Getting Religion Out of Taxis

A Montreal cabbie is taking the government to court because he has been fined for displaying Jewish religious articles in his car. The taxi bureau maintains that the car is a 'public' space and as such should be free of religious references. An article in the Globe and Mail was generally sympathetic to the cabby's position;

Mr. Perecowicz says he's not especially religious, but he's comforted by having articles of his Jewish faith in the car, including photos of the late Lubovoitcher spiritual leader and two mezuzahs affixed to the car frame between the front and back doors. (A mezuzah, typically affixed to doorframes of Jewish homes, is a tiny prayer parchment that, according to Jewish beliefs, offers protection.) Globe & Mail.

Of course the Quebec Jewish Congress, always quick to see discrimination in any situation, is lending him moral support in his quest to assert religious freedom in taxis.

It's positions like this, that have led the organization to lose it's credibility, even amongst many Jews.

Should a taxi driver be allowed to post pictures of his family, affix a crucifix or a rosary, place images of the Virgin Mary or perhaps hang a voodoo doll from the rear view mirror?

Some of you would agree, most would not.

Should Hare Krishna taxi drivers be allowed to burn incense in the car?
Should drivers be allowed to play loud rock music or worse still, howling religious or ethnic music?
Most would agree that incense and loud music cross the line, but why is an assault on the nose and on the ears worse than an assault on the eyes?

Where do we draw the line?

Me, the only picture I want to see in a cab is the mugshot in the taxi license.

I'm not that interested in being in a synagogue, mosque or church or being exposed to family photos. I don't want to see pictures of the Ayatollah, the Virgin Mary or the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I'd also appreciate if the cab was clean and that the cabby drove safely and that he didn't talk on a cell phone or eat lunch during the trip.
How about that!!! Maybe cabbies would earn more if they treated customers better. It's a novel concept.

Mr. Perecowicz says that in 40 odd years nobody got out of his cab because they were offended.
That doesn't mean that his garish display of personal memorabilia is appreciated. I don't think I'd like to see a personalized display of personal items at the license bureau, the post office or at the bank. It's a matter of respect for clients, something that cabbies rarely display.

It is galling to see the Quebec Jewish Congress supporting Mr. Perecowicz's position. Do they really argue that more religious paraphernalia should be encouraged in public spaces?

Jews and other religious minorities have long complained about the dominance of Christian symbolism in public places.

Should we have more?

Quebec's Most Vocal Anglophobe Dies

Sorry I can't shed any tears over the death of Quebec's biggest Anglo hater, Pierre Falardeau.

A cruel and miserable soul, Pierre Falardeau was famous for urging Anglophone federalists to get out of Quebec.

He is also infamous for writing a particularly nasty article celebrating the death of noted Quebec federalist Claude Ryan.

"Finally, at last a good thing has happened! Claude Ryan has just died. Nothing left to do but to embalm him and close the coffin."

"Voilà enfin une bonne chose de faite! Claude Ryan vient de mourir. Ne reste plus qu'à l'embaumer et à fermer le couvercle." Pierre Faladeau

Some other of his bon mots include a reference to David Suzuki; “a bearded little Jap.”

Here's a clip of him denigrating Anglos.

Of course the nationalists are offering platitudes and mark his passing with warm remembrances.

As for his racist comments, apologists chalk it up to sovereignist exuberance and compare him to a lovable old uncle who likes to use the word 'nigger.'

As Quebec television personality Guy A. Lepage put it ;

"In spite of his occasional slips, we all make them, he had all my respect"
"Malgré ses dérapes occasionnelles - on en fait tous - il avait tout mon respect"

Former Quebec Premier Bernard Landry said he was deeply saddened by his death.

"I met him often and each time I told him that we all thought the same things as him, but we expressed it quite differently. This made us laugh a lot! " - Bernard Landry

So the ex-Premier believes in the same anglophobic filth as Mr. Falardeau! Hmmm...

Mr. Falardeau may have hated Canada, but had no problem accepting money from Telefilm Canada to finance his projects. When asked about the contradiction, in a television interview, he answered sheepishly that he "had three mouths to feed."
The animator then reminded him that he had previously chastised Francophone artists for taking part in Canada Day Celebrations. "Don't they also have families to feed?"

"You might be right..." answered Falardeau.
A deep thinker, this one.....

As they say in French - Bon Débarras!, good riddance.

Montreal Police Add New Weapon

No it isn't a crime fighting tool, just another device that will be used to give out more tickets.

Be warned, no more driving around with expired tags or unpaid tickets.

A high speed camera is placed on the trunk of a police car facing oncoming traffic. The camera scans license plates as cars drive by. The numbers are instantly run through the police computer and faster than you can say "Who me?" another police car down the road pulls over those who license plates are flagged.

How effective is it. Pretty damn effective, that's for sure.

Police place the camera at certain strategic choke points, like highway exits.
A recent operation was carried out on the road leading up to the Jacques Cartier bridge at rush hour.

Cars were pulled over at a rate of one every 30 seconds!

Better pay those tickets and registration fees!

Montreal Canadiens Deal Beer Vendors a Nasty Blow

The pre-season is a special time for true NHL hockey fans. It's a time where dreams of playoff glory and Stanley Cup parades dance in our heads as we giddishly prepare for the season opener in anticipatory glee that can best be compared to that of a five-year old's impatience with Father Time during Christmas week.

Being optimistic is part of the fun, but for Montreal fans the wholesale changes that the team made over the summer is somewhat disconcerting. Not only will we have to re-learn jersey numbers and player idiosyncrasies, the loss of our erstwhile stars is painful and if our replacement crew doesn't perform, fans will turn on management faster than you can say "Et tu Brute?"

As to how our Habs will do this year, it's hard for us to say. The pundits are clearly confused with the majority taking the safe approach by predicting that the team will end up where they finished last year- In the playoffs, but barely.
I'm going to agree with the Bleacherreport.com prediction of how the Habs will do.

1. Boston (5th in east)
2. Buffalo (6th in east)
3. Montreal (7th in East)
4. Toronto (10th in east)
5. Ottawa (13 th in east)

One thing easy to predict, is that ticket prices will go up and that the price of beer will continue to rise. No trip to the Bell Centre is complete without the mandatory stop at the ATM before the game.

