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WislaHD said:
The story confuses me. Could she simply not take a French language test?

There is something wrong with the system if a French-born PhD student attending a Francophone university can't demonstrate her ability to function in French before the Ministry. Where does that leave everyone else?
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She took the French test eventually (after making a stink, but she should have taken it right away).

Apparently the rules exempt you from passing the language test if your studies are entirely in French, and hers were not.

Quebec immigration is not in the wrong here. Ontario immigration system, for example, has very similar rules for its graduates seeking immigration. Rules apply same way for everyone. The fact that you're French born doesn't change anything in this case, and like I said, in a lot of cases Americans and UK citizens would need to take the English language proficiency exam.
 
Avenue said:
She took the French test eventually (after making a stink, but she should have taken it right away).

Apparently the rules exempt you from passing the language test if your studies are entirely in French, and hers were not.

Quebec immigration is not in the wrong here. Ontario immigration system, for example, has very similar rules for its graduates seeking immigration. Rules apply same way for everyone. The fact that you're French born doesn't change anything in this case, and like I said, in a lot of cases Americans and UK citizens would need to take the English language proficiency exam.
Click to expand...
Ah so it is truly a non-story then.

I guess the ministry should probably review whether having your thesis abstract in English (for the purposes of submission to academic journals) is enough to disqualify your studies as "not entirely in French". My thoughts are that it probably shouldn't.

Also, both English and French are official languages. What is the big deal.
 
I would argue that the fact the story is big news is evidence of wide-scale bias. The fundamental point of the article is probably not that Quebec's government was being anal, it's that it was an outrageous decision because the applicant was young and white and female and European and smart. If the applicant was old and black and male and African and uneducated the story gets no traction. In that hypothetical instance the Quebec government is still being anal but the decision would be viewed as the system just doing it's job.
 
Avenue said:
Apparently the rules exempt you from passing the language test if your studies are entirely in French, and hers were not.
Click to expand...

In point of fact, she attended Laval an entirely francophone University, not one of her courses was in English.

A single chapter of her thesis was in English because it was specifically submitted to an academic journal that publishes in English, the other chapters were all in French.
 
TrickyRicky said:
I would argue that the fact the story is big news is evidence of wide-scale bias. The fundamental point of the article is probably not that Quebec's government was being anal, it's that it was an outrageous decision because the applicant was young and white and female and European and smart. If the applicant was old and black and male and African and uneducated the story gets no traction. In that hypothetical instance the Quebec government is still being anal but the decision would be viewed as the system just doing it's job.
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Really? I don't think of you as a pot-stirrer, but I find this a bit much.

To be sure, if you have money; and a great education you are both a preferred immigrant (all other things being equal), and its also easier to kick the system.

That said, the requirement here is that she demonstrate fluency/proficiency in French.

Her entire academic program was in French; the exception was a single chapter of her thesis, for the straight-forward reason it was submitted for publication to an English-language academic journal.

So she graduated a French-Language University in Quebec, and came from France, where she completed her primary/secondary studies, also entirely in French.

I do think this decision comes off as ridiculous anyway you cut it, no matter her skin colour or sex.

Would someone who was black, from Africa and a male have a harder time? Perhaps, but that certainly doesn't invalidate this story, nor illustrate bias, since we don't have an example before us of someone of colour being denied in an otherwise similar
circumstance.

If said person in our hypothetical example came from a French-speaking African nation, and graduated their studies there in French; and then completely a graduate-level program, in Quebec, entirely in French, but for one chapter of a thesis, I would like to think it would cause as much political and media uproar, it certainly should.

As to comparing this to a situation in which a person was not smart; that's just odd, since what makes this ridiculous is that this is someone having finished a PhD level paper, in science, at francophone university, in Quebec.

That's an essential element of this story, that there is innate and obvious proof of French proficiency.
 
Northern Light, yes that's a fine interpretation of the story I fully agree with; However, if we can remember back to our high school English class and deconstruct the elements of the story, the protagonist, antagonist, conflict etc. Something doesn't smell right about this if you stick to the mainline reasoning that the primary conflict is about government anal procedural maltreatment versus victimized applicant. The subtext is clearly that the applicant is so very very very (wink wink) qualified and that is why the story is headline news.
 
Despite the mild-seeming headline, some unfortunate news following some heavy manufacturing losses in Ontario, and some even more nasty head office losses in Alberta (that will probably factor into future reports).

www.ctvnews.ca

Canadian economy lost 1,800 jobs in October, unemployment rate steady

The number of people working in Canada edged lower in October following two months of big gains as the manufacturing and construction sectors lost jobs.
www.ctvnews.ca

The Daily — Labour Force Survey, October 2019

Following two consecutive months of growth, employment held steady in October. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5%.
www150.statcan.gc.ca www150.statcan.gc.ca
 
Personally don't know why the CAQ is so intent on chasing these identity squirrels up trees, but then again, they weren't the ones who had the more political-capital-consuming task of balancing the budget (The Quebec Liberals were responsible for that).

Regardless, in Federal news:

PBO forecasts slower growth and deeper federal deficits
PBO cites weaker exports because of trade disputes and protectionism
The Canadian Press · Posted: Nov 14, 2019 2:29 PM ET | Last Updated: 6 hours ago
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The budget office's report predicts the economic slowing will deepen the annual deficit by $1.6 billion, on average, through to 2025, creating a deficit of $21.1 billion when the current fiscal year wraps up in March 2020, and $23.3 billion in the ensuing 12-month period. The office expects the deficit will shrink to $11.1 billion in 2024-2025.
Click to expand...
The updated forecast wouldn't shift the Liberals' deficit projections too much in 2020-2021, but the PBO's new numbers would add $4 billion to the deficit the year after — making it closer to $27.3 billion.
Click to expand...

Gut feeling- the next government is going to be the one who has to make the unpopular decisions in taxes and cuts.
 
Putting this here, rather than giving it its own thread, as it impacts on national politics.

The headline is that only 62% of Canadians surveyed are comfortable w/women as CEOs.

That genuinely stuns me for how low that is...........

But of interest, only 67% of women are comfortable w/women as CEOs, in Canada! What? Huh? What century are we in?

Now for maybe the worst stat of all in the article............apparently we're the best/most accepting of women in power, of all the countries surveyed!

WTF!?

Looking at the survey itself, its only the G7; I'd be curious to see a comparison w/Scandinavian countries.

www.thestar.com

Only 62 per cent of Canadians comfortable with female CEOs, survey finds

New report finds even many women aren’t comfortable with women taking top job
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

The underlying report is here: https://reykjavikforum.global/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Reykjavik-Index-for-Leadership.pdf
 
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That's because 38% of people know that women CEOs are not taking anyone's guff and are scared of them.
Also, 33% of women would be jealous of that woman who was CEO.

Those numbers are bizarre. Who the hell even gives that any thought?

Like, yeah, great, Company XYZ Corp. imports rubbish toxic product from a Chinese SOE directly supporting the CPC and causing cheap plastics to proliferate, but fuck it, is their CEO a woman? Can't have that.
 
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