Sunday, October 14, 2012

Marie Malavoy is Quebec's Worst Nightmare

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too...ha ha ha!"
There's nothing more dangerous than entrusting  political power to the dogmatically driven, those special ideologues who believes with the conviction of a born again preacher that theirs is the only true and righteous path to salvation. 

In keeping with the fledgling Marois government's policy of leaping before looking, education minister Marie Malavoy decided to propose sweeping changes to the education system, without as much as a  how-do-dee to those in the education ministry and without  the slightest consideration for what parents want.

You'd think that after the disastrous spectacle of Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau's political cha-cha-cha (one step forward, two steps back) wherein he jumped the gun by introducing an ill-conceived plan to eliminate the Health tax, only to completely backtrack, Pauline would instruct her ministers to cool it until they better understood the consequences of the proposed policy.

But improvisation seems to suit Marois and it seems that no such instruction has been given to ministers, including Malavoy who will most likely suffer the same fate as the finance minister, when the public roars its disapproval.

Already howls of resistance are being raised and this on the francophone side where Malavoy is trying to put a sovereigntist and anti-English bent in the education of francophone children, despite overwhelming parental support for the wider teaching of English.

And so Madame Malavoy is rushing to restrict English in the early grades and is set to re-examine (and likely reverse) the not-yet implemented plan to give grade six students a half year taught exclusively in English as well as implementing other measures meant to indoctrinate and politicize students towards the PQ way of thinking.

Parents are not at all amused and the media is giving her a thorough and ferocious lashing, concluding quite rightly that Malavoy is setting the education department to a partisan separatist agenda.

This cartoon by the talented political cartoonist YGRECK says it all;

"Repeat after me : We Salute you Pauline"          Thanks to R.S. for the link.
Now if there is any doubt we are witnessing the imposition of a separatist school agenda, Malavoy was quite blunt in setting us straight. She didn't even mince words or try to soft peddle the notion, telling reporters that the curriculum should be modified to expose children to the ''national question' and that schools should be emphasizing Quebec history more.

The subject of broaching the 'national question' in class evoked quite a reaction in the press, so much so that the question of the new emphasis on Quebec history was largely overshadowed.

When I saw our good friend Gilles Proulx railing on television, the very next day, that students know nothing of Quebec history, I realized exactly what Madame Malavoy's intentions were in bringing history to the forefront.

Madame Malavoy and Mr. Proulx remain disappointed that students do not suffer from the victimization syndrome that characterizes old time separatists, who look at history as one defeat after another and  one humiliation after another.

That is what they want to teach, the idea of Quebecers as the oppressed victims of the English.

According to their calculations students aren't sufficiently averse to the evils of the English and need a dose of slanted history that depicts francophones suffering at the hands of the evil colonialists including the Plains of Abraham, Lord Durham, General Amhearst, Meech Lake, the night of the long knives, persecution, domination, assimilation, etc. etc.
That is the plan...

But when I say Malavoy is Quebec's worst nightmare it is not because of her sovereignty pipe dreams, it is her desire to impose her dangerous bankrupt ultra left-wing wing agenda.

The shuddering policy proposal that Malavoy hopes to impose is the dumbing down of the private school system where she wants to do what that the government has done on the public system, that is to transform a decently functioning education system into something mediocre and dysfunctional.

The great reform that Quebec implemented years ago transformed the education system into a touchy-feely exercise that emphasised participation, empathy and non-competition.

Grades were replaced by cycles and report cards no longer 'judged' students harshly, so as not to undermine their egos, much to the consternation of parents who could no longer follow the progress of their children.
"The way the subjects in the program are taught is designed to enable your child to master them, and also to acquire, and then develop, certain competencies:
  • Intellectual Competencies
  • Personal and Social Competencies
  • Competencies Related to Working Methods
  • Communication-Related Competencies
The competencies addressed in the program will be useful to your child throughout his or her life.
Your child will learn not only by memorizing, but also by working on concrete activities or projects that draw on or develop his or her abilities. Thus, in addition to drawing 'a' or 'o' in an exercise book or counting imaginary apples and pears, your child may learn to read or add by participating in a group project." Link
Hmmm....
But the very worst of the reform was the elimination of the 'special ed' class, which dumped the academically challenged into regular classes in order to become more inclusive, with the predictable result that the whole class was retarded (pardon the very bad pun) as teachers were forced to slow down progress to the lowest common denominator.

This is what Malavoy wants to see in the private schools, the elimination of elite programs that demand elite students, which goes against her left-wing dogma of equality.

What she seems to forget is that there are some elite public schools (known as 'international schools) that also demand competency tests for students wishing to score a coveted place.

And so Malavoy is demanding that the private schools eliminate competency entrance exams and incorporate special education students as in the public system, or else she will cut the subsidy that these schools receive.
By the way, private schools receive public money to the tune of 60% of what is spent per student in the public sector, so that each student in the private system represents a 40% saving to the government.

It is important to understand that the PQ's constituency is largely against the very idea of private schools on principle, and want the government to eliminate the subsidy completely.
The unions, the public service and the education department cannot stand the competition and would like nothing more than the demise of the private school system, which is tiny to begin with, educating around 6% of the student population.

It is the very notion of egalitarianism that drives the opponents of private schools who find the idea of 'elitism' offensive.

Soon Madame Malavoy will demand that high school sports teams refrain from selecting the best athletes and accept all who apply, perhaps preparing students for the real world, a world where the Montreal Canadiens accept a few handicapped players in order to remain inclusive.

That is not where we are going, we are already there.
It has gotten to the point where you don't even need to graduate high school to be accepted into cegep.


The French have a phrase for it, 'niveler par le bas.' in English we say 'the lowest common denominator.

Welcome to Marie Malavoy's brave new world.

189 comments:

  1. All is can say to the above is that I'm glad my children are grown and already have careers. Special Education is a necessity in today's world for we have many children that cannot possibly compete with their counterparts on a daily basis. They have to be allowed to grow as much as their abilities allow them to without being thrown in with children that are clearly able to learn and grow more quickly than they are. The proposed system will hold both groups back as they try to grow and will create even more problems for those with learning disabilities. These people are insane for thinking that the system will have no problems.

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    1. In light of Cutie's comment, I'm glad my son had his education in Ontario. He's now in Grade 12 and needed the help of a teaching assistant in elementary school which he had from SK to grade 7 when he graduated from that school. He has also had helpful personnel in his high school and now has a very good chance of making post-secondary school.

      My life partner's two children, unfortunately, didn't have that luxury in Quebec. Her son was AD/HD and was expelled from his first school where their recommendation was to give him more Ritilin (dickheads!) She consulted her pediatrician and he said no way to that! Thankfully, there was a wonderful teacher in the other school that took him under her wing and he got better at school. He had to leave Quebec to live with his grandmother in Ottawa to finish school because he couldn't get past French (as if Charest and his minions gave a damn).

      Her daughter had serious learning challenges, and instead of holding her back one year to try and catch up, she was pencil whipped to high school and it was THEY who held her back a year seeing she was not at all ready for high school. She was then just pencil whipped again through the system, she took a "short vocational" program called 16+ and spit out of the system like an old piece of chewing gum. She decided to go to continuing education seeing what crappy jobs there are for non-grads and now she's catching up doing on-line schooling. She wishes her whole education could have been done this way. Much happier. Yes, Virginia, thank God there's an Ontario that invests in its students.

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  2. So well put. Thank you.

    Just one thing - I really feel odd when you say 'separatists', because these are not really separatists. Perhaps most of them, but in reality they don't just wants independance from the crown and more power - they want to be able to easily control their population. I call them Isolationists. They are indeed, any country's worst nightmare.

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    1. "they want to be able to easily control their population."

      À vous lire,c'est tout à fait compréhensible et légitime.Pas besoin de plus d'étrangers anglicisants.

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

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    3. Vous pouvez m'appeler comme vous voulez,vous en avez le droit mais ça ne veut pas dire que c'est la vérité.

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    4. Well, the Editor objects to my use of the term "Nazi" to describe your line of thinking.

