Beleive me. As a US citizen resident in Canada I have seen it all , the arcane laws on signage , bilingual directons on canned goods, all the crap surrounding the French /English bilingual issue in Canada is essentially demographic warfare.
But at some point free speech must be preserved. And that’s my point.
BTW, I have no problem making the official language of the UK English. I have no problem with doing that in the USA either.It closes off the possibility of the demographic warfare, and the devolution of freedom of speech ( to criticize language publicly in Canada is hate speech)we have seen in alleged democracies such as the Socialist State of Canada.
I have no disagreement with you, except that we can only go so far without the loss of freedom of speech.Go to Quebec City some time and try to order in English at a restaurant there.You will see the results of a lack of freedom and immediate social sanctions for your “Anglophile ignorance,”
doubly so if you reveal yourself as American or British.And Canada is supposed to be a free country? What a laugh.
Government should not preserve linguistic independence of any immigrants.But they need to be free to speak their language in their own homes and families as a matter of free speech.Demographically they should not be settled together so they can become linguistic bastions. Assimilation is not a bad policy .
“ Go to Quebec City some time and try to order in English at a restaurant there.You will see the results of a lack of freedom and immediate social sanctions for your “Anglophile ignorance,”
doubly so if you reveal yourself as American or British.And Canada is supposed to be a free country? What a laugh.”
Funny, I’ve had a different experience with that, even during the last time they tried to separate from the rest of Canada.
There are English speaking Canadians who refuse to speak a word of French even if they know the language. The Québécois know this and are nasty right back if someone doesn’t even try. But if they find out you are a Yank and give it even a feeble attempt at French they have always loved that. Sometimes all it took was a”Bonjour....sorry but I’m an American that doesn’t speak French” to get a big smile back.