Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Quebec's Higher Education Nightmare

Now if you were awaiting a blog piece condemning Quebec students for their self-destructive boycott of cegep and university classes, you probably won't be expecting this.

The reality is that the government as well as the universities and cegeps are as much to blame for the ongoing fiasco, a crisis in higher education so deep that it plumbs the depths of despair.
When I refer to this ongoing fiasco, I'm not talking about the class boycott by students which is an irrelevant distraction to the deep malaise in higher education in Quebec.

Whether students return to class or not is actually quite beside the point, because for the majority of the students boycotting, the education that they are receiving is so utterly substandard that it makes one wonder if it is worth the effort in the first place.
The old adage that 'you get what you pay for' couldn't be truer in the case of higher education in Quebec, particularly on the French side, where students don't pay a heckuva lot for an education that is commensurately not worth much either.

The ongoing tuition battle between the students and the government is a pathetic sideshow, replete with comic elements worthy of a Monty Python skit.

While student may indulge themselves by calling a boycott a 'strike,' it is incomprehensible that the media does so as well, but hey, this is Quebec.

The students realize that as far as the general public is concerned, they can stay out of classes forever
and so have resorted to the tactics of spoilt children who throw destructive tantrums until their parents cave in.
Curiously, that strategy just might work, as I said, this is Quebec.

The students appear not to care whether they lose a semester or two of studies, negating any financial gain that they may wrest from the government. Cries of altruistic motivations and mock concern for the next generation of students is hard to believe when destroying public property is the means to the end.

As Alice in Wonderland said, the situation has become 'curiouser and curiouser.'

It's easy to understand why losing a year of studies is of no import to the three leaders of the student associations involved in the boycott.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the leader of the most radical of the three, ASSE,  is a part time student taking a decidedly light course load. He will likely spend as many years in college as will the cast of GLEE in high school.
The leader of FECQ, Léo Bureau-Blouin, is not a full-time student, nor even a part-time student, but rather someone taking correspondence courses (yup, I kid you not) while the leader of the third student association FEUQMartine Desjardins, is supposedly off writing a dissertation in the weighty matters of education. At thirty years old, I hope we will not still be paying for her education when she becomes a grandmother.
Ironically, all three are graduates of private high schools, where the tuition fees paid by their parents are higher than what is being asked of the university students presently on strike.

Now there are those who pan the government for refusing to negotiate with CLASSE, because as the government claims, it is too radical and because the association will not disavow itself from violent protest.
For those on the fence and unsure if this is true, let me offer this pearl from the association's own website in promotion May Day,
"To the anti-capitalists, anarchists, communists, insurgents and revolutionaries. 
This is a call for an expression of righteous rage! THIS IS A CALL FOR A  SOCIAL STRIKE May 1st ! 
We call for a general strike for May 1 and we call for an indefinite general social strike, because we do not want to be the oil that drives the gears of capitalism! We will be the iron bar that will derail everything!
As the radicals sink their clutches into the 'strike' movement, Premier Charest would be well advised to set a deadline for students to return and then shut down the classes that are subject to a continued boycott.
There is just no compromise to be had with the likes of recalcitrant hardliners like Emma Strople, a part-time student at McGill and full-time anarchist, according to her friends.
After her third arrest for participation in a violent demonstration, she was jailed for breaking previous bail conditions.
So fed up was the judge, that he actually banned her from Quebec, sending her to Ontario with the caveat not to return, until her trial! Link

While student leaders say that the 'strike' was a result of a democratically held vote, it bears a closer look.
In Quebec, all college and university students are forced to join one of the three student associations and membership fees are forcibly collected by the university. Most students are apathetic and have no interest in the student associations, nor do they participate in its activities, social or political.

When the associations say that they have a majority of support for the strike, what they mean is that they have a majority of the precious few who actually vote.
Over at l'Université du Québec en Outaouais, the students voted 397 to 244 in favour of the strike, but with 6,000 students registered at the school, it means that only 10% voted and that only 6.5% actually supported for a strike. This same scenario is repeated across the province.
In cegep St. Jerome, only 510 or about 12% of the 4,000 students voted for the strike, but it was enough to create a majority of those who participated.
At one faculty at the University of Laval, consisting of almost 12,000 students, only 442 participated in a vote to continue the strike, with 243 for and 199 against. That works out to 2.5% of the students voting to continue the strike.
It is these types of mandates that the student leaders are leaning heavily on.

If you think that the students forced out of classes by a militant minority are happy about the situation, go over to a FACEBOOK page where 9,000 students (and counting) have added their name so far in calling for the firing of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, chief spokesperson of the most radical of the three associations, the CLASSE.

Some of the students, furious about being locked out of classes, have gone to court seeking an injunction forcing the universities and cegeps to reopen. So far, 25 of the 26 demands were granted, much to the chagrin of 'striking' students who are using all manner of intimidation to close the schools.

But let us put the boycott aside, most of those who might actually lose a year are the students studying nothing much of value, in courses taught by teachers equally dismal academically and intellectually and where student are preordained to pass their courses with decent marks regardless of the effort they put in or results of their exams.
Among those on strike, you won't find those studying engineering, the law, medicine or any of the disciplines that actually mean something.
It is of course, those studying the humanities, the arts, the social studies and education that are the boycotters, those who have plenty of time to spend in school because they are generally going nowhere and are in no rush to get there.

The degrees they receive will earn them the right to a McJob and not much else.
There's not much call for French Art History graduates who at any rate, couldn't tell you the difference between a Monet and a Manet.
I wouldn't be in a rush to graduate either, if the only job I was qualified for, was slinging coffee in Tim Horton's.


The real crisis in French higher education is based on the fact that  fewer francophones are actually interested in a university education.
Anglos and ethnics earn 50% more university degrees than francophone Quebecers.

