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Comment by 71a54xd | Hacker News Reader

Real estate in Montreal is strikingly affordable given the build quality and location. I'm not sure I'll every quite understand it relative to residential real estate in New York or Austin.

It's insane that for a paltry $400k USD in Montreal you can buy a luxury 2br condo.

Although, with all the talks of interest rates... does Canada have a similar policy for mortgages where there is not true concept of a "fixed rate" mortgage for a term longer than five years? I was stunned to learn that in New Zealand mortgages aren't backed by the gov in most cases so mortgage rates are assessed every 3-5 years - which is insane.

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Nobody wants to live in Quebec though because of the francophone laws.

Is it really that bad? I've spent about a month per year there and I wasn't too bothered.

Recently it's become illegal to provide civil services in any language but French; this includes services that are government funded, like public libraries. There are four exceptions to this rule: you're First-Nations or Inuit, you arrived less than six months ago, you can provide proof you used English exclusively with the government before 2021, you can provide proof you are a student at an English-speaking school. There's also the warrantless search-and-siezure powers held by the Office Quebecois de la Langue Francaise (OQLF) where they can walk into any business unannounced and inspect your internal correspondence to make sure your employees are only using French. Employers who wish to hire an employee whose primary language isn't French must submit a written explanation to the OQLF as to why. Any companies with more than 25 employees can be asked by the OQLF to submit scheduled reports on how they are protecting use of French in their workplaces.

Ask wikipedia about "Pastagate"; things have become more severe since.

Wow, that's insane. Does this kind of search and seizure also apply to private residences?

Also, curious how this would impede every day life for someone who spoke passable french but worked remote for a US company? In my estimation they can't ban AI or tools that let you visually translate automatically?

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