Political Crossfire Forums

[shamus11]

National Bilingualism My Friend

By

James Bredin

National bilingualism pounded in and in,
Every day and every night so only they can win,
Their Ottawa bilingual propaganda says it’s great,
If you can’t speak French, you only hear half this debate.

They’ve built a curious culture and you don’t belong,
Multicultural bilingual hierarchy strong,
And English unilinguals are afraid to react,
Canadians reluctant to recognize this fact.

Might be called narrow minded, Nazi or red neck,
The pointed finger of a lounge Liberal from Quebec,
So hurry away and hide in a Cornerbrook corner
You outcast unilingual who might be a foreigner.

And Stephen Harper’s suggestion about linguistic groups,
Has them running around in circles going oops,
They crave to continue their bilingual status quo,
And we better get it right and learn to kowtow.

And the secessionist types that the Liberals like,
Hold Ottawa to ransom ‘cause they might take a hike,
Send those equalization payments and plenty more,
Or they’ll have another referendum and score.

National unity party politics might be at risk,
So pay the royal ransom and make it brisk,
And don’t let some minor corruption and theft interfere,
Can’t interrupt a Liberal political career.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

http://jamesbredin0.tripod.com/numbereight/id16.html

[shamus11]

The Adscam and Creative Advertising

By

James Bredin

They’ll extend the inquiry for several years,
Liberal politicians have absolutely no fears,
Those millions went missing like a thief in the night,
And it happened so fast, it gave them all a fright.

Some said it’s about paying ransom to Quebec,
One more close-call referendum could easily wreck,
Created by Chretien’s hidden program that he wrote,
Into the paper shredder so his distance was remote.

And already, we’re all getting tired of their reasons,
No Liberals go to jail for theft graft or treason,
And we reelected them so we deserve what we get,
Did he really need that big Challenger jet?

So nothing will change at this Liberals station,
No term limits or proportional representation,
No referendums, no recall, or questions to a judge,
Appointees to the Senate and Supreme Court won’t budge,

Liberals, the ethics guy and the Mounties are honest,
They would never never do anything dishonest,
And Chretien who created it, is high above it all,
Though Shawinigan shenanigans were a close call.

The missing millions were merely numbers that disappeared,
Nothing to get worked up about though it was a little weird,
Creative advertising costs an awful lot of cash,
Straight from the treasury for that Adscam bash,

Thursday, November 04, 2004




http://jamesbredin0.tripod.com/numberfourteen/id4.html

[Benny Trombitas]

There is nothing wrong with bilingualism. (I am trilingual by the way, and still learning other languages) It is worth learning languages when you now that it opens new perspectives to the world.

[eynon]

Benny Trombitas wrote: There is nothing wrong with bilingualism. (I am trilingual by the way, and still learning other languages) It is worth learning languages when you now that it opens new perspectives to the world.

I totally agree....the biggest deficentcy in the American education system is the lack of emphasis put on the study on languages(an spelling :wink: ).....it hurts later on when your trying to pick up an extra lingo or 2...I think that spanish should be taught to American kids from kindergarden till the graduate from high school, like english is everywhere else on earth...I mean it doesn't hurt.

[timmtc]

That isnt the problem. Dispite what people really think, western Canadians and those in the east dont even generally know french. Only 2 provinces are really "bilingual" and thats ontario (because its next to quebec and our capital city is there) and obviously quebec. Many people from Quebec do not even know english.

The problem is why should my tax dollars, pay for french labeling on EVERY product I buy, bilingual television and bilingual public signs. It makes no sense, I would be suprised if 10% of British Columbians even spoke french.

I dont mind having 2 official languages, its only fair...but why shove english down the throats of those in rural quebec, and why shove french down the throats of english canadians.

[Citizen of Canuckistan]

Well the gov't has a responsibility to provide service in french and english because they are the two official laguages. Besides your tax dollars only pays for french laguage CBC, the manufactures pay for the bilingual labels. The only public signs i know about is at airports and thats becuase they are run by the gov't. Biligualism does not cost the gov't lots of money.

