NDP Running Separatist Candidate in Montreal

Marching with 'Uncle' Thom Muclair & radio bore Anne Lagacé Dowson

As I said a couple of posts back, I'll be writing about local candidates running in the federal election and I hope to bring to your attention a perspective you'll never see in the mainstream press.

A recent article in Le Devoir. discussing a Quebec Solidaire weekend convention, caught my eye because of a paragraph buried at the tail-end of the story.

"A Québec solidaire militant, Alexandre Boulerice, also a spokesperson for CUPE, is the NDP candidate in the constituency Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie. In an email exchange, Mr. Boulerice  underlined that he was still a member of the Québec solidaire and a separatist. "Anyone who supports the NDP program can be a member. We can place in the forefront, social and environmental issues before the national question." Le Devoir

I'll gently remind readers that the Quebec Solidaire, is a much more radical and sovereignist political party than the Parti Quebecois. It's the party of Amir Khadir and the happy home of Quebec's Communist Party, which is an officially recognized wing of the party. At a weekend convention last week, the party called for raising the minimum wage to $16 an hour and the party's leader, Françoise David, called for deliberately slowing down our economic growth because it's bad for the health of citizens. LINK{FR}

That the NDP would run a communist socialist is perhaps understandable, but a separatist is a little much to expect, even from the NDP. It should be noted it's the second time around for the sovereignist who also ran under the NDP banner back in 2008, where he finished third with 8,500 votes.
His official NDP NPD website

Here from his blog is part of an incredible letter written in rebuttal to a collegue in Quebec Solidaire who is arguing that members of the party should vote for Gilles Duceppe's Bloc Quebecois

Reply to Francois Cyr, Quebec Solidaire activist who encourages people to vote strategicly for the Bloc
Dear Francis, 

I have a series of questions for you:
What is the the story behind  this text on pressegauche.org over the need to vote for the Bloc? Since when does an activist in Quebec Solidaire promote the concept of "strategic voting?" Is it a question of  promoting the "best of the worst?" Is this the new strategy for the Quebec election?  Is that what you'll tell people in the face of the dangers of a majority Charest government? And so we should all vote for the PQ, in order to stop the evil Liberals (or ADQ)?
Don't you realize that the Bloc is the little brother of the Parti Quebecois that you battle? Comprised essentially of the same activists, the same people who finance and make the decisions? Don't you see that the Bloc may appear more progressive because it will never be able  to exercise power, unlike its PQ sponsor in Quebec?
What is this mania to peddle the same old Bloc cliches that say that  the NDP is centralist? You've read the Sherbrooke Declaration adopted at the 2006 convention? What do you think of the possibility for Quebec to withdraw from a federal program with compensation? Is it centralizing?
Do you remember that Jack Layton, as a young student in Montreal, militated in favour of McGill University becoming French? Have you considered that Mulcair worked for the Council of the French language in the first term of Levesque? No, you push this under the carpet. Do you counter the Bloc arguments by pointing out that the NDP caucus supported - last spring - a motion that Bill 101 applies to federally regulated companies in Quebec .     No. A strange silence suddenly prevails  ... LINK TO THE NDP CANDIDATE'S OFFICIAL BLOG

Layton +separatist = NDP NPD

What is completely stunning about all this is that Alexandre Boulerice writes to his confrere, another Bloc solidaire militant, Francois Cyr, on an official NDP website.

For Layton and the NDP, their new-found strength in Quebec hasn't led to an avalanche of people lining up to run for office.
With so many elections so closely bunched over the last few years, NDP candidates have been essentially cannon fodder and few want to re-live the experience of taking a month and a half off of their life, working the shopping centres and street corners, just to get their ass kicked in the election.

In The Lac-St-Jean region, the NDP has found just one person to represent them so far, a retired unionist. Link{FR}

The party is hard put to find enough poteaus to fill the ranks.
In case you didn't know, a 'Poteau' is a disparaging insider political term that refers to a candidate who has zero chance to win and runs only to show the party colours. The candidate is usually a young idealist and his or her campaign consists largely of just placing election posters on city light poles, and thus the term 'poteau' (pole.)

Here's a classic example of a POTEAU;

Nicholas Thibodeau, is running in Mont-
Royal, a riding that consists in part with one of Quebec's wealthier  Anglo/Jewish communities of Hampstead/Cote Saint Luc, coupled with an across the railroad tracks working ethnic community in Snowdon.
The Liberal party has had a stranglehold on the riding all the way back to Pierre-Elliot Trudeau and it is presently held by Irwin Cotler the ex-justice  Minister, who is running once again,  this time challenged by another high-profile Jew, Saulie Zajdel.

Mr. Thibodeau is an environmentalist who dreams of spending 2 billion dollars to cover the Decarie Expressway, a big issue in a riding that probably has more BMWs and Mercedes than anywhere else in Quebec. He has run unsuccessfully before, winning an amazing 7.7% of the vote. GOOD LUCK!!!

By the way, Mr Thibodeau's campaign poster omits the English version of the riding's name, 'Mount Royal' and actually has different messages in English and in French, which is, I guess, a neat metaphor for NDP policy.

Quebec Politicans Take an Axe to Democracy

Largely unnoticed by most, was a recent proposition put forward by the Parti Quebecois to manipulate the electoral map to it's advantage. This, hot on the heels of the Liberal party's rejection of recommendations by the Director General des Elections Quebec to re-jig the electoral map to better reflect the actual population distribution.

"Equality of the votes of electors
The equality of the votes of electors is an important prerequisite for effective representation. Each electoral district must have roughly an equal number of electors." Director General des elections Quebec  

While the principle of one person/one vote represents the democratic ideal, it never has actually been fully embraced in Quebec, with some ridings enjoying markedly a different voter base.

