I love Quebec (parts of it anyway) but its politics stinks. Above all, I absolutely loathe the OLF. Not on any political or cultural grounds but strictly from a perspective of civil liberties.
Indeed, it never ceases to amaze me how my Francophone buddies are unaware of the OLF and its antics. When they see or read about it with their own eyes they are thoroughly shocked.
The Office of la langue Francaise (language police) have struck again. This time the culprit is McKibbin's Irish Pub in downtown Montreal.
Mon dieu! Sacre bleu et tabernak!
I can't even begin to explain the nuanced existence of this parochial organization that preys on the insecure elements of nationalist Quebec rendering it quasi-paranoid.
To them, if Quebecers are not diligent the French language will be eradicated from the face of North America. They are not entirely wrong but is the solution is to hound, harass and infringe upon civil liberties?
To any moderate mind the answer is no.
For those of you who hope that the geniuses in the Liberal Party will swing in and jolt this place a little think twice: resolutions disclosed to the public calls for increased funding to OLF and aim to increase fines for businesses who "break" the law. More on this on another post.
Being visited by the OLF leaves such an impression that several people have intimated to never to set up business in Quebec - ever. Who wants to put up with that?
What makes all this the more deplorable is that Quebec politicians, intellectual and nationalists think this is all normal and democratic.
On the surface we have a democracy but when you give power to an organization like L'Office the power to give fines to productive members in a society you deserve neither democracy nor do you understand its true essence.
To walk into an Irish pub as the OLF inspector did and complain that there is too much English spoken within its walls is not democracy at work. While the main crux of the complaint was uni-lingual menus (which the pub should have known better) and "too much" English among the staff (can you say "long slippery road?") she also ordered that they take down signs imported from Ireland! Where do we draw the line?
All this adds up to is misguided cultural fascism. Nothing more and nothing less.
When will the day come where a true leader will stand up for all Quebecers? What I mean by "all" is every single darn person who lives and pays their taxes in good faith here.
The OLF thinks it's protecting the French language?
Is it really? Think about this real hard.
If you want to support McKibbin's the pub plans to put up a website www.byebyeolf.com.
Let the true will of Quebecers stand up and do what's right. Let us live in linguistic and cultural peace once and for all. Marginalize the twirps who do nothing to enhance Quebec culture and everything to demean it.
I am from Quebec and I am soo disgusted with the OLF. What a big waste of tax payers money when it can go towards improving Quebec Roads, hospitals and schools.
ReplyDeleteWe need to fire back hard. The pub has put out a website called byebyeolf.com let's all take part and end this sillyness.
I just cannot believe that the OLF even exists and that it is Legal! What they do is so Horrible! This reminds me of Nazi Germany !, Destroying the English to make the French feel bigger and betterabout themselves! Where and when will this end? Soon they will tell us where we can and cannot live! What time we can be out until? Then we may have to identify ourselves with an arm tag!!!!! THIS IS CANADA!!!!!!I am aQuebecer in CANADA!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm ok that the OLF exists. They feel that eternal vigilance is necessary to protect French so be it. They are essentially saying French will never stand up on its own against the English language. Ironic considering how many words in English have their roots in French.
ReplyDeleteWhere I take issue is that they have no business having the legal authority to harass and fine businesses and individuals.
It's anti-democratic plain and simple and does not reflect how most Quebecers view themselves.
I have just started a new group on facebook, where people can join in and give thier opions about this latest escapade by the OLF
ReplyDeleteI can`t believe that Quebec has francophone soldiers over in afganistan fighting to get democrasy for strangers but here in Quebec ,the government gives $17,000,000 a year to a group whose only goal is to ,in my opinion,suppress the english language (Mckibbon`s Irish Pub ).Think how much badly needed equipment for our soldiers that $17,000,000 can buy !
ReplyDeleteThe new group on facebook is called "SAVE Mc`KIBBON`s IRISH PUB FROM THE OLF".
ReplyDeleteLove the comments but why is everyone anonymous!
ReplyDelete$17 million would do wonders for our military indeed.
I cant say I'm completely opposed to the OLF, but I have serious reservations about not only their tactics, but also the climate that is encouraged by its existence. OLF claims to act only when a complaint is received from the public. Doesn't anyone else have a problem with this Orwellian style "ratting" on your neighbors? I'd like to believe that every complaint sent the l'Office is a valid one, but what measures exist to ensure that businesses aren't unfairly targeted?
ReplyDeleteI have said many times, the ability of one segment of society to allege infractions, either legitimate or not, and have not only the backing, but the encouragement of a government organization can quickly lead to systemic discrimination. Thankfully, I don't think teh problem is as bad as it could potentially be. Given the current climate on language issues though, I'm holding my breath.
To the poster who could not believe that the OLF exists and is legal? Let me just say this,Canada also has a government that accepts to have the BLOQ recognized as a legal Federal Party whose primary mandate is to separate one province from the rest of Canada!!!! And taxpayers across ALL of Canada fund that nonsense.
ReplyDeleteSo don't be too shocked.
Do they abuse? It all depends. It certainly is a form of abuse of power. Tyranny of the majority if you will. The question is how would they be if they had more resources - which the Liberal party is saying they will provide?
ReplyDeleteI know I have personal stories at how insipidly pointless their visits can be. When you actually see it with your own eyes it's quite the experience. Shop owners feel anger and shame.
I think that if a moderate Quebecer would bare witness to what L'Office does they would be shocked too. In fact, I know they would be. I've seen it. It's just not reported in the same way on the French side.
Again, to non-Francophones it's a blatant abuse of civil rights. To the French, who tend to over theorize, it's a price to pay for protection of culture and language.
For the most part Quebec is alright at balancing nationalism and liberty. However, from my perspective, we are not a free-will society and we should remove the OLF's power to accost people.
Do some shops "break" the law? It's pretty safe to say yes in some cases. McKibbins had uni-lingual menus. Though I've never come across this myself (just uni-lingual French), the pub should have known better. Especially considering they are in the downtown core.
The OLF tends to make the news when nationalism is on an upward tick.
For me, it's strictly a case of civil liberties. Question: what country in the Western world would tolerate this sort of stuff?
Ironically, Canada could learn a lot from Quebec about how to defend its interests.
As for the Bloc, yes it is a delicious contradiction. There they are earning a Federal pension while advocating the break up of an already loose Federation.
ReplyDeleteTo say nothing that they want to keep the Canadian passport and currency for their "independent" country.
How mature is Quebec separatism/nationalism?
Thankfully, they are not violent - though that a-hole Raymond Villeneuve lurks in the background - and aim to achieve their goals through democratic means but how far can they push this?
It will be interesting to see this evolves.
I would like to make a comment about the situation at the Irish Pub this week,the olf came in with all guns loaded or so they thought. There were many people that were pssd off and so they should be.As bad as Adolph Hitler was and he was, he never denied people of their language.I personally would never vote for a govement that would be so insecure about something like language,
ReplyDeleteMy God where would where we be if we had to tangle with the Big Boy,s thanks, jinni