Friday, November 2, 2012

French versus English Volume 66

Census data has all of Quebec atwitter

Wildly different opinions
I don't know of any society in this world which is as obsessed with a population census as we are in Quebec.
It is probably because the census provides concrete evidence of the rise or decline of language groups in Canada and particularly in Quebec.

The information is pretty cut and dried, but is subject to various subjective interpretations and bare-faced feats of cherry-picking by those wishing to push a particular language agenda.

Perhaps we can use the line from a Broadway musical to best describe the census;

"Something for everyone-A comedy tonight!"

French media coverage overwhelmingly pushed the alarmist line that French is in dangerous decline;

Le français poursuit son déclin au Québec
(French continues its decline in Quebec)
Le français toujours en déclin sur l'île de Montréal
(French declining in Montreal) 
Recensement 2011 : Le début de la fin du Québec français?
(2011 Census-the Beginning of the end of French?) 
While over on the English side, journalists had an opposite take on the subject;
Census shows language laws working
French ‘in decline’? It’s your fault
Montreal’s language affairs are not in a ‘catastrophic’ state
Oh well......

The media stories are a stark reminder of the different perceptions between Anglophones and Francophones.

In a survey polling attitudes of Canadians living in the National Capital region, which includes Hull and Ottawa, it's startling to note the differences.
The survey included three distinct groups, Ontario Anglophones, Ontario Francophones and Quebec Francophones and asked a variety of language and patriotism questions.

Read the story about the poll in the Ottawa Citizen

How obsessed are Quebec journalists with language?
A Victoriaville newspaper actually devoted a newspaper column describing it's language situation in regards to the new census which indicates that French as the mother tongue of local citizens has collapsed from a high of 98.7% back in 2001 to a disturbing 97.2% in 2011, a dangerous tilt towards Anglicization, no doubt! Link{Fr}

For a review of how language is broken down in Canada's major cities, read this article in the Vancouver Sun

Race for UQAM rectorship absolutely fabulous

Ex-union president and militant separatist Gerald Larose is vying for the top  position of UQAM, otherwise known as Separatist U.

I must admit that Mr. Larose would be a perfect fit, he typifies exactly the schools ultra-left wing/separatist philosophy and is a supporter of big government, entitlements and higher taxes.
He would fit in perfectly with all the dreamers, under-performers, fantasists and student layabouts that are the hallmark of UQAM.

There is only one small problem.
In applying for the job, Mr. Larose seems to have fudged his curriculum vitæ in claiming that he occupied a 'chair' at the university.
"In the CV submitted to the selection committee, Mr. Larose claimed  that he is the Chair of the socio-economic integration of unemployed persons at UQAM.  
The catch? This chair does not exist."
Mr. Larose was called out on the apparent misstatement  oversight  deception  error  boo-boo during a debate organized between the competing candidates. Link{fr}

The whole issue is growing into a real controversy after a professor defended Larose, saying that there are no hard and fast rules defining what actually constitutes a 'chair.' Link{Fr}
But this opinion was hotly rejected by Mario Morin, dean of the Faculty of Sciences at UQAM, who told le Devoir that such is not the case and that there are clear and precise criteria defining what is a 'chair'
"As Dean, I want to emphasize that this strict oversight has resulted in exceptional contributions from the Research Chairs at UQAM."Link{Fr}

Pauline's intensive English lessons paying off

Who says you can't learn another language later in life?
This was her a few short months ago;


 and this is her now ;



Quelle Différence!!

English civil servants lag Francophones in learning second language

"Despite his efforts to become bilingual, Michael Ferguson, the Auditor General of Canada, is finding it difficult, as are many civil servants in "passing the language proficiency test."

A newspaper story, claims that Prime Minister Harper regrets having named a unilingual English speaker to the job of Auditor General. Link

Mr Ferguson got a serious dressing down from Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe a Ndp MP from Quebec, who was frustrated by Ferguson's pitiful French.

"Mr. Ferguson, I appreciate very much your effort to speak in French, but unfortunately I think the committee is not the place to practice and I think I deserve a quick and efficient answer as much as my colleagues," she snapped.
"Is it possible to ask you to answer in English." Link
Ouch!!

According to a report Francophone civil servants are doing much better than their English counterparts in acquiring the 'other' official language.

