Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[harls]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Conspiracy theories?

Watch the video, he speaks French to her briefly. How is that a conspiracy theory?

[Acajack]

Maybe not a conspiracy theory but KW said it was blatant "set-up".

I am not sure that is true, but even if it is a set-up, the question of who set up whom is pretty clear.

It's not a set-up by little old Henriette to make anglophones look like assholes (which is what this ends up looking like), but rather a miserably failed attempt to make it look like poor little anglophones are mistreated in Quebec.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by harls

Watch the video, he speaks French to her briefly.

Which makes him look even more like a bastard?

Anyway, it's not so much his attitude that I found interesting (these sorts of attitudes will always exist among some (I say "some") Anglophones as long as Québec remains part of Canada and/or a distinct Francophone society), but what's interesting is the reaction of the woman, which I found a bit sad.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Maybe not a conspiracy theory but KW said it was blatant "set-up".

I am not sure that is true, but even if it is a set-up, the question of who set up whom is pretty clear.

It's not a set-up by little old Henriette to make anglophones look like assholes (which is what this ends up looking like), but rather a miserably failed attempt to make it look like poor little anglophones are mistreated in Quebec.

100% he is being an ass. Who comes into a store with phone in hand prepared to give the gears to a Walmart employee? I don't get these kinds of people..

[harls]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Which makes him look even more like a bastard?

Anyway, it's not so much his attitude that I found interesting (these sorts of attitudes will always exist among some (I say "some") Anglophones as long as Québec remains part of Canada and/or a distinct Francophone society), but what's interesting is the reaction of the woman, which I found a bit sad.

Yes, he does look like a bastard - I fully agree.

I think her response is normal for someone with a camera pointed at her. She probably didn't want to lose her job.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by harls

I think her response is normal for someone with a camera pointed at her. She probably didn't want to lose her job.

An employee in France would have lashed out, camera or no camera, and would not have been afraid to lose her job.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

An employee in France would have lashed out, camera or no camera, and would not have been afraid to lose her job.

As I'll verify, French customer service is definitely of a different breed.

[New Brisavoine]

By the way, the interview of Ignatieff that I posted on the other page is very interesting. It's quite long (25 minutes), and he says lots of things, about the history of Canada, the politics, etc. What strikes me in this interview is (but perhaps it's inevitable given that he's interviewed by the Financial Times from London) Canada seems like a solely Anglophone country. Appart from a brief mention at one point in his interview of a "Francophone and Anglophone divide" (but he really says no more than those 3 words), you could never suspect that Canada is also a Francophone country if you didn't know. He also argues that the future leadership of the Liberal Party could "mobilize British opinion" (I quote him, mobilize British opinion to defend Canada against Trump) with figures like Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland who have great networks in London.

It strikes me how an interview about the exact same subject (the future of Canada with Trump's threats) conducted by a French journalist from Paris and interviewing a French Canadian politician would have a very distinct sound to it, with Canada seeming like a very different country from the one one hears in that interview.

PS: Ignatieff calls Poilièvre a "rim crab" (if I got that right), apparently a hockey term. You'll probably get the reference. He says he's "a creation of Canadian politics" who hasn't done much else in life except "being in Parliament taking shots". He says he's feared but not loved.

PPS: He says something that I find super weird. He explains that he grew up in a Toronto that was super White, and in about 5 to 10 years "I'll be a minority in my own city and it's been an enormously strengthening and good thing". I'm sorry, what?? Being a minority is a good thing? Since when?? Minorities always struggle anywhere.

PPPS: Ah, at the end he says the Liberal Party is needed ("crucial") to keep "Francophone Kwebeck and the rest of English Canada together". He also concludes that a government of national unity (to face Trump) would be difficult because some "squeaky bits" ("Kwebeck parties explicitly committed to separation") will resist that idea because "they don't believe in the nation".

[New Brisavoine]

-23C expected in Montréal on Monday (without the wind chill!), -26C in Gatineau, -29C in Saguenay. All in double-digit negative Fahrenheit territory. Good luck! It was nice to have you around.

Meanwhile, +13C expected here next week. We live on separate planets really.

PS: Météo France forecasts a minimum of... +3C in Saint Pierre and Miquelon on Monday, and a maximum of +6C. Absolutely crazy how warm just next door to those -20s C temperatures.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

By the way, the interview of Ignatieff that I posted on the other page is very interesting. It's quite long (25 minutes), and he says lots of things, about the history of Canada, the politics, etc. What strikes me in this interview is (but perhaps it's inevitable given that he's interviewed by the Financial Times from London) Canada seems like a solely Anglophone country. Appart from a brief mention at one point in his interview of a "Francophone and Anglophone divide" (but he really says no more than those 3 words), you could never suspect that Canada is also a Francophone country if you didn't know. He also argues that the future leadership of the Liberal Party could "mobilize British opinion" (I quote him, mobilize British opinion to defend Canada against Trump) with figures like Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland who have great networks in London.

