Weekend Update volume 34

Gilles Proulx's Adventures in Fantasyland

Once again, Quebec's resident anglo basher Gilles Proulx has passed off as fact what is not, in his continuing battle to cast Quebec's English community as unilingual and arrogant.

Brian Mulroney's famous grouse against Bryce Mackasey, that "There's no whore like an old whore, can be aptly paraphrased to describe Gilles Proulx-,  'There's no bigot like an old bigot.

In another one of his tedious screeds that he penned in the Journal de Montreal he outlined a series of measures that he believes that Jean Charest needs to address. One of these issues is;

"The need to teach French in English schools starting in Grade One"
("La nécessité d'enseigner le français chez les Anglos dès la première année du primaire ") LINK

Readers, is there an English school in Quebec that doesn't teach French from grade one?

Clearly Mr. Proulx is out of touch with reality and its a bit sad that idiots like him are given a forum to misinform the public with outright nonsense, in an attempt to besmirch the reputation of an entire community and to foster discord.

Perhaps Mr. Proulx should have read this letter sent to Le Devoir by a French teacher in an English school, before mindlessly shooting his bigoted mouth off.

"I am writing to help demystify what English school in Quebec is .
Did you know that most schools of the English Montreal School board offer a bilingual education program (50% of the courses are in French and 50% are in English)? In addition, other English schools offer a more extensive program (immersion): Kindergarten to Grade 2, instruction exclusively in French, and in the third to sixth years, a bilingual education.

I am a French teacher in Grade 6 at  Gardenview, an English school with a French immersion program. I teach the following subjects: French, social studies, art and religious ethics to a class, while my partner teaches English (first language) and mathematics. So I teach 50% of the curriculum in French with two classes and my partner 50% of the curriculum in English.

Believe it or not, my English students follow the same curriculum as the French school (we use the grammar book Guillemet 6). They converse, read and write without problems in both languages​​. Many of my students were accepted to private French schools. In addition, the immersion program continues in Lauren Hill high school, but that immersion will be 70% to 30% French and English.

My question is: why is it that this aspect is never addressed by the Quebec media?"
Jean-Michel Brunet - June 3, 2010 LINK{FR}

Quebec government looking to muzzle free press
With most of the francophone media (87%) in favour of government regulation of the press and the creation of a 'professional' status bestowed by the government oversight agency, the group that represents mostly English and ethnic media is aghast at the idea.

An Affront to Free Expression ... by Beryl Wasjman for the Suburban 

"Over a year ago Dominique Payette, a former journalist and now professor at the Universite de Montreal, was mandated by Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre to study ways in which media in the regions of Quebec and independent presses in the cities could be helped in light of new technologies. Her final report, presented last week, went far beyond her mandate. In fact, it is the greatest affront to free expression since the language laws. It deserves a resounding rejection. Among her fifty-one recommendations are the following: mandatory membership by all news organizations in the Quebec Press Council; use of the state's money power to coerce membership by withdrawing provincial advertising to all those who will not submit; giving the council - now a voluntary organization with only moral suasion - sanction power; controlling who is called a journalist by organizing a professional corporation  to control admission and demanding language testing for all those seeking professional accreditation. "Accredited" journalists would be given preference for matters ranging from government information flow to protection of sources."

Read the rest of this article in the Suburban 

McGill 'modifies' MBA program to defend tuition hike 

With a wink and a nod McGill has been given permission to continue charging  $32,500 for it's MBA program.
The education department accepted a 'modified' plan and will no longer impose a 2 million dollar fine on the university for charging more than allowed.  LINK

Unionized Hydro Quebec workers to spend $2 million to fight progress

Union- Don't replace the tried and true!

The unionized workers of Hydro-Quebec are raising money by taxing members in order to raise a war-chest to fight the monopoly's decision to install automated electricity meters in homes and business', which would mean the loss of about 800 jobs among meter-readers. LINK
Said a union spokesman;
"If we lose this battle they'll be coming after our adding machines and fountain pens, carbon paper and fax machines. We'll be forced to give up our IBM Selectrics in favour if these newfangled computers which are completely unreliable"
WE'VE GOT TO DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND!"

Royal Bank embraces Bill 101- in New Brunswick!

It seems that the Royal Bank of Canada remains fully committed to French language rights and Bill 101, applying its rules to signs in of all places- a New Brunswick branch of the bank.
Activist Buddie Miller wrote to the bank seeking clarification of its policy. Here is the response;

Dear Buddie:
Your email message requesting clarification on RBC’s signage at our Dieppe, N.B. branch has been forwarded to my attention.
We recognize that New Brunswick is Canada's only official bilingual province and we work hard to ensure we are incorporating bilingualism into our business activities. Wherever there is a need for bilingual services, we have signs, information and advertising in both English and French, as well as staff who speak both languages.
When we make decisions regarding signage, we consider our merchandising rules, the size of our information material, available space and the configuration of the premises. We also want to be sensitive to the cultural and community environment in which we operate. In Dieppe, where the population is considered 75 per cent Francophone (according to the Town of Dieppe website), we elected to use a bilingual sign for the entrance of our branch which displays the French language first.
Through our investigation we determined that the signage you refer to was in fact developed by our national office to comply with Quebec language laws, as you reference in your email. Recognizing that this type of signage is not required in New Brunswick, we have begun taking steps to have this sign replaced to reflect French and English equally.
Thank you for highlighting your concerns to us.
Kind regards,

Hmmmm. Do you think the RBC would apply this noble policy to branches in Quebec towns that have a majority of English residents and make English the priority language?

How about making English the priority language at the RBC branch at branch at Cavendish/Kildaire  branch in Cote St. Luc where English residents outnumber Francophones by 3 to 1.

Ha!
Readers, say it with me--- "NOT A FRIGGING CHANCE!"

Montreal opposition leader proposes a "Diversity Office" to get rid of diversity
You'd think that the function of a "Diversity Office" would be to promote diversity, but not according to opposition leader Louise Harel.  She wants to create this office to hire ethnics minorities for city jobs, not to reflect Montreal's ethnic reality, but rather to assimilate them into Francophone culture and in order to promote the French language.
Very clever!     LINK

Note to Readers;
Last Monday I wrote  a piece entitled "Early Quebec Election? Don't Count on It,"
in which I predicted that, in spite of speculation, Premier Charest would not call an early election. On Wednesday, the Premier did in fact announce that such was the case. Link
No, I had no prior information as some readers emailed to inquire.

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Best line heard immediately after Tuesday's earthquake felt in Montreal'

"Oh, Oh! You think the Champlain bridge is still standing!"

Best line heard immediately after the Montreal mayor announced funding for a plan to knock down the Bonaventure Expressway

"Just give it time, It'll fall down by itself!"

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Further reading:Weekend Review Volume 33

Have a good weekend!