This fact has been a source of deep humiliation to the  political class and so in an effort to catch up to the Anglos, standards have been pushed so low that even those who haven't completed high school are given the opportunity to attend cegep with the promise of a degree, if only they stick it out.
Unfortunately for over half of these non-achievers, they drop out anyways.
"The Department of Education is obsessed with the dropout rate. The problem is serious, boys are struggling and quit school at an alarming rate and the department is so desperate to curb the dropout rate, to the extent that they are shooting themselves in the foot. Lower the requirements, say the bureaucrats, and the failure rate will also fall. The problem is that the level of quality, also falls.
As of this September, the criteria for admission to cegep will be lowered. Students m
ay start college without graduating high school" Link
Entry standards are lowered across the board, not only in cegep but in universities as well, because in the French system, there is a huge overcapacity and cegeps and universities are funded in relation to the numbers of students they teach and graduate.
So desperate are the schools to fill places, that foreign French students have been given the opportunity to study in Quebec, paying the same tuition rates as locals, including free medicare coverage.
Hilariously, many of these students take up the Quebec government offer, but enroll in English language schools like Concordia and McGill.
Ironically, foreign students who attend McGill, who are not French and thus not eligible for this  program must pay about three times as much tuition as those who benefit from the 'French first' program. All this in an English university! Did  I mention 'Alice in Wonderland?"

At any rate, it's understandable that the desperation to attract students leads some schools to take extraordinary means to attract warm bodies.
"Discounted Diplomas, inflated marks, useless coursesfinances in the red and an unhealthy competition between institutions that are competing for students. "
"Cegeps are weak because high schools are weak and universities are weak because cegeps are weak. Weak + weak will never result in something strong. The tragedy is that the Department of Education does not seem to understand this."
"Over the years, universities have turned into big cegeps and cegeps into high schools."   Link
 The UQAM, the University of Quebec at Montreal, with its 60,000 full and part time students is the best example of this mediocrity. It is the glaring example of everything that is wrong in the post secondary francophone educational system in Quebec.

Academically UQAM, may very well be the worst  publicly funded university in Canada with standards so low, that it is in effect a glorified cegep.

Substandard and lazy students, crapola separatist/unionist teachers and incompetent administrators, the school is best known for turning out firebrand socialists and separatists and not much else.

Quebec's largest university doesn't have a medical school, a law school or an engineering department. It doesn't have a football team, but it does have a cheerleading squad.
Let's just say that the school's forté is underwater basket-weaving courses and one wouldn't be overstating facts in describing UQAM as Quebec's very own version of Greendale Community College.
"At UQAM, in the Department of Communications, even before the first examination, even before the first assignment, students already know how it will end: with a group mean mark that "should normally be between 83% and 89%"
In addition, at UQAM, students are asked to vote to approve the lesson plan. They always refuse any idea of holding 'tests' and demand that they be judged on teamwork."
After turning out hundreds of thousands of graduates, there is hardly a recognizable name among the alumni, except perhaps Pierre-Karl Péladeau who graduated not in business, but a UQAM specialty....philosophy.

That being said, one of the few things that the school does do well, is to teach students that Canada is an evil colonialist empire and that Quebec is an innocent victim of Anglo imperialism, exploited by rapacious Ontarians and Albertans, determined to feast on the blood of innocent and defenseless Quebecois.

When I stated that the students and faculty of UQAM is substandard, it is nothing compared to the incompetents who run the school.
Who can forget the 500 million dollar fiasco whereby UQAM administrators so botched an expansion project that the government had to shutter the whole thing after it went over budget to the tune of several hundred million dollars.  Read "Hiding the shame that is Îlot Voyageur"

The unfinished building is so embarrassing that the government paid $60,000 to wrap it in a shroud so that the public would not be reminded of the economic catastrophe.

Inside the bus terminal, over which the project was to be built, one of the sad reminders of the failure, is this escalator leading to a blank wall, as the second floor has been shuttered.

The cost over-runs were so severe that the police actually investigated the rector of the school, Roch Denis with a view towards charging him criminally.
When those charges were not forthcoming, the school and the rector parted ways, but not before  Mr. Denis was awarded a big, fat severance cheque, of close to $200,000.

Before I receive the requisite hate mail over my supposed francophone bashing, let me say that the situation over at Concordia is not much better, both academically and financially.
 "Jordan Fainstat, a political science student at Concordia University, tells of his experience in one of his courses. "If half the class fails a test, the teacher makes an adjustment where for example, the tests value will be reduced to only 15% of the final grade." Link{Fr}
Concordia does have some quality programs, as does the University of Montreal, the University of Sherbrooke and Laval University in Quebec City.
The problem is that all these schools maintain, in addition to their quality faculties, some that are as pitiful as those in UQAM.

As for the strike, it is no big deal, if I was a UQAM student or enrolled in one of the dead-end diploma courses, I'd go on strike too.
Finishing school with a worthless degree is something to be put off at all costs. It's no wonder that students in these disciplines want to strike so that they can extend their years in college, after all, the alternative is not so attractive.

"Un p'tit chausson aux pommes avec ça, Monsieur?"

115 comments:

  1. Editor,

    A bit of clarification about UQAM, perhaps.

    Quebec's largest university doesn't have a medical school, a law school or an engineering department.

    The largest university in Quebec is the University of Montreal with more than 55 000 students - including its affiliated schools, Polytechnic and HEC. It is also the second largest university in Canada, after the University of Toronto. UQAM, on the other hand, has more than 42 000 students.

    While UQAM does not have an engineering department, there is ETS, a separated engineering school part of University of Quebec system and located in Montreal.

    So desperate are the schools to fill places, that foreign French students have been given the opportunity to study in Quebec, paying the same tuition rates as locals, including free medicare coverage.

    The reciprocating agreement between Quebec and several countries that students can study on local fees is not limited for French or francophone students. One country I know having that agreement is Peru. I do not think many people speak French in Peru.

    While your piece about UQAM is right on target, it lacks reference and tangible evidence, particularly about how low its standard is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As I start my post, no others have yet appeared, so on that basis, let me be the first to express my affection for the post, no hatred, and feel free to bash away anytime.

