Lament for a Notion: The Life and Death of Canada's Bilingual Dream

David De Brou is an assistant professor of history at the University of
Saskatchewan.

This book is a call to arms in the name of linguistic justice and
financial utilitarianism. For those of us who still believe in a
bilingual Canada, the author’s attack on official bilingualism is
frightening, although his study is articulate, well researched, and very
topical. Anyone fighting the battle against government waste will view
his analysis of Canada’s history of linguistic intolerance as proof
that English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians cannot live
together.

In attempting to measure how much official bilingualism has cost
Canadian taxpayers, Reid fails to carry his arguments to their logical
conclusions. If a non-English-speaking group (French, Italian, or
Cantonese, for example) outside Quebec constitutes a majority in a
school district, should the government refuse to support an
English-based curriculum in the name of cost efficiency? What about laws
dealing with wheelchair accessibility and racial discrimination? What do
they cost the majority of Canadian taxpayers? In the end, Canadians will
have to decide what kind of Canada they are willing to pay for.