The Confederate Flag

[Kramodlog]

Maybe I wasn't clear. I asked if you could *legally* discriminate. If there's a law against it, such that the court can settle the issue, the answer is, "no".

This doesn't mean discrimination doesn't happen (many forms are illegal here, but clearly happen regardless). Just that the basic concept of equality is present.

Well, Québec charter of rights and freedom pretty much prohibits discrimination, so yeah. You'd have to give more precise examples if you want a better answer.

 

[Kramodlog]

Yeah, they flat out state that Cartier discovered Canada and that the English were just there for the fish. Yup total bias.

Hum, no. They show that Cabot discovered Canada (Newfoundland) in 1497.

Cartier met some Aboriginals. When and where is a more mysterious.

 

[Kramodlog]

LOL. Who pays for your hospitals? Who pays for your schools? It sure as heck isn't you.

You'd be surprised to found out we pay taxes and fees. Do you even know which percentage equalization payments play in Québec budget? About 9%. Yeah, thanks for the change, master.

Quebec, in its entire history, has never been a have province. Quebec, for its entire history, has had to take handouts from the Federal government in order to keep your province running.

Double chekc your history. Québec wasdebt free when it was forced to join United Canada in 1841. It was done in part so that it could finance debt ridden Ontario. Same with the British North America Act of 1867. Again Québec's riches were needed to help Canada's precarious railway. Now the tables have turned after Québec's riches have been used to develop another nation, we are called freeloaders by those who benefited from us. It is a double standard. We might not be told to "speak white" when we walk in the streets anymore, but the racism toward us is still alive.

 

[Hussar]

And in both Boston and San Francisco, there are districts where business signs are largely in Chinese.

And it is entirely their right to do so. Would you agree with state laws mandating that all businesses in those areas MUST also use English?

 

[Hussar]

You'd be surprised to found out we pay taxes and fees. Do you even know which percentage equalization payments play in Québec budget? About 9%. Yeah, thanks for the change, master.

Double chekc your history. Québec wasdebt free when it was forced to join United Canada in 1841. It was done in part so that it could finance debt ridden Ontario. Same with the British North America Act of 1867. Again Québec's riches were needed to help Canada's precarious railway. Now the tables have turned after Québec's riches have been used to develop another nation, we are called freeloaders by those who benefited from us. It is a double standard. We might not be told to "speak white" when we walk in the streets anymore, but the racism toward us is still alive.

Hrm, quick check of Wikipedia shows Quebec receiving the largest equalisation payment at just shy of 8 Billion dollars. Note, this is twice what Ontario gets and about ten times what anyone else gets. Yeah, if you have to dredge back almost a hundred and fifty years to find the last time you were in the black, I'm thinking you can't pin that entirely on the rest of the country.

The racism you have to deal with is because every ten years for the past hundred years, you keep trying to separate from the country and failing. No one is forcing you to stay. The last referendum was in the late 90's and you STILL voted to stay. The economic woes you feel are because every so often the Separatistes stir the pot and no one in their right mind will invest in your province because it's too unstable.

Good grief, you pretty much absented yourself from federal politics for the last twenty years because of the Bloc Quebecois - a federal party that only runs in your province, does nothing to protect French rights in the other provinces, and can never, ever get a majority because of that. Which has nicely handed federal politics over to the Conservatives for the past while and the Liberal before that because there's no way any other party can get enough votes after Quebec has pretty much abstained.

What absolutely baffles me, to be honest, is why you think you'd be better off on your own. A sovereign quebec will be speaking English in a generation. You'll be absorbed by the Americans before you can blink. The primary reason you have these protections is because of the federal government protecting you. A separate Quebec would become a resort park for the US in a couple of decades. You said it yourself. Ten per cent of your budget comes from the federal government. Imagine how bad things would get in Quebec if not only do you lose that 10 per cent but you also now have to print your own money, run your own military, build your own roads. Good luck with that.

