Monday, March 29, 2010

Bloc Quebcois' Sanctimonious Hyprocosy

Two articles concerning the Bloc Quebecois piqued my interest this week and had me shaking my head in disgust.

We have all endured the Bloc Quebecois sanctimonious complaints over greenhouse emissions emanating from Alberta's Oil Tar Sands project, all the while, conveniently ignoring the dollars bills that also flow directly out of the Alberta oil industry and into Quebec's treasury via equalization payments. For the Bloc, that's too many dots to connect or an inconvenient truth and so the relationship between the two elements is pooh-poohed or ignored completely. For the Bloc, the fact that equalization payments from western provinces to Quebec total about 15 billion dollars a year, or about 15% of Quebec's budget is no reason to stop bitching and moaning about Alberta greenhouse gases as long as it plays to a willingly deaf, dumb and blind audience at home.

After being treated to one such anti-Tar Sands lecture from a sovereignist acquaintance of mine, I asked him if his position would be the same if the Tar Sands, happened to be located in Quebec.
He laughed and gave a little smile. "Of course not!"  he said unabashedly. "Politics is always a case of perspective. Positions are always flexible, depending on where you come from" He then went on to say unashamedly that if the Tar Sands were located in Quebec, the province would have been independent many years ago!

And so institutionalized hypocrisy reigns in Quebec's Bloc Quebecois party and while lecturing  other provinces and the Federal government on a wide variety of economic and social issues the Bloc spins along merrily ignoring the very advice it provides to others.

The first case in point is the Bloc's failure to support a motion put forward in Parliamentary committee by NDP MP, Pat Martin last week, who proposed that an annual $250,000 subsidy to an asbestos lobby group be killed.
Now the Conservatives and Liberals voted against the motion, because technically it could have lead to a confidence vote on the House, something both parties don't want to happen just yet.
But the Bloc had no such qualms, if a confidence vote occurred it'd be to the others to prop up the government and to the BQ, it was case of no never mind.

Now I need not remind readers what a foul, dangerous and toxic substance asbestos is, suffice to say, it's use is banned in North America and all over the civilized world. However, that doesn't stop Quebec from shipping out millions of dollars worth of the stuff to third world countries each year, a reprehensible and cynical abrogation of social responsibility, if ever there was.

The Bloc voted against the motion because it is actually a big supporter of asbestos, despite the product being responsible for more deaths than crack cocaine. Asbestos provides thousands of Quebec jobs and so for the Bloc, it means compromising their lofty environmental ideals in the name of expediency.
I wonder what their position would be if the stuff came out of Alberta or Ontario?

In Quebec a new coalition was formed this week to promote the 'safe' use of asbestos and to lobby for continued exports. Of course, the Bloc supports this undertaking and goes along with the fiction that there are safe uses of the product as long as proper procedures are followed. That logic would have us believe that the third world possesses this technology and expertise while we in the Western world do not. Hmmmm.......

According to the  BQ's, newly developed environmental green plan, the Alberta Tar Sands are 'out' while Quebec's asbestos is 'in'. It makes perfect perfect sense....in Quebec!

Nobody in the press seems to bother to call out the party on this ridiculously contradictory position, not even the English press. Perhaps they aren't even paying attention to what the Bloc is saying, which may very well be.

The second item in the news was Mr Duceppe's call on the Quebec government to shelve any idea of raising electrical rates that Quebeckers pay to the provincially owned monopoly, Hydro-Quebec, a rate that is the absolute lowest in North America. While Quebeckers pay just 6.9¢ per kilowatt hour for electricity, Ontarians pay 11.3¢ and New Yorkers 25.2¢. For every penny increase in the rate, Quebec could recoup up to 2 billion dollars a year, so you'd think there would be room to raise prices in order to pay down Quebec's massive debt, but not according to Mr. Duceppe.

Now any increase in Hydro rates would trigger a reduction in those famous equalization payments to the tune of almost 50% and so Mr. Duceppe has no shame in proposing that it is not in Quebec's interest to do anything that would reduce Ottawa's handout. And so he proposes that rates should be left alone and any tax increases should come somewhere else, where equalization is not affected.

Keeping electricity rates artificially low can be considered a scam on the same proportion as the famous "Fishing For Stamps" program run by the Newfoundland government in the 1970's. Back then, fish factories were built with government subsidies so that workers could work the minimum 14 weeks to qualify for federal unemployment insurance.  The factories were uneconomic and operated for a short period of time, just before winter in order to get workers "stamped up," a term derived from the fact that the government issued stamps as proof of employment. At one time it is estimated that up to one third of the Newfoundland work force was using the ruse to bilk Canadians out of billions of dollars of unemployment insurance annually, all with the Newfoundland government's blessing.

Mr. Duceppe's party's open and unashamed call to keep Hydro rates low in order to preserve it's equalization payments is a testament to it's cynical and long-standing policy of sucking out as much money from Canada, while biting the hand that feeds it , all the while  complaining that Quebec is getting less than their fair share.
Oh the hypocrisy!