    From 1976 until I finally and mercifully soothed my soul in 1984 leaving godforsaken Quebec forever, all I heard was fed bashing, fed bashing and more fed bashing. Feel free to bash Quebec anytime--I do!

    As the Beatles used to sing: Quebec's a loo-oo-oo-ser (because I'm not the loser here, I won by leaving that fettered and festering sewer called Quebec). I heard recently that Quebec scrapped the former Schedule B, the Real Estate Tax Refund, from its tax return.

    Why don't they have a strike over that one? Almost $600 in handout money for welfare bums gone, gone, gone! That penalizes the poor, not the middle class or the rich!

    Gee, does that mean the stay-at-home lazy asses who don't wnat to take care of their kids during the day now can't afford the $7-a-day daycare that should only be afforded the working poor and maybe the lower middle class?

    My companion's daughter, who for the sake of her life left Quebec with her mother from a place where her lack of French would not have enabled her to get a proper job because the school she went to pencilwhipped her through school whether she learned anything or not. The higher the grade, the worse it was because she just continually fell increasingly further behind. A lot they care if the students graduate with a skullful of creamed spinich...and this was the English system!

    Quebec will only get worse economically because they're graduating (or dropping out) meatheads who can't walk, talk and chew gum at the same time.

    Those three stooges in the pictures between them don't have one-third of a brain between them, with their Ass, Feck you and Fook you names of their organizations! Losers, clowns and meatheads, all of them.

    Would I stop Quebec from separating from Canada now? I wouldn't so much as lift a finger to stop it, but maybe raise the big one in the middle as a good-bye salute!

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  3. Good article editor. I love that first picture, with the sign that says "Moi je veux étudier". Oh, the irony...

    Once again, the cheap Quebec french media is making a small group of extremists seem like the normal majority. As you pointed out, it's not a strike, it's a boycott, and it doesn't represent the majority of students, but rather a small group with nothing better to do.

    Sounds a lot like the language extremists, doesn't it?

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  4. Im surprised by the racism of your speaking. Maybe you didnt notice one fact: quebequers are very independant and creative people. They are world leaders in many technologies (solar energy, quantum computers, we invented the telephone and tanks wheel systems etc). Many of these inventors never went to highschool, simply because we had access to highschool later in our history (just about 50 years ago). That dosent mean we are retarded, it just mean we have other ways off getting specialised. The whole view on the actual problem, you got it mostly wrong. I suggest you dig deeper in the subject than just by using stats to make us look stupid. We do not want to separate from the rest of Canada because we hate you guys, so stop being jerks. We do it because we dont want your government, that's all. We have other views on how we want to handle our budget and our laws. That's it. Other than that, you are welcome to come here and figure by yourself why the world like La Belle Province.

    ;)

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    Replies
    1. "we invented the telephone"

      Lynxpoint, what do you mean by that?

      Delete
    2. @Nicolas Gratton-Pelletier

      Parle en anglais et change ton nom,affirme que tu es un américain.Expédie tes rejetons à l'école anglaise.Fini les problèmes reliés à ton identité.Tu n'auras même plus besoin de prononcer le sale mot "Québec" et de revenir cracher sur ta famille,je ne sais pour quelles réelles raisons d'ailleurs.M.Sauga...Sort de ce corps!

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    3. I didn't know Alexander Graham Bell was a French Canadian!! Wait a minute, he wasn't.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell

      So much for the telephone being a French Canadian invention. Does make one wonder about he quality of education in Quebec.

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    4. "if you had ever ventured out of la belle province and into "the world", you'd know that barely anybody even knows what or where Quebec is."

      Nous serons peut-être un peu plus connus car nous sommes actuellement dans tous les médias internationaux...Même Aljazeera

      http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2012/04/201242842027425122.html

      Delete
    5. Lynxpoint,

      Maybe you didnt notice one fact: quebequers are very independant and creative people. They are world leaders in many technologies (solar energy, quantum computers, we invented the telephone and tanks wheel systems etc).

      Did you just write out of your behind? Where does Quebec have solar energy farm like there are in Nevada and Arizona? Also check Wikipedia for quantum computer. There is no mention of anything related to Quebec or Quebecer. Do you have that information?

      Delete
    6. "Nous serons peut-être un peu plus connus car nous sommes actuellement dans tous les médias internationaux...Même Aljazeera"

      And what language is the Arabic Al Jazeera is writing about you in?

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    7. "And what language is the Arabic Al Jazeera is writing about you in?"

      Ça ressemble à de l'anglais,pourquoi cette questions?

      Delete
    8. Lynxpoint's post is so beyond the pale that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was written by someone trying to discredit French Canadians; an "agent provacateur", if you will. If you wanted to write a post that would humiliate Quebec and it's nationalist society, Lynxpoint's would be the perfect post for the job!

      One other fact that supports this suspicion is that his/her blogger profile was created May 2012, so yesterday or today.

      Delete
    9. "...written by someone trying to discredit French Canadians"

      Il ne serait qu'un parmi tant d'autres ce blogue.

      Delete
    10. Troy: He's the missing lynx! ...at least based on what he wrote. What hokum!

      Delete
    11. Alexendre Cloche invented the telephone. The first call was made from Chibougamau,qc to Maniwaki,qc.

      Delete
    12. I'm with mdblog. This Lynxpoint must be a saboteur. No one can write such idiocy. I mean claiming a French Canadian invented the telephone? Come on.

      "We do it because we dont want your government, that's all. We have other views on how we want to handle our budget and our laws. That's it. Other than that, you are welcome to come here and figure by yourself why the world like La Belle Province."

      The reason the Canadian government has a very small say in the Quebec budget is because it transfers 8 billion dollars a year from rich provinces to pay for college tuitions and the like in Quebec. You think school will be free in a separated Quebec? Who will pay for it?

