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Welcome to Quebec, the province intent on shooting itself in the head. Check out their language laws if you really want to see totalitarian, it destroyed their

by dade_ 11y ago

Welcome to Quebec, the province intent on shooting itself in the head. Check out their language laws if you really want to see totalitarian, it destroyed their economy and has likely set them back forever. Beautiful place to visit, just beware of falling concrete.

branchless 11y ago
I live there, it's fantastic. Moved from London. Please god don't make me go back. My maple syrup is slightly more expensive than it might be. Boo hoo. Wake me up when you have sorted out all the corrupt banks that make UK land hideously expensive, then you can get onto small stuff like this.
sidarape 11y ago
First time I see Quebec bashing here.
- dade_ 11y ago
  Not bashing. Just frustration, the province is a fraction of what it was destined to be, derailed by a bunch of terrorist lunatics in the 70s. The same regionalism plays out across the country, but their "leaders" just have the benefit of a language barrier to maintain their position and fables.
  - sidarape 11y ago
    We are on a thread about maple syrup and you're speaking about language laws and corruption in the construction industry. I can't see how you would not consider that bashing. > derailed by a bunch of terrorist lunatics in the 70s. Do you mean the FLQ? > The same regionalism plays out across the country, but their "leaders" just have the benefit of a language barrier to maintain their position and fables. What do you mean by that?
auxym 11y ago
You know, "the economy" does not have to be this deity that you absolutely have to sacrifice every aspect of culture, history, socializing, and every part of living an enjoyable life to. Québec still has the third highest GDP in the Canadian provinces [1]. Québec lost a lot of manufacturing and automotive sector jobs in the last decade or two. So has most of the western world. I don't think it has much to do with the language. As for the infrastructure, I'd posit that crappy infrastructure at high costs is largely due to corrupt politicians (ever hear of another place where money played too big a role in electoral campaigns?) and construction companies being run by the mafia [2]. Which, of course, all are problems of their own, and in no way is Québec a utopia. It's just a bit tiring to always hear the easy intellectual shortcuts that blame everything on law 101. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provinces_and_territories_by_gross_domestic_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provinces_and... [2] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/the-charbonneau-lesson-public-contracts-are-always-a-criminal-opportunity/article27484535/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/the-c...
- sidarape 11y ago
  > As for the infrastructure, I'd posit that crappy infrastructure at high costs is largely due to corrupt politicians (ever hear of another place where money played too big a role in electoral campaigns?) and construction companies being run by the mafia [2]. To add on that, people always think Québec is more corrupt than anywhere else because of a number of events in the last years, but I'm quite sure this is not unique to Quebec and you have the same phenomena everywhere else. We only heard about corruption in Quebec because people were interested to investigate.
  - branchless 11y ago
    Exactly, they have actually arrested some people. How many in the UK were arrested for huge corruption that would make anything in Quebec look like a pin-prick? Zero. It's not perfect here but it's good.
- dsq 11y ago
  Uh huh, Quebec is enjoying it's 'culture' and nice laid back lifestyle at the expense of the uncultured Anglaise as the highest recipient of equalization payments: Quebec ($7.833 billion) From wikipedia

by dade_ 11y ago

branchless 11y ago

I live there, it's fantastic. Moved from London. Please god don't make me go back. My maple syrup is slightly more expensive than it might be. Boo hoo. Wake me up when you have sorted out all the corrupt banks that make UK land hideously expensive, then you can get onto small stuff like this.

sidarape 11y ago

First time I see Quebec bashing here.

dade_ 11y ago
Not bashing. Just frustration, the province is a fraction of what it was destined to be, derailed by a bunch of terrorist lunatics in the 70s. The same regionalism plays out across the country, but their "leaders" just have the benefit of a language barrier to maintain their position and fables.
- sidarape 11y ago
  We are on a thread about maple syrup and you're speaking about language laws and corruption in the construction industry. I can't see how you would not consider that bashing. > derailed by a bunch of terrorist lunatics in the 70s. Do you mean the FLQ? > The same regionalism plays out across the country, but their "leaders" just have the benefit of a language barrier to maintain their position and fables. What do you mean by that?

auxym 11y ago

You know, "the economy" does not have to be this deity that you absolutely have to sacrifice every aspect of culture, history, socializing, and every part of living an enjoyable life to. Québec still has the third highest GDP in the Canadian provinces [1]. Québec lost a lot of manufacturing and automotive sector jobs in the last decade or two. So has most of the western world. I don't think it has much to do with the language. As for the infrastructure, I'd posit that crappy infrastructure at high costs is largely due to corrupt politicians (ever hear of another place where money played too big a role in electoral campaigns?) and construction companies being run by the mafia [2]. Which, of course, all are problems of their own, and in no way is Québec a utopia. It's just a bit tiring to always hear the easy intellectual shortcuts that blame everything on law 101. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provinces_and_territories_by_gross_domestic_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provinces_and... [2] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/the-charbonneau-lesson-public-contracts-are-always-a-criminal-opportunity/article27484535/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/the-c...

sidarape 11y ago
> As for the infrastructure, I'd posit that crappy infrastructure at high costs is largely due to corrupt politicians (ever hear of another place where money played too big a role in electoral campaigns?) and construction companies being run by the mafia [2]. To add on that, people always think Québec is more corrupt than anywhere else because of a number of events in the last years, but I'm quite sure this is not unique to Quebec and you have the same phenomena everywhere else. We only heard about corruption in Quebec because people were interested to investigate.
- branchless 11y ago
  Exactly, they have actually arrested some people. How many in the UK were arrested for huge corruption that would make anything in Quebec look like a pin-prick? Zero. It's not perfect here but it's good.
dsq 11y ago
Uh huh, Quebec is enjoying it's 'culture' and nice laid back lifestyle at the expense of the uncultured Anglaise as the highest recipient of equalization payments: Quebec ($7.833 billion) From wikipedia