Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Bloc Quebecois' Masturbation Party

Resistance Leader Gilles Duceppe
Last weekend  the Bloc Quebecois held its annual meeting in Quebec City where they continued to promote the charade that they are in any way relevant to Canadian politics.
The sad truth is that almost all Bloc members hate their jobs, including Gilles Duceppe, who not so secretly aspires to the job of Premier of Quebec.
He caused somewhat of a stir by comparing his separatist movement to the famous "Resistance," which battled the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two.
Hearing of the comparison, Federal Minister Lawrence Cannon  blew a gasket and complained that Duceppe had insulted Canada, when in fact, the real crime was to compare the Bloc pantywaists with those that bravely fought and died battling a murderous enemy.

The convention was highlighted by the keynote speaker, oddball ex-mayor of small town Huntington, Stephane Gendron, who told the audience that while he liked the Bloc, he didn't think he'd vote for sovereignty. Hmm..
Then it was the turn of ex-MP Suzanne Tremblay to wow the crowd by telling them that the Bloc was making an important contribution in Ottawa because by speaking only French  in Parliament, it forced the government to hire more interpreters. Wow!

For the majority of the 1,379,628 voters in Quebec who voted for the Bloc Quebecois in the last Federal election, sending separatists to Ottawa is an infantile exercise in tweaking the collective nose of English Canada. Pissing in the soup of federal politics is just about the only thing left for the frustrated sovereignist to do, taking advantage of a split federalist vote to garner 66% of the Quebec seats with about a third of the votes.

I'm mindful of the movie line in FATAL ATTRACTION wherein the jilted lover character played by Glen Close threatens the Michael Douglas character (who is desperately trying to dump her) "I mean, I'm not gonna be ignored"

And ignored they are. A Bloc Member rising in Parliament to speak is a wonderful opportunity for government members to unplug their simultaneous translation earpieces and take a few moments to zone out.

While those who voted for the Bloc rejoice in their collective thumbing of their nose at Canadians and their federal Parliament, few Quebeckers understand how desperately sad and humiliating the presence of these separatists in Ottawa really is.

Short of bringing down the government, which they are fearful of doing,  they have no power and no influence. In fact, their presence has the complete opposite effect of what they claim they are doing, defending the interests of Quebec voters and so they sit in Parliament like an unwelcome, nasty and crotchety old grandfather who is roundly ignored at the family dinner table, even when he speaks. 

One of the principle reasons that the Bloc has such a high turnover rate is that it is a nasty avocation to go to work each day with co-workers who hate your guts, in a city full of people who loathe your presence.

When opposition parties flirted with the idea of a coalition government that included the Bloc last year, the very concept, so shocked the sensibilities of Canadians that the only other person with a legitimate shot at forming a government on his own, Michael Ignatief of the Liberals, was forced to back down.
It was a good thing for Jack Layton too, because had the coalition gone through, it would have destroyed the political careers of the two leaders.

I have eaten in  the Parliamentary cafeteria and have seen the Bloc members sitting alone amongst themselves, like the nerds that populate the loser corner of any high school in Canada.

Big shots in Quebec, Bloc members are nobodies in Ottawa and the reality is difficult for them to digest.

When asked about their accomplishments in Ottawa, the Bloc always answer that they are defending Quebec's interest. But how?

There is nary a piece of legislation that they can lay claim to have been a moving force behind. The amendments that they offer are only on the rarest of occasions incorporated in government policy.

Last week they proposed an amendment to the crime bill which would reverse the policy of letting non-violent first time offenders out on parole after serving only one-sixth of their sentence.  A good idea that makes eminently good sense and one with which I'm sure the vast majority of Canadians would agree with.
But because the amendment came from the Bloc, the government didn't even bother considering it for a moment. Had the Liberals or the NDP proposed the same amendment, it would have been surely put on the table for debate.

So all that is left is the pitiful exercise in collective masturbation, the bane of those who cannot do anything in the real world and so are consigned to the world of imagination.

Relieved, re-assured and recharged after their stroke-a-thon convention, the Bloc members return to Parliament to continue with he charade that they are something other than a sad collection of failed separatists advancing a tired and rejected platform.

