Dear Editor,
Re: The Bernard Lord Report – A Multi Billion Dollar Boondoggle
It is no surprise that the bilingualism boondoggle is firmly rooted in our country’s proudest boondoggles: CBC, VIA Rail and Air Canada (now mercifully a private-sector boondoggle). I wrote a letter to VIA tearing a strip off their hyde over this .pdf electronic timetable misprint. Read the bottom: d : Reservations are rerquired before 17:00 the day of departure for train stop at St.Marys, Strathford
et Wyoming. First, “reservations” is misspelled. Second, there is no such town as “Strathford.” There is a stop at Strathroy (this train does not serve Stratford). Third, the word “et” does not exist in the English language. I told them, in no uncertain terms I had a right to the correct use of not only my language but the dominant language of this country.
I suggested to VIA that this was a direct result of having their head office in Montreal and a staff which was almost exclusively French with little English literacy. If you view their website, www.viarail.ca, some of the English is obviously a very clumsy translation from French. It’s not as annoying as viewing Korean Rail’s website, www.korail.kr (english), but it’s close. Going back to VIA’s website, click on OUR COMPANY (what the hell do they mean “OUR?”). I told VIA a Chinese manufacturer could be forgiven for providing incomprehensible translations, but VIA had no excuse.
The only VIA service I use with any regularity is its Toronto-New York service (and Toronto-Chicago service before they cancelled it). They use (and used) Amtrak rail cars staffed with VIA employees on this side of the border. Travellers from New York and Chicago have been able to make do with English-only announcements from the Amtrak staff all the way to the border, but once the train crosses into our country and VIA takes over, every syllable is translated. Interestingly, I have never heard a Spanish announcement on any Amtrak train. Even in California. San Diego. Los Angeles. San Francisco. English only.
Back in February, I travelled on a VIA train from Oshawa to Windsor. I was pleasantly surprised when the on-board staff used common sense and determined that passengers travelling on this route were probably fluent in English and, as such, made unilingual announcements.
One time, I visited a Petro-Canada gas station in Hull. The kid working there didn’t understand English (at least, he claimed not to). I felt sorry for him. He is trapped in the province of Quebec and even then his future career options will be extremely limited with no English skills.
I wok for GO Transit. Now the inevitable has happened and they went bilingual last year. All timetables are now printed in English and French. Even our internal bus driver’s / train conductor’s timetable is fully bilingual. WHY? Is there one single GO bus driver or conductor who only understands French? Now various signs are going up with French translations. This creates a problem. If somebody is visiting our city who speaks French and does not understand English, the fact that there is so much French signage and literature on our property suggests drivers also speak French. French has never been a requirement to work at GO Transit, nor is it now. Hell, a lot of GO bus drivers they are hiring these days can barely speak English!
If you ever post an article about VIA, watch out! I will spare no effort to illustrate my disdain for them.
As before, I respectfully request you do not post this as I value my cushy civil service job.
An excellent article as usual.
David Weatherbe
Oshawa, Ontario
