Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

Faudrait déjà que ce fil soit en français pour que ça attire plus de Québécois...

Selon moi, tu peut toujours écrire en français. Il ya a des Canadiens hors du Québec comme moi qui le comprennent bien.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by lio45

I actually still receive all my government stuff in English, because at some point in the past, I was pissed at the clowns in charge in Quebec City and figured I'd do that just to be a dick.

(I'm not an Anglo.)

Are you sure that you're not an Anglo-Saxon?

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by le calmar

A bunch of forumers ganged up on him because he dared refer to a Radio-Canada news report about an increase in the number of migrants attempting to cross into Canada from the US. He did not provide a link in his initial post so there was a lot of outrage for such an unfounded, bold and even apparently racist claim.

And the news was apparently not valid because the English media did not report on it at the time (funny thing, they did a couple of hours later). But yeah, as a result of all of this, he was suspended after using colourful language in his responses.

I totally missed all of that. I was wondering why Acajack hasn't had any posts lately.

[New Brisavoine]

According to a poll, 61% of French people are in favor of deporting dangerous foreigners (who are under a deportation order still waiting to be executed) to places (of the French Republic) located far away from Metropolitan France, "for example in St Pierre and Miquelon" (79% of the 18-24 y/o are in favor, whereas only 45% of the retirees are in favor).

https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france...s-de-kilometres-de-la-metropole-20250415

The proposal by the leader of the French Conservatives, of which I talked last week, has met fierce criticism from the 'mediatic elite' of France, which is very left-wing and Parisian, but is apparently liked by the wider population. They've never talked so much of St Pierre and Miquelon in the national medias than in the past week. The mentions of how cold and "similar to Canada" it is (in terms of weather) have been quite funny I must say. It shows that for many French people, the mentality has not changed much since "quelques arpents de neige" in the 18th century.

In a nutshell, the idea (of the Conservative leader) is the "harshness" of Canadian (and therefore St Pierrais and Miquelonaise) weather is supposedly so awful that when faced with a choice of either willingly returning to their home countries or being sent to St Pierre and Miquelon, those dangerous illegal immigrants will prefer to return to their home countries rather than being sent to your awful climes.

[le calmar]

Dealing with a harsh climate for a few months is one thing, but being stuck on a tiny island while also having to cope with said climate is definitely not for the weak. In most of continental Canada, we survive the colder months knowing that the weather in the remaining 9 months will be significantly better. In a maritime climate like SPM, you don't get much of that though.

Their winters are milder than a lot of places in Eastern Canada, so there's that, but they're still cold, damp and generally gloomy. Their springs last forever and the summers are cool with temperatures barely breaking the 20C mark.

[New Brisavoine]

So life in St John's is unbearable then?

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

So life in St John's is unbearable then?

It might normally be, but have you met Newfoundlanders? They could make you look forward to living with them on Pluto. Warmest folks.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

According to a poll, 61% of French people are in favor of deporting dangerous foreigners (who are under a deportation order still waiting to be executed) to places (of the French Republic) located far away from Metropolitan France, "for example in St Pierre and Miquelon" (79% of the 18-24 y/o are in favor, whereas only 45% of the retirees are in favor).

https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france...s-de-kilometres-de-la-metropole-20250415

The proposal by the leader of the French Conservatives, of which I talked last week, has met fierce criticism from the 'mediatic elite' of France, which is very left-wing and Parisian, but is apparently liked by the wider population. They've never talked so much of St Pierre and Miquelon in the national medias than in the past week. The mentions of how cold and "similar to Canada" it is (in terms of weather) have been quite funny I must say. It shows that for many French people, the mentality has not changed much since "quelques arpents de neige" in the 18th century.

In a nutshell, the idea (of the Conservative leader) is the "harshness" of Canadian (and therefore St Pierrais and Miquelonaise) weather is supposedly so awful that when faced with a choice of either willingly returning to their home countries or being sent to St Pierre and Miquelon, those dangerous illegal immigrants will prefer to return to their home countries rather than being sent to your awful climes.

I was wondering why SPM rather than French Guyana, where there's precedent.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

So life in St John's is unbearable then?

Climatically speaking, yes, you're correct that it's definitely not for everyone.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Are you sure that you're not an Anglo-Saxon?

I'm not, but I suppose I could become one if I wanted, by most definitions (though still not with the strict definition of ancestry/genetics.)

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I was wondering why SPM rather than French Guyana, where there's precedent.

Bring back Château d'If?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Nashe

Bring back Château d'If?

Way too small, unless you pack them like FNSs in a Brampton SFH

"French Guyana without A/C" is a decent option, equivalent to SPM I'd say (each having their pros and cons).

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I was wondering why SPM rather than French Guyana, where there's precedent.

In the past there've proposals to deport terrorists and other dangerous individuals to French Guiana (but always by Far Right figures, never by mainstream Conservative politicians), but this has been met with great anger from French Guianese politicians and population. I suppose he thought SPM is so small the local people opposed to it wouldn't be heard. Also, his idea is SPM is closer so it will cost less to deport dangerous illegals there than to French Guiana. Also, his idea is that SPM being two islands, the dangerous illegals will be stuck there, without a possibly to escape, whereas French Guiana is on the continent and they could escape (as happened in the past).