      So here are a few alternatives (taken from his own text and the comments of others):

      -- Xenophobic
      -- Close-minded
      -- Intolerant
      -- Isolationist
      -- and unevolved

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    5. Resident Evil, I'd go for 'fascist' - is a more encompassing term.

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    6. Resident Evil n1

      S.R. Je vous suis pas. Comme d'habitude.

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    7. "S.R. Je vous suis pas. Comme d'habitude"

      Parfaitement cohérent avec l'état des relations entre le Québec et le canada.

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    8. Est-ce le terme "Idiotphobique" existe?Faudrait peut-être l'inventer.

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    9. nataliawalsh: Semantics, all semantics. If it waddles like a duck, if it quacks like a duck and if it flies like a duck, it's a duck.

      If it talks like a separatist, if it has aspirations like a separatist, if it inculcates a sick doctrine upon impressionable little children and their developing minds about separatism, it's a separatist! Get it?

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    10. Or a francosupremacist. Because they're politically in bed with each other, it's often hard to differentiate one from the other.

      But as far as I'm concerned, one is a rabid dog and the other is mildly retarded, so they're both equally bad.

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

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    12. It's so sad to see him choosing to live in denial of Quebec's English fact.

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  3. Editor, I know we've had divergent opinions in the past (like my belief that in coming from Germany, Malavoy has no say in what language we speak here), but this article reads my thoughts and feelings so closely I feel as though I've written it myself.

    How I wish members of the PQ read this post and caught the last few paragraphs.

    The PQ (and all other separatists) are not fighting for the freedom of the Quebecois...they're fighting for the right to remain marginal and to not have to push themselves to keep up with the rising tide.

    Cheers once again Editor.

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    1. If this blog was translate in french, they would notice soon enough.

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    2. Tu crois que nous ne comprenons pas l'anglais?Le russe peut-être pas mais l'anglais...C'mon Natasha!

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    3. Yo, Evil: You write "The PQ (and all other separatists) are not fighting for the freedom of the Quebecois...they're fighting for the right to remain marginal and to not have to push themselves to keep up with the rising tide."

      No, Evil, no! These are a bunch of narcissists who want to set up a new country and be the first royal rulers of an independent Quebec. It will be a very poor kingdom but as long as they can loot it for all its worth, then as far as the elite are concerned, the peasants can eat cake. Where have we heard that one before?

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    4. If his English keeps improving like this, he'll soon become "anglicized" and completely forget how to speak French! Oh noes!!

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    5. S.R. oui 70% de vous ne le comprennent pas et 99.9% ne lisent pas ce blog.

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  4. Merde.

    I am leaving for the week the day a post is about history teaching, a topic that I have been waiting for for a long while. Too bad. I am looking foward to read your comments.

    See you next week.

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  5. Yannick, I once had a co-worker, an immigrant from Brazil and her and her husband wanted to put their son in a bilingual private school, even a trilingual one. She was making $13.50 an hour and her hubbie was a mechanic (Read=not rich). But they wanted to put their young son in private school (and succeeded).

    Quand on veut on peut!

    BTW, when I asked her what motivated her to do it she simply told me "I don't want him to grow up to be like those unilingual Quebecois who are proud to achieve nothing."

    But that's Brazil for you - tough environments breed tough individuals.

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  6. by Mr.

    I am an ex-teacher, thank God I left the education system. The present inclusive strategies are killing the system. In the same time I cannot help myself but notice that many students that are in special ed programs are mostly immigrants and anglophones that are unable to master the french language. Therefore are unable to function in the other criteria such as history and math because of their inability to master the language of instruction.Many of these students get frustrated and developed behavioral problems. Otherwise bright kids feel like failures. A remedy to this phenomena should be implemented.

    For those whom have a serious learning disability, very little is done to help them to further their progress in the inclusive setting. Not to mention that most teachers in the regular setting are not trained to handle serious learning and behavioral difficulties.I have never seen a program to identify and help the dyslexic,etc... students. I have not seen any effective program to help ADD ADHD students besides medication. I cannot help myself but feel that the public education system is failing miserably those students that need a better tailored education experience.

    As for the other side of the spectrum, the gifted kids are challenged in programs that are designed to catered towards their intellectual curiosity, but if the public system neglects them, as it does often, their desire to study will melt away. Not to mention that many of the brighter students are often bullied by students that tag them as arrogant and showoffs.

    As much as I can agree with the idea inclusion, it must be done intelligently. well designed inclusion can be beneficial for all concerned. However, to enforce inclusion without either a real plan or resources available is going to fail.

    A lot of fingers have been pointed towards teachers as the source of failure in the system. if the system is poorly planned and has no resources, it is bound to fail despite the teachers abilities.

    I can give many suggestions that I think would be useful to help the education system. But I think any attempt to help the present system would be useless,since the education system is politicized instead of being concerned on children's intellectual development. There should be a clear legal divisions between the education system and politics, since a democracy can only be preserved when its citizens have critical thinking strategies unhampered by political brainwashing of any kind.

    I am also concerned about certain hostility towards comparative religious studies, skewing history,dumbing down science,math, abolishing phys ed, lack of technology and social studies, no home economy studies, parenting studies, objective studies into politics, no trade workshops,effective youth intervention, student pre-screening for learning disabilities, mental illness, problem solving skills, lack of discipline and respect from both students parents, reducing language studies, lack of resources, optimizing teacher training while in service, etc etc..
    The list can go on and on, and money is not the only problem, most of these problems can be solved with good planning a clear strategy and with clear standards across the board. An intelligent well designed education system made to stimulate and elevate the youth and not a politicized heap of nonsense with a lot of doublespeak and fancy curriculum gadgets that we presently have.


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    1. Mr.: To start with, look at how I responded to Cutie003's leading comment. That is based on personal experiences and there is no need to copy and paste is since it's already posted.

      The way I see it, Quebec's society is headed for a whole heap of trouble. Today's society is a product of the education the collective received back in the day. If this nut-job of an education minister implements the curriculum she intends to, then the speed of the downward spiral since I went to school in Quebec is going to go into free-fall once this group of little children go through this sausage grinder of a curriculum--over and over again. They'll end up with skulls full of sausage meat. You get out of your society what you put into your education system.

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  7. Yes, Yannick - the system is sick and is now going to get sicker. I understand your feelings about private schools but as Resident Evil pointed out, I too know of a few people who sent their kids to private school and deprived themselves of lots of life's niceties to do it. It may not be fair but money has always bought privilege (unfortunately) - Don't worry - the way Quebec is going there will be no "privileged" left - taxes are bleeding us all dry and they will get worse before this province smartens up.

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  8. Oh my - what in heaven's name are we doing to our poor children and grand children. The teacher is right - politics in the classroom helps no one and I've always known that the teachers were not to blame for the mess that is ongoing. First of all we pay them hardly anything, expect them to teach and work at home at night, be social directors, sports directors, plus be sociologists and psychiatrists to everyone in their class. It's a terrible situation and it's not going to get better when we start teaching them that they don't have a country that cares about them or their well being. Good planning, clear strategies and clear standards across the board that is mentioned above, is only mentioned above, not by the Board of Education nor anyone else that I've seen so far. Good luck to all you young parents out there - you'll need it.

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    1. I repeat what I wrote immediately above: You get out of your society what you put into your education system.

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  9. I agree with you Yannick...but the point I was merely making is that if you truly want something to happen and are willing to work to make it happen it will.

    The people I mentioned are passionate enough about realizing their son's full potential that they're willing to make extra sacrifices.

    Then of course, you have to consider what would happen if that kid makes it into Upper Canada College...those sacrifices will look like small potatoes in the end.

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  10. Editor,

    I'm al avid reader of your blog and often agree with you on many topics, but I don't agree with you 100% when it comes to private schools. The government should not fund schools that do not accept everyone. If they want to pick and choose their students, let them do it with their own cash. Why does someone have to pay for an academically smart kid's education when that person may not have the same opportunity with his/her child?

    There's also the financial aspect to it. If a student has very high grades but cannot afford private school fees, why should that child be deprived of that opportunity? Many private schools have adopted paying plans that make it much easier for parents to pay the fees and some even have even began giving out generous bursaries to families in financial need.

