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| Suggested logo for CCMM |
So it seemed like a pretty good idea.
The Board of Trade had 6,000 individuals and 2,900 companies at the time and was founded in 1822.
The Chambre de Commerce du Montreal Metropolitain opened in 1887 and at the time of the 1992 merger the group had 1,500 companies and 6,000 members.
You can walk through some of the Board of Trade's history (1, 2, 3) as seen in the newspaper reports from the day, and it was indeed a long and interesting one, as many great things were built with their help.
Anyway, the unified group, called the Chambre du commerce de Montreal metropolitain has continued apace and presumably has been encouraging business here, as well as organizing $235 speeches by Larry King.
But today on the radio the president welcomed legislation forcing small companies to conduct their operations in French, which seemed very strange because there's no upside to having businesses subject to government intervention.
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| Mtl Board of Trade building c. 1910 |
People were calling up the radio program and telling stories about how their companies have been considering moving out of the province if the new nonsensical law kicks in but he remained blissfully in denial.
Being an small entrepreneur myself I find it very depressing to see how the moneyed I've-got-mine-Jack business elites has united with language zealots to put their nose into the world of small companies trying to hustle and create.
So yeah, below is a list of some of the people and companies involved in this silliness.
Feel free to ask them why they support more unnecessary government meddling in the world of business next time you bump into one of them on a golf course.
Chairman of the board, Andrew T. Molson, Vice-chairman, Luc Sabbatini, President and CEO, Michel Leblanc, Retiring Chair of the board, Sylvain Vincent, Treasurer, Robert Desbiens, Raymond Bachant, Christiane Bergevin, Hubert Bolduc, Guy Breton, Vincent Brie, Alain Côté, Isabelle Courville, Stéphanie Kennan, Jean-Marc Léger, Isabelle Marcoux, Vassilios Papadopoulos, Madeleine Paquin, Daniel Peritz, Pierre Pomerleau, Gilbert Rozon, Luc Sabbatini, Javier San Juan, Cynthia Sanlian,
Kim Thomassin, George Tsitouras and Martine Turcotte
And here are some of the major partners of the group: KPMG, Kiewit, Imperial Tobacco Canada, Ernst and Young, Deloitte, Cascades, Bell, BFC Lawyers Patent Agents, Arcelor Mittal, AON, Aeroplan, those are platinum major partners.
The CCMM is a bizarre little entity. I have dealt with them on a few occasions for business purposes and while they appear to be an actual chamber of commerce, my feeling is that their value is in providing corporate registries for direct marketing purposes and not representing the needs of small, medium and large companies in Montreal.
ReplyDeleteThe law that we're supposed to see regarding French in companies of less than 10 is going to be very difficult to enforce and no doubt more of a show piece than anything else. Most small business are owner-operated and have fewer than 20 employees, presumably with many fewer than 10. Are they going to visit each site to ensure that Windows is operating in French and that someone who answers the phone does so in French?
If so, I think that's fantastic-- it means that they have nothing else to do; therefore, health care, education and infrastructure problems are solved! Sweet!
Probably because those are all giant businesses already subject to Francization and they don't care one way or the other? Bell, for instance, is very anti-competitive. They don't like free-market competition.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, they don't give a crap one way or the other.
Such restrictive "language creep" is, of course, only another stepping stone towards the separatist's "promised land" of sovereignty. As usual, the fail to see the big picture.
ReplyDeleteWitness the steady assimilation of Hong Kong under the communist north and how what was previously unacceptable by a free populace is slowly, steadily--if grudgingly-- tolerated.
when the revolution comes... these 1%-ers want to guarantee they are on the right side of the francopower rebellion.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, keeping their perks and privileges is decidedly one of their major preoccupations.