[Benny Trombitas]

timmtc wrote: That isnt the problem. Dispite what people really think, western Canadians and those in the east dont even generally know french. Only 2 provinces are really "bilingual" and thats ontario (because its next to quebec and our capital city is there) and obviously quebec. Many people from Quebec do not even know english.

The problem is why should my tax dollars, pay for french labeling on EVERY product I buy, bilingual television and bilingual public signs. It makes no sense, I would be suprised if 10% of British Columbians even spoke french.

I dont mind having 2 official languages, its only fair...but why shove english down the throats of those in rural quebec, and why shove french down the throats of english canadians.


Probably heard about Finland's case: they're bilingual too. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish though a Swedish minority makes up only about 5-6% of the total population. I don't know how's it Canada.
But Swedish is being taught in the whole country from primary school, and additionally English is also comprehensive in school. Many Finns still go on learning a 3rd foreign language. They realized that the minority language can be important, because it is not only a key to the minority population, but a key to whole Scandinavia, where ever they may go in the Nordic countries Swedish is understood everywhere.

That's what the Canadians should also do. Learn French not primarily to communicate with the 'Quebécois' but to have a key to the whole francophone world. It is worth speaking a foreign language. Don't mind about the Britons or the Americans. They'll never understand the goal of speaking foreign languages. They're just stuck in their comfy situation of speaking native English, and they think "Why learn a foreign lingo when everyone is about to learn our language?".

That's what you should avoid. In this view North America and Europe is totally different.


(P.S. just saw on CNN that Condy Rice speaks four languages.)

[Saviz]

Without bilingualism Canada would be split up right now, sorry to tell you folk but without Canada we would be near cultureless... ie US.

New Brunswick has a large quebecor population, thats why were in the francophone thingy, because of NB and Que

[timmtc]

Canada is cultureless even with bilingualism. With the current bilingualism half of quebec wants to seperate, how is bilingualism helping?

[Saviz]

Quebec has been trying to sperate for years, we've had two referundems and seperatists have lost, which means most quebecs want to stay. Can't you possibley think how much worse things would be if they didn't have billingualism? Many complain now that they want to be independant because of different cultures, but without billingualism they would say the want to seperate becuase they are treated as second class citizens

[shamus11]

Canada runs on the illusion of bilingualism. There are only two provinces that could be considered bilingual.

But Canada is operating on the illusion that if we cater to the separatists in Quebec ( a unilingual French province) that this will stop future referendums on Quebec separation.

In 1995 Quebec came within 1% of a sucessful referendum to separate from Canada. That's pretty close especially as they are now talking about having another referendum on the same issue.

If the Canadian government is truly interested in making Canada bilingual they should make it possible for all Canadians to learn the other language free.

If I want to learn French it will cost me big time.

But if I was a refugee claimant it would be free.

Can you see a problem here.

[Saviz]

I learn Quebecois in school for free... What kind of cost are you talking about?

[xaenobi]

Eynon81 wrote: Benny Trombitas wrote: There is nothing wrong with bilingualism. (I am trilingual by the way, and still learning other languages) It is worth learning languages when you now that it opens new perspectives to the world.

I totally agree....the biggest deficentcy in the American education system is the lack of emphasis put on the study on languages(an spelling :wink: ).....it hurts later on when your trying to pick up an extra lingo or 2...I think that spanish should be taught to American kids from kindergarden till the graduate from high school, like english is everywhere else on earth...I mean it doesn't hurt.
Doesn't really help either, unless you use it frequently - which, unless you live in Texas, won't really happen.

[shamus11]

It would be nice to be able to learn French if only to understand some of those French programs and movies on TV.

Okay, I realize I will never understand the Chineese or the Italian programs but if bilingualism is being pushed down my throat, I should have French lessons available. :roll: :roll: