Tag Archive for: Brain drain

42% of Anglos considered leaving Quebec post PQ win: poll

The election of the minority Parti Québécois government last September has many anglophones questioning their future in Quebec, a new poll commissioned by the CBC suggests.
Forty-two per cent of those surveyed in the EKOS research poll said they have considered leaving the province in the wake of the PQ victory.
In particular, the PQ’s stance on language restrictions has raised eyebrows in the English-speaking community.
On Sunday, a crowd gathered in front of Premier Pauline Marois’ Montreal office to protest Bill 14, which proposes amendments to Quebec’s language laws.
[…]
 
The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), an organization that works to defend the rights of anglophones, said it’s not surprised people are crossing the border.
‘There’s an enormous brain drain’—Sylvia Martin-Laforge, QCGN Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the QCGN, said she is not surprised a significant population of English-speakers has considered leaving.
 
For her, the poll results suggest a significant percentage of the English-speaking population is unhappy about their place in Quebec.
“Forty-two per cent is a pretty big number,” she said.
Martin-Laforge said the PQ’s stance on language laws has created concern among anglophones since the election.

42% of Anglos considered leaving Quebec post PQ win: poll

The election of the minority Parti Québécois government last September has many anglophones questioning their future in Quebec, a new poll commissioned by the CBC suggests.
Forty-two per cent of those surveyed in the EKOS research poll said they have considered leaving the province in the wake of the PQ victory.
In particular, the PQ’s stance on language restrictions has raised eyebrows in the English-speaking community.
On Sunday, a crowd gathered in front of Premier Pauline Marois’ Montreal office to protest Bill 14, which proposes amendments to Quebec’s language laws.
[…]
The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), an organization that works to defend the rights of anglophones, said it’s not surprised people are crossing the border.
‘There’s an enormous brain drain’—Sylvia Martin-Laforge, QCGN Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the QCGN, said she is not surprised a significant population of English-speakers has considered leaving.
 
For her, the poll results suggest a significant percentage of the English-speaking population is unhappy about their place in Quebec.
“Forty-two per cent is a pretty big number,” she said.
Martin-Laforge said the PQ’s stance on language laws has created concern among anglophones since the election.

 

Que.’s anglophones battling ‘brain drain’: Group

Canwest News Service, Mike De Souza

OTTAWA – English communities, institutions and services in Quebec have weakened over the past four decades, and are in need federal support to stop a brain drain, an umbrella group for the province’s anglophones said in Parliament on Monday.

”English-speaking Quebec faces the particular challenge of being a minority within a minority which, let’s face it, is not always recognized as such by key decision-makers and opinion-leaders,” said Robert Donnelly, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network at a Senate hearing on Canada’s official languages. ”The answer is not to divide the existing pie differently because the francophone minority is also in need of fair funding. We just need a bigger pie.” Read more…

Brain drain, brain gain

The Gazette, David Johnston

Although the anglophone community of Quebec has started to grow again after four decades of decline, concerns about a brain drain continue.

The most recent study that looked at the education levels of “leavers” and “stayers” found a clear correlation between years of schooling and the likelihood of leaving Quebec.

The study, of 2001 census data, by researchers William Floch of the federal Heritage Department and sociologist Joanne Pocock of Carleton University, found two in every three Quebec-born anglos with master’s degrees were no longer living in Quebec in 2001. For Ph.D.s, the brain drain was equal to three in every four. Read more…

Economic downturn might keep young anglos here

The Gazette, David Johnston

Although political and linguistic uncertainty is receding in Quebec, a new era of economic uncertainty is beginning to take hold. The unfolding new economic downturn has brought a new dimension to the decision of young anglophones to stay or leave Quebec.

“This time around, the grass won’t be any greener on the other side of the hill,” says Carlos Leitao, chief economist at Laurentian Bank Securities in Montreal. Jobs likely won’t be any easier to find in the rest of Canada, he says. In fact, he says employment prospects could turn out to be better here. Read more…