Comment no surprise here (Score 1) 554
I'm not surprised about TFA but what I am surprised about is that anyone else in the world cares about this. This is just another stupid act by the 'language police' in Quebec to protect their *culture* and their *precious* language that us Canadians are used too dealing with on a regular basis. It's absolutely reverse discrimination because we'd never get away with pulling the opposite in the rest of Canada. Quebec gets away with it because they continuously threaten the rest of us with separation, spearheaded by the Bloc Quebecois if they don't get their way. The Bloc Quebecois is a federal political party whose sole ambition is to separate from Canada, and to add insult to injury they are supported by all of Canada's tax payers, for those that aren't aware. I've often wondered if anything similar to what we put up with here happens anywhere else on our wonderful planet. I suspect any such attempt elsewhere would be quelled fast and considered treason. Only in Canada eh, pity!
Back to my original point, anyone that wants to do business in Quebec is already aware of these intricacies or at the very least, not shocked when they pop up. Canada is officially a bilingual country and IMHO does more than its share to accommodate francophone's. Go to Quebec though, and it's like you've already entered another country. Reciprocity is not a factor here! I've travelled extensively throughout Quebec and God forbid you don't have a basic grasp of the French language for even simple things like reading construction, hazard, detour, etc. signs on the highway...because you don't get it repeated in English for you (excluding possibly the Montreal area, but not always). Quebec in many parts is downright hostile to Anglophones, especially if you want to conduct any type of business there.
I live in northern Ontario in a small community that is roughly 80% French. Here, they have it right. Signs are in both languages. If you speak English or French, you can get by fine and people are friendly no matter what language you are most comfortable in. There is no *protection* of one language over another here, and contrary to popular opinion, French is not dying out because of this.
One other thing; I noticed a previous comment suggested that not supporting Quebec was also alienating France. I have a very limited French vocabulary and am not certain about this but I believe the French dialect between Quebec and France is quite different. Supporting one does not implicitly mean you are supporting the other as I'm sure there would still need to be quite a bit more translation.
Obviously I can only speak for myself but I do believe my opinion is a popular one in Canada. I just wish Quebec would reign in their 'language police' and let the market dictate the feasibility of supporting French. If language and culture is so important for Quebecers, they can speak with their wallets.