      I live in New York and interact with many well traveled people from around the world, most of which are highly educated. Everyone knows Canadians are good at winter sports and that Canada sounds like a nice place to live. Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever mentions Quebec.They never heard of it. Montreal they know about. They know some people speak English and French in Canada but that's about it. On US news, the student strikes are described in the media...I rephrase, on the rarest of occasion when news outside of Quebec reports on the student Strikes they describe them as Canadian or from Montreal... They don't leave out Quebec on purpose, its just that nobody here makes the distinction.

      Delete
    13. "...most of which are highly educated."

      "Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever mentions Quebec.They never heard of it."

      Vos critères en matière d'éducation semblent peu élevés...Mr. Troll.

      Delete
    14. Nobody hears of Quebec in the rest of the world. It may come up in a small news story maybe once or twice in a year, that is as a tiny article among hundreds one day or two days and then it disappears. The rest of the time people are concerned with their part of the world. It's like I have no idea about what happens in a small village in Africa. The people in that small village in Africa knows nothing about us. Same with China, India, Europe, anywhere else. Get your head screwed on right, anonymous separatist troll.

      Delete
    15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    16. Funny how now that the word Québécois is all but a disgrace (no offence to the Great City of Quebec) Separatists use French Canadian for themselves. What a sad Peuple Conquis they are.
      This is what you get for hating your country and your heritage to create your new Xenophobic Taliban Québécois Race.
      We are nearly two Million and growing, with the majority of us being francophone who are not Québécois but Montréalais and who want La Province Canadienne De Montréal!
      You Racist Québécois Talibanists, the time is drawing near!

      VIVE LA PROVINCE CANADIENNE DE MONTREAL!!

      Delete
    17. No, not really Yannick. People in Quebec are self-absorbed. They (and I'm mostly talking about francophones) think that the rest of the world knows anything about Quebec and their so-called "plight." It's not true. People know about local things. You think others know about a province in Canada? Give me a break. Tell me what you know about a province in India or China. Not much, I would believe. And they know even less about us. We are an insignificantly small part of the human population, what 7 million francophones in a world of 6 billion people? Give me a break!

      Delete
    18. Roger Rabbit is right. You'd be surprised at how little people know about Canada and (outside of France/Belgium/Suisse romande) about Quebec. I remember chatting with someone (reasonably intelligent) in Europe and they guessed from my accent that I was American, which of course I am not. Then they guessed German? Swedish? Not Australian! And so on through at least 20 nationalities before giving up and I had to tell them the answer. Canada was not even on the radar, never mind any of its provinces.

      To demonstrate that this doesn't mean one is stupid, does anybody here know what the largest state/province is in Russia, the world's largest country? Hint: it's also the largest country subdivision in the world. What are Russia's subdivisions even called, anyway? To make it much easier, what is its largest subdivision by population? Buehler? Buehler?

      Delete
    19. @YannickMay 2, 2012 08:48 PM

      Well, to take your examples, Scotland is part of the Anglosphere so it is perhaps better known despite its small size (plus they make great whisky). As for Brittany, I remember telling an American boss that my family name was Breton and he had no idea what I was talking about. The Basque Country and Sicily are best known for their violence, terrorism and/or crime syndicates, regardless of their small size (same goes for Northern Ireland). In addition, you have a Ph.D. and thus it can reasonably be expected that you are more knowledgeable about the world than the average person.

      Delete
    20. BlueWhiteRed wrote: "This Lynxpoint must be a saboteur. No one can write such idiocy. I mean claiming a French Canadian invented the telephone? Come on."

      I checked out Alexander Graham Bell's biography on Wikipedia, and although he was Scottish by birth, he immigrated to Canada. Wikipedia says that Bell travelled to Quebec City and Montreal, but I'm not sure if he actually lived there. His home may have been in Ontario. But for the sake of argument, let's say I missed something and AGB lived in Montreal. It would be great if the sovreignists could adopt Bell as their poster boy to show they are willing to accept immigrants to the country of Quebec who may not be French speaking and even more, may be native Anglophones and accept them as being as much a Quebecker as a pure line French-Canadian. But they won't and they can't, which is the raison d'être of this blog.

      Delete
  5. Who invented the telephone?????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ti Jean-Guy de Ste Agathe, I know. He told me so.

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    2. Bell must have been one of his assistants, non? ;)

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    3. It was Alexedre Cloche who invented the telephone!

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    4. I can't see Monsieur Cloche here:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone#History

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    5. Monsieur Cloche is Mr. Bell in french! Lol

      Delete
  6. Whenever I get an applicant with a UQAM degree, straight to the shredder it goes. Calling itself a University is a stretch. They have no entrance requirements. It's a sham university.

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    Replies
    1. what about mcgill,concordia and udem????

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    2. Mcgill is one of the best universities in the world!

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    3. LOL, Laurie! Gilles Prude should know! More LOL!

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    4. Whenever I get an applicant with a UQAM degree, straight to the shredder it goes.

      When I read this comment I laughed out loud, because in the first draft of this blog piece, that exact line appeared in the story.
      On red-edit, I decided to take it out as being a bit too cruel, even if it was true.

      I'm wondering now how many other bosses do the same.

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    5. McGill is an english university. This post is about french universities in Quebec

      Delete
    6. mais concordia a de meilleur programmes qu'UQAM ou UQAVE en autre mot

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    7. UDEM a la cote mais UQAVE PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!

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    8. "Whenever I get an applicant with a UQAM degree, straight to the shredder it goes."

      En tout cas, ça prouve qu'on les gâte trop nos anglos. Comme on dit par chez nous : « Donne à manger à un cochon pis y vient chier su ton perron ».

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    9. "En tout cas, ça prouve qu'on les gâte trop nos anglos. Comme on dit par chez nous : « Donne à manger à un cochon pis y vient chier su ton perron »."

