Quebecers are living in fear, loneliness and suspicion - at least in comparison with the rest of Canadians - a recent Statscan study reveals.
Now I'm usually shrugtastically immune to eye-popping jaw-
droppers like this. But this haunts.
Compared to the Rest of Canada, Quebecers came in dead last in all categories of questions relating to our healthy views and dealings towards others based on Statscan survey numbers from 2003, 2008 and 2013.
When asked if they participate in group activities, (ie: community organizations and associations) only 57 percent of Quebecers replied yes.
Every other province scored higher, with B.C. leading at 71 percent. The only other province with a toll nearly as low as Quebec was New Brunswick, four percent higher.
When asked "can people be trusted?" Quebec came in dead last again, with just over one in three saying that yes, they could. That is far below any other province, which all registered over 50 percent, with PEI and BC coming tops with almost two-of-three replying yes.
Quebec also came in last when asked whether they thought their neighbour would return their wallet.
The study also shows that we have fewer friends than people in other provinces.
Why the suspicion Quebec?
Theoretically there might be some sort of translation issue that causes Quebec to be such a radical outlier in these numbers.
It could also be spun positively, that Quebecers are independent and less gullible.
But nah, there's nothing noble about this. Developing countries tend also to have such paranoia towards others, while wealthier countries - like the Scandinavian countries - tend to have more trust.
Why we're so different is a mystery. Maybe it's something in Quebec's longstanding mission to be what they're trying to be is at the root of this.
But it sure gets you thinking that if you picked up your tent and moved to B.C. - or any other province - your dealings with others might be richer and more rewarding than what you're enduring now and that's a sad thought.
Now I'm usually shrugtastically immune to eye-popping jaw-
Compared to the Rest of Canada, Quebecers came in dead last in all categories of questions relating to our healthy views and dealings towards others based on Statscan survey numbers from 2003, 2008 and 2013.
When asked if they participate in group activities, (ie: community organizations and associations) only 57 percent of Quebecers replied yes.
Every other province scored higher, with B.C. leading at 71 percent. The only other province with a toll nearly as low as Quebec was New Brunswick, four percent higher.
When asked "can people be trusted?" Quebec came in dead last again, with just over one in three saying that yes, they could. That is far below any other province, which all registered over 50 percent, with PEI and BC coming tops with almost two-of-three replying yes.
Quebec also came in last when asked whether they thought their neighbour would return their wallet.
The study also shows that we have fewer friends than people in other provinces.
Why the suspicion Quebec?
Theoretically there might be some sort of translation issue that causes Quebec to be such a radical outlier in these numbers.
It could also be spun positively, that Quebecers are independent and less gullible.
But nah, there's nothing noble about this. Developing countries tend also to have such paranoia towards others, while wealthier countries - like the Scandinavian countries - tend to have more trust.
Why we're so different is a mystery. Maybe it's something in Quebec's longstanding mission to be what they're trying to be is at the root of this.
But it sure gets you thinking that if you picked up your tent and moved to B.C. - or any other province - your dealings with others might be richer and more rewarding than what you're enduring now and that's a sad thought.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete" But it sure gets you thinking that if you picked up your tent and moved to B.C. - or any other province - your dealings with others might be richer and more rewarding than what you're enduring now and that's a sad thought. "
ReplyDeleteYou definitely have a point there. I think that all that is a separatist plot to entice Anglos to leave QC so that the pure laine can get their own backward independent country that would renege on all the values that make America great.Very sad...
All of this "running away for greener pastures" is an old story that doesn't always result in a happy ending.
ReplyDelete"Go west young man", is an expensive proposition with western rents and housing costs through the roof due mostly to greedy foreign, non-resident speculators who even prefer to leave their properties empty rather than lower their demands. Fortunately, the laws are changing to reduce and/or eliminate such brazen abuse.
Furthermore, everyone knows that the rainy, dreary west coast (including B.C. and Washington State) has a high suicide rate due to mental depression.
Quite frankly, I prefer to walk around in bright, sunny, cold, familiar Montreal winters than huddle under an umbrella through months of seemingly endless coastal drizzle. Arrgh! Been there, done that. They can keep it.
The more you rely on the State for your dealings with people, the less you trust people. Quebec's problem (and Canada's too) is statism... Too many laws and rules governing people's lives, their interactions with others, and the economy.
ReplyDeleteUrban Legend.... you sure spewed a lot of nonsense.
ReplyDeleteBy far most Quebec born people who move to BC love it. Even with the high property values. By the way it isn't the foreign speculators that make housing expensive. They own less than 1% of Vancouver.
The suicide rate in BC is 9.73 per 100K. In Quebec it is 15.2 per 100K.
Here are figures on average precipitation including snow and rain.....
Montreal 163 days 39.4"
Vancouver 168 days 57.3"
Victoria 158 days 36.5"
This past winter where I live on Vancouver Island we had 1 trace of snow on 1 day.
