Amir Khadir Has a Lot to Hide

Amir Khadir is the only member of the Quebec Parliament representing the separatist Quebec Solidaire political party, which is distinguished from the Parti Quebecois by being much more left wing, extreme and militant.

The flamboyant Khadir got himself elected in just about the only riding he could, Montreal's Mercier riding which is arguably the most pro-sovereignist and militant riding in Quebec.

Since then, he has been working quite successfully to raise his profile and popularity by purporting to stand up to the 'big guys' and opposing just about anything the Quebec, Canadian or American government does or says.
Ever since he symbolically threw a shoe at a photo of President George Bush, at a rally in front of the U.S. consulate in Montreal, his popularity has skyrocketed. LINK

Recently he pulled off another coup by going to Toronto and posting part of the bail for Jaggi Singh, Canada's most notorious anarchist, who was arrested at the G20 conference.

It was a masterful coup, based on perceptions that Quebeckers were targeted at the G20 protests by Toronto police because they were French. This narrative has been successfully sold as fact by Quebec militants and anarchists seeking to engender popular support.

Mr Khadir put forward the position that he provided Mr. Singh's bail, not because he shares his ideals, but in order to defend democracy and the right to dissent. According to Khadir, it was also a gesture of solidarity with those Quebeckers who were targeted by Toronto police, another notion that went down well with the receptive Quebec audience.

But here's the part Mr. Khadir left out..

It seems that  Mr. Singh and Amir Khadir are actually friends, a fact that Khadir wasn't keen to emphasize.  In an interview after his release, Singh mentioned that he considered Kadir a friend and that he had previously gone to demonstrations with Mr. Khadir's daughter.   LINK

By the way it isn't the first time that Khadir posted bail for someone of  dubious distinction.  It is alleged that Khadir and his wife put up bail for Adil Charkaoui, accused by CSIS of being an islamist sleeper agent. Link

It seems that in an effort to become more acceptable to a wider audience, there's a lot Amir Khadir isn't mentioning. He has been re-inventing and re-packaging himself as less extreme and has deemphasized his links to radical anarchists, communists and islamo-religious extremists.

That effort has been blown apart by journalist  Éric Duhaime, who this week and last week wrote two  blockbuster exposes entitled "Khadir at Home with Communists" and "Friends of Amir." Both these articles are in French and if you can read the language, please do so, it will be worth the effort.

Amir learned dissent early, his parents being radicals themselves. He first met his future wife Nima Machouf as a child at the various radical demonstrations that both their parents dragged them to, on a regular basis.

His father is an ageing communist, who reminds me of the over the hill stoner comedian 'Cheech," living in a 1970's fantasy and regurgitating material that is sadly out of date.  Jafar Khadir is a sad character living in the past, who parrots ideas that have long since been discredited, even in Russia and China.  He was a long-time member of the executive council of the Quebec Communist Party and still keeps actively involved.
Jafar has militated on a variety of radical causes and back in 2002 was stopped at the US border, where he was held for eight hours and ultimately refused entry with the warning not to come back.  Link

The Khadir family hosts the annual "Camp de formation" of the Communist Party of Quebec at their summer chalet on the slopes of Mont Pinnacle near Frelighsburg in the Eastern Townships where Jafar  hosts a weekend of speeches, workshops and comraderie. Last year Amir attended and engaged  in those hearty discussions that faithful communist 'comrades' adore. While Amir may not be a card carrying member of the party, he is a sympathetic follower and friend and ideologically in tune.

This year's edition took place last weekend and I will write about it next week. Don't miss the piece, you'll laugh your ass off.

At any rate Mr. Khadir and his wife are "Truthers" who believe that Israel and the United States conspired to blow up the World Trade Centre on 9/11. His hatred of Israel is only matched by his friend Jaggi Singh and he recently tried unsuccessfully to enter a motion of condemnation of Israel in Quebec's Parliament.

For many years, Amir was an active supporter of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which is classified as a terrorist organization in the United States, Europe and Canada. When his brother Omid was arrested in 2003 in Paris during a police operation against the French base of WIPO, Amir intervened to secure his release by putting pressure on the Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, without specifying that it was his brother who was under arrest.

Although an active leader in the Iranian community in Montreal, Amir has strangely suffered a case of lockjaw in relation to the sad events unfolding in Iran today. While blasting Israel for the deaths of nine Gaza blockade busters, he remains strangely quiet about the dozens of deaths of his countrymen at the hands of the Iranian government while protesting a rigged fixed presidential election and who continue to bravely militate for real democracy in Iran. One can only speculate as to what his silence means.

Khadir also remains silent on the two devastating articles written about him by Mr. Duhaime, hoping that the story about his past and his dubious connections will somehow die in the summer heat. Not helping the story die, is an article written in defence of Mr Khafir, by Gabriel Proulx who just happens to be a member of the executive council of the Quebec Communist Party. Link

For Mr. Khadir, the connection to the Quebec Communist Party and Quebec solidaire is best left unmentioned and up until now, Quebeckers remain largely oblivious.

The QS was born out of the PCQ and the communist party retains special status with all members automatically enrolled as Quebec solidaire members.

The communists have stopped running candidates in the last provincial election and now stand for Parliament under the QS banner. The president of the Communist party, André Parizeau and Executive committee member, Francis Gagnon-Bergmann and Jocelyn Parent were all candidates for Quebec Solidaire in the last election. During the election members of the PCQ  worked closely in support of the Quebec Solidaire party.  Wikipedia

As for Khadir, it's strictly a case of 'don't ask, don't tell"

Quebec 'Extremist' Finds Religion

It was a simple feel-good story about a synagogue re-dedication on CTV NewsNet that got my attention and had me scratching my head in bewilderment.

The small town of Ste. Agathe is located about 100 kilometres north of Montreal in the cottage country of the Laurentian mountains and sits on the picturesque lac des Sables. It has been the vacation playground to much of Montreal's Jewish community for over seventy years and is home to one of the two last remaining Quebec synagogues that stand outside the greater Montreal region (the other is in Quebec City.)

circa 1930

The people of Ste-Agathe have worked hard to shake off the history of overt antisemitism that manifested itself up until the 1970's. Signs like "NO JEWS"  or "CHRISTIANS WELCOME" were not common, but were also not rare.

Relations  between the communities slowly improved but took a serious setback back in the summer of 2008 in reaction to a series of  antisemitic attacks.

In a bid to ease tension, a Jewish couple invited the whole town to attend their open air Hassidic wedding. The town, in a reciprocal effort to show good will, embraced the idea and co-operated by providing facilities for the wedding. The couple were married along the shore of the lake, before a large audience of Christians and Jews. For almost all the local townsfolk, it was the first time they had attended a Jewish wedding and they eagerly followed the ceremony guided by a bilingual pamphlet that explained the unfolding ceremony.

