That's it, we're outta here!
My wife and I are born and raised New Brunswickers. Our families landed on these shores many years ago.
We are second and third generation NBers, but now we both believe if we are going to make any kind of living, we will have to leave.
We are packing up and moving to British Columbia.
Like many others, we are tired of everything this province does not address: low wages and extremely high living costs are just two.
We have seen groups of friends renting an apartment, five to seven people in a two bedroom. No children, just the working poor.
Although New Brunswick is the bilingual province, preference is not given to people who speak both languages fluently. Sometimes being able to speak just French and only French is given preference for some of the most sought-after jobs.
My wife studied French from elementary school to Grade 11, and still she cannot speak French fluently, even though if she had studied one more year, to Grade 12, she would have received a bilingual certificate.
We both think that is hilarious.
I think the worst thing they ever did was make New Brunswick a bilingual province, because it hasn't been done fairly.
New Brunswick is a dying province, and no amount of immigrants taking the few jobs we have available will change that.
My suggestion to my fellow New Brunswickers is just to pack up and leave.
Write a letter about your grievances, and hopefully that will help make life better for future generations.
We will miss this place, the forests, salmon-rich rivers, and everything that makes this place unique.
I would like to thank Premier Shawn Graham and the good job he has been doing, especially having to clean up after the Conservatives.
This province has fallen so far behind it will take a lot to bring it up to snuff.
We know if anyone can do the job, he can.
Josh MacDonald
Fredericton
12 comments:
I know why Mr. MacDonald and his wife are leaving, and I can't blame them. The biggest disadvantage in this province is the bi-lingual requirement - those who are very well educated are left workign retail because they can't speak French. If we want to represent this language fairly, look at the % of the population who is truly bilingual (not French with a bit of English) and have that % represented in government and the general working population - employment equity.
It's not just wages - it's opportunities that are lacking for unilingual (English) people. Skills are considered second to language in filling jobs - I am very well educated (at the graduate level) and will not even be considered for any government job because I am not French speaking or bilingual. I see jobs being filled by youth with far less skill sbut they are French speaking or bilingual (and probably don't even use it in their job). There in lies the probalem with the shortage of leaders for the next generation in NB - as leaders retire - the pool of potentials is limited to those who are bilingual. I feel I would make a great leader and I work in a leadership role today (in provate sector) but I would never be conisdered in government as I only speak English. So, best of luck to our friends and youth who move west and take their skills and talents with them
graham loves this,makes room for his planned,liberal voter immigration,If you got $100,000 donation.
And his percentage of employed goes up.
Third world countries are made not born.
CANADA-NEW BRUNSWICK AGREEMENT ON THE PROVISION OF FRENCH-LANGUAGE SERVICES 2005-06 to 2008-09
Preamble
I. Introduction
On June 7, 2002 the Government of New Brunswick passed a new Official Languages Act, in which it made a commitment to fulfil its constitutional obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Official Languages Act reaffirms the rights of New Brunswickers to communicate with provincial institutions and to obtain services from them in the official language of their choice and to use the official language of their choice before the courts in the province.
In passing the new Act, New Brunswick has taken on new linguistic obligations that did not exist in the Official Languages Act of 1969.
On the strength of this new Act and increasingly convinced of the advantages of official bilingualism, New Brunswick hopes to build once again on its close relationship with the federal government in the area of official languages to enhance the services it provides to New Brunswickers in both official languages.
Immediately following the federal government’s announcement and release of Canada’s Action Plan for Official Languages, the Government of New Brunswick, through the Francophonie and Official Languages Branch of the Department of Intergovernmental and International Relations (DIIR), set up a committee to explore the partnership opportunities available to it under the new federal Plan and to prepare a “Government of New Brunswick’s Interdepartmental Action Plan for Official Languages”.
The provincial Interdepartmental Committee consisted of representatives of the following departments: Education, Training and Employment Development, Culture and Sport Secretariat, Environment and Local Government, Health and Wellness, Family and Community Services, Business New Brunswick, Supply and Services, and Justice.
