home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: can.politics
- Path: sparky!uunet!utcsri!cs.ubc.ca!news.UVic.CA!sanjuan!aidler
- From: aidler@sanjuan.UVic.CA (E Alan Idler)
- Subject: Re: Reform Party vs Quebec (was Reform Party)
- Message-ID: <aidler.722582519@sanjuan>
- Sender: news@sol.UVic.CA
- Nntp-Posting-Host: sanjuan.uvic.ca
- Organization: University of Victoria
- References: <1992Nov23.144230.1@uwovax.uwo.ca> <1992Nov24.010702.1886@mdivax1.uucp> <1992Nov24.041310.4357@bmerh85.bnr.ca>
- Date: 24 Nov 92 05:21:59 GMT
- Lines: 29
-
- >The Reform policy of leaving support for the french language up to the
- >provinces means that support for the french language in schools and the
- >public service will simply stop in all provinces except Quebec and
- >Ontario, and maybe in a small pocket in New Brunswick. Why? Because
- >support for the french language in the public sector and in education
- >is largely brought about by the large Quebec vote at the federal
- >level. Not a majority, of course, but enough pull to make the feds
- >realize that the francophone Canadians are Real People too, and _all_
- >francophone Canadians, no matter what province they are in, are also
- >Real People, and should be entitled to services and education in the
- >french language where numbers warrent. Leaving this public policy
- >decision to the provincial level means that in most cases the
- >francophones will be so outnumbered in most votes (far far less than
- >24%) that their voices will be forever drowned out. RP talkes about
- >central Canadian domination, yet they advocate language majority
- >domination to the _exclusion_ of the minority language speakers. The
- >tactic is an old one: divide and conquer. Even Hill & Knowlton doesn't
- >charge its customers anything to give out that piece of advice.
-
- Why should a language majority in one province be able
- to dictate the education policy in another?
- Canadians should be able to receive services and education
- in either French or English *where numbers warrant*.
-
- I would rather see the marketplace decide (through vouchers
- or enrollment minimums) whether numbers for a given education
- system are significant enough to support a school.
-
- A IDLER
-