      Effectivement,mais il faut éviter de mettre tous les cochons...Heuu...Les anglos dans le même sac.Les bons anglos (la majorité) ne viennent jamais sur ce blogue.

      Delete
    10. Great, we have a bunch of people from CLASSE on this blog, writing silly comments at 6:06PM, 6:19PM. and 6:39PM.

      Delete
  7. Whether students return to class or not is actually quite beside the point, because for the majority of the students boycotting, the education that they are receiving is so utterly substandard that it makes one wonder if it is worth the effort in the first place.
    The sad thing is that an increasing number of degrees across the board (and not just in Quebec) aren't worth the paper they're printed on. The sadder part is that this doesn't just apply to those who get Ph. D.'s in uselessness, but also to those majoring in the non-social sciences. You don't have to go far to find decently-written columns exposing the modern college experience for the intellectual, business, and institutional sham that it is.

    The old adage that 'you get what you pay for' couldn't be truer in the case of higher education in Quebec, particularly on the French side, where students don't pay a heckuva lot for an education that is commensurately not worth much either.
    I've got to agree with Troy here. In addition to my comment above, I see in this passage a sweeping generalization in a post that could otherwise be pretty good. Underwater basket weaving is useless no matter what language it's in...

    Ironically, all three are graduates of private high schools, where the tuition fees paid by their parents are higher than what is being asked of the university students presently on strike.
    Sounds like all three are shoe-ins for stellar political careers in our province. It wouldn't be the first time the well-off made political hay out of a populist cause. Layton, Parizeau, Bouchard, .... I could go on.

    foreign students who attend McGill, who are not French and thus not eligible for this program must pay about three times as much tuition as those who benefit from the 'French first' program.
    I wasn't aware of this; I had previously heard complaints about this actually having been a loophole (much to the ire of certain language militants). Can you confirm this is the case, Ed?

    I suggest you dig deeper in the subject than just by using stats to make us look stupid.
    Dammit, Editor; why do you use stats to make your point? You need to FEEL the truth, not prove it.

    We do not want to separate from the rest of Canada because we hate you guys, so stop being jerks. We do it because we dont want your government, that's all.
    Moron, you seem to forget that there are two levels of government in our country and that the Quebec legislature is only one of them. The Federal parliament is just as much a part of who we are as our provincial one is; in fact, Canada has these two levels of government BECAUSE of Quebec. Maybe that's the part YOU've never understood.

    We have other views on how we want to handle our budget and our laws. That's it. Other than that, you are welcome to come here and figure by yourself why the world like La Belle Province.
    I think Editor's been in Quebec for a while...

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    Replies
    1. "I think Editor's been in Quebec for a while..."

      Pas évident au premier coup d'oeil,non?

      Delete
  8. This post is garbage. A lot of the arguments you are just rhetoric. Not a lot of objectivity.

    It is really upsetting because many people take this subjective perspective on these issues. I just want to stop you at every paragraph and rebut.

    Clean up your act.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Noah,

      I just want to stop you at every paragraph and rebut.

      Go ahead. Do. Let us see what you have.

      Delete
  9. "I just want to stop you at every paragraph and rebut.


    Ok, perhaps you should rebut with facts and objectivity. Are you saying the Editors facts as stated are wrong?

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. Nouvelle de dernière heure:

    http://tinyurl.com/7pw6cz2

    ReplyDelete
  12. Encore un souper "spagetti" embarrassant pour les "liberals":

    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/201205/01/01-4520935-un-invite-embarrassant.php

    ReplyDelete
  13. Editor: "Cries of altruistic motivations and mock concern for the next generation of students is hard to believe when destroying public property is the means to the end."

    I disagree with you Editor. I think the point of these strikes is not about the 200$ or so of the tuition hike, but about sending a message that next time the govt tries to do something like this, it won't go over very easily. And if history can be any guide, the first tuition hike would not be the last if nothing was said or done against it.

    As for the destruction of property, with these protests as well as with others (the G20 in Toronto, Occupy Wall Street), a lot of destruction was perpetrated by agents provocateurs working for the police. A burning police cruiser or broken shop windows give police an excuse to move in and crack down violently on the protesters. Also, they serve to alienate the general public form the protests, and take the attention away from the grievances the protesters may voice, in many cases legitimate grievances.

    I know that you are a champion of capitalism. I don't mind capitalism with small 'c' myself. Small businesses competing with each other fairly is a great concept on paper. But we live in the times of globalized corporate capitalism where Western workers are now asked to compete with sweatshop labor of Asia and Latin American, where the environment is taking a severe beating, where the top 1% own more wealth than the bottom 99%, and where wealth is generated not by production (in the 1950's US 70% of jobs were in manufacturing, today it's 7% as manufacturing was offshored), but by speculation and credit (fictional money) that the banks are so eager to dish out right and left.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adski, are we to understand that you believe that the destruction of public property is acceptable when it is done to send a message?

      Delete
    2. Where you got that is beyond me. I didn't say anything remotely close to this.

      Delete
    3. Adski, it was an honest question. If I understand correctly, you are saying that any property destruction associated with the demonstrations in question has been perpetrated by people OTHER than the boycotting students.

      Does this logic apply to all protests?

      Delete
    4. Dude, please. I said neither that destruction is "acceptable", nor that "any" destruction that occurred was committed by people other the students. In the latter case, I said "a lot", which doesn't mean "all".

      If you have anything resembling a point on this, it's time you dish it out.

      Delete
    5. Brah, I'm not trying to make a point. At least not until I understand your position clearly, which I'll try to do again. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

      You clearly disagreed with the Editor's position that the student's (at least those involved in the demonstrations) "altruistic motivations and mock concern for the next generation of students is hard to believe when destroying public property is the means to the end."

      If you were me, what inference would you make from this?

      Delete
  14. Slightly off-topic, I have a comment regarding the state of affairs between English and French CEGEPs.