Montreal' winters? Pot holes. Salt on the roads eating away at cars. Huge icy puddles on some streets. Grey snow on lawns. Ice storms and freezing cold. Trying to dig your car out.
Montreal in spring? Mushy lawns with dog poop left over from the winter. Rains almost every day in April.
Montreal in summer? The humidity can almost suck the life out of you, particularly older people.
Montreal in the fall? OK I'll concede to the leaves changing.
Can you ride your bike year round in Montreal?
It seems every 2nd person I meet out here is from somewhere back east.
The endless drizzle is a figment of your imagination.
Funny thing about Montreal. Very few move back once they've left. Figure it out!
http://coolopolis.blogspot.ca/2007/03/to-further-nostalgify-your-sunday.html
ReplyDelete"
Across the street, the large bakery, Richstones, held a secret known only to the few. On Fridays, if you went to the door at the top of the loading bays, you could ask for the seconds, the crumbled cakes, broken doughnuts, smeary cupcakes. Sometimes they would give you some and sometimes they would chase you away angrily. Another example of the incomprehensible capriciousness of adults.
As if to remind me of my destination, I would ultimately come to the offices of Der Kanader Adler, one of three local Yiddish papers. Occasionally, one of my teachers would publish a poem there, truly the last song of the Last of the Mohicans. The Jewish Peretz School was just around the corner on Duluth Street. We were educated in Yiddish, spoke to each other in English and lived in a French neighbourhood.
I can recall every building and business along the two blocks to school. Many of the proprietors knew me and my family. I felt as safe and happy on the streets as in my own home and would often linger until dusk on the return home.
When I grew up I bought a house in the gentle forests of the Pacific and my son walks to school among the cherry blossoms. And sometimes I am sad for him.
"
Kristian....I get the nostalgia stuff. It is interesting up to a point. Yesterday is gone. Today is now.
ReplyDeleteOn Saturday I went trout fishing on a locally stocked lake from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. In the afternoon we went sailing with a friend to one of the Gulf Islands and had a meal at a waterfront pub.
Yesterday we went kayak fishing at another lake. Caught 1 bass and 1 trout.
To each his own. I love my lifestyle!
As long as you're alive and not oppressed, or ill, almost anywhere is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Vancouver for a year as a kid and didn't like it. Was delighted to get back here. But to each his own.
Kristian....correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't your mother leave your dad and take the children to Vancouver?
ReplyDeleteYanked away from your school and friends and away from a community you were familiar with.
This would be upsetting for any child.
Was it more like you didn't know Vancouver and it was foreign to you?
Vancouver has its own unique history just as Montreal does.
It was my home for a lot of years. I even knew where to get Montreal style smoked meat.
Some people are more adventuresome than others. Pretty well almost everyone I knew in Montreal as a kid moved away.
For various reasons.
Nothing stays completely the same but the Montreal a lot of us once knew has mostly disappeared.
That's why there are so many Montreal nostalgia sites.
Statistics, statistics.
ReplyDeleteWeather patterns vary with El Nino and La Nina. You may have a rainy April one year and a shiny one the next no matter what part of the country you live in. Sure, the summer humidity can be bothersome, but that's why people have air conditioning.
I actually have tons of relatives in B.C. but I don't miss the place. Seems like every time I visit it is raining. Just bad luck or bad timing, who knows? Who cares? Dampness bugs me.
The restaurants in Vancouver and Victoria don't come close to those of Montreal. Even Toronto's food is still inferior. Exactly why this continues to be the case, I have yet to hear an explanation. How hard can it be to equalize culinary quality across the country? But then I suspect that menus cannot be copied exactly. Even McDonald's does taste different worldwide, as I have experienced first-hand.
Certainly, people will move away from Montreal for various reasons. No one is keeping them here nor forcing them to leave. You either improve your capabilities and adaptabilities or you don't.
Inevitably, the tide will turn when opportunities out west diminish and eastern revitalization will reduce the flow of "refugees". Even Alberta is vulnerable as we have recently seen.
Understandably, older people can't deal with Montreal winters, but when I see how much more severe and longer Halifax winters are, I feel blessed, but I really have to laugh whenever I see someone actually shovelling a half-inch of snow off a Vancouver sidewalk. C'mon!
Traditionally, residents of the northeastern U.S. moved to Florida or California to escape the cold temperatures, but steady overpopulation and the recent, severe climate changes in those states are not encouraging for future growth. Inevitably, a saturation point will be reached. Rising seas with the resulting coastal flooding are an impending disaster that the coming generations must face.
Living out west is financially draining to say the least. Try to find reasonable rentals in Vancouver or Victoria. Forget it. The average single retiree on a fixed income must be on the tightest of budgets or presumably forced to sub-let. Not everyone has money to burn, and even if I myself did, I wouldn't burn it out there by handing it over to greedy landlords.
I'll bet that most of those who did leave Montreal have missed a lot more than they're willing to admit and would rather have stayed put, which is probably why they growl and back-bite and frequently post their "sour grapes" comments here in Coolopolis, unable to let go of their past while secretly jealous of those who "stuck it out" and still remain.
