The Language of Fear is the language of losers

Again, a lot of my impressions may be because much of my information on the candidates' positions is coming through the english media (and even that is basically about 45 minutes a day of CBC radio one), but I am noticing a real trend with the sovereignist and francophone stances coming from the the candidates and especially the PQ.  They are coming from a place of fear.  They talk about the french language being in jeopardy on the island.  All their proposals are negative ones.  Don't let people do this, fine people for doing that.

This kind of thinking is the thinking of losers.  A loser is someone who has already lost, has a tendency to lose and spends most of his energy worrying about the repercussions of losing and how to avoid them.  The winner is thinking about the next victory, enjoying life and planning for future challenges.  We all walk between those two extremes to some degree.

It's very odd that these politicians have such a loser mentality.  They are the ones who have already won.  They succeeded in throwing off the oppressive yoke of the old english and catholic establishment and turning Quebec into a unique society, dynamic and independent and deeply culturally different from everyone else around it.  They have created an entire generation of francophones who are deeply connected to their cultural roots, history and language.

Instead of pride and confidence, they react with contempt and insecurity.  They ignore their idealistic students and they put laws in place to suppress the minorities who come here to participate in their rich society.  They treat immigrants who want to come and be a part of this rich society with suspicion and disdain.  And then they wonder why they all want to move to Ontario.

How about some positive laws?  How about expanded french language programs?  How about government assistance for immigrants who want to work in the civil service to help them learn french?  How about a corp of translators to help immigrants navigate the provincial and municipal bureaucracies (which makes for great jobs for fully bilingual members of those ethnic communities, thus further embedding them in Quebec society)?  How about scholarships for francophones to go to english CEGEPs and universities so they can then increase the opportunities for english-speaking service companies to install themselves in Quebec (like the thriving videogame industry here)?

This province has so much potential.  We have an incredibly motivated and integrated youth who are more deeply connected to their polity than any other province in the country.  We are a creative powerhouse (Cirque de Soleil is the tip of the iceberg of cultural exports we could be selling).  We have skills in agriculture, industrial development and resource extraction.  We breed great soldiers.  We have the urban jewel of North America in Montreal (probably the second-most fun city to visit in North America after New Orleans).

Bref, Quebec is a kick-ass place that should be kicking more ass and stop cowering in a corner worrying about who is or isn't speaking french.