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En francais,

The gap in Quebec’s
thinking

By Eric Wilkins,
Staff Writer

he six major corpora-

tions in Quebec—Best
Buy Canada, Costco
Wholesale Canada, Gap
Canada, Old Navy, Guess
Canada and Wal-mart
Canada—are taking
the Office québécois
de la langue francaise
(OQLF), Quebec’s
language watchdog, to
court over pressures to
Frenchify their names.

Only in Quebec.

I never tire of hear-
ing the latest Québécois
actions being taken to
save their language.

Though it’s not like
anyone actually speaks
proper French in Quebec
anyway; it’s not quite
Groundskeeper Willie
having a go at the wine
tongue, but it’s not
the prettiest dialect
they’ve got going on.
The OQLF is off its
rocker here. Asking com-
panies to change/add
to their name? A name
is a brand’s identity; it’s
what they are and what
the public recognizes
them as. Vieux Marine?
Mur Marche? Meilleur
Achat? None of these
quite have the same ring
to it. Will adding “le”
in front of Gap really
appease the OQLF?
Why don’t they just

Sil vous plait

outlaw English names
altogether? Have every
Tom, Dick, and Harry
become Jean, Claude,
and Maurice? Where
do you draw the line?
Of course, it’s all
just adults making like
petty children in the end.
Two sides digging their
heels into the ground
just to spite the other. A
name change/addition
wont really impact an
established business’
sales. Staples has been
parading around la
belle province for years
as Bureau en Gros and
they’re doing just fine.
These corporations will
lose more money fighting
in court then they could
ever hope to gain from

Opinions

the (perceived) benefit
of keeping their English
titles. That being said,
why should the OQLF
care so much? Whether
you think French in
Quebec is suffering
or not, do you really
think a few store signs
and billboard ads are
going to make a dif-
ference? Besides, last
time I checked—since
we're talking about
Quebec here—all of
these stores employ
workers who can, and
do, speak French while
on the job. And isn’t
that what the hard core
Quebecers really want?
Finishing on a
slightly more political
note, the PQ’s coming

to power has really
started to put Quebec in
a negative light. Their
stance towards ram-
ming French home has
opened the door for all
of the radicals to come
scrambling out of their
hiding places. I’d never
heard of anyone being
beaten up for speaking
English until the current
regime came in. Likewise
in this case—though it’s
a good deal milder—the
OQLF likely wouldn’t
have pushed for such
unnecessary renaming
if they didn’t essentially
have two fat thumbs

up from the ruling
party. Worrying times.

Sports.

Royals Roundup: Next stop, Nationals!

By Josh Martin,
Sports Editor

he Royals men’s

soccer team are the
PACWEST Provincial
Champions after beat-
ing the VIU Mariners in
the Gold medal game
on Sunday by a score of
3-0. Sahil Sandhu—who
was recently named the
PACWEST Male Player
of the Year—scored in
the first half off a header
after a corner kick.
A Mariners defender
deflected a corner kick
into his own net to
make it 2-0, and Jag Gill
scored the third tally for
the Royals to bring it
home. Gill from Douglas
College and Jordan de

Graff from VIU were the

players of the game.
Both teams will
be representing

PACWEST at the CCAA

Nationals—hosted by
Douglas College—next
week, where the
Royals players will

be sporting their best
moustaches in support
of raising awareness
and money for prostate

cancer. Douglas College

recently announced a

fundraising partnership

between Movember
Canada and the CCAA
Men/’s Soccer National
Championships.

The Royals men’s
volleyball team had a
successful weekend as

well, defeating the CBC

Bearcats in back-to-back
matches 3-0 apiece on
Friday and Saturday.
They host the VIU
Mariners this Friday at
8 p.m. and this Saturday
at 3 p.m. The unde-
feated Royals are sitting
pretty at first place in
the standings with six
wins and 12 points.

The women’s vol-
leyball team lost both
of their matches against
the Bearcats, 3-0 apiece.
They face the Mariners
this Friday at 6 p.m.
and Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Royals are sixth
in the standings with
a 2-4 record and four
points in six matches.

The men and
women’s basketball

season is about to begin

with season openers this

Friday in Langara. The

men’s team will be play-

 

ing the Falcons at 8 p.m.
while the women’s team
will be playing at 6 p.m.

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