Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[New Brisavoine]

Is the débâcle really as noisy as it is said to be in books when it happens (say on the Outaouais and St Lawrence rivers)? I've never actually witnessed a débâcle in my whole life.

In the past, when the climate was colder, Paris could have some pretty nasty débâcles, which destroyed many bridges over the centuries.

This is one of the last major débâcles of the Seine River, in 1880.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

"The thaw"...

It's called "la débâcle" in French by the way, although we never use that word here since we haven't had a débâcle in ages (not in my lifetime at least).

Here we call that “la fonte des neiges”. Speaking of it, this year has been so consistently cold (subzero) that I’m forecasting a risk of flooding, if spring arrives brutally. There’s a lot of snow on the ground, nothing that fell has melted for 1.5 month now.

[New Brisavoine]

News from the Munich conference on security.



I wonder what they mean by "revisions to the border". Are the US going to reclaim the territory north of Maine that they once claimed?

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

News from the Munich conference on security.



I wonder what they mean by "revisions to the border". Are the US going to reclaim the territory north of Maine that they once claimed?

Why not? Quebec doesn't recognize the 1927 Privy Council decision with respect to the Newfoundland (Labrador) border. Hard for Canada to make a stand when its one of its own provinces doesn't recognize its internal border with another province.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Why not? Quebec doesn't recognize the 1927 Privy Council decision with respect to the Newfoundland (Labrador) border. Hard for Canada to make a stand when its one of its own provinces doesn't recognize its internal border with another province.

That seems neither here nor there.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by theman23

That seems neither here nor there.

He doesn’t seem to grasp the difference between “border defined by the bilateral Webster-Ashburton Treaty to the satisfaction of both sides” and “border decided unilaterally by one of the parties in favor of itself in 1927 and not accepted since then by the other”.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Why not? Quebec doesn't recognize the 1927 Privy Council decision with respect to the Newfoundland (Labrador) border. Hard for Canada to make a stand when its one of its own provinces doesn't recognize its internal border with another province.

Why is this always repeated? There is nothing for Quebec to recognize - they were not even a party to the case.

[Acajack]

«Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues. Nous vivions en trois lieux: l’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire.» - Roch Carrier

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Acajack

«Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues. Nous vivions en trois lieux: l’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire.» - Roch Carrier

I just missed French immersion but I'm glad, I always had French as an elective. I live in pretty much an all French building and most of the older people think I'm French. It confuses them because I respond to them in English.

I wonder if there is a better way of teaching. I know during the Apollo/Soyuz mission they tried to teach everything but the astronauts Leonov and Stafford came to the understanding that they should each speak their own language and concentrate on learning how to understand the other. They stayed lifelong friends.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by elly63

I just missed French immersion but I'm glad, I always had French as an elective. I live in pretty much an all French building and most of the older people think I'm French. It confuses them because I respond to them in English.
.

You live in "pretty much an all French (francophone) building"? In PEI?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Is the débâcle really as noisy as it is said to be in books when it happens (say on the Outaouais and St Lawrence rivers)? I've never actually witnessed a débâcle in my whole life.

I've never lived close enough to a river to notice if it's that noisy when the ice starts to break up.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Why is this always repeated? There is nothing for Quebec to recognize - they were not even a party to the case.

Then it won't be a problem for Quebec to draw its provincial maps correctly since "there's nothing for Quebec to recognize"; rather than showing chunks of Labrador as part of Quebec.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Looking positively Islamic lol

Are Muslim majority countries really that much of a hassle? I’ve heard they’re generally quite welcoming of tourists and no issues with alcohol or anything like that… or at least that’s the case in Morocco and Tunisia. I’ve heard Algeria isn’t so welcoming to tourists to say the least… especially French tourists.

There is a tremendous amount of variability in the Islamic world.

It can range from being in literal physical danger for not being visibly Muslim and clearly following all of that religion's rules, to quite relaxed in places like Morocco and Turkey. In these countries most people are observant Muslims in their personal and even public lives but the general feel is a live-and-let-live attitude if you're not a Muslim yourself, especially if you're a visiting westerner.

Other places I've been to are in the middle. They'll largely leave you alone but you need to be careful not to step over certain lines. Pork and alcohol are not really available and are frowned upon, and there are strongly recommended limits on how women should dress, even if they fall short of full coverings. Service staff (generally all males) are not hostile towards women but will address the men with them first, or may not even address them directly at all, even when spoken to.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by lio45

He doesn’t seem to grasp the difference between “border defined by the bilateral Webster-Ashburton Treaty to the satisfaction of both sides” and “border decided unilaterally by one of the parties in favor of itself in 1927 and not accepted since then by the other”.

The Quebec-Newfoundland border was not decided unilaterally by one of the parties in favour of itself. Is that the revisionist history 🞵🞵🞵🞵 being taught in Quebec schools? Both Canada and Newfoundland made their cases to the Privy Council (which was requested by Quebec). Canada lost! The litigants representing Canada at the Privy Council were from Quebec.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Spring is the best season here. 18C now forecasted for Paris next week. But boy how cold it is still this week-end! (freeze at sunrise, only barely 4C at noon, and super dry, the humidity in my apartment plunged down to 23% when I woke up, meaning running nose)

Spring is a heartbreaker season here.

It flirts with you for almost two months and disappoints you multiple times, then without never truly doing what it is supposed to do, generally gives way to summer fairly quickly in May.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

You must know things that I don't...

"Lio often posts things on the forum I disagree with so he can't possibly be a good person or even have a happy life", is the part you were missing there!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

The Quebec-Newfoundland border was not decided unilaterally by one of the parties in favour of itself. Is that the revisionist history 🞵🞵🞵🞵 being taught in Quebec schools? Both Canada and Newfoundland made their cases to the Privy Council (which was requested by Quebec). Canada lost! The litigants representing Canada at the Privy Council were from Quebec.

Well, the 1927 decision on the Labrador border was a process internal to the British Empire where London had to decide between the arguments of two of its own colonies.

It's quite a bit different from a bilateral international issue between two sovereign entities that are completely separate from each other, no?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well, the 1927 decision on the Labrador border was a process internal to the British Empire where London had to decide between the arguments of two of its own colonies.

It's quite a bit different from a bilateral international issue between two sovereign entities that are completely separate from each other, no?

Not really.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Not really.

How can it not be? It's like a parent choosing between two of their kids versus dealings between two neighbours from different families.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Lio often posts things on the forum I disagree with so he can't possibly be a good person or even have a happy life", is the part you were missing there!

I can assure you that harls doesn’t know anything about me that New Brisavoine doesn’t know. (Also, I second your explanation as the only one that makes any sense.)