Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Before WW3.

Uhhh... not quite.

Hopefully not, at least!

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by dleung

imagine griping about not receiving the due privilege owed solely to one's heritage when just about every other group is far lower on the pecking order and treated as such

The other groups didn't found the country though. They are mere immigrants who came later and had to assimilate into Franco or Anglo Canada.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Most people in most places tend to be low information. Of course this includes the US.

I don't think the average person stateside can tell a French Canadian accent apart from a European French accent.

Short answer is that they can't stateside. They also can't tell if an Anglophone is faking a French accent. It's one of those interesting social experiments my SO tries out from time to time down south.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by lio45

for North American Anglos, the French legislatives would be too foreign to be on it.)

It was top of the main page in the New York Times and Washington Post.

Even more crazy: for the past 3 weeks the French elections have received more coverage, and the articles have been more read, than the British election in... the Financial Times! Even on the Guardian website the French elections have received more coverage than the British election. I could never imagine the reverse situation in a French newspaper.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Interestingly the turnout in the Montréal consular area was the highest in all of North America, with nearly half of registered French voters turning out to vote. So this shows the French people in Montréal are more transient, less well established, people staying there temporarily but still very much focused on French issues.

In comparison, the lowest turnouts were in LA (22.8%) and Miami (27.2%). The French people there are far more detached from what's going on in France, which I can totally understand as I used to live in California and felt very detached from France back then (I did not even bother to vote in the French presidential election).

It will be a challenge for Québec to keep these transient French expats long term I think (although since there are always new newcomers, it might not be such an issue if many leave after a few years, inflows being always larger than outflows).

In California and Florida, you have to actively seek out French news to stay plugged in. Most Americans don't give a hoot about French elections and probably don't even know about it.

On the Plateau it's on the media and everyone's chatting about it. It's hard to avoid this election on the island unless you isolate yourself in an Anglophone enclave.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Well living in a French speaking place where the election is a topic of conversation will do that..

I was going to say exactly that. The French elections were more often than not the lead item in Quebec news for several days, and on Sunday at 2 pm SRC's all news channel RDI aired a special program with experts for an hour or two, right when results became available (at 8 pm Paris time).

"Le Pen" is almost a household name in Quebec, and for better or for worse people know what that name stands for.

The English CBC (in the same corporation as SRC) probably did mention the French elections a little bit, but they give stuff from France far less coverage than the SRC does. (Such as the recent death of singer Françoise Hardy.)

All of this is normal of course. At least to anyone familiar with human cultures.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Zeej

What if, perhaps, they do come from many walks of life, but for various reasons chose to vote similarly? It really doesn't equate with being leftist woke types.

French saying of the day: Avec des si, on mettrait Paris en bouteille.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Le Pen" is almost a household name in Quebec, and for better or for worse people know what that name stands for.

Same with Melanchon, and now Bardella. Most Quebecois probably couldn't even name the current or several last UK Prime Ministers in comparison.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Their vote also reflects how Quebec would vote if allowed.

Québec never placed QS #1 in a provincial election. If Québec voted in the French legislative elections, they would place Macron's party #1. Macron's party is basically a mix of PQ, CAQ, and PLQ.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

It was top of the main page in the New York Times and Washington Post.

Even more crazy: for the past 3 weeks the French elections have received more coverage, and the articles have been more read, than the British election in... the Financial Times! Even on the Guardian website the French elections have received more coverage than the British election. I could never imagine the reverse situation in a French newspaper.

It's not that there was NO coverage of the French elections in the anglosphere's media. I mean, these elections are pretty significant in terms of the upheaval, so there is that added element of interest.

That said, it's still not the same as the level of media and public interest there is in Quebec. I mean, I hired a guy to paint my house over the weekend, and he's this typical older blue collar Québécois guy, and the topic came up.

I don't think that happens much in Omaha, Nebraska. Or even White Plains, New York.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Uhhh... not quite.

Hopefully not, at least!

February 2025: president Donald Trump invites prime minister Jordan Bardella at the White House.
March 2025: the French government stops its contributions to the EU budget (after the European Commission rejected Bardella's lowered VAT on gasoline)
April 2025: Marine Le Pen, leader of the RN MPs in the National Assembly, starts a 'peace mission' in Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

I let you write la suite...

