The English Getto

MONTREAL - The Quebec government has declared war on what French-language activists have targeted as two of the most dangerous words in English: "Press nine."

The move is a victory for language hardliners upset that callers to a host of provincial agencies were being informed early into their calls that they could "press nine" for service in English.

Already, five of the nine departments and agencies that language-defence groups targeted in a campaign launched last November have changed their recorded messages so the English advice comes at the very end, sometimes after close to a minute of French instructions. At least two others plan to follow suit soon.

And Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre, who is responsible for Bill 101, Quebec's French language charter, has ordered a report to identify which government departments have failed to move their English greetings to the end of their messages.

"We will remind them of the correct way to do things," Marie-Helene Paradis, an aide to Ms. St-Pierre, said yesterday.

Brent Tyler, a Montreal lawyer who has represented scores of anglophone clients in language-rights cases, was dismayed to learn government is taking the complaints seriously.

He said when the groups Imperatif francais and Mouvement Montreal francais announced their campaign last fall, his reaction was, " They're scraping the bottom of the barrel to find things to complain about."

Now he sees the Liberals seeking any opportunity to look tough on language and lift their support among francophone voters. "If in fact the Quebec government is changing their policy, that would be unfortunate. It would be satisfying a very intolerant approach to the whole issue of language," he said.

The Office quebecois de la langue francaise, Quebec's language watchdog, published a flyer last summer offering a "proposed" format for all government telephone messages. It recommended that, in keeping with the government's "exemplary and driving role in the promotion of French," the "press nine" option come after the entire French message .

In federal government offices across Canada, it is standard for callers to be told near the beginning of a recorded greeting which number to press for service in French.

In Quebec, however, French is the only official language at the provincial level.

The law guarantees the English-speaking community services in English in the justice, health and education fields.

The issue of recorded phone messages emerged when activists encouraged people to swamp government switchboards with complaints.

Stephanie Tremblay, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said the department's phone system was changed in January to bring it in line with the recommendations of the Office quebecois de la langue francaise.

"It's not a lack of respect ," she said. "It's rather a concern that we conform with measures ensuring the quality of the French language."

A spokesman for the provincial consumer protection office said its phone message was also changed to put English at the end, in response to complaints from the public. Now the office has received complaints from disgruntled anglophone clients .

The provincial transport department had unveiled a voice-recognition system last February, in which the "press nine" option followed an initial greeting in French.

When the controversy erupted in November, the department struck a committee to investigate and now it plans to revamp its system -- which provides tips on road closures, construction sites and hazardous driving conditions -- so English will come last.

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Issue #2299
http://www.earlytorise.com/2008/03/10/how-to-make-measurable-progress-toward-your-most-neglected-goals.html

Too Cautious Can Be as Bad as Too Reckless
By Andrew M. Gordon
Dollar-cost-averaging sounds like a great way to buy stock. It's an idea that the professional investment community loves to push, because it's affordable and convenient for the individual investor. All you have to do is tuck a little money into the stock market - the same amount every month. If prices are dropping, your buck buys more shares. If they're rising, it buys fewer.
There's just one thing. It doesn't work. If, for example, you had invested one lump sum into the S&P 500 at the beginning of 1996, you'd have made 122 percent by the end of 2006. If you had invested the same total amount during that 10-year period but used dollar-cost-averaging, you'd have made only 31.3 percent!
In fact, the only scenario that works for dollar-cost-averaging is if you invest in vehicles that languish for the first seven years or so and then take off. During that 1996-2006 period of time, only four kinds of funds would have given you better gains with dollar-cost-averaging: Gold, Pacific Region, Emerging Country, and Japan.
Dollar-cost averaging - like diversification - doesn't make you more money. It prevents you from losing more money than you otherwise would in certain market scenarios. Maybe that's good enough for you. But if you're convinced that a market or investment vehicle will go up over time, dollar-cost-averaging makes no sense. In other words, if you like an investment, go for it.
[Ed. Note: ETR's Investment Director, Andrew Gordon, is the editor of INCOME, a monthly financial advisory service that uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much-higher-than-average profit potential.]

Bilingual Gettos

Canada isn't a bilingual country. For proof, visit Calgary, Toronto, Chicoutimi or Halifax. Rather, it is a country with English parts, French parts and a few enclaves where the two languages mix. The idea that we are all part of one grand bilingual culture -- and that, moreover, it is even feasible to teach everyone both languages -- is a fantasy that no one seriously accepts. Except one: official-languages commissioner Graham Fraser. The staff at the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, being required to justify a $10-million-plus budget, bide their time by producing hand-wringing reports about the imperiled state of bilingualism. A common theme is forcing public servants to speak both languages -- even if they live in, say, Moose Jaw.

This week, Mr. Fraser took his harassment campaign to the nation's children, declaring that Canada needs a new national test to gauge their fluency in French. Kids who did well would get badges. The multi-million-dollar plan, Mr. Fraser says, would help Ottawa double the number of bilingual high-school graduates by 2013.

The plan is a pipe dream. The trend is in the other direction: According to 2006 census results, 23% of Canadian teens aged 15 to 19 are bilingual, down from 24% in 2001. English is the language of a globalized world. Though it would be nice if most Canadian students were bilingual, it is hardly essential. If implemented, the new proposal would be nothing more than an expensive time-waster for millions of Canadian children. As such, it symbolizes how pointless Mr. Fraser's office really is.

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SLAPPED

Because of my articles about unions I will not be posting here for a while as I have been SLAPPed. If you don't know what that means it means a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.

Canadian-Health-Care-Uncare-Non-Care

Since my previous post http://liarsandcrooks.blogspot.com/2008/02/canadian-health-care-uncare-non-care_10.html my friend has still not got on the MRI waiting list. She has been faithfully doing her knee exercises every day and has been going to a physiotherapist. Now she can already walk fairly well without a crutch.

I assume if you wait long enough for health care the problem either goes away or you die.

Unions are for Idiots #2

Since I will be away for a while and I have many friends and relatives living in
Canada I will let one of them sound of in this blog.

The Canadian Auto Workers Union is loosing jobs as everyone now knows, because of the slowdown in sales. Buzz Hargrove their union president has vowed that they will not take any pay cuts to save their jobs as the unions did in the US. Instead they want government subsidies to help them out.

I have no sympathy for these idiots. The estimate is that they are now getting paid $5 to $10 dollars an hour more than their counterparts in the US. For years we were being ripped off by the overpriced and poorly built cars they produced. Did they have any sympathy for us?

With the dollar being near par they should be getting the same pay rate as the US workers to stay competitive. Why should other taxpayers money be used to subsidize the life style of these overpriced workers.