ViewsEurope by CartoonArts International for October 25, 2010

Yet another reason to not count on the government for your retirement planning. Save your own money from early on and retire whenever you dang well please. But seriously, if at a young age you already can’t stand working until your mid sixties, the problem is probably more that you need to get a new job. Too bad French companies are so afraid of hiring French people, they outsource to Montreal (well, not for me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA).

That’s one crazy roundabout to drive thru’! I was once with an American friend giving her a tour of Paris in a British car and I could not get off the roundabout until the 4th time around! At least she saw the Arc de Triomphe from all angles several times… But not an aerial view like we have here.

You Europeans have it good that way. In a relatively small distance, you can be in a place with very different culture, different climate, all new. Here I can drive for about 5 hours and I’m in Toronto and maybe 1 degree warmer. Just beautiful ;)

^^ Lorax: I don’t have to travel even that far to experience different cultures, my own family is far enough. ;-)

TCL: It’s not like that anymore, I am assuming you left around the time of the last referendum? Don’t forget that the treatment for french people in Ontario was not nice either. For example you may need to have a permit to go to english school in Quebec, but french schools were outright closed in Ontario and the kids were just transfered. It doesn’t excuse how you felt, I’m just saying it’s not something that only existed in Quebec.

omQ: I think I can relate. Sometimes I feel like bringing popcorn to family gatherings, more drama than any hollywood production.

I guess it depends on where you are, but what I see is that things are better,not worse. The PQ is thankfully getting less and less relevant.

As for the irritation people feel towards muslims, it’s not as unfounded as you would think. They get special consideration because the PQ gave it to muslim countries since they speak french. Alot of them are “good” immigrants in the sense that they work hard and contribute to society, but there are alot of “bad” ones, meaning they go on welfare and refuse to integrate into society.

Meanwhile I have a Mexican friend who came here legally to escape the violence in their home town; They work hard, learned french and english, love it here and immigration told them they can not stay. It really peaves people off. Coming from a french speaking country is not enough of a criteria to be here as far as I’m concerned. The PQ really has earned my hate. This particular issue is just the tip of the iceburg.

@ TCL & Lorax: I meant the multiculturalism found in my own family in England or very close by: I have Austrian in-laws - mine -, Portuguese family extended (& in-laws - my brother Nº3), Afrikaans (in-laws -my brother Nº2), British (in-laws - my sister), Latvian (in-laws - brother Nº1) and South African family (although they actually still live in SA). Naturally, there is some strife but I wasn’t referring to that. ;-) It was actually a positive comment.

Further afield I have SA-Luso-Sino family in Canada, Luso-Australian, Luso-French, Luso-Brazilian, Luso-Namibian & Luso-American family, all who I rarely see. Through my wife I’ve acquired German & Swiss family, too. Very interesting when we occasionally meet up.

Btw, interesting comments regarding Canada. Just yesterday my Austrian father-in-law asked me my opinion of Canada & New Zealand (we were discussing countries that were tolerant & had good images abroad)

Well, every country has it’s warts. Canada is still a good place to live, and would be better if we weren’t constantly governed by the paranoid left.

I have lots of words to call Jack Layton ;)

When the Conservatives have a majority government, I’ll consider them in charge. Until then, we have a minority government surrounded by leftist parties who want to take their place.

They are not “PQ” paranoid, but yes.

Example: When Harper let me have $100 of my own money back per month to help with daycare expenses and the Liberal’s response was to accuse us of spending it on beer and cigarettes, then yes, they are paranoid and leftist.

Harper has points I don’t like (like being a creationist), but he gave me a tax break for public transport, kids’s sports and TFSA. He also gave land back to those farmers in Mirabel. There are lots of things to dislike with all of them, but he’s the only one on the scene at the moment who comes close to acknowledging my issues and trying to do something for me.

TCL!!! Yvon Godin’s my MP!!!