[Acajack]

I have CNN and Fox News on my cable package, and while I wasn't in front of the TV all weekend, I did surf a bit and saw no mention of the French elections. Though I am sure both did mention them in their rundowns of the news. But it was easy to miss for the average American I think.

Whereas if you tuned in at all to RDI (SRC or French CBC) or LCN (TVA), you couldn't NOT know that there were important elections going on in France.

[Truenorth00]

^ That's American TV though. I don't have cable. But I doubt they are covering the British elections much either.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

^ That's American TV though. I don't have cable. But I doubt they are covering the British elections much either.

They're covering a bit more than the French ones anyway.

Actually, what I've found among all media I pay attention to (multiple sources and countries as you know), is how coverage of the British elections dropped off sigificantly in the past couple of weeks, even as the voting day has approached.

I assume that it will pick up everywhere this week, though.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I was going to say exactly that. The French elections were more often than not the lead item in Quebec news for several days, and on Sunday at 2 pm SRC's all news channel RDI aired a special program with experts for an hour or two, right when results became available (at 8 pm Paris time).

"Le Pen" is almost a household name in Quebec, and for better or for worse people know what that name stands for.

The English CBC (in the same corporation as SRC) probably did mention the French elections a little bit, but they give stuff from France far less coverage than the SRC does. (Such as the recent death of singer Françoise Hardy.)

If anything, modern media have brought Québec and France closer together (something that is not well realized in Anglo-Canada, as you can see from some of the reactions in this thread). I doubt that in the 1920s or 1930s your average Québécois household would have known much about the local French elections or commented about them. Few Québécois probably knew that the Cartel de Gauches won the French elections in 1924, or cared about it.

There's been renewed interest and knowledge of French issues since the 1970s.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

^ That's American TV though. I don't have cable. But I doubt they are covering the British elections much either.

In my experience, British elections get usually much more coverage in the New York Times than French elections. Sometimes they have top news items about Britain that seem really trivial or not that important (especially royal family stuff, but also intricate details of British politics). It's something that I've always found odd with the New York Times.

The Washington Post is usually far less concerned with British politics, and Californian newspapers almost never talk about British politics.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

If anything, modern media have brought Québec and France closer together (something that is not well realized in Anglo-Canada, as you can see from some of the reactions in this thread). I doubt that in the 1920s or 1930s your average Québécois household would have known much about the local French elections or commented about them. Few Québécois probably knew that the Cartel de Gauches won the French elections in 1924, or cared about it.

There's been renewed interest and knowledge of French issues since the 1970s.

Correct. There has been a very noticeable change in my lifetime.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

In my experience, British elections get usually much more coverage in the New York Times than French elections. Sometimes they have top news items about Britain that seem really trivial or not that important (especially royal family stuff, but also intricate details of British politics). It's something that I've always found odd with the New York Times.

The Washington Post is usually far less concerned with British politics, and Californian newspapers almost never talk about British politics.

There is actually shockingly little international news in media based in the western United States, or even as soon you get away from the old east coast.

In Los Angeles, where you might expect it, there is even very little coverage of Mexican affairs.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

That said, it's still not the same as the level of media and public interest there is in Quebec. I mean, I hired a guy to paint my house over the weekend, and he's this typical older blue collar Québécois guy, and the topic came up.

I don't think that happens much in Omaha, Nebraska. Or even White Plains, New York.

We recently touched base with SO's relatives in Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, which I think doesn't have any French expats (or very few of them at best), and they were saying the majority of town was actively following and buzzing about the French legislative elections.

There's no Anglo-Canadian equivalent in following the UK elections. Milquetoast interest at best.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

In Los Angeles, where you might expect it, there is even very little coverage of Mexican affairs.

Mexico is completely unknown in California except for Tijuana, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, and the Mexican national holiday every year (in September if I remember correctly?) when Mexican immigrants drive their pickups flying large Mexican flags.

Canada is also largely an unknown entity. Even in Seattle where I have friends and where I stayed, next door Vancouver is largely terra incognita.

There was a lot of knowledge of Iraq and Afghanistan though. My Californian (Republican) landlady even organized a charity event at her house for Afghan women. That's Americans as we like them!