The event was a rousing success and represented a turning point in relations. The small gesture of goodwill was widely appreciated and the Jews and the synagogue became am integral part of the greater community.  Read the Story

Last week the synagogue was rebuilt and again the entire town was invited to the re-dedication ceremony. Hundreds of town folk turned up to join the festivities and take a tour of the new building.
Unfortunately the event received little media attention. It seems that when communities reach out to each other successfully, in an effort to foster good relations, it isn't quite newsworthy and that's a shame.

Now here's where the story gets strange. The reporter covering the event interviewed a non-Jewish francophone who has been attending services in the 'shul' (synagogue in Yiddish) regularly. I almost fell out of my chair when the reporter explained who the individual was;

Whaaaaat????????

Was that Guy Bouthillier, the ex-president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the strident separatist French language militant?

Yup....it appears so. I was flabbergasted.

 For those who don't know, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste is Quebec's leading French language and sovereignty advocacy group. Notwithstanding its radicalness, it enjoys a wide measure of acceptance and is recognized as THE defender of Quebec language and culture. In fact, it is so respected that the government has awarded the organization the exclusive contract to coordinate the yearly Fête Nationale (Saint-Jean Baptiste Day) celebrations, province-wide, much to the consternation of Anglo commentators.

Could you imagine the stink that would be made if Alliance Quebec was awarded a government contract to organize the Canada Day celebration?.....but I digress..

I did a little research on Mr. Bouthillier, (Okay, it was just Wikipedia,) I found out that unlike the present president of the SSJB, Mario Beaulieu, he is highly educated, broad-minded and perfectly bilingual, as you heard in the news piece.

But he was also a committed sovereignist and a strident French language rights promoter and seeing him become a parishioner at an ENGLISH Jewish synagogue is startling, to say the least.

Imam Mario Beaulieu

Many people 'find' religion at a certain point in their life, but you must admit seeing Mr. Bouthillier embracing Judaism in an anglophone congregation is jarring.



Maybe there's hope for others?

French versus English Volume 13

New Governor-General too much of a federalist?

The selection of David Johnston as Canada's next Governor-General isn't pleasing Quebec sovereignists who complain, if you can believe it, that he is too much of a federalist. According to the president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal, Mario Beaulieu, Johnston is a 'federalist extremist' and so his nomination is too partisan. He also complained that Johnston was the co-president of the NO committee in the 1995 referendum. Gerald Larose, ex-unionist big shot and sovereignist bigwig was more realistic about the nomination.  He called Johnston, a formidable adversary. "Federalists pick federalists, it shouldn't surprise anyone"  Link

Gilles Duceppe embarrasses himself internationally

The Bloc Quebecois leader took it upon himself to send out a letter on official House of Commons stationary to 1600 unnamed world leaders warning them to be prepared for Quebec sovereignty.

Brace for a referendum: Duceppe

The letter warns the lucky recipients "that very soon Quebec will be voting in a new referendum on sovereignty." 
That may come as a big surprise to Pauline Marois and the Parti Quebecois who have promised the exact opposite.

Nationalist fantasists prattle on...

Blow hard  Georges Le Gal  continues to  promote his make believe world of Quebec by  demanding that newcomers be denied  Quebec citizenship if they can't speak French, notwithstanding that there is no such thing as 'Quebec citizenship'.

Yves Chartrand, in an article edited by Mr. Le Gal is furious that people wear clothing emblazoned with English words and for the fact that English can be heard, smack dab in the Plateau Mont-Royal, the bastion of French radicalism in Montreal. Horrors! He also demands that a linguistic war be declared immediately.

Rejean Labrie another prolific author on vigile.net also expounds on his version of a 'Fantasy Island-Quebec' by proposing that only Francophones be allowed to vote in a referendum.......

Quebec power couple to return to Bye-Bye

You might recall the controversy over Radio-Canada's(French CBC) New Year's eve show in 2008 that drew a furious reaction because of a black joke about Barak Obama and a skit about sex-abuse victim Nathalie Simard. Read an account HERE.

Véronique Cloutier along with her hubby Louis Morrissette were co-producers of the show and wrote the skit that mocked Ms. Simard. It seems that the public didn't appreciate the humour, considering that the real life pedophile who sexually abused Ms. Simard as a child, is Cloutier's real-life father.
It's a bit confusing, maybe this can help;

The power couple were duly chastised and the traditional New Year's eve show was axed last year.

Apparently,  the exile is over and they will again produce this year's show. It seems that Quebeckers miss their Bye-Bye show and that there isn't anyone of sufficient talent available to produce it.
All is forgiven and forgotten. The couple has likely been taken back with the proviso that they do no more 'nigger' jokes and that they leave poor Nathalie Simard alone.

Con man is latest French language defender/hero?
French language militants are hailing the victory of career con man Stéphane Marleau who won his grievance against Corrections Canada for not providing him with a French language newspaper while incarcerated in the Kingston Penitentiary, in Ontario.
He's now complaining that his medical file isn't in French and that the computer keyboards are exclusively in English. He also wants his rehabilitation course to be provided in French. He also complains that because no one speaks French he can't get the prison job that he wants.
Mr. Marleau has a fraud history stretching back years and and is presently in jail for romancing and defrauding a Quebec woman out of her life savings. LINK (French)

Perhaps Corrections Canada might consider a less costly solution to the 'French" problem. Instead of going through the lengthy grievance process and expensive remedies, they might just ship the intrepid con man to Donaconna or Port Cartier, maximum security prisons located in Quebec!

Andrei Markov assailed for not  learning French

After being sworn in as a Canadian citizen, the Montreal Canadiens star defenceman was asked by a francophone reporter whether he would now bother to learn French. Markov, not particularly adept in English, told the reporter politely that he was first trying to master English. He wasn't kidding or being falsely modest, after ten years in Canada, Markov can't form a proper sentence.
Let's just be polite and say that he is linguistically challenged.

Montreal anglo reporter Ted Bird took exception to the reporter pissing on Markov's big day.

"There are long-simmering resentments at play from which even otherwise celebrated hockey heroes are not exempt, and hobnobbing with a scarlet-clad Mountie in front of a Canadian flag after swearing allegiance to the Queen isn't the goodwill gesture to some that it is to others." LINK

Does Anyone Listen to Pauline Marois?

Catalonia is a Spanish province that shares many political similarities with Quebec. Of its seven million inhabitants about 40% speak an indigenous language similar, but not the same as Spanish (Catalan) and profess a separate culture from Spain, which was repressed up until the end of the Second World War (under Fascist dictator Francisco Franco,) after which the re-emergence of Catalonia as a distinct element of Spain was established.

Of course there is the obligatory secessionist movement, but it isn't violent and has much less support then that of the independence movement in Quebec. In the latest survey only about 20% of locals are in favour of outright independence. Reference
It should be noted that all this has unfolded peacefully and should not be confused with the independence movement farther North in the Basque region which has seen decades of various levels of terrorism by the ETA.