Here is a summary of pass rates for tests for civil servant learning...
Written expression...... French 58%  English 80%  (Levels A, B, C)
Written expression...... French 45%  English 74%  (advanced)
Written comprehension...... French 76%  English 93%  (Levels A, B, C)
Oral comprehension...... French 67%  English 81%  (Levels A, B, C)
These courses are mandatory for certain civil servants who are not fluent in the other official language but are required to be so as part of their job description.
The number of civil servants who are deficient fell from 1.7% to 1% over the last five years  Link{Fr}

In another bilingualism story, the federal government is set to waste spend tens of thousands of dollars to offer one-on-one language training, for up to a year, to an employee with a learning disability and who has extreme difficulty learning French.
The government is ready to blow a whopping $100,000 to provide a personal tutor for up to 1700 hours of French lessons. Read the story

Not enough French instruction in Shawville English school

"A group of anglophone Quebecers in the Pontiac are upset over a language restriction they feel has been forced upon them: They aren’t getting enough French. At issue is the curriculum of Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School in Shawville.
Five years ago, the school had 320 students; now it has 220. Parents say the reason for the decline is the fact that many families don’t think the school teaches enough French. Worried that their children won’t become bilingual, a growing number of those parents are choosing to bus their kids to more distant French-board schools" Read the rest of the story

Another Montreal metro ticket taker flies off the language handle

Last Thursday I made this prediction;
 "So get set to see more sandwich throwers, more refusals by paramedics, metro ticket takers and bus drivers to speak English, they are being encouraged to do so." Link
 That prediction, in light of the story below, may seem somewhat prescient, but before taking too much credit for my ability to look into a crystal ball, it wasn't much of a stretch.

When you feed some poor shlub liquor the whole night, give him his car keys and send him on his way, it isn't much of a stretch to anticipate trouble.
Responsibility for all  these incidents can be laid directly at the door of language hotheads.
"A Montreal woman said she wants charges pressed against a public transit worker who she says assaulted her and ordered her to 'go back to your country,' after a disagreement over a faulty automatic metro fare machine....
....She said the woman told her to speak French and said, 'Go back to your country.'
Barak said that remark left her furious, and she then used a nearby telephone to lodge a complaint....
"At that moment, she was knitting — and she was giving me the finger at the same time," Barak said. "I told her, 'I am going to make sure you lose your job for what you said to me.'"
She said the clerk dropped her knitting, emerged from the booth, put her in a headlock and started to punch her repeatedly.
She said three witnesses, other commuters, stepped in to separate the pair. Read more


Now readers, I'm not going to comment on the veracity of the story, we've only heard one side...but..

I am reminded of a story told to me concerning a road rage incident where an acquaintance admitted to playing chicken with another driver, who took serious offence, got out of the car at a red light and charged him with a makeshift weapon, a snow scraper he had lying in his car.
The man was subsequently arrested and appeared before a judge where he was convicted of assault. 
"Why only me, he asked the judge, what about the other guy?"
The judge looked down from the bench and told him sternly that he is solely responsible because it is he who got out of the car......Case closed!
I think the ticket taker is in real trouble, not only with her job, but in the eyes of the law, that is if she really left her booth.....and readers, there is almost certainly a video of the incident, but count on the STM to guard it with its life.

Lost in all this is the fact that when confronted, the ticket agent was calmly knitting in her booth. I can only imagine the arrogance, to be goldbricking in plain sight.
If she isn't fired for attacking a client, perhaps a supervisor can gently remind her to restrict her hobby to her own time.
But hey, this is the STM and Quebec, where unionized employees are as hard to get rid of as stubborn case of herpes.

By the way, when the ticket taker realized or was told what kind of trouble she looking at, she hightailed it to the hospital feigning injury in an attempt to showcase herself as a victim.
Well-played!

Here is a quote from the insufferable Marvin Rotrand, a Montreal politician and one of the faithful apologists at the STM. Mr. Rotrand must love the gig, he long ago sold out his soul;
“The STM does not compel employees to speak any language other than French.
The STM notes that under Bill 101, it is not allowed to require employees to know a language other than French. There can be exceptions to the rule, in cases where “the nature of the duties requires such knowledge.”
The STM will not look into the possibility of requiring front-line employees to speak English, Rotrand said.” Link
Hmmm....

As I said in many posts before, all the STM has to do is designate a few people in each Metro station and bus drivers in the downtown area and the west end, as 'bilingual.'
Notwithstanding what Mr. Rotrand tells us, it is completely within the right of the transit authority to do so.
They could even give these designated bilinguals a small pay raise, it would make sense, and you'd think the money would probably satisfy the union.

You might think that but you'd be wrong!

The union is actually dead set against any such proposal because.....wait for it, it would punish unilingual employees and give an unfair advantage to those who are bilingual, something that violates the spirit of Bill 101.
I'm not making this up, I swear!