This year's fifty cent rise in the price of beer is particularly difficult to swallow- not for fans, but for beer vendors.
At $10 even, it means that the automatic 50¢ tip that the hawkers could expect when the price was $9.50, is gone.

Oh the inhumanity!

Me, I have long ago forsaken $100 beer nights at the Bell Centre and have fatefully decided to go down the cheapskate route. I also categorically refuse to pay $4.50 for water.

Instead of visiting ATM before the game, I head over to the liquor store and purchase one or two little bottles of vodka at $7.35. The curved shape of the lightweight plastic bottle is an ideal format to stuff down your pants. Although the practice of smuggling booze into the building is most definitely not kosher, who's going to catch you pouring the booze into a plastic cup of Coca-Cola in the bathroom stall?
It's a perfect work-around. If only I could only figure out how to bring in hot dogs, it would be perfect!

By the way, Las Vegas odds makers have the Canadiens at 30-1 to win the Stanley Cup, it's probably a generous assessment. Canadiens fans would probably accept a second round playoff defeat as highly acceptable.

As for the top teams in the NHL, here's the line on winning the Stanley cup;
Detroit Red Wings 5-1
Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1
San Jose Sharks 6-1
Chicago Blackhawks 7-1
Washington Capitals 10-1
Philadelphia Flyers 10-1
Boston Bruins 11-1

If you think Canadiens fans are eternal optimists, here's an online poll taken by Sportsnet.ca (East). I imagine that it's mostly Ontario fans voting..

Ouch!!!.........

Bilingual Voice of Blue Bonnets Dead

For Montrealers who enjoyed harness racing in it's heyday over at Blue Bonnets Raceway (Hippodrome de Montréal) Donald Pinard was an integral part of the experience. His track announcements and bilingual call of the race was familiar and enjoyable. He worked the microphone and filled other positions at the track for over thirty years.

"Celle Depart! -- They're Off!"

The track was a Montreal institution for over a hundred years until the impact of casino gambling and poker machines sent it into a sharp decline as it's gambling revenues dwindled.

I found this on YouTube, but can't attest to it's veracity, supposedly it's a call of a race in 1922.

I used to go quite often, but lost interest about the time (1995) the facility discarded it's fabulous name and changed it to something more politically correct- 'Hippodrome de Montréal'

The original Blue Bonnets Raceway was located in Montreal West but had to be moved in 1886 when the newly installed Canadian Pacific Railway line split the facility in two.

The track was built on the old encampment of the Scottish Highlanders, who had fought in the Battle of Montreal.

In 1760, the two battalions of Royal Highlanders, accompanied by eight companies of Montgomery's Highlanders would launch from their final assembly point at Oswego as part of Amherst's army expedition to capture Montreal, the last defended city of New France in August 1760. It would be in that captured French city that all three Highland regiments would meet for the first and last time during their existence. (Their former campground, now a large stadium for harness racing is appropriately named Blue Bonnets Raceway.)

-Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Macpherson McCulloch

The "Blue Bonnet" appellation is an obvious reference to the hats worn by the 77^th Highland Regiment.

Donald Pinard's passing highlights the sad end of the venerable institution as it lies dying in bankruptcy protection.

Canadian Justice versus U.S. Justice- Vincent Lacroix vs. Edward Hugh Okun

After losing his final attempt to have the 200 fraud charges against him stayed, Vincent Lacroix finally threw in the towel this week and pleaded guilty in a Montreal courthouse to the 200 hundred fraud charges levelled against him.

Lacroix, Quebec's most notorious fraudster,(yes, even bigger than Earl Jones) created and ran an investment firm- 'Norbourg', which bilked about 9200 hundred investors, mostly elderly, middle class Quebec retirees of approximately 115 million dollars.

In his first trial, where Mr. Lacroix was convicted of various securities offences, he put on quite a show, playing the part of a buffoon, exasperating the court to no end. The judge was not particularly amused and was so angry at the lack of remorse displayed by the defendant that he sentenced Lacroix to twelve years in prison, notwithstanding that the maximum allowed by law was only five years. The creative approach used by the judge to pile on the extra time was correctly reversed by the court of appeal. Mr. Lacroix was then released on parole after serving one-sixth of the revised five year sentence, availing himself of the provision in the law that allows non-violent offenders convicted of their first crime to be paroled after a short stint in jail.

The guilty plea which he entered in court Monday would typically lead to a reduced sentence, but it's likely that Judge Richard Wagner will also throw the book at him. Even judges, who are usually impervious to public opinion, can occasionally be influenced by media attention and intense public interest.

For the cheated investors, it's still disappointing, the maximum sentence that Mr. Lacroix faces under Canadian law is just fourteen years.

Because of his previous conviction, Mr. Lacroix will no longer be eligible for parole after serving one-sixth of his sentence, but with good behaviour, he will be eligible for parole in just under five years.

As for the missing money, Yves Michaud, Quebec's self-styled investor advocate put it rather succcinctly; "The money must be hidden offshore, Vincent Lacroix couldn't have spent $115 millon on strippers."

Most people are convinced that Lacroix stashed money somewhere, perhaps buried in his backyard and that he'll eventually have the last laugh.

Unlikely?
Well, Vincent Lacroix's right-hand man, Éric Aselin, who after declaring bankruptcy in 2007 was found last summer to be hiding $125 000 in cash in a bank safe deposit box. The money which was wrapped in plastic wrap, was found to contain residue of earth!

If Lacroix did hide some money, he'll have plenty of time to enjoy it. He'll be forty-seven years old when he gets out of jail. In fact, his lawyer told reporters that Mr. Lacroix just wants to 'turn the page and get on with his life.'

Too bad that for many of his elderly victims, it's too late for turnarounds.

*******************************

The story of Miami businessman Edward Hugh Okun is remarkably similar to that of Vincent Lacroix. Using his position of trust, he ripped off clients, who had placed money with his company. His fraud, while somewhat different from Lacroix's, had essentially the same disastrous effect on investors. You can read the details here.

Even the amount of money stolen from investors was remarkably similar to the amount stolen by Mr. Lacroix, the only difference being that Okun used the money to openly finance a rich and lavish lifestyle.

Both men have similarly shown no remorse.

Until the comments expressing regret made by Mr. Lacroix's lawyer on Monday, he never once made a sympathetic statement towards the people he had cheated. His apology in front of his guilty plea can only be viewed as self-serving.