20 comments:

  1. "Bloc Quebcois' Sanctimonious Hyprocosy"

    This is a great blog and I thoroughly enjoy reading it but you should be more careful with your spelling.

    "For the Bloc, the fact that equalization payments from western provinces to Quebec total about 15 billion dollars a year"

    Actually, Quebec received 8.4 billion dollars in equalization payments last year. The 15 billion dollar figure applies to the total payments for all of the poorer provinces, including Quebec. However, I don't think Quebec should receive any money at all. My friends in the United States cannot believe that we have a system in Canada where wealthy English speaking provinces constantly give money to a poor French speaking province that systematically discriminates against its English speaking minority.

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  2. That's NDP MP Pat(rick) Martin, for those keeping score at home.

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  3. Sorry about the "Dave" Martin, the article I quoted had his name wrong.
    http://www.montrealgazette.com/another+thing/2732559/story.html

    Glad people are paying attention.

    Also the 15 billion Dollars includes all extraneous transfer to Quebec.

    I'd hope people would post using a pseudonym instead of 'anonymous', so that we all can refer to a name......

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  4. I believe all forms of government, everywhere, have shady practices. Broken promises, scandals, policies the public will be unhappy with. That's the norm with governments, people expect it.

    The government(s) of Quebec however are different from anywhere else on the planet. They are criminal! Criminal to the extent if they weren't elected officials and ordinary citizens, they would be promptly put in jail! Selling asbestos to the third world that KILLS people? Check. Neglecting to make infrastructure safe (i.e. collapsing overpasses, parking garage ceilings, chunks of buildings, worst road conditions in the civilized world) that ends up KILLING people? Check. Refusing to create ambulance paramedics, where people often DIE before they get to the hospital because unlikely the rest of the planet, the drivers haven't been trained in life-saving measures? check. Letting animals be tortured and abused (see puppy mills, or the SPCA scandals, or police inaction about serial pet murders) because there are no animal inspectors or laws to protect animals? check. Closing hospitals, refusing doctors into the province over language issues when they are desperately needed, to the point people DIE in overcrowded ER rooms. check. Quebec has the highest suicide rate in the world, but unlike over Canadian provinces, won't cover people seeing clinical psychologist/psychiatrist professionals under Quebec's system. Or kick mentally unstable people onto the street due to funding cuts. End results more people DIE, check. French only road safety signs (or in some cases missing signs--remember the people who died because the city neglected to put back a 'no entrance' sign at that tunnel?), which undoubtedly cause accidents and DEATHS of American and outside Canadian tourists who don't understand French. Can't understand French, oh well, you're life or safety isn't important then.

    So yes, they are criminals, responsible for manslaughter. That is a serious crime if I'm not mistaken. At the very least if they can't be put in jail, they should be forceably removed and barred from power. And these are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of manslaughter charges...imagine if I start listing issues that go against human rights and other injustices.

    Quebec as a whole is Alice in Wonderland. Everything here is nonsensical and gone mad, but no one dare do anything about it or acknowledge it.

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  5. Sniff, Sniff ! To the guy that wrote March 29, 2010 10:12 AM ''This is a great blog and I thoroughly enjoy reading it but you should be more careful with your spelling.

    "For the Bloc, the fact that equalization payments from western provinces to Quebec total about 15 billion dollars a year"

    Actually, Quebec received 8.4 billion dollars in equalization payments last year. The 15 billion dollar figure applies to the total payments for all of the poorer provinces, including Quebec. However, I don't think Quebec should receive any money at all. My friends in the United States cannot believe that we have a system in Canada where wealthy English speaking provinces constantly give money to a poor French speaking province that systematically discriminates against its English speaking minority.''

    Poor minority discriminated, you should unite your voice with the french minorities in the ROC, maybe it will sound more credible ! I think you never give an interest about the realignment in the Federal system. It give an amount per capita, it's not the Québec fault if it's the second largest place in Canada !:) And finally, you never had the idea to go join your friends in United States ? Yours sincerely ! No more Rhodesia !

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  6. "For the Bloc, that's too many dots to connect or an inconvenient truth and so the relationship between the two elements is pooh-poohed or ignored completely."

    The Bloc wants to have its cake and eat it too. The next step is the one Charest himself is pointing out (any wonder if this guy is a separatist or what?) which is to receive more credits because Quebec is greener than Alberta on the level of tar sand greenhouse gas emissions.

    You know what this kind of leadership reminds me of? It reminds me of the Mohawk leadership of Kanesatake (south shore of Montreal) where you have people that almost want to have total independance from any canadian governement whether it is federal, provincial or municipal government but on the other hand wants to live off payments that come from those government.

    Anyone in this pack who doesn't love to bite the hand that feeds is a liar.

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  7. "He laughed and gave a little smile. "Of course not!" he said unabashedly. "Politics is always a case of perspective. Positions are always flexible, depending on where you come from" He then went on to say unashamedly that if the Tar Sands were located in Quebec, the province would have been independent many years ago!"

