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As a long-retired school administrator, over the years I observed that most parents shared one objective: to make sure their children had the best chance for a meaningful life. Perhaps that meant focusing on certain math courses that were prerequisites for other programs. Often it meant ensuring a level of French proficiency that would, they expected, afford their child a level playing field. Parents would camp out in wintery conditions to enrol their youngsters in a highly regarded French immersion school.

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Headlines now suggest that level playing field is unattainable, with essential aspects of anglo life under attack. In just two years, English CEGEP enrolment has been capped, and universities have lost out-of-province students and accompanying finances because of the tuition hike.

Now English health care has been targeted. Stories have highlighted the potential effect for hospitals, but questions arising from the Health Ministry directive on the use of languages other than French (which French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge has said will be reworded) apply to the entire network. Can your pharmacist dispense prescriptions with English instructions? Can your doctor write referrals to specialists in English? What about your patient file itself?

Every reader of this article has probably heard a parent proudly proclaim how fluent their child is in French, usually as a result of either immersion or attending a French school. But the level playing field has been tilted in recent years. Many children speak English at the kitchen table, don’t recognize Quebec TV stars and might even speak English on Ste-Catherine St., and it often seems as if these are considered to be limiting factors on their future in this province.

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The “tilt” bell is ringing loudly, and that may signal the end of the game.

I always tried to be an advocate for the young. We can encourage them to stay in Quebec, but recent history suggests they will suffer the constant chipping away of rights, resulting in prolonged court cases involving the targeted institutions. Some may be won, but many will be lost, especially with the government’s pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause for certain legislation. The economic and personal costs of these unending battles lessen the overall quality of life.

When we or our ancestors came here for a better life, it was often a dramatic move entailing a final goodbye to family left behind. By contrast, a move to elsewhere in Canada is relatively simple, with virtually no paperwork, easy travel and unlimited connection via internet and phone.

Most parents take proactive steps to give their children the best chance of success — searching out good schools, providing tutoring when required, signing them up for extracurricular activities. Why do this and then urge them to remain in a province that seems to resent their very presence and their language being visible?

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Many of us left family behind somewhere to seek a life of greater opportunity. Should our children or grandchildren not follow suit?

My age and status as a historic anglophone octogenarian will protect me from seeing the evaporation of the English community, but it will not protect my grandchildren. I advise them to follow the example of my own grandparents, who fled their birthplace for a more promising future. To advise differently is, I believe, contrary to otherwise exemplary efforts to improve a child’s future, perhaps based on a selfish desire to have offspring remain close by.

Esteemed philosopher Kenny Rogers sagely advised that you “gotta know when to fold ’em.” For a more tranquil future, the time has come for young anglos in this province to toss their cards to the dealer.

Ronald G. Macfarlane is a former principal with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal and the English Montreal School Board. He retired in 1999 and lives in Pointe-Claire.

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