Readers, I don't think the STM can sweep this under the rug, especially if there is a video of an assault.

I fully expect the employee involved to declare a 'burnout' or stress-related condition, it's her best defence.
Maybe she should mount a defence based on diminished capacity as a result of depression or even go for it all with the infamous "Twinkie Defence"

By the way, the French media waited two full days after the English media reported the story to react.
This same thing happened with the incident of the sandwich thrower at the JGH.
Conspiracy?

Montreal Police continue their Keystone Kops escapades

What do the Montreal police do when they arrest the wrong person?

Police were looking for a black suspect in a hold-up and erroneously arrested the first black person they came upon.
Now if you are the Montreal police, you certainly don't apologize for the error, after all it is the victim's own fault for being Black and loitering so close to a crime scene involving a Black suspect.
And so in the spirit of the philosophy that the best defence is a good offence, you arrest the victim for resisting arrest!

This seems to have become standard operating procedure for Montreal police who screw up.
Arrest the victim as a measure of intimidation in the hope that they can trade away the arrest against a complaint or lawsuit.
Good for the police, not so good for the innocent victim, have a listen and tell me if you aren't outraged at the distress caused to this innocent family.
For shame!!!


 

Corruption inquiry witness claims former city politician guilty of fraud

The hits just keep coming at the Charbonneau commission, which is looking into fraud and corruption in Quebec's construction industry.
When Lino Zambito first made his blockbuster accusations that almost all the players....politicians, civil servants, outside consulting firms and construction industry bosses were crooked, it was almost too hard to believe.
But subsequent testimony seems to have confirmed that this is exactly the case.

This week another 'insider,' Elio Pagliarulo, a former cohort of construction magnate Frank Catania  (who is under indictment for corruption) spilled more beans, alleging  that Frank Zampino the former St. Leonard borough boss and Mayor Tremblay's number two man for many years, (he abruptly resigned his job at city hall to work for Tony Accurso, another controversial figure under indictment for corruption,) was as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks. Mr Zampino is also presently under indictment for corruption.
"The former chair of Montreal’s executive committee was “corrupted” by construction bosses attempting to cheat the city’s system for awarding public contracts, the Charbonneau Commission inquiry heard on Monday, and accepted cash payments and high-end kitchen renovations from at least one entrepreneur in exchange for political favours....
On top of the $300,000 kickback, the commission heard that Zampino got his kitchen remodelled courtesy of the Catanias, to the tune of $250,000.
Read the stunning account of  Pagliarulo's testimony story, a gripping saga worthy of any mafia crime novel. Link
Zampino's lawyer, Isabelle Schurman, was  quick to deny Pagliarulo's allegations. She told reporters that;
"Monday’s damning testimony about Frank Zampino before the Charbonneau Commission is “false, untrue and outrageous,” lawyer Isabelle Schurman claims." Link
Now if Zampino and his lawyer are serious about impeaching  Mr. Pagliarulo's testimony, they can do so rather easily.
How about a visit to the Zampino home for a tour of the kitchen?
It's pretty hard to hide a $250K re-model.
If reporters find IKEA cabinets and Kenmore appliances, I'll be the first to agree that the allegations are false, but if he's got Wolfe and SubZero appliances and perhaps Poggenpohl cabinets......well....

Adding to the bizarre nature of the story, is Zampino's demand that the city actually pay for his legal defence, the very definition of chutzpah. Link

Marois' big plans

Pauline Marois bastardizes the Poppy, defacing it with a superimposed Fleur-de-lys
Facing the National Assembly Pauline Marois walked on eggshells as she tried to forge some sort of agenda that was acceptable to the opposition.
Of course she announced that she would be introducing an enhanced Bill 101, but downplayed or ignored other PQ promises like Quebec citizenship, a charter of secularism, etc. etc.

All of this is rote, the only surprise was her relative timidness and the whole subject not worthy of a blurb in this post.....except for this monumentally stupid pearl.
"A parliamentary commission will be created to study the relevance and impact of a law which would fix book prices. The Government wishes to support authors, publishers and booksellers from Quebec who can not compete against the big box stores that offer discounts from 25% to 30% off the suggested retail price of bestsellers." Link{Fr}
Ha!
I bet you weren't aware of that beauty!
It has inspired me to work on a post concerning the Quebec government's attitude (both Liberal & PQ) to interfere in the marketplace to the detriment of society.

An English mayor for Montreal?