It strikes me how an interview about the exact same subject (the future of Canada with Trump's threats) conducted by a French journalist from Paris and interviewing a French Canadian politician would have a very distinct sound to it, with Canada seeming like a very different country from the one one hears in that interview.

PS: Ignatieff calls Poilièvre a "rim crab" (if I got that right), apparently a hockey term. You'll probably get the reference. He says he's "a creation of Canadian politics" who hasn't done much else in life except "being in Parliament taking shots". He says he's feared but not loved.

PPS: He says something that I find super weird. He explains that he grew up in a Toronto that was super White, and in about 5 to 10 years "I'll be a minority in my own city and it's been an enormously strengthening and good thing". I'm sorry, what?? Being a minority is a good thing? Since when?? Minorities always struggle anywhere.

PPPS: Ah, at the end he says the Liberal Party is needed ("crucial") to keep "Francophone Kwebeck and the rest of English Canada together". He also concludes that a government of national unity (to face Trump) would be difficult because some "squeaky bits" ("Kwebeck parties explicitly committed to separation") will resist that idea because "they don't believe in the nation".

Interesting. I don't think I could get through 25 minutes of Ignatieff though he has some valuable things to say. While the divide is true we are certainly lumped together with the Anglo world-Commonwealth and all it is also about the UK having more influence with the US than France. Though Starmer doesn't strike me as someone who would have Trump's sway. The whole thing seems a bit, or a lot, last century thinking.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

PS: Ignatieff calls Poilièvre a "rim crab" (if I got that right), apparently a hockey term. You'll probably get the reference. He says he's "a creation of Canadian politics" who hasn't done much else in life except "being in Parliament taking shots". He says he's feared but not loved.

.

Can't listen to the interview right now, but "rim crab" doesn't mean anything to me and I grew up with hockey in both languages.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

PPS: He says something that I find super weird. He explains that he grew up in a Toronto that was super White, and in about 5 to 10 years "I'll be a minority in my own city and it's been an enormously strengthening and good thing". I'm sorry, what?? Being a minority is a good thing? Since when?? Minorities always struggle anywhere.

I always argue that this is neither an absolutely good thing nor an absolutely bad thing. It's just reality.

But it is weird to celebrate it as so many people do.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

By the way, the interview of Ignatieff that I posted on the other page is very interesting. It's quite long (25 minutes), and he says lots of things, about the history of Canada, the politics, etc. What strikes me in this interview is (but perhaps it's inevitable given that he's interviewed by the Financial Times from London) Canada seems like a solely Anglophone country. Appart from a brief mention at one point in his interview of a "Francophone and Anglophone divide" (but he really says no more than those 3 words), you could never suspect that Canada is also a Francophone country if you didn't know. He also argues that the future leadership of the Liberal Party could "mobilize British opinion" (I quote him, mobilize British opinion to defend Canada against Trump) with figures like Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland who have great networks in London.

It strikes me how an interview about the exact same subject (the future of Canada with Trump's threats) conducted by a French journalist from Paris and interviewing a French Canadian politician would have a very distinct sound to it, with Canada seeming like a very different country from the one one hears in that interview.

.

Interestingly enough, Michael Ignatieff has fairly significant family ties to both France and Quebec.

Of Russian origin, his forebears were close to the last Czar, Nicholas II. They first fled to France, and then to Canada where they initially settled in Quebec.

He does speak pretty decent (academic) French, but he's a Toronto guy through and through.

But even these guys forget about us sometimes.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Can't listen to the interview right now, but "rim crab" doesn't mean anything to me and I grew up with hockey in both languages.

"Rink rat"?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

"Rink rat"?

Ahhhh... makes sense.

[Acajack]

Quite scathing:

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2025/0...ait-toujours-pas-ce-que-cest-un-canadien

(English translation in the Canada's Identity thread.)

[Acajack]

Pour la visite d'outre-mer:

rink rat = a young person who spends a lot of time in an ice hockey rink

It may mean that the person spends all of their time playing hockey, but more pejoratively it can be a loser guy who hangs out at the rink all the time without actually playing, or young girls looking to date handsome fit hockey players.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

-23C expected in Montréal on Monday (without the wind chill!), -26C in Gatineau, -29C in Saguenay. All in double-digit negative Fahrenheit territory. Good luck! It was nice to have you around.

Meanwhile, +13C expected here next week. We live on separate planets really.

PS: Météo France forecasts a minimum of... +3C in Saint Pierre and Miquelon on Monday, and a maximum of +6C. Absolutely crazy how warm just next door to those -20s C temperatures.

We've survived worse.

On a déjà vu neiger.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

"Rink rat"?

I've listened to it again and yes, that's what he seems to be saying. But oh my how he pronounces that!

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We've survived worse.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in Paris was -23.9C on Dec. 10, 1879. (here people talk about it like you'd talk about the dinosaurs, or saber-tooth tigers hunting early humans 100,000s years ago, or other similar horror stories from antediluvian times) Montréal is basically going to have that temperature on Monday. If we expected a similar temperature here, the media would go absolutely nuts.