For me, instead of feeling anger at their insulting presence in Ottawa, I take solace and grim pleasure that everyday is another painful and frustrating day that they must endure in a united and strong Canada, another day taking them farther and farther away from their dream.
It has been twenty long years of a misery and frustration. I wish them many more decades of the same. Suffer on.

It's plain to everyone else that their dream of sovereignty is enduring a slow and lingering death in Quebec and one might ask if the destiny of Bloc members is to live out their retirement back home, in a Quebec firmly rooted in Canada, living out their sunshine years on the avails of their Canadian parliamentary pension.

Think any of them will refuse that pension out of principle?

.....No I don't think so either.

28 comments:

  1. So, based on Duceppe's logic, can Canada now capture and execute him and members of the Bloc, just like Nazi Germany did to the members of the French Resistance?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just when I think that the BQ can’t sink any lower, they do.

    A ridiculous political party for ridiculous people.

    And this whole thing about oppression of Francophones...oh man...enough.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "He caused somewhat of a stir by comparing his separatist movement to the famous "Resistance," which battled the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two."

    The Resistance had a relatively small part to play in the liberation of France. The country was freed by the military alliance of the Canadians, Americans, and British. Most of the Canadian soldiers were English speaking, since the majority of the Quebecois did not want to participate in the war. Large numbers of them even fled to the woods in order to avoid military service.

    It was ironic that French President Charles de Gaulle pronounced "Vive le Quebec Libre" in Montreal. He sat on his ass in exile in England (and was paid by the British) during the entire war, while mostly Anglo Canadians fought and died to liberate his country.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ironic, isn't it? The Anglos from the US, UK, and Canada saved the French in Europe. If it weren’t for them, the French would be speaking German today.

    Note that de Gaulle also objected to and vetoed England's application into the EEC (the precursor of today's EU) in 1963, accusing the UK of being an "American Trojan Horse" in Europe.

    His hatred of anything English overrode his common sense and any sense of human decency.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The seperatists have more in common with the Vichy government in France during WWII than anything else. Except perhaps the fascist tendency to scapegoat minorities that was the bread and butter of daily politics in Germany in the prewar period. The politics of xenophobia and cultural elitism from this period read like a playbook for the Duceppes of the province.

    ReplyDelete
  6. On the face of it there is nothing wrong with a regionalist party representing its area in the federal government. The Bloc made a perfectly reasonable proposal on a law-related change but it was discounted because they are a separatist party - such an infantile and immature gesture. Canada is so geographically vast and culturally diverse that one could argue there is no single party that truly represents all of its areas or various population clusters. The main reason the Bloc didn't realize its goals was because of the ethnic vote. Please google SWEPT AWAY - NORTH OF THE BORDER by James Fulford.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm really getting tired of these rethorical exaggerations. Comparisons with the nazis is unacceptable FROM ANY SIDE.

    And please, don't bundle french-canadians with France's people. Apart from some separatists who are dreamy-eyed when thinking about France as the motherland, I doubt that many french-canadians really identify themselves with the "maudits français". I certainly don't, I went there and felt more a stranger than anywhere else. We share more cultural traits than we think with anglophones, although we do have some differing point of views.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Btw, I forgot to congratulate you on this blog. Great job. I stumbled upon it today, and I already commented a few times.

    This last piece on the BQ is spot on. I'm not sure if you know but Duceppe is planning a trip to the EU soon to endorse Quebec's "independence". (I love when they talk "independence" as if they were enslaved in a country that the Unitied Nations consistently, year in year out, ranks in the top 5 (or even top 3) of best countries in the world to live in). Being originally from Europe myself, and knowing how good a reputation Canada has over there, I can predict that monsieur Gilles will be laughed out of every room he gets to speak in, if he is allowed to speak at all.

    I can't wait for his trip. It will be a joy to follow. I'm sure you'll do a piece on it too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. And what about the Scotland independence ?
    Your best country, you can keep it for you, we see how are treated french communities all from coast to coast and we don't talk about the natives that are still under the Federal juridiction. Your propaganda is useless ! ''L'indépendance, c'est comme un pont : avant, personne n'en veut, après, tout le monde le prend.'' Félix Leclerc. Si l'on regarde le nombre de ponts, c'est bon signe !

