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[ laughter ] >> patrick: it is stupid. uh, i agree with you completely that this -- this province, 40 years ago, was in some respect, an english city. so we needed to have language laws for signage and stuff. >> anthony: now, signage, for instance, must by law be principally in french. french first in all things. >> patrick: but every bureaucracy produces byproducts of stupidity. and that was it. and you know what? it will not stand. >> anthony: the anglo-canadians treated french-speaking québécois like second-class crap for much of history. so, i get it. i'd be pissed, too. i'd want my own ...

My last name is bourdain. i lean french, hard. i am enormously sympathetic to the language laws. >> patrick: you don't think it's preposterous? >> anthony: i do not think it's preposterous. but here we have a situation. [ laughter ] >> patrick: it is stupid. uh, i agree with you completely that this -- this province, 40 years ago, was in some respect, an english city. so we needed to have language laws for signage and stuff. >> anthony: now, signage, for instance, must by law be principally in french. french first in all things. >> patrick: but every bureaucracy produces byproducts of stupidit...

>> patrick: you don't think it's preposterous? >> anthony: i do not think it's preposterous. but here we have a situation. [ laughter ] >> patrick: it is stupid. uh, i agree with you completely that this -- this province, 40 years ago, was in some respect, an english city. so we needed to have language laws for signage and stuff. >> anthony: now, signage, for instance, must by law be principally in french. french first in all things. >> patrick: but every bureaucracy produces byproducts of stupidity. and that was it. and you know what? it will not stand. >> anthony: the anglo-canadians treated...

Extent even today. journalist patrick lagacé meets me for lunch at bistro m sur masson to help me understand a little bit of what many québécois feel is at stake. so, i was going to talk about the whole history of french québécois identity, the separatist movement, all this, but i have to get right to the pressing matter of the day: pastagate. [ laughter ] >> patrick: pastagate. what do you want to know about pastagate? >> anthony: for those not up on current quebec politics, pastagate refers to an incident where local authorities notified an italian restaurant that they were in violation...

Preposterous. but here we have a situation. [ laughter ] >> patrick: it is stupid. uh, i agree with you completely that this -- this province, 40 years ago, was in some respect, an english city. so we needed to have language laws for signage and stuff. >> anthony: now, signage, for instance, must by law be principally in french. french first in all things. >> patrick: but every bureaucracy produces byproducts of stupidity. and that was it. and you know what? it will not stand. >> anthony: the anglo-canadians treated french-speaking québécois like second-class crap for much of history. so, i ...