    What does that says about the so-called angelic "environmentalism" that the Bloc proposes? To me, it's circumstancial environmentalism, opportunistic and selective environmentalism where the sincerity of the cause depends on where you are on the map. As dumb as it is, that's what it is.

    On the other hand, I agree with the second part and I figure we are on a rasor thin edge where Alberta could easily start a separation movement that would take with them neighbouring provinces which would mean at least 2 Canadas that exists the facto: Western Canada: 100% English and Eastern Canada (around half and half).

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  8. Perhaps it is ALBERTA that should secede from Canada? Why does it need to give its wealth to Quebec? Frankly Alberta would probably be better off without the rest of Canada. Every study has shown that Alberta would have a higher standard of living without Canada.

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  9. To Anonymous at 10:07 PM:

    "Sniff, Sniff!"

    Do you have a cold? Why can't you come up with any intelligent remarks?

    "I think you never give an interest about the realignment in the Federal system. It give an amount per capita, it's not the Québec fault if it's the second largest place in Canada !:)"

    You're wrong as usual. Last year Ontario received transfer payments for the first time in its history. But it only received 347 million dollars despite having a population of 12 million people. Quebec has a smaller population of 7.5 million people but it received 8.4 billion dollars last year! It received more money than all of the other poor provinces combined. On a per capita basis it is the poorest province in Canada.

    You repeatedly quote Pierre Bourgault. Are you in love with the guy? He was gay after all.

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  10. Why not more info about important topics like the export of Asbestos? Send your blog post to a journalist, since you wonder why they don't talk about it. There's more to politics than party politics, as I'm sure all of you here are aware of.

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  11. ''You repeatedly quote Pierre Bourgault. Are you in love with the guy? He was gay after all''
    What's the fact he was gay or not play in the debate, maybe it like usual. The big principles but the real rednek face of INTOLERANCE ? I don't make my choice on the sexual preferences of the author ! I understand better why we have conservative in Ottawa ! And if Québec is like a chain, next referendum, don't violate laws for making voting illegals, and organize a LOVE-In that in fact was a big LIE.

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  12. I see something like the real face of CANADIAN TOLERANCE ! Full of principles but lies at the end ! In Québec, English is also SECOND LANGUAGE, WE AGREE ! Do you know what means SECOND, after the first...Not trying to impose the second as a first !

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  13. "It received more money than all of the other poor provinces combined"

    And yet we still have the shittiest roads I've been on in North America. Then again, it's only fitting that our third world politicians should go hand in hand with third world road conditions. Who knows, we might have another bridge crap down on some unsuspecting motorist this summer too. God forbid we get rid of the OLF and pay for paramedics or better roads instead!


    "English is also SECOND LANGUAGE, WE AGREE ! Do you know what means SECOND, after the first"

    Actually, the problem is that you agree but WE don't. And be that as it may, if we all got our heads out of our asses in Montreal, the Anglos and the Allophones, we could just simply ignore your language laws. What are you going to do, write tickets out to over a million people? Deport us? I don't serve my customers in French anymore and I couldn't give a rat's ass about the OLF. As a matter of fact, I don't speak French at all to anyone anymore and it feels great. It's like that Judas Priest song, "Breakin' the Law"... but the absolute best part about it is seeing Franco-first ubermensch bigots making handicapped faces when I chuck them out of my store when they cause a scene for not being served in French. If a veiled Muslim is unacceptable enough to the majority to be thrown out of classrooms and establishments, then I claim the same right for what I consider unacceptable.

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  14. Hope to go to your shop ! You look very a good business guy (it's ironic)!

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  15. ''Deport us? I don't serve my customers in French anymore and I couldn't give a rat's ass about the OLF. As a matter of fact, I don't speak French at all to anyone anymore and it feels great. It's like that Judas Priest song, "Breakin' the Law"... but the absolute best part about it is seeing Franco-first ubermensch bigots making handicapped faces when I chuck them out of my store when they cause a scene for not being served in French''
    The only thing I can see by reading that paragraph is that you are just looking for attention and want to provoke ! And I don't know why but when i look your arguments YOU act like a BIGOT ! Like says George's Brassens song '' Le temps ne fait rien à l'affaire ''

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  16. The population of Ontario is 13.2 million, not twelve. Just to be accurate, not petty.

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  17. "and want to provoke "

    Yes I do.

    "i look your arguments YOU act like a BIGOT "

    Well, I'm just doing what everyone else is doing, but in the language of MY choice. If you find it distasteful, imagine what it feels like to be part of a minority community that is faced with this everywhere in the province on a daily basis. It's part of our existence. On the other hand you might or might not drift into my cafe.

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  18. If he drifts into your cafe I would hope that you throw him out too.

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  19. http://www.canada.com/business/Letter+Quebec+premier+calls+halt+asbestos+exports/2784707/story.html

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  20. "Actually, the problem is that you agree but WE don't. And be that as it may, if we all got our heads out of our asses in Montreal, the Anglos and the Allophones, we could just simply ignore your language laws."

    The whole debate lies right there.

    English language has no particular status in the province of Quebec. Live with it. Anglophones are a minority in Quebec.

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