Mayor Gerald Tremblay is taking a few days off to recover from the painful allegations that he was aware of corrupt fundraising practices of his Union Montreal political party.
"A witness at the Quebec corruption inquiry appears to have driven a dagger into the heart of Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s political career.
In the latest bombshell to rock the mayor’s office, a former organizer for Tremblay’s party told the Charbonneau commission that the mayor walked out of a meeting after being told about illegal contributions to his campaign.
“I don’t want to know about that,” Tremblay said, according to Martin Dumont, who testified at the inquiry Tuesday."  Link
"I don't want to know about that" 
Perhaps my caricature of Mayor Tremblay as Sergeant Shultz from Hogan's Heroes in a post a while back was more apropos than I thought.
Those of us old enough, remember the bumbling prison guard of Stalag 13 who turned a blind eye to prisoner escapades, spouting his infamous catchphrase, "I see nutink, I know nutink!"
Yup, sounds like our good mayor!

 In light of the revelations, 75% of Montrealers want him to resign immediately.

The media is abuzz with speculation as to his successor. La Presse did a poll and it was no surprise that Denis Coderre can have the mayoralty if he wants it.
Read the story in La Presse{Fr}

Gerald Tremblay is actually at 7% support, the lowest number I've ever seen a sitting politician garner.

Now for some fun!
If Gerald Tremblay resigns tomorrow, guess who will likely fill in as mayor......Michael Applebaum the second highest ranking politician and chairman of the city's executive council.
Mr. Applebaum is an anglo Jew from the west end of the city and it begs the question whether he would be acceptable.

Remember a while back we had some fun with a piece written by Rick Blue entitled "Why the Mafia is better than Separatists" in which he joked around that anglos should better vote for a mobster than a separatist Link
The question to ask our francophone friends is whether Applebaum is acceptable or is it better to stick with the alleged corrupt Mayor Tremblay?
If that happened, I'd love to see the look on Benoit Dutrizac's face? Link


Odds'n ends

Montreal one of the top 10 best cities in the world: Lonely Planet

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Road in front of Hospital to be named after alleged crook Arthur Porter

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Quebec companies pay 26 % more taxes than their competitors in Canada and twice as much as in the United States.  In French 

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Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois the smarmy ex-leader of the most radical of Quebec's students associations has been found guilty of inciting his followers to disobey a court injunction, something that judges frown upon.
The conviction shouldn't surprise anyone, pissing off the courts who are then going to render judgment on your behaviour is never a good idea.
Jail time?...depends how pissed off the judge was. Link

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Horrors! Toronto to get permanent Cirque du Soleil venue before Montreal 


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I hope you had a great Halloween, but does anyone recognize this zombie seen skulking around the National Assembly?



 Our Prime Minister opened up 24 Sussex Drive for a Halloween photo op.
Not to be insulting and no offence to the kids, but what parent would send their kids to the Prime Minister's home in the lamest costumes I ever seen, quite an embarrassment.


Let me leave you with a smile, wishing you all a great weekend! Bonne Fin de Semaine!......



88 comments:

  1. An anglo mayor is just what Montreal needs. Politicians need to stop ignoring history and accept the fact that Montreal is in fact a bilingual city, both historically and presently, and thus should be officially designated as such. I mean for gosh's sake what was the point of changing it to officially french in the first place?

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    1. EDM , You're dreaming in Technicolor....

      By the way isn't Applebaum on the executive committee as well?
      The same committee accused of sharing in all this bribe money?

      I say put the whole Lott in jail!!!

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    2. Change the city charter and declare it bilingual.

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    3. Great way to spark the separatists...

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    4. Fuck the separatists. For too long they've been allowed to run roughshod over common sense and divide us rather than unite us, despite their supposed socialist rhetoric.

      These are the same people who brought Patriote flags to this spring's student protests (who in their right mind would ever bring a Confederate flag to an Occupy Wall Street protest?).

      These are the same people who are now protesting this week's decision against Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (seemingly these people like the idea of courts and commissions -- provided the conclusions arrived at resonate with their own agenda).

      When things don't go their way, they throw public tantrums and wreak havoc until they are placated. You know who else behaves that way? Spoiled toddlers.

      If giving both official languages equal treatment in our city's charter is enough to send the separatists in a tizzy, I say good. It would say less about our linguistic landscape (we've had a greater proportion of English-speakers in Montreal the past) than it would about the intellectual makeup of the separatist movement's supporters itself.

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    5. +1, Apparatchik! People are not living in mortal fear of upsetting delicate seppie sensibilities anymore. That time is over.

      And this is OUR city too!