See, I love Quebec. I've spent lots and lots of time there. Montreal, Quebec City, Rivier Du Loup, Gaspe. Fantastic place to visit. Unbelievably friendly people. Love it to pieces. Just wish the Separatists would roll their ideology up into a tight little ball and stick it up their collective bums because we've wasted billions of dollars on this already and it's not going to happen. It just isn't. And flushing more billions of dollars down the toilet is the last thing Quebec needs. If the Bloc spent half as much energy on actually helping Quebec as it does trying to make a sovereign Quebec, you'd be far, far better off.

 

[Kramodlog]

Hrm, quick check of Wikipedia shows Quebec receiving the largest equalisation payment at just shy of 8 Billion dollars.

Maybe it is old, I got 9 billions for this year. Québec's budget this year is 100 billions. So equalization payments represent 9% of our budget. Canada isn't financing Québec.

Note, this is twice what Ontario gets and about ten times what anyone else gets.

You need to check per capita or individuals. Québec has more people than Manitoba, so we get more money total, but per individual Nova Scotia, PEI, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Yukon, Nunavut and the NWT get more money than us. Why not call them freeloaders? Why not Aboriginales?

As for Ontario, sure, we get more money than it because Ontario is in better shape economically. Historically, that difference takes root in colonialism and the Catholic Church.

Yeah, if you have to dredge back almost a hundred and fifty years to find the last time you were in the black,

Yeah, no. Québec was debtless until the 1960s and the Quiet Revolution. Then we shock off some of the shackles of colonialism and the Church and entered modernity. It cost us money. For example we needed to built schools and train teachers. In 1960 only 3% of us had university degrees and the Church was running (badly) education for the whole province. This had to change, and lots of money had to be invested fast.

The modern form of equalization payments in Canada can be traced to 1957 when they were made to help the cash strapped Atlantic provinces. Still no Québec.

Saying Québec benefited from equalization payments from the get go is just false. We can say in started in the 1960s/70s. Again, I repeat myself, when our riches were used to develop Canada, it was ok, but when we need it, we are called freeloaders. It is a double standard and this is the kind of slight that makes us want to leave or at least not feel Canadian.

The racism you have to deal with is because every ten years for the past hundred years, you keep trying to separate from the country and failing.

Yeah, no. Racism comes from considering the other person has inferior. That started from the conquest. And even if it was our desire to free ourselves from our oppressors that was responsable for it, well, that still doesn't justify racism. Nothing does. You're just making excuses for racists and helping racism continue.

The economic woes you feel are because every so often the Separatistes stir the pot and no one in their right mind will invest in your province because it's too unstable.

Canadians need to admit colonialism hurt Québec and still does. Taking responsbility for those actions might actually help the federation by actually quelling independentist sentiments. The almost messianic role Canadians like to give themselves is an affront to history. Just ask Aboriginales.

 

[Umbran]

Yeah, thanks for the change, master.

Let us not go the way of snark, please.

 

[Umbran]

And it is entirely their right to do so. Would you agree with state laws mandating that all businesses in those areas MUST also use English?

I don't think I'd care. Laws *prohibiting* signage in some language(s), I would find more problematic - mandating inclusion isn't a big deal, mandating exclusion is questionable.

 

[Umbran]

Maybe it is old, I got 9 billions for this year. Québec's budget this year is 100 billions. So equalization payments represent 9% of our budget. Canada isn't financing Québec.

10% of a budget is not chicken-feed. Many businesses run at or under 10% profit margin, for example. Lose 10% of your budget, and the thing can collapse.

Of course, a government is not a business. So, consider what happens if you lose that 10% - it means either having to cut 10% of everything, or cut a lot more of some things, and not others. When you start talking about essential services, this can be highly problematic.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And in both Boston and San Francisco, there are districts where business signs are largely in Chinese.

Sure. I'd expect that in those cities because of their large & well established Asian populations.

Big Asian populations in D/FW are relatively new- really only in the last couple of decades.