GO's signs go French
LANGUAGE LAWS WILL COST SYSTEM $8.5M
By JASON BOTCHFORD, TORONTO SUN
GO TRANSIT is being forced to spend millions of dollars to put up French-language signs in places like Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga. Board chairman Gordon Chong said yesterday GO had little choice when it budgeted more than $8.5 million for the next three years to comply with the French-Language Services Act. After 2007, GO is budgeting an additional $2 million a year dedicated to upkeep on those French-language signs in English-speaking Ontario municipalities.
"It's definitely not a practical use of our money," Chong said. "We're not sure precisely why we have to comply because the fact is I doubt there are many people in the GTA who don't speak English."
The office of Francophone affairs has given GO Transit three years to comply with requirements in the act. Chong said GO fell under the act in 2001 after the provincial government took control.
A clause in the act requires a number of the province's cities, including Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, to display traffic signs in both English and French. Chong said GO will have to change signs in those municipalities and likely many more to have a uniform system that complies with the act. "There are pockets in the province where it would make sense but it doesn't make sense to do it in the GTA," Chong said.
GO budgeted as much as $6.5 million for the capital costs needed to change the signs during 2005-2007. Another $2 million has been set aside for the operating budget during the same time frame. The ministry of transportation and the Francophone affairs office must still sign off on the GO compliance plan before it can be implemented.
NO WAY AROUND LAW
Gabriel Manseau, a spokesman for the Francophone affairs office, said there was no chance GO would be able to get around the current law.
"(For GO to be exempt) you would have to revisit the law,"Manseau said. "The way it is now is the way it was passed and it was passed unanimously in 1996."
Chong said there was a sliver of hope GO would not have to change its signs. He said the board is now appointed by the province but if that structure was somehow changed there is a chance the transit system would no longer fall under the languages act.
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Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) || ID PLZ!PVD ID!!!
Disco and classical had sex while watching a sci-fi movie. Their child: trance.
Feb-18-2005 06:09
Marcus007
marrrrkeeesssss
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Montreal, Canada
See how much they'd make off Quebec! TENS of millions! I doubt they'll mind it in the long run.
I'm also stoned right now so ummmm, if nothing I'm saying makes sense then yeah....
Feb-18-2005 06:16
DJ Charlie
ARMIN ADDICT
Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Montreal, Canada
Good ! a plus for their culture.
learning to speak many language is a great tool
Feb-18-2005 06:42
ShadoWolf
ISOS
Registered: Apr 2002
Location: State of Trance
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Charlie
Good ! a plus for their culture.
learning to speak many language is a great tool
glad to see you're doing your part with the Quebec Language Law and all...
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Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) || ID PLZ!PVD ID!!!
Disco and classical had sex while watching a sci-fi movie. Their child: trance.
Feb-18-2005 06:53
RazerYokes
International TA
Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Montréal @ Canada
Insignifiant
Feb-18-2005 10:53
SiM PeµRf
p€uRf $qu@Ð
Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
learn french suckers...learn it
un peu de culture, ca vous fera pas de tort....
btw, does GTA mean grand toronto area??
LOL, gang de tetes enflées lol
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Feb-18-2005 14:00
Mike_B
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Montreal
everthing in Canada should be writing bilingual, this includes Quebec, they should amende their dumb law that says french need to be twice as big on sign then english. it should all be the same size accross the country
Feb-18-2005 14:59
alec
Bitch to Desyn Masiello
Registered: Sep 2002
Location: Ottawa, Canada
quote:
Originally posted by Mike_B
everthing in Canada should be writing bilingual, this includes Quebec, they should amende their dumb law that says french need to be twice as big on sign then english. it should all be the same size accross the country
west of Ottawa, almost no one speaks French, I think its kinda silly to enforce the rest of Canada to do so.
___________________
Max Walkers official TA fan club chapter president
quote:
Originally posted by DJMD123
Great googliemoogly!
Feb-18-2005 15:11
Mike_B
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Montreal
See ppl in quebec city don't speak english, so you're saying that there should be no english signs there. However we live in a bilingual country and ppl travel. Im pretty sure if you head to quebec it would be nice to have english signs to find you're way arround, Just like someone from quebec who happens to go to toronto/west ottawa would like to have french signs. And if everything was standardised in this manner it wouldn't be so expensive to have bilingual signs cause they all would be.
Feb-18-2005 15:54
ShadoWolf
ISOS
Registered: Apr 2002
Location: State of Trance
Ontario is not a bilingual province. In fact, almost noone west of Quebec speaks any French at all.
So why are we weasting millions to change the signs?
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Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) || ID PLZ!PVD ID!!!
Disco and classical had sex while watching a sci-fi movie. Their child: trance.
Feb-18-2005 16:06
Mike_B
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Oct 2002
Location: Montreal
spoken like a true torontonian
Actually a large % of ontario is french
If you go anywhere east of ottawa towards Cornwall, almost no one speak english. and many many citys in northern Ontario speak french. But what do i Care im perfectly bilingual so wherever i am im good.
Id do some reasearch becasue its been a while since i've seen the numbers, but i myself when to french school in ontario my hole life, except post secondairy ed. But i'll look it up when i get home
Feb-18-2005 16:16
SiM PeµRf
p€uRf $qu@Ð
Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
there are french people all across CAnada....if you didnt know that....ben tu manques vraiment de culture...
and what I think (answer to Mike_B) is that in quebec, freench should be twice bigger than english....and in other provinces, english twice bigger than french...but bilingual everywhere....
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**You've Been Pwnz By Pf Sqd Inc.**
Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) 