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    1. If your criteria, Anonymous, for not funding schools that do not accept everyone, you need look no further than the English public school system which -- through no fault or choice of their own -- are unable to accept approximately 80% of Quebec's populace.

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    2. The fact that francophones are paying for something they're not entitled to should make them want to be able to send their children to English public school. Any drastic budget cuts for the English schools boards would mean instant death for them

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    3. by Mr.

      It is very sad to what has happened to the English school boards. I am also a victim of bill 101. It prevented me to enter the English schools. In fact, I was in an English school when bill 101 was taken into effect. My parent had no choice but to place me in the French system instead.Yes, I wont hide it, at times I get very frustrated when I think about it.

      We all know that this law is unconstitutional, we all know it is unjust, we all know that it is an insult to our community,and we all know that it wont stop. The unrelenting attacks on anything English is sickening.

      We are, unfortunately, incredibly proper and polite, civil and stoic.We are very nice and friendly ,complacent, unwilling to offend, gentile, sweet people, too frozen with a mix of fear,paranoia and civil politeness to act. We dont want to cause a seen, we dont want to make a fuss about it.

      We are surprised that we are the target for all this spite. It hurts us, but we don't say it, it insults us, but are stoically composed, it burns us, but we stay cool. Some chose to ignore it, dismiss it, belittle it,hide it, deny it, willfully blind themselves to it. While slight upon slight pile up. We are just to damn polite.

      Then they wonder why we get angry, blog about it, tweet about it, sing about it, write about it, etc.. only to be told by them that it is all in your head, you deserve it, it is your fault,you are racists,paranoid, a foreigner, don`t like it move,you are a burden. you are the best treated minority, we are the victims, We are in Quebec.... So shut the $%/" up.

      Lets just face facts, all this is our fault as a community, we just take it
      Any anger on our part now will look silly, half hearted, and weak.
      We failed to rise to the occasion, we did not defend our hard earned institutions, we take the slights with a smile, we move away in caravans to Ontario, we said long ago that we give up, anglo- Quebecers are just as good in Ontario. We did not show that we cared when we had the numbers to do so. It is only 40 years later that we whine and belly ache about it.

      Until we eventually show our righteous indignation,higher the best lawyers,get allies,push back when pushed, scream at the top of our lungs, make a frenzy, make some real noise about our problems, the English school boards and eventually every other English institution will suffer, because they will forevermore be crippled by an unjust law and, thus, be unable and be incapacitated to serve its community.

      I feel that the only way, is to organize ourselves and protest in a peaceful manner, some forms of peaceful civil disobedience might be needed. This might require the English school boards to be participants, along with businesses, and the general populace.It is in our best interests.

      A good mix of flooding the courts,superior courts, businesses, ministers, UN, politicians, media,the internet etc with complaints,law suits, etc... so that they will know that we will not go away, we are here to stay, and yes, we will show our indignation.

      We simply have to say that we are angry and we are not going to take it anymore.
      of course what stops us is the possible backlashes, ridicule,and escalation.
      The angry mobs of PQ extremists with burning effigies in front of Walmart, Reitmans,Coles, and anything else they think is English.

      Where are English community leaders, do we have any,who are they, have they done anything, what is their projects, are we still waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, Where are the protests, who shall represent our interests, are we waiting for ROC, USA, England, to save us, Do we have a strategy, Can we take on the challenges, can we bare the idea of causing a stir, make a ripple, stir up some (*&%,

      if the answer is NO, so my dear friends, witness the eventual death of our institutions, communities,exoduses of the young anglos, and yes, the English school boards. and it will be in part, our fault.

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    4. The francophone population SHOULD be outraged at paying and not being able to benefit from English schools. But they need to be sensibilized to the fact that it is beneficial to know many languages, that they should have a freedom to choose and that english have a history here in Quebec. For example, Montreal history has to absolutely be taught in depth in history classes at least in this town. It is idiotic, how little we talked about Montreal in high school. They have been indoctrinated with fear and divided by discriminatory language politics. Just talked to a girl from Saguenay today, who said she was absolutely terrified at what she saw and heard when she came back there after studying in Montreal.

      I leave you with this cris du coeur d'une Québecoise that was posted on the election day in MacLeans
      http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/09/02/pq-english-cegep-and-french-students-not-to-be-mixed/

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    5. "The francophone population SHOULD be outraged at paying and not being able to benefit from English schools"

      Laissez-nous juger de ce que nous voulons et veuillez garder vos suppositions sans fondement pour votre cercle de "droitistes" fermé.Concentrez-vous plutôt sur votre communauté anglo qui en a bien besoin.Visiblement,vous êtes très mal placée pour comprendre notre société.

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    6. Anonymous writes:

      "We all know that this law is unconstitutional..."

      Sadly, it IS constitutional. And we have none other than then Justice Minister Jean Chretien to thank for that little piecce of constitutional horror.

      Chretien, the chief architect of section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms took the very worst part of the very worst law in Canada -- the language of education discrimination provisions of Bill 101 -- and entrenched it in section 23. Sadly, the Supreme Court in its Gosseling (Tutor) 2005 decision could NOT apply equality rights to Bill 101 because "there are no hierarchy of rights in the Constitution" and one part -- section 15 (protection against discrimination) -- couldn't be used against another part (the discrimination of section 23).

      For his wonderful work in this area, Mr. Chretien was awarded 11 years as our Prime Minister.

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    7. Yes Mr - That's why I keep telling people to e-mail, write, letters to editors, your MPs, your provincial MPs, anyone you can think of and start fighting back. We CAN NO LONGER BE POLITE WITH THESE SEPARATISTS - Perhaps we can get some kind of political movement going whereby those that want to go from Canada can go - let them out - We need a Partition Party of some kind to stop this ongoing deliberate erasing of our heritage and our rights! I have written to all the premiers, the Prime Minister and everyone I could think of requesting that NO MORE POWER BE GIVEN TO QUEBEC AND REMOVAL OF THE NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE FROM THE CONSTITUTION because quebec abuses it. Everyone should do the same - we can't afford to remain quiet any longer - TIME TO FIGHT BACK ALL


















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    8. LOL S.R., tu me connais vraiment pas, je suis gauchiste :))) parlant des "suppositions sans fondement"
      Et arrête de t'imaginer que tu répresente la volonté de touts les Québécois. T'es un radical.

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  11. By Mr.

    I think that there is hope in the public school system. They will have to reorganize. Here I feel that I should start my own blog on the topic, since the list of changes I would suggest would be too long for me to post here.

    The public school system is the one in need of investment and change, since it is the school that 90% of the population will graduate from. SERIOUS changes will be needed to make the system work well.

    I have worked in private schools, and to be honest there are good private schools and bad ones. The good private schools test their students before entry and have a standards for intellectual rigor. Bad private schools might have a test before entry, but are mostly interested in making money, this can be seen in the way that they accept anyone and have little if any,standards in intellectual rigor, since they are not interested in losing students that are a potential source of income. they will pass everyone if this will allow them to have a higher ranking as a school.

    Good private schools see education as a vocation, a good system is in place, and are willing to expel students despite the lost of income.Their ranking is justified by a track record of excellent instruction.

    Bad private schools see their education establishment as a product to be sold to parents that are weary of the public system and capitalize on that fear, although, they are not a better establishment themselves, and sometimes even worse than the public system.

    Do not be fooled by the neat, clean, updated equipment of a private school. It is at times a facade for an overpriced product ( $1000 a session) to assume a private school is better than a public school would be a grievous mistake.

    I don't know what to make of the government not willing to finance private schools. Private schools sometimes only serve as a way to separate the middle, and middle-up class from the poorer classes. and a separation of the demographics that this could represent. As always this would mean that the upper classes will have access to better education while poorer talented students are stuck in the institutions that are in their regional vicinity. (poorer individuals are notoriously stuck in a neighborhood that pay lower education taxes , thus, have only the option of a poorer school that might not have the resources necessary to be effective.) the cycle of poverty continues.

    The subventions the government provides, is possibly the only means within which poorer students can have access to better institutions,since the schools will have finances for that reason,or are not overburdened with costs, thus allowing poorer students into their institutions.