    « J'ai souvent passé pour un extrémiste parce qu'on croyait que l'indépendance était une solution extrémiste. C'est tout à fait ridicule. Dans ce cas, tous les pays indépendants seraient extrémistes. Seuls les colonisés peuvent traiter d'extrémistes ceux qui parlent de l'indépendance. » Bourgault

    ReplyDelete
  10. ''And this whole thing about oppression of ANGLOPHONES...oh man...ENOUGH !''If it's the treatment of the minorities that is your object, I suggest you to give a call to all the french minorities in Canada (except Québec) and maybe the natives too ! Expand your crusade for the rights like you say not for your own interest, the one of a little crowd (10% in Québec).

    ReplyDelete
  11. I suggest you to watch that video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuQc-yAZNUA

    ReplyDelete
  12. Reply to 10:32 PM;

    This is a perfect example of why I call for Swiss-style language laws.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What is this about the treatment of French Canadian? Please tell me, when is the last time, or the first time for that matter, the Quebec separatists (including BQ and PQ) fight for French Canadian rights outside of Quebec?

    When we talk about the separatists, nothing is heard about the Acadians, Fransaskois or Franco-Ténois.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "The sad truth is that almost all Bloc members hate their jobs, including Gilles Duceppe, who not so secretly aspires to the job of Premier of Quebec."

    Well, he did not take the chance the last time it was handed on a silver plate with Bernard Landry departure nor he took it with André Boisclair's departure.

    He knows it would mean hard serious work in an unmanageable province politically speaking with having to fight with unions all the time while taking a serious pay check cut (in 2005, it was 185 000$ for Quebec Premier versus 225 000$ for his job as the Bloc Quebecois leader in Ottawa).

    Therefore he rather defends the interest of Quebeckers in Ottawa, yeah right, he means his job and the jobs of his fellow men and women of the Bloc.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Bloc reminds me everything of the Rhinoceros Party of Canada:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Party_of_Canada

    And indeed they ARE a Rhinoceros party. Most of those voting for them reject canadian politics and are therefore voting for a bunch of jokers instead of people who are going to do something credible and efficient for their riding. It's the empty seat game and to me, it's their best quality since sometimes having no MP in power is better than having a really incompetent one in power.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "and maybe the natives too !"

    The same natives that were going to have part of their lands plowed in to extend a golf course for mayor Ouellette in Oka?

    ReplyDelete
  17. "And what about the Scotland independence ?"

    Just a reminder. You're not colonized. You represent a colonialist power and its imperialistic pretensions as much as any anglo you chose to identify as such.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "And what about the Scotland independence ?"

    The only people in North America that can be compared to the Scots or the Irish are Native Indians. They are the rightful owners of these lands, and they are the ones that used to call it home before being dispossessed by colonialists from France, just like the Scots and the Irish have once been dispossessed by colonialists from England. The modern day Quebecois are descendants of colonialists from France, yet they have the gull of pointing the finger squarely at the Anglos and calling the Anglos “les colonialists meprisants”. What hypocrisy.

    As it is, the Francos enjoy the benefits that this society has to offer, living in their 3 story houses with 2 SUVs parked in the driveway in Rive Sud (or Laval). In the meantime, not too far away, the Natives are festering on their Kanawakee reserve, most of them on dole, with teenage suicide rates going into double digits.

    So who in Quebec is the colonialist, and who is the colonized? The answer is simple.

    The lies propagated by Quebec nationalists are atrocious. Someone has to call them out on it.

    "Your best country, you can keep it for you"

    Yes, one of the best countries, as per the United Nations rankings.

    http://www.nowpublic.com/world/best-country-live-list-countries-2009-un-hdi

    The UN wouldn’t rank a country a 4th best country in the world if that country practiced any sort of discrimination of Francophones or whoever. The funny thing about it is that Quebec nationalists are the only people on this planet that see Canada as a discriminatory country. Noone else in the world does. So who is likely to be right, billions of people around the world + the UN itself, or a bunch of perpetual separatist malcontents from Quebec? Again, the answer is simple.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I would argue the Bloc has achieved something. It has prevented any party from obtaining a majority government. It has provided blockage (pun intended) of any major non-Quebec based party from establishing overwhelming authority in Ottawa. It may not have "achieved" something, but it prevented something from happening. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Wouldn't preventing WW2 have been a good thing?