    While the English CEGEPs are overflown with students - Dawson College needs to lease rooms for classes at Pepsi Forum - French ones are scraping for students. In fact, one French CEGEPs in the West Island were closed. And then I found this site about CEGEPs in the lower St. Lawrence offering iPads for prospective students just to notice them.

    It is ironic, is it not, that when dealing with adults with free will, the fate of education based on language line is reversed between CEGEPs and elementary and high schools. That is, because of Bill 101 restrictions English primary and secondary schools are fighting for their lives. Eliminate the restrictions, it is the French ones that are trying to survive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So Troy, now that you're onto this, tell me, what do you think is the real reason behind 101? Is it the mystical one (protection of heritage) or one that's more earthly (protection of wallets)?

      Delete
    2. adski,

      Do you still need to ask me about my opinion? You are as regular here as I am. Of course Bill 101 is a discriminatory law intended to give just one group of the society advantages (social, economical, political, you name it).

      Delete
    3. French is a subject that can be taught in an English school (or Spanish for that matter). They want Separatist indoctrination not just French language instruction. Hence, the move to strangle the English public school system into closure rather than focusing on beefing up French language instruction in English schools.

      Delete
    4. Knowledge of the French language is not enough for those who run L'Etat Quebecois. These days most QC allos and anglos are capable of speaking French anyways. What's on the line now is something more important: loyalty. The (uphill and currently losing) battle is for the hearts and minds, and that cannot be won when people assemble in institutions that are not friendly to L'Etat. Such institutions have to be dealt with, and that's pretty much the case in every state, but especially in Quebec where the established power is insecure and can still remember the times of the old order (pre-1960s). So it's really desperate to preserve the new order.

      This is also something that they will never say bluntly to the public. The push for ideological uniformity will always be cloaked in euphemisms, like: social cohesion, harmony, common language, inclusiveness, etc...

      Delete
    5. While the English CEGEPs are overflown with students - Dawson College needs to lease rooms for classes at Pepsi Forum

      Wow, when did that start happening?
      I graduated from there in 2007 (just before they made the school bigger) and it didn't really feel that crowded.
      Glad to see that the old Dawson is still going strong.

      Delete
    6. Dawson grossit peut-être mais les autre écoles anglos (primaires et secondaires) ferment à la vitesse grand V.

      Delete
    7. Free iPads to lure students to their shitty CEGEPs? That's hilarious!

      Delete
    8. Troy: "It is ironic, is it not, that when dealing with adults with free will, the fate of education based on language line is reversed between CEGEPs and elementary and high schools. That is, because of Bill 101 restrictions English primary and secondary schools are fighting for their lives. Eliminate the restrictions, it is the French ones that are trying to survive."

      I agree that people should be able to choose to go to anglophone school, whether it be primary, secondary, CEGEP, or university but I don't believe it's true that more francophones and allophones are choosing English CEGEP's and universities than the other way around. I've read somewhere that there are alot of anglophones and allophones who also choose French CEGEP's.

      The problem specifically with Dawson is that there was an overflow on the island of Montreal in the French CEGEP system and alot of francophones choose to apply at Dawson.

      The real problem is that there are not enough English CEGEP's period. There are only 5 anglophone CEGEP's (Dawson, Vanier, Champlain, John Abbott, Marianapolis) in Quebec whereas there are 43 francophone CEGEP's. They should really build a couple more anglophone CEGEPS.

      Same thing with universities. There are only 3 English universities as compared to 14 French universities throughout Quebec. If the government was smart, they would build another anglophone university where they teach only valuable programs such as computer science, engineering, medecine, and maybe economics.

      Delete
    9. Dawson grossit peut-être mais les autre écoles anglos (primaires et secondaires) ferment à la vitesse grand V.

      Yes, because of fascist laws that violate the basic freedoms of innocent people.

      Delete
    10. @Nicolas PelletierMay 2, 2012 09:00 PM and AnonymousMay 2, 2012 06:58 PM (dingleberry)

      That's a part of it but the fewer number of children in the post-baby boom generation is also a factor. The number of students overall is also diminishing.

      @Roger RabbitMay 2, 2012 08:40 PM

      It sounds like there are an awful lot of people who wish to receive a sound education in both languages. Don't forget that one quarter of McGill students are francophones (not sure about Concordia but I would expect the same).

      Delete
    11. @ The Cat

      Left to their own devices, without any input from politicians or the media, the people of Quebec would get along with each other. I can't have anything but respect for francophones that go to McGill as well as anglophones that go to a francophone university.

      When francophones become as bilingual/trilingual as anglophones & allophones, there will be more harmony in society and I do believe that is the next step of evolution in this province.

      Delete
    12. "Don't forget that one quarter of McGill students are francophones (not sure about Concordia but I would expect the same)."

      I can't give the percentage of francophones either at Concordia, but there were A LOT of francophones, some speaking only rudimentary English. Also, a lot of Francophone teachers and TAs. One more interesting bit, one can submit his/her work in either Fr or En at Concordia - not sure about McGill.

      Delete
    13. Tanya, I'm a generation removed from my Concordia days, and because of Bill 101, students at English universities by law may submit assignments and responses to exam questions in French if they wish to do so.

      Delete
    14. I can't give the percentage of francophones either at Concordia, but there were A LOT of francophones, some speaking only rudimentary English. Also, a lot of Francophone teachers and TAs. One more interesting bit, one can submit his/her work in either Fr or En at Concordia - not sure about McGill.

      It is true, as 'Sauga said that because of Bill 101, students can submit assignments and exams in French if they wish to do so. I still think it is admirable for francophones to go to an English university even if their English isn't good. They still have to read and study all the books and notes for the classes.

      Just as an aside, I was reading in a french paper (I think La Presse) and it mentioned that Lucien Bouchard's two sons are going to McGill. LOL

      Delete
    15. Dawson has always been way overcrowded from the day it opened at the present site. Is it simply a matter of time before another English language CEGEP needs to be established. Perhaps one of the lesser used French language CEGEPS should be made into an English CEGEP?