    The only solution that I can think of, is to ensure that the schools despite economic and geographical areas have the best possible system, equal to the private schools if possible, so as to ensure that the 90% of the population that go to these institutions have a great educational experience. That from the diploma mills are vetted from good private institutions, and they allow poorer students to enter these schools with government grants according to their academic talents.

    unless, the PQ is thinking of attacking bridging schools that allow anglophones to pass a year in an English institution to eventually have the right to be educated in English in the public sector. I do know that is one of their objectives. Is this also a financial attack on these kinds of schools. I hope not.

    The government has mentioned what it will do with its savings from its subventions, this is something I wold like to know. Are they going to take this money and reinvest it in the education system.

    anyhow, it looks like a mess. I am just happy I am not a teacher anymore.

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  12. I have mixed feelings about private schools at least the large subsidies they receive here in Quebec. I grew up out west and there were no subsidies for private schools hence the tuition fees were very high..in the several thousand dollar range and this was back in the 1980s. So basically they were elitist schools for the rich and very few kids went there.

    Here in Montreal I was shocked at how many private schools there were and how prevalent it was for people to send their kids to them. But it is much more affordable..many people can afford to spend 5000 a year. There is some argument to be made that this saves the government the full cost of educating many students..on the other hand as someone else pointed out its only about 7 percent of all students. Hence one wonders why all taxpayers should be subsidizing private schools for such a small percentage of the population. Most of these children are also from upper/upper middle class backgrounds..let them pay the full cost if they want to.

    Perhaps this extra money spent on subsidizing private schools could be put to better use by the public school system. As someone pointed out some private schools are strictly out to make as much money as possible and are more flash than substance. My wife worked at one such school years ago and they had about 35 kids per class..teachers would quit reguarly during the year as they were poorly paid and treated..but the building looked great and parents could dump their kids at school from 7 am until 6:30 PM with all their homework done. So it was great for parents who didnt want to raise their children..

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    1. To be honest I don't think that the current government has any idea what it's doing.

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    2. Yannick, that's simplistic. The policy in Quebec takes a lot of middle-class kids from families who value (or "throw money at") education. That's a big loss of social capital from the public schools and hurts the students who don't start with the big advantages in life (a family with money and education).

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    3. This is the Anonymous reply. I'm not the same person as the original commenter. Just making that clear.

      Delete
    4. Conversely, think of all the Olympic-level athletes busy sharing their inspirational abilities by mingling with average-to-middling amateur sports enthusiasts... how would they ever manage to compete with the world's best?

      Delete
  13. Although only 7% of Quebec students attend private schools, it must be noted that enrollment is very high in Montreal and it is even more prevalent among anglophones. In Montreal, something like 40% or more anglophone students are in the private sector.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Editor, bravo for a single-focussed post!

    Among other things it encourages responders to deal with the single topic you have raised. Contrast this with yesterday's effort- you provided folks with twenty targets arranged on all four walls of the room so that shots were coming from all directions. This makes for a very tiresome walk through the comments section. Sometimes fewer targets- i.e. just one at a time- is the way to go.

    Thanks for another thought-proviking missive.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Not surprised as it seems many kids in the west island are in private school. If your numbers are right then thats even more reason to cut the subsidies..if its mainly Montreal and anglophones why should all Quebecers be subsidizing this small group??

    I went to public school and did fine..the vast majority of people I know went to public school and also did fine. This whole notion that your kids future depends on private school is nonsense. There are public high schools with international programs and they are doing a fine job in giving more gifted kids more of a challenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your logic is faulty. The private schools in the West Island are not the only private schools in Quebec. There are plenty of private schools throughout the province. Also, the French private schools are more subsidized than the Anglophone ones, hence their affordability.

      I am glad you did just fine going to public school. To follow your faulty logic, I know a guy that didn't do well in public school and now he's a junkie. Come to think of it, I bet most junkies went to public school.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for telling me the obvious TS. The point is that there are a large percentage of kids in Montreal particularily anglophones who are sending their kids to private school. In fact the reality is that even with the subsidies most kids going to private schools are from families with more means. So all Quebecers poor and rich are subsidizing generally kids from wealthier families to attend these schools..its about as bad as our 7 dollar per day daycare system in which even millionaires are eligible.

      I know people who went to private schools who are junkies also. My point is that this notion that kids will succeed only if they go to the right school is a myth. The reality is that kids who generally go to private schools already have an important advantage..their parents are typically well off and are more likely to be well educated. Hence they have a solid support system that makes it a lot easier for them to do well. Plus many private schools only accept the better students hence of course they score better. In the end probably at least half of the 7 percent attending private schools could afford to pay more so I say let them. Then we can take the money for the subsidies and improve the public school system for all children..poor average and rich.

      Delete
    3. "The point is that there are a large percentage of kids in Montreal particularily anglophones who are sending their kids to private school." Wha'?

      "Particularily [sic] anglophones" - can you back this up? Although I do not have the numbers, I am sure allophones and francophones alike are sending their children to private schools - anglo or franco.

      Delete
    4. just let your fingers do the walking,goggle private schools montreal all flavors bi- trilingual schools

      Delete
  16. Editor- no chance to correct spelling here?

    The word "proviking" should not be taken as pro-Viking or even as pro-Anglo. That would be provoking.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Replies
    1. Un commentaire plutôt intéressant au sujet de l'article:

      paradiso
      2:00 PM on October 14, 2012

      English Canada = Tim Hortons, hockey, housing bubble, multi-culti hodge-podge and creationist science ministers.

      What else is there to know?

      I've watched CBC news with Peter Mansbridge for about 10 years, and all they keep talking about is Tim Hortons, hockey, skyrocketing housing prices, etc.

      Time to move on.

      Quebeckers are more open to the world than you'd expect, and that is the very reason they are NOT interested in the ROC.

      Delete
    2. What else is there to know?

      Une ministre de la condition féminine contre l'avortement,peut-être?

      Delete
    3. Amen..Radio Canada is so Quebec centric its ridiculous. You know there are francophones in the rest of the country and they deserve to be represented by radio canada also. This is pretty typical behaviour of quebecois...many have told me that they could care less about francophones outside of quebec. Perhaps if Radio canada doesnt want to report more on the rest of the country they could allocate more money to the regions and less to the big radio canada centre in Montreal. The reality is that the federal public service is over represented by francopohone quebecers so no surprise that radio canada doesnt care much about the roc.
      If the PQ dont like it then maybe they could fund their own tv network.

      Delete
    4. Radio-Canada's Quebec-centric focus doesn't meet licence mandate, study claims

      A long-standing complaint concerning Quebec navel-gazing by the CBC's French-language news service has been revived as the national broadcast regulator considers Radio-Canada's licence renewal. Senator Pierre de Bané, a former Liberal cabinet minister under prime minister Pierre Trudeau, commissioned an exhaustive research study that suggests Quebec television viewers may be getting an "unrepresentative image of the Canadian reality."

      A scientifically vigorous sample of 2010 newscasts on Le Téléjournal, taken by a Carleton University researcher, found that 42 per cent of the coverage focused on Quebec, a third dealt with international news and just 20 per cent covered Canadian "national" news. Regional stories focusing on the other 11 provinces and territories comprised less than six per cent of Le Téléjournal's coverage over a month-long period.

      By contrast, CBC's The National focused 37 per cent of its newscast on Canadian national news, 36 per cent on international events and the remaining 27 per cent on the provinces and territories. And with almost as many journalist employees in the French service as the entire English CBC, de Bané can't understand why Le Téléjournal and Radio-Canada doesn't more fully cover the country. […]

      De Bané maintains that nothing has changed during years of repeated studies. He suggested the public broadcaster should be called Radio-Quebec, not Radio-Canada.

      "In order to know what is going on in my country, I — like many, many French-Canadians from Quebec or elsewhere who watch Radio Canada — when it's time for the news, we switch to The National," de Bané said in an interview. Some four million unilingual francophone Quebecers don't have that option, he said.

      De Bané considers it shameful that francophone communities outside Quebec are now seeking their own network licence with the CRTC. "As long as Radio-Canada ignores French Canadians outside Quebec, it's exactly what the Parti Québécois wants," he said, arguing that Quebec nationalism is undermined by a pan-Canadian francophone reality.



