Not comparable

Post #227,496 by ben_tilly 10/1/05 11:58:05 AM Reply	Not comparable While I agree that there is English-French conflict, the French do not form a violent economic underclass in the same way that blacks do in the USA. For instance checking [link\|http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040728/d040728a.htm\|http://www.statcan.c...0728/d040728a.htm], Quebec has a crime rate that is lower than the Canadian average. (Which is in turn lower than the US average.) While Quebec is not the most economically prosperous part of Canada, it is also not the worst. In fact, going by ethnic jokes, the most disliked ethnic minority in Canada are the Newfies (people from Newfoundland). There are good historical reasons for that. But again, they don't form a violent economic underclass. (They do tend to be poor though - they were never that well off in the first place and the collapse of the fisheries was very hard on them.) Cheers, Ben I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
Post #227,535 by boxley 10/1/05 6:43:13 PM Reply	well ya were a west coaster, lets have jake weigh in on this from my observations in the seventies the french in canada were regarded as inferior when it came to jobs, and government plums, Anglo's from Quebec treated them with a little more respect than others, particularly Ontario. As a poor subclass they certainly were not offered the opportunities that Anglos did, they had a strict glass ceiling except in areas where a vote got you a job. When they did start seeking their own destiny draconian measures were brought to bear. Compare the crime stats circa 1972 you will find that the bank robbery capitol of the world was Montreal. I am assuming much has changed now the anglo's have to take the french seriously. thanx, bill "the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #227,807 by jake123 10/3/05 3:50:18 PM Reply	Things are very different now The late sixties and the seventies marked the end of the Church's social dominance in Quebec, in part because the Quebecois realised that the Church was complicit in holding them down so it could be the big fish in the small pond, through its iron control over the educational system as well as politics via the pulpit. Nowadays in Quebec (for the most part) it's the Anglos who are in the subservient position... outside of certain super-wealthy enclaves, but that doesn't count in Westmount because there the ethnicity and religion are green. Simply put, there aren't very many jobs left in Quebec (not even in Montreal) where English is the only required language, but there are many where one has to speak French to get in the door, let alone to get ahead. As the Quebecois have realised that they have become "maitres chez nous" their perspective on "les anglos et les ethniques" have relaxed quite a bit, enough so that when Parizeau made a crack about ethnics and the money vote on the night of the '95 referendum it ended his political career. The hardcore nationalists are seen as dead enders by most of the Quebecois now. In the broader national context, well, it's easy to find bigots anywhere, and anti-French bigotry certainly exists, but not like it used to (eg- it used to be perfectly acceptable to crack Frog jokes here where I grew up, but now they are very rare), and I can certainly speak from personal experience when I tell you that there are people in Quebec who hate "les tetes-carrees" no matter what. Then of course there's the West, and in particular Alberta, but I'm a complete heathen to them as someone from Ontario who lives in Quebec... the worst of both worlds! "Nuke them eastern bastards, THEN let them freeze in the dark!" ;) Nope, the real problem with racism here are First Nations, followed by black people. However, even there, the situation is improving, though I think I'll be dead before the problem is. --\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca \n [link\|http://consultron.ca\|http://consultron.ca] [link\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca\|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] \n Kingston Ontario Canada [link\|news://news.consultron.ca\|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------

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