In Okun's case, his attorney said that his client didn't feel that he did anything wrong, and that he had always intended to return the money.

It seems that con men never give up the con....

At his trial, eight of Okun's victims recounted how their worlds collapsed after having had their money stolen. One suffered a stroke, another a heart attack. Many lost their life savings, and all confessed to being deeply affected by the ordeal.

"The toll of human loss, of misery and suffering that Mr. Okun's unbridled greed caused, is enormous," commented the judge in sentencing Mr. Payne.

“Because of Edward Okun’s crimes, many victims in this case experienced near financial collapse and personal pain,” said U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente. “Today’s sentence is proper punishment for such an egregious breach of trust by a financial advisor.”

Prosecutor's had asked the judge to sentence Okun to 400 years in prison, but the judge thought that the request was a bit excessive.

Instead he sentenced the con artist to 100 years in prison!

"It will ensure Mr. Okun can do no harm to people ever again," Payne said. "It will promote respect for the law. It will, I think, deter those who . . . are tempted by the presence of easy money."

Here's the kicker to the story.

Okun is Canadian and lived in Toronto with his first wife, when he first started out on his con-artist life.

According to his ex-wife;

"The marriage lasted 4 years. During that time Ed unknowingly took a good portion of my father’s retirement savings, pretending to have invested it with a reputable mortgage company as an investment.
It was discovered when I went to a divorce lawyer to inquire about a separation. In the course of my lawyer’s investigation, he discovered many other fraudulent actions of Ed. My parents pressed both criminal and civil charges,but shortly thereafter dropped the criminal charges because Ed was threatening to hurt me. They were successful in getting a civil judgement against him but he fled Canada, and they were unable to collect any of the thousands of dollars he took. I was left with a 1.3 million dollar debt to the Canadian Bank of Commerce and to another company for a 53 foot boat that he had bought. I was in University here in Toronto full time for the 4 years we were married and not involved with his business. Until a month ago I had not heard anything about him. I am pleased to know that he is finally being held responsible for his actions. He also misused his Mother’s and Sister’s family trust fund, leaving them in a terrible situation."

Perhaps if the Canadian justice system had assumed it's responsibilities and done it's job back then, the hundreds of defrauded investors wouldn't be looking at financial ruin today.

There is a cost to coddling criminals, especially con artists, who have an atrocious rate of recidivism.

They need to stay in jail, not only as punishment, but as a protection to the public against future crimes.

Lament for Montreal's Dorchester Boulevard

Here's an interesting piece written by one Peter Stuart, a reader from Quebec City who wrote a letter that was printed in the Quebec City daily Le Soleil.
The piece entitled "No Levesque without Dorchester" (Pas de Lévesque, sans Dorchester...) decries the fact that Montreal's Dorchester Boulevard had it's name changed in favour of 'Boulevard René-Lévesque" and provides some historical context.

I have endeavoured to translate the letter as best I can, but not being professional, it may seem a bit choppy. I assure you that the original letter in French is skillfully and poetically written, please read it in French if you can;

It seems that principal theme of the Moulin à paroles event was "the survival of a people." But survival from whom, and how exactly?

We tend to put all the blame on the backs of English.
But hold it!
René Lévesque would never have had the chance to save the French language with his PQ government, if not for a British Lord, Dorchester, who guaranteed the rights of French Canadians by way of the Quebec Act in 1774.

He wasn't even English, rather an Irish Protestant. He was part of the small Irish Protestant nobility, that was, at the time called, "the Irish ancestry."
These people were the principle landowners of Ireland, and allies of the English.

Dorchester recognized the error which had been committed during the English conquest of his country, the attempt to assimilate the Irish and to destroy their language and culture. Arriving in Canada, he promised himself not to commit the same error.
Skillfully adept in the language of Molière, (French-ed.) he proceeded with the preparation of the Parliamentary bill which shares it's name with our province- the 'Quebec Act.'

This bill, passed in the English Westminster Parliament ensured that we could continue to speak our language, maintain our property rights, as well as keep our religion.
Dorchester recognized that the Anglo-American colonies were on the brink of a revolution, and they probably would send an army to 'persuade' us to join them.

What would have become of our language, our civilization and our culture had Dorchester not done what he did?

What would have happened if French-Canadian troops had not managed to repel the American invaders at the rue de la Barricade, when attacked, December 31, 1775?
Surely, we would never have the opportunity to comment on anything, because our people would have been absorbed in the great American Republic.

So I find it sad that Montrealers have erased the memory of Lord Dorchester, and replaced it by that of René Lévesque. Why not keep faith with history and honour the two? Because René Lévesque could never do what he did for us without Dorchester.

Today, we still have a 'Dorchester' street here in Quebec City. Also a street named 'Couronne'('Crown'-ed.). And in passing "Roi' and "Reine' ('King' and 'Queen'-ed.), by the way!
The windbags at the Moulin à paroles talked of survival and droned on about the English, but think of one Irishman who preceded us, over two hundred years and who allowed us to short circuit the petty imperialists.

I believe that "ti-hair' of New Carlisle (nickname for Rene Levesque-ed.), would agree with me.

The writer may not know that when the city of Montreal changed the name of Dorchester Boulevard to 'René-Lévesque' they asked the city of Westmount to also make the change on the portion of the street that runs through that municipality.

As you can imagine, naming a street (or anything else for that matter) in honour of a separatist is would be an anathema for the grand daddy of Anglo communities.

And so, the name Dorchester Boulevard lives on in Westmount, much to the consternation of sovereignist groups who for some reason take the city's refusal to change the name as some sort of Anglophone slight.
The street signs have been defaced on occasion and as in the case on the picture on the right pasted over to read 'Boul. René-Lévesque'

Private Schools to Preserve Cultural Purity?

Last Monday Jean-Pierre Proulx wrote an opinion piece about Quebec private schools in LE DEVOIR, which can be found archived over at vigel.net (in French).

Entitled "Democratizing Private education" (Démocratiser l’enseignement privé) the article offered up some pretty weird concepts including the suggestion that these elite schools be forced to accept their share of students from low income homes, those who are academically or physically challenged and students with problems of comportment.

Yup!

