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In answer to your rep ,PBeauchamp its you who is wrong as until Quebec separates from Canada it will remain a province of Canada, Enjoy living in my country Canada.
My view is that Anglo-Canadian culture has always had trouble distinguishing itself from the American.
Regardless of whether its nexus was Montreal or Toronto.
Quite rightly. A coworker once told me in reference to Anglo-Canadian culture that Canada is not REALLY a foreign country. Yes there are slight differences in values but Canada as a whole has very similar diversity and complexities as its southern neighbo(u)r. Even its history other than political history has similarities and why not? Anglo-Canadians and Americans were once the same people, only the former stayed loyal to George III and the latter did not.
French Canadians, especially those living in Quebec, had it differently. Cut off from France and with no other means of support, they had to adapt to preserving their culture.
Jambo has a point though. I was in Magog, Quebec two years ago and their main boulevard was nothing but a bland, characterless North American style strip mall. The North American automobile culture was very strong up there and just like here, a lot of people were driving big sports utility vehicles . That and every chain store was tremendously huge which is typical of Canada and many parts of the US. I don't think Britain or France has the space for such big stores.
Quite rightly. A coworker once told me in reference to Anglo-Canadian culture that Canada is not REALLY a foreign country. Yes there are slight differences in values but Canada as a whole has very similar diversity and complexities as its southern neighbo(u)r. Even its history other than political history has similarities and why not? Anglo-Canadians and Americans were once the same people, only the former stayed loyal to George III and the latter did not.
French Canadians, especially those living in Quebec, had it differently. Cut off from France and with no other means of support, they had to adapt to preserving their culture.
Jambo has a point though. I was in Magog, Quebec two years ago and their main boulevard was nothing but a bland, characterless North American style strip mall. The North American automobile culture was very strong up there and just like here, a lot of people were driving big sports utility vehicles . That and every chain store was tremendously huge which is typical of Canada and many parts of the US. I don't think Britain or France has the space for such big stores.
Yes, superficially many Quebecois towns will look like American ones, just like in Mexico many towns look like strip malls with stores in them.
Culturally, however, everything is radically different from customs, to media, to music, traditions, and so on. Remember that Quebecois come from a Romance-based tradition.
We shop at strip malls because they are efficient and go along well with that other American popularization - the personal car.
Yes, superficially many Quebecois towns will look like American ones, just like in Mexico many towns look like strip malls with stores in them.
Culturally, however, everything is radically different from customs, to media, to music, traditions, and so on. Remember that Quebecois come from a Romance-based tradition.
We shop at strip malls because they are efficient and go along well with that other American popularization - the personal car.
I was listening to an interview with a French "ambassador" (not sure this is the right term) who was stationed in Sherbrooke, Quebec. He said he was surprised at how American the Quebeckers were. That was his (coming from France) perspective. When I visit Quebec, I don't see much difference between them and the average Anglo-Canadian or American, except for language, but I'm not a big consumer of television and radio. I like the French Canadian traditions, though, like those that come out during Winter Carnaval.
I think history in which French Canadians were dominated and exploited by British "lords", "bosses"
And although that was hundreds of years ago the French walk around today with a chip on their shoulders as a consequence, a chip that i as part of the Anglo culture have to bare the brunt of even though i had nothing to do with this supposed suppression of the French culture, my how they are making the current Anglo culture in Quebec pay for that perception of their past.
And although that was hundreds of years ago the French walk around today with a chip on their shoulders as a consequence, a chip that i as part of the Anglo culture have to bare the brunt of even though i had nothing to do with this supposed suppression of the French culture, my how they are making the current Anglo culture in Quebec pay for that perception of their past.
I was listening to an interview with a French "ambassador" (not sure this is the right term) who was stationed in Sherbrooke, Quebec. He said he was surprised at how American the Quebeckers were. That was his (coming from France) perspective. .
I find that people who come to Quebec expecting it to be a mini-France-in-America generally find it to be more American than expected.
Those that expect it to simply be "the USA in French" generally focus on the Euro/French aspects more.
Either way Quebec is more "itself" than it is a pastiche of any other place.
When I visit Quebec, I don't see much difference between them and the average Anglo-Canadian or American, except for language, but I'm not a big consumer of television and radio. I like the French Canadian traditions, though, like those that come out during Winter Carnaval.
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I don't think strip malls and the makes of vehicles on the road are the things that necessarily define a place's culture and mindset.
If you just look at Quebec politically and also socially in terms of programs and institutions, etc., there is a pretty significant difference vis-Ã -vis the USA and even the rest of Canada.
So sorry English entrepeneurs came to Quebec and built much industrial infrastructure in the process making much employment for francophones, would you prefer they never came??
And care to send back your annual $13.1-billion in equalization payments next year
I don't think strip malls and the makes of vehicles on the road are the things that necessarily define a place's culture and mindset.
If you just look at Quebec politically and also socially in terms of programs and institutions, etc., there is a pretty significant difference vis-Ã -vis the USA and even the rest of Canada.
There are also significant differences in attitudes towards sex, booze, religion, work-life balance, etc.
From the times I visited Quebec and by reading numerous articles in the news about Montreal, I do notice that the Quebecois are more united in attitudes and values than Canadians elsewhere and especially Americans. The fact that shopping malls everywhere in the province close early on Fridays and Saturdays because they want to give time to workers to enjoy themselves is one example of their strong value for work life balance. The existence of CEGEPs right after formal high school amid other differences are also evidence of some sort of different influence, perhaps that of the Catholic Church, perhaps that of France or other parts of Europe.
As a transportation planner, I have to disagree with your first point though. I believe that the physical planning of a town's roadways has every bit to do with a place's culture and mindset. When you are driving down a four lane boulevard with minimal traffic going past store after store that are mostly individually separated and have their own front facing parking lots, you will have a different feeling than walking from your home right to a shopping mall or plaza in 5 minutes. Driving is a culture in of itself. Strip malls were designed strictly for the automobile. They were mostly built some five to seven decades ago when automobile driving was becoming very popular in North America. They represented the new suburban culture of the time, the culture of which conquered North America and I'm sorry to say, conquered Quebec too. Downtown Montreal as most downtowns of older North American cities are exceptions where you can easily walk to work or shop and take transit but just exit Downtown and head to places like Laval or Brossard and once again you'll find that North American autocentric suburban strip mall culture.
I admit I haven't been to continental Europe before but I have been to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou China where everything is built for walking or transit orientation. Practically every neighborhood has a supermarket, pharmacy, dry goods store, and transit station within a short walk. Granted geography and demography might have had to do with this planning but there you are, Quebec is just as spacious as Ontario and New York and where there is space, everything gets built out. When I studied abroad in Hong Kong, I had many classmates that told me they had absolutely no intention of learning how to drive much less owning a car and why should they when everything is right there by foot or by train? I can't think of any North American city where one can do that anywhere, not even New York, Toronto, or Montreal much less smaller cities and suburbs. If you surveyed your fellow Canadians including the Quebecois, how many would answer with "I don't want to drive" or "I don't need a car ever"?
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