His main competitor (in the race to become president of the main center-right party), who is currently the Minister of the Interior, has called the idea of sending dangerous illegals to SPM "déroutante" (that's your 'mot du jour'). French politicians are very good at craftily using the French language.

To which the other leader immediately replied in the media: "What's 'déroutant' is the fact we manage to deport so few of those under a deportation order".

"Déroutant" is a bit of an understatement.

More generally, people on the left (and center) + the media elites see this idea are downright fascist and shameful (which is of course a complete exaggeration, but so is the left... and then they cry when a guy like Trump gets elected because they have called "fascists" the more moderate guys). People on the right don't see any ethical problem with it, but they believe like the Minister of the Interior that it wouldn't really solve the problem and it's just a gimmick put forward by the other guy to get some media attention and score points in the race to become president of the center-right party (right now the Minister of the Interior is the favorite, and the other one, who was until now president, is seen as a cynic who says whatever he believes people want to hear but doesn't really believe in what he says, like the SPM idea for instance).

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by lio45

Way too small, unless you pack them like FNSs in a Brampton SFH

Well, to be fair, they aren't expected to live there LONG...

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by lio45

"French Guyana without A/C" is a decent option, equivalent to SPM I'd say (each having their pros and cons).

While sending these people to SPM would be 'technically' feasible (but would run into a ton of legal opposition that would take 10 years to overcome and would make the whole thing useless), sending them to French Guiana would be nearly impossible because the local population would organize massive rallies and sabotage to prevent it. The French State would have to deploy tons of military guys to secure the camp there and access to the camp. Nightmarish! Plus probably all the Latin American countries would gang up on France to protest our sending illegal immigrants there, etc.

The only viable option in fact would be sending these people under a deportation order (whose home countries refuse to take back) to some third countries, as PM Meloni of Italy has tried to do (with her Albania scheme), and as Trump is currently doing, and as the UK tried but failed to do with the Rwanda scheme, and as Denmark and a few other Nordic countries are currently trying to do too, but all the French left and media elite would be up in arms. The legal system, which is also largely infiltrated by left-wing judges (who have formed a very powerful left-wing union of judges which opposes all these right-wing measures), would also wage a legal war against a government trying to deport them to 3rd countries. It would require a very courageous and firm president + probably a national referendum to change the constitution. But this is in the air and may happen after the 2027 election (although my feeling is, like Meloni, they will botch it, not work seriously enough on the legal aspects of it, and lose court decisions after court decisions, without being able to achieve anything).

You can accuse the Maga camp of lots of things, but at least one thing I admire with them is they have very carefully prepared and planned their coup. Our politicians are more dilettantes who don't really prepare things carefully. The Maga camp in the US, in contrast, has for 15 years carefully planned their taking-over of the judiciary.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

You can accuse the Maga camp of lots of things, but at least one thing I admire with them is they have very carefully prepared and planned their coup. Our politicians are more dilettantes who don't really prepare things carefully. The Maga camp in the US, in contrast, has for 15 years carefully planned their taking-over of the judiciary.

"Evil will always triumph. Because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

You can accuse the Maga camp of lots of things, but at least one thing I admire with them is they have very carefully prepared and planned their coup. Our politicians are more dilettantes who don't really prepare things carefully. The Maga camp in the US, in contrast, has for 15 years carefully planned their taking-over of the judiciary.

I've heard that the Project 2025 people studied the Nazi takeover of Germany very carefully.

They have apparently learned well...........

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I've heard that the Project 2025 people studied the Nazi takeover of Germany very carefully.

Both are very different though. Also, the Nazis controlled the state apparatus of Prussia (thanks to Goering), which is not the case for the Maga camp. It's as if 2/3 of Americans lived in just one US state, and the Maga camp controlled that one state on top of the federal government. Nazi takeover of Germany was largely achieved via control of Prussia (and Goering was very instrumental in this).

In the US, the Maga people need to get along with 50 different states, none of which they control, and none of which controls such a vast share of the country as Prussia did. So it limits them (for the moment).

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Since this thread has somehow turned into a discussion on the climate of Atlantic Canada, here's a map of plant hardiness in Canada for New Brisavoine to take a look at... and compare with one of France.

If you take a close look, parts of Atlantic Canada have a milder climate than parts of France. How grand.


Anyways, New Brisavoine, are you finally ready to comment on Carney's French? I'm dying to hear what you think of his French language abilities.

• Video Link

[lio45]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

If you take a close look, parts of Atlantic Canada have a milder climate than parts of France. How grand.

Looks like the very coldest parts of France have the same hardiness rating as the very mildest parts of Atlantic Canada (namely, zone 6a).

And yeah, obviously, Atlantic Canada doesn't have anything as harsh climatically as the summits of the Alps. Or even the Pyrénées.