If they want a fight? They’ll get one!
You want to talk about being pissed-off? You don’t know what pissed-off is unless you can feel what I’m feeling.
Anne and I spent HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OUR OWN DOLLARS fighting sign laws in Quebec.
We lived with armed bodyguards 7 days per week, 24 hours per day for periods that stretched into months over a time frame of nearly 3 years.
We lived in fear that some ethnocentric Québécois nationalist language bigot would torch our house, or worse, harm our horses.
We sacrificed our business, bringing us near to the financial brink to fight the good fight against language (cultural) bigotry, so all people living in Quebec could be equal and visible.
We lived with insults, threats and an English and French media that routinely lied, omitted or distorted stories so as not to create waves.
And we financed successful court challenges for equal rights all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada.
We did everything we possibly could to make a difference. But, when the federal government, the provincial government (Quebec), Quebec municipalities, a compliant English media and an aggressive French media pile-on to restrict the rights of Quebec’s linguistic minorities; ESPECIALLY the English speaking minorities, there is just so much you can do.
In October of 2000, Anne and I moved to Ontario. We had enough of language laws in Quebec. So you might be able to imagine how I felt when I read that Clarence-Rockland just imposed language laws including “language police” and fines of $5000 for not posting equal French signs.
Clarence Rockland is a small mostly French speaking town 35 miles East of Ottawa, whose bird-brained council decided that the governance of sign laws in their community includes the MANDATORY EQUAL use of the French language.
What the hell is wrong with these people?
How do these small-town idiot councilors and their mayor associate their pipsqueak positions in an irrelevant city hall as being able to create laws that abrogate the right of people to express themselves as they wish?
The fact that cultural ethnocentricity and linguistic racism is an accepted social policy in Quebec does not excuse Ontario from doing the same.
The French community of Ontario should be far more concerned with this lamebrain French advocacy law than English speakers. For the French speakers of Ontario, there is nothing to gain from FORCING their language upon others.
On the other hand, the backlash from English speakers who do not want to be bullied by French language zealots will cause a linguistic storm that will do enormous harm to French speakers throughout Ontario.
I have to shake my head in wonderment at how stupid people can really be. What did the brain-trust of this pathetic town think when they passed this bylaw? Did they really think English speaking Ontarians would say nothing?
I didn’t leave this language sickness in Quebec to move to Ontario to find more of the same. And I won’t stand for it.
I will not allow linguistic fanatics to gain a toe-hold in the province I came to in search of language and cultural equality. I will not allow it.
If this abhorrent bylaw is not rescinded by the end of this January, I will take action just as I did in Quebec. But this time, I will not be in the minority.
If they want to test their bylaw, they’ll be able to test it on me. I won’t hesitate to open a business in their town and post my business sign in English ONLY. And then let’s see what they’ve got.
If they want real trouble? I have no problem accommodating them. This stupidity must stop here.
For anyone who wants to join me in this fight against language zealotry and Ontario’s reverse form of Quebec’s Bill 101, send me a line.
![Parler_-_Logo_(2020)[1]](https://galganov.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Parler_-_Logo_20201.svg "Parler_-_Logo_(2020)[1]"){kind=logo}
One Comment
Dear Howard & Anne, Making the decision is the hardest part. Next comes the emotional attachments. I built a cottage in Michigan in ’71 & ’72 with wife and children. It was just listed for sale. Had a good cry last Tues. and then confirmed that it was the right decision. We wish you all the BEST in the present and future. Less IS more. May God bless you both with health, happiness and the continued will to proclaim freedom and independence of thought and action.
Comments are closed.