New Brunswick’s Committee drafted the Interdepartmental Action Plan after holding a number of meetings to share the outcomes of discussions that were being conducted within each department. The interdepartmental action plan initially received the support of each of the deputy ministers in question. It was studied and discussed by the Advisory Committee on Official Languages, a committee consisting of representatives of associations, nongovernmental organizations and institutions, the private sector, and the public and parapublic sectors. New Brunswick’s Interdepartmental Action Plan met with much interest and enthusiasm in the community. It was in this spirit that it was presented to senior provincial government officials on March 17, 2004.
The Policy and Priorities Committee, chaired by Premier Bernard Lord, endorsed the Interdepartmental Committee’s proposal and instructed the DIIR to work with the federal government to develop a collaborative framework and an agreement on French-language services in New Brunswick.
The DIIR continued its consultations with the Francophone and Acadian community in March and April 2005, thereby confirming official language needs. Further, the Government of New Brunswick, through the DIIR, rallied the Francophone and Acadian community around its strategic planning process for the provision of French-language services that meet the requirements of New Brunswick’s Official Languages Act. These initiatives also enabled the community to help shape the provincial strategy. The DIIR plans to make further use of this consultative and collaborative process as it continues its work.
The Province of New Brunswick wishes to enhance the French-language services it provides to New Brunswickers and help promote the equality of the two official language communities. The Government of New Brunswick, mindful of the fact that it and its departments play a key role in the provision of French-language services, recognizes the importance of working collaboratively with community structures and organizations to help it attain its objectives. Among other things, it wishes to adopt a more strategic approach and to develop mechanisms for reporting on the effectiveness of the measures that are chosen. The consultations with the Francophone and Acadian community and the various departments allowed the provincial government to identify key sectors for the next four years. The Francophone and Acadian community has made it clear that the Government of New Brunswick has to enhance the services provided in the sectors in question so that Francophones and Acadians in the province can reach their full potential and French-language services can be improved.
Under this Action Plan, the Government of New Brunswick aims to support initiatives that will enable the province to strengthen its policy, legislative, and administrative framework; support the development, planning, and provision of French-language services in key sectors; provide for communication, formal consultation and effective participation of the community; and support programming undertaken by School-Community Centres in the province.
The Government of New Brunswick is pleased to renew its commitments and join forces with the Government of Canada in the area of official languages. This agreement will enable the province to continue improving the provision of French-language services in New Brunswick by complementing the many steps it has taken. New Brunswick wishes to strengthen partnerships with other provincial and federal departments and continue working together in a spirit of cooperation. These initiatives and measures will have a definite impact on the quality of services provided in French to New Brunswickers. The Government of New Brunswick remains committed to its efforts to develop ways and strategies allowing it to continue providing quality French-language services to New Brunswickers.
Natives,with the 10,000 years of ownership and domicile here,have a clear OBLIGATION to their heritage,to fight to the end for these same rights,to be served in the language of their great culture,and in fact ,to be listed as the main language and culture of their land.
The natives ,who were never defeated,(as the french were),and never extinguished their rights.
People may not be aware that natives at this present time are biding their time,because of huge benefits to the natives at this time,from federal arrangements,but the time of fair settlement is still to be determined.Just Beware.
Which means.
An RCMP stops you,walks up says,"you were speeding",drivers license,etc,goes back to his car ,writes up ticket,hands it to you.
WRONG
A judge can not legally find you guilty,as proper documented procedure was not followed.
YOU WERE NOT GIVING THE RIGHT TO THE LANGUAGE YOU WANTED TO BE DEALT WITH.
Unfortunately, those rightly attacking corporate hegemony and government corruption become focused on what should have been a prideful symbol of unique N.B. identity.
Somehow, I doubt the only thing keeping these people unemployed is lack of a bilingual certificate.
As I don't know their story (the real one) - I'll keep my mouth shut.
Come nous anglophones devrait faire quant la verite nous éschape... De se comporter avec un esprit xénophobique entre deux groupes me parait semblable a les Iraqis; mal diriger par les moderne rois et reines de la nouvelle ordre dus monde.
If you like your liberty, why would you take it away from someone else?
