question to Canadians

[OregonDucks]

I have a friend who is from Red Deer, Alberta and along with being a huge hockey fan he absolutely despises Quebec and everyone from Quebec. He literally hates them and so do many of his Canadian friends. He plays in a hockey league and sometimes he has tournaments in places such as Spokane, WA or Seattle and his team is mostly made up of B.C. Canadians (I Think he has one other guy on the team from Alberta) but if they are playing in a tournament and a team from Quebec is there or french canadians they will refuse to play them and if they do play there is an extra official for the game.

I had no idea such a rivalry existed until we somehow the Montreal Expos came up. He said the hatred is both ways and that everyone in Canada hates Quebec, so here I am asking the Canadians on the board if there is really a rivalry here or is my friend just crazy and has some personal issue with the french canadians. And if there really is a rivalry/hatred why?

 

[elocomotive]

I believe this movie scene answers your question:

 

[OregonDucks]

LMAO greatest movie ever.

 

[BlueandWhiteForever]

Hard not to hate a province that has tried to separate from Canada numerous occasions.

 

[Dacks]

I have a friend who is from Red Deer, Alberta and along with being a huge hockey fan he absolutely despises Quebec and everyone from Quebec. He literally hates them and so do many of his Canadian friends. He plays in a hockey league and sometimes he has tournaments in places such as Spokane, WA or Seattle and his team is mostly made up of B.C. Canadians (I Think he has one other guy on the team from Alberta) but if they are playing in a tournament and a team from Quebec is there or french canadians they will refuse to play them and if they do play there is an extra official for the game.

I had no idea such a rivalry existed until we somehow the Montreal Expos came up. He said the hatred is both ways and that everyone in Canada hates Quebec, so here I am asking the Canadians on the board if there is really a rivalry here or is my friend just crazy and has some personal issue with the french canadians. And if there really is a rivalry/hatred why?

Your friend is an idiot.

There are the usual social differences, but not much more so than Prairies vs. Ontario or BC vs. Atlantic Canada, etc... I think the language difference can get to some people, but that's pretty small-minded. A more valid source of angst would be political, as Quebec's politicans have tried to separate a few times and use that as political leverage to hold the Federal gov't somewhat hostage, budget-wise. This is especially grating to Albertans, who think they contribute more than their fair share. But to transfer that hate over to the general population is asinine.

I was born in Toronto, grew up in Montreal, and have lived in rural Quebec, Kingston, Hamilton and now Ottawa. I can say that in this part of the world, minus some friendly rivalry and excluding a few fringe assholes, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada generally get along (the people, that is). I've also have tons of friends from all over Canada that love Quebec, or at the very least, have no hatred for it.

Your buddy is an exception, and from the sounds of it, racist.

 

[Dacks]

Hard not to hate a province that has tried to separate from Canada numerous occasions.

... and who's own population shot it down, twice. If the sins of politicians transfered to those they represent, everyone on earth would be an asshole.

 

[OregonDucks]

well my friend is white and are the quebecs also? Like I said I had no idea there was a rivalry, and when I asked him to explain he refused to even talk about Quebec, so I changed the subject. But his buddies on his hockey team that come from B.C. and one other from Alberta also dislike Quebec.

 

[Dacks]

well my friend is white and are the quebecs also? Like I said I had no idea there was a rivalry, and when I asked him to explain he refused to even talk about Quebec, so I changed the subject. But his buddies on his hockey team that come from B.C. and one other from Alberta also dislike Quebec.

Well, he's refusing to play hockey against people because of the language they speak and the place they live. That might not fit the formal definition of racism, but it's close enough. No different than refusing to play against a team of blacks or hispanics, as far as I'm concerned.

Hating the Quebec political scene, I'm fine with. It's shit. Hating Quebecers you've never met, and refusing to play hockey against them, is bullshit.

(Also, some people like to play up rivalries, which is what I hope your friend was up to. I used to claim I hated "peppers" - our derogatory term for French Quebecers - when I was an English Montrealer, but I didn't mean it and it was pretty stupid to say.)

 

[OregonDucks]

maybe but he seemed pretty fired up. is this the mindset of any other canadians outside of the french governemnt?

 

[puckhead]

I agree with Dacks. your friend is a small-minded idiot.

Quebec has a vocal minority who expect everything to be handed to them. Those folks are indeed annoying.
They are not representative of Quebec as a whole. Go to old Montreal, or Quebec City, they are awesome places, with a lot of really good people.

in short, not every Quebecer is Mike Ribiero, but some are.

 

[juliansteed]

Dacks and Puckhead are right on! I'm not going to judge your friend too harshly because I don't know the exact context and he might have been playing it up a little bit, or maybe you misunderstood him a bit (he hates one hockey team that happens to be from Quebec or something like that). There is some truth to what he says about people in other parts of Canada not liking Quebec but they are in the minority. I have a tough time believing an entire hockey team would feel this way, at least independantly of one another. If they do all feel this way its likely because a small group who must have a lot of influence managed to brainwash the rest and/or some don't agree but choose to remain silent to keep the peace.

But yeah I have a co-worker who seems to have a hate on for people from Quebec which happens to be where our boss, whom she also hates, is from. It remains unclear to me if she hates him because he's from Quebec or hates Quebec because of him. Either way she is being unreaonable but I think she plays it up quite a bit and its a bit more of an ongoing joke than anything else. I'm sure if/when she meets people from Quebec who are really nice to her she doesn't hate them for the mere fact they are from Quebec, but there are a few people who probably would.

 

[Dacks]

Dacks and Puckhead are right on! I'm not going to judge your friend too harshly because I don't know the exact context and he might have been playing it up a little bit, or maybe you misunderstood him a bit (he hates one hockey team that happens to be from Quebec or something like that). There is some truth to what he says about people in other parts of Canada not liking Quebec but they are in the minority. I have a tough time believing an entire hockey team would feel this way, at least independantly of one another. If they do all feel this way its likely because a small group who must have a lot of influence managed to brainwash the rest and/or some don't agree but choose to remain silent to keep the peace.

But yeah I have a co-worker who seems to have a hate on for people from Quebec which happens to be where our boss, whom she also hates, is from. It remains unclear to me if she hates him because he's from Quebec or hates Quebec because of him. Either way she is being unreaonable but I think she plays it up quite a bit and its a bit more of an ongoing joke than anything else. I'm sure if/when she meets people from Quebec who are really nice to her she doesn't hate them for the mere fact they are from Quebec, but there are a few people who probably would.

Yeah, that's the bad thing about human nature. If somebody we don't like hails from a different culture, we tend to displace our annoyance of the person on the whole culture.

I played in the big CBC-sponsored ball hockey tournament a few weeks ago, and you could see this in action. We played two teams full of assholes. The first was a bunch of white English-speaking city kids like us, so they were just "assholes". The others were from Gatineau, and suddenly they were "French assholes".

 

[Comeds]

Wasnt there an article during the cup finals out of Toronto that painted Vancouver as being disconnected with the rest of Canada?

In Canada I have only been to Montreal, Halifax, and St. Johns and no one there was anything but nice to me. I had been "warned" about Montreal and in 4 days there I cannot think of one negative thing that happened.

 

[beantownmaniac]

well my friend is white and are the quebecs also? Like I said I had no idea there was a rivalry, and when I asked him to explain he refused to even talk about Quebec, so I changed the subject. But his buddies on his hockey team that come from B.C. and one other from Alberta also dislike Quebec.

I think this will answer all your questions.

 

[OregonDucks]

I'm seeing him again today, I will ask him further questions about this fued.