With the recent passing of Peter Worthington, one of Canada’s most prolific and well-known journalists, it’s time to remind Canadians of his very candid Editorial, ‘Formula To Wreck Canada?’, which was published in the Toronto Sun on October 14th, l980. In his steadfast dedication to the truth, Worthington includes some credible and factual information on the imposition of ‘Official Bilingualism’ on Canadians, by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Worthington includes numerous pertinent
Speaking to the Canadian Club in Toronto before the 1979 election, Richardson said that “Trudeau wanted to entrench his vision of Canada, his concept of appropriate language rights in the Constitution, and seemed determined to place these rights beyond the reach of Parliament – beyond the democratic process”. “Far from being the road to equality, the demand for ‘special status’ for the French language in Canada’s Constitution will itself destroy the concept of equality that has always existed in Canada, and which is a source of Canada’s strength as a nation. It is evidence how a written Constitution can be dictatorial and therefore a frightening instrument to inflict upon a free people“.
‘Personal’ bilingualism can be a worthwhile attribute, but ‘Official’ bilingualism is ‘legislated’ bilingualism, enforced by law. It is an extreme case of ‘Social Engineering’.
For decades the dire consequences of Pierre Trudeau’s insidious forced Bilingualism have become profoundly evident!
Ask any English-speaking civil service employee of the Federal government about what is taking place in Ottawa and they will tell you that no unilingual Canadian can even apply for a job or be promoted unless they are fluently bilingual. Their stories of English-speaking persons being bypassed and excluded from senior positions is heart-breaking and outrageous. The continuously updated Official Languages Act and regulations are now applied in Canada so strictly that even in Vancouver, where less than 1% speak French as their first language, no unilingual English-speaking person can apply for or be hired by the Federal government. The civil service in Ottawa is now predominantly run by Francophones of French Canadian background, although they represent barely 23% of all Canadians.
Since our federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced the Official Languages Act in 1969, without any mandate from the people, billions of our tax dollars have been poured into extending and promoting the French language throughout our overwhelmingly English-speaking country. All the while, Quebec remains officially “French Only’. As unilingual English-speaking Canadians gradually wise up to the fact that they have been assigned to second-class citizens in their own country, they will no longer tolerate being fraudulently deprived of their rightful status.
Peter Worthington’s observations provided Canadians with a clear question. Are they not a “Formula to Wreck Canada?”
Ruth Wood
Barrie, ON
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)
the globe and mail yesterday reported that for the first time in 50 years, Eng/Fr bilingualism is in decline due to the fact that immigration has brought other languages combined with Eng. Eng/Fr bilingualism is reported to be 17.5 percent outside of QC.
Absolutely right, Ruth. Now, the next step is to write to your elected officials about these unfair policies/legislation.
It is to one’s advantage to know more then 1 language in any country.
Listening to Question Period today, I noticed many Asians who are members of parliament. . Thinking it would be safe to say that in BC, an Asian who is fluent in English any other Asian dialect would get a gov. job.
Ruth do what you have to do and good luck with that. If one wants to get ahead in life while living in a country that has two official languages, the smart thing to do is learn both. If one chooses not to…….don’t complain.
Jimmy Olson, that 17.5% of self assessed Eng/Fr speakers is Canada wide, remove Quebec numbers and you are under 5%. Ontario can boast 97% self assessed able to speak English and even Quebec has about 42%.
People should have the choice of learning languages, legislation is the problem not Savior.
I have said for years that if you want to protect your language speak it. No government in the world has any right to legislate a language. No language or culture has ever been protected with laws. People determine how languages change and grow. Quebec officials have blinders on and are making fools out of Canada’s good name.
Great LTE Ruth.
And now, the harsh reality of what needs to be done. The simple facts are quite obvious.
When we have the federal government positions disproportionately filled by the people who are in the very camp of what is causing the problem to begin with, it would seem to me that there is a good chance that any “letters” that get sent to our “bilingual mandatory elected officials” will quickly find their way into the ol file 13.
No, our government is NOT going to help us in this one “unless” their front lawn is covered in a sea of tax payers who are fed up of funding their own slow but sure demise.
The numbers are out there and once this cancer begins affecting them they will rise. And when that day happens those who do rise must be steadfast and determined to let it be known that what has been happening to the Anglophone Canadian citizens in the province of Quebec is a travesty and those in the federal government who are responsible for allowing this to continue should be ashamed of themselves.