English people don’t experience it, but for french people, it can be hard to get servicei n french when necessary. My dad doesn’t speak english, yet to this day, he gets his ROGERS bill in english (and Rogers is not the only company to offer their paperwork, often more important than a simple cable bill, only in english.). They could charge for stuff he never got and he wouldn’t understand the bill. Ever tried to speak to someone in french in most customer service lines? You need determination!

Yet the idea of Quebec separating worries me. I was ten when the last referendum took place. Years later, I read about the October crisis. Tanks and canadian troops in the streets of Montreal and I know if Quebec decided to separate, Ottawa wouldn’t hesitate to occupy the city again…not to mention the clashes that could take place between the federalist first nations (and immigrants, too) and french quebeckers. Google “Oka Crisis” for a taste!

Intellectuals and artists were arrested during the october crisis. If I manage to do something big with Sooky, I’m in a good spot to be attacked both by the federalists (because I’m a leftist and french-speaking) and by FLQ-like extremists, since I write in english.

To this day, I refuse to say if I am for or against the separation of Quebec. If a referendum won by the “yes” side ends up in a civil war (it is not sure), Quebec wouldn’t be the first nation to earn (or fail to earn, see American Civil War) its independence through that…but still…civil war???

I think it would take something huge for a referendum to come back with that kind of support again (like secret videos of Harper wiping his @$$ with the Quebec flag). More and more, the communities I lived in that were hard core separatists are looking outside of Quebec. They still have their nationalist identity, but people are seeing a better future for Quebec by being associated with the rest of Canada.

Or perhaps the rest of Canada just doesn’t think Quebec is worth going to war over :P .

You know, there seem to be a lot more Canadians on this site than you’d think. It would be nice if gocomics would post Canadian content, let us argue about our own issues for a change :)

After the sponsorship scandal, in 2004, support for separation of Quebec was at an all-time high. Thank goodness, PLQ (non-separatist) was in power at that time. If it hadn’t been, there would have been a third referendum.

But to say we are above civil war or trouble is IMHO, extremely condescending and even dangerous. So many countries thought they were above that, next thing you know, people were in jail or killed for their opinions.

Sometimes I think about my 88 years-young grandma at the nursing home and think about what the World was like when she was born;

1922; the World is fresh out of WW1, Europe just got rid of is tyrants and the USSR is five years old. China is in a state of semi-colonisation, India (and Canada) are UK property, Africa is owned by European powers. French Canadians were ruled by the English, and what the English colonist didn’t control, the Catholic church did.

Between then and now, Germany got up from WW2, almost conquered the World, had its butt badly kicked, was divided, reunited and is a World power. The British Empire shrunk to a tiny Commonwealth, The French empire disappeared, African countries got their independence and blacks are treated as equals or even valuable business partners (wasn’t always the case), China finally got its act together after the KMT and the Communist party’s mood swings ( Cultural revolution and other stuff) and now the West’s economy relies on China. USSR is dead and burried (it’s been for twenty years). India not only got its independence (thanks to a guy the whole World looks up to!) but rose to World power status (even a nuclear power! Gandhi wouldn’t like that!). In Canada, french and english are treated equal. It doesn’t even has the same flag it has back then. It had two close calls with separation (1980 and 1995) and one close call with civil war (1970) and the Catholic church, who once told people how to vote, is now joking matter. Three british monarchs went by (including one of the longest reigns), 7 popes,16 US presidents, 13 canadian prime ministers went by. Countless heads of State, musicians, militants were murdered. My grandmother is still alive (thought in a wheelchair in a nursing home), but all that stuff happened between her birth and now. I often think to myself; What will the World look like by the time I reach her age? 89 years…the USSR was created, lived and died in less than that.

I’m only 25 and already, countries that were important when I was born don’t exist anymore and the harmless nuts of those days are today’s threats.

and all you canadians seem to be so well educated and aware of, not only your own country’s ups and downs, but also the world around you. so many americans (not all) see only what’s in front of them. like horses wearing blinders… DR. C has called some of us “red necks”, and he is correct, we do have many red necks but, there are some of us who think freely, but not enough. Big Business and politics have a tendency to squash the spirit. we DO have to get together if we want it to work, though. i don’t understand why the people can’t see this…