Working in Montréal today --Eat Ethnic

Good morning folks,

I will be working in Montréal today.

I love Montréal, it is a great city, one of my favorites in Canada and the U.S.  San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Montréal.  Great cities.

Great cities because of the food, the ethnic diversity, the arts, all coincendently on the water.  of course LA is on the water and should it slide into the Pacific I may shrug my shoulders and say, "Oh well".  Should the Red River swell up and and consume Winnipeg, again.. meh. (Sorry Rob, you can come stay with us).

 So when the statement is put to me for my agreement, "The predominant position of the French language is the key component of Montréal's originality.  Without it, the city would lose its soul."

I would have to disagree.  Would it be worse off?  Absolutely, but to state that it would lose its soul is much to strong, too much of a devastating conclusion.

And it seems that 63% of Quebecers agree with me, and disagree with that statement, yet it is statements such as this that we're included in a poll conducted by the firm CROP and printed in the magazine L'actualité, and cited in Yves-François Blanchet's in his proposal for a stronger Bill 101.

Really? Lose it's soul?  The soul of a city is its diversity, its people and cultures that mix together in the market place.  Can you imagine a Montréal without a Schwartz's?  No Jewish Deli, no Indian curry, no Italian Pasta, no Mexican, no Chinese, and no Pizza.  Granted I enjoy a slice of Tortiere and a glass of Caribou followed by some sugar pie like the next guy, but every day.. Booooring.

Homogeneity is no way to make a great city, and there is none that do.

But back to the survey/poll, whatever.  People generally find what they are looking for, and CROP certainly did, and with poll questions like the above, they found that the French language is under attack, that French is is danger, danger of disappearing in Quebec, and Blanchet's new Bill 101 is just the thing to save it.

Blanchet's proposals would have Distributel and other businesses seek permission from the Gov't to create jobs that require English, that is just absurd and dangerous to the economy of Quebec.  Quebec is not a self contained entity, no.  Its people and its businesses need to communicate with people from all over the world.  In Distributel's case we have our 11th floor call center and wish to be able to receive calls from customers anywhere in Canada.  Some of those customer speak English, some speak French.

We have our marketing team in Montréal, we need JP and Kate and their team to be able to order up an English flyer drop in Calgary's South West.  I certainly would not want the Quebec Gov't approving or disapproving our business plans, and neither does any other business.

Approval of Blanchet's proposal could result in the greatest exodus of Quebec jobs since the Insurance industry evacuated Montréal to Toronto in the late '70s.

Rest assured, Montréal's soul is intact and thriving.

Have a good day, eat something ethnic for lunch.