Sarkozy: France and Quebec 'like brothers'

[Darsh]

France's close ties with French-speaking Quebec does not exclude it from building a stronger relationship with all of Canada, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

Sarkozy told the Montreal newspaper La Presse on the eve of the Francophonie summit of French-speaking nations, hosted by Canada and Quebec, that the people of France and Quebec are "like brothers".

"A unique, fraternal relationship exists between France and Quebec," he said, "but this does not exclude the profound friendship that exists between France and Canada."

"For too long, we've entertained this idea that we have to choose between one or the other, that honoring one was betraying the other."

"It's quite the contrary. The special ties that bind France and Quebec are an opportunity, a great asset, for strengthening Franco-Canadian relations."

Sarakozy's visit to Quebec City, the provincial capital, coincides with the 400th anniversary of its founding by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, marking the start of French colonization in North America.

Britain's capture of the city in September 1759 signalled the end of the French continental presence, but French language and culture endured in Quebec where many nationalists campaign for independence from Canada.

Sarkozy -- who Friday was to address the provincial legislature -- upset several Quebec nationalists earlier this year by touting France's close relationship with Canada.

In July 1967, during the centennial of Canada's confederation, French president Charles de Gaulle sparked an uproar when he shouted "long live free Quebec" to a cheering crowd at Montreal city hall.

http://www.france24.com/en/20081017-...it&navi=FRANCE

[Zephyrus]

I sense an impending takeover of canada by Quebec! Quick, pass me my tinfoil hat before the spies find our hidden nukes

[Каие]

Pffff. Nah! The French failed 200 years and will fail again.

[MadBurgerMaker]

<trash>

Edit: What Skinna said.

[Medicus]

The amount of French-hate in this topic is hilarious.

On the topic at hand, I agree with Scar Face. Quebec is a unique situation, true, but as an Australian I have seen many immigrants that keep the traditions, customs and language of their native culture alive.

On the topic of French military defeats, I suggest you open a history book. In regards to the Maginot Line and Germany's advance through Belgium; at the time the Allies were certain that Germany would not infringe the neutrality of the Benelux nations(a bad decision in hindsight), but France had actually begun to extend the line to include the Belgium border, and had even asked permission for French troops to be placed in Belgium(which they refused).

Finally, in regards to the list of French Military Defeats: always funny.

[Zephyrus]

It must really suck to be French!

[Maverick]

You can have 'em.

[bushbush]

oh NOT THIS AGAIN. ing bastard stop ing meddling Canada's internal ing affair. This reminds me what de Gaulle did in the 60s.

[Big War Bird]

Free KABEK!

[King Edward III]

Ahem.. yes, France and Quebec are like brothers. Too bad the quebecian government is so anti-Anglo Candian. But.. thats the French for you.

[jankren]

Viva la France!

[Heinz Guderian]

Too much France hate in this thread. I like France, i like French people, i love the language, i love the food, i love their art. When i'm rich, i'm gonna live there.

[Eksadiss]

Too much France hate in this thread. I like France, i like French people, i love the language, i love the food, i love their art. When i'm rich, i'm gonna live there.

Then you never been to Quebec? In France the language sounds romantic, in Quebec the language sounds ing retarded. French people and Quebec people can barely understand each other. I don't know why they still call it french there.

[dwringer]

Too much France hate in this thread. I like France, i like French people, i love the language, i love the food, i love their art. When i'm rich, i'm gonna live there.

You think that stuff is good, try [insert nationality of people here], [insert romance language here], [insert type of food here], [insert genre of art here]. Even better.

[Каие]

In July 1967, during the centennial of Canada's confederation, French president Charles de Gaulle sparked an uproar when he shouted "long live free Quebec" to a cheering crowd at Montreal city hall.

[DisgruntledGoat]

Interesting that Sarkozy now turned around and called Stephan Harper "his dear friend" and has just put in place a plan for a new trade agreement between Canada and the EU. Yes... Vive le Québec libre!

[GuineaPig]

Well, as long as Quebec doesn't seperate while I'm still at McGill I'll be fine

[Da Skinna]

And shut the hell up.... nnnnnoooww:

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail....hrase_id=17319

The new big thing on the web is all these sites with names like "I Hate France," with supposed datelines of French military history, supposedly proving how the French are total cowards. If you want to see a sample of this dumbass Frog bashing, try this:

www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

Well, I'm going to tell you guys something you probably don't want to hear: these sites are total , the notion that the French are cowards is total , and anybody who knows anything about European military history knows damn well that over the past thousand years, the French have the most glorious military history in Europe, maybe the world.

Let's take the toughest case first: the German invasion, 1940, when the French Army supposedly disgraced itself against the Wehrmacht. This is the only real evidence you'll find to call the French cowards, and the more you know about it, the less it proves. Yeah, the French were scared of Hitler. Who wasn't? Chamberlain, the British prime minister, all but licked the Fuhrer's goosesteppers, basically let him have all of Central Europe, because Britain was terrified of war with Germany. Hell, Stalin signed a sweetheart deal with Hitler out of sheer terror, and Stalin wasn't a man who scared easy.

The French were scared, all right. But they had reason to be. For starters, they'd barely begun to recover from their last little scrap with the Germans: a little squabble you might've heard of, called WW I.
WW I was the worst war in history to be a soldier in. WW II was worse if you were a civilian, but the trenches of WW I were five years of Hell like General Sherman never dreamed of. At the end of it a big chunk of northern France looked like the surface of the moon, only bloodier, nothing but craters and rats and entrails.

Verdun. Just that name was enough to make Frenchmen and Germans, the few who survived it, wake up yelling for years afterward. The French lost 1.5 million men out of a total population of 40 million fighting the Germans from 1914-1918. A lot of those guys died charging German machine-gun nests with bayonets. I'd really like to see one of you office smartasses joke about "surrender monkeys" with a French soldier, 1914 vintage. You'd piss your dockers.

[Oklop]

Bravo Da Skinna, also the only reason Brits were not stomped was because they did not have a land border with ze Germans. Everybody who did have (except USSR, but that was a damn close fight) was occupied.

[Zephyrus]

Military glory barney's infested hemorhoid ridden ass. The day France actually conducts itself better than Switzerland(no offence) in the field of battle will be a dark day indeed.

What kind of idiotic military lands its troops on a contested borderzone and hunkers down to wait for the foolish Germans to attack their defences? They severely underestimated the quality of their opponents despite having engaged in a brutal conflict with them.

And trench warfare. Nuff has been said on that.

France deserves every bit of ribbing and scorn possible for its utter uselessness in protecting europe or itself, despite inexplicably having most of its landmass which i guess to be the work of Joan of Arc, Charlemagne, and Napoleon. All 3 not even being french!