Letter to the Foreign Policy Association

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Readers have been discussing getting involved and contacting interested news organizations and/or government or quasi-government organizations re our particular situation here in Quebec.

One of our readers did just that and sent this letter to the Foreign Policy Association, an organization in New York that Marois addressed on a visit last week. Link

To whom it may concern:

I understand Quebec Premier Pauline Marois addressed the FPA very recently to attempt to entice investment in Quebec.
I was born, raised and educated in Quebec, from kindergarten through university.  My mind to leave Quebec was made up when I was just 16 years old, in grade ten high school.  That was in 1974, the year the first language legislation was passed, called Bill 22.  The most embittering aspects of that bill were that French was required on all business signs, and cruel language tests were imposed on little children to determine if they would be able to attend English school, or have to go to French school.  The examiners were so biased that children who made a single mistake on the test were considered not to be proficient in English and thus forced to go to French school.
The separatist government, the same one Pauline Marois  leads today, was elected for the first time in late 1976.  About three months after being elected, that government tabled its first piece of legislation, Bill 1, the Charter of the French Language.  It was so racist and stringent, it had to be toned down, and by May 1977, new modified legislation, a.k.a. Bill 101 was tabled and passed into law on August 26th.  The reason for passing it into law then was to ensure its more stringent educational aspects could be law before the start of the first full school year.  That law made French school mandatory, except for children who were legally attending English schools when the law came into force and for future children, only those whose parents had at least six years of English elementary schooling, in Quebec, could apply to place their children in English schools.  This excluded children coming from other provinces in Canada, plus other English speaking countries, like the U.S., U.K., Australia, etc.
In 1982, Canada repatriated its own constitution (formerly our "constitution" was the British North America Act of 1867, the year of Confederation), and through strenuous constitutional challenges, much to the separatist government's dismay, children coming to Quebec from other provinces in Canada where they were attending English schools were allowed, by the grace of the Supreme Court of Canada, to attend English school in Quebec.  By the way, to attend English school in the first place, the parent(s) have to apply for a "Certificate of Eligibility" to attend English schools.  Failure to do this disqualifies the child from being able to attend English schools.  Since the law came in, enrollment in English schools has dropped from about 250,000 in 1977 to less than 100,000 today.
Please realize that anyone considering relocation to Quebec (but not the rest of Canada) from the U.S. will not be able to enroll their children in English schools, except if adequate proof could be provided their stay will be for two to three years, and believe me, the separatist government is very strict and fanatically adamant about this proof.  This concludes the ugly history on trying to get one's children enrolled into English instructional schooling, public and private.
Next, I'll move into aspects of doing business in Quebec.  Please be aware that this separatist government is about as anti-business as one you will ever encounter.  First of all, if the employees manage to get a union into your business, LOOK OUT!  Replacement workers, whether scab (outside) labor or management replacing striking workers is strictly against the law.  Companies with 100 or more employees currently (but soon to be reduced to 25 or more employees) have to obtain a Francization certificate that confirms the business is complying with all aspects of French as the everyday language in the business, from the shop floor into the board room.  If you want employees who speak languages other than French, it will be incumbent on YOU to prove the employee is required to use the other language(s) in that position.  If you err and hire someone who speaks only French, or proves to be inadequate in other languages, you cannot release that employee.  It is against the law to fire an employee for the sole reason he doesn't speak any languages other than French.
If anybody, and I mean anybody at all, is dissatisfied with the level of French being offered to customers, or communicated to employees, is not to their satisfaction, they could report it to the Office Québécois de la langue française [Quebec Office of the French Language], a.k.a. the OQLF or  "language police."  This could be for the most minuscule violation, usually what some people perceive as "illegal English".  Please look at the following hyperlink: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/05/pq-pauline-marois-bill-101/ 
Here is another, and I can tell you now this lunacy has been going on for 40 years: http://putbackflag.posterous.com/oqlf-intimidates-and-harasses-montreal-ben-je    In 1998, CBS newsmagazine 60 minutes did a segment on the lunacy: Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKOGgYaqwhg  and Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Iki-pwrCpE8&feature=endscreen  In the second part, the OQLF representative in the piece, Gerard Paquette, lied through is teeth about a parrot that spoke English in a pet store.  A complaint was indeed filed, but Paquette was too embarrassed to admit it.
The players have changed.  Mordechai Richler, an internationally famous author of many books plus magazine and newspaper articles is now dead and the government players have changed, but the ugly game has not changed at all.  Worse yet, the separatist government is becoming even more zealous and bold in its enforcement of the language legislation.  They aren't as polite as they used to be.  Too, corporations in Quebeec at one time used to be able to file their Quebec tax returns in English or French.  Not anymore!  See the following on the Quebec government's official website: http://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/a-propos/organisation/politique-linguistique.aspx  Believe me, they will do their darnedest to get you to file any documentation, even if allowed in English, in French.  The only reason, as mentioned in the piece, why English is allowed for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is because the federal government agreed to allow Revenue Quebec to act as the collecting agent for GST remittances.  Federal tax returns and any other information may be filed in English or French.
Aside from language and labor legislation, Quebec is still the most meddlesome in terms of business regulation.  Very highly overregulated, but that's beyond the scope of this message.  If you want to look at more of why investment in Quebec is not a good idea, I refer you to a very reliable blog called No Dogs or Anglophones: http://nodogsoranglophones.blogspot.ca/  The author of this blog is consulted by government, and you should know that while the editor/creator of this blog keeps his identity secret, he is consulted by government all over Canada, and for all he puts in his blogs, he hyperlinks to all kinds of newspapers, TV segments and a wide array of other periodicals.
Finally, another e-mail follows this one.  I'm sending you an attachment that came out two days after the 60 Minutes segment back in 1998.  It too is quite an eye-opener.
If any of your U.S. members want to discuss Quebec issues further, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Regards,....

(name withheld on request)

Go ahead readers, is it a fair assessment?