I’ve done a lot of international travel. The rudest people I have ever encountered have been the French Canadians. They are far more French than the French. It’s like the Austrians are more German than the Germans.
That being said, I would trade Quebec straight up for Texas. The faster that the USA can get rid of Texas, maybe give it back to Mexico, the better off the USA will be. We’ll even throw in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina just to sweeten the deal. They all take in more federal money than they contribute so we might as well get rid of them.
Well, yeah, I know. To dignify such a negligible percentage of people with the word “movement” is to give them far more credit than they deserve.
But we sell DISH Network at work, a news channel almost always has to be playing on the front TV, and I have to listen to this bullshit practically every day I work.
I live on the west coast of Canada and we don’t get a* lot* of French Canadians out here but based on those I have met and worked with I would have to agree with you.
I’ve been around perhaps a dozen French Canadians long enough to get a good handle on their character and they have all been general twats. All except for one. He’s a super nice guy.
I can’t explain it. I am not predisposed to disliking them. I have no bias towards their culture or their politics or the issues they face. I don’t have opinions regarding how they fit into Canada.
Maybe it’s just cultural misunderstanding. Maybe they have their defenses up being so far from home in a very non-French area. Maybe they resent the rest of Canada in general. I really don’t know.
You and I must drive in very different parts of the U.S. Any of the “washroooms” I’ve visited in Canada (Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick) have been sparkling clean and even free of graffiti. But Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts (ESPECIALLY Massachusetts–use of ass gaskets mandatory) don’t even compare.
Not really true. I don’t share the same political view as most Quebecois, but as a people, they’re quite nice. I never feel any rudeness; especially if I make an attempt to speak French.
Yes, different places. I have not travelled in the US north-east for decades. I’m in northern Ontario, and travel throughout Ontario, nothern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and both parts of Michigan, with occasional excursions to the western provinces and states.
The norm in my region for the Trans-Canada Highway is wooden outhouses over pits but without vent stacks (big black pipes that warm in the sun and draw out the fumes from the pit), if there is anything at all. When I hop across the border into Minnesota, the norm is well maintained buildings with clean washrooms. Even way off in the boonies (such as in Idaho miles from the nearest community) where there are outhouses, they tend to have conrete vaults and big vent stacks, so they do not reek the way the Canadian ones do.
The best bet up here is to either use the washroom at the town hall of whatever town you are passing through, use a gas station (but be prepared to have to clean the piss or shit off the seat first), or just crap in the woods.
I am disgusted that my provincial government spends so much money promoting tourism, but does not provide adequate services for people who come visit.
Look, I doubt most of the people signing these secession petitions actually want their states to be independent of the U.S.; it’s just a way for them to protest/vent/scream over the election results, the general (mis)perceived policy-directions of the Obama who lives in their heads, etc.
Well then let’s change from one anecdote to data: I too find people in Quebec as friendly as any other region of Canada, which is to say very friendly.
As far as BigT and ignorance goes, the less said the better.
We’ve done a lot of car travel across Western Canada and the US, and the US (in my experience) does indeed have very nice rest stops. We usually just use the gas station bathroom in Canada, since there aren’t nearly as many dedicated rest stops here.
