Now before I generate a mountain of comments suggesting that all are welcome to celebrate, there is a proviso to that invitation that is a deal-breaker for we infidels.
We are all invited to celebrate the 'national' holiday as long as we do not express ourselves in our native tongue.
Sorry... it's a deal-breaker.
Yup, No thanks....
We prefer to believe in freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression. And so while Francophones enjoy second rate talent rammed down their throats by language police, world class talent like Arcade Fire, are forced to sit idly by. I guess if you drink enough, which is de rigueur on this holiday, even Barney the Dinosaur can sound like Bono.
Here's my suggestions on how to spend a sunny day off that falls on June 24th.
5. Backyard BBQ with friends and family
4. Golf, baseball or tennis or cycling.
3. Road trip to Ontario or New York State.
2. Parc Safari for the kids or grand kids.
1. Picnic in a West Island park.
If it's raining;
5. Clean the garage
4. Indian casino
3. Go to a movie
2. Getting blitzed at an Irish pub
1. Read a good book
Readers, any suggestions?
Have a happy
Actually, here in the heart of the Real Canada, I like to work on la Fête des Sepératistes. Being on a bilingual team, it
ReplyDelete1) Cuts my call volumes by a good 20%;
and
2)maybe more than 20% because the bilingual team is on French priority calls so the only way my team gets English calls is if the English-only team has an overflow of English calls that spill over into the French call queue.
There may still be a few bilingual calls, mostly from New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario.
January 2nd is the same story because only Quebec takes two days off for New Years', so January 2nd and June 24th are the easiest days of the year to work if you're on a bilingual team. Maybe the Separatist Holiday should be for a whole week, leading to Canada Day, or whatever they call it in Quebec.
I'll be coming to Montreal on Saturday because I have family business to attend to. I can visit a friend or two along the way. Schwartz's, St. Viateur bagel and Marathon's, HERE I COME!
Editor,
ReplyDeleteThis is what I get from your Google Reader: "You don't have permission to view this feed."
What about this for an idea: sitting at home, doing absolutely nothing.
Quoi faire pour célébrer la Fête nationale du Québec ? Allez parler à vos voisins, vous savez ceux avec lesquels vous vivez mais dont vous ne connaissez rien car trop fermés d'esprit... Arrêtez de parler pour TOUS les anglophones et TOUS les allophones... Votre petit cercle d'irréductibles de francophobes n'est pas représentatif ! Sinon, j'ai une autre option pour vous: allez lire la biographie de Jean Chrétien au toilette...
ReplyDeleteVous êtes les bienvenus par contre, vous risquez d'entendre de la musique québécoise dont une majorité en français, ce qui est représentatif de la majorité. Il y aura également de la musique en anglais et autres langues. Ça risque de vous changer de CHOM FM... Êtes-vous prêts ? On vous attend !
ReplyDeleteI got an option just ignore St Jean Baptiste day. Its pretty third rate event and eventually it will become a non event on Montreal Island and demographics rapidly change.
ReplyDeleteÀ l'anonyme:June 24, 2011 11:32 AM : Je ne compterais pas trop là-dessus ! Sortez de votre ghetto et vous allez voir que la St-Jean est bien vivante ! Et petite information: Le temps de la colonisation est terminé... Soit vous vous intégrez à la majorité soit vous vivez dans votre petit bungalow et tondez votre pelouse tout seul comme un pou...
ReplyDeleteSo much bitterness...
ReplyDeleteTo all my fellow Swedes: Glad midsommar! Happy midsummer!
ReplyDeleteYes I agree anon 12:10 PM Pur laine quebecois should integrate with the majority english speakers of Canada. Just because they live in a ghetto called quebec that parasites Anglo and Allo money of Quebec and Canada.
ReplyDeleteI have a much better idea than sitting home and sulk. Why not organize a counter celebration? A multilingual all-inclusive celebration of the many people and cultures that make up Quebec. And no, this shouldn't be on Canada Day instead because even separatists acknowledge that Canada is multicultural. This would show that Quebec is multicultural as well. The corporations that shy away from the current festivities would embrace this one instead.
ReplyDeleteAll it takes to pull this off is money, time, organization, and courage. The first three qualities are not lacking. The last one is.
To Anonymous at 12:10 PM:
ReplyDelete"Et petite information: Le temps de la colonisation est terminé.."