What Mr Proulx suggests is to dumb down private schools to the level of public schools in the interest of democracy. He must be a secret Leninist.

According to him private schools that would refuse to adopt these new conditions would lose all government subsidies.

The Quebec government is one of the very few that subsidizes private schools on a a pro-rata basis. Private schools receive the government money that would be have been spent on students had they remained in the public system. Thus private schools in Quebec cost parents significantly less than elsewhere.

It's no wonder that at 17%, Quebec boasts the highest proportion of high school students attending private schools in all of North America.
In Montreal the number is a whopping 30%.

Of course, the Quebec public sector teachers' unions oppose any form of subsidy to private schools. They hold that by selecting only the brightest and most capable students and rejecting children with learning difficulties, private schools leave a burden to the public sector.

It isn't surprising that the article provoked a lot of reaction in defence of private schools, most of it pretty standard stuff. I wasn't even going to write on the subject until I came across this letter printed in Le Devoir, the same newspaper that printed the original article.

Maxine Proulx displayed some novel reasoning in defence of private schools;'

"One of the reasons why parents send their children to private schools is that they just want to avoid their children being exposed to other children that they believe rightly or wrongly as turbulent, children with learning disabilities or behavior problems or who are poor. This self-imposed segregation is even more pronounced on the island of Montreal, which has many ethno-cultural neighborhoods.

Parents fear three things:

• That children deemed undesirable monopolize the attention of teachers, reducing the quality of instruction and supervision provided to the class;
• That these same children disturb others, affecting their hearing and therefore their learning;
• These same children negatively influence the others to the point where they also refuse to learn normally.

In Montreal, traditional Francophone parents fear that the environment in the public schools has become too multicultural and multi-ethnic and choose to send their children to private schools, considered more 'homogeneous."

Wow, how about the last paragraph!

So private schools are better because they are 'homogeneous.' I've never heard apartheid described that way!

I know many parents send their children to private school for exactly that reason, but printing a letter that justifies private schools on the basis of it being a good way to segregate francophone children from the ethnic communities seems to go beyond what an enlightened editorial board would allow in print.

Shame on LE DEVOIR.

Could you imagine this letter being printed in the Montreal Gazette, the National Post or the Globe & Mail?

It would probably be passed around the editorial table for a chuckle.

Montreal Marathon Fringlish

'Fringlish' = Mangled English (usually humorous,) written by a Francophone badly in need of a translator=ed.
(Please note, I only cite cases from sources that are "official," those who should know better and have the budget to do so. Private sites and blogs on a small budget are to be complemented for making any effort to translate any language to any language..)

To honour last Sunday's running of the Montreal Marathon I humbly offer this pearl from the official Montreal Marathon web site;

"At 8:43 this morning, Race Director Bernard Arsenault in the presence of the Mayor of Montreal Gerald Tremblay and Jean Gattuso, p.d.g of A.Lassonde, gave the starting signal to the thousands of runners of the half-marathon, follow-ups at 9:00 by the marathonians. Gone of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge under the rain ( first raining day since 1991…!), runners went through the streets of the city and ended up in the Olympic stadium of Montreal."

Arrrrgghh.............

Quebec Garbage Wars

The latest issue that has Quebec citizens facing off against each other is not sovereignty or language, it's an issue that's much more personal - it's garbage.

The City of Quebec has launched a pilot project whereby garbage is picked up just once every two weeks, with citizens expected to compost what they can and keep the 'clean' garbage until the bi-weekly pickup.
This has lead residents in one of the pilot project neighbourhoods, to start a petition demanding that weekly pickups resume because of the odour and inconvenience.
It seems that the 600 people who signed the petition are out of luck, the city is determined to stick to it's guns.

According to Guy Fortin, who started the petition, the collection every two weeks, leads to the garbage bins becoming infested with maggots. "You need a strong heart, not to mention the flies!"

The small compost bin is also decidedly not for Mr. Fortin, who says that food scraps attract raccoons. "They are smart, they manage to open the trash,"

The debate has touched off a lively debate in the letters section of Quebec City newspapers between the complainers and the 'Granolas' who continue to support this program.

Here's a sample of two;

"A citizen of the Les Saule district, whose name escapes me, but who I'll call by the pseudonym "Popa", described a serious problem. He complained that garbage collection wasn't frequent enough and he opposed the introduction of the collection of compostable organic materials in Quebec.

His main argument? The odour, when he opens his garbage can and the presence of grubs. I'm not a fan of foul odours and grubs, I am however able to hold my breath and capable of putting on a pair of gloves.

Do you know that our landfills are overflowing and are highly polluting and that composting takes just a little effort? It's something that we all can do to reduce this problem.

Don't you understand that collecting garbage more frequently increases the number of trucks on the road, and consequently the CO2 emissions? We all know the consequences of carbon emissions, the smog that has shrouded Quebec on humid days is proof. Tell your garbage problems to children in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, I doubt they'll complain.

The city of Quebec offers adequate garbage collection and the reduced frequency reduces our ecological footprint, which is in itself a positive thing. Composting must continue and even be expanded.

-Alexandre Armstrong, Québec

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(In reaction to the letter of Mr. Alexander Armstrong, 'Fear and Loathing in the district of Les Saules ") -

I am one of those whom you call Pôpa!, One of those who is stuck with a hard and a soft trash can.
Father of four children, I am the neighbour of Mr. Guy Fortin, who lives across the street and with whom I have launched a petition calling for a return to weekly collection, while maintaining the collection of compost-able waste.

We have been portrayed as if we are against the composting project. While some residents are totally against it, some of us are completely for it. Personally I participate actively in the collection of compost-able materials, but I still say that weekly collection for garbage is not a luxury, at least for the summer.

With regard to increasing the frequency of garbage collection, understand that until recently, several sectors of the city, including ours, were entitled to two collections per week, for the summer at least. The area in reference is divided into two sections, one sector is in the pilot project zone and the other is not. However, the sector not in the pilot project zone continues to have weekly collection. So the trucks are already circulating in the area and it wouldn't change much in relation to the production of greenhouse gas emissions, as you mention. And your comparison with the slums of Rio de Janeiro is lame, especially when I look at my tax bill!