Definition of "Gerrymander"

"To divide a geographic area into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections. "

FROM DGE'S Website; 

"...equality of the vote consists of regrouping an approximately equal number of electors in each electoral division in the Province of Quebec. The Act specifies that the number of electors in an electoral division can not be greater or less than 25% of the average.

However, the Commission de la représentation électorale (CRE) can establish an exceptional electoral division that will have special dispensation from the ±25% criteria, if it judges that the decision can meet the goal of the Act: effective representation. In these cases, the CRE must give its grounds for the decision in writing." LINK

While the Director General espouses a policy of fairness, he is left with a fairly large loophole with which the principle of one person/one vote can be completely ignored.  And so we are rewarded with this dog's breakfast of riding inequity, where the number voters vary considerably.

The average number of eligible electors per riding is about 46,000, but twenty-nine of the 125 ridings fall outside the ±25% rule.
That's quite a bunch of exceptions!

If you live in the remote Magdalen Islands, your vote is actually worth almost six times as much as if you live in the Montreal suburb of Laval and as you can see, the Gaspe peninsula region is vastly over-represented.

Back in September the man in charge of the  electoral map, Marcel Blanchet, the DGE (Director General des elections)  proposed making some changes to address the problem of over and under-representation. After a three year study he suggested merging some rural ridings and adding a couple to heavily populated districts.
Premier Charest would have nothing to do with the plan because it would affect an upcoming by-election where he held out hopes of holding a riding in  Rivière-du-Loup (which he eventually lost anyways) and so, he ripped up the the DGE's proposal, which was non-binding.
In disgust Mr. Blanchet resigned.

In a decision worthy of a Quebec politician, Pierre Moreau, the Liberal minister in charge, opted to add the three seats proposed by the DGE, but not to merge the three over-represented rural seats. Bravo! Link{FR}
Considering that Ontario has 18 less seats for 50% more citizens, adding another three seems a bit excessive, but hey, this is Quebec, North Americas most over-represented and governed political entity.

Now the Parti Quebecois is proposing to make this rural/urban divide permanent with a cockamamie proposal to create two classes of ridings, rural and urban, where the concept one person/one vote would be thrown out the window.

"To add to the election Law criteria, giving a preponderance related to the dynamic occupation of the region.
("D’ajouter aux critères de la Loi électorale l’occupation dynamique du territoire en lui conférant une valeur prépondérante") PQ website {FR} 

Sounds like BS in both English and French and it reminds me of the convoluted referendum question, couched in obscure terms to soft pedal a nebulous  proposition.

Talking to Mario Dumont on his television show, xenophobe/Anglophobe Gilles Proulx said out loud what nobody in the PQ was willing to say, that the proposition is wise because it reduces the power  of immigrants in Montreal, because, after all, they aren't really Quebeckers.

Federal Election: Please, Let's NOT Encourage People to Vote

And so we're off to the polls again, the umpteenth time in the last couple of years. I'll be writing about some of the local candidates over the next couple of weeks and as you can expect, don't expect it to be flattering.
So let's set the tone with a piece about a theme you're  not likely to read anywhere else!

Now that a federal election is on, get ready to be bombarded with sanctimonious entreaties by the government and the media reminding us of our civic duty to vote. 

According to Elections Canada, the agency spent in excess of 90 million dollars trying to convince Canadians to vote in the 2008 federal general election.
It doesn't seem that the campaign was particularly successful as the turnout fell off rather dramatically from elections in the past with just 59% of Canadians exercising their franchise, which represented a 10% drop from the previous election.

With the media obsessed with the campaign, the landscape awash in garish campaign posters, who can possibly remain unaware that an election is on? As the fateful day approaches, the media hysteria ratchets up the guilt-inspiring mantra of "Thou shalt Vote!"

Do we really need Elections Canada wasting money reminding us about what we already know?

How many non-voters the Elections Canada campaign convinced to cast a ballot can never be determined, but it can't possibility be that many.
Even using an overly generous estimate of 5% of the 14 million votes cast, it means that the government spent in excess of $130.00 of taxpayer money on each of those that they actually convinced to vote!

 That's a lot of dough to convince someone to do something that should come naturally to anyone interested in the society that they live in.
Another great big waste of money.

In fact, it's actually a very bad idea to convince someone who is not really interested to vote, to do so through guilt or a bribe.

Does the Elections Canada ideal, where every eligible voter actually casts a ballot, serve the better interests of our nation, more than leaving the political decisions to those who are self-motivated to vote?

While I'll defend to the death everyone's right to vote, that doesn't mean I want to encourage idiots and morons to do so. I'd be happier if they stayed at home and left the decision to those more capable of making an informed decision.

Of course not voting is considered a sign of poor citizenship, something I vehemently disagree with. If someone determines that they aren't up to the task or that they don't care who is elected, why should they vote, just to satisfy some democratic fantasy of those who care?

If we truly live in a democratic society where personal choice is respected, the decision not to cast a ballot must be respected as is the decision to vote.

Lets consider this burlesque scenario;

An Elections Canada official is wandering down an Ottawa street and spots a bum propped up against the wall, one hand proffering a tin cup for spare change and the other wrapped tightly around a bottle tightly ensconced in a brown paper bag from which he partakes a sip or two every few minutes.

"Pardon me sir, do you know that there is a federal election coming up?"

"Huh"

"Yes sir, its not only your right to vote, but you civic duty as well!"

"Spare any change?"

"I'll tell you what, if you vote, I'll give you $130.00"

"Wha??"

"That's right, 130 bucks, it won't take more than half a hour."

"How do I vote?"

"I'll take you to the polling station, where you'll put an mark on a ballot by  the name of the  candidate of your choice.

"I can't read" 

"Doesn't matter, go "Eeny-Meany-Miney-Moe".. It's the act of voting that is empowering!"

"130 Bucks you say, I'll do it!.......... By the way, can you give me an advance?"

  Arrghhhhh.!!!!!!...............