      Radio-Canada’s Quebec focus fails its mandate for ‘national’ news, senator says

      Sample comment from a francophone Quebecer:
      ”Radio-Canada is not just a bastion of separatists. Caught Tout le Monde en Parle last night (R-C's flagship talk show). There were about 50 people on the set: the hosts, the crew, the guests, and the studio audience. All white, not a single person of colour or of Asian descent, and with the exception of an interview with Aldo Bensadoun marking the 40th anniversary of his shoe stores, all French Canadians, talking about what else, themselves. This, coming to you over the airwaves of Canada's taxpayer paid national broadcaster from a city whose population is 30% visible minorities.

      Delete
    5. Can you imagine what would happen to Montreal if the federal government stopped pumping so much money into this city via radio canada, national film board, bombardier, air canada, festivals, port, etc. There is no question that Montreal receives way more federal money than they should compared to any other city in Canada. I would cut Radio Canadas budget in half if they dont rectify their Quebec centric shows.

      Delete
  18. It is true, that some private schools should not be publicly funded- particularly religious schools (ex Loyola) and high schools that sift students with entrance exams/financial evaluations. But on the other hand, there should be possibility of specialized private schools that accepts everyone and is able to offer a discount (read= more affordable) - I would support that. I dream about Robotics schools, multilingual schools, arts, music-axed schools and so on, that would cost 5K instead of 20K a year and therefore become affordable to me.

    If all private schools today were closed, the public system would have to take in most of those students and it is fully in public taxes that it would be paid for.

    And I want to add, that it is not like the public system is doing a great job. What's our 'décrochage' at now, again? It is the public system and school boards that need to be reformed in the most urgent manner.

    ReplyDelete
  19. FROM ED BROWN
    Like it or not we anglos are very British here in Canada. We obey the law which is the main reason there was very little backlash about the incoming of 101 etc. we sat back and obeyed. "What can you do it's the law?" type of thing. I'd like to remind everyone that the people who left here during the 70's did not run away from the situation. I've seen references in the past to those who ran away. They moved to keep their jobs. Unfortunately a lot of them were the type that would have fought back had they stayed. Most corporations closed down and sneaked away without much fanfare. People who had worked for them for years were at an age which made it hard to find a new job and had no choice but to go with the company to protect their pensions etc. The only company honest enough to admit it was the law driving people away was Sun Life Insurance. In fact they were the ones that a good reason to leave. Much of Sun Life's business was Group Life policies. For this one had to deal with the head offices and most of them had moved the head office to Toronto.
    The one who could have done more at the time by ordering the Federal holdings like Canadian National Railways to stay put was Trudeau who was so busy insulting the PQ he didn't even seem to care or know what was going on. Anyway at that time there was no pressure on the English schools education system, the seps were busy trying to get referendums going. Ed

    ReplyDelete
  20. FROM ED BROWN
    Good one SR. "Quebecers are more open to the world than you'd expect and that is the reason the are not interested in the rest of Canada." SR In case you missed it Canada is in the rest of the world.
    This is called an OXY MORON. Ed

    ReplyDelete
  21. Tu as tout à fait raison, Yannick. Il me semble que ce commentaire plutôt intéressant exprime clairement le mécontentement des francophones qui habitent dans le ROC envers R-C:

    A Happier Place
    2:57 PM on October 14, 2012

    My husband is a francophone from Northern Ontario and this news does not surprise me one bit. Many Quebecois he meets don't even realize there is a massive Franco-Ontarian community.

    Radio Canada's almost exclusive attention on Quebec means that the Quebecois are out of touch with other Canadian francophone communities and francophone communities outside Quebec are forced to seek their news from English sources, which pushes them towards assimilating with the anglophone community. Everybody loses out.







    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many francophone Quebecers live in an itsy bitsy french bubble where they are the perpetual victim and their impending extinction (in their fucked up paranoid minds) is the most pressing problem in the world.
      So of course they wouldn‘t believe that there are francophones who exist outside of Quebec.

      Delete
    2. Dommage que nous n'ayons pas,sur ce blogue,la version des faits par des francophones hors-Québec.L'interprétation de la réalité francophone par les canadiens me parait toujours douteuse.

      Delete
    3. Très bien dit, Yannick.

      Delete
    4. Yannick,tu es un moitié-moitié.

      Delete
    5. Yannick,

      Ne crois-tu pas que, si Radio-Canada (Québec) avait diffusé le reportage, on aurait dit que les séparatistes reviennent encore là-dessus, question d'alimenter le ressentiment envers la Canada?

      Delete
    6. Vous m'attaquer ouvertement petit faux-cul de diable américain?

      Delete
    7. "Vous m'attaquer ouvertement petit faux-cul de diable américain?"

      Editor, please leave this comment from S.R up - DO NOT DELETE IT.

      I actually think he might be drunk right now...the ferocity of
      his post indicates that I'm CLEARLY RIGHT.

      Delete
    8. Yannick, surely by now you must understand that S.R is immune to facts. When he gets called out, he tries to deflect with a non-sequitur or a false claim. This is the kind of person who wants to ruin the country, the kind who makes up the foundation the PQ. Disgraceful.

      Delete
  22. S.R. ---> Pourquoi notre symbole national du Québec est une banane pelée dans une boîte bleue?
    Et le drapeau est composé de 4 bananes, comme c'est étrange. Et pourquoi sont-ils blancs, sont-ils des fantômes banane?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yannick: I think the writer meant Lower Canada College, located in Montreal. It's a private school, high standards. I imagine it's subsidized like other private schools.

    Upper Canada College is located in an affluent area of mid-town Toronto. It's a top-notch private school primarily for WASPs and Orangemen, but I imagine they now have to tolerate "others" who can fork over the unsubsidized tuition and fees. When I first moved to Toronto, I applied for an advertised position. It certainly felt like a WASP nest when I entered their Halls of Ivy, and I never received so much as a phone call or letter that my application for the position was not to be mine.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Not to nitpick, but the caption under Ygreck's cartoon misses a great jewel.

    Marie Malavoy is swinging the PQ pendulum before the eyes of hypnotized schoolchildren.
    "Je vous salue Pauline" is a spoof of "Je vous salue Marie" (French for "Hail Mary"), as the portrait of Pauline-as-Madonna with the Christ child looks on in the corner and the English curriculum in the trash can. Doubly humorous when you consider the double implication of "Marie".

    Triply humorous when you consider the PQ's secularist bent...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The portrait of Pauline-as-Madonna with the Christ is a reproduction of a cartoon that was runned a few weeks ago. The christ child is Léo Bureau Blouin (the reproduction is a little too small for us to recognize him).

      Delete
    2. Apparatchik,

      When I was in school, they taught me, "Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum..."

      Delete
    3. Comment se fait-il que le la feuille d'érable rouge qui représente le canada est une espèce que l'on retrouve principalement au Québec et dans l'Est et pas ailleurs au canada?

      Bizarre.

      Delete
    4. How is it the lily flower that is the symbol of Quebec originally comes from France, not native of Quebec, and only grows in Southern Quebec and not in the North?

      Stupid is as stupid does.

      Delete
    5. How is it that the National Anthem of Canada, “O Canada”, was composed by Calixa Lavallée, to accompany the French lyrics written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier for the 1880 St-Jean Baptiste Day ceremony and first performed in Quebec City? It wasn’t translated into English until a quarter-century later.

      It is because the history of the French and the English in Canada are inextricably linked.

      Delete
    6. I took it for granted that everyone would catch the "Hail Mary" reference, for some strange reason, so thanks for pointing it out, Apparatchik. I also found it hilarious that Ygreck recycled his own previous Madonna and Child cartoon featuring Pauline and LBB in this one...

      Delete
    7. That's a terrific cartoon... but can someone explain the antlers??

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry your comment was removed inadvertantly. I hope you have a copy to repost. As I was halfway through , it just went poof!

      Delete
    2. No problem. I'll re-post the major points later. I didn't save the draft, so I'll have to re-create.

      Delete
  26. May I know why? What specifically in my criticism of the second half of this post broke the rules? There was no name calling, no swearing, no ad hominem...Mine was just an anti-right wing rant in response to your right wing rant...Nothing more.