I don't know what area you live in, but I suppose it's likely you live in a sector served by a weekly collection. You say that you can hold your breath, bravo to you, but try to remember that when you take an hour long walk in your neighbourhood. This summer, during periods of heat, our noses were assaulted by noxious odors, not to mention the omnipresent flies and increased amount of pests (raccoons, rats, etc.).

Despite our best efforts in recycling and composting, the fact remains that some items are neither compost-able or recoverable- diapers, cat litter, dog droppings and other such materials.

Several residents have even been told by city employees to put their garbage in the freezer to prevent odours and insect infestations.

We are not extremists, we ask only one weekly service, which in the interest of basic hygiene is considered essential.

-Stéphane Turcotte, Quebec

Scary business. Just think, this war is coming to your neighbourhood soon, it's a matter of time.

Me, I'm prepared.

I've got my garburator and I've got my trash compactor. I'm thinking about a getting an extra set in reserve.

The time is fast approaching when both will be illegal!

Separtist Love-in Highlighted by Impassioned Reading Of FLQ Terrorist Manifesto

If federalists had any doubt that the Moulin à paroles event staged last week on the Plains of Abraham would turn into the sovereignist Woodstock that they predicted, they certainly had their worst fears confirmed by the reading of the FLQ terrorist manifesto by Quebec artist Luck Mervil. This week saw a spate of condescending told-you-so's from their camp.

Mr. Mervil adopted the role of a fanatical terrorist and delivered an impassioned performance that included fist-pumping and dramatic rage.
It certainly was the highlight of the whole event.

Here are the briefest of glimpses, the last minute or so of the performance will give you the essence of what was presented. If you want to see the whole video go over to YouTube.

As you can see, the performance was well-received by the audience, the sparse crowd applauding, with the couple in the front even offering up a standing ovation. The reception was a bit of an embarrassment to organizers and the third scheduled reading of the text was dropped from the program.
Pauline Marois commented that she would not have applauded.

While the reaction to the weekend event in the French press was mostly positive, Mr. Mervil's performance was widely described as inappropriate.

Richard Martineau of Le Journal de Montreal wrote;

Did you seen the performance of Luck Mervil reading the FLQ Manifesto?

Explain to me why he was so excited? It was as if he was a 'Felquiste' (FLQer- ed.) himself ...

It seems to me that the document is already fairly delicate and controversial as it is, there was no need to add fuel to the fire by speaking in a trembling voice with a fist raised to the sky ...

It's fair to say that Mervil (who juiced up the crowd to the max) delivered more than the customer ordered ...

The FLQ Manifesto advocates the use of violence, so a little restraint would have been fitting, right?

I would have preferred a more neutral reading, a little less hysterical and inflamed ... I think it would have been more respectful to the memory of the innocent victims of the FLQ ...

Writing in the "La Quotitien" Catherine Delisle writes;

"The children of Pierre Laporte are still alive.
They remember.
Out of respect for them, couldn't we impose a certain reserve and show compassion, empathy and dignity?

If a family member of your's had been killed during the October Crisis or the terrorist events that preceded it, would you sit in a ringside seat and applaud Luck Mervil, the great patriot, who chose to read this text?

When the terrorist manifesto was first presented on television back in 1970, as a condition of the hostage's release, it was delivered in a neutral and monotone voice. You can see the video here on YouTube. Mr. Mervil's interpretation is historically inaccurate.

Of course Mr Mervil is unapologetic.

He told reporters that he'd have no problem reading Adolf Hitler in Germany or the Ku Klux Klan in America.

A letter writer in La Presse, Robert Berthiaume from Québec takes him to task for the foolish statement.

"I suggest that he goes to Ground Zero in New York and read some statements from Bin Laden with that same attitude. The fist-pumping, his eyes bugging out of his head as well as the rage. I bet he'd get a couple of backhanders to the face..."

Of course all this is harmless fun, according to organizers, just words which can in no way inflame anyone to violence. The fact that an hour after Mr. Mervil's performance, the Quebec Parliament (a short distance away from the festivities) was vandalized with FLQ graffiti is no doubt unrelated.

Perhaps Mr. Mervil should return to his native Haiti and offer the locals a dramatic reading of a text in praise of the notorious Tonton Macoutes, the murdering thugs of the Duvalier regime.
On the other hand, I doubt that a Haitian audience would applaud...he'd probably have to run for his life!

Paranoid Sportswriter's Anti-English Rant

Réjean Tremblay is not your average run of the mill sportswriter, he's an influential columnist for Montreal's La Presse newspaper and writes a widely read column, mostly about the Montreal Canadiens. He is well-connected and to his credit eschews the temptation to write puff pieces about the team in exchange for greater access and inside scoops.

His one failing, is his overt dislike and obsession with anglos and his unabashed demand that the Montreal Canadiens become more 'French.'

Mr. Tremblay wrote a column last week exposing an embarrassing persecution complex, which is unfortunately not all together uncommon in Quebec.

The piece, written September 10, is entitled "Un mépris évident envers les joueurs francophones" ("Blatant contempt For Francophone Players")

You can read the entire original article in French HERE.

..."There are four to five million francophones in Quebec who do not speak English fluently. Obviously, for the intellectuals of the electronic media in the rest of Canada, five million Quebecers are part of a backward race.

Sixty million Frenchmen do not speak English, 70 million Germans do not speak it either. Not to mention the Spaniards or Italians. Or Chinese or Japanese. They are not bumpkins, they speak their own language, like any normal people would. If people speak English, Spanish or Mandarin as well, it's obviously an asset, but it's normal for a society to speak it's own language.

During the first 95 years of its history, the Canadiens respected their 'French-Canadian' customers, as we were called at the time. In recent years, the contempt is obvious. The yahoos of Roberval, Quebec, Rimouski and Rouyn-Noranda can't comprehend their favorite players, they just buy the crap the team is selling at three times it's value. 'Peter' Boivin and 'Ray' Lalonde made the decision.

I hope the Molson brothers can read and count. They should be aware of the names Lapierre, Latendresse and Laraque and take into account that there are only three of them. (Francophone names-ed.) These sons of a great Quebec family should understand that they own a very ordinary team that boasts of no more than two and a half 'frogs', since 'Big George' (Laraque.-ed) only appears in about forty games a year.