I like to think of the voting dynamic, comparable to a group of friends going out for Chinese food.
Seated around the table you have all types. Some are adroit and well-informed in the art of Chinese food, others are not so sure and still others are clueless and some aren't even fond of Chinese food. Invariably those in the know offer to do the ordering.
This is a relief to those who are ambivalent, clueless or just don't care. "Go ahead, order whatever!"

Would you really want the idiots in the second group to take part in the ordering? Would it really be helpful?

In the United States 29% of the people can't name their vice-president. In Canada we are no better.
Should these people have the right to vote?

Absolutely!

Should they be encouraged to vote? Hmmmm.....NOT SO SURE!

Vigile.net and Me

Perhaps I should have informed readers that I decided not to pursue a pointless conversation with Robert Barberis-Gervais who seems to have entirely too much time on his hands, his latest missive hit to my comment box in the wee morning hours.

Since I decided not to engage, he took his complaints to the friendly confines of vigile.net.
It seems that commenter BlueWhiteRed got a bit of the royal treatment as well and all I can say is welcome to the club.

I've always tried to publish countering points of view but at a certain point it becomes abusive and ridiculous.

Well-thought out remarks are always welcome, in English or French, regardless of opinion, but I resent having a patently absurd, third-hand unverified story about four Jewish gentlemen refusing to be served by a francophone offered up on my blog (without any corroboration at all,) in a clumsy attempt to show that Quebec Jews are contemptuous of francophones.

Mr. Barberis-Gervais may not like this blog and its readers, but if I was to make outrageous claims without sourcing, I would come under a heap of well-deserved criticism demanding proof, by readers who regardless of political view, have a well-defined sense of skepticism.

Lets see, two can play this game.  Let me make up a story.....

A Muslim-Quebecker sends his CV to a semi-government agency and is refused an interview 19 times. He re-submits the CV under a French name and tweaks it to hide his Semitic roots. Low and behold he is welcomed with open arms.
Ergo I conclude, Quebec francophones are racists.

You see anyone can make up a story to suit his own purpose and demonstrate whatever it is that he wishes to demonstrate.

These type of illustrative stories are inherently dangerous and  unfair. They pander to the emotions and are used to incite hatred. They may or may not be true, but even if they are, if they aren't representative, then the citation thereof is hateful and a very real form of racism.

Do you agree that my story indicates that all Francophones are racist? If you are Barberis-Gervais, surely you must.
Is my phony story any less illustrative than his? I don't think so.
.
.
.
....Oh, by the way, my story isn't made up. Here's the CITATION

For every story of Jews treating francophones contemptuously, I can cite fifty stories that go in the other direction, all of them fully documented.
Drummondville native hockey coach sued for abusing Jewish player 
Some people in Ste. Agathe are so racist
Town uneasy about Jews' resort purchase
etc. etc.
Does my story or the above references prove that francophones are racist antisemites?
Absolutely not.
In fact, with about 30% of Canadian Jews living in Quebec, B'nai Brith reported that 29% of the antisemitic incidents, were recorded in the province. Nothing to be proud of, but no worse or better than elsewhere.

Mr. Barberis-Gervais uses the same devices as Mario Beaulieu, Pierre Curzi and all the other language nationalists who skew realty, use selective facts, misinterpret data and ignore the truth to paint a false and misleading picture of realty.
His uses the following 'Four Jews and the lovely Isabelle' story to intimate that Jews are contemptuous of francophones.

ASHAMED OF RACIST JEWS

"My son has a girlfriend, Isabelle, who worked in a restaurant near Décarie boulevard  in Côte-des-Neiges, where, as pointed out by Yves Michaud, 100% of Jews voted NO in the referendum of 1995: the so-called ethnic vote.......

The restaurant owner was a nice bilingual Jew who hired the francophone girl who spoke fairly good English, but with a Quebecois accent. In addition, she was a lovely young woman, with a warm and beautiful demeanour.

The regular customers were English speaking Jews, upstart Anglophones with a Mercedes in the parking lot. Isabelle spoke to them in English which was normally used in the restaurant. Regular customers didn't have any problem with her, actually quite the opposite. But these Jews  systematically refused to be served by a francophone Quebecker. They sent her packing to the kitchen. Isabelle complained to her boss who told her: "I hired you, you're competent, so don't  worry about it."
But the contempt from these customers was such that Isabelle resigned. LINK  

What a load of crap.....but fantasy or real, the story is not representative of Jewish or Anglo attitudes, just as the racist hockey coach is not representative of francophone attitudes. To pretend that they are is to distort Quebec reality, which unfortunately, is no problem for Mr. Barberis-Gervais and his ilk.

Mr Barberis-Gervais tells us that he is not antisemitic, but surely he must see that the effect of his commentaries is to fan the flames of intolerance and hatred. That much he must understand, after all, he is a PHD.

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

Vigile.net has re-printed and archived a couple of stories from this blog (without permission) and I haven't gotten into it with the editor because Vigile.net is not that important to me.

People who read writers like Mr. Barberis-Gervaise are who they are. Nothing I have to say will change their opinion. That isn't an insult but it's a question of preaching to the choir.

I do object however with the immoral journalistic license that Mr. Frappier took with my original work, by inserting an offensive picture into the middle of my piece, that was not part of my original post.

CLICK to see story on vigile.net

The distasteful picture of saluting Nazis was added by Mr. Frappier into the body of my work, an egregious abuse of journalistic ethics. You can see my original post HERE sans the offending photo.

It is this type of manipulation that is so offensive and speaks to the integrity of the website.

As for Mr Barberis-Gervaise I read his article and was disappointed not by his insults, (that is his right to do) but rather falsely stating that I have stated that Bill 101 is the product of a racist state.

