On this occasion, I am sad to report that my cousin died on May 31 at the age of 77.
He was born and raised in Ormstown and always expected to spend the rest of his life in Quebec as did the 5 generations before him. He worked as a garage mechanic in both Ste. Martine and Valleyfield and became quite bilingual with the ability to converse easily with all customers. He moved into an apartment in Valleyfield with his good Quebec bride. These sound to me like the qualities that any Quebec politician would appreciate. However, by the 1970’s, language tensions erupted between the politicians and the anglophone community to the extent that many anglophones and allophones felt discriminated against and unwanted. The solution was to leave the province which my cousin did. Quebec political leaders are again trying to raise the language tensions while claiming to preserve the rights of “old stock” anglophones. How does one attain this desirable designation of “old Stock”? Is it the years spent in Quebec – in which case my cousin should surely qualify. His ancestors carved out a home in the Quebec bush in 1802 long before Canada became a country (1867) or Quebec a self proclaimed “NATION” (2021?). Does having passed the grade 11 French exam drafted by the Quebec Minister of Education place one in the acceptable “old stock” category? Or how about being able to converse in French. These attributes should certainly qualify one as a PURE LAINE Quebecer. But none of these qualities seem to make any difference to the politicians who still insist on passing laws which discriminate against ALL anglophones or allophones whether they are “old stock” or not, using the excuse that they are preserving the French language.
Whatever the intent might be of Quebec politicians over the last 45 years, they were successful in sending a good “old stock” Quebec anglophone down the highway to another home where he raised two children, who will not return to Quebec, earned 2 million dollars over his 45 year working career giving all the tax dollars to a FOREIGN government instead of Quebec, spent the remainder of that two million dollars on goods and services which were also subject to sales tax again benefiting that FOREIGN government instead of Quebec. To what end? Multiply these numbers times the other 350,000 who left, to see the true economic cost to this province. Being nasty seems to take precedence over sound financial planning and good government. In this day and age, why should any tax paying Quebec citizen be subject to laws which make them feel persecuted or unwanted by their own government? Governments are elected to represent all citizens.
At any rate, you may have the last laugh Premier Legault. When my cousin returns to be buried in his true home, you will collect only the Quebec sales tax for the cost of engraving his tombstone. That sounds like a booby prize to me but if that is what you want, you have it.
God Bless you, Allan!
Peter Finlayson