    Also, there is nothing wrong, wicked or illiberal in the Francophone desire for independence. They are linguistically and culturally apart from other people in Canada and have a different history. Too much is made of money. The state of Eire was very poor for several decades after it left Britain - but it wanted to go because it wasn't British and today Ireland has a good standard of living. Norway was much poorer then Sweden when it seceded from the latter and today it is a fine and wealthy country. The Norwegians weren't Swedes and wanted their own country. I see nothing wrong with this. By having themselves represented by their own party in Ottawa the Francophones of Quebec are showing federal parties they cannot be taken for granted like the Quebec liberal party takes Anglophones for granted. Ethnic groups are often better off to develop their own parties. Italy's German speaking community is represented by its own parties at all levels of government.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Ethnic groups are often better off to develop their own parties."

    The issue is not the party in and of itself. It's that the particular parties that represent the Francophone majority in Quebec do their best to disenfranchise all other cultural groups within the province. As if that were not enough, when they seek election they frame arguments that label these minorities as threatening to the majority and that they themselves represent the crusading knights that will save the pure race from the 'others'. It's low-life politics of fear mongering that breeds on the xenophobia they've worked very hard to maintain with the artificial threats they brew and the legislation they use to combat these imaginary fears. The Bloc and the PQ could not exist in their present form without the consistent cultivation of bigotry in the province.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous: “Also, there is nothing wrong, wicked or illiberal in the Francophone desire for independence.”

    I agree. All the examples you cited are valid: Eire’s separation from the UK in 1916, Norway’s separation from Sweden in 1905, separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992, independence of Slovenia and Croatia in the mid 1990s.

    2 POINTS IN RESPONSE:

    POINT 1:

    I would certainly support Quebec if it decided to go its separate way, but only if

    a.You ask the people a CLEAR question – without any trickery, deception, and sidetracking about partnerships. If you want independence, ask: “Do you want Quebec to become an independent state/independent country/independent unit? YES or NO?” The partnership do NOT need to be in the question, since it is a given that independent states have relations with their neighbors.
    b.You secure a CLEAR majority – not 50.00000000001% which is within the margin of error - not good enough especially when you consider that many votes could have been illegally rejected (as in the Chomedey riding)
    c.You outsource the vote counting to an independent agency, preferably the UN. Sorry, but I just don’t believe that PQ apparatchiks working at polling stations would count the votes honestly (Chomedey again).

    As it stands, the support for Quebec’s secession form Canada oscillates around 40% of the total population, which means that ALL Anglos, ALL Allos, and a third of Francos do NOT want it. Yet the separatists talk as if secession from Canada were the will of ALL Quebeckers. This is just NOT true, yet your media peddles this misleading and deceptive point of view (see my other comment to another post).

    And why are you so afraid of the Clarity Act? Parizeau said that Quebec would ignore it. If the desire to separate was as strong as you say in Quebec, you wouldn’t be so afraid of the Clarity Act, because you wouldn’t be afraid of asking a STRAIGHT question. As it stands, you ARE afraid to ask a straight question, despite the fact that, as of 1997 (the passing of the Clarity Act), your referendum would be illegal under the Canadian Law.

    POINT 2:

    In you example, you mention Eire. You certainly know that the independence of Ireland from England in 1916 led to the PARTITION of Ireland in 1921. Today, we have 2 independent states, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland that is still part of the United Kingdom.

    I’m bringing this up because in Quebec, you have strong federalist enclaves where the opposition to Quebec’s secession is overwhelming. Like Montreal West, Ville St Laurent, all boroughs in West Island, St Leonard, Eastern Townships, the Outaouis region. There are ridings in West Island where the Yes option received LITERALLY 0 votes in 1995. So if you’re toying with the idea of separation from the Rest of Canada, you must take into account a possibility of a partition. And you can’t ethically and morally deny federalist enclaves the right to partition, if you’re advocating it for yourselves. And even if you do deny them that right, trust me, they will fight for it. So it’s not going to be a pleasant divorce, outside and inside Quebec.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ''There are ridings in West Island where the Yes option received LITERALLY 0 votes in 1995''

    Sorry for you, but can i have the source of your statistics ? It seem like being kind of Bricolage ? Get serious when you advance those kind of argument !

