• Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

Sign in to follow this  
Hockeytown0001

Quebec culture minister upset at Habs

Rate this topic

Recommended Posts

The Quebecois are a really unlikable, prejudiced bunch, arne't they?

Yes they are... big time. But you forgot to add hypocrites also. They refuse to have a non-french speaking coach UNLESS its a coach like Mike Babcock?!?! So the language isn't all THAT important if you can bend for some people. What a bunch of idiots! You'd think their main concern would be having a team worth watching, who cares what language the coach speaks as long as he coaches the team to winning.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

...It's great that they hold the team so close to their cultural identity, but it can't be a team of locals and if they let such concerns guide their team it would handicap them.

Thats what I LOVE about the Habs, that they retain a sense of cultural pride\identity with the team. It seems kind of old school to me, something you wouldnt see in other sports: it's one of the little differences that makes hockey so great. Of course to be solely made up of French-Canadian players would appear to be xenophobic, as well as probably a handicap if they were ignoring better talent simply because they are not French-Canadian.

Further, I think the relations between non-French speaking people of Quebec ( are all people from Quebec considered Quebecois, or just the French???) and the people of French descent in Quebec has quite a history and is somewhat complex. An interesting side-note was years ago when I introduced my French-Canadian girlfriend to my father, who was an Irish kid that grew up in Montreal, she asked him if he spoke French and he said "enough to be very polite, or very rude". Funny

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

please don't get me started about Francophones and their approach to "ze-uerlzd", especially when ze-uerlzd is speaking English, towards which they

have an utterly prevailing small d* syndrome (not French per se, but Canadian Francophones are prime example here).

I live in Netherlands and am quite often in Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland or France. wherever there is a French speaking community there are people

who show zero effort to try any other language. even in bilingual Belgium (where there really is no escape from bilingualism) people in Wallon refuse to

speak Flemish which they learn in school. same goes to French part of Switzerland - where the German speaking part is generally modern, tech savvy

and open to other cultures, Francophones are just hopeless... they answer English or German emails in French, provide no translations of their web pages

(if they have one at all!) and generally show little effort to help you.

anyway, we do have some friends who are French here, and at personal level they are quite OK. zey onestly do spiik inglish diferónt, meehh... zey ah

generalement tres bien. unless they start complaining about things not being to their liking (very easy in spartan Dutch culture) - then you instantly get

the impression, that every French is raised in profound conviction that the only reason other people exist is to kiss Frencj in the *ss. and they sure bi* a lot...

Edited by akustyk

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As a Montrealer, who is not fully fluent in french I expected some big push back like this. Montrealers complained about Gomez being an American Captain, etc. It's great that they hold the team so close to their cultural identity, but it can't be a team of locals and if they let such concerns guide their team it would handicap them.

It's not just that, though. In the grander scheme of things, considering their general social and ethnic attitudes, they are just, simply, assholes. Obviously not all of them, but they have this reputation for a reason. It's hard to judge based on anecdotes, though, there are good and bad people everywhere. But their public face is certainly prejudicial and comes off as the worst French stereotypes, even moreso than France itself.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Y Frog dot com? Seriously? AWESOME.

Actually, not quite so awesome. Yfrog isn't the name of the paper or the paper's website, but the name of an URL shortening service for posting links on sites like Facebook or Twitter. It's a part of Imageshack. I often use it when I post on Twitter because I can upload something that might have 56 characters in it, and get it down to maybe 15.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm from Montreal & here's my opinion on it.

A coach that wants to coach the Montreal Canadiens should not be hired for his language but for his knowledge and what he will bring to the team. All tho, I do think that the coach should take french courses and address to the french media in french. As you guys know, Quebec is a french state and not an English one, therefore our first language here in Montreal is french. It would be like bringing a russian / swedish / chinese coach that doesn't speak english coming and coaching a U.S. team. I'm sure you would want him to go and learn English to address to the media in English wouldn't you?

Edited by KrazyGangsta

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm from Montreal & here's my opinion on it.

A coach that wants to coach the Montreal Canadiens should not be hired for his language but for his knowledge and what he will bring to the team. All tho, I do think that the coach should take french courses and address to the french media in french. As you guys know, Quebec is a french state and not an English one, therefore our first language here in Montreal is french. It would be like bringing a russian / swedish / chinese coach that doesn't speak english coming and coaching a U.S. team. I'm sure you would want him to go and learn English to address to the media in English wouldn't you?