      Delete
    16. I would definitely support that, JW. Maybe the French one in the West Island can be converted into an anglophone CEGEP. That would be nice to see.

      Delete
    17. I know that at the University of Montreal in the 1960s, you had the option of writing your exams in French, English or Latin.

      Delete
  15. I am an active "reader" but not a "writer" on this forum.
    First of all: I'm an allophone from an european country where the education is free.
    All my 18 years of education were payed by romanian taxpayers. What did I do after that? I emigrated to Canada... is that fair? I'm a traitor ! See what I mean?

    These days free education is not a good thing for a country. Today, workers migrate from one country to another, and we all want money. That's it, so simple.
    As a taxpayer, I subsidize free education, and let's say, more than half of students end up working in USA. That means that our government spent money for nothing.
    Here in Q, we need huge investments to keep the economy working, to create new jobs, infrastructure, no matter in what language, and offer the students a society where they can fit with their knowledge.

    On the other hand: I've never heard in my whole life about so much students at art and sociology universities ! It's like all Quebec needs are painters, singers and so on. Everybody is "an artist", "un homme de culture et de lettres" , people who never worked properly a single day in their lives.
    I've never seen doctors, lawyers, IT guys, engineers guys protesting and sending letters to the government...WTF, who will work in Quebec in the future with so many "intelectuelles" ??????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am an active "reader" but not a "writer" on this forum.
      That was an interesting comment,
      Please continue to contribute!

      Delete
    2. Thanks, will do !

      There was a poll a couple of days ago in a newspaper ( J de M... I think )...when asked most quebeckers (~75%) were against the hike, but when asked who's fault is for this mess, almost 70% blamed the government...( i hope i remember the percentages exact )
      I fail terribly to understand how "les quebecois" think...

      There is something wrong with Quebec society. Especially in the last 12 weeks I had the impression that all Quebec represents are hippies ans artists, anti-capitalists. Total anarchy.

      All the society thinks is how to be more different , especially from rest of Canada. It's like a child's game...
      Instead of posing we better show the rest of Canada how we work more with more results ! What about that?

      It's fucking disturbing, after 8 hours of work, and 2 in STM, to see "les indignés" with red squares on their chest, playing Ipads and carrying 24 packs of beer! I though it was quite provocative ! Should we pay more for that?
      It's like were all blind for God's sake...

      Every day, another march, another hike. It's like everybody is looking for an excuse not to work !

      Delete
    3. @ Yannick

      I think education is a special case. If a student gets an education and moves to another country, it doesn't benefit his country of origin, and actually may hurt it because the subsidy he received didn't end up helping the place that he studied.

      If you invest in roads, even if you leave, the investment is still there. Same thing with bringing down the debt. The money has been used to bad down the debt, so it has benefited society.

      @ A normal guy

      "There was a poll a couple of days ago in a newspaper ( J de M... I think )...when asked most quebeckers (~75%) were against the hike, but when asked who's fault is for this mess, almost 70% blamed the government...( i hope i remember the percentages exact )
      I fail terribly to understand how "les quebecois" think... "

      70% of 'Les Quebecois', as in francophone Quebeckers, only speak French and are captive to the French media. We are talking about a very insular culture. If you look at the J de M and all of Pierre Karl Peladeau media, they basically support the students. Francophones get the news according to Peladeau, a closet separatist.

      "There is something wrong with Quebec society. Especially in the last 12 weeks I had the impression that all Quebec represents are hippies ans artists, anti-capitalists. Total anarchy."

      Yes, Quebeckers think that they are culture central. There is a whole culture of artist subsidies. All of these artists would not have jobs if it weren't for subsidies. It is a false economy of approx 2 billion dollars in subsidies. I wish we would cut most of these subsidies to anti-capitalist artists.

      "All the society thinks is how to be more different , especially from rest of Canada. It's like a child's game..."

      Francophones have been indoctrinated from a very young age.

      "Instead of posing we better show the rest of Canada how we work more with more results ! What about that?"

      That would be logical. That is why the "Quebec nationalists" won't do it.

      "It's fucking disturbing, after 8 hours of work, and 2 in STM, to see "les indignés" with red squares on their chest, playing Ipads and carrying 24 packs of beer! I though it was quite provocative ! Should we pay more for that?"

      They probably hope so. The were actually going to have a nude protest. It shows what a bunch of hippies and artists they are. Now, I support the right of women to be nude in this protest, but it doesn't make me support their cause :)

      "It's like were all blind for God's sake..."

      Indoctrinated.

      "It's like everybody is looking for an excuse not to work !"

      That's Quebec Inc for ya.

      Delete
  16. "We do not want to separate from the rest of Canada because we hate you guys, so stop being jerks. We do it because we dont want your government, that's all."

    "We have other views on how we want to handle our budget and our laws."

    Tellement vrai.Encore quelques années et nous y seront.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Encore quelques années et nous y seront."

      I think it's awful to be delusional !
      It's so fun to see the level of social-suicide is still on top to some retards like the one above me !

      Delete
  17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=XRWTyUVh0BQ

    Here is an interesting link. From TED. True, something else besides cheap entertaining from TV these days...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a very interesting TED Talk by Dr. Khanna! And also a refreshing change from the level of discourse from our francophone Anonymous contributors... who knows, perhaps this is their subtle way of indicating that they graduated from UQAM?

      Delete
  18. Congratulations to Marc Bergevin for becoming GM of the Habs.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Châteaugay va se conformer à la loi 101.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8iU3EAE_OZs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They already conform to Bill 101. BTW, if the law is an ass, you must disobey it.

      Delete
    2. Bien hâte de vous voir désobéir en masse.....NOT.

      Delete
    3. English is the best language in the world!

      Delete
    4. English is the best language in the world!

      Dommage que la plupart de ceux qui l'utilise ne pas à la hauteur.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous at 10:21,

      English is the best language in the world!

      An unsubstantiated, chauvinistic comment like this really does not help the cause.

