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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2012 16:53:33 GMT
During the recent French elections, I was interested (but not surprised) to read that the largest group of French voters in the Western Hemisphere is located in Montréal and numbers 44,000. (I think #2 is NYC with about 30,000.) Yesterday I read that French Montréal voted for Hollande while French New York preferred Sarkozy.
Anyway, the Radio Canada website had a fascinating item today about French immigration to the province of Québec. There are currently 59,210 French-born immigrants. 40% of them arrived before 1981, 11% between 1981 and 1990, 24% between 1991 and 2000 and 25% between 2001 and 2006. 3000 new French immigrants arrive every year.
The French are the 3rd largest immigrant group to Québec after Algerians and Moroccans, and they represent 25% of the total immigrant population in the province.
5787 French students go to university in Québec (and I am sure they are participating in the current demonstrations). They are the largest group of students, ahead of Americans and Chinese.
The total French community in Québec, including temporary visitors and residents, is estimated to be 100,000.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2012 17:17:02 GMT
It doesn't surprise me that there are so many voters in Quebec going in for the French elections. They are closely connected. There are flights from and to Paris (and other parts of France) on an everyday regular basis, especially departing from Montreal.
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Post by lagatta on May 26, 2012 0:29:17 GMT
Yes, and often the plane to Paris is cheaper from here than the plane to Boston. (Boston is actually a few km closer than Toronto, but of course it isn't a domestic flight). Even before Internet was as generalized as it is now, given the time difference, we got French daily papers the "same day" at certain newsagent's. And the French elections were headline news here.
There are a fair number of Frenchpersons who return after some years though.
No. 2 is NYC. I believe no. 3 is LA, but much smaller.
One factor in the large number of students from France is that we have exchange programmes with France and other French-speaking countries in terms of tuition and other school fees. Frenchpersons, but also Belgians, Swiss (presumably if they are French-speaking?), and people from the francophone countries of North and West Africa don't pay more than Québécois students do, and this is reciprocal.
In generations past, French voters here tended to prefer the right. There has been a big change in the last 15 or 20 years. Wonder why it is so different between MTL and NYC? (And it wasn't a matter of a few percentage points either way - both groups gave a landslide vote to the winning candidate).
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Post by bixaorellana on May 26, 2012 1:07:31 GMT
Most interesting.
It would also be interesting to know the age make-up of the French in MTL and NY, along with other demographics. It might explain the way they voted.
I'm thinking of the conservative faction in the Cubans in south Florida and assuming that it might be well diluted by the sentiments of their children & grandchildren born after the 60s.
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Post by bjd on May 26, 2012 7:28:24 GMT
I would have thought the largest number of French voters was in London, England. There is a huge French community there.
And I imagine that the NY French vote for the right has to do with the fact that many French living there are doing so for business, so see the right as more business-friendly.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2012 9:55:17 GMT
Montréal and NYC have the largest numbers of French voters in the Western Hemisphere. I don't know about Europe, but the way that the international voting districts were drwn up would seem to imply that there are huge numbers of French in Switzerland and Belgium, which is sort of logical.
Ah.... I just looked it up. 155,743 French voters in Switzerland, 123,306 in the United Kingdom. 122,700 in the United States.
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Post by bjd on May 26, 2012 11:30:02 GMT
Sorry to nitpick, but isn't Europe in the Western Hemisphere?
I'm surprised at the number of French voters in Switzerland. I would have thought many French who work in Switzerland live across the border in France.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2012 11:32:10 GMT
Nope, Europe is in the Eastern Hemisphere.
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Post by bjd on May 26, 2012 13:55:11 GMT
Not all of it. A few countries are in both. I have actually never wondered about this before.  |
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Post by fumobici on May 26, 2012 20:02:39 GMT
The Eastern/Western hemispheres distinction seems to predate the 0/prime meridian being sited in Greenwich. Up until sometime in the 18th c. the 0 meridian was roughly Mid-atlantic. This all based on nothing more than a close familiarity with archaic cartography. Maybe less ambiguous to think in terms of new world/old world. Or not.
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