Separatists and dog poop don't scare me and never did. Yes, they stink and dirty up the place for awhile but then fade away. Smarter ideals inevitably prevail and life goes on.
Urban Legend....I've read your stuff before and you sure like to wander in what you write.
ReplyDeleteStuck in the house in Montreal in the cold winter and stuck in the house in the summer with the air conditioner because of the humidity? Nice.
I may be wrong but my guess is that you aren't regularly eating in Montreal's finest restaurants. Bike riders who eat very rich foods are a rarity. LOL There are some damned good restaurants in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. Kind of snobby to think they are all in Montreal Did you really say you want culinary quality equalized across Canada? That just sounds nuts.
You are getting pretty petty when you talk about Vancouver people shoveling a 1/2" of snow. Maybe the few were concerned about their insurance liability?
Speaking of being "financially draining" you don't mention the millions in transfer payments BC sends to Quebec every year.
Vancouver and Victoria aren't the only places in BC. There are some great deals on houses all over Vancouver Island where I live. In fact The Island is a very affordable place. I'm not a realtor but I can give some good advice to those looking for a comfortable affordable retirement. Just e-mail me.
You seem to think that everyone else should think the same way you do.
First of all you are the one with the "sour grapes" who posted derogatory comments about BC.
I've met plenty of ex-Montrealers over the years here on the West Coast. Some of our friends are from there. Sometimes I've shared memories of Montreal. I've written stories about those times. I have never heard anyone say they would like to move back (never ever) and some of them are of French Canadian backgrounds.
Telling us that we secretly pine to live in Montreal once again is just nonsense.
And you also say we are jealous. Really?
Have you ever wondered about Montreal being the city of French only signs having one of their biggest tourist attractions being English speaking comedians at The Comedy Festival? I have.
Last time I looked, Cooloplis wasn't established to be a feuding ground between east and west, English vs. French, nor who makes the best poutine in the country.
ReplyDeleteNobody is going to change anyone's mind in this blog, so hold tight onto your fishing rod just in case an orca takes the bait while I bundle up and go shovel the four feet of snow that was just plowed across my driveway while keeping a sharp eye out, of course, for the battalions of language police surrounding my neighbourhood and dying to arrest anyone who dares to break their laws (Oops, here they come!).
Yes, I am being facetious, but we in the east can fly the red and white flag here just as easily as you do out there--perhaps even more vigorously, too.
Snow shovelling in Vancouver:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7oM3-tDELQ
Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Gotta laugh at what some Vancouverites (not Montreal ex-pats, of course) consider what requires immediate snow removal. The amount seen here wouldn't rate glance out east because the type of wet would have melted away in a very short while.
Okay, to be fair, the business owner likely wants his patrons to know that he cares about their safety, so I can't blame him for being conscientious, but the salt would do little if anything on already-melting snow.
Personally, I have indeed seen people shovelling a lot less than this from Vancouver sidewalks. Maybe they just needed something to do. Anyway, it's good exercise. :-)
Urban Legend....such a humble alias. Why not use your real name as a proud Montrealer? By the way.....The SPCA called.......I didn't get it all.....something about beating a dead horse?
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to takes sides, but, there IS some truth to the flogging the dead Cheval comment.
ReplyDeleteI DO NOT use my real name as I get enough stupid e-mails now and DO consider 'Identity Theft' a major concern.
My 'real account' is also connected with the Bank, Revenue Canada and so on.
Last place a person needs a hacker to get into.
I removed my telephone number from the local directory, as the listing can be used to sound as if the caller 'knows you' by saying something along the lines as; 'How are you today, Mr. MPI?"
He's got my name, so he might know me???
The Address could identify, as well as the Exchange, HUnter, a person living in a nice neighbourhood and they might come around and 'case the joint.'
I was hoping Mr. U.L. would buy a drone w/camera and check out if the broken bricks are still at the Terminal Rear of 5596 Snowdon back of the Synagogue on CSL rather than obsessing about blog life ALL the time.
Being right all the time can get wearing to others.
I go on about BTCo and the Railway, but, hope the stories are amusing, and, history? to those whom never lived before push button phones and when steam locomotives and their whistles were the rule.
Been there, done that.
Is it possible Quebec's problems might well NOW be new cultures, customs, religions and languages neither French nor English?? who don't give a Shit about Jacques Cartier nor Dorchester?
The Anglos and their dollars have already left the building.
Majority eventually rules, it seems, just like money and off-shore investing.
At least the constant ranting stopped, until this missive gest read??
Thank You.
The greed goes on...
ReplyDeletehttps://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/soaring-vancouver-home-prices-spur-anger-toward-foreign-052644854--sector.html
If I HAD to choose btwn Montreal and Vancouver I'd move to Saskatoon.
ReplyDeleteAltho' the WIND SUCKS.
Thank You.