From: tdwebste@sparta.uwaterloo.ca (Timothy D. Webster)
Subject: Re: Toronto Sun: another case of paranoia???
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 02:07:33 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.173313.21590@cerberus.ulaval.ca> you write:
>(This  message is written in bad english so that unilingual
>anglos can respond as well)
>
>It is well known that quebecers are frequently affected by
>serious socially-induced paranoia when it comes to discussing
>the way Canadians view each other. ( :)??? )
>
>But then again maybe not. As a nice illustration, I recently
>fell on a comic strip published in the Toronto Sun, which
>goes something like this:
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>Title: 3rd millenium Templars. The all-Canadian superheroes.
>
>The first episode I read shows a quiet manifestation of young
>canadians "reflecting on the future of their country" disturbed
>with no apparent reason by a violent guy wearing a "Bloc Quebecois"
>T-shirt, saying "The Bloc Quebecois say No,no,no! We will fight
>encore to the bitter end! No!". Then the superhero arrives and puts
>an end to the struggle while singing the national anthem.
>
>Second episode: Hidden in a dark secret cavern (!!!) under Mont Royal,
>a "more radical and potentially dangerous group of the bloc quebecois 
>is deciding (???) the country's future". There we hear them shouting:
>"We must stop the Yes vote.", "Sovereignty or death!". Then someone
>asks them to do it without violence, and someone answers: "T'es fou
>toi? You're crazy? No violence! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!". The strip finishes
>on the the reflection that it "Sounds like another FLQ crisis."
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>(from the Toronto Sun, reproduced in Universite Laval's students
>newspaper, Impact Campus)
>
>I notice here the same tendency that some journalists spotted after
>Oka crisis, which is to introduce french quotations where it comes
>to frighten people; it sounds like a foreign language and calls to
>their potential xenophobia. (during Oka crisis it was reported that
>english journalists switched from "Quebec police" to "Surete du Quebec"
>because it sounds more like "Securitate" or "KGB".)
>
>In any case, it certainly is a nice case of Quebec bashing, and 
>a call to intolerance if not total war against separatists. I
>never saw anything like this on this side of the... the whatever
>it is that separates ontario from quebec. 
>
>I would like to hear other opinions on these. 
>By the way, how did the story end ?
>
>
>
>Jean-Remi Duquet


People in Canada enjoy free speech. Remember all the people who deny
that the Holocaust happen in WWII. It was very difficult to get these
people to retract this lie, because of free speech laws. 

Quebec Separatist are an enemy of Canada. The Bloc Quebecois have as
their mandate, the separation of Quebec. Therefore they are an enemy of
Canada. Remember this comic strip did not attack Quebecois ONLY
Separatist. 

Your example does capture a common feeling toward Separatist. Please
understand this not an attack on the Quebec people or culture. The
seemingly never ending threat of Quebec separation is like Quebec Separatist
taking CSQ hostage. Everybody is so tired of it they just wish Quebec 
Separatist would STOP. Common reactions are they wont separate and I 
refuse to be held hostage, I don't care anymore, what a waste I quess I
will try to get out of Canada, Dam those Separatist lets teach them a
leason and kill them all. The last reaction is the most scary. This is
very scary! If Quebec separates all Quebecois will be considered 
Separatist even though this will not be true.  

Quebec can only negotiate with Canada if it entends to remain in Canada.
Nobody in CSQ believe that Quebec should give up their culture. If you
run across someone who does, they are a very small minority. Canadians 
have a very strong sense of fare play. Your are seeing some backlash to the
french sign laws and special deals giving to Quebec in the past. Yes I
know being a Quebecois has not been easy. If Quebec indicated that it
would not threaten separation I am sure you would find other Canadians
much easier to deal with and would let the past remain there.

But Canadians are proud of their country and HATE Separatist. 
This does not mean they hate Quebecois or wish to impose there culture
onto Quebec.

(Quebec's threating to separate is like a kid holding his breath to get
his/her way.)

***********************************************************************

In the past the Quebec influence has been a postive one. Through it
Canadians have greater tolerence and some have learned a second language.
In a word the Quebec experence defines the Canadian Culture, without it
Canada is just an northern state of the US. Personally I really enjoy 
visiting Quebec. It is about the only chance I get to pratice my limited 
french. Montreal is a fun city onlike Toronto which is really boring! 
If you want to reply in french please do I will be able to understand. 
Sorry my french is worse than your english and I will not be able to 
reply in french. 

Go JAYS! Go HABS, Go OILERS.

-Tim.
Newsgroups: can.politics