Most Catalans are content to remain in Spain under semi-autonomous conditions which were agreed to in 2006, under the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, but recently, that law has been dealt a setback by Spain's Supreme Court, ruling that some of its provisions were unconstitutional (ring any bells?)

On June 10 Catalans held a giant demonstration in Barcelona to protest the decision.

All this,  of course, is of supreme interest to the Parti Quebecois, who view the independence movement in Catalonia as a parallel struggle to that of the independence of Quebec.

Upon hearing the news of the Supreme court setback Pauline Marois took it upon herself to write a letter of commiseration to the president of Catalonia. LINK

Here is a translation of that letter which was originally written in French;

 Most Honourable Señore José Montilla i Aguilera
President of the government of Catalonia

Mr. President,

With great attention I read about the recent 'decsion' of the Constitutional Court that declared unconstitutional several important  provisions of the Organic Law on the reform of Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.

I also, like many Quebeckers, noted the strength of the Catalonian nation during the demonstration on 10 July in Barcelona.

This gathering of over one million of Catalans last Saturday under the banner of "We are One Nation - We'll Decide for Ourselves,"  illustrates the extraordinary vitality and commitment to the nation's destiny.

The Quebec nation remains, as the Catalan nation, committed to its right to decide its own future. Despite court decisions, the Catalan nation has the right to protect and promote its language, its culture and its institutions. The political struggle to advance our nations, often against the established constitutional straitjacket, requires much effort and energy. Also, know that in Quebec you will always find attentive friends and allies for your engagement towards Catalonia.

On behalf of the Parti Quebecois, I want to express to you today our solidarity.

We believe that  it is up to our peoples to ultimately decide our own destiny, to choose our political status and exercise the right to self-determination and not the courts, to mark their future.

Please accept, Mr. President, my highest consideration. 

Chef du Parti Québécois
Chef de l'opposition officielle»     LINK(French)

For elected officials, interfering in the internal affairs of another country is an international taboo, especially when it comes to supporting independence movements.

The classic example was Charles de Gaulle's "VIVE LA QUEBEC LIBRE" speech that he gave in Montreal in 1967. The angry reaction of the Canadian government at the French president's meddling over the issue of Quebec sovereignty sent De Gaulle scurrying home amidst a diplomatic row.

Perhaps Madame Marois deserves to be declared personna non grata by the Spanish government for her act of interference, but it doesn't appear so.

The letter hasn't caused much of a splash and there's zero mention of it in the Spanish press.

I guess Madame Marois lacks a certain gravitas....

Or to paraphrase.....

"Pauline, you're no Charles De Gaulle." ... 

At any rate Madame Marois seems to prattle on without anyone listening. She is prone to make endless policy shifts depending on the prevailing mood of her party or the electorate.

At a certain point as leader she declared there would likely be another referendum during the next PQ mandate. Then her position shifted and the referendum became a maybe. Now, with the PQ facing a realistic chance of winning the next election, a referendum, has been officially ruled out. Ho hum.


Her latest demand that the Loyola College court decision (allowing the school to teach the ECR course according to Catholic point of view) be appealed is so strident, that it would be safe to assume that she has always been a supporter of separation of Church and school. See my post

"It is up to parents and the church to pass along faith," Marois said. "Schools must pass along knowledge."

No mincing words there, a secularist through and through. Or so it appears.

In an article in Republique de Bananes, Pauline Marois is quoted as making the following statements in the 'Assemblée nationale (Parliament) back in  March 1997.

"Public schools must respect the free choice or free rejection of religion, it is part of democratic freedoms."

 "The choice between moral education or religious education, Catholic and Protestant, shall continue to be offered in accordance with the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "


 "Schools must be able to offer free choice to parents who attend ... that is to say, to parents of children who attend, of the possibility of a  Catholic, Protestant or moral training. "

"I repeat, Mr. Speaker,  public schools must respect the free choice as well as free rejection of religion as expressed by parents. 

Quite a flip-flop.

Recently, in reference to that Loyola court decision, Marois was quoted as saying; 

"I'm the one who worked to secularize the school system."  Link

Whaaaat????

Nobody has called her out on the apparent contradiction in positions, probably because nobody is paying much attention to her.

A Tale of Two Flags

Most of us have heard about the argument going on over bilingual signs in New Brunswick, specifically in Moncton where a proposal to force stores to post bilingual signs is meeting some resistance. Pressure is mounting to match the bylaw passed in a neighbouring town, Dieppe, that made bilingual signage mandatory.
I'm loathe to say that the proposal is meeting with a firestorm of criticism, because just as in Quebec, the publicity surrounding those militating against the proposal, far outweighs what popular opinion represents. Read a newspaper story about the opposition to French signs.
A note to readers- both of these towns have a significant francophone population, so bilingual signage is not pandering to a tiny percentage of citizens. 

Listening to the arguments of those against 'forced bilingualism' is just as exasperating as listening to the cretinous arguments made by French language zealots in Quebec, who also believe that any sign in the opposite language is an automatic step towards assimilation.

The argument that "forcing" merchants to post bilingual signs is an attack on 'freedom of expression' is particularly specious. Those against the bilingualism proposal, hold that merchants be allowed to post signs in whatever language they want to, with the public acting as final arbiter, voting with their wallets whether to support the business or not.

Our society has long ago decided that the government has not only the right but the obligation to regulate business practices and so, for example, there are laws concerning product safety and food labelling that force manufacturers to follow certain manufacturing norms along with the obligation to disclose ingredients on their product's labels, in both official languages. Should these requirements be voluntary?

A bylaw demanding bilingual signs is no more an attack on freedom than a bylaw demanding that a restaurant keep clean or that merchants not sell cigarettes to minors.

Speed limits, red lights and stop signs are all restrictions on our movement. Hate laws are a restriction of freedom of expression. Labour laws are a restriction on employers ability to exploit workers and health and safety laws restrict how we prepare food or operate equipment.
There will always be those who argue that wearing a seat belt in a car or a helmet while operating a motorcycle is an abusive restriction on freedom.
Regulation, by definition is a restriction of freedom, but certain restrictions are deemed reasonable and desirable and society has long accepted regulation as a necessary evil.
New Brunswick English language militants may argue that bilingual signage is a restriction on 'freedom of expression,'  but so what?  The only question to be argued is whether that restriction is reasonable.

Forced bilingual signs in a community with significant numbers of both language groups is not only reasonable but downright neighbourly. Those who oppose it are language zealots.

Now to the story of two flags.
It seems that one of the radical English language groups opposing the proposed bylaw, the 'Anglo Society' asked permission to fly their flag over City Hall in Bathurst for a day, as a salute to their organization.

Now before I go on with the story, I want to explain that the Anglo Society is as nutty, shrill and as unreasonable as any of the militant French language groups in Quebec.  Go over to their web site to see what I mean.

They similarly believe that any concession to the other language is an attack on the future viability of their own culture and language. Translate the content of their web site into French and it could easily be posted on that of the Mouvement Montréal français!