Then I suppose you will be returning to France soon?
"Soit vous vous intégrez à la majorité soit vous vivez dans votre petit bungalow..."
You should be integrating into the Canadian majority, which is English speaking, and the North American majority, which is also English speaking.
I have a suggestion for an activity on Johnny Baptist Day: burn the Fleur-de-Lys flag. It is nothing more than a symbol of oppression for Quebec Anglos anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teenager, some friends and I burned a Quebec flag over a fire while we were camping. Too bad we didn't have the option to post it on Youtube at the time.
"...sitting at home, doing absolutely nothing."
ReplyDeleteUn jour comme les autres alors.
Today's miserable weather on this June 24th, perfectly represented what Quebec is...
ReplyDeletegloomy, dreary, dark, wet, depressing and cold.
Saint Jean Baptist Day (aka Fart Nationale) isn't a real day anyway, it's just a bunch of drunken, racist separatists running around yelling waving silly blue and white clown flags. Yay, the circus is in town. And much like real clowns, they're more creepy and scary than funny.
Ah well, the real holiday is July 1st. CANADA DAY. It will be a beautiful sunny and warm day too, which represents Canada.
"You should be integrating into the Canadian majority"
ReplyDeleteNotre société est distincte et raffinée alors oubliez tout rapprochements avec les américains et vous aurez deviné que la chose est encore moins probable avec les canayens.
A la limite nous accepterions la mère de Harper au sein de notre société car elle semble avoir beaucoup d'affinités avec nous,puisqu'elle vient de renier son fils sur la place publique.
http://www.radio-can.ca/nouvelles/national/2011/06/24/003-mere-stephen-harper.html
Bravo Mme Harper!
"I have a suggestion for an activity on Johnny Baptist Day: burn the Fleur-de-Lys flag. It is nothing more than a symbol of oppression for Quebec Anglos anyway."
ReplyDeleteVous avez tout a fait le droit,puisque cela fait 5 décennies que les Québécois chient sur le flag canayen en publique et dans tous les médias,pas cachée dans le bois a l'insue de tous comme vous l'avez fait.
"Then I suppose you will be returning to France soon?"
ReplyDeletePas question,nous sommes propriétaires en bonne et due forme du plus beau territoire au Nord de l'amérique.Merci!
"It will be a beautiful sunny and warm day too..."
ReplyDeleteJournée idéale pour les déménagements en masse.
Du beau temps,un camion,des amis,quelques packs de bonnes bières bien fraîches et pizzas.
Vive le Québec le 1 Juillet.
@ Anonymous aka Press 9:
ReplyDelete"...que les Québécois chient sur le flag canayen en publique et dans tous les médias,pas cachée dans le bois a l'insue de tous comme vous l'avez fait."
Didn't you know that the Quebec flag is blue colored toilet paper?
It is very funny to hear a Quebecois talk about hiding in the woods. Most of your ancestors hid in the backwoods of Quebec like cowards during both world wars. My relatives fought in those wars.
We would have recorded and published the burning of the Quebec flag publicly at the time if we had the capability to do so.
Martha et Rufus Wainwright vont chanter en français à la St-Jean au parc Maisonneuve le 24 juin. Ce sont deux grands artistes: ils vont chanter en souvenir de leur mère qui était une femme magnifique. C'est un grand honneur qu'ils nous font. Ça passe à la télévision.
ReplyDeleteLa première condition pour être Québécois, c'est de respecter la langue française.
Si vous la respectez, bonne fête à vous.
Ça ne semble pas le cas de L'Editeur de no dogs or anglophones. Il lui faut de l'anglais partout, en tout temps.
Robert Barberis-Gervais, Vieux-Longueuil, 24 juin 2011
@ Press 9:
ReplyDeleteAhah good one. Enjoy your succulente Poutine & chiens chauds all dressed.
"Notre société est distincte et raffinée".
Huh? I thought today, June 24th, was celebrating Bonhomme de Carnival's coming out of the closet. He announced he's gay and in a secret relationship with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
ReplyDelete...to Edward Cunningham: A countercelebration...that's a damn good idea!
ReplyDeleteDesecration of a flag is NOT appropriate. As much as I want Quebec punished under the federal system, maybe via a pro-Real Canada party or a hopefully vindictive Stephen Harper when the next equalization payment formula is devised in 2014.