    ReplyDelete
  23. Replt to Adski:

    I don't disagree with your three points. I would mention I am a Anglo from Toronto. A lot of people here seem to think I am a Francophone. I think Canada's language laws are deeply flawed, expensive, seriously misrepresent Canadian demographic realities, ignore its vast spatiality and I think the practical Swiss have a much better system.
    I would mention that what Ireland actually got in 1922 was to all intents and purposes "sovergnity association". It kept British passports and the pound. It was so much S.A. that the IRA fought a civil war over the deal. And six whole counties remained in the U.K altogether. I also agree that Quebec may have to face some kind of partition to achieve independence. On the other side perhaps some parts of New Brunswick might want to join Quebec too?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Reply to Adski:

    What would you consider a 'clear majority'? The European Union decided that 55% YES would be required for Montenegro to secede from Serbia. That figure was obtained. How often does a Canadian government, even if it wins a majority of the seats in the house of commons, get even 50% +1 of the total popular vote?

    ReplyDelete
  25. “Sorry for you, but can i have the source of your statistics ?”

    I was referring to the D’Arcy McGee riding.

    In the 1980 referendum, out of 162 polling subdivisions with an average of 234 voters per subdivision, 12 subdivisions recorded zero votes for the “yes“ option and 19 recorded only one “yes” vote. Over 95% of the entire riding voted “no”.

    Le Directeur général des elections du Québec. Rapport des résultants officials du scrutiny, Référendum du 20 mai 1980, pp. 179-184.

    In the 1995 referendum, out of 167 polling subdivisions with an average of 231 voters per subdivision, 16 subdivisions recorded zero votes for the “yes” side and 30 recorded only one “yes” vote. Over 96% voted “no”.

    Le Directeur général des elections du Québec. Rapport des résultants officials du scrutiny, Référendum du 30 octobre 1995, pp. 207-210.


    “I would mention that what Ireland actually got in 1922 was to all intents and purposes "sovergnity association".

    Republic of Ireland became an independent state, with its own passport, flag (green, white, orange, no union jack), army, foreign policy, etc…Northern Ireland remained part of the UK, and kept British passports, like Scotland and Wales.
    Eire and England have always been closely associated, but only as two separate and independent countries.

    “I also agree that Quebec may have to face some kind of partition to achieve independence.”

    The talk of partition is as old as the talk of Quebec’s secession. Naturally, of course. Even preliminary maps have been drawn.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Quebec

    However, although tempting to think in terms of partition, I would like to reiterate that separatists do NOT form the majority in Quebec. They never go over 40% in polls, most often recording 30-33%. It is rather their loudness, manipulation, and meanderings, combined with the complacency, shyness, the and lack of backbone of the federalist side, that gives the false impression that Quebeckers feel oppressed and want out. The truth is that the two thirds of Quebeckers are pretty content in Canada, and want to stay.


    “What would you consider a 'clear majority'?”

    If the question is CLEAR, and the UN oversees the vote count, then 50+1%

    If the question is clear, and the LOCALS count the votes, then 55%.

    If the question is not clear, then I would not consider the referendum valid, and under the Clarity Act it would be void and null, and not recognized by the federal government.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "The truth is that the two thirds of Quebeckers are pretty content in Canada, and want to stay. "

    And why shouldn't they be? They enjoy the benefits of the federation but at the same time they're permitted to run the province as their own sovereign territory running roughshod over the ethnic minorities of the province while they look for every possible constitutional loophole to deny them their rights as Canadians.
    If the partition of an independent Quebec was an assured event, I would be the first to vote 'YES' in the next referendum. 101 and the bigots who support it have no place in Canada anyway. Quebec is like Canada's dirty secret. We might be ranked as one of the best countries to live in but that's only because nobody's paying attention to the skidmark underneath the suit.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Bloc is comprised of a bunch of hooligans who have nothing more to do than belly ache that the rest of Canada owes them something. They do not represent Canada and, therefore,do nothing to earn the respect of the rest of Canada. I say ship them down to Newfoundland and bring the great Newfoundlanders who are loved and respected up to the province of Quebec. They are more friendly and much nicer people who consider themselves part of Canada. The Bloc Quebecois'
    suffer from a persecution complex and should be dismissed as the ravings of uncontrolled children... AMEN

    ReplyDelete
  28. There is no other party that runs for just their own Province other than the Quebecois' Bloc party. Why is it even allowed??????

    ReplyDelete