And so now, a real firestorm has broken out over the decision to fly this "Anglo Society" flag over city hall.  When the town council was made aware of certain 'facts,' the invitation was withdrawn.

As you'd expect, there was also an outcry in Quebec against the flag raising in a variety of militant quarters, led by none other than the prolific Anglo-basher Louis Prefontaine who devoted a hate filled column about the injustice of it all.
Mr Prefontaine noted that the date that the flag was to be raised corresponded with that of the date that the City of Quebec was defeated by the English back in 1759. I don't know if the Anglo Society was aware of this fact and chose the date specifically, but Mr. Prefontaine chose to concentrate on this fact and railed against the insult, real or intended, with a vituperative blast. LINK (Fr)

"...For French speakers in North America - or what remained of them, the end of the French presence marked a turning point, a collective trauma, possibly as bad, if not more so, than the atomic bombings in Japan. The society of our ancestors was beheaded, our language was banned and more than two-thirds of the population of Acadia was deported. We had our land stolen, we were killed and  destroyed. And now the English want to celebrate it?

.... a bit like the Germans hoisting the Nazi flag over Auschwitz." 

As you see, Mr. Prefontaine was none to pleased about the possibility of the Anglo Society hoisting their "Nazi" flag over Bathurst.

But wait, Mr Prefontaine has more to say about flags, this time about another flag incident that took place in Quebec.

Let me  take you back to an article I wrote last year about the annual Fêtes Saint-Jean celebration in a Montreal neighbourhood where a  controversy erupted over the decision by organizers to invite some English artists to perform. Read the story.
 
In the end, the organizers stood up to the militants and allowed the groups to perform amid some small protests. Almost all of the attendees expressed support for the inclusive decision of the organizers, which earned the event the undying enmity of French language militants.

At this year's celebration, a small group of militants was told that they could not enter the park to attend the show because of the controversial nature of the flag that they were bearing, to which Mr. Prefontaine had this to say;

".....On Wednesday, June 23, some people were barred from Pelican Park in Montreal,  for the (Fete Saint Jean celebration) event called  'l’Autre St-Jean." What crimes did they commit? Were they in possession of explosives, rifles, knives, Molotov cocktails, chainsaws or tactical nuclear weapons? No. They waved a Patriot's flag, symbol of the desire of Quebec liberation for one hundred and fifty years.

Mr. Prefontaine is too modest, the flag is not just the symbol of the desire for Quebec liberation, it was adopted by the FLQ as their standard and was brandished during their reign of terror during the infamous FLQ kidnapping crisis and is forever linked to the organization. It was for that reason, organizers banned the flag from their Fêtes Saint-Jean celebration, in a sensible effort to keep the event non-political.

So it seems that when it comes to flags, a Quebec terrorist flag is perfectly acceptable, while an Anglo Society flag in New Brunswick is an affront to all humanity.

The French have a wonderful saying - "Deux poids, Deux mesures," a delicious double standard.

I'll leave you all with one last quote from Mr. Prefontaine, one that I found sadly ironic;

"But for English extremists, one French word is a word too much. At a previous demonstration against bilingualism in Moncton, they marched carrying  placards saying- "Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow"

 Replace the word "English" with French and vice-versa and it pretty much sums up Mr. Prefontaine's own philosophy!
Is the irony really lost on him?

Supreme Court Under Assault

The recent court decision (A victory for religious freedom) overturning the Quebec Minister of Education and her department's decision to force private religious schools to teach the infamous ERC (Ethics and Religious Culture) course according to government standards has underlined the fact that the courts have become the last line of defence in the relentless war on personal freedoms waged by successive Quebec governments.
(Barbara Kay in the National Post offers an excellent explanation and analysis of the ERC if you'd like to know more.)

The fury displayed by those elected and unelected officials at the 'impertinent' court's audacity to overturn a government policy that violates not only our constitution, but the general principles of freedom that has been the hallmark of our society for generations is telling.  It is a dangerous sign that the assault on personal choice is going hand in had with an assault on the last line of defence of our freedoms- the courts.

An angry Minister of education, Michelle Courchesne, called the decision "excessive" in response to the court ruling that backed the school, one in which she was subject to a serious dressing down by Justice Gérard Dugré.

The minister reacted quickly, telling reporters that the decision would be appealed, a position that was quickly supported by opposition leader Pauline Marois who also holds that our courts are nothing more than pesky meddlers.

Let me refresh readers with the issue concerned,  it isn't that complicated.

Several years ago the government removed the teaching of religion from  public schools and replaced it with a generalized course in ethics and religious culture (ERC), one that taught students about the structure and beliefs of most major religions from a neutral or secular standpoint. Some commentators were uncomfortable with the Ethics side of the course, claiming that it was nothing more than political indoctrination, citing the example of the insufferable Francoise David the dogmatic separatist leader of the Quebec Soldaire political party who is portrayed in the course material as a shining example of feminism. That being said, the real bug bear was the teaching of religions from a secular standpoint.

Some parents both in the public and private school systems objected to exposing their children to the tenets of other religions and the sanitized secular views being imposed on them, claiming that it was confusing and undermining the family's inherent right to be responsible for religious instruction.

A group of parents in Drummondville sued to exempt their children from the course, but lost in court. That case is currently winding itself up to the Supreme Court

A private religious school in Montreal, Loyola High School, sued as well, when its request to teach the ERC course from a Catholic perspective was denied by the eduction department, which told the school it must teach the course in the prescribed manner, from a neutral point of view.

 The judge hearing the case came down hard on the Minister and the Education Department's policy, saying;

“The obligation imposed on Loyola to teach the ethics and religious culture course in a lay fashion assumes a totalitarian character essentially equivalent to Galileo’s being ordered by the Inquisition to deny the Copernican universe.” -Justice Gérard Dugré.

Wow, he didn't mince words!
Essentially his decision was that while the Education department may impose a neutral view of the religious world in public schools, the department may not tell private religious schools to do the same.
The judge made eminently good sense in saying that as long as religious private schools are legal, they may teach religion in their schools.

Of course this makes no sense to the government and other secularists who demand that their view on language, culture and religion be imposed on all students, like it or not.

Now the government has decided that it will appeal the court's decision, a foolish move that will just delay the inevitable defeat in the Supreme Court, a move cynically calculated to shift the blame for the defeat to the 'dastardly Anglo' Supreme Court.
This strategy was used successfully to take the heat off the Quebec government for having passed Bill 104, a law clearly unconstitutional.
But unlike the Bill 104 case, where the application of the decision was set aside for a year, Loyola can immediately modify the ECR course to suit itself. In an effort to show good faith, the school continues to argue for dialogue and cooperation with the education department. To allay fears that the school is teaching some form of extremism, Loyola published some of it's course material on the web. If you have a chance, I highly recommend that you take a look at what the school is teaching, it shames the public version.