Flag burning, stomping, tearing, etc. is beneath contempt, fellow true Canadians. C'mon readers, we're better than that...maybe THEY (the fanatical separatists) are not.
I can taste that smoked meat now!!!
@Mr. Cunningham
ReplyDeleteYou are right. I'd participate in Qc celebrations that would be multicultural.
I've been here, in Qc, for more than 12 years. At the beginning I wanted to take part in both Canada Day and Ste-Jean Baptiste Day. Unfortunately, after the third try I gave up on June 24, as it became clear that was an 'exclusive' party, celebrating the pure-laines only. So why bother???
I do take part still in the Canada Day celebrations, regardless of weather, though - they are inclusive and multicultural, so I never felt as an outsider. And somehow, all five times I moved from one address to the other, I was always free on July 1st...
It pains me to say that I have never expected the level on xenophobia I have encountered here. During the two-hour interview in Fr (nobody asked if we spoke or knew English) for emigrating to Quebec (Canada's province... no immigrant sees it as a country) we've been told how great, warm and welcoming Quebeckers are. Biiiiig surprise, and disappointment!
And, btw, for those who do not know, Qc has its own immigration quota, it chooses its own countries where to pick immigrants from, it has its own offices, fees, etc. So for those ready to blame les maudites anglais for imposing their rules on Qc immigration, think twice - Qc cannot have more autonomy in choosing its immigrants.
Only 10,000 people took part in the Quebec City parade. ....200,000 were expected. Trust me the rain/alcohol ban wasn't the only factor behind this.
ReplyDelete@Phil
ReplyDelete"Rosée D'hibiscus" "Phil's Bodyweight Gym " ?
Êtes-vous joyeux a Paris ?
Are you a gay from Paris ?
XD!XD!XD!
Martha et Rufus Wainwright sont de bons anglos!
ReplyDelete"we've been told how great, warm and welcoming Quebeckers are. Biiiiig surprise, and disappointment!"
ReplyDeleteParlez français et vous serez des nôtres et le bienvenu.Quoi?vous ne voulez pas?Hmmm...Bigot!
"We would have recorded and published the burning of the Quebec flag publicly at the time if we had the capability to do so."
ReplyDeleteÇa fait un ostie d'boutte!XD!
"...they are inclusive and multicultural."
ReplyDeleteTaduction:Tous les participants sont anglophones.
I thoroughly disagree with the suggestion that ethnics and anglos should leave town and pretend they don’t “belong” in this holiday.
ReplyDeleteThe primary forces behind Quebec separatist nationalism are largely “soft”, being about language, culture, pride, and identity, rather than “hard” and tangible needs, like food, clothing, and shelter.
The Bloc’s recent nosedive sent shockwaves through hard-core separatist ranks, and the recent PQ-led maelstrom is a desperate bid to provoke French/non-French animosity in a context of many (even French-language) pundits rightly questioning the pertinence of that party’s number one objective in our current place and time.
Rather than being based on tangible needs, the revolution has long shifted from being about tangible opportunities denied to French-Canadians in their own home to a deafening chorus of sore winners led by the most extreme elements of what—despite dramatic denials and protests—remains an essentially ethnic and exclusionary nationalism.
The very pompous narrative being trumpeted by separatists is that Quebec is a French place. Few (even among the shrinking ideological progeny of the once-powerful stereotypical Westmount Rhodesians still among us) will deny basic demographic facts. And much progress has been made in the last half-century among anglos and immigrants in this province in their varying openness to the French language. But whoever contents himself with resting on laurels and hopes that this will bring about linguistic and political peace is sorely and dangerously mistaken.
The nationalist instigators and agitators, while comparatively few in number, are loud, bombastic, and enjoy a nearly unchallenged domestic pulpit. Week after week, month after month, they trumpet statements that proudly and confidently remind everyone of the “French fact”, the “French reality”, and the “language of the majority” lest anyone forget. At the same time, they remind us of the precariousness of this situation. This place can never be French enough, and other “foreign” elements are either misguided or subversive if they don’t fall in line.
To paraphrase the immortal Bard, something’s rotten dans l’État Québécois.