    ReplyDelete
  27. On another topic, the push back has began:

    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/201210/12/01-4582952-tir-groupe-de-six-multinationales-contre-loffice-de-la-langue-francaise.php

    My prediction: the 6 chains will continue their business in QC without any descriptors, and without suffering a loss of revenue. The OQLF is out of its depth on this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Group of retailers fighting OQLF’s demand of French usage on signs

      Don’t mess with my trademarks. That’s the message from six big retailers and the Retail Council of Canada, who are taking on the Quebec government’s Office québécois de la langue française over the language of outdoor signs.

      It’s a gamble on their part, as they fight government efforts to force generic French terms on to the English-only signs of trademark names such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Guess Jeans, The Gap, Best Buy and Old Navy.

      Will they be found guilty in the court of Quebec public opinion and will they suffer a commercial consequence because of it? Or will Quebecers accept their argument that trademarks are sacrosanct in today’s global economy, where you are only as recognizable as your name?

      Perhaps the legions of consumers who flock to these stores every day don’t care as much as the politicians do. The retailers point out in their legal action in Quebec Superior Court that they’ve been doing business in Quebec for years and that they’ve always provided a French-language environment to their customers and employees. […]

      Companies go to great lengths to ensure that the size of lettering, the colour and the background of each outdoor sign look exactly the same.

      Trademarks are also carefully positioned to look identical across different platforms such as interior signage and Web commerce.

      Indeed, this issue has become so important that companies are spending more time and effort than ever before to enforce protection of their assets through lawsuits against unauthorized use of trademarks.

      It’s their main way of differentiating themselves from competitors, and if the door is opened to tampering with a commercial trademark, where will it stop?

      Delete
  28. FROM ED BROWN
    I would like to speed up reading in French. Someone tell me which of the French papers are honest news and which ones to avoid. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr Brown,

      If you are interested to read about french as well as reading in french, I suggest Barlow and Nadeau La Grande Aventure de la Langue Française.

      http://nadeaubarlow.com/la-grande-aventure-de-la-langue-francaise/

      Written by a franco-quebecker and an anglo-ontarian (husband and wife). J.B. Nadeau speaks french, english and spanish, he recently began learning arab, Ms Barlow speaks english and french, I believe that she learned french at adult age. This book is by far the most interesting book that I have read on the subject and one the most interesting book I have read in the last few years.

      Delete
  29. I think the OQLF took out a page from Camille Laurin's playbook. They're entering a battle they know they'll loose and when they do, it'll be used as evidence that the French language is in peril and the PQ govt will be urged to amend Bill 101 to require big companies to add French descriptors. It's all a political game

    ReplyDelete
  30. The OQLF is worse than that. In July, its president Louise Marchand said she understands that multinationals like Bombardier need a common language to communicate with their other offices throughout the world, so they can speak English at work... but only as a temporary measure until they are done implementing French as the working language everywhere else!

    Quick! Kick the tourists out, lock the doors, cut the phone lines, and maybe our dear French language will survive. Vive le Québec libre! .. emmurés dans notre narcissisme :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait until after separation and Bombardier is not allowed to bid on Federal Government contracts for Canada. Won't take long for them to leave Quebec, you betcha. They receive a lot of contracts from the Canadian Federal Government.

      Delete
  31. Écosse: Cameron donne son feu vert à un référendum sur l'indépendance

    http://www.lapresse.ca/international/europe/201210/15/01-4583430-ecosse-cameron-donne-son-feu-vert-a-un-referendum-sur-lindependance.php

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh so now some Anglos are your buddies, huh?

      Delete
    2. Never underestimate the separatists' flip-flopping. If this would have been an Olympic sport, they'd win it each time.

      Delete
    3. Unlike Mr. S.R, I've actually been to Scotland and if there's one thing I can tell you it's this - even the most hardcore seppies there are a whole lot nicer to immigrants than the Quebec variety.

      Delete
    4. Nous n'aimons pas les faux-cul américains,que voulez-vous?C'est la vie...

      Delete
    5. "Nous n'aimons pas les faux-cul américains,que voulez-vous?C'est la vie..."

      Translation: "I never amounted to anything, never did anything with my life
      and because of that, I hate you."

      Delete
    6. Et que faites-vous dans la vie M.Evil à part faire des suppositions et de fausses interprétations au sujet de la vie d'autrui?Vous consommez des films américains pour ados attardés à longueur de journée ou vous possédez une réelle culture qui n'appartient pas aux voisins?

      Delete
    7. $10 an hour says S.R is really getting upset about his career as a janitor right now.

      So S.R could it be that the reason you're so bitter and anti-Canadian, Anti-American, Anti-Anglo, Anti-Immigrant, anti-that/anti-this because raising a kid on Mcminimum wage is hard as hell and you kind of wish you learned English and got a real job?

      Forget what your little boy asks you about Canadians...we already know the answer.

      What about when he asks you why you never got anything done, why your family lives in a 1 bedroom apartment, why you have to eat out of a dumpster, what do you tell him then? :-)

      Delete
    8. Pourquoi vous ne répondez pas à ma question au lieu de faire des détours et des insinuations totalement fausses à mon sujet?

      Qui êtes-vous exactement pour chier sur les concierges et les personnes défavorisées?

      Delete
    9. Heehee... more pathetic non-sequiturs from S.R that have nothing to do with anything! :)

      Delete
    10. Hehehe! I know, just look how angry the little man from Sherbrooke is getting.

      Delete
  32. Mon fils m'a posé cette question aujourd'hui:

    Pourquoi les canadiens qui réussissent deviennent américains?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope your son is not older than 5.

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

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

      Delete
    4. Sauf que Céline n'a jamais essayé de cacher ses origines,si modestes soient-elles.

      Delete
    5. I know it is a stupid argument to get in to, but Céline (Say-lin)got rid of the accent aigu in her name (check her album covers), to become Celine (See-lin) for her English audiences.

      All artists regardless of language want to make in the USA because that's where the $$$$$ is.

      As for Celine, she is no longer really a Quebecer, her home now in Florida.

      It is no big deal... the whole subject is asinine.

      Delete
    6. And her son attends school in English.

      Delete
    7. And unlike S.R, she actually knows how to earn money.

      Delete
    8. Editor,

      What did I do? I was merely stating a fact. A fact that our resident francophones, Yannick and Michel Patrice agree.

      Rather than cleaning comments that may hurt someone's tender feeling, there are a number of Anonymouses that need clearing up.

      Delete
    9. J'aurais bien aimé voir votre réponse...Better luck next time!

      Delete
    10. I guess the Editor wants to protect S.R's son from his father's loutish behavior.

      Seeing how drunk S.R must be right now from his other posts over the last hour,
      there ain't much the Editor can do to protect him from the good 'ol domestic violence
      that'll come when S.R senior slaps junior around out of the frustration that comes
      with being 100% wrong, 100% of the time.

      Delete
    11. Certaines personnes quand elles n'ont pas de réponses intelligentes à une question pourtant claire,prennent le raccourci facile de l'insulte (gratuite et sans fondement) et du dénigrement.

      Delete
    12. Ahem! I, like others on this blog, can remember many an insult thrown by you S.R.

      Most notably referring to one female commenter here as a C-U-N-T.

      You want to be met with class, champion?

      Start setting the example.

      Delete
    13. Simple, because that's where the most money and the most opportunities are. It's hardly a Canadian phenomenon.

      Delete
    14. J'ai utilisé le mot "cuntie" pour cutie croyant faire une blague inoffensive mais malheureusement je me suis trompé,j'ai compris dès lors que mes notion d'anglais étaient très limitées.Désolé.

      Est-ce que le mot cuntie est pire que Nazi,KKK ou fasciste?

      Delete
    15. A en croire les feministes, c'est comparable. C'est a peu pres salope ou pute.

      Delete
    16. "Est-ce que le mot cuntie est pire que Nazi,KKK ou fasciste?"

      Yes, because referring to a lady as a c--t is just downright vulgar, while comparing someone to a nazi or kkk member is just that...a comparison based on past-present correlations.

      You might not agree with Cutie, that's fine, but referring to her as a c--t is without class.

