English Witch Hunt Fizzles Out

You'd think the outing of two unilingual anglos working in upper management at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, was the outrage of the century, generating no less media hysteria in Quebec than that surrounding the treachery of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. in the USA back in the fifties.

"It is the ultimate symbol of Quebec pride — of francophones exerting influence within their own economy.

So there was some surprise in the news Tuesday that two senior managers at Quebec's Caisse de depot et placement can't speak French." Link

Yup, the Quebec media was certainly en maudit, the Caisse being a national pillar, a symbol of Quebec emancipation and financial independence. To many, the Caisse represents the potential financier of an independant Quebec.

Ever since Premier Charest placed an anglo in charge of the faltering Caisse over two years ago, after the disastrous run led by Henri-Paul Rousseau, which saw the fund lose one-quarter of its value in the great financial meltdown of 2008, French militants have been doing a slow, angry burn over the appointment.
That simmering rage has now exploded, triggered by the announcement that two unilingual Anglos have been toiling unchallenged, at the highest levels of management.

To paranoid French militants, it's a nightmare come true, a vindication of their deepest fears, that the insidious Anglo influence, if not held in check, will take over Francophone society.

English unilinguals in the beloved Caisse!!!!!

Inconcevable!!!!!..... pas des maudits blokes ! ......Aggghhh!!!!

By the way, (and completely beside the point) under the tutelage of Michael Sabia, the Caisse has rebounded nicely, although not spectacularly. The Caisse is back making money that is well within the acceptable range of return on investment.

The two unilingual managers involved, work in the Caisse's real estate subsidiary, the result of a merger between two Anglo companies that the Caisse acquired, Oxford-Cambridge Realty, originally based in Toronto and Ivanhoe, the real estate arm of the old Sam Steinberg empire, once one of Quebec's largest food retailers.
The new company became Ivanhoé-Cambridge (complete with an added accent 'egu') and the original Anglo staff were slowly replaced by Francophones when the head office was consolidated at the Caisse's head office in Montreal.
The new company Frenchified it's pronunciation and Ivanhoe became Ivanhoé, pronounced "EE-van-away."....Really.

Incidentally, insiders have told me that there was a massacre of senior personnel at Ivanhoé-Cambridge recently with forty employees, many top mangers let go suddenly and without warning, some with over twenty years experience.
The outing of the two unilinguals sounds like a settling of accounts.

Now the reaction in the mainstream press as well as the militant websites seemed to be eerily in sync.

"Et ce n’est que la partie visible de l’iceberg !"Mario Beaulieu

"Mais tout cela n'est que la pointe de l'iceberg."Joeseph Facal

'Patrons unilingues anglais à la Caisse de dépôt: la pointe de l’iceberg! Ameriquebc.net

I haven't translated the quotes because all that's interesting is that they all make reference to the  'tip of the iceberg!' an analogy that means that there's much more beneath the surface.
I wonder if they held a conference call before filing their stories.

"All the sophistry in the world will change nothing, we have too long looked away and retained the unacceptable institutional privileges granted to the historic English history minority, which in fact is about 3% of the Quebec population (Anglo-British-born Quebec)." LINK

Readers, I included this last quote from the insufferable Mario Beaulieu because "3%" represents a new low in the ever-fluctuating figure of that invented separatist term 'historical Anglophones'
Mr. Beaulieu doesn't even  follow his own own script. 
The rest of screed was a rehash of dishonest and misleading statistics contrived by the insufferable, Institut de recherche sur le français en Amérique, a tiny separatist lobby group masquerading as a legitimate research 'institute' 

At any rate, the three stories that included the reference of the 'tip of an iceberg' all hinted that this was just the beginning of an insidious plot by anglophones to take over Quebec.
Here's a more complete quote from Facal;

"Unilingual anglophones appointed to the Supreme Court, the Auditor-General and top jobs at the Caisse. Illegal signage everywhere. Our  Parliamentary weight falling in Ottawa.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. "LINK

That's a lot of ominous hinting, but no suggestions.
What's next? Arcade Fire at the Fete Saint-Jean?
 
Mr. Facal even suggested that Francophones were 'cuckolds,' actually enjoying having their language screwed over by the dastardly English.....
All this over two English employees in a company of 880 that supposedly operates on an international level.

"La chasse à l'anglouille est ouverte! "

Reading the story and then watching the hysterical reaction in the press had me concluding sadly that we were in store for a witch hunt by French-language militants in search of other unilingual English speakers in high positions.
It's the type of issue that French language militants love to sink their teeth into, rooting out and denouncing offending Anglos, a passionate labour of love.
And so I imagine they took to the task with the same passion and conviction of those who chased down the Salem Witches!

It didn't take long, by Tuesday we had our next denunciation, a highly placed member of management at the Banque National was outed, this time surprisingly by the generally conservative /federalist La Press newspaper from Montreal. LINK
By the way, I've omitted naming  these so-called offenders for obvious reasons.

And so I expected more and more denunciations in the coming days as inspired militants rose to the challenge of denouncing their colleagues like Judas betraying Jesus.

But readers, it didn't  happen......

Shock of shock, no more revelations!
Why had the hysterical zeal and anglo bloodlust dissipated so quickly?

That, gentle readers, is because there were no more witches to be found.

Yup.... Try as they might, French militants couldn't come up with any other names and so these three poor saps who were outed, actually represented the exception that proved the rule... that Anglophones need to speak French in Quebec to succeed at the higher levels.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is the lesson that French language militants will pull from the story.

*****************

To American readers of this blog and the many Canadians celebrating with their family and friends visiting from the States, Happy Thanksgiving!