For nearly all of the post Quiet Revolution period, the separatist ideologues have had a free and unopposed reign in singlehandedly defining the “Quebec identity”. This has produced a toxic, exclusivist, wavering, and occasionally contradictory definition which matched the aim-fire-readjust cycle of the movement’s promoters both behind the curtain and in front. Caught between fearmongering, self-righteous dogmatism and orthodoxy (to keep the dream alive), and doling out a few crumbs to the masses to stay in power, the grand old party entrusted with leading Quebec to what it considers is our rightful Zion has, since its founding, been plagued by schisms, drama, and petty intrigue. From tough-love damn-the-English (Laurin), to soft-love tolerate-the-English (Lévesque), to sovereignty-at-all-costs (Parizeau), to winning conditions (Bouchard)...
(1)
And the schizophrenia doesn’t end there. Witness the changing fashion regarding newcomers: Frenchify the immigrants… dammit we have too many immigrants… wait a minute who’s gonna offset our falling birthrate… those goddamn immigrants don’t share our values… money and ethnic votes…
ReplyDeleteThe complexes are seemingly endless. This eternally belligerent movement is clearly most at war with itself.
And this, Editor, is why I couldn’t disagree with your suggestion more.
Quietly “disappearing” and letting the separatists continue to trample upon the rights and rightful presence of those who don’t resemble them is the reason the Quiet Revolution got out of hand. Continuing to grin and bear it will only embolden those who believe it is their God-given right to emancipate themselves by “positively” discriminating against those “outliers” who “stubbornly refuse” to “assimilate” (sic).
For all the nationalists’ imperious talk of “culture Québécoise” and “______ de la majorité” as passive-aggressive code for their own insecurity and white/de souche supremacy, it’s time all of us be gently reminded (and in turn remind everyone) that despite periodic swings, support for independence still hovers around 40%. And whether our pure laine population likes it or not, one out of every five ingredients in our national tourtière is not part of the traditional recipe. It’s time to swallow some pride and row toward a common good.
Quebec identity is something that by definition belongs to ALL Quebecers, irrespective of race, religion, language, and political orientation. “(English-)Canadian” has long since stopped exclusively meaning “WASP”, and for all its periodic anti-immigrant sentiment, America unflinchingly and consistently defines itself as a “nation of immigrants”. For too long, many who don’t embrace ethnic French-Canadian nationalist separatism have yielded before this show of identity chauvinism. If the global trend is truly marching toward embracing our common reality, it’s time to administer some desperately needed shock therapy here by hammering home reality—and finally split “Québécois” from its exclusively “ethnic French-Canadian” meaning.
A counter-celebration by itself is akin to unemancipated French-Canadians in the 1950’s thinking their role was to never aspire to anything greater than low-wage servitude. This defeatist attitude is what made the Quiet Revolution necessary. It’s time to reassert the soul of our bilingual city (and to a lesser extent, country) by demanding to be seated anywhere on the proverbial bus, and unflinchingly request service (in English, because you/we all exist too) at the front lunch counter.
(2)
@anon 12:49
ReplyDeleteWe don't need to speak french or your welcome. Its you that should stop parasiting off of anglo and allo taxes. Anyway demographics changing rapidly in the Montreal area. Watch the next census.
> You should be integrating into the Canadian majority, which is English speaking, and the North American majority, which is also English speaking.
ReplyDeleteIf I’ve asked this once, I’ve asked a thousand times. Why can’t we have both? What is with this love affair that extremists (on either side) have with forced unilingualism?
> I have a suggestion for an activity on Johnny Baptist Day: burn the Fleur-de-Lys flag. It is nothing more than a symbol of oppression for Quebec Anglos anyway.
How about re-appropriating the symbol and demanding that it make good on the fluffy ideological human rights values that it claims to stand for? Classical doctrine states that politicians always hide behind three things: Religion, the flag, and children. Recontextualize the debate away from the bigots and toward an all-inclusive narrative and you’ll see the career separatists running for cover.
> Saint Jean Baptist Day (aka Fart Nationale) isn't a real day anyway, it's just a bunch of drunken, racist separatists running around yelling waving silly blue and white clown flags.
I wish I could disagree with the part of your statement that deals with racist separatists. It’s hard to call it all-inclusive when the only political speakers profiled by a news clip (by Radio-Canada, no less) were from separatist parties… or when it’s not “French-first” but “French-only”.
