Michel,

I *hope* it is speculation on your part about any large company in general, and one more specifically, would avoid holding contests in Canada because of the need for TRANSLATION! After all, Canada is certainly not the *only* country in the world with more than one OFFICIAL language - some have four or five!

A very large company very related to THIS business has, numerous times, sent me literature which was in both official languages. That same company sell products all over the world, with versions of their major products "localized" to the specific languages.

No, unless you have been told DIRECTLY by an AUTHORITATIVE source, the issue has nothing to do with OFFICIAL languages (much as those with Separatist leanings would like to make it look otherwise).

A debate has been on-going in the U.S. for a few years now on "bilingualism". In this case it is English and Spanish. I believe that the movement is small right now, but these things grow over time, and one day the mighty U.S. may also have two official languages! Probably not in my lifetime, though.

Look at the TAX law related to contests/giveaways in QUEBEC. There you will find the source of all of these problems.

By the way, if its recognition you are worried about, I wouldn't be worried at all IF I WERE YOU. I would bet that Michel Fournier, Fournier Transformations and Universal Thread are more widely recognized that certain VFP-related magazines!!!

Cheers,
Jim N

>>To the best of my knowledge, this is the first contest I have ever heard of the makes a distinction of not including Quebec in a contest that includes Canada. Also, it may be interseting to note that if it is due to a difference of English law vs. French law, why wasn't the state of Louisiana excluded. A lot of their state laws are based on the French judicial system as well.
>
>A lot of things is difficult to understand in that contest. As for US, since there is only one national official language, which is English, this is why it does not represent a problem. In Canada, we have two official languages. By including Canada, contest documentation need to be available in full in English and in French, either Quebec included or not. And, there is also other factors involved. I will try to explain more later.