"Pour vous donner une idée de ce blog, sachez qu’on y affirme que la loi 101 est l’expression d’un Etat raciste." LINK

After writing hundreds of blog pieces, Mr, Barberis-Gervaise should have learned the art of linking his statement to corroborating source material.
I defy him to show where on the blog I ever equated Bill 101 as the product of a racist state.

This is the same problem he has with his "Four Jews and lovely Isabelle" story.
Integrity...

Late Friday, the Liberals tried to have a motion placed in parliament condemning the excesses over on vigile.crap net but of course the PQ wouldn't play ball.

But the point has been made.

Sunday Housekeeping- How to See Banned Comments

I know many of you follow the comments section rather religiously and I thought I'd share a little device that makes the challenge of seeing what was recently posted through the different  blog posts easier.

If you use a RSS client to follow multiple websites and blogs, you can add the No Dogs or Anglophones 'comments' feed to your client reader.
For those who know what I'm talking about, here's the web address, you just need to add it to the "Add Feed" box on your particular RSS client.  It will automatically update during the day and you will see all the recently posted comments from all the different blog pieces.

http://nodogsoranglophones.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss

Interestingly, you can see those comments which I have chosen not to publish.

It's my policy to publish the offending post and then immediately suppress it, so that the poster can see a message telling him or her that the comment has been removed.

But the RSS aggregator  publishes the post immediately and it is therefore available on your RSS reader!

I don't envisage changing this policy so if you are interested, go for it!
Its a good way for me to of filter comments yet allow those really interested in seeing them.  I guess it serves the interests of transparency.

I don't use Windows, but am told that a RRS feed aggregator is built into 'Explorer'. For others I can recommend Google Reader, which is easy enough to use.

French versus English Volume 24

Game over for international "FRENCH" hockey tourney

"Dreams of an all-Quebec hockey squad facing off in an international tournament this summer have been dashed after organizers failed to find any takers.

The original plan was to have Team Quebec face Switzerland, France and Italy in Quebec City next August in a "four-nation" battle for the Quebec Cup.

But after the Swiss national team announced last December it had declined the invitation, France and Italy have also bowed out, citing budget and scheduling constraints." LINK

Only 15% of Quebeckers agree with radical French language stance.

Much to the consternation of Curzi, Mario Baulieu, Mouvement Montréal français, the RRQ and Imperatif-francais, only 15% of Quebeckers agree with them that bilingualism isn't important. Download a small PDF of the poll{FR}.

Canadian Revenue Agency to spend $42,900 to help dyslexic worker learn French
"The Canada Revenue Agency has 40,000 employees but the department is spending at least $42,900 helping one worker, who has dyslexia, learn French.
The employee, who has not been identified, has already had two years of federal French language training at two different schools all to no avail, CRA documents show. Now, the federal tax agency is turning to a private school in Ottawa for one-on-one training to help the staffer pass the government’s language test." LINK

Quebec company publishes English only report

A publicly-traded Quebec based franchiser, MTY Food Group, is being assailed for publishing it's annual report and other official documents in English only with the French versions available on the website. The chain owns the flagship banner of Thaï Express and Tiki-Min as well as over a dozen familiar fast food restaurants. It isn't a really matter of disrespecting the French language, the founder and CEO of the company, Stanley Ma is known by employees to be extremely cheap frugal.  LINK

French skills to be downgraded as immigration criterion?

In an effort to up the quality of those immigrating to Quebec, the government is looking to make French language skills a secondary criterion in the selection of new immigrants. Ouch! LINK

Attending English cegep doesn't anglicize francophones

"Delegates to a Parti Québécois convention in Montreal next month will be asked to approve a proposal to extend Bill 101 to CEGEPs, Quebec’s network of public junior colleges.

The Conseil supérieur de la langue française, an advisory body to the Quebec government with a mandate to promote the French language, does not think this is a good idea.

..... a study on linguistic transfers by allophones, conducted by the Conseil supérieur de la language française, says attending English CEGEPs has hardly any impact on linguistic transfers." Link-Montreal Gazette

This will become its official policy once the report will be published in the near future. LINK

Montreal hockey fans ranked the worst

Gentlemen's Quarterly did a story on the worst fans in America. Maybe Montreal isn't in America but it still made the list:

"Forget the riots that erupted last May after the Canadiens made it to the Eastern Conference final; they were nothing compared with the hordes of looters who set fire to five police cars during the 2008 playoffs simply because Montreal advanced past the first round. Meanwhile, inside the Bell Centre, the only things people boo more frequently than the U.S. national anthem are their own players. In 2003, team veteran Patrice "Breeze-by" Brisebois was heckled almost every time he touched the puck; the jeering was so intense it likely induced a stress-related irregular heartbeat. How did then GM Bob Gainey feel about his bloodthirsty fan base? "I think they're a bunch of gutless bastards, to be honest," he said. GQ Magazine

Do Jutras have an anti-English bias?

"Quebec film awards don’t give major prizes to anglophone productions – despite an impressive crop this year....

Why is it that over its 13-year history, the Jutra Awards has almost never given major prizes to English-language Quebec films? Does that reflect a negative bias within the film milieu toward flicks made chez nous in the language of Richler?" Story by Brendan Kelly -Montreal Gazette 

 Offensive Ad campaign

"A blogger took offence to this ad for its disrespect towards the French language;

Actually, I think the 'outdooring' reference insults the English language!

........and let's finish off with a FAIL.QC special, a salute to something nobody does better than Quebec- POTHOLES!

Further reading  French versus English -Volume 23

Harper To Quebec- NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Everybody was assuming that a deal would be announced between Ottawa and Quebec whereby the budget tabled yesterday would include a $2.2 billion payment to Quebec in compensation for harmonizing the collection of the GST tax. Other provinces have received similar payments in the past. The holdup has been Quebec's position that it be the agency to collect and distribute the tax rather than Ottawa as is the case with the other provinces.