Picking up on the decision, Josée Legault the ultra-nationalist separatist journalist has proposed a simple way to get around those irritable Supreme Court decisions.

She suggests that each time a law is ruled illegal, a new law, similar to the last, be passed  by the government. Any further contestation would take years and years to wind up the legal system and when that law is ultimately overturned, the process could be started all over again.  She has labelled this as legal terrorism.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the course of action the government is adopting with the proposal of Bill 103, a law created to replace that which was thrown out by the Supreme Court. That law is even more coercive than what it replaced.

Of course there's the old NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE, a shameful device created to appease provincial governments to sign on to the Constitution in 1982. It actually allows a provincial government to override a Supreme Court ruling for a period up to five years, in order, ostensibly, to maintain the British tradition of giving Parliament the ultimate say and so, as a last resort the government can always opt out of a decision after losing in court, a situation that makes suing the government even riskier.
It's hard to undertake a long legal challenge, knowing that even if you win in the highest court in the land, you can still be deprived of the benefits of your victory.

All of this means that the power of our courts, the last bastion of defence of our freedoms is being systematically eroded.

Sovereignist and nationalist groups have undertaken an organized assault to denigrate the Supreme Court, portraying it as an unelected Anglo preserve of Quebec-bashers.

Mario Beaulieu of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and a group of his cohorts, have taken to Montreal's metro dressed in Supreme court garb to lampoon and trash the institution, blaming the court for taking Bill 101 apart one small piece at a time.

What they fail to remind Quebeckers is that every time a case is 'lost' in the Supreme Court of Canada, it has already been lost in Quebec's highest court. This inconvenient truth is never mentioned at all.

So the fantasy is woven that it is the Anglos who are denying Quebec their due. It's a dangerous concept considering that in most of these language cases, it is the government that drags the case to the Supreme Court after finding no remedy in Quebec.

The hypocrisy is infuriating and should be denounced.

The fact that both Quebec jurists and Ottawa jurists, both agree that these language laws are unconstitutional is not the narrative that militants want to spread and so the Supreme court alone is targeted in the most cynical and dishonest fashion.

The Real Reason For the Ban on Pamela Anderson's PETA Poster

I don't for a minute accept the story that Pamela Anderson's sexy PETA  poster was banned in Montreal  because it was sexist. Link

 After all take a look at what passes for advertising across the city;

Even though nobody was saying it,  the ad was banned for other reasons.

.. Bill 101

The ad was exclusively in English ..... a no brainer, right?

...but then I was watching this TV commercial for this sports bar and I realized that I was wrong, that there was another underlying reason, more sinister and dark than the lack of French;

Yup, If there's one thing Quebeckers want to ban more that English signs, it's those damn vegetarians!

Air Transat "Speak-White" Tragicomedy

Nothing gets certain Quebeckers riled up faster than a good "Speak White" story, one where the Francophone protagonist is thrashed around rather cruelly by an arrogant Anglophone imposing the language of Shakespeare on the innocent and down-trodden.

As you may know, the genre originated back in the 1960's, when stories circulated popularizing the myth of matronly white-haired Anglophone clerks in the old Eaton's Department Store in downtown Montreal, demanding that francophones address them in English, using that mythically famous put-down of "SPEAK WHITE!"

Over the years, stories like these continued to make it into print, largely based on the ever popular notion that anglophones are oppressors. These stories can always be recognized by the absolute callousness and cruelty displayed by the Anglo antagonist and the absolute innocence of the put-upon francophone.

Richard Martineau is a popular writer for Le Journal de Montreal and has delivered some hilarious examples of the genre in the past. I wrote about one such story he spun once before.

At any rate, Mr. Martineau weaves another unlikely 'SPEAK WHITE' story, this one about his trip aboard an AIR TRANSAT flight to Greece and his 'intolerable' treatment at the hands of an anglophone cabin crew.
As he tells the story, his wife asked  for "Un jus d’orange, s’il vous plaît"  and was rewarded with a blank stare and an arrogant "What?" from the agent. LINK (French)

"Don't you speak French?" his wife demanded.

....and away we go! ---      SPEAK WHITE!!!!!

First of all, I imagine that most of you non French-speaking readers perusing this article can figure out what she wanted-  Orange juice, right?  (Un jus d’orange.)

Maybe you didn't, but for an air hostess, even a unilingual one, who pushes a food cart around for a living, not to understand this phrase is quite a stretch. I assume that any air hostess of experience would know the term for orange juice in at least six languages.
I bet she even understands such complicated French words like Scotch, Whiskey, Vin, Coca-Cola, Seven-up, Gingerale, Chips, and perhaps even the tough ones, like café and thé.

Now answering anyone with the familiar and somewhat rude "What?" instead of the polite "Excuse Me?"or "Pardon me?"  is another tell that this story is highly coloured. Airline people don't talk like that, even on AIR TRANSAT.  This is what happens when people embellish their stories and put words in other people's mouths.

Now the fact that this certain employee couldn't speak French doesn't surprise me that much, what does shock me, is that AIR TRANSAT  actually provides orange juice!
After all, when you fly a budget airline, you've got to make a few allowances.

I'm sure that somewhere on the plane there was a couple of members of the cabin crew that spoke fluent French. It certainly isn't a rule that every crew member speaks both English and French and to assume so is arrogant. But I'm sure Air Transat, if asked,  would confirm that they didn't send a plane out of Montreal without anyone who could speak French. It is beyond the scope of credulity.

The story gets more and more unlikely with another member of the AIR TRANSAT crew purportedly haranguing  the francophone family in Greek. When Mr. Martineau responded that he didn't speak Greek, the attendant told him;
" Oh no ? You don’t speak Greek ? Well, I don’t speak French. What’s the problem ? "

Nope..... it didn't happen....Not a chance........ Cabin crews do not engage in wars of words with passengers, they usually fight back by ignoring you.

It's quite likely that the family simply took offence that the agent didn't speak French and instead of asking for someone who did, or speak English themselves, they decided to make a fuss. Some people are like that.

I remember an incident in my youth, as a retail clerk being confronted by a customer who complained that an article in our store showcase window was ticketed at a cheaper price than similar items on the rack. He was quite angry and complained about the misleading advertising, quite vociferously. When I offered him the product at the same low price, he told me he wasn't interested in buying anything, he just thought we should know! Hmmm!!
I remember thinking to myself-  "GET A LIFE!"

Instead of bitching and moaning, perhaps Mr. Martineau's companion should have thanked the cabin crew for the practice, they'd be landing in Greece in the next few hours and they'd be well-served to brush up on their English, because, trust me, French ain't cutting it in Greece (I know, I just returned, myself.)

What's interesting about all this is the amount of interest the story generated, the hundred plus comments attached to the article attest to the power of these fairy tales.

