Vol. IV No. 9
Nov.-Dec. 2000
Click on the story titles to jump to their corresponding stories below.
New
Quebecers are key to growth of French
New Quebecers are key to growth of French
Norman Delisle
Presse Canadienne – La Presse – November 23, 2000
The struggle for the survival of French will be lost or won among new Quebecers. In Montréal in particular, “the survival and growth of the French fact will depend increasingly on new Quebecers. It is therefore important to create the conditions that will make French attractive,” warned Professor Gérard Bouchard of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC).
Professor Bouchard spoke before the Estates General on the future of the French language during public hearings held in the Saguenay. Professor Bouchard went on to say that this observation on the survival of French must not cause panic. Exaggerated reactions are unwarranted and in the long run would produce the opposite of the effect sought, turning new Quebecers against the French language and culture,” he explained.
Professor Bouchard gave a few examples of the exaggerated reactions that must be avoided: legislating against all bilingual signs, obliging college-level immigrants to attend French-language Cegeps, and reducing the number of immigrants accepted by Québec each year. The effect of such measures would be “the deterioration of the status and image of Québec as a liberal society respectful of human rights and freedoms,” according to Professor Bouchard.
Celine Dion is Pregnant!
Celine Dion
MONTREAL (CP) – Celine Dion has a second fertilized egg stored at a New York City fertility clinic and says she hopes it will one day be a sibling for her unborn son.”It doesn’t mean they’re identical twins but they were conceived at the same time,” the pregnant pop diva said in an interview scheduled for broadcast Sunday Dec. 17, on TVA, Quebec’s largest private television network.
Dion is seven months pregnant with her first child. It will be a son conceived with husband Rene Angelil through in vitro fertilization at the same clinic.
Montréal the Technocity
In case anyone is still in doubt, Montréal has become a technological centre. This was the gist of the announcement made yesterday by Montréal TechnoVision, which presented the first indicators comparing the region with 14 other technological regions in North America. Montréal ranks 10th among these regions for the number of jobs in the new economy, according to figures compiled by E & B Data in cooperation with the Observatoire des sciences et technologies and the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
At the top of the list is San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, followed by New York and Los Angeles. Montréal climbs to the top of the list in certain sectors of activity in the new economy, namely, the manufacture and maintenance of aircraft engines and research contracts. It ranks fifth in the aerospace industry, eighth in biopharmaceutics and ninth in information technology.
Other indicators also show that Montréal is a dynamic technocity. For instance, 30% of all venture capital financing in Canada comes from Montréal. The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) is equivalent to that of larger cities such as Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto and Dallas. Similarly, R&D expenditure in the technology sector has risen an average of 7% annually over the last 10 years.
Source: Le Devoir – December 14, 2000
Letters to Editor:
Mr. Tony Fernandez,
Thank you for your response. We appreciate such gestures especially from a fellow Filipino. We also want to say we are very grateful for including us in your next issue of INTERPINOY, in return we hope to provide Filipinos with good quality and secure remittance service.
Our best wishes to Filipinos in Montreal and to the staff of your online publication. Keep up the good work!Mabuhay ang Filipino!
Kenneth Candelaria Philsite.Com
Online Remittance Service
Visit http://www.philsite.com
