From: thood@corvus.matrox.com (Thomas Hood)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Access to English school: quotes
Date: 31 Aug 92 22:21:17 GMT
Distribution: can
Organization: Matrox Ltd.

plante@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Frederic Plante) writes:

>So, you insult quebecois because they support discrimination based on
>the education of the parents on the question of accessibility of english
>schools, yet you would support discrimination based on country of origin,
>which, IMHO, is worst (think about it, all immigrants now have the
>same rights as the majority in Quebec; should we change the law to do
>this, an immigrant from, say, Germany, would not have the same rights
>as one from the U.K. or the US.).
>
>So, Mr Potter, aren't you as racist and fascist as you say we are?


Let me begin by saying that I think Steve Potter's use of the word
"racist" is a mistake, even if he only applied it to pieces of legislation,
and not to Quebecers themselves.  The mistake is not in seeing
a preoccupation with tribe where there is none; there clearly is such a
preoccupation.  The mistake is in using an inflammatory word whose
negative connotations are out of proportion with what is being described.
Everyone agrees (at least) that racism is very bad, and it is tempting to
exploit this by trying to transfer the discredit onto the subject of
comparison.  As a debating tactic, it is cheap, but as a provocation,
quite effective.  Let us not provoke one another.

Now, Frederic:
I think you have misunderstood.  The current eligibility rules are
discriminatory not because they discriminate among immigrants, but because
they discriminate between Quebec's linguistic communities: the French
community is to be preserved (as we all agree), but the English is to
be eliminated.  It works as follows.

The English may hope that deaths may be replaced by as many births
(though they aren't today), and that migration to other provinces may be
replaced by migration from other provinces (though it isn't today), but
under the present rules, emigrants from Canada can never be replaced by
immigrants to Canada.  Barring a massive strike at all the birth control
device manufacturers and a raft of hydro blackouts, the decline of the
English population becomes a mathematical certainty.

Given the fact that the anglophone population of Quebec is declining
faster than the francophone population, rules that allow the English
community to assimilate a lower proportion of immigrants (I.E. none)
than their proportion of the population imply that the English community
is less worthy of preservation.  That's discrimination.  Franco-Quebecois
rights of survival do not detract from the same Anglo-Quebecois rights.

Or do they?  If you think so, then say so explicitly, Frederic and others.
Not wanting to speak for him and Denis, I can still say that many
nationalists do seem to believe that it would be "no loss" if the English
Quebecers were eliminated.  They imply it when they speak of 300 million
(indistinguishable) English-speakers.  They suggest it when they describe
all the English as bigots, and that is why we have discriminatory
laws today.

With all due respect, however, it is not their decision to make, and so
long as they continue to discriminate against the English in this way,
there will be no peace in Quebec... only fatigue.

--
Thomas Hood                                                    thood@matrox.com
Montreal
Newsgroups: can.politics