I can assure you,a bilingual certificate is keeping the, English only ,away from employment in Nb and English keeps you unemployed in Quebec.And French only doesn't keep you unemployed in NB.
Tell me what you would do,if your kids basically had to take French immersion or be ignored in the class with the mental problems.
Remember,all French schools,teach in French,and all English schools teach in French and English.
The 100,000 or more English who have left NB in the past years,would probably think THEY lost their liberties,but as the result of an English premier,who loved money.
So considering,I am aware,of what looks like ,90% of French kids don't speak English,you better hope that the liberals succeed in making NB a French province.
Soon NB Power won't be able to hire anymore people.It is Saturated now.
But I'm sure French are not worried,as they lived with no advancement for 200 years,until The British got ready to take over.
And you got to hand it to them ,the fantastic progress in the past 200 years.
"I can assure you,a bilingual certificate is keeping the, English only ,away from employment in Nb and English keeps you unemployed in Quebec."
For someone so proud of their English origins, you sure make a mash of your mother tongue.
Speak farsi for all I care - if you don't want to learn French, you won't be fully employable in a bilingual area. If your kids are stuck in the slow class, look into getting them some non-government issued education - turn off the TV for 10 minutes and consider what you're doing in life.
Have you ever considered that your distrust of other languages or groups might be a symptom of a larger bias that is core to your employment difficulties?
Offificla bilingualism does have serious flaws and shortcomings that do need to be addressed. The unfortunate part is that no politician has the brass to weigh into it. The intent of official bilingualism was never for every person to speak both languages, it was to ensure that core public services could be delivered in the official language of one's choice. Unfortunately that has become for some (I'm looking at you SAANB) that everyone must speak both or face time in court.
"We will miss this place, the forests, salmon-rich rivers, and everything that makes this place unique."
Until you see the salmon rivers and forests of BC!
And... you will get to trade in the French for Cantonese or Mandarin.
We left BC to come here to my wife's home area 5 years ago. We did exactly what the government wanted us to do.
Repatriated and went to school. Now we want to leave this province. We owe 10 grand in student loans for being an Early Childhood Educator. I guess that does not really matter though as all the daycares hire anyone right out of high school and without an ECE diploma.
$8 dollars and hour is not an incentive for her versus the $12 she makes in a call center.
The French day care pays more. (I Guess the French high schoolers get their own daycare.... encouraging them to have children at a young age.) But.... they will not allow a child in their daycare if they do not speak French. My wife could never apply at a place that gets away with legal discrimination.
I wish we could go back to BC but it would cost us too much and take too long to save.
BC seems to have a good amount of proud French CANADIANS.... versus NB getting all the Quebexicans!
For the dummies that can't get the brain reved up in french or farsy.
The English are not the ones having language trouble,and according to world sources,never will and that is without the billions of dollars being spend trying to preserve french.As far as a bilingual area,find one.haha.
OK I 'll help you,Montreal is the only place because Montrealers,have developed the ability to totally ignore who they are dealing with.
Basically nowhere else in Canada do french and English have any mixing and won't,dogooders get used to it.According to TV,English never cared for the french,among many others.
Another sad reason for my grandsons,who are the two top students,are in the ridiculous french immersion,a 35 year old backward moving program of no use to anybody.
Quite sad indeed. Another couple leaving New Brunswick (without the true facts to why this is so).
If they knew the truth, they probably wouldn't be thanking the current government as they have driven small and medium businesses from our shores (making our economy weak and unattractive to business) while raising income and property taxes on families and individuals who definitely can't afford the hit.
Furthermore, their decision to attempt to spend their way out of this mess while adding to the deficit is irresponsible to say the least (as well, it only serves to bankrupt future generations). This is definitely an area where I thought Lord had a vision (he reduced spending and paid down the debt every year in office accept 2003/04). Hatfield and McKenna definitely could not say that as the latter added 3.1 billion to our net debt in just under 10 years. Not exactly helpful to the future self-sufficiency of this province or its longterm fiscal health.
Let's face it folks, we really need to look at ways to cut spending and make government more effective. The days of 80s style spending are long over, or at least it should be, especially if we want to retain ppl like Josh MacDonald and his wife.
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