      And though you and I do not see eye-to-eye, there's nothing wrong with me likening your desire to abolishing the existence of English from the Quebec landscape as being Nazi-like in nature.

      Let's be men and call it for what it is. The Nazis had a clear-cut mandate of abolishment. Why is your movement somehow "different?"

      Delete
  33. Everyone should note that the question for the referendum in Scotland will be "do you want independence - Yes No" - No big convoluted money ties with England, no "if we, will England"
    - clear question. Right now independence stands at 28% - bet there will be no "winning conditions" in 2016 and again in 2018 and on and on! These people have more common sense and will not keep on with driving wedges between themselves and Britain every day, ever after, for all eternity. Sounds like nothing will change much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know a clear question like that will never be won for by the seperatists. They can only win with a convoluted question..a clear seperation will scare too many people.

      Delete
    2. That's why they must follow the Supreme Court Decision - clear question,clear majority. Bring on the referendum.

      Delete
    3. Like I said before, drop the referendum scare
      http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/10/16/mtl-pauline-marois-referendum-hardly-conceivable.html

      Hopefully you will sleep better now.

      Delete
    4. Its not seperation that scares me..its the total mismanagement of Quebec by most of its politicians whether Liberal or PQ. Its our continued descent towards bankruptcy a la Greece that worries me. Its the entitlement mentality of most Quebecers that is scary even within the context of us paying the highest taxes and having the highest debt load. Seperation is a stick that Quebec uses to more or less keep the money flowing into this province. However I will say that at some point if the economy really tanks here then a PQ govt might be able to convince the masses that the ROC is responsible and that a seperate Quebec would do better. It sounds crazy but when people are suffering they look for a convenient whipping boy and that might be Harper and the ROC.

      Delete
  34. My question to the private schools is why bother with government subsidy? Why not be completely independent from the government? I know that this is a rather foreign concept in Canada, particularly in Quebec, but in the United States the best schools are private and they are not subsidized by the government. They may have government contracts, but not subsidy.

    There is a small private school in the West Island named Kuper Academy. It is apparently an excellent school. I know many anglophone executives in the West Island who send their children there. It receives 0$ of subsidy and therefore students study there are exempted from Bill 101. At 13k$ p.a. it is rather pricey but I think if one has the money it is worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right, Kuper is quite pricey. However, like many other private schools, they have a payment plan that allows parents to pay very little in a long period of time. This is to make these schools accessible to as many people as possible. Some even offer bursaries to lower income families. There are many children who come from lower income families that are enrolled in private schools. It's not a school for the rich.

      Delete
    2. Yannick,

      I think that while public education is a right, private education is a privilege. Therefore, it is up to the parents to send their children to private school or not, regardless whether they pay the education taxes.

      Maybe the analogy is transportation. Public transit system is partially funded by tax money. However, people who have the capacity may choose to purchase a car, pay the insurance and registration, pay the fuel and pay the parking and have the privilege of having the car for themselves with all its convenience and comfort.

      Delete
  35. FROM ED BROWN
    There was a Jew named Harry Golden who wrote a book called 'Only In America' about the life of Jews on the east side of New York City in the twenties and thirties. He says they had no schools. The Rabbi would round up a bunch of kids and take them to an empty apartment. The only tools they had were chalkboard slates to write on and the Torah to learn to read. Out of this grew doctors and lawyers and men who put their children through universities. Many of the Hassidic Jews today prefer home schooling.
    Interesting thought when talking about the cost of education. Ed

    ReplyDelete
  36. L'antenne du World Trade Center retenue au Québec

    http://affaires.lapresse.ca/dossiers/litiges-economiques/201210/16/01-4583677-lantenne-du-world-trade-center-retenue-au-quebec.php

    Dans un entrepôt de Terrebonne?...Hahahaha!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Gotta love Marois on her knees for her colonial oppressors, licking the oafish Hollande‘s ass the other day. Colon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. C'est un joueur important pour l'appuie de notre futur pays et comme les anglos,nous avons appris à lécher les bonnes personnes.

      Delete
    2. "Happy Gilmore..."

      Auriez-vous des références de culture canadienne de temps à autre (si ça existe) question de varier un peu?

      Delete
    3. Resident Evil...

      Êtes-vous canadien ou Américain?...Pathétique

      Delete
    4. There is no one on this site that is more pathetic than you SR and I wish you would go to your box under the bridge and leave thinking people alone. I really really mean that - you make me want to puke!

      Delete
    5. I was always curious as to why QC independetistes do not insist on French currency after separation, but on Canadian currency instead. The currency of an antagonized country that could wage financial war on QC by adjusting rates in QC's disfavor, with royal symbols on the bank notes (to be spiteful, Canada could print "Up Yours Quebec" on the notes, and Quebeckers would carry these in their pockets)...it doesn't make much sense. The Franc makes so much more sense, given that France would be a natural ally for QC (because of the same language).

      When Parizeau says that QC would insist on keeping Canadian currency (because as he says in this "turbulent world" any new currency wouldn't last 3 days, what he means is that QC's currency specifically wouldn't last 3 days), I doubt that he's simply not thinking outside the box and failing to consider other currencies. He is an economist, and there must be a reason why he's not advocating the Deutschemark, the Franc, the Pound, or the American $. I'm not sure what the reason is though.

      Delete
    6. "...and leave thinking people alone"

      La grande penseuse que vous êtes peut-elle me définir ce qu'est la culture canadienne?
      Sans vomir,évidemment.

      Delete
    7. The little alcoholic of the Eastern Townships is quite livid. He's now asking us for references to Canadian culture instead of Quebecois culture.

      At this point, I've no idea what little man from Sherbrooke wants.

      Delete
    8. Oubliez l'acohol et les insultes gratuites et répondez à ma question (si vous êtes assez lucide) monsieur l'enivré de culture américaine.

      Delete
    9. "... little man from Sherbrooke..."

      James John Charesssst?

      Delete
    10. Actually Jean Charest never killed anyone with his car. Took a drunken seppie to do that. :-)

      Delete
    11. Oh boy, S.R is having so difficulty spelling his beloved superior language tonight while he's sucking up to his colonialist motherland...

      Delete
  38. FROM ED BROWN
    Cutie I think you should forget about referendum and partition. It is definitely not going to happen.
    With only 32% Francophones voting for it, Marois is not stupid enough to risk it. She will only go when she has winning conditions and they won't be for a few decades yet. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nous pouvons tout de même préparer le terrain.

      Delete
    2. Its naive to think the next referendum is decades away. The barrier at the moment is not so much the percentage of 'Oui' voters and winning conditions, it's that the PQ has a minority government. The opposition parties (primarily the Liberals) won't stand for it a referendum call.

      If and when the PQ gets its majority, even if it were next week (say through a coalition government) you can bet they'd suddenly "find" winning conditions. Doesn't take much effort to stir up the rhetoric and blame pot. If I remember correctly, just before the 1995 referendum support for sovereignty was low. They only gained support in the final few moments.

      Though referendum or no referendum, the PQ is doing its permanent damage to this province. Trust me.

      Delete
    3. By Mr.

      What do the PQ mean by winning conditions? Do they mean when their opponents, the traditional federalist anglos, and allophones leave Quebec? and they simply have to create an environment in which they would leave ? I just don`t see how else they could possibly have the winning conditions unless their opponents are gone. i cannot see people converting political alliances on this topic ( a separatist anglo is rare indeed, and for that reason anglos are seen as opponents to the separatist cause, hence the hostility towards the. What do you think they mean when they mention winning conditions?

      Delete
    4. Well Ed I agree with Apple and winning conditions will happen when they drive out as many of the federalists as they can, continue to brainwash the population that learning English will take away their rights as Francophones to speak French(trash)which they do everyday with the likes of SJBS and IF bunch as well as more than enough garbage in the french newspapers and things like the vigil. Right after she gets back from her very expensive trip to Africa with all her cohorts (when they aren't needed there at all) she'll start demanding power from Ottawa over communications and then try to cut the Anglos and Allos off any form of TV, radio and newspapers and get the Francophone separatists worked up when they are refused this power. This will be just the start - minority or not she's hell bent on causing problems for all of us so don't sit back and things are going to be just fine for the next few years because they're not. She won't let things be OK - not in their nature. They don't give a damn about out property values, the fact that people leave and no one will move in to pay the property taxes, little things like that, but don't get comfortable anyone. I hope we won't be caught with our pants down again! NO MORE POWER TO QUEBEC.

