The constant barrage of letters from Ernie Slump provide us with so much drivel and misinformation, I don’t know where to start.
His recurring theme is: Prime Minister Trudeau was bad for the country; French people are bad for the country; Women have done nothing for the country; We all owe Ernie and his white Anglo-Saxon male cohorts a big debt of gratitude.
In fact, Ernie has been living in a vacuum for a long time. Back in November 1981, the Canadian Constitution was being hashed out by Prime Minister Trudeau and the 10 provincial premiers. There are two important facts that Ernie missed: 1) Trudeau was the person who challenged the premiers to go back home, and call a referendum. They refused, since the new constitution was so popular. 2) Voting on behalf of British Columbians was none other than Bill Bennett, who voted affirmative. There wasn’t a gun held to his head.
As for Trudeau promising Quebec to turn the rest of Canada into a French-speaking country, that’s totally bogus. Canada has, since the beginning, been a bilingual country. What Trudeau promised Quebecers in 1981 was equal rights from coast to coast, the same as Ernie’s white Anglo-Saxon males have. The basis for French Canadian malaise has always been people like Ernie who constantly spout off that they are the chosen race, and language. Not so in bilingual Canada, it’s the law. In the real world, specifically in Penticton, English children are clamouring to enter the French immersion programs. There is only one proponent for teaching Chinese Mandarin instead of French, and that’s our Ernie.
As for your condescending remarks to Sharry Schneider, I won’t even dignify your snooty remarks with a comment.
Bottom line: Some of us have actually moved here from Quebec, and love it here. We feel right at home speaking both English and French. We don’t even feel like second-class citizens, in spite of your repeated rants in the paper. Guess you’ll have to learn to live with it, since we’re not leaving.
Steve Brooks
Penticton