This forced official bilingualism on the rest of Canada at the same time as this travesty is allowed to happen in the province of Quebec is an even bigger travesty and all of this injustice in this country MUST be put to rest.
It’s time to take a page directly from the French themselves as this situation will only see change if “THE PEOPLE” DEMAND change.
Once Harper and the conservatives see that there is support out there that can be depended on from the Anglophone majority in this country for this kind of change, THEN and only then can he/they make moves towards doing away with these policies.
The PEOPLE must act. The people must let it be known that they are fed up with paying for this insanity. The people must have a unified voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEbOizpWUY&hd=1
Province of Quebec got us all by the B*&^*s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_969994&feature=iv&hd=1%20&src_vid=UsbW6ULV8vA&v=BWcMg6pKxHg
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_____(o o)
—-ooO-(_)-Ooo——-
stellabystarlight
May 30, 2013 at 2:55 pm
“Thinking it would be safe to say that in BC, an Asian who is fluent in English any other Asian dialect would get a gov. job.”
Try not to think Stella its not becoming of you!
The fact remains B.C. is 1% French yet the majority of federal government jobs are classified (French) bilingual .
In an area where there are large amount of Asian groups it would be as you say “smart thing to do”.
But the Government is not interested in supporting any other language then french as evidenced with the spending of countless billions to promote it where it is not warranted .
People please think of this:
Quebec and francophone groups continue to mention that they do not want to see Francophones assimilated.
Yet through legislation government jobs are increasingly being deemed bilingual. For those that have no French heritage but yet must learn French for opportunities this would be deemed “ASSIMILATION”.
So therefore its not exceptable for french to be assimilated but it is for all other cultures to be assimilated to French to be able to work in their own government !!!!
If Quebec is uni lingual and refuses to be bilingual why must the rest of the country accommodate them to speak French ?
Yet they did not even sign the constitution and continue to violate the Charter of Rights!
Our country is so F%^*ed up when a minority has absolute control on our government ,and people (that 80%) except being subjugated and treated as second class citizens due to an inability to speak the second language.
A made in Canada approach to class systems.
@Highlander
Those who “are trying to think” and are using the
“you should be more worried about the Asians and other groups taking over Canada other than the French.”
Just as they consistently offer up the other “direct opposite claims” about this whole situation which are so frustrating.
It’s all just hot air rhetoric that is meant to try to deflect away from THE TRUTH of WHAT IS really going on.
But, as you point out in your example about the federal government, it’s not too difficult to see right through those tactics if you take a moment to look.
@Kenneth Flecknell RE: May 30, 2013 at 10:15 pm POST
Well said Kenneth.
Language and culture cannot be legislated into having credibility.
No, Jimmy Olsen. The Globe screwed it up, perhaps intentionally. 17.5% is Canada-wide bilingualism:
“According to the 2011 Census, 17.5% of the Canadian population, or 5.8 million Canadians, reported being able to conduct a conversation in both English and French.”
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130528/dq130528b-eng.htm
Indeed. “In 2011, 42.6% of Quebec residents, or 3.3 million people, reported that they were able to conduct a conversation in English and in French.” No mention that the vast majority of these are ANGLOPHONES who are FORCED into it to get along, whether they want to or not. Why is it not mentioned? Because it would embarrass the racist francophones.
I believe the percentage of bilinguals OUTSIDE Kaybec was 9%. There are more Canadians who have seen UFOs than are bilingual outside Canada’s most racist province.
And the ever-misinformed Stella gets it wrong yet again (I believe she knows exactly what she is doing; she reminds me of those cops who dress up as radicals infiltrating peaceful protests to give the other cops an excuse to bash heads, taser and arrest innocents) when she said “It is to one’s advantage to know more then 1 language in any country.” A statement most of us agree with. Of course, that has NOTHING to do with what we are talking about. If I wish to learn a second or third language, that is commendable; if it forced upon me, as Frenchification is, it is not. But if Stella is correct, I assume she will then agree that it is perfectly fine for the federal and provincial government to FORCE English studies on francophones in Kaybec (and New Brunswick) and to make sure that their proficiency in ENGLISH is the MAJOR factor in obtaining a government job. Sauce for the goose, Stella.