I spent the summer traveling the backwoods of Quebec. I visited Abitibi, the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Outaouais regions. I can reassure the Molson brothers, that Quebecers still love their Canadians. But they are troubled, some are angry and above all, they don't understand. Why this eradication of francophones from their team? Why get rid of them? Why so little effort to cultivate the soil of Quebec to find young players who could represent the next generation? Why this abominable behavior by the Canadiens towards francophone coaches that has seen them literally banned to positions in Hamilton? Coincidentally, ever since the team was put up for sale this summer, Bob Gainey seems to have rediscovered some 'frogs' for his organization. Damned accident!

The Molson brothers are not obliged to turn to Quebecers for political reasons. Not even for cultural reasons. But they should take advantage of the unique situation of Montreal and Quebec in North America to give the fans a great team. Only Quebec and Montreal can build a team by using the special relationship between fans and players who are part of the same nation. The situation exists nowhere else. There is no Swedish nation in the Detroit area or a Cuban nation in Sunrise.
The clientele of the team is French Canadian and the history of the team is based on that sacred bond. The history of the organization has proved that the Canadiens succeed when team officials used the synergy between the francophone majority and its players.

At any rate, the taxpayers of this province have just lent a hundred million to the three brothers. We should at least ask them to do us the courtesy of observing Sam Pollock and Serge Savard's old rule. At equal talent, hire the Francophone. And as a corollary, the team should never pass up a good francophone draft pick. That doesn't mean that there will be no mistakes along the way, but at least there will be a thought behind the decisions.

And thus we will counteract the attempts by Bob Gainey to expatriate all Francophone players from 'Les Glorieux. It will probably lead to less problems with the media.

In a few weeks, Robert Sirois, a former player with the Washington Capitals and a successful businessman, will publish a bombshell of a book. Sirois has spent thousands of hours doing yeoman's work on the project. He gathered all the statistics, all positions of the French players in the National League since 1970. And the conclusions that he has drawn from these mountains of numbers are chilling. Discrimination is absolute against the 'frogs.' The worst thing is that this discrimination begins at the Midget 'AAA' level. In recent years, the Canadiens has foolishly turned their back on Quebec. Go check. How many French players did Bob Gainey draft during his years in Dallas? Another accident, obviously.

And then I remember that Robert "Bob" Sirois is neither a politician nor an evil separatist. He is just an intelligent man who is passionate about a situation that seems abnormal. It's okay if the three Molson brothers don't buy the Sirois book, let them keep their dollars to hire a full-time scout for Quebec, I'm going to personally to send them a copy. Changes in an organization starts with awareness. And when it's the owners who are aware, everything else follows.

Wow!!!
Believe me this attitude is not uncommon.
Paranoia and persecution, a lovely combination that can only be cured by a dose of reality or Ativan.

Let me start by making a few factual corrections.

• Mr. Tremblay's statement that five million Quebecers don't speak or understand English is false. Half of francophone Montrealers and thirty percent of francophone residents of Quebec City are bilingual. That five out of six francophone Quebecers can't understand an interview in English is hogwash and an insult to their intelligence.
  

• His statement that 70 million Germans don't understand English is also false. At least half the German population understand English.

• There are more English speakers in China than any other country in the world!

Now it's time to call him out on other nonsense;

"Only Quebec and Montreal can build a team by using the special relationship between fans and players who are part of the same nation. The situation exists nowhere else. There is no Swedish nation in the Detroit area or a Cuban nation in Sunrise."

Whaaat???
Cubans in Sunrise? Swedes in Detroit?
How about Anglos in Ontario, Alberta and BC?

If there's a Francophone nation in Quebec that supports and embraces the Canadiens, it certainly is not the exclusive situation that he purports.
That Quebecers have a special relationship with the Canadiens cannot be denied, but it isn't any more special than those enjoyed by the other Canadian teams with their fans.

There's an Anglophone nation in BC that supports the Canucks with every bit as much fervor and loyalty as the francophone nation in Quebec. It's nothing unique.
If he believes that Canadiens fans are more loyal or in any way more special than the 'Leafs Nation,' he is sadly mistaken. He should be reminded that Alberta, a province with less than half the population of Quebec supports two NHL franchises.
If Quebec is the be-all and end-all of the hockey world, what happened to the Nordiques?

Finally the silliest thing that he wrote in this article, is that francophone players and coaches don't get an equal opportunity.

Both the entertainment industry and the sports industry are the two professional fields where minorities do the best. That's because talent wins out, and the last time I looked, there were plenty of francophone coaches in the NHL, which is actually surprising because they must coach in a foreign language. The only place where francophone coaches have a problem is in Montreal, where they burn out with amazing regularity and not because of management, but rather because the francophone press corps hounds them mercilessly (Mr. Tremblay, is an important member of this cabal.)

Mr. Tremblay is two-faced. He accuses the league of discrimination, yet urges the Montreal Canadiens to discriminate themselves, by hiring and drafting francophones over every one else.

Extending his logic, Canadian teams outside Quebec teams should give preference to Canadian Anglos over Francophones and Europeans. If that's the case (which it isn't) why exactly is he complaining?

I'm sure he'll find a rationalization why the Montreal Canadiens should discriminate, while the other Canadian teams should not.

Commenting on the whole situation, Montreal Canadiens President Pierre Boivin was understandably furious. "I'm fed up!"

Can the Canadiens survive the language war?
Not successfully. As long as language remains a distraction, on ice performance will suffer. Its already hard enough to compete.

I shall let Mr. Tremblay in on a little secret. The reason that there are so few francophones playing on the Canadiens is quite simply because they don't want to. The francophone media attention is too unnerving and distracting for many. Those who have a choice stay far away. Francophone players that who do want to play in Montreal are generally those at the end of their career or talently challenged.

If those are the players that Mr. Tremblay wants the team to pursue, then heaven help the Montreal Canadiens and their fans.

Separatist Gathering on Plains of Abraham A Bust

A search of google news (Moulin à Paroles) last night showed over five hundred original newspaper articles and over 31,000 blog references to the separatist love-in that took place this week-end on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City.
Last night's articles in the French press were uniformly complimentary and the whole extravaganza was declared an overwhelming success.

I read over sixty articles and could not find one reference as to the number of people who attended. I became curiouser and curiouser.

On Saturday, the Montreal Gazette listed the attendance at somewhere around 1,200, but it was little hard to accept. All this hoopla and publicity and a paltry 1,200 people showed up?