But please don’t mock our provincial flag. It’s no sillier or smarter than the Maple Leaf, the Union Jack, or the Tricolore…
> Notre société est distincte et raffinée alors oubliez tout rapprochements avec les américains et vous aurez deviné que la chose est encore moins probable avec les canayens.
Distincte, peut-être dans certains sens. Mais pas plus ou moins raffinée que toute autre société. C’est un peu hypocrite que d’insister que tous doivent se plier à la « majorité » au Québec alors que certains parmi cette majorité refusent jalousement même de s’intégrer au sein de la majorité du pays et du continent qui les entoure par peur de se faire « assimiler ».
Y a bien pire dans la vie que de se faire assimiler : s’isoler.
> "Then I suppose you will be returning to France soon?"
ReplyDelete> Pas question,nous sommes propriétaires en bonne et due forme du plus beau territoire au Nord de l'amérique.
Nous n'héritons pas de la terre de nos parents, nous l'empruntons à nos enfants. On n’est pas propriétaires, mais que de simples locataires de notre terre. N’oublions pas qu’avant d’être conquis à leur tour, nos ancêtres ont volé ce beau territoire aux amérindiens. Et personne de chez eux ne force qui que ce soit à parler l’Iroquois…
> Didn't you know that the Quebec flag is blue colored toilet paper?
What the hell?!
> La première condition pour être Québécois, c'est de respecter la langue française.
Tout à fait, Bob. Mais il y a une grosse différence entre RESPECTER la langue française et de céder devant un cadre législatif qui codifie un suprématisme indu de celle-ci.
> Si vous la respectez, bonne fête à vous. Ça ne semble pas le cas de L'Editeur de no dogs or anglophones. Il lui faut de l'anglais partout, en tout temps.
Est-ce pour ça qu’il nous laisse commenter ses billets en anglais et/ou en français? Avoir des idéaux tels le bilinguisme et faire la promotion du français et l’anglais comme langues historiques québécoises, ce n’est aucunement antinomique. La Saint-Jean, ça peut bien être une fête pour les canadiens-français. Mais toute fête qui se veut et qui se dit « nationale » doit nécessairement englober toute la nation, dont le cinquième n’est pas de souche canadienne-française.
Ou bien vous acceptez toute la nation Québécoise telle qu’elle est, ou bien vous ne l’acceptez pas du tout (et ce faisant vous renoncez à votre droit de dire qu’elle est la fête de tous les Québécois).
Ou bien est-ce la fête des descendants des vaincus revanchards de 1759 qui cherchent à tout jamais à réécrire l’histoire? Une chose est certaine : votre pègre perd du terrain. Et c’est bien comme ça.
Moi, je suis fier d’être Québécois en vertu de mes trois origines. Et ce n’est certainement pas à vous d’inclure ou d’exclure des gens dans quoi que ce soit de « national ».
> Flag burning, stomping, tearing, etc. is beneath contempt, fellow true Canadians. C'mon readers, we're better than that...
Agreed. If anything, relish and revel at the repeated (and ironic) calls for “unity among sovereignists” (sic) as the PQ navigates the current political landscape.
"Parlez français et vous serez des nôtres et le bienvenu.Quoi?vous ne voulez pas?Hmmm...Bigot!"
ReplyDeleteOf course I speak French, when I address to a Quebecois.
1st of July
ReplyDeleteyou have to comply.
24th of June
better on the moon.
Anyway, until the fête is hijacked by separatists and used against les autres, I will never want to be a part of it. There's nothing wrong in being proud of what you are, but it's totally wrong to use your pride against the others.
WESTALLOPHONE++
Je suis bien d'accord avec toi, Stephen Harpon. Martha et Rufus Wainwright, par le niveau de leur talent artistique, sont de plus l'exception qui confirme la règle. Une règle qui stipule que le bagage génétique de la communauté anglaise du Québec s'est considérablement appauvri dû au départ massif et continuel des meilleurs d'entre eux depuis plus de quarante ans.
ReplyDeleteUn appauvrissement génétique si important que les chances que quatre ou cinq Anglos originaires du Québec puissent former un groupe du calibre artistique d'Arcade Fire sont pratiquement nulles. On comprend les Anglos d'ici de s'accrocher à ce point à ce groupe de gens talentueux, qui sont pourtant tous étrangers à leur communauté.