I am not at all convinced government will listen, so new parties and organizations (like Equality 2.0, Unity, Critiq etc) must sprout and FOCUS on the racism (or more precisely, anglophobia) emanating from not only the Kaybec government but that of NB and to a lesser degree Ontario. (Anyone wish to explain to me why we have a Minister in Charge of Ignoring Anglos, MEDDLING Meilleur, whose job it is to ONLY focus on 4% of the population?)
Galganov, bless his rightwing nutbar heart, is right in this case. Francophones are the enemy. (French Canadians are not. Someone who identifies themselves as French Canadian is likely to be loyal to Canada ahead of Kaybec and is therefore a potential friend and ally.) They don’t WANT to give us our rights. They want to take them away. If they felt differently they would have protested with us instead of try to shout and shut us down.
Some ARE speaking up and good on them. But the majority?
Here’s a hint: SILENCE IS CONSENT. (Or, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.) When THEY start protesting maybe the government will listen. Until then, we make noise and FOCUS on the anti-English racism perpetrated on us EVERY DAY. And celebrate and laud the Harry Schicks who stand up to the fascist OQLF and their jackbooted thug inspectors. ALWAYS have a videocamera and cell phone handy at these rallies because SOMEONE is bound to say something inflammatory (which we can exploit) or a supporter will say something uplifting (which we need to broadcast).
Sadly, hind sight is 20/20. I am a victim of language discrimination created by Trudeau way back when I was only a child. The full effects of this formula to wreck Canada is indeed “wrecking” my dreams of a nursing career in my hometown.
My love for my country wanes every day I cross the bridge to work in New York State. Many a day I wish I was born in the USA, as Canada is no longer the free, democratic country I grew up in.
I hope & pray Canadians will wake up before it’s too late. If not, the only solution to the problem I see is moving state side for the sake of my children’s future.
Congratulations to Ruth for her very well-timed letter. Peter Worthington was indeed a person who had foresight about this travesty of justice. Along with other prominent writers like William D. Gairdner, Peter Brimelow, Joe C. W. Armstrong, J. V. Andrews, just to name a few, they had predicted what this social engineering policy would do. P.E. Trudeau took the opportunity he had, when patriating our Constitution from Britain, to entrench so many left-wing policies into our Constitution that, no successive governments could do anything about it. The only solution is to re-write the Constitution.
We have also seen that this policy is not only dividing the country along linguistic lines but also bankrupting the provinces that adopt this policy. New Brunswick is the prime example – having to run a province in two languages is forcing duplication of everything and N.B. is broke. Quebec decided that French is their primary language and will only offer English “where numbers warrant” i.e. where more than 50% of the population in a municipality speaks English. Bill 14 in Quebec will go further than this: http://news.ca.msn.com/local/montreal/bill-14-moving-forward-thanks-to-caq-support
Language is the purview of the provinces so an obvious solution would be for English-speaking provinces to recognize this fact and pass laws that follow the edict of the OLA and only offer services “where numbers warrant”. Quebec did it – why can’t the other provinces?
Ontario with just over 4% French-speakers has adopted the French Language Services Act which is used by the pro-French Liberal government to force French in all public institutions so that preference is given to French-speakers, regardless of merit. The City of Ottawa’s language policy not only favours French-speakers (many from Quebec) but also gives contracts only to companies that operate in French (again, giving preferential treatment to Quebecers). The Ontario government has a minister who came from Quebec and she is the one who is instigating more Frenchification, even going to the extent of classifying anyone who is bilingual English/French as “Francophone”.
BTW, just to clarify some statistics, there are only 3% of Canadians outside Quebec classified as French-speakers. For this 3% we are willing to spend billions and bring about disunity in this country?
Great LTE Ruth, too bad Mr.Worthington’s voice is gone , our country needs more reasonable reporters like him.
Our media is so far left & liberalized, we can not stand up for country’s principles anymore or we are labeled as radicals.
@ Debbie Cameron, I empathize at your situation….We continue to loss our rights, but very few will speak up. The time is now to say “F*** it”, I will do what is right for myself & for the future of Canada. I mean, take a second & really think about the situation realistically, why are the majority of Canada’s population not even able to work for their own government…Remember this includes, post offices, liquor stores,hospitals,schools,etc…All us Anglophones can do is clean toilets or perhaps collect welfare….