Most commenters were understandably shocked and dismayed at the ultimate humiliation that the French language was subjected to, once again. Quebec's most active defender of the language faith, Louis Prefontaine instantly organized a boycott of Air Transat via Facebook, but for those travelling on budget airlines, paying double or triple on Air Canada doesn't seem like much of an option.
Perhaps it would be better and cheaper to practice just a few English phrases, when travelling on the likes of Air Transat;

"May I have some orange juice. please?" 

"Can you help me, I can't feel my legs anymore?"

"Can I pay extra for an arm rest?"

"Is that smell normal?"

"What do you mean, the seat doesn't move back?"

"There seems to be something wrong with my...light....tray...seatbelt...earplug..etc" 

Or you could try these handy Greek phrases;

Thank you............     Ay gamisou, vlaka! 

What did you say? ...........tea less ray malaka?

Orange Juice.......................Fila mou to kolo

Can you help me........Kane mou pipa

 

My favourite comment from these French language militants is this pearl;

• To  what extent do people from other places not understand that the only official language in Quebec is French, while Canada is bilingual.

Hmmm...

But not everyone was so convinced, here are some 'other' translated comments.

• ....at wages that Air Transat pays its employees, I don't know many people who want to work at $20,000 per year to go about flying day after day ... especially in those old aeroplanes. If all the agents had to be absolutely bilingual it would be hard to find Quebeckers to fill the jobs.
  
  
• I hope you had a good trip in Europe speaking French.(sarcasm) You are criticizing for criticism's sake, Mr. Martineau. 
  
  
•  I believe you either exaggerated or invented your story. Accusing a crew member of  being a 'DAMN ENGLISH' demonstrates a lack of etiquette and civility and the smallness of your mind imbued with hatred and malice, and reminds us of  Don Quixote who tilted at windmills which he mistaked for monsters. 
  
  
• What is with this obsession of always demonizing Anglos? Some of you are like "Dan Phillips", crying racism at every opportunity ... You have the same credibility
  

Quebec Music Festival Hits the Right Note

Much to the chagrin of language militants, the  Festival d'été de Québec, an annual  summer music festival held in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham, has turned out to be a stunning success. The 42nd edition of the festival is a tribute to organizers, who despite relentless criticism from language militants, produced what is arguably Quebec's most successful entertainment event, eclipsing Montreal's famous Jazz Festival with revenues from ticket sales approaching $7 million as compared to the Jazz Fest's $6 million.

The FEQ uses the massive Plains of Abraham as a giant outdoor venue, which with the addition of giant screens can pack in a huge crowd. For that reason, ticket prices are extremely reasonable and an all-festival pass cost between $40 and $50.

The festival quickly sold out, the over 150,000 passes it made available and considering that the population of Quebec City is under 500,000 that's quite an accomplishment. The FEQ is gathering in popularity and the English component is bringing in tourists from the United States as well as English Canada, who recognize a good deal when they see one.

Extremely well organized, the FEQ has organized hotel and entertainment packages at prices that shame other Montreal giant events. A daily pass is just $25 and represents the best entertainment value available.

Language militants have complained that too many headline acts are English, (Iron Maiden, Black-Eyed Peas, Rush, etc.etc.) essentially watering down the French flavour of the Festival, to which the organizers bravely responded that they never, ever, promised anything but a diverse and entertaining array of artists that would be musically appealing to the broadest of audiences.

In a new conference, the organizers crowed that their programming decisions seemed to please the public and happily reported that all the festival passes were 'sold out,' to which French militants responded cleverly that it was nothing more than a 'sell out' and that the English programming was nothing more than 'fast food' compared to the gourmet offerings of francophone artists. Link (French)

The slam against the festival that they didn't program enough Francophone artists is in itself as bogus as a three-dollar bill. Organizers did their best and explained the difficulty in bringing in European artists who generally prefer to stay at home in the summer. To bring in more Francophone artists would mean scraping the bottom of the barrel and presenting a local garage band or two and the music lovers wouldn't have any of that.

At any rate,  Iron Maiden drew a crowd of approximately 80,000 people and the Black-Eyed Peas did even better, to the point that the fans were tearing down fences to get to see the sold-out show!

Francophone headliners like Laura Fabian, drew in the neighbourhood of 15,000 fans and Gilles Vigneault in the area of 40,000 fan,  not close to the Anglo superstars, but still not shabby at all.

The success of the English artists allowed the Festival to subsidize Francophone artists, an idea that went down like a lead balloon once explained to militants, who had been complaining that a Quebec government subsidy was benefiting Anglo groups.

Reaction to articles written by the language militants like Antoine Caron were quite robust. Commenting on the article that compared Anglo music to McDonalds, one commenter didn't mince words.

"According to the author of this article, the Quebec Summer festival should highlight only second-class artists such as  Mr. Caron, himself,  Honestly!"

With their argument torn to shreds, language hawks were sent scurrying, to fight another battle, another day.

Is Census Brouhaha Based on Language?

As you probably know, the Federal government has decided to dump the long form component of the national census ostensibly over privacy concerns. The long form was distributed to about one in five families and took around 45 minutes to complete. It asked some very intrusive questions which those unlucky enough to be selected had no choice but to answer, under penalty by law.
Defenders of the long form are up in arms at the government's decision, claiming that the information gleaned is a crucial element in determining allocation of resources in key areas like the health industry.

So entrenched is the idea that the long-form is vital to Canada's future that not only has a robust campaign been launched by vested interests, a FACEBOOK group has been started up for ordinary Canadians to voice and demonstrate their displeasure at the government's decision to axe it.
But not everyone agrees, especially not the FRASIER INSTITUTE.

"The think tank, an evangelist for free-market solutions, says it's wrong for the state to coerce Canadians into handing over personal information that should instead be obtained on a voluntary basis through market research or polling.

Senior economist Niels Veldhuis says the chorus of criticism that's opposing the census change are groups that have been benefiting from relatively cheaply-obtained data gleaned from the mandatory long-form questionnaire."  Read More "No more free ride on census data, Fraser Institute says"

 Last week the language commissioner waded in as well;

"Graham Fraser, commissioner of official languages, said he would examine whether the government respected its obligations under the Official Languages Act when it made the decision late last month. The mandatory long census form is being replaced with a voluntary survey next year."   LINK

Perhaps one of the factors in the Conservative decision to dump the long-form is the general contempt that the party has for Statistics Canada, especially in light of the apparent data manipulation by some Francophones outside Quebec in the 2006 edition.

It seems that an anonymous e-mail urged bilingual Francophones outside Quebec, 'not to report' that they knew both official languages, in order to assure that the federal government would not cut services to French programs. This erroneous assumption (bilingualism has nothing to do with apportioned services) led many bilingual Francophones to declare that they only spoke French, leading to a spike in the data pertaining to unilingual Francophones. 

The Ottawa Citizen reported that Statistics Canada put a note on its website, explaining that;

"In view of the data, however, it seems plausible that the e-mail influenced some francophones in their responses to the question on knowledge of official languages,''

But StatsCan is changing it's tune, having removed the note and now claiming that they have no idea why the statistical anomaly exists.

