> That said, I live in Alberta now and normal serious parents tend to send their kids to French immersion.

Not really true, there is usually a very limited number of seats in french immersion. In the school district where I live, its a lottery system of who gets to go into french immersion as there are limited seats. Also you're implying that parents are not doing a good job if they don't send their kids to french immersion which is patently false.

> It's a leg up if you are going to get a government job, and it is pretty cool

In certain positions in the federal government, possibly. I know lots of people who work in provincial governments that don't know any french, and have never been required to know any.