To the Editor:
The election of a minority PQ government in Quebec should send a powerful message to Prime Minister Harper and all Conservative MP’s. Federal Laws that favor Quebec such as Equalization Grants still do not ensure Quebec loyalty or unity towards the rest of Canada.
Official Bilingualism was another political dream that by law all Canadians would become bilingual in French and English and create unity of all Canadians with Quebec citizens. This dream as we all know has become a financial nightmare, job language qualifications that restrict some Canadians and even created deeper divisions between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Eighty-two out of a hundred Quebec citizens declare French as their primary language and in 1974 Quebec’s National Assembly passed Bill 22 making French the one official language of Quebec.
The two questions I believe all Canadian citizens outside of Quebec should be asking all their elected representatives are these:
Why does Quebec continue every year since 1957 to receive fifty percent of the total equalization funding as a “have not” province? and how does Quebec have the right to declare only French as their one official language if the rest of Canada must pay for the additional expense of Official Bilingualism?
Ken Kellington, Devon, Alberta.