      Delete
    5. I think Marois will want to hit the gas on the referendum issue because if the next federal election were to bring someone like Trudeau to power, her already slim chances would flat out evaporate.

      Delete
    6. For sure Resident - she doesn't want anyone in at the Federal level that the Francophones may like.

      Delete
    7. Winning conditions = the francophones are angry enough they are ready to vote yes, and polls show this in the 40%+ range

      "ready to vote yes" is such an idiotic construct when I think about it though.
      It sounds more like a threat than a reason to dialogue.
      And what we need is for both sides to bend a little to achieve more than the sum of their parts.

      It bewilders me that there's no "Occupy" movement protesting in the streets, demanding that we all just try to accommodate each other a little more. Seems to me we need that more than we need anything else...

      Delete
    8. The fact that the PQ has to trick its own would-be supporters into voting yes speaks volume as to the vitality of the movement. They can't win without pulling a fast one.

      This is the gist of their failure. The PQ needs to pull tricks to eke out 50%+1 single vote. After this magical event, they would consider the question settled once and for all (unlike their opinion of the 1995 referendum, which won by 50%+more than 1 vote and therefore still needs to be repeated). I mean, come on, even the recent South Sudan referendum won by 98.8% of the vote! Now that’s clarity!!

      Delete
    9. Indeed, a 78.5% majority for East Timor is much more clear than Quebec's gargantuan task of even trying to achieve a simple majority of 50%+1 vote, if theirs were such a desirable alternative.

      Delete
  39. Michel Hébert on absurdity or unilingualism and the data PQ uses to radicalize Quebecers in Journal de Quebec

    http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/10/14/la-langue-etrangere

    ReplyDelete
  40. QCGN finds bilingualism's unifying force will help communication between majority and minority. It is the way of the future :)

    http://www.qcgn.ca/storage/website-resources/press-releases/2012/1016/Press%20Release%20OCOL%20Annual%20Report%202012.10.16.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  41. Marois cements it: no Referendum.
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/10/16/mtl-pauline-marois-referendum-hardly-conceivable.html

    ReplyDelete
  42. Le français semble pourtant être une langue étrangère pour les anglos car ils ont de la difficulté à prendre le métro à Montréal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. L'anglais semble pourtant aussi être une langue étrangère pour les francos car ils ont de la difficulté à saisir qu'on n'achète pas son linge chez Best Buy et sa télé chez Old Navy.

      Telle idiotie ne connaît aucune limite.

      Delete
    2. Pourquoi les anglos passaient tout droit aux "Arrêts" à Westmount et que nous avons dû installer des "stop"...Pour réduire le taux d'accidents ?

      Delete
    3. "qu'on n'achète pas son linge chez Best Buy et sa télé chez Old Navy"

      Target n'avait pas de section alimentation y'a 2 ans et maintenant oui.

      Delete
    4. Franchement, Yannick ! Why do you keep trying to engage him? You know perfectly well that there is no such thing as a pro-French measure that is too petty or idiotic to satisfy him! He's like a born-again Christian... there is no discussion possible.

      Delete
  43. Here is Francois Hollande's lukewarm response towards Quebec independence, just like Nicolas Sarkozy's was.

    Where is General de Gaulle when they need one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Paris et Québec souhaitent notamment favoriser des échanges entre jeunes en formation professionnelle et technique. "

      French students do seem especially attracted to Concordia and McGill. They're welcome to come.

      "Where is General de Gaulle when they need one?"

      Vive le Québec... libre. Vive l'Algérie... française.



      Delete
    2. "French students do seem especially attracted..."

      SOME French students do...Beaucoup mieux comme ça :)

      Delete
    3. "SOME French students do...Beaucoup mieux comme ça :)"

      What the fuck are you talking about?

      Please pick one language, then take a breath, and explain yourself carefully.

      Thanks for coming out Corky!

      Delete
    4. C'est à kiki que vous devriez demander des chiffres pour appuyer ses affirmations gratuites,pas à moi.Par exemple : Sur le total des étudiants Français qui viennent étudier au Québec,combien d'entre-eux vont à McGill vs ceux qui choisissent les universités francophones?
      Disons pour l'année scolaire 2010-1011.

      Delete
    5. You’re very funny, S.R, asking us to do your research for you. Last week, you invented some statistics, claiming you could provide a source for them, and when asked for such a source, you said we wouldn’t believe you anyway. Very sad and twisted of you…

      Delete
    6. Yannick,

      Would you lie and give a false answer if I guessed correctly?

      Delete
    7. Yannick,

      There is a reason I used "would" instead of "will".

      Delete
    8. R.S,

      I feel generous tonight, so this is the source that refutes S.R idiotic remarks.

      Delete
  44. Je crois que vous ne saisissez pas les subtilités de la langue française,n'est-ce pas troy?
    Une langue étrangère pour vous aussi je suppose? :)

    ReplyDelete
  45. France has their own problems - large ones - including their own separatists. As if they want to become involved in our problems. Besides, what the hell does quebec have in common with France besides a language (which is very difficult for the French from France and the French from Canada to understand one another). What does quebec expect France to do if they separate from Canada? Protect them militarily? Transfer the quebec population to France to reside? For God's sake Seppies - whether they approve or don't approve of you separating from Canada, they can't help you one damn bit and they would partner with the ROC anytime over you for exports, etc. God.


















    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How is it possible to do that undeliberately?

      Delete
    2. I guess not all of us are that familiar with working within blogs because it was not done on purpose. I can't tell you how it was done but I don't appreciate being called a liar; it was NOT DONE ON PURPOSE! WOW! Why would I do that on purpose? What would be my reasoning? Geez, get a life.

      Delete
    3. @What - It was not done deliberately. Some of us are not as used to working on blogs as others. Why would I do that deliberately? What would be my reason? For heaven's sake man, I don't even know how I did it. Geez.

      Delete
  46. Its amazing how its always something negative that inspires “winning conditions.“ Quebec is so fucked up and shitty it cannot just leave on its own merit. Very telling.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Referendum 'hardly conceivable' right now: Pauline Marois

    Strange, isn’t it, that she never played this up during the election campaign? Didn’t she pander to hard-line separatists by saying that the sovereignty issue would be front and centre before election day?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ummm, no, obviously not. And if it's so "inconceivable" to her this month, it was very disingenuous of her to pretend otherwise last month. Of course, all politicians are liars but she is a piece of work (not to mention the people who were stupid enough to fall for it).

      Delete
  48. FROM ED BROWN
    There will be no referendum. Even if she had Liberal help she could only order a referendum. Winning one is another thing. Only 32% are for which leaves 68% against. That's Francophones. Add to this 20 Anglos and she has no chance. She will not go against such odds. Ed

    ReplyDelete
  49. Ed - we must keep in mind that we'll be having another election, probably in the spring, and the only provincial party that is even remotely pro-Canadian is the Liberal party. If any other party, all separatist by the way, gets a majority, they will create problems with the Feds and whip up the population into a frenzy to call for another referendum. Our best solution is the creation of another provincial pro-Canadian party, perhaps called something like "Canadian Solidarity" or something like it to gather votes from people that are willing to sign the constitution and/or fight for partitioning of the province in the event of a 50+1 vote. This 50+1 vote would not be legal under the Supreme Court decision but could be used as ammunition to fight for areas that want to remain in Canada. We have to be ready to fight for our rights the next time around because anything less than that will encourage these seppies to keep running rip shod over our rights time and time again. NO MORE POWER TO QUEBEC AND BRING ON A PRO-CANADIAN PROVINCIAL PARTY!

    ReplyDelete
  50. There's nothing more dangerous than entrusting political power to the dogmatically driven, those special ideologues who believes with the conviction of a born again preacher that theirs is the only true and righteous path to salvation.

    People like Pierre Elliott Trudeau?

    ReplyDelete