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A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

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Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#31
post #29
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> first step It starts with this and then could become if you're not apart of the list you're going to have "more problems". What other province is doing this? In my opinion this makes it more complicated already. It always starts with a first step, Bill 101 exists to protect the French culture. Now people actively use it as an exploit against companies. I've known people who use Bill 101 to have documents provided i…

Most of the issues and why a lot of things are not offered in Quebec is rarely because of bill 101 or language in general. It is not difficult to get something translated and offer it in a binlingual version. Heck, countries with much smaller populations get a localized version of international products. Usually, at least when i was in insurance, it is because of legal and regulatory reason. While the law systems in…

There are also stronger consumer direction laws. Good for us, but yeah, more legal checks to do :)

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#32
post #2

Damn it! I live in Quebec, this province makes everything extremely complicated and then wonders why most companies don't want to deal with them and most people leave. Went to buy insurance, couldn't because ToS lists countries couldn't do business with includes, Sadi, Iran, Iraq and Quebec. Most Canadian's know to live in this province only if you can maximize the gains from it. Buying a first time house, starting a…

I live in quebec.

My kids go to a nice school. I live in a nice neighborhood. I get the nice metro to work. Or I cycle on the nice cycle network.

I got my covid test, and result. I saw a really good doctor the same day. The same doctor rang me back 2 days later to check up on me at home.

My kids would normally be in and out of a fantastic, modern library, or at the pool, or playing soccer in the great parks. Sadly the lockdown has temporarily stopped that, but it will be back.

If I go outside I'm not avoiding the homeless in huge numbers. Rent and housing are not absurdly expensive, allowing affordability for families.

Yes Quebec has areas to improve, but it's a great place.

If being a great place for companies made for a good society then the UK and USA wouldn't be on their knees.

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#33
post #30
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is not the bad, most of the time when there is actual abuse there is a social outrage and they back off. Bill 101 was created to protect the only French-speaking group in America. It's by definition a lesser evil to protect French from declining and it is visibly not enough since the percentage of French speaker across the province is going down.

There are quite a few other French-speaking places in America and most of them are (or see themselves) under no cultural threat. Bill 101 was only created by the Quebecers for themselves, not by some entity above them in order to protect them.

Citation needed. French is definitely in decline in Louisiana and some efforts are being put in place https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/louisiana-french... .

Similarly story for New Brunswick as far as I know. Those two are, to my knowledge, the biggest francophone regions outside Québec in North-America. Franco-Ontariens are not very happy either right now with Doug Ford cutting French services. I don't disagree with you second sentence.

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#34
post #2

Damn it! I live in Quebec, this province makes everything extremely complicated and then wonders why most companies don't want to deal with them and most people leave. Went to buy insurance, couldn't because ToS lists countries couldn't do business with includes, Sadi, Iran, Iraq and Quebec. Most Canadian's know to live in this province only if you can maximize the gains from it. Buying a first time house, starting a…

> Went to buy insurance, couldn't because ToS lists countries couldn't do business with includes, Sadi, Iran, Iraq and Quebec. What company is this out of curiosity? To think they see nations entrenched by Wahhabism, or Shariah Law to be on equal footing with Quebec when assessing their threat analysis', it seems like quite a leap in risk management strategies. I'm told Quebec is a lovely place, to visit... mainly fo…

>> To think they see nations entrenched by Wahhabism, or Shariah Law to be on equal footing with Quebec

It's not this - the laws around insurance, contests and many contracts are different than the rest of Canada; many companies find it's not cost-effective to have to support another jurisdiction for the potential customer base so they just exclude it.

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#35
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few other French-speaking places in America and most of them are (or see themselves) under no cultural threat. Bill 101 was only created by the Quebecers for themselves, not by some entity above them in order to protect them.

Citation needed. French is definitely in decline in Louisiana and some efforts are being put in place https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/louisiana-french... . Similarly story for New Brunswick as far as I know. Those two are, to my knowledge, the biggest francophone regions outside Québec in North-America. Franco-Ontariens are not very happy either right now with Doug Ford cutting French services. I don't di…

I didn't really think about New Brunswick and Louisiana as those only have French-speaking minorities of tens of thousand people.

Haiti and the various French territories have many more French speakers than those (more or less 7 million, only slightly less than Québec has).

Edit I'm afraid that without an actual source you might not believe me, so here it is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_F...

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#36
post #2

Damn it! I live in Quebec, this province makes everything extremely complicated and then wonders why most companies don't want to deal with them and most people leave. Went to buy insurance, couldn't because ToS lists countries couldn't do business with includes, Sadi, Iran, Iraq and Quebec. Most Canadian's know to live in this province only if you can maximize the gains from it. Buying a first time house, starting a…

What type of insurance can't you get in Quebec? Insurance is usually cheaper in Quebec compared to its peers (Ontario & BC).

Flight cancellation insurance, for example. Personal car insurance in QC is cheaper partially because SAAQ is basically as co-insurer for the car incident disabilities. Some personal insurances are cheaper in QC. Commercial insurances most of the time is the over way around.

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#37
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few other French-speaking places in America and most of them are (or see themselves) under no cultural threat. Bill 101 was only created by the Quebecers for themselves, not by some entity above them in order to protect them.

Citation needed. French is definitely in decline in Louisiana and some efforts are being put in place https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/louisiana-french... . Similarly story for New Brunswick as far as I know. Those two are, to my knowledge, the biggest francophone regions outside Québec in North-America. Franco-Ontariens are not very happy either right now with Doug Ford cutting French services. I don't di…

Replying to seszett; You're right, I forgot about Haïti. Don't forget that they are their own country so they are not quite under the same amount of pressure than Québec or other French minorities in NA. Apart from that I don't really see your point; the other francophone territories in NA are mostly France's Territoires d'Outre Mer so of course they wouldn't feel that their French culture is under threat... Let's just say I'm less than convinced by your point here

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#38
post #2

Damn it! I live in Quebec, this province makes everything extremely complicated and then wonders why most companies don't want to deal with them and most people leave. Went to buy insurance, couldn't because ToS lists countries couldn't do business with includes, Sadi, Iran, Iraq and Quebec. Most Canadian's know to live in this province only if you can maximize the gains from it. Buying a first time house, starting a…

I live in quebec. My kids go to a nice school. I live in a nice neighborhood. I get the nice metro to work. Or I cycle on the nice cycle network. I got my covid test, and result. I saw a really good doctor the same day. The same doctor rang me back 2 days later to check up on me at home. My kids would normally be in and out of a fantastic, modern library, or at the pool, or playing soccer in the great parks. Sadly th…

...and my kinds go to overcrowded 'secondaire' (with very questionable teaching quality all across the QC, yes I seen articles praising how good is QC in math)

...and I often stuck on overcrowded orange line (last year was was the worst in delays)

...had to travel for the medical reasons abroad, wait times in QC are really bad if you are not dying right now

...I also don't specifically avoid homeless people, but sometimes it hard to take cash on Sainte-Catherine - people doing drugs near indoor ATMs in the winter because they are heated

...and my kids also like BAnQ library, yet ~about a year ago all soft chairs/sofas were replaced by plastic, because BAnQ is partially a homeless shelter

But hey, enjoy your Quebec, Montreal specifically, as I see. ...and I will try to overcome my issues, in my Quebec.

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#39

This seems kind of doomed to fail. Amazon is appealing because it provides a good customer experience: good prices, fast shipping, wide variety of products, responsive customer service, etc. More local businesses fail to compete because they mostly offer the same things with worse prices and experience. It's one thing to appeal to people's sense of civic responsibility for the environment, another thing entirely for…

>>> it provides a good customer experience: good prices Amazon had not offered better prices than the main brick-and-mortar shops for a long long time. Try comparing the items you see in shops with the same on Amazon and be Amazed. The best are small household items. Sellers buy from Ikea and resell on Amazon. Sometimes customers find out and they post reviews you can imagine, "OMG this is the £4 cutlery pack from Ik…

They do the same on eBay, too. I've had to warn friends that finding the cheapest seller for a given item on eBay may still be substantially more expensive than buying the same item directly from Ikea.

(Sometimes it does make sense to buy from the eBay or Amazon marketplace reseller, if it's a small item where their markup + shipping is less than Ikea's per-order delivery charge.)

Re: A fight against Amazon becomes a state matter in Quebec

#40
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now compare the cost of what you mentioned in monetary terms to the cost savings for consumers (which is essentially everyone) - which is larger?

Would you prefer local business employed and pay more for everything, or pay less for everything and have unemployed unhappy people around?

The former. That’s why I still hire our local horse-drawn-buggy service. Car purchasers have destroyed their industry and eliminated jobs.
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