Finance Minister Monique Jerome-Forget (at the time) announced that Quebec would harmonize its sales tax with the federal GST, in March 2009, just about two years ago.
Since then, failure to agree on a formula has cost Quebec close to 200 million dollars in lost interest, ironically more than double the amount asked by Quebec to help fund Quebec City's new arena.

With an election looming, it isn't likely that a deal will made this year or even possibly ever, if the Tories decide to hold back the payment as payback. LINK

Harper seems to have learned a valuable lesson back in 2008 when he pandered to Quebec, returning  a billion dollars to Quebec and then seeing his electorial advantage evaporate over a 45 million dollar funding cut to the arts. So goes politics in Quebec.

After Harper determined that the political fallout in the rest of Canada was too large a price to pay for funding the new Quebec arena, he really had no choice but to give up on Quebec.

A 2 billion dollar payoff to Quebec in this budget would likely have kept the government alive with the Bloc Quebecois help, but it was correctly deemed too high a cost.

So the worst case scenario for Harper is that he's returned to power with pretty much the same amount of MPs as before, perhaps a couple more, but not enough for a majority.

If the Bloc picks up seats around the Quebec city area, it augers even worse for the province. With no representation in government, Quebec will continue to reap the bitter rewards of a vengeful Harper and ask anyone who knows, Harper is a spiteful sort.

Quebec's loss will be Toronto's gain, because that's where the Conservatives are building strength and the only real area in Canada with enough swing seats to provide Harper with a majority.

Another minority government will see the government's largess doted on Ontario with the Quebec portion of the pie getting just a wee bit smaller each go around.

There's talk of a deal being cooked up between Layton and Harper to save the government from collapse. For Layton's own sake it better happen, otherwise, it's likely his last campaign.

Quebec voters continue to play a dangerous game, their only two choices are to vote massively for the Bloc and hold off a majority government or vote for the Conservatives and get rewarded in cabinet.
Of course, right now, it remains Door Number One.....

But one thing is clear, 2011 is not 2008. Voters in the rest of Canada will not countenance sweetheart payoffs to Quebec anymore.
While Harper seemed to be dithering over the Quebec city arena financing, he was actually floating a trial balloon to see if he could somehow pass it off on the rest of the country.
Clearly he couldn't, a message from Canadians was sent and received.

So things are not looking so good for Quebec.
Not enough votes to separate and not enough juice in Ottawa.

So it's likely more of the same, a Harper minority government that will last another two years.

Here's my fearless predictions should an election be called;

• Same old, same old. Conservative minority government.

• Jack Layton will not survive as leader to the next election (Uncle Thom will become leader)

• Michael Ignatieff will not survive as leader to the next election

• Elizabeth May will not survive as leader to the next election

• Gilles Duceppe will return to Quebec to take over the PQ 

Can McGill University Survive as an Elite School?

Last week's announcement by the Quebec government that it was 'fining' McGill University for charging almost $30K a year for an elite MBA, should have the university seriously concerned, not over the $2 million the government took away, but rather for its future as an elite school.
The government is arguing that the fine is based on the philosophy of equal access of students.

But McGill argues that it was subsidizing the MBA course out of its general fund and that students who graduate from the program to extremely high-paying jobs should be accountable for the cost of their education.

And so, is $30,000 really necessary for  an MBA course?

Well the 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', so to speak. Since the fee increase, the McGill MBA program has jumped an astonishing 38 places in the world rankings according to the Financial Times.

2010 Financial Times World Business school rankings 2010- McGill- 95th place- LINK
2011 Financial Times World Business school rankings 2011 -McGill- 57th place-  LINK

The tuition fee increase has allowed McGill to 'catch up'' with the other elite Canadian business schools. The best, the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management ranks 46th in the world and charges $80,000 to Canadians for its two year program and $99,000  to foreigners. TUITION LINK

Is paying all that money worth it?..... You bet.
The average salary for graduates is over $100,000. Here's an interesting statistical view of the graduates of the U of T's, Rotman School of Business. LINK

I guess you get what you pay for.

Incidentally the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, ranks 47th in the world, just after Rotman and charges $70,000 for a one year program! TUITION LINK

The Schulich School of Business at the York University  ranks 51th in the world and charges $25,000 each year for a  two year program! LINK

So who is out of touch with reality, McGill or the Quebec education department?

Quebec's rationale that accessibility is more important than quality, is a frightening scenario for McGill, a school dedicated to maintaining its position as an elite school, not only in Canada, but worldwide.

Can an elite school exist where the majority of its funding comes from a government dedicated to the lowest common denominator? It's a frightening question.

Quebec's determination that the most important aspect to higher education is cheap tuition fees is a bankrupt philosophy that reaps mediocre results.

The philosophy ha disturbing consequences. Quebec universities cannot offer elite programs  because the government can't pay for it and won't allow schools to charge for it.
Sounds disturbingly like medicare.

Elite MBA programs cost a lot to run.  The Quebec government's solution is to just not have them.

But since students graduating these programs enjoy astronomical lifetime earnings, it's reasonable for them to pay for their education, even if it means paying up to $100,000 for their education.
If the government is disturbed by the lack of equal access for poorer students, they can provide loans that can be easily paid off when students graduate to extremely high paying jobs.

By fining McGill, the government has sent the signal that it doesn't want these types of programs to be available. There can be no other conclusion, since asking students in other faculties to subsidize the MBA program makes no sense and is unfair to boot.

You'd think with Canada's cheapest tuition, Quebec would have the highest enrollment, but it isn't true, Quebec's francophones continue to value university education, lower than anglophones and allophones and those in the ROC.

One has to wonder if McGill is being punished because it is so good and whether the Education Department's attitude towards the school is a question of taking the school down a peg or two, so that francophone universities don't look so bad. Not a completely outrageous notion.

It's a dangerous concept, lowering standards.

Maybe the next step is to lower admission requirements at McGill to the frightening low standards applied in francophone schools.
Because of the shortage of French students, standards have sunk so low for francophone cegeps that it is actually not necessary to have graduated high school to get in!

