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On Sept. 9, Canada’s Official Languages Act turns 45.

Expect no candles, no cake: 1969 is a foreign country, never to be visited again.

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The idea of an officially bilingual city of Ottawa is an idea that was born in that era, only to slip into a coma from which it sometimes wakes.

A group is lately pushing the proposal as a 2017 project (Canada’s 150th), and there was Ottawa-Vanier MP Mauril Bélanger supporting the idea in a newspaper interview this week.

Many, including Mayor Jim Watson, have indicated this is a bird without wings, destined to stay flightless for the foreseeable future.

But no one has expounded on the real reason, which is this: In a government town like Ottawa, where thousands have been forced to drink the Kool-Aid, the feds have poisoned the well.

The workers in the public service know that official bilingualism, which is a fine idea in theory, has been implemented in a way that makes people cynical, if not crazy.