Happy 40th Anniversary, Quebec Crisis or "Just Watch Me"

Unless you're Mulroney's official biographer, historians will never judge him as a good PM. GST to one side, NAFTA wasn't "needed". All it did was allow the Americans access to our natural resources and cheap Mexican labour while they breached it whenever it served their interests. Softwood lumber, remember?

Bilingualism was "unneeded"? Really?. If Sir John A. had taken that approach, there would be no Canada. We're a country founded by two groups, the French and the English. That's a historic fact that the "they're shoving French down our throasts" crowd still doesn't grasp.

And most Canadians don't have a problem with multi-culturalism. Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who come here for our diversity. Well, some of the old angry white guys like doofus Rob Ford have a problem with it, but who cares?

Well, we can argue back and forth about the NEP but at the time it was completely justified if we were to take control of our oil and NOT have to rely on foreign corporations for energy self-sufficiency.

And, please, if you want to explain the disenfranchisement of Quebec, don't look at Trudeau. It begins with Mulroney and Meech Lake.

Brian Mulroney would have never let himself be made a cuckold on the world stage because he was too busy sucking up to the Americans and doing sing-alongs with Ronnie

There's a reason Mulroney is the least popular PM in the last fifty years. That's not going to change any time soon although Harper's making a pretty good run at it.

 

No Quebec crisis thread is complete without Maggie Trudeau pics ...

 

Still no dice.

 

Try this:

http://studycanada.learnhub.com/lesson/9631-pierre-trudeau-just-watch-me

If you don't want to watch the whole thing go to about 5:00 of the clip

 

Trudeau blew it for me with this outfit he wore to the Grey Cup.

 

The guy in the Stetson to Pierre's right is thinking, "I'd hit it".

Give PET some credit. It was the 70's

And he still had the coolest car of any politician

 

Couple things;

Your implication that anyone who does not support official biligualism is a "don't shove French down my throat person" is wrong. My point is that the govt should not have made it policy. Same goes for multi-culturalism. Let people emigrate to Canada, I personally like the diversity. Trudeau's policies though encouraged new immigrants to hold on to their former national identity rather than embrace their new one.

You can still have a vibrant multi cultural society without the govt engineering to make it happen.

The NEP was a disaster and not needed at the time. I recognize that we will probably never have the same view of it.

I have no problem with Mulroney cozying up to the US. It is a sad fact in this country that some take pride in their anti-Americanism as exemplified by so many in the Liberal Party (Carolyn Parrish anyone?). I am by no means a Reagan fan but strong Canada- US relationships are vital, of course this does not jive with Trudeau and his felching of Castro.

And are you are seriously going to claim that Quebec disenfranchisement began with Meech Lake?

 

Give me one good reason why Canada shouldn't be officially a bilingual country? Seriously. We're a country that was founded on two languages. What the hell is wrong about it?

And mulit-culturalism is social engineering? That's just plain silly. Get a grip

And why do you continue to attach the phrase "not needed", "wasn't needed" to your arguments. Not needed by whom?

You do know that Canada was founded on policies based on protecting ourselves from the Americans don't you? And by that I mean militarily, economically and politically And that the social fabric of Upper Canada was bsaed on outright anti-Americanism in the United Empire Loyalists.

You know why our capital is in Ottawa, why the Rideau Canal exists and why the Trans Canada Railway was important? And I presume you know why McDonald bent over backwards to make sure that Quebec was on side for Confederation?

Canadians by and large realise we have to have strong US /Canada relationships but get very suspicious when PM's like Mulroney look like they're going, cap in hand, asking for favours. Doesn't wash. And as much as the right wing wants to keep repeating it, being wary and critical of the Yanks is not anti-Americanism

And Quebec disenfranchisement started with the Quiet Revolution. It peaked with Meech Lake.

 

Glad to see you corrected yourself on Quebec disenfranchisement. Please continue to engage in more facts instead of blaming those you don't admire politically.

The country was founded by 2 countries but ultimately France lost, Britain won. A sad fact for many Quebeckers to accept to this day. That being said I am glad they are here as Montreal has unrivalled strip clubs and Poutine.

In answer to your question it is not needed to be officially bilingual. The practical application of making sure that French services are available in a govenment office in Buttfuck Saskatchewan is a waste of time and money. Multi culturalism as a policy to encourage ghettoization rather than assimilation is what is plain silly.

Thanks for the condescending questions, oddly enough I have taken a history course or 2 and even done some reading.

You do realize that relationships and societies evolve? I could be wrong but aren't you one of the folks who have chided some of the US folks on here about having slavish devotion to their Constitution?

There is a big difference between critical of Americans and engagaing in the cheap anti-Americanism that is the stock and trade of certain segment of politicians to gin up the scaredy cats about the big bad Americans.

Give me a Canadian PM singing with a US president every time over a dilettante PM giving Castro a rim job to prove his bona fides as some sort of tough guy.

 

Your ignorance of Canadian history is astonishing. Did you take Canadian history courses at the Fraser Institute?

The English beat the French long before the country was founded and after the defeat, gave control of Lower Canada back to the French. They knew that by allowing them to keep their social structure, their justice system and their religion, they could keep those pesky frogs in check. They knew that the Catholic Church had a greater chance of maintaining social control over the paysans than the English could by imposing assimilation on them.

As I pointed out earlier, Sir John A recognized that without granting concessions to Quebec, Confederation would not work. Our first PM didn't pour himself a big glass of scotch and tell Cartier to suck it up.

So, instead of yammering on about how the Quebecois should accept the defeat on the Plains of Abraham , you might pull out another book or take another course and discover that Confederation was always considered a partnership between the two founding nations. Or better still I'd suggest you might read Roch Carrier's "The Hockey Sweater" which, in about 20 pages, sums up the relationship between the Quebecois, the Catholic Church and English Canada

And yes, if I'm a French speaking person dealing with some schmuck in a Federal Government office in Buttfuck, SK, I should be able to speak to them in French.

And for the record, I've never made any comments about the American constitution because I know diddleysquat about it. You should try that approach some time.

 

Is he planning on turning out some of the cheerleaders after the game?

 

We get Hulu. They get CBC-uploaded clips. No complaints here.