How's it been working out? .... Not so good.  
55% of them abandon school within their first year. LINK{FR}

The real problem is how education is viewed between cultural communities.
Francophones just don't see university education as important as the rest of the country. The concept of elite students and elite programs runs counter to the egalitarian philosophy of the Quebec's education department.

If the government can't afford to pay for it , nobody can have it, even if they pay for it themselves!.....

Tragic!

All this is taking place under a supposedly federalist Quebec government.  One can only imagine what will happen if the PQ gets elected, loses a referendum and then  gets down to exacting a measure of revenge on the English community.
They've already targeted English cegeps and it's foolish to believe that Mr. Curzi et als. won't address the separatist obsession with the supposed over-funding of English universities.
It doesn't auger well, but pretending it can't happen is foolish.

The long-term viability of McGill as an elite school is certainly in question. 

I may be one of the first to say it, but McGill cannot survive as an elite university under Quebec's public model, even if the government remains Liberal. The lack of funding, the beggar's tuition schedule (even with the recent increases) is a recipe for mediocrity.

Perhaps it's time to develop a 'Plan B'
In order to maintain it's status and free itself from the destructive arm of the Quebec education department,, the school may have to become private.(gasp!)

It's a shocking conclusion, one that would see student fees triple or quadruple and would result in a drastic downsizing. 

But it is the only solution to maintaining its status as one of the world's best universities.

Sovereignists Flee Vigile.net

As I said yesterday, the hate and racism published on an ongoing basis on Vigile.net is not representative of Quebeckers- Anglophones, Francophones, federalists or sovereignists.

Once the issue came to light, many sovereignists who were largely unaware of the situation withdrew their support rather quickly.
Here is what one of my favourite francophone bloggers had to say;

"As a sovereignist, I cannot morally, support a site that publishes, such antisemitism! Coudonc, Is there no moderator who reads the texts, before putting them online,...??" Le Québec de demain

Unfortunately there is a moderator and he is one of them...

While people like myself and others in the blogosphere have been sounding the alarm for quite some time, it was in fact an article in a mainstream Montreal French newspaper, La Presse, which really set off alarms.
In spite of the fact that some PQ members have contributed to the financing of Vigile.net, in light of events, the party moved quickly to disassociate itself from the website:

"MP Agnes Maltais and the Parti Quebecois dissociate themselves from the anti-Semitic remarks found in some texts submitted to the site Vigile.net. Since its founding, the Parti Quebecois has always opposed all forms of discrimination against any community whatsoever and will continue on this path." PQ Website

 Bernard Drainville of the PQ , a previous donor, also tweeted his disapproval.

Other PQ members are keeping discreetly quiet, a bit like the Pittsburgh Penguin team-mates of Matt Cooke, who delivered another unacceptable head-shot in a NHL game on Saturday. It's hard to condemn your own.


When scandal hits, it's often prudent to follow a policy of discreet silence and let the clamour die down or fade. That's what good publicists and crisis management consultants advise. Sometimes, the hardest thing you can do to defend yourself is nothing. That's why defence attorneys always tell their clients to shut up. Remember the recent scandal at the English Montreal School Board over wasting money by paying for its employees to attend a conference in Hawaii. They promised to address the issue after the school break, but we haven't heard from them since.
Does anyone care? We live in a short attention span universe.

FLQ terrorist Rhéal Mathieu

But silence is not the 'la vrai nature' of Bernard Frappier whose website struck back with a vengeance against those who had the impertinence to denounce its excesses.

The website published, a further onslaught of anti-Jewish articles and offered readers a series of ad hominum attacks, against all those deemed as enemies.

On Sunday, FLQ terrorist Rhéal Mathieu published his views on Vigile.net regarding past foibles of certain members of  the Canada-Israel Committee, including Luciano Del Negro, who he accuses of certain youthful indiscretions. LINK{FR}
Who is Rhéal Mathieu?

"In 1967, Rhéal Mathieu pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison for his part in an FLQ bombing that claimed two lives. He served his sentence and obtained a pardon for that crime, but he never shed what a Crown prosecutor later called an “obsession” with the intertwined issues of Quebec independence and the French language. In 2001, he was convicted of attempting to firebomb three Second Cup cafés in Montreal to protest the chain’s English name." National Post

Oh the the hypocrisy!
An unrepentant terrorist lecturing others on their past! Only on Vigile.net!!!!
Read my blog post about this odious character- Terrorist Inspires RRQ Intimidation Campaign

Journalist Joseph Facal of the Journal de Montreal was also given the Vigile.net treatment after writing to Bernard Frappier asking him to remove articles written by himself, published and archived on the website without his permission.

"Last Friday, I was advised that this site housed a large number of supposedly hateful texts towards certain minorities, including Jews. As always in such cases, I proceeded with  caution and I decided to check myself.....

.......My initial discomfort was quickly transformed into deep trouble. When I checked, there were indeed many texts containing the most odious stereotypes about Jews.... Friday I sent a two line email to the webmaster, Bernard Frappier, asking, very politely, to remove all items bearing my signature. In my email, I refrain from any condemnation of those who leave their texts on this site. They can do what they want. What does the good Mr. Frappier do? He published my email on his site, knowing full well the reaction it would engender. Having been copiously insulted in my life, I have acquired a tough outer shell of reinforced titanium! The insults and innuendo are nevertheless very revealing of the mindset of those uttering them. Obviously, to them, I'm "yellow," "manipulated," "intimidated," lacking "guts," an agent of the great Zionist conspiracy and so on. It never occurred to them to realize, that with full knowledge of the facts, I didn't want to be associated with anyone who thinks, writes, encourages, condones or tolerates such remarks. Freedom of expression is not total. My point is simply that many of these texts are beyond the bounds of moral acceptability.. Read the whole article in French.

