Bloc to Harper: Send $5 billion to Quebec

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by Mighty Tytan

i took my daughter to a french immersion school open house and it was a tough to listen to the principle and school resource person be en francais. why do the french come accross as so snobby and on another planet of their own self awsomeness?

So let me get this straight - you went to an open house at a French school and you were irritated because the faculty were speaking French? I'm not trying to pick s**t here, but that seems a little goofy to me. All three of my kids are in either French immersion or francophone school, and I think that if I'm going to choose to have them educated in a language other than English, it makes nothing but sense to have that education provided by someone who is a native speaker of that language.

I would never defend the asinine kind of politics that seem to be the hallmark of the province of Quebec, but I have nothing against the French language or people. I lived in France for two and a half years and honestly believe that it's one of the most amazing places on earth. I like to laugh at jokes about french people and how they're "cheese eating surrender monkeys" just like everyone else but the truth is that outside your stereotypical Alpha Hotel Parisien, the French are wonderful people.

On the other hand, I also lived in Montreal for about a year and a half, and I couldn't get out of that place fast enough. There are a lot of fantastic people there, but the whole political climate of the province (that's right, not nation - province) of Quebec drives me completely crazy. Whoever said take, take, and take some more had it nailed.

[Mighty Tytan]

Originally Posted by Redliner

So let me get this straight - you went to an open house at a French school and you were irritated because the faculty were speaking French?.

not really, i fully expected them to speak french. i just find the french culture, mannerism and accent irritating.

that said, i also respect the value for a young canadian to be part of a french immersion program.

i guess i can seperate the two issues.

[Joborule]

Don't give Quebec anything. This is so elementary.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

oh FFS use any other politician as an example then. Him stepping down is immaterial to what my point was

no it isnt, it was a poor example on your part

[nik-]

They should force them to hold another referendum, and when it doesn't pass, change the constitution to remove the ability to separate.

Quebec can f#$% off.

[SebC]

The Liberals are the only logical coalition partner for the Conservatives.

[dissentowner]

Just think of the horror for Hab fans when the most historical team in the NHL would have to rename the team if they ever separated.

[Golden Jet]

Duceppe's whole rant on this. Last year Ontario got a lot of money & now we want a lot of money. Go **** yourself, Duceppe.

[TylerSVT]

What the hell would Quebec ever do if they separated? Their net imports would run the "country" dry in a matter of years.

[stampsx2]

Ya I would love to see what happens to them when they separate. They probably don't understand that the payments stop when you are on your own.

[GGG]

The interesting thing about Quebec is that when they want to separate it is to separate from Upper Canada not all of Canada. There complaints on the individual level are essentially the same complaints that us westerners have about being under represented and our money being wasted. (Most quebecers I have met don't realize that they are subsidized)

So if we as a country just kicked out Ontario we would be a lot better off. Essentially all of the power is controlled by their seats and the rest of us beg at the table for scraps. Quebec and the Maritimes are just better at begging than the west is.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by GGG

The interesting thing about Quebec is that when they want to separate it is to separate from Upper Canada not all of Canada. There complaints on the individual level are essentially the same complaints that us westerners have about being under represented and our money being wasted. (Most quebecers I have met don't realize that they are subsidized)

The Quebec separatists want to separate because they feel they are distinct from the rest of Canada along with a notion that historically the anglophones have marginalized the francophones.

So if we as a country just kicked out Ontario we would be a lot better off. Essentially all of the power is controlled by their seats and the rest of us beg at the table for scraps. Quebec and the Maritimes are just better at begging than the west is.

Except for Alberta no other province or territory has fewer MP's per capita than Ontario. If Ontario has the power in Canada it is due to sheer population numbers.

[Pinner]

Quebec has always reminded me of a spoiled child crying, and the Feds just keep giving the spoiled child another candy to shut the hell up.

[DuffMan]

why don't they just call it a tranfer payment, and be done with it.

[Azure]

$5 billion is a lot of money. Sheesh.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Quebec has always reminded me of a spoiled child crying, and the Feds just keep giving the spoiled child another candy to shut the hell up.

The sad thing is that even if you estimate high and say the amount of Quebecers who want to separate is around 45%, that's still only 10% of the entire population of Canada. It's really sad when 90% of the population is held hostage by 10% of the population.

[Pinner]

Quebec needs the cash, without it they may have to live like common Canadians.

Forty per cent of Quebeckers do not pay income tax, as young economist Mathieu Laberge has noted. One result is fierce opposition to program cuts by people who are not taxed to pay for government services. Another result is that, with only 60 per cent of the population paying income tax, it’s hard to raise big new revenues. Still another result has been a growing deficit and indebtedness as politicians find cutting spending hard and prefer to subsidize hydro rates, daycare, university fees, pharmaceuticals.

He worries greatly about the province’s debt (per capita, the highest in Canada), the gap in productivity between Quebec and the rest of Canada (and, of course, the United States), the aging of Quebec’s population.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1705657/

[CaptainCrunch]

To me if they're heavily subsidizing those programs then we should call this abuse of transfers.

At some point you have to make transfer payments in their current forms a finite thing. You have to make an honest effort to balance your books in order to receive them.

[MJM]

It's absolutely disgusting to me that we continue to not just allow this treason, we subsidize it.

[TylerSVT]

I was hoping they were going to separate a couple years ago.

Id love it if they did it now.