À mon avis, Jonas et ce groupe :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGzBOmOD_Tw
représentent davantage les capacités artistiques de la communauté anglaise du Québec.
Y.
> […] la communauté anglaise du Québec s'est considérablement appauvri dû au départ massif et continuel des meilleurs d'entre eux depuis plus de quarante ans.
ReplyDeleteIl faudrait quand même qu’on s’interroge sur les motifs qui ont précipité le départ massif de ces anglophones. En plus de s’approprier d’eux les rennes du pouvoir, on a essentiellement banni l’expression populaire de leur langue tout en « affirmant » la place seule et unique de la nôtre.
On ne peut pas lamenter l’hémorragie de centaines de milliers de nos (sic) « meilleurs » anglophones tout en demandant à ceux qui restent de s’effacer et de s’assimiler à cette « majorité » qui, par le seul fait d’être francophone et « unique », est incapable de se tromper.
Il y a eu des ratés lors des 40 dernières années, c’est sûr. L’heure est à la réévaluation de certains « grands acquis » (parfois de grandes pertes) que cette ère nous a légué(e)s. Commençons par revoir notre politique linguistique…
@ Press 9:
ReplyDeleteI live in Montreal dumbass. So I take you're homophobic = nice .... Je vous félicite cher ami.
@Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"Parlez français et vous serez des nôtres et le bienvenu.Quoi?vous ne voulez pas?Hmmm...Bigot!"
Ever heard of Human Rights? How about Linguistic Human Rights?
Here's a bit from Wikipedia:
The most basic definition of linguistic rights is the right of an individual to use their language with other members of their linguistic group, regardless of the status of their language. They evolve from general human rights, in particular: non-discrimination, freedom of expression, right to private life, and the right of members of a linguistic minority to use their language with other members of their community.
Individual linguistic rights are provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 2 - all individuals are entitled to the rights declared without discrimination based on language.
Article 19 - individuals have the right to freedom of expression, including the right to choose any language as the medium of expression.
Article 26 - everyone has the right to education, with relevance to the language of medium of instruction.
Linguistic rights can be applied to the private arena and the public domain.
Please read it, and then read it again. Thank you.
I'd rather have a BBQ with friends than celebrate a french colonialist holiday.
ReplyDeleteWell...here I am again in Quebec for a few days. Finally decided to drive a little out of the way on the way in and try out Smoke Meat Pete's place on Ile Perrot, just off Boul. Perrot (next to the Dairy Queen.
ReplyDeleteIt really was worth the ride. My girlfriend liked it better than Schwartz's. Spicy smoked meat, very tender brisket, very comparable to Schwartz's, just not centrally located. For West Islanders, or those passing through on Highway 20, it's worth the trip! They claim Schwartz's doesn't do its own curing and smoking of the meat, but at Pete's, they do. They also make their own cole slaw, and fries, of course.
A lot of comments posted during my drive in. At this point, Cunningham's point of a countercelebration still resonates well with me. I find la fête whateveryawannacallit is the separatist's holiday and nobody else's, sad to say.
Apparatchik, sorry, but you're living in on Plato's Ideal Plane--too Pollyanna for reality. Maybe one day, with the changing demographics, Quebec will tend towards your Ideal Plane, but not for the forseeable future.
For the bigot who calls the kettle black, I speak French when I choose to do so, mostly if it's apparent the person I'm addressing cannot speak English.
Interestingly, when I was going to Smoke Meat Pete's, I accidentally passed right by it and finally had to stop at a gas station to ask for directions. The fellow behind the counter said "hi" to me, I guess assuming I speak English. His name tag read "Roch", and he had a tatoo of the Quebec flag on his forearm...yet he addressed me in English. Hmmm...
Interestingly, I think he was fluently bilingual because his English was pretty good. Dans l'Ile Perrot, on parle anglais. La même chose à l'Ile de l'Ouest, I guess. Despite all this language zealousness, English still infiltrates, and I'm grateful for that.
I'm sure the editor will be writing about it this week, I saw today's Gazette, and shock of all shocks, Louise Beaudoin is supporting an English school in her constituency that is slated to possibly close with the school year just having concluded. I'll have to check it out in the morning to ensure I wasn't dreaming what I read.
