope that the Ontario voters can see through this Ignatieff snake and give PM Harper a majority in the next election.

Yup, it's time to kick Canada to the curb and start our own damn country.

B-bye! It was interesting and kinda kinky being penetrated in all of our orifices by you, but you just ain't marriage material.

Roses and sweet pillow talk just don't cut it anymore.

Atlantic Jim: "Completely obsurd for our hostess to ascribe the trait of speaking but one of the official languages to the west alone."

Or even one.

Just on multi-lingualism in general:

I'm married to a Chinese woman, who was brought up in the Philippines. She speaks English perfectly (well, almost; she, and everyone in her family, ask me to "keep the food" after a meal, by which they mean "put it away", a locution which sounds curious to me), Fukien Chinese perfectly, Mandarin - a little, Cantonese - a little, Tagalog (the main Filipino language) - a little, and Chavucano (the Spanish/Filipino dialect of her region in the P.I.) perfectly. So, that's three languages she speaks well, and three she can stumble along in. Me - I speak English well, and can stumble along in French, if the person I'm speaking with is kind. I can also now count to ten in Mandarin and say "Yes", "No", and "Thank you" - what an accomplishment!

In a similar vein, I've met many Europeans who, without saying so impolitely, consider most North Americans clots for being unilingual. Nearly 60% of Europeans speak two languages fluently, while 44% claim to speak three or more. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to speak two or more languages. My wife tried to get our girls into Chinese school, but with everything else they were doing, it proved to be too much. Still, I look forward to a time when we can all go to Quebec for a few months at our cottage there, and all try to live and speak in French, just for the intellectual exercise.

And Garth Wood: it's not just in the West that languages other than French are important. I live in Richmond Hill, Ontario, a few miles north of Toronto proper. Here, the languages of daily use are (in my unscientific but deeply experienced view) English, Chinese (mostly Cantonese but Mandarin gaining), Farsi (Persian), Italian, and Korean. French? Nowhere to be found except in immersion schools and government offices. And if one wants to venture south on Yonge Street, from Centre Street in Thornhill all the way down to Sheppard Avenue in Toronto (google maps will help you see just how big a swath this is), one could easily come to the conclusion that the two languages of Canada are English and Korean. So the oriental influence is not just out west; it's alive and well and thriving here in the GTA.

sheila, i have been tired of the bilingual shit from day one. the people of canada are pc fools.

If you haven't already, try the Poll:

http://pollshare.myisay.com/index.php/show/poll/id/2216

I've yet to find someone here in S'toon that thinks western separation isn't a good idea (seriously), not to mention my silly little free poll has about 90+ in favor.

http://poll.pollcode.com/h1p

Although being proactive(getting the ball rolling) would be prudent and less painful, it's become obvious to me that it will take another overt punitive stunt to actually get western Canadians serious about separation. There is no money, leadership or will. Perhaps in the future our leaders will return from Ottawa and lead the charge, but until then it's all wishful thinking.

I am proud to be able to call Iggy stupid in more than our two official languages. Idiot! Crétin! Imbécil! Schwachkopf!