Perhaps it was just wishful Anglo thinking on the part the newspaper, the number couldn't possibly be that low. Or could it?
Crowds are awfully hard to estimate and a lot has to do with the eye of the beholder.

Finally I found a story in Le Devoir, a Montreal French newspaper, known for it's nationalist bent, so if there was to be any fudging, it was going to lean towards inflating the number of participants.

"A quiet crowd, at times exceeding a thousand people who listened religiously to the 156 texts selected for the occasion"

Whaaaaat!!!!

One thousand people!!! --- That's it!

If you subtract the family members who were forced to show up just to support the 140 readers (like a ballet recital), you might cut the actual attendance in half!

I get the feeling that the whole thing was a complete con, a manufactured story. That nobody is willing to point out that fact is sad and dishonest.

By the way, on the same afternoon as the 'wildly successful' separatist happening on the Plains of Abraham, a minor league exhibition baseball game played between Quebec City and New Jersey at the city's Stade Municipal, attracted close to 5,000 people.

I don't think the newspapers are going write 500 articles about that event.

Here's a little more context. Sunday was the 7th annual open house at over 100 Quebec farms in an event organised by the farm trade association (l'Union des producteurs agricoles). Over 135,000 people across Quebec took the opportunity to visit.

Separatists Giddy with Excitment

This weekend sovereignists will be holding a commemoration of the 250 year old defeat of the French forces and the loss of New France at the hands of the dastardly English on the Plains of Abraham. The event is presented by nationalists under the umbrella organization Le Moulin à Paroles as an alternative to the re-enactment of the battle itself which was cancelled due to threats of violence.

They will be reading poems, letters and historical accounts of Quebec history, all which will serve to foster the notion of Quebec as a victim.

• Conquest
• Colonialism
• Victimisation
  
• The Evil English
• French language
• Evil Federalists
• FLQ
• Sovereignty
• blah.....blah...

While the province is abuzz with heated discussions, the rest of Canada remains snorefully oblivious to the serious debate surrounding the scheduled reading of the terrorist FLQ manifesto by Haitian born Quebec artist Luck Mervil.

Black sovereignists are precious and rare commodities in Quebec, so it's no wonder that Quebec's most integrated and inclusive of sovereignist organisations, Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste slapped him with the title of "Patriot of the Year" in 2005.

That means of course that Maka Kotto, the other visible minority of the separatist movement is sure to called upon to give a reading as well.

It's too bad that the event is coming so soon. For sovereignists, the run up is likely more exciting than the actual event.

For organisers, deciding to read the FLQ manifesto was a stroke of genius. When Premier Charest and Quebec City Mayor Regis Lebeame denounced the decision, it was sweet music to sovereignist ears.

Defending the honour of the event has been a labour of love with separatist bloggers cracking out 3,000 word pieces in defence of the sacred manifesto.

After all they remind us, history is history and deserves to be celebrated, warts and all.

Since there are few anglophones scheduled to read at the event, I offer my very humble services which comes complete with a wriitten text that just cries out to be heard.

On the off chance organisers refuse my generous offer, I include this important piece of Quebec history below, for your perusal.

It is the suicide note of Marc Lépine, the chap who murdered 14 women at the in the famous École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal back in 1989;

Forgive the mistakes, I had 15 minutes to write this.
Would you note that if I commit suicide today 89-12-06 it is not for economic reasons (for I have waited until I exhausted all my financial means, even refusing jobs) but for political reasons.

Because I have decided to send the feminists, who have always ruined my life, to their Maker.

For seven years life has brought me no joy and being totally blasé, I have decided to put an end to those viragos. I tried in my youth to enter the Forces as an officer cadet, which would have allowed me possibly to get into the arsenal and precede Lortie in a raid. They refused me because antisocial (sic). I therefore had to wait until this day to execute my plans. In between, I continued my studies in a haphazard way for they never really interested me, knowing in advance my fate. Which did not prevent me from obtaining very good marks despite my theory of not handing in work and the lack of studying before exams. Even if the Mad Killer epithet will be attributed to me by the media, I consider myself a rational erudite that only the arrival of the Grim Reaper has forced to take extreme acts. For why persevere to exist if it is only to please the government. Being rather backward-looking by nature (except for science), the feminists have always enraged me. They want to keep the advantages of women (e.g. cheaper insurance, extended maternity leave preceded by a preventative leave, etc.) while seizing for themselves those of men. Thus it is an obvious truth that if the Olympic Games removed the Men-Women distinction, there would be Women only in the graceful events. So the feminists are not fighting to remove that barrier. They are so opportunistic they neglect to profit from the knowledge accumulated by men through the ages. They always try to misrepresent them every time they can. Thus, the other day, I heard they were honoring the Canadian men and women who fought at the frontline during the world wars. How can you explain women were not authorized to go to the frontline??? Will we hear of Caesar's female legions and female galley slaves who of course took up 50% of the ranks of history, though they never existed. A real Casus Belli.
Sorry for this too brief letter.
Marc Lépine

Or how about this Jacques Parizeau pearl of a speech on the night of the referendum loss in 1995;

"My friends"

"It's lost, but not by much. But it's a success, it's a success in a way. Please, let's stop talking about the francophones of Quebec, would you? Let's talk about us: the 60% - those who voted for (independence). We fought well, and we ... we even showed clearly what we wanted. And we missed by a small margin, by a few tens of thousands of voices. Well, in a case like this, what do we do? We spit in our hands and start all over again.

"I really wanted this to go through. I wanted it so badly, like all of you, that it would get through. We were so close to a country. Well, it's been delayed a little ... not for long, not for long ... we won't wait 15 years this time ... no, no ..."

"It's true, it's true that we have been defeated, but basically by what? By money and ethnic votes, essentially.

So all it means is that, in the next round, instead of being 60 or 61 per cent to vote YES, we will be 63 or 64 per cent and it will suffice. That's all. But now my friends, in the months that will come, we are going to... Listen: Some people got so afraid that the temptation to take revenge is going to be something! And never again will it be more important to have a Parti Québécois government to protect us until the next time!"

After all, history is history!

Visit Restaurant Madrid

I've been travelling Autoroute 20, the highway that connects Montreal to Quebec City for the last 30 years. The road is pretty boring with just about the only feature of interest being the flamboyant Restaurant Madrid, perched over the highway on a little bluff with it's eye catching assortment of dinosaur replicas and monster trucks displayed in it's parking lot.

