Posted on 04/25/2015 9:35:13 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
What started as a row over lemonade could end up with international airlines being forced to employ French speakers on all flights that serve Canada, a country where French and English are classed as official languages.
An MP in Canada, Stephane Dion, has lodged a bill with parliament that if passed would oblige all flights to and from Canada to have a French speaker on board and for all passenger announcements to be made in both English and French.
The inspiration for his bill lies in an argument over a lemonade on an AirCanada flight between Toronto and North Carolina in the US.
A Francophone Canadian couple had ordered a 7Up and the air hostess, who did not speak French, brought them a Sprite, reports say.
An argument ensued and the two passengers are said to have become furious not with the fact they couldn't get any 7Up but because no member of staff on the plane was capable of speaking or understanding French.
They later sued the company but their case was dismissed by the Supreme Court last year.
The court acknowledged that while Air Canada failed to fulfill its obligations imposed by the law on official languages, it was powerless to punish the company because the law demanding both languages are spoken on board only applies to internal flights within Canada.
The MP Dion decided that the law needed changing.
“Being able to order 7Up in French on a plane is a fundamental right in Canada and all Canadians should be able to sue the airlines if this is not the case," Dion said this week.
Evidence #493485 of why we are doomed...
If I remember correctly ... only Quebec has a hair across its ass about only speaking French
Minorities are far more tyrannical than majorities.
Speak Canadian or get the hell out eh.
As an ex-canuck, it’s common knowledge that AC is partially owned by the gubmint’ and they can do whatever they want with it as it’s their property, and French “supposedly” is our first language. I fly Alaska mostly whenever I go back to Vancouver and these idiots pipe in spanish before takeoff because how many mexiclowns are there that head to Canada? I’d rather hear French basically. God knows I see spanish everyday here in L.A.
Diz muz obviously be false! Quebecois only dring Pepsi h’an eat Jos
Louis! Dey do not dring 7-Up or Sprite, ostie!
Canada needs to let Quebec go ahead and secede the next time they raise the threat. That would solve a lot of Canada’s problems.
Right you are. But in Montreal or Quebec City, it is assumed that each business owner there know English as it’s a tourist hot zone. You’ll know it when you have to ask any Denny’s waiter if they speak English and they’ll reply. But once you’re out of the city limits, it’s ALL French.
They are certainly the ones who use speaking French as a form of snobbery.
When we would visit MrT5’s relatives in Quebec, they spoke French constantly-made it clear that they thought I was a barbarian because I did not...
Its a, I am not Canadian thing,
This explains it better .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF3a-wtq65Q
Watch your mouth!
Every time I have flown Air Canada the announcements have been in French and English, with French first.
But that was always going or from Montreal.
The Official Languages Act doesn’t mandate bilingualism. It only requires that a Canadian be served in the language in which he speaks.
Quite frankly, I think Dion’s bill is absurd.
Sept en haut?
Yeah. They speak French in Quebec. In Montreal the percentage of non-French is lower than in the outlying cities. Even just immediately over the border from Vermont it becomes all French. Montreal is actually less French than other places in Quebec.
In my experience most people speak English as well, except I have encountered young people working at fast food places who did not really understand English in Laval.
I never ever ran in to any of the storied animosity or rudeness to English speakers. I begin every interaction with French greeting and continue in French. They will switch to English when realizing my French is not so good with no rudeness or any attitude.
Being proper nouns, I would think “Sprite” and “7 Up” would be the same in any language. But, the French do have that whole “Royal with Cheese” thing going on. Even that is a bit hipocritical in that they should probably call it “Royal avec Fromage”.
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