@ Mr. Sauga
ReplyDeleteI once brought a uninitiated co-worker to Smoked Meat Pete's and he ordered mayo on his sandwich and a glass of milk. I begged him not to do it. However the counterman obliged.
If he'd of done that at Schwartz's they'd probably knife him.
A couple of month's later he asked to go back. I told him never in this life.
Smoked Meat Pete is the son of the owner of The Main Deli facing Schwartz's. Its the same smoked meat. I actually prefer The Main to Schwartz's and no line ups! To me, Schwartz's is for tourists.
ReplyDelete> Apparatchik, sorry, but you're living in on Plato's Ideal Plane […]
ReplyDeleteYou could say I subscribe to an “ideal”, just like anybody who’s given anything a modicum of thought. However, I don’t believe that my civic views are in any way impossible or unattainable with the human and material infrastructure already in place. To say that what I aspire to for all of us is so “perfect” that it is unachievable is like saying universal respect for human rights is impossible or that tuberculosis or even world hunger couldn’t be eradicated. All these things ARE possible.
All we need are a few idealists to first articulate and then point out the way. If society is convinced of the benefits of buying into (at least tending toward) that ideal, things can snowball.
> […] too Pollyanna for reality.
My friend, very few among those alive here two or three generations ago would have believed things would turn out the way they have. Here’s a thought: as much as I strongly oppose the specific manner in which Herzl’s Zionist dream materialized, I DO share his central tenet on actualizing one’s ideals. “If you will it, it is no dream.”
I don’t think what I (and many others) aspire to is as logistically complex as to require massive people movements, airlifting of supplies, or even complex legal, military, political rearrangements. All it requires is a simple linguistically egalitarian commitment—a social pact, if you will—on the part of the people and the government they elect.
> Maybe one day, with the changing demographics, Quebec will tend towards your Ideal Plane, but not for the forseeable future.
You’ve got to think high to rise. Maybe one day, Canada will proudly be a multi-national, multi-lingual state.
So let us see...
ReplyDeleteWiping out of the Bloc from Canadian political map, bickerings among members of the PQ, lowest attendance of the St. John the Baptist's celebration in recent history.
Is this a good omen for the beginning of the end of the independence movement?
Anonymous at 08:03,
ReplyDeleteI prefer The Main multiple times than Schwartz's. No queue, much nicer waiters, better seats, more options on the menu, nice dessert and they accept credit cards to top everything off. Even if people say that Schwartz's is more delicious, which I disagree, The Main has too many pluses in comparison.
Souhaitons seulement que The Main n'a pas comme culture organisationnelle de servir les gens en français avec une pointe de mépris, comme il arrive parfois dans notre belle ville de Montréal. (Ce bon vieux "speak white" qui est là pas loin, qui se décline de diverses manières plus ou moins subtiles...)
ReplyDeleteY.
"A day without donuts is not a good day." English-canadian proverb.
Just found this interesting tidbit. I did not know that the NDP ran in the provincial election and had its member in the Quebec National Assembly.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/rive-sud-express/rs02regu20110621/2011061901/16.html#16
@ Y. for Yahoo:
ReplyDelete"A day without poutine, pepsi and cigarettes is not a good day." French-Canadian proverb.
"A day without donuts is not a good day." English-canadian proverb."
ReplyDeleteA donut a day keeps doctor away!
Bienvenu sur ce blogue mon frère,Je suis le seul soldat au front.Je compte sur toi pour le prochain bombardement!
"Wiping out of the Bloc from Canadian political map"
ReplyDeleteNous avons élu le le NPD pour finir la job du bloc.Ils ont 4 ans pour nous montrer si ils ont des couilles.
Autrement dit:C'est la première et la dernière chance pour "Jack and Tom".4 ans,un mandat...Pas plus!
Un seppie
LOL seppie... 40 ans et pleins de mandats pour vos chums seppies sans exiger de de vrais "résultats" tant au niveau provincial que fédéral et vous avez les couilles de demander à un parti (nominalement) fédéraliste de livrer la marchandise?
ReplyDeleteTrouver l'erreur.
I thought June 24th was ment to be Anglo Moving Day?
ReplyDelete"I thought June 24th was ment to be Anglo Moving Day?"
ReplyDeleteAucun problème,pourvu que ce soit vers l'ontario.
Je crois même que nous pourrions vous prêter les camions.
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