This week I finally decided to stop and was impressed by the lengths that the owners have gone to make their rather ordinary highway restaurant interesting and fun.

The restaurant has an interesting history which you can read on the bilingual web site. I like the respect that the owners have for tourists, being one of the only restaurants along the road offering full service in English.

You've got to admire the spunk, they even have a webcam that shows the inside of the diner. Innovative but not that interesting a sight!

The food was okay, but what caught my eye was a real ZOLTAR machine tucked up against the wall near the entrance.
You might remember ZOLTAR from the Tom Hanks movie "BIG"

This ZOLTAR offered up advice in French with a decidedly Italian accent. He also sported a modern operator's headset!

If you have the time, make the stop.

The restaurant is located just about half way between Quebec city and Montreal

Quebec is 47th out of 60...arghhh!...

In a study entitled "Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States" prepared by the Fraser Institute, Quebec didn't fare so well.

The paper studied;

"Labour performance, such as job creation, unemployment, and productivity, which compares Canadian provincial and US state labour market performance."

Judging the 50 American States combined with the 10 Canadian provinces, Quebec ranked 47th out of 60.

It isn't surprising that Quebec did so poorly, the atrocious placement is largely a result of the province's abysmal productivity rate. The Province's overly generous time-off work programs, such as parental leave, and extended maternity leave, results in Quebeckers working less.

If it weren't for Newfoundland, who were 55th, we'd have the worst performance in Canada.

How did other Canadian province's fare?

Alberta was Number 1 out of the 60 provinces and states.
Yup! - Number 1 in all of North America.

It's somewhat depressing.

The Rest of Canada? Here's how the provinces rank...

Alberta #01
Saskatchewan #08
British Colombia #09
Manitoba #21
Ontario #35
New Brunswick #39
PEI #41
Nova Scotia #45
Quebec #47
Newfoundland #55
_______________________
Talk about low productivity, a story about a City of Montreal employee in Saturday's Journal de Montreal may be the worst case of an unproductive worker that I've ever heard of.

Jean-Claude Bourdon, was employed by the City of Montreal since 1990, as an inspector of fire hydrants. His job was to let the water flow out of the hydrant for a few minutes to see if it worked properly.

He was to inspect between 15 and 20 hydrants per day, in a well defined territory. His shift started at 7 AM and ended at 4 PM, four days a week.

Apparantly his behavior came under suspicion and his employer put him under surveillance.

A GPS device was also placed aboard the vehicle, which was provided by the City.

What his bosses found out was much worse than they imagined.

An analysis of the GPS reports showed that some days, he spent 10 minutes at work, others 28, others 30 or 60 minutes.

When confronted, he told his boss,'it wasn't a big deal and anyways he had a house and a Jeep to pay for."

The City fired him in 2005.

Mr. Bourdon then challenged his dismissal, complaining that the city had no right to watch him using GPS and that the City had encroached on his privacy.

It has taken over four years to have that termination confirmed.

It's a good example why Quebec is 47th out of 60.

Mean-Spirited Bus Driver Typical of Language Zealots

Last week's incident wherein a Montreal City bus driver got into it with a visiting student from Pakistan is not atypical when French language zealots decide that confrontation is a good way to defend the French language.

If you missed the story, read about it here.

On a city bus passing through the predominantly English community of Côte Saint -Luc, a visiting Pakistani student studying at McGill, asked the bus driver an innocent enough question- 'What time is it?' in English.

She replied in English, "I don't speak English."

To which he replied, "But you just spoke to me in English!"

The driver became annoyed and stopped the bus and called the police claiming that the passenger was 'aggressive'

To make a long story short, the cops came, emptied the bus and sent the grouchy driver on her way.
Passengers who were put off the bus complained that the next bus skipped the stop, obviously on instructions from the first aggrieved bus driver, further extending their ordeal. As result some were inconvenienced and even late for work. More evidence that the driver was mean-spirited.

Now the driver was within her rights not to speak English, it isn't part of the job description, but....

Clearly she was a xenophobe or a language zealot, looking for a confrontation, rather than satisfying a customer and doing her job, which is serving the public as best she could.

50% on Francophone Montrealers are bilingual and for those that deal with the public, the percentage is much, much, higher. There's every likelihood that the driver could very well have answered the customer's question, had she made the effort.

But let's us assume that she truly didn't understand English. What would a reasonable driver do in that situation?

There were a least a dozen bilingual people on the bus and all she had to do was to call out in French for someone to help out this guy who spoke only English. Easy as pie!

Instead, she chose to pick fight and for that she should be censured.

Her case is rare but not unusual for the minority of French language zealots who validate their existence as language crusaders through confrontations such as these.

Most francophone Montrealers who work with the public are keen to use their English and proud to offer service in English when required. This story shouldn't tarnish the vast majority of Montreal bus drivers who do a good job and try their best to help out customers in both English and French.

I guarantee you that for every negative French/English story as described above, there are thousands and thousands of incidents where francophones offer superb service in English.

My 80 year old plus mother was recently rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night by the publicly-run Urgences Santé Ambulance service. The francophone attendants did a fabulous job of ministering to her and they did so in English, as a matter of routine. Bravo! Fantastic!

Unfortunately, there's a small group of French language militants who religiously seek out violations of the language law and 'illegal' use of English with a dedication and passion that would make a Spanish Inquisitor blush.

My first experience (rather my future wife's) with just such a language zealot was over 35 years when she bought a train ticket in Montreal's Central Station.

When she asked for a ticket to the 'Two Mountains' station, (a railroad stop near Ste. Eustache), the ticket agent turned surly and lectured her harshly that even when speaking in English, the station is properly called 'Deux Montagnes.' "Proper names" he sneered, "are never translated literally."

"Great!" I thought, when she told me the story "A language lesson from a ticket agent!"

I told my wife to pay no mind, the agent was just another language crusader who exemplifies the principle that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He was not only rude and disrespectful, but also dead wrong in his assertion.

"You should have asked the idiot ticket seller, if he admonishes francophones when they request tickets to "LES ETATS UNI", because in accordance to his own criterion only "THE UNITED STATES" is proper!"

haha!!!!