Even after the exchange of emails vigile.net continued to publish Mr. Facal's articles and in response one of the principles in the antisemitic affair, Robert Barberis-Gervais, decided to give Mr. Facal  the royal treatment.

"And now the scab of the Journal de Montreal, which one of my friends nicknamed "Jackal", sailed into the anti-Vigil fray. The sovereignist side of Vigil bothers these pseudo independentists like Francois Legault and the 'Jackal.' Now they are sending a message to Bernard Frappier and everyone at Vigil in favour of censorship and self-censorship. In addition to trying to discredit a site, its webmaster and its authors they are calling them antisemitic. For the Parti Quebecois who is considering whether to continue funding Vigile (by the way, if Bernard Drainville doesn't sends his $500 to Vigil next year,, I will no longer send my $400 to the PQ,  I'll send it to Vigile). That's what we did with Yves Michaud. It's the same "pattern", the same effective approach.

This demonstrates the power of the Jewish lobby." LINK{FR}

Once again the sad obsession with Jews manifests itself in that last line.
And so we are to believe that the "Jackal' (a play on the name "Facal) gave in to pressure brought forth by the 'Jewish Lobby'......how embarrassingly sad!

If you read French click on the link and read the utter depravity of a mind twisted by hate.
I'm sure Mr. Facal is rolling his eyes in utter astonishment at his characterization.

I for one hope this  goes on for quite a while, the more the merrier. Every new attack on Jews and on those offering condemnation ostracizes Vigile.net even more.
Another month of this and only the nut-bars will remain!

If any one line will send a chill down the backs of mainstream sovereignists, it is this one offered by the writer above.

"..... I have news for you. Vigile.net website is on the vanguard of the values​​, principles and ideas promoted by the Quebec sovereignty movement" 

If so, Heaven help us all!!

Is Vigile.net Racist? -Is the Pope Catholic?

I'm going to preface this blog piece by saying that Quebec francophones and francophone sovereignists in particular are no more antisemitic than anglophones and federalists.
I make this statement as an anglophone having lived my entire life in Quebec and having travelled across this province from La Sarre in the northwest to Sandy Beach in the southeast on a weekly basis for over thirty years.
I do not wish the following article to convey a false sense of what Quebec is. It is always easy to fall in a trap of exaggeration and to visit the sins of the few, on the many.
I will have more to say on that particular subject tomorrow.

For those who aren't familiar, vigile.net is a left-wing, separatist web site that aggregates and republishes stories generally favourable towards sovereignty, as well as original articles, submitted by readers, stridently anti-Canadian, anti-American, anti-Israel, xenophobic and of course, the familiar standby, antisemitic.

The free speech section is where most of the controversy occurs, as a handful of radical separatists spout their special brand of hate, all wrapped up in the cloak of journalistic freedom.

The editor, Bernard Frappier, cleverly includes opposing news articles to give the impression that there is some sort of balance and fairness related to the site.
This veneer of objectivity has successfully provided cover for some of the most vicious antisemitic rants that have ever been printed in Canada. Had these rants been printed in English, outside Quebec, there's little doubt that the writers would find themselves before a human rights tribunal or the courts.
In October, I wrote about the racist tendencies of the website, citing a particularly virulent antisemitic article, reprinted from an American hate site. Hidden among other legitimate stories the article was pure and naked antisemitism depicting Jews as rats and responsible for the entire world's ills.

Read Vigile.net - We Love You! 
Read: When bashing Turns To Hate 

That article seemed to be a turning point for Mr. Frappier and perhaps he was emboldened by the lack of reaction and perhaps it led led him to up the antisemitic ante, so to speak.
Since then, article after article has been published depicting Quebec's Jewish community as a villainous fifth column, hell bent on imposing 'Jewish' and ''Canadian' values on a hapless, defenceless and unsuspecting Quebec.

While the number of writers contributing these antisemitic and xenophobic articles are few, they are prolific. Most of them, aside from being White, French and Catholic, seem to share Mr. Frappier's age demographic which gives weight to the old Brian Mulroney phrase...  "There's no whore like an old whore." 
I mention the age thing, because it seems that where racism does occur in the sovereignty movement, it is generally found in these frustrated old codgers who dream of the good old days, when Quebec was racially pure and who today, are furious that minorities have some say in Quebec politics.

The controversy over antisemitism on vigile.net was actually started by a reader, Louis Champagne, who wrote an eloquent rebuttal in response to another moronic and antisemitic article by  Ivan Parent. You can read the article (in French) as well as the complete rebuttal, but please note that the original text has been redacted of the most virulent antisemitic parts. LINK{FR}
Here's part of what Mr. Champagne wrote in response; 

"...Jewish international lobbies control banks which divert huge amounts of money, cutting the throats of countries and God knows what else, to dominate the world? .....He must have fished that concept out of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a twentieth century reference for antisemites of the order of Hitler, Henry Ford and tutti quanti. This document is patently false, as the author well knows, but pretends to ignore!
...We must question the editorial policy of Mr. Bernard Frappier regarding hate texts that target not only groups but also individuals. It will not improve, in the very least, the credibility of Vigile....Even stripped of his antisemitic prose, this text is incoherent, comes to nothing concrete and confuses ...."
Louis Champagne  Ing

Last week the Canadian-Israel Committee complained in public that the site has crossed the line in terms of free speech and had embarked on a policy on publishing antisemitic texts. They provided several examples, which were quite jarring and had quite an effect in the sovereignist community.

An article written by Joël-Denis Bellavance for Montreal's La Presse newspaper described the concerns of the Canada-Israel Committee and cited a number of disturbing quotations;

"In an article published Jan. 6, one of these contributors, Ivan Parent, bluntly denounced the influence of Jewish organizations in the world: "We know that Jewish lobbies are very powerful and in fact, control through international banks, almost all countries. They change interest rates at will, which is also why the euro zone countries are in a desperate situation... "

Mr. Parent is the author of more than about 190 texts on Vigile.net.