      Delete
    6. Troy,

      Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

      Why don't you attack the anglophobe comments on this blog?

      English is an amazing and well-used language. When people around the world have a second language, they choose English. Depending at what stats you look at, English is the 3rd most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin, and basically tied with Spanish for 2nd (ref: Ethnologue). When you look at L1, L2, and EFL speakers, Mandarin is surpassed by English, with 1.5 billion speakers.

      French only has 68 million first language speakers and is the 17th most spoken language. There are more people who speak Javanaese, Wu, Marathi, Telugu, and Vietnamese as a first language. French is a very regional language: France, Quebec, Haiti, and a few former African colonies.

      Francophone unilinguals should learn English if they want to get a worlwide perspective instead of a narrow, ethnocentric, ill-informed view of the world.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous at 08:01,

      If you are a regular in this blog, you know my positions and my reactions toward the trolls here.

      My objection is that there is no metric to measure which language is better than the other. What are the criteria to say that English is the best language in the world? IMO, linguistically each language has its positive and negative points. And surely someone who is born and raised with a particular language feels that that language is better than any other ones.

      If one is to say that English is the most known language in the world, I would say yes. The main language of commerce? Yes. The main language for communication? Yes. The most useful single language to have in a travel around the world? Most likely yes. The best? How does one measure it?

      And all the yes above I think is not because the "quality" of the language itself, but because of who is speaking and spreading it. From the early 19th century to World War II it is the British Empire and its colonies and possessions around the world and from World War II to present it is the United States and its super power and global influence.

      Delete
  20. one day son, you will live in Montreal, I can guarantee you....I am looking forward to as well BTW

    ReplyDelete
  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Here's an interesting letter to the editor that appeared in the National Post today:

    Time for another referendum

    Re: Former MP: It’s Time To Say Au Revoir To Quebec, letter to the editor, May 1.
    It warms the cockles of my heart to see that Lee Morrison, who has served in federal Parliament, understands what has to happen in Quebec. But I’ll go him one better. There should be a referendum in the rest of Canada as to whether Quebec should be allowed to stay in Canada. Quebecers would not have a vote.
    Quebec is a dead end for Canada. There is nothing there of any value to the nation. One of the best things about Quebec separating is that McGill University would be forced to leave the province. It is explicitly stated in its foundational documents that the school must be on Canadian territory. This was originally included to stop the school from moving to the U.S. but would apply equally to it being on Quebec soil if Quebec was no longer part of Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  23. McGill wouldn't have to relocate if the Island of Montreal elects to stay part of Canada, which it will.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Since we're on the McGill subject, here's a post by AngryFrenchGuy which is soooo biased and misleading that I thought it was a joke. And then I read other posts and they were on the same vein. The latest post in the comment section, clears up the issue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oops, here's the link:
      http://angryfrenchguy.com/2008/08/25/6-myths-about-mcgill-and-concordia/

      Delete
    2. TS,

      Angry French Guy has not posted for a while. The site was even down for some time. He gives up his blog, perhaps?

      Delete
    3. I certainly hope so. He still gets comments, though.

      Delete
  25. Samsung galaxy s3 is out! why are you still winning for education fees in QC? I think it was solved, it will be raised and agreed by 99% of the people, only 1% left and those 1% need to show themselves on the street, they should be naked so it will be even more entertaining!

    ReplyDelete
  26. oh by the way, the separatists and the left wing quebecers are garbage to our society, unfortunately, we can't get rid of this minority. They really make us look so bad...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe if the federal government would cut cultural subsidies of 2 billion dollars to Quebec, we could progress. Then people could get real jobs. Only the artists who could survive in the real world, would. As well, make sure you can't stay on welfare forever. That's what alot of artists do. When people know they have to work to get a real job, then this society will stop being so parasitic to the rest of Canada.

      Delete
    2. Yannick,

      One of the problem with that $2G is that Quebec receives proportionally more than any other provinces. That is on top of the equalization.

      Delete
    3. "I can think of very few Canadian novels that are renowned."

      What about the books written by Margaret Atwood?

      Delete
    4. Copy and pasted from Wikepedia:

      By the 1990s, Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best.[1]
      Canadian authors have won international awards:
      In 1992, Michael Ondaatje became the first Canadian to win the Booker Prize for The English Patient.
      Margaret Atwood won the Booker in 2000 for The Blind Assassin and Yann Martel won it in 2002 for Life of Pi.
      Alistair MacLeod won the 2001 IMPAC Award for No Great Mischief and Rawi Hage won it in 2008 for De Niro's Game.
      Carol Shields's The Stone Diaries won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and in 1998 her novel Larry's Party won the Orange Prize.
      Lawrence Hill's Book of Negroes won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best Book Award.

      Delete
    5. Copy and pasted from Wikipedia:

      Canada has had a thriving stage theatre scene since the late 1800s.[80] Theatre festivals draw many tourists in the summer months, especially the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, and the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The Famous People Players are only one of many touring companies that have also developed an international reputation. Canada also hosts one of the largest fringe festival the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. There are also 2 major theatre venues in Ottawa, the government-owned and sponsored National Arts Centre and the privately owned Great Canadian Theatre Company.

      Delete
    6. Aucune probleme, Yannick. We can always learn something new everyday.

      Delete
  27. La Classe gives the government a counter proposal.

    1. Reduce / eliminate research activities in universities and channel the funds to teaching.

    2. Stop university's commercial advertisement.

    3. Freeze university's staff salary and hiring.

    4. Stop building satellite campuses as well as expanding the existing ones.

    5. Open discourse about free education, achievable by taxing financial institutions.

    My comment: What the fcuk are they talking about?!

    ReplyDelete
  28. they should be naked so it will be even more entertaining!

    Et voilà!

    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/dossiers/conflit-etudiant/201205/03/01-4521744-des-manifestants-tout-nus-bravent-la-pluie.php

    ReplyDelete