So James Moore, the federal Heritage Minister, doesn’t think there was enough french at the opening of the Olympics on Friday evening. Leaves me wondering what opening ceremonies he was watching, I had a belly full of french and I was watching it on NBC. I can’t say I was particularly impressed to be watching an event taking place in a very definitely english speaking province and hearing every statement said first in french and then in english.
Yes, I know, we are a bilingual country and the IOC rules require both french and english. I could have been a lot more tolerant of a shifting back and forth on which language was first but french consistently had the first usage and then Moore whines there wasn’t enough french? That strikes me as pandering more towards Quebec votes than anything else.
Quebec Premier Charest complained at a news conference there wasn’t enough french used. He was reported to have said “that while the opening was “magnificent,” and that there were more mandarin speakers in British Columbia than francophones everybody would have liked to have had more french in the opening ceremony.” Really? Maybe in Quebec, the only french speaking province in the country.
Moore, Charest — get over yourselves. While french has official language status in the country, the average anglophone no more appreciates french being shoved down their throat than a francophone appreciates english. Ooh right, I forget, in Quebec, they don’t have to have english shoved down their throats because french is their only official language.
I certainly hope Moore’s British Columbia based constituents remember his pandering to Quebec interests during Vancouver’s time to shine on the world stage. I bet they would appreciate his defense of the french language so much they’d send him to work in the real world instead of in Ottawa.
UPDATE: Interesting article, on the official investigation being launched into the amount of French at the Olympic games, written by Brian Lilley, a journalist in Ottawa and his experiences with language ‘balance’ in Quebec. Pots shouldn’t call kettles black Mr Moore, Mr Charest etc. There is no balance in political pandering for votes from 22% of the population.
notice: The content of this post contains my opinions and my right to express them. I will respect your right to express your opinion in the comments as long as you’re not abusive and you respect my right to my opinion.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
U bet, they keep complaining over and over and over again! Next Olympics, they should'nt even dare to put french, let's see how they would like that!