Rosemary Bender, an assistant chief statistician with the agency, is now telling anyone that will listen, that there could be other reasons for the drop in francophone bilingualism outside Quebec.

This back-tracking seems to be a reaction to a robust counter-attack by certain francophone groups, who are claiming that the notion that information was manipulated is unproven. In an article on June 4, the Maritime-based Franco.presse.ca accused the Ottawa Citizen of carrying out a witch hunt. The article did its own analysis to defend the new StatsCan numbers.

Whether or not there was a manipulation of data is perhaps moot, the bigger problem is what would have happened with next year's census, in light of all the publicity of the false reporting.

What may have been a small problem back in 2006 may have become a massive problem in 2011 with more and more francophones aware of the gambit and climbing aboard the language fraud.

Some Quebec commentators have voiced fury over the decision to get rid of detailed questions about language because they believe that the long form will prove that French is in a precipitous decline.

'....Consider the state of French, especially in the Montreal area, where it's becoming a major concern. With the abandonment of the long form, researchers will no longer be able to monitor the situation with the same precision. "For Quebec, it is a matter of survival," wrote demographer this week in the pages of Victor Piché Forum Press. "In the absence of ethnic data and detailed language, anyone can say anything! How will we know in the future if the language policies are effective? It's opened the way for the worst demagoguery!" It goes without saying that the francophone minorities outside Quebec are also outraged.' LINK (Fr)

And so the elimination of the long-form solves the problem neatly.
The short-form questionnaire doesn't ask about bilingualism, something that infuriates the language militants, but is pleasing to the Conservatives party.

Quebec Militants Complain over Lack Of French at Toronto Protest

Some Quebec Francophones who demonstrated at the G8 Summit in Toronto are complaining  they were unjustly targeted by police and when arrested were harshly treated.  As well, some of those who were arrested, complained that they weren't 'treated' in French.

In an article by a student demonstrator in LE DEVOIR, Arnaud Montreuil complained that ordinary Quebeckers were unsympathetic to the plight of those Quebeckers arrested in Toronto;

"...the protesters from Quebec were particularly battered by the police. First, they were arrested in a targeted,  discriminatory manner, based on their home province. Then, in prison, many were insulted and told to leave the country if they were not happy, as we would say to a second class citizen.

And what is the reaction at home? According to an Angus Reid poll, 71% of Quebec respondents said the actions of police against demonstrators were justified .

It's likely that Toronto police overstepped their mandate and perhaps exceeded their authority by casting their net a bit too wide, but it's amusing to see anarchists complaining that the police weren't playing by the rules.

Now I know many of you will say that most of those arrested were not anarchists, just innocent protesters, availing themselves of their constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate, but it's hard to feel sympathy for them, given the fact that they knew exactly what they were getting into.

When I was kid, my mother didn't let me go to rock festivals because, as she said, "That's where the drugs are!"

Everybody knew exactly what was to happen in Toronto, there is a history of violence by protesters and  history of over-reaction by the forces of order, at these type of summits.

So I'll brook no crocodile tears or woeful lamentations from those who complain that they were shocked by events and the harsh treatment they received. I'm sure that most who went to demonstrate were well prepared to be arrested and perhaps found the experience more than they bargained for.

As for targeting Francophones, I've no doubt it's true. There were complaints that cars with Quebec license plates were arbitrarily pulled over for inspection and that those speaking French on the street were stopped.
It seems that police made it a policy to stop any 'suspicious' person and Quebecers stood out like a sore thumb.

The CBC posted a ridiculously biased article on its website with the inflammatory headline;

"G20 officer admitted targeting Quebecers: student"

The story told by a Montreal law student, who first claimed to be an innocent observer but then admitted that he was a demonstrator himself. He claimed officers admitted they were targeting Quebeckers by virtue of their license plates or by overhearing people speaking French on the street. One Francophone complained that she was unfairly arrested when she was found in possession of an anarchist manual!

In spite of the one-sided reporting, the public remains solidly behind the police which is frustrating the hell out of those demanding an inquiry.

My favourite story is told by Emilie Guimond-Bélanger, a member of Québec Solidaire, a separatist political party more radical than the Parti Quebecois. In a YouTube video she recounts a tearful tale of woe at the hands of the evil Ontario authorities. Flanked by the intrepid Amar Khadir, she claims to have gone to Toronto for the sole purpose of demonstrating in favour of abortion rights, but was scooped up by police and placed in detention.

Among her biggest complaint was the lack of French among the warders of the detention centre and she told the unlikeliest story about a co-prisoner, who according to Ms. Guimond-Bélanger, was borderline psychotic and spoke no English. She tried to tell jailers that she needed her medication, but to no avail, because nobody spoke French. Eventually she had a breakdown, started climbing the walls and was rushed to hospital, a sad state of affairs all due to the lack of French by the jailers.
Now I've heard bullshit stories in my life, but that one's a beauty. My advice to this lady is that in the future she wear a Medic-Alert bracelet with the word PSYCHO emblazoned upon it and travel with an English-speaking companion!
By the way, the sweet and innocent, Ms. Guimond-Bélanger is one of the few demonstrators that was actually charged with a crime. Hmmm..

I screened a bunch of videos and the level of arrogance demonstrated by Quebec demonstrators astounded me. In one particular video two Francophones approach a line of heavily armoured officers and carry on a mocking conversion at very close quarters. I'm sure the officer had no idea what they were saying and it must of made him quite nervous. If I was him, I'd bop one of these smart asses on the head just for sport.

At any rate, here is my favourite video of a dedicated G20 demonstrator.
Watch it. If you haven't seen it, I guarantee it'll bring a smile to your face!

A Big Thank You to Generous Canadian Taxpayers!

A great big thank you is owed to all the taxpayers in all the 'have' provinces, who have graciously agreed to ship billions and billions of dollars in transfer payments to Quebec. Yesterday, because of your extreme generosity, the province was able to unveil a new social program, one that will pay for fertility treatments for couples unable to conceive. The program goes way beyond Manitoba's stingy tax credit of up to $8000 per couple. Link

The fertility program, the first of its kind in North America will pay for up to three cycles of treatment, at a cost of between $10,000 and $30,000 per couple, or $25-$65 million in all, paid for by, ahem...the province.
This, according to the Minister of Health Yves Bolduc, but others disagree and see the program's cost ballooning up towards $200 million. Gaetan Barrette, the head of Quebec's doctor's professional order, pointed out that it takes just three months of residency to obtain a medicare card and he envisions women moving to Quebec expressly for the treatments, similar to those women who moved to Las Vegas in the fifties and sixties seeking a legal divorce. 
At any rate it seem eminently fair, considering that it is taxpayers from other provinces that are really funding the program.

Now to those of you out of province taxpayers who are footing the bill, you should know that Quebec is doing you a favour by trailblazing social programs that your province will be pressured to match. 