To me this is the blackest days in Canada & the worst is yet to come…As economic times worsen people will be “fighting” for jobs & then the Anglophones will say enough is enough!!!
I worry about what can & will happen in the years to come…
This issue is like the weather, everyone talks about it, no one DOES anything about it. round and round we go, all here are correct, except stella, of course, par for the course.
I have stated for the umpteenth time, boycott, all that is bilingual. Don’t volunteer for anything bilingual, especially CCH.
Demand to be served by a culturally compatible person, an Anglophone.
Demand to know why francophones are hired ahead of Anglophones, and openly promote quebec separation.
Do not ALLOW the French to intimidate us , regardless of how they accuse us of being anti-French etc. Fight for our rights just as they have fought for their rights, only we fight harder.
I have stated all of this many times here. We need an All English organization to co-ordinate this and we need funding. ourselves have to make this happen and follow it up with rallies and movements that will provoke the governments, both federally and provincially to act.
In other words we need the WILL to rise up and act.
We can complain and talk about how unfair this bilingual policy is. we can recite past history etc, and quote men of the past etc, but it gets us no where. Concrete action is necessary, and concrete action that is effective will win the day. Mr Galganov tried , but even the legal system is against English rights,
well, at this point , then the course of action is clear. we have to take up the cause ourselves in a non violent and legal manner, and begin to implement any and all actions to get the attention of not only our government, but all of English Canada as well.
Enough , as they say, is enough.
@Peter
I have almost given up fighting for English rights, people
Have lost their passion for anything that isn’t “vanilla”.
I wish people would stop drinking the politically correct Kool-aid.
I do my part to help preserve English rights as I am not willing
to be a doormat, but people must join together in order to
restore equality.I will not apologize for not speaking French, I am
English & proud of it!!!
English Lassie
June 6, 2013 at 5:20 am
Never ever give up .
Fighting systemic discrimination is never easy ,but by not speaking up only condones this behavior.
Debbie Cameron you have become collateral damage as well as many others with this discriminatory language legislation.
I and many others here are not anti french ,but question Government policy that was initially intended to provide french services “where numbers warrant” to now becoming an exclusionary tool in government hiring!
In any other democracy this legislation and its implementation would be considered racist if not at least discriminatory.
Why is the government not hiring with representation by population at the very least as this would serve the population as a “TRUE DEMOCRACY” would.
I for one cannot believe my country encourages discrimination and promotes segregation obviously not all Canadians are treated equally .
Under God we are equal ,but under Canadian language laws we are not!
These people are the most racist, bigoted, xenophobic people in all of North America. If the world only knew what was going on in Canada, what the French were really up to…along with the racist anti-English language laws in Quebec a la bills 22, 178, 101…they have bragged about taking all of Canada and everything seems to be going as planned…”first Quebec, then the rest of the country…one step at a time…” PET, “how to take over a country through bilingualism…” SD
The truth about Quebec and the french would be nice once in a while.
Enjoy the clips…shocking to some but true…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhPcV0gtFR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abOWJkf-Vh8
What about the following:
Organizing boycott of all that is bilingual
Refusing to volunteer to all that is bilingual
Not supporting any French only business that refuses to hire Anglophones.
Pressuring governments into declaring why English is ignored and English rights have gone by the wayside
Begin the process of forming an all English Canadian Party
Refuse to do any business in quebec
Promote openly quebec separation
Set up a web site to have Edudyorlik’s videos viewed and sent across the land and into the U.S. as well as other countries.
Invite all English organizations to combine their resources and publish on the web their findings and statistics to back up our claims
Pressure radio and T.V. stations into covering our causes and demand to know why we are restricted from doing this.
Openly recruit leaders to embrace our cause
These are but suggestions , surly to God there is enough talent out there to begin to think and act on the above. Also ,please forward any and all suggestions to each other so our group can bounce ideas off one another and hopefully this evolves into action
Good ideas Peter…
promulgating vital and relevant info about bilingualism, the cost monetary etc, social consequences and most of all the lack of democratic process in imposing bilingualism way back in the mid 1960s by Pearson, Trudeau et al, is a good and effective way to stir people up to act. Of course what is the most effective way to get to people, edudyorlik may be able to help.
Excellent Peter!!! Especially the part about Quebec separation!!!