In another letter published Feb. 17, 2008, he said: "I am not racist but when I see that the hypocritical Jews shamefully exploit and vampirize the countries in which they live, it is not surprising that they have been hated wherever they lived. "

The Canada-Israel Committee also cites Robert Barberis-Gervais, in an article published December 13, 2010, which accused the Jewish lobby as responsible for the misfortunes of Yves Michaud, "The Jewish lobby is responsible for the Michaud Affair in 2000 and 2010. Rich Jews of Montreal and Laval treat French Quebecers as Palestinians, not recognizing their right to self-determination (and their own language and culture) with the same contempt as the Jews of Israel where they have all rights and that Palestinians have none, it is high time to tell the truth: it is the Jewish lobby which used the money it gave to the Liberal Party, the money it controlled in banks and elsewhere in the society, which is responsible for the Michaud affair. "

Rich Jews in Laval? Hmmmmm...

 David Ouellette writes an excellent and interesting blog in French  and has been in the forefront in pointing out the antisemitic rants on vigile.net.
If you think the above citations are out of the ordinary, they are not. Mr. Ouellette has referenced some of the most egregious posts LINK{FR}

At first Mr. Frappier reacted rather effectively, claiming that he was just one editor and that sometimes things slipped into the website that perhaps shouldn't have.
He then proceeded to remove the offending passages from the articles in question, adding a footnote that the paragraphs were deleted because they were 'controversial.'
It was a half-hearted effort, but would probably have satisfied those sovereignists uncomfortable with the antisemitic missives.
But Mr. Frappier couldn't leave bad enough alone and proceeded to issue an ill-thought press release which made his true opinions ever so clear;

.......the Canada-Israel Committee would be  far better advised to worry about anti-Semitic history of at least one own staff members and seek to understand the motives that may lead some Quebeckers to experience "mixed feelings" towards certain practices and behaviours of members of its community...  "There's been much discussion of Jewish schools which do not meet the standards of the Ministry of Education and the Jewish community's attempted to change the school calendar for all young Quebecers to meet the requirements of its religion. One can also wonder about the unfairness of the privilege granted to many foreigners and their families belonging to this faith who have free access to  health insurance during their stay in Quebec" LINK{FR}

Mr. Frappier then decided to go on the offensive and published a series of rebuttals that made eminently clear that the writers were not only unapologetic, but characterized their hatred as legitimate because Jews were enemies of sovereignty. No mincing words here;
Les juifs : la tribu la plus flyée du Québec (Jews, the most eccentric tribe of Quebec) LINK{FR}
VIGILE RÉPOND AU COMITÉ CANADA-ISRAËL (Vigile responds yo the Canada-Israel Committee) LINK{FR}

Most Pequistes and journalists ran for the hills with precious few ready to defend vigile.net.

Richard Le Hir

One of the few exceptions was our good Friend Richard Le Hir who interestingly defended the honour of vigile.net with the same intellectual prowess as the antisemites he was defending.

"Yes, Vigil bothers. More than you think. The accusations of antisemitism made ​​by the Canada-Israel Committee this week over two people who were criticized for remarks that everybody can recognize at first glance as unwise, we should certainly not be fooled by the manoeuvre and should recognize the real issue at hand." LINK{FR}

"Unwise?" Methinks Mr Le Hir is too modest!

In defending vigile.net, he uses a common deflecting device, changing the subject. He goes on a rant attacking Israel as an illegitimate because, notwithstanding that it was created by the world after a vote in the United Nations General Assembly, this happened only because of Jewish terrorism in the preceding months. 
What Israel has to do with the situation in Quebec and the antisemitism directed at Quebec Jews by vigile.net regulars remains an open question.
Perhaps he attacks Israel in sympathy to the Vigle band of idiots who have the audacity to compare Quebeckers to Palestinians.  

PALESTINIANS NO LESS!!!
Whatever side of the Israeli/Palestinian debate you are on, I think you'll agree that comparing the condition of Quebeckers to Palestinians, in any way shape or form is the product of a paranoid, twisted and delusional mind!

I wonder if Mr. Le Hir, the apologist, would characterize the following quotes from vigile.net as 'Unwise?'

"I'm sure if one of my grand-sons died in Lebanon or Palestine, I would spend the rest of my days trying to blow up every Jew in the world, and even the children of  each Jew, so it would make him feel as bad as I." -André Vincent

"...the very history of the Hebrews, the ancestors of the Jews and later the Israelis, is one of massacres, killings, genocide under divine inspiration of their god Yahweh"- Ivan Parent

"...The Anglos are no more at home in Quebec than Jews living in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip"... - Simon Girard

"When I hear my fellow Quebeckers say they will vote for the ADQ because they want change, I feel like running away to Palestine to become a suicide bomber." Redacted

For those with very good French, this page on vigile.net is perhaps its most interesting.

It seems that the current controversy has in some way liberated vigile.net to manifest its true essence.

In reaction, the website has been flooding the Internet with a slew anti-Jewish diatribes and rehashed conspiracy theories. Mr  Frappier is busy scouring the Internet to find anti-Jewish stories which he is publishing as fast as he can. LINK{FR}
Not surprisingly, this defensive strategy has had the exact opposite effect that Mr. Frappier desired.

Vigile.net is now selling the idea that it is being attacked because it is such a powerful force and that Jews and Anglo Federalists are making unwarranted accusations in order to bring it down.

While his like-minded regulars may be enjoying a masturbatory celebration of hate, those sovereignists who are not racist (the vast majority) are angered and humiliated at rank stupidity of Mr. Frappier's actions, which has turned the site from a legitimate arena of discussion, to a gathering place for haters, rendering the website pathetic and irrelevant.

The pompous, self-important fools!
More tomorrow......