...that's what I say! Learn f&cking English if you are gonna work and live here! :hysterical:

Edited by LeftWinger

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I took 6 years of French in middle and high school, and just completed a french course in college. I think the Quebecois give the French a bad name. In Paris, they're much more welcoming and tolerant of tourists. I've been to Montreal on a class trip, and we literally got mocked at one of the local restaurants we went into. We didn't speak fluent french, so one of the workers started blabbing some broken english. She proceeded to yell to what appeared as the manager "Ils ne parle francais." (Meaning "They don't speak french"). The manager came up to the cash register and was a complete tool about taking our orders, "slowly" repeating our orders back to emphasize how much of an inconvenience we were causing at an otherwise dead reataurant. Needless to say, we left no tip.

Anyway, these kind of comments coming from the french-canadians don't surprise me. Sure, they're not all like that, but still. If it was up to them, every player on the team would be required to speak fluent french, as well as all coaches. Obviously, fans will look up to players from the surrounding area, but not liking someone based on what language they speak or where they were born is ridiculous.

Also, maybe the government should be worrying about the bigger problems in Quebec, as opposed to regulating the language the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens speaks. The fact that they even released a statement about it pisses me off.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm sure that most level-headed Quebecois think that their culture minister needs to get the sand out of her arse.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one...I would say that about 5-10% think that way. The rest think that every English speaking Canadian should learn to speak French. I lived in Quebec for about two years, and my father grew up there. I don't speak French, and that's when you become a second class citizen there...except for in the peeler bars.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm from Montreal & here's my opinion on it.

A coach that wants to coach the Montreal Canadiens should not be hired for his language but for his knowledge and what he will bring to the team. All tho, I do think that the coach should take french courses and address to the french media in french. As you guys know, Quebec is a french state and not an English one, therefore our first language here in Montreal is french. It would be like bringing a russian / swedish / chinese coach that doesn't speak english coming and coaching a U.S. team. I'm sure you would want him to go and learn English to address to the media in English wouldn't you?

To me, I think this has gained attention because a government agency is calling for a french-speaking coach. Although (I believe) they don't any power to force the team, it is not ordinary to see a government official/section have a stated opinion on the coach of a hockey team.

Can you speak to the demographic in Montreal (and Quebec) that does not speak english? I know there is a significant population that only speaks french, but I haven't been able to find statistics.

IMO being bilingual is important for the eventual coach, but being a competent NHL-level coach should be more important.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

it is not ordinary to see a government official/section have a stated opinion on the coach of a hockey team.

I don't want to start a flame war about politics but...

it's perfectly ordinary to see politicians stirring the pot with statements whenever they think they can gain any popularity, nevermind the subject and any common sense about issues really having anything to do with politics.

so, apparently, Quebec officials decided, that their electorate is likely to appreciate government doing its best "Francophone small **** syndrome" impression. If anything, this speaks volumes about... the electorate. Aparently, French-Canadian are more concerned about the language than the fact that their team is worthless...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I lived in upstate NY for a couple years, and we spent every other weekend in Quebec. There is definitely an intolerance for all things non-francais. Countless times we were treated rudely, and we would just laugh at them and go somewhere else. Montreal proper is much more tolerant of Anglophiles.

In my opinion, a Habs head coach should speak French...it's his job to communicate with the press, and French is the native language of the Province.

Good point on the politicians....they're all crooks and use anything they can to distract people from real problems.

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are plenty of coaches from North America that are hired to coach in various league's around the world and I have never heard or read about this sort of thing happening anywhere else. The worst part about it is that the Gov't officials are complaining about something so stupid when they should be focusing their efforts on the things that really matter in the community... and as someone mentioned there are plenty of negative things in montreal for them to be focusing on! Grow up Quebecois, French is dying a slow painful death in Canada and no matter how to try to force feed it you are out numbered and you won't win. I now live in Ottawa and there is a nice blending of English and French here without the need to fight and force it upon people. Most people here speak both languages quite well and more important quite willingly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this