Letters To The Editor: Two For One

Two letters to the editor: one about the weary philosophical posturing on culture and the other Montreal driving - a popular discussion these days.

"Robert Libman has never accepted the measures taken by Quebec governments, whether Liberal or Parti Québécois, to preserve and enhance the French language and culture of fewer than 7 million people in a sea of 280 million anglophones and 30 million hispanics.

Libman even suggests in his article that anglophones in the Charest government should rebel and stop the government from acting against the few who have found a way to circumvent the legal language requirements imposed to assure the preservation of the French culture and identity in Canada.

If he feels he or newcomers to Quebec are a mistreated minority, as a franco-Ontarian I would invite him to look at the situation of minority francophones in our capital city of Ottawa, in Ontario or Manitoba, let alone the rest of Canada."

G.M.

The author forgot: 42 million Germans, 36 million blacks, 31 million Irish, 15 million Italians, 13 million Asians etc., etc.*

Oh, the tribal wars we declare!

How presumptuous and absurd to call 280 million people "anglophones." I hazard to guess this is news to Americans to be called as such. Only in Quebec. Obama is a popular (if not mythical) figure in Quebec. Yet, his message lies at the opposite end of Quebec's cultural nationalism.

I would ask the author, as demographics evolve, how many loopholes will need to be closed in the future to "protect" a culture? Bill, 101, Bill 104, what's next, Bill 109 to close the unintended holes in 104? Bill 112 to close 109 etc. and etc.

People find loopholes because laws such as these discriminate against the silent minority. This is another example of the "collective" imposing itself on the individual liberties. Or, put another way made famous by Mill, "tyranny of the majority."

I don't expect Canadians to grasp the notion and concept of liberty anymore.

As I've stated in the past, this is our decision. So be it. Just don't call it a democracy that respect freedom. It isn't.

Montreal driving:

"Through my 63 years I have been lucky enough to have driven on almost every continent, raced cars in many countries and crewed for some of the world's best race teams. I lived in Montreal for several years but have moved overseas to continue working in the car racing industry.

I have been back here holidaying now for a short time but never in my career have I been anywhere where the drivers are as bad as those in Montreal. Their ignorance and arrogance, their impatience and their need to be first at every intersection or off ramp irrespective of rules or laws are shocking. The complete disregard for fellow road users and the complete disregard for speed limits, red lights, stop signs and solid road markings, not to mention direction arrows is disgraceful.

Nowhere in the world are drivers as bad as they are in Montreal. The local police force is useless and the Sûreté du Québec is powerless on the highways.

Is there any doubt as to the reasons so many fatal crashes occur here?"

R.G., Monaco

I've spent a lot of time driving the streets of Montreal: I was once a courier - believe it or not. I've also spent some time driving in France and Italy. I learned a lot in Italy in particular. I can say, given my experience, that this author is correct in his assessment. One person said, it's the fault of the infrastructure as to why "Social Darwinism" prevails on our roads. This is true up to a point. While Quebec's roads and highway system is terrible (and illogical), the bottom line is we're not civil to one another under the circumstances. We drive with the same ferociousness as Mad Max.

I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of statistics, while the author rightly claims there are many accidents leading to death here, we're far from the worse province on this front. We're in line with the national average at about 9.1 road fatalities per 100 000 - which isn't saying much.

Interestingly, the rest of Canada is closer in line with the U.S. with 14. North American rates seem very high compared to Europe.

We should do better.

* U.S. figures.