It happened again. What? In Toronto, as part of the NHL All-Star Game, the Canadian national anthem was sung exclusively in English. Once again. Have people in Toronto forgotten French? Did they think it wasn’t important enough?
Frankly, we don’t care.
Because the facts are there: it is becoming more and more commonplace to forget the French language.
Obviously, our federalists bawl in public. They tear their shirts, or pretend to. It is the politics of sobs and lamentations. We complain, we whine, we complain, we even dream of showing our teeth, but in the end, we go to bed.
Because in the last instance, our federalists will always end up taking their place and accepting this country as it is.
They are unconditional fans of Canada.
- Listen to the news review commented by Alexandre Dubé and Mathieu Bock-Côté via QUB :
Federalism
For them, it will always be better to negotiate down the defense of Quebec’s interests and reduce its identity than to mark a red line that must not be crossed, otherwise they would choose independence. They prefer to see the Quebec people drown in English rather than break with federalism.
It won’t stop them from crying. They would like Canada to respect them a little. They would like Canada not to openly humiliate them. They would like not to feel insulted regularly.
But not to the point of one day saying “enough is enough”.
So at best, they will listen to a piece of the national anthem in French from time to time. It’s a bit shabby, yes, but they’re happy with it.
And if Canada ever grants them these rare crumbs, they will be very happy to be satisfied. They will see it as proof that all is not lost, and that they can still hope for a few coins of dignity from time to time.
And even if these pieces are fewer and fewer, and even if these crumbs are smaller and smaller, they will smile.
This is called domestication.
We call them convinced federalists.
Canada is a bilingual English-speaking country and it will become more and more so.
It should be noted that this is not only true in the field of sports representations. You only need to look at the evolution of the federal cabinet to be convinced of this.
In the past, we counted the number of bilingual ministers. This concern is now over. We prefer to focus on all the symbols of extreme multiculturalism. Another symbol: the governor general, chosen even though she did not speak French. It was just a detail.
Accommodations
This goes even further: Canada anglicizes Montreal, then Laval, but once again, our federalists put up with it. As long as they can cling to the “hello” of “hello-hi,” they tell themselves that everything is fine, and that it would be intolerant to think otherwise.
Our federalists are now seeking reasonable linguistic accommodations.
These are the happy cuckolds of Canada. This is the fate he has in store for them: that of whiny little stubborn ones.