sorry for the delay, I just took the skytrain to come here, and for info on my way I heard 6 tourists speaking French (a group of 3 and a couple with a kid).
Well, politics aside....and no disrespect intended....I find it to be extremely frustrating.
[FONT face=Arial color=#666699]French Mother Tongue Population[/FONT]: [FONT face=Arial]63 625[/FONT]
[FONT face=Arial color=#666699]Population with a knowledge of both official languages[/FONT]: [FONT face=Arial]269 363[/FONT]
That's about the figures I saw. Frustrating or not, English Canadians always repeat that this is our country too. Well love this country or just break it. For my own, I refused to fight against any culture or language, be it fakingly official on paper or not. If English Canadians say that French Canadians are Canadians too, then they must respect the language of the minority. Otherwise they must let Québec, Acadians and other francophones leave if they expresse that wish. That's what the vast majority of the population thinks back East.
It's very well known for historical reasons (British supremacy has been replaced by US supremacy) that the English speaker is the laziest language learner in the world, despite that he's among the most exposed to other languages. More than any culture in the world, English Canada is at the forehead of this phenomenon. And since French Canadians have been geographically, culturally, historically and politically submitted to these 2 influences (US and Brit) more than any other people in the world, you could hardly imagine that there wont be frustrations on both sides.
On another note miss PC, and more interesting, I put a link of the bear in the couguar thread, wonder if you saw it?
