A study has just put a price tag on Canada’s efforts to ensure “bilingualism” across the country: $2.4 billion a year. Of course, this pales by comparison to the $18-23 billion a year blown on unproductive immigrants, that is, those who enter under the family program or are otherwise useless as functional taxpayers (currently, about two-thirds of all immigrants).
Whereas this translates to over $1,000 spent on each “minority member” in other provinces, Quebec only spends $85 a person on its (anglophone) minority. That’s not surprising. Despite the repeated hollering about protecting the French language, Quebec doesn’t make it easy for anglos to learn proper French – the French spoken in la belle province, which is more authentic and more precise than what passes for French in France these days. But there are no textbooks or course material for Quebec French. I once tried to track down genuinely Quebec material in various bookstores across Quebec City, and was invariably met by empty stares. Those who travel to Quebec to take courses there will be subjected to material written in Parisian French, which defeats the purpose, especially since, as was revealed recently, allophones and anglophones who speak fluent French are still considered inferior if they can’t speak French and don’t sound like Quebeckers. Ils sont fous, les Québécois, as Obélix would say.
But as if that weren’t bad enough, government’s obsession with kowtowing to immigrants’ demands for services and schooling in languages other than English and French is truly galling. How about requiring them to learn one of the two official languages so as to become fully functioning and productive members of Canadian society? In Canada, after all, we conduct our public lives – going shopping, getting an education, dealing with government agencies, etc. – in English, and to a (much) lesser extent in French. Mandarin, Punjabi and so many others aren’t languages that should be subsidized, supported or promoted. If people choose to live in Canada, then it is their duty to become Canadian, and that includes mastering one of our two official languages, instead of insisting on special treatment all the time (at a steep cost to the Canadian taxpayer).
It comes down to the age-old problem, and one of the many ills that flow from multiculturalism: if people are so hung up on remaining glued to their native culture and language, they should stay in the “old country”. If they’re so adamant about having German food every day, while listening to German music and being surrounded by other German-speakers, there’s a place where their dreams can come true quite instantly; it’s called Germany, not Canada, and it’s just one plane ticket away.
The same goes for all ethnicities who think they can turn Canada into a carbon copy of the “old country” (and under multiculturalism, such a copy usually consists of all the bad aspects of foreign cultures and countries, rather than the good stuff).
Doing away with all that expenditure, which is really detrimental to Canada and its national unity, would immediately move us from a deficit into the black. Cutting just these types of programs is all that’s required, and we’d never have to take the knives to health care, education and other (truly) vital government services. Even our MPs could keep their inflated salaries and gold-plated pension plans and other perks (now, there’s an incentive).
Time to end this nonsense.