And so you can thank us for your $7.50 a day daycare, your gilded parental leave program and of course your ridiculously low college tuition fees.
"What's that you say? "
"You don't have these programs?"

Hmmmm......... Don't blame us, we've led the way. Tell your governments to get off their ass!"

And don't tell us you want to reduce transfer payments either, just because the economy is down and there's less money coming in. 

Take solace in the old joke wherein a bum complains to his benefactor that his weekly gift is much smaller than usual?
"Business is down this week, what can I say?"
"So just because your business is down,  I should suffer!!"......... HA! HA!


 By the way, Quebec City needs a new arena.....

Does Fiscal Conservatism Exist in Canada?

Many years ago, I rented a winter apartment in a South Florida beach town. One January evening a knock on the door revealed a sprightly eighty-something senior in that stereotypical track suit, who asked me if I would participate in a demonstration at city hall, protesting taxes.
I explained to this senior, perhaps a bit too condescendingly, that I was but a tenant and as such had no vested interest in the argument.
"Then you're an idiot! There's taxes built into your rent. It's people like you who don't participate in democracy that allow us all to get screwed!"

 ....Ouch!

I never forgot the confrontation, because in my heart of hearts, I knew she was right and it brought me to the sad realization that when it comes to political activism, Canadians are poor citizens, all too willing to be rolled over by politicians who buy our votes by spending our very own money.
When it comes to political issues, there's just about zero passion, we'd rather be watching hockey or sipping beer in the back yard. While it's true that every couple of years the anarchists come out to enliven the political scene, they too, eventually grow up to adopt the Canadian virtue of political apathy.
We smugly believe ourselves superior to those silly Americans who passionately believe and demonstrate their commitment to their democracy. Whether the issue is abortion, taxes or health care, the zeal at which they carry on the political debate shames all Canadians.

Even in Quebec, a good separatist rally can muster a few hundred people at best.

And so we get the government we deserve. It matters little if it is Conservative or Liberal,  they both operate exactly the same way by maintaining a policy of spending our money foolishly on lavish social and pork programs in an attempt to buy our loyalty. We're not the only country running on this dysfunctional treadmill, the whole western world is deeply in  debt because governments overspend in a crass attempt to stay in power.

Cruising along the Mediterranean and reading the news story that our illustrious Prime Minister spent over one billion dollars on the G20/8 summit didn't surprise me, it was to be expected. But the lame reaction of the public did set me back. It seems that not even a billion dollar waste of money is enough to jolt us out of a political lethargy. A CTV news poll indicated that 78% of Canadians are opposed to the billion dollar price tag attached to the G8/20 conference but apparently not enough to send Mr. Harper on a precipitous fall in the polls. In fact the latest poll, taken after the revelation about the over-spending, indicates that Mr. Harper has actually climbed a couple of points in popularity!

The CTV poll about the Summit spending is just one more confirmation that Canadians are politically lazy, the only thing of interest that I could pull from the survey is the irrefutable proof that 22% of Canadians are outright morons.

When Harper was first elected, I thought he might be different, a conservative who would break the cynical practice of buying our votes with our own money, or money borrowed on our behalf, but he proved me wrong and I take comfort in the fact that I didn't vote for him.

Sitting on my cruise ship, I took out my IPhone calculator and punched up some numbers that you might find interesting.
What would be if the Prime Minister held his Summit aboard a luxurious cruise liner similar to the one I was now aboard?
The ship is perfectly suited to the task and has all the facilities necessary including lodging for 2,500 guests, gourmet dining facilities, conference rooms and enough bars to satisfy everyone, even the press corps!

 There are a least a dozen or so "presidential' type suites aboard, so the eight leaders could still be accommodated quite nicely. There's a 600 seat theatre that could serve as a venue for all the speeches and the ship boasts an extraordinary array of facilities for whatever it is they do at these types of meetings.

 There's a massive and beautiful dining room fit for any state dinner as well as two private restaurants that could accommodate a smaller gathering. The plebes of the press corps could be fed in the buffet restaurant, as well as being housed in the cheap rooms down below. VIPS could be ferried on and off the ship via a helicopter which the ship is equipped to handle.

As for security, a couple of warships could create a 'cordon sanitaire' and the air force could declare the area around the ship a no fly zone, with coastal based jets on standby to shoo away any one silly enough to violate the airspace. It would cost a pittance compared to what was blown in Toronto. Aboard the ship, a dozen or so officers is all that it would take to maintain security.
The ship could sail along the beautiful British Columbia coastline providing attendees a breathless vista and invigorating backdrop to the conference. Why build a zillion dollar fake lake, when we could sail the entire Pacific Ocean?

How much would all this cost? Well a week long cruise on a first class boat costs about $4,000 per person, which rounds off to about $10 million dollars to rent out the whole ship, a pittance compared to what was spent in Toronto. That includes all the food and lodging. If the working press were charged for their accommodations, that bill could be knocked down by a million or so. Add in incidentals of say another $10 million for booze and another 80 million on transportation and security and you're left with a saving of about $900 million. Another plus is that demonstrators would be left high and dry ashore, twiddling their thumbs and the meeting could go off without any disruption or inconvenience.

Now for that $900 million saving, let's see what could we do with it.
Quebec's portion would be in the 200 million dollar range and placed in a long term investment might bring in about $18 million dollars a year, enough to fund about sixty new family doctors permanently.

Those sixty doctors, could carry out 7,500 consultations a year or almost half a million between them. They would help fill the gap of the more than 1,000 family doctors missing from the Quebec landscape.

Let's see the equations extrapolated to include the whole country;

A G8/20 conference held one time in Toronto

 and

o new family doctors across Canada, funded forever

versus  

A G8/20 conference held one time on a cruise ship

 and

300 new family doctors across Canada, funded forever

In light of the choice, I wonder what the 22% of Canadians (who thought it was okay to blow a billion on the G20/8) would say? Perhaps they too would agree, once they understood the real cost of wasting a billion dollars on a one-time boondoggle, that perhaps the money would better spent elsewhere.

Remember, under my cruise ship scenario, we could have hosted both the conference and hired the new doctors all for the same money.

A lot of my numbers are crude, but they are real enough.
The wasted money can be attributed straight to arrogance, incompetence and a complete disdain for the taxpayer. Those in charge should be sacked and the politicians held accountable, but it will never happen.

Harper, Ignatieff and Layton are all cut from the same cloth. While they would each spend the money differently, they would all spend it foolishly, it's in their nature.

In Canada, we don't have a true conservative politician who really believes in reducing spending and increasing efficiency. We don't have any because we don't elect any.

When a group of  Quebec intellectuals (lucides) published a letter begging for a more rational approach to government, they were roundly panned. Read the manifesto.

Like I said, we get what we vote for.

What's a real fiscal conservative? Watch this video of New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Electable? Not a chance. I have no doubt that he would be laughed out of Canada.

We enjoy getting screwed by our politicians too much.