Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Exactly.

Hostile NO.

Indifferent YES.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Take a look in the Australia forum at the thread titled "Wanted Down Under". There are tons of posters enthralled with the notion of moving over here based on what they are seeing on a television program.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

I know! Crazy, eh? I am constantly amazed by some comments on this forum.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Whilst at a popular tourist destination in Cape Breton, one of the tour guides of the attraction asked us where we were from, we said originally England, to which she asked what language we spoke in England "err.... English" was our response, to which she seemed shocked & replied "i was sure that the English spoke French"! We left dumbfounded.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

i agree with those Montrealites(??) and find it rather awkward when ontarians assume that as an englishwoman i must be a royalist. The whole concept of someone being better than be because of their 'birthright' is anathema to me.

I have been surprised by the number of people here who are keen on the royals, and by how often they are talked about

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

We did a good job of it ourselves back in the day don't forget. My Restoration knowledge is a bit hazy but maybe there's something buried in the English psyche that just likes to see someone wandering around with an ermine cloak and a crown on.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

I wasn't taking sides here but simply wanted to connect current Quebecois thinking to that of their French ancestors. I can't say the connection made is scientifically accurate or valid though.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

I would be surprised if the issue ever came up in Quebec because the Queen pretty much avoids visiting Quebec....that's because the last time (long time ago) I can recall the Queen visiting Quebec, the people lined the streets and turned their backs on her! I would call that hostile behavior. :ohmy:

Royal tours were popular with Quebecers until the emergence of the Quebec sovereignty movement in the 1960s. During a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Quebec City in 1964, protesters turned their back to the Monarch as her car drove through the streets, and during a public appearance of the Queen, a riot began where police were called in to suppress the protesters; the day became known as Samedi de la matraque (see below). Since that time, royal visits to the province have continued, though the Queen's forays into Quebec have been limited mostly to Gatineau.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch...Royal_presence

http://www.marxists.org/history/cana...of-england.htm


http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-69-70-...ety/new_queen/

I recall a visit in the 1970s where they also turned their backs on the Queen to protest her presence in Quebec.

BTW... my experience with Canada (and the way the Royal Family has been received in different parts of it) doesn't go back a little over a decade .... it goes back 52 years.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Let's see the Queen visit Montreal, Quebec City or nearly any other city in the province of Quebec and you will see more open hostility toward her than you would ever have believed. Stage a parade in her honor and that will tell who is right.... I double dare the Canadian government to do so.... but that will never happen because they know what would occur.

The reason you wrongly think there is little or no hostility toward the Queen in Quebec is because the Canadian government keeps her pretty much out of the sight of Quebeckers so they don't think about her. If that ever were to change ..... then you would see what I am telling you - it would be a provocation in the minds of most Quebeckers.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Yes I recall those days but I have another approach.

The people that booed her and were openly hostile were in all probability militant separatists or idealists who did their very best to embarrass the Feds. Let us not forget that the Queen is our head of state, a symbolic post, but head of state nonetheless. And a foreign one.

I predict that if QC were ever to became independent OR if Canada ever severed its connection to the monarchy, then if the Queen or Charles or any other member of the Royals were to drop by, then it would simply be just another foreign dignitary visiting.

That is why I still take the view that most Quebecois are largely indifferent to the Queen. They consider the monarchy irrelevant to Canada. Some even consider the Feds as irrelevant. But they have no ax to grind other than to complain that part of their federal taxes go pay for the Governor General and all the other provincial lieutenant governors, all of which could probably be done away with.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

yep, hilarious, innit?
when i was there, i was always getting 2 or 3 of my colleagues standing around me whenever i opened my mouth to say something, as if i was an alien or something! some folks were nice, saying like "...just keep talking....i love your accent..." etc, whereas others would say, "what-you left england to come here? hey, folks, this guy's come to canada for better weather, heh, heh...", which would sometimes p.ss me off! then there was a woman shopkeeper who asked me "do they use dollars in england, too?......"!! that really creased me up!
mostly people would mention about the long holidays etc we have here and wonder why we would need to leave all that!:)

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Funnily enough we went out for a meal with friends on friday night. Next to us was a table with 3 young children and 3 adults. When they were leaving the apologised to us for being sat next to them.(2 youngest cried a few times). told them no problem it was fine. THen the little girl (maybe 7/8) came over with her mum who asked us if we were from London! told her Kent. The little girl then said ' can i just tell you that you 2 (poiinting to myself and friend) have such beautiful accents', it made your heart melt it was so sincere.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

A Jamaican girl I work with asked the very same question i.e., "What language do you speak in Scotland?" and remember that I've been working and conversing with her for a month - Before I could reply 'English' she said "Oh yeah, it's Dutch isn't it?" :D

I patiently explained that they speak Dutch in Holland. She then went on to compound the laughter factor by asking what country "..they speak German in?" It was all taken in a humourous manner by both parties and brightened up an otherwise bland morning.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Well, its like English, but....


Anyway, I suppose the Gaelic speakers would have something to say on that subject.

Re: Old fashioned attitudes
 

Yes but we'd never be able to understand it. :rofl: