Example The French English Conflict example essay topic

The topic chosen is: Today I will intend to demonstrate the based on an understanding of the concepts of conflict and cleavages (noting vertical, horizontal, coincidental, and crosscutting) in Canadian society, discuss the significant social, cultural, and / or economic issues between Quebec and the rest of Canada and their impact on the Canadian political system. Demonstrate an awareness of the positions on each side of these issues. (You may refer to the Mc Roberts article, "Quebec: Province, Nation, or 'Distinct Society'", in Whittington and Williams. First to understand everything we must understand the vocabulary. Believe me this vocabulary is not an everyday conversation vocabulary.

1. Concepts of conflict: The triumvirate of boundless human wants, the social nature of the human condition, and limited or scarce resources combines to produce a situation where individuals or aggregations of individuals within societies must compete with others to maximize personal or group satisfaction. In other words, there exists a potential situation of virtually endless squabbling over who gets what, when, and how much of the available resources. This competition or conflict occurs at several levels. Here are other examples of different conflicts that we all herd of. At one level, individuals may compete directly with other individuals, because, in spite of some halting evidence of changing values in North America, getting a promotion, finding a job in the first place, winning a scholarship, or having a nicer garden than the neighbor's are still central concerns of life.

Examples Job competition at the city level for fire fighter positions But conflict often transcends the individual level. Groups of people with interests in common are also in competition with other groups. Labour unions compete with management and with each other, farmers compete with nonagricultural occupational groups, and fire fighters unions with city officials. Example City of Granby Quebec vs. the fire fighter in civil court.

Intergroup competition is a sort of bargaining game where the prize is the larger share of available but limited resources. Example fire fighter union wanting more money and benefits. Moreover, competition among groups in society is transcended by even broader-based conflict among aggregations of groups or sectors. Example the Montreal fire fighter union vs. the Granby fire fighter union. Conflict within a nation state may also occur between and among large national, cultural, or regional groups. Example The French-English conflict that colors so much of Canadian politics about the language issue The increasing demands of our aboriginal peoples for the settlement of land claims and recognition of their right to self- government might also be viewed in this way.

Still another level, we see whole societies in conflict in the international arena, where sovereign states are the actors competing for global power and influence and where the ultimate manifestation of conflict is war. Example Bosnian conflict of 1992 to today. 2. Concepts of cleavages is: The politically relevant differences among various groups and individuals are called cleavages.

Example: the uneven distribution of wealth among regions, groups, and individuals in Canada is a critical determinant of the lines of conflict or cleavages in Canadian society and has an immediate impact on the political behaviour of voters, interest groups, and politicians. 3. vertical cleavage: Vertical cleavages are based on essentially economic factors, such as level of income, social status, or class. Competing groups in this category square off in political conflicts according to their relative wealth or economic opportunity. 4. horizontal cleavage: Horizontal cleavages are based on non-economic factors, such as region, ethnicity, gender, and age, which can either cut across or coincide with economic factors. 5. coincidental cleavage: This coincidence of cleavage deepens the conflict between groups and makes the conflict more difficult for government to manage. For example, racial conflict is made more severe if it is accompanied by a significant disparity in wealth or economic opportunity, and differences in employment opportunities between men and women can exacerbate gender cleavages. 6. crosscutting cleavage: a phenomenon which has the effect of diffusing and weakening political conflicts. As the vocabulary is done lets discuss the significant social, cultural, and / or economic issues between Quebec and the rest of Canada and their impact on the Canadian political system. As a Bilingual Canadian myself, I am not too proud of my Qu " eb'ecois heritage. I don't believe in the sovereignty of Quebec.

It is true that in Quebec we are distinctive, but this is only for one reason, the majority of the province speaks French. Clearly, Quebec is "distinct" in the sense of being "distinctive" or "different". Most obviously, it is different in terms of the first language of its residents: Quebec is the only province in which the population is primarily francophone. In 1991, 82 percent of its residents spoke French in the home. In New Brunswick, the province with the next largest francophone presence, only 31 percent spoke French at home. In Ontario, the figure was 4 percent; while in all other provinces it was 3 percent or less.

In fact, Quebec contained 90 percent of Canadians who use French at home. ' For some Quebec francophones being a Qu " eb'ecois in the true sovereignty way is the end of the world. For them anything less than "distinct society" would not do justice to the reality of contemporary Quebec as they understand it. In fact, "distinct society" is only one among several different formulations of the same theme: "statut particulier, statut distinct, pas une province comme les autres", and so on. But what is funny most people that I have had political discussions, were ignorant on Quebec's history, or they did not know the implications of a separation with Canada would do.

Quebec's political life is distinctive in a great many ways. In terms of political institutions, Quebec civil law is based on the Civil Code rather than on common law as in all the other provinces, and the symbols of the Crown have been markedly downplayed. Quebec provincial governments have pursued policies strikingly different from those of the other provinces. Even our fire codes and other standards are different then other provinces; in some cases, we have no laws or standards in fire protection.

The Quebec government an most often the "Partie Qu " eb'ecois", are concern with the maintaining of Quebec's cultural distinctiveness. This has led the provincial government to assume a much more important role than have the other provinces in selecting and settling immigrants. In our province, we even have our immigration. This was put in place so that Qu " ebec never looses its place and gets assimilated language wise. The Quebec government also helps a great deal in supporting and regulating cultural activities such as book publishing. A good example of publishing books would be our fire-fighting book.

All our training books are made by an American organization called N.F.P.A. (National Fire Protection Agency). It took 22 year before the Qu " ebec governments herd our cry for help. Our last version was only dated in 1981. The Qu " ebec government even passed a law basically saying that all new films coming to Quebec must be in French. In other words the distribution of films must arrive in french at the video store. This in most cases causes a problem, the movie industry usually has the english version out, before the french translation is done.

Thus, causing a huge delay in entertainment. Even the radio stations must pass 60 percent of their songs in french. This is absurd, especially when you have visited France, they don't even do that. Beyond differences such as these, Quebec is also distinct in terms of its separateness from the other provinces. This separateness is evident, for instance, in the sources of news and entertainment to which most of its population turns-French-language media that are institutionally separate from their English-Canadian counterparts.

We have different cultural needs. The "Qu " eb'ecois" don't have the same humour as the English Canadian. A good example, is looking at the "Just for laughs international show" in Montreal, the cultural diversity is unbelievable. Other areas of governmental activity also seem to reflect the impact of a distinctive balance of social forces. In labour relations, Quebec was the first government in North America to grant the right to strike in the public sector, and still remains the only government with an "anti-scab" law. Quebec pioneered in Canada the establishment of multifunctional public clinics, or Centres loc aux de services communautaire's, which seek to combine health and social services in a highly innovative fashion.

Today, these "C LSC" often do the triage for most hospitals because of the huge waiting lists. They also are the first line medical education toward prevention i.e. childcare, sex education with the teenagers ect. During the 1960's, Quebec led the way among provincial governments in establishing a network of state enterprises; such as Hydro Qu " ebec. Today it is still there selling electricity to Ontario and the U.S. all at a lower price then to here own people. Which a lot of people are complaining. This has even defeated certain political groups such as the "Partie Qu " eb'ecois", two elections ago.

Since then it has become a private company, just like the Canadian mail posts. As one might expect, this manifest distinctiveness of Quebec society, and the sense of uniqueness associated with it, has encouraged distinct political loyalties. Quebec's political institutions command an allegiance among Quebec francophones that has no clear parallel in the other provinces. All of this has made our society distinct in many ways. Quebecker's are only trying to preserve there way of life, I am told but what about my way of life. In may opinion they are doing what the British did a long time ago.

They too tried to assimilate the French, but with a good act of contentiously they did not take completely their way of life. Here, today it is done the wrong way. As a famous Quebec prim minister said" Take the 101 or take the 401" As a bilingual Canadian, I feel that the Quebecois government is trying assimilate the small english communities of Quebec, by imposing there way of life. Our taxes causes a lot of vertical cleavage in the Quebec society.

Our taxes are among the highest, if not, the highest in Canada. This is often said buy the Quebec government in times of elections or for a referendum for sovereignty. On the economic side, truly believe that the rest of Canada, most likely, envies Quebec for it's rich resources. Our forests hold the best pulp and paper industries.

Our soil have the best farms and mines. Our mines give some of the best gold in Canada. We also have the largest salt mines and asbestos mines in the world. Our geographical position in this country is the best. Just think of the St-Laurence sea way, for our exports. For this reason we have lots of vertical cleavage with other provinces and the federal government.

The best example is our electricity. Ontario buys some electricity, at higher prices than the U.S. Now that causes friction.