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    6. Couldn't agree more - tired of walking on eggshells around the seppies - they are either in or out of Canada and the faster this is done the better off we'll all be. As long as they sit on the fence waiting for a "spark" the worse off this country is. IN OR OUT - Let's make a decision and partition this place before all of us go down the tubes with the seppies.

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  2. So, written comprehension pass rates are higher than oral comprehension pass rates in both languages. Glad you settled this dispute between me and Ed.

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    1. The Quebec Partition,

      This might interest you.

      According to linguist Konstantin Andreev, the first step in learning a language is being to understand something that is written (instance : reading a restaurant menu), the second step is being to say something (instance : ordering something after reading that menu). The third step is being able to understand something that is said directly to you (instance : understanding what the waiter tells you).

      Being able to read something is really the first step. (In the context of second language learning at adult age...)

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GCLYYNmu5g&feature=relmfu (Go straight to around 5:00 if you don't want to listen to it all)

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    2. I mean "...being ABLE to understand...".

      I really miss this Delete button...

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    3. Les enfants apprennent leur langue maternelle avant de savoir lire. Si tu as appris l'anglais assez jeune, probablement que tu comprenais l'oral avant l'écrit. C'est différent aussi si tu es dans un contexte d'immersion.

      Tu as sans doute appris l'espagnol plus tard et à un âge où tu as déjà l'expérience d'apprendre des choses à l'aide de documents écrits et dans un milieu où l'espagnol n'est pas omniprésent. Dans ce contexte, tu comprends l'écrit avant l'oral.

      Le linguiste du vidéo que j'ai cité parle du cas d'un adulte qui apprend par lui-même une autre langue qui lui est totalement inconnue.

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    4. FROM ED BROWN
      Yannick, Like you I was talking French with the kids I played with when I was ten having learned it on the street. We didn't have written French until I was in high school. Of course speaking is more important because you need it every day. You only need the written when you get government mail. Ed

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    5. By the time I was five, I spoke 4 languages. French English Polish & Ukrainian. Aujourd'hui cinq:
      Français, Anglais, Polonais, Ukrainien et Québécois

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    6. OK, since I started this discussion, I'll try to conciliate the various arguments. I'm glad that research (thanks Michel) and some hard facts (thanks Editor) back up my point, however I'll acknowledge that those who learned a second language in a less "conventional" fashion might struggle more with the written word than the spoken one, so: I wasn't wrong, but nor is Ed.

      I suppose, the rationale is that if you live surrounded by the sounds of a language that isn't your native one (Ed's experience), those sounds will be more familiar, with time, than they would be to someone who lives where only his native language is spoken (my experience, and the general case for native citizens of a unilingual country/state/province). So, in some cases, the third step really becomes the first. I'll have that humble pie, but without witchety grubs, please.

      Just to put an end to the hostilities on this point: I suppose that speed-reading techniques don't particularly lend themselves well to being applied to inflected languages, where verbs can have dozens of different forms whilst retaining essentially the same meaning. I'm not sure why someone would choose to adopt such techniques, but then: each to his own, evidently they are useful in the context where they are used. But this explains why people like Ed might find French "slow" (to be fair to him, he mentioned speed-reading a few times, but never explained why he found French slow, even in that context). As a personal note, as a native speaker of another inflected language, I'd say that one of the virtues of English is (at least when I'm not the one writing in it, as you can see...) its conciseness: I can't vouch for French, but in Italian there is a tendency towards verbosity, especially when writing a formal text, that makes comprehension rather laborious, hence the need for re-reading.

      Finally:

      You only need the written when you get government mail.

      I doubt I'm ever going to find a point of agreement with Ed. But let's leave it at that.

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  3. Nadeau-Dubois --> Send him to jail.

    Tremblay --> Jail time as well.

    Every single member of the PQ, BQ and QS --> to be tried on the grounds of sedition and enacting measures that are counter-productive to the continued development, growth and sustainability of our society and infrastructure.

    STM --> For Ottawa to step in, trump legal statues and dissolve the unions or force a PPP that would be legally entitled to dissolve the union.

    Today's post just makes me think of something a buddy of mine consistently repeats and I'm beginning to believe...

    ...Quebec MUST be destroyed and completely re-built from the ground up. There's a cancerous tumor in each part of the body.

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    1. Rr: corruption scandal... I think Marois, on behalf of Quebeckers, should apologize to MacLeans. It turns out they were right. What a sight that would be!

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    2. Unfortunately, until we get some provincial parties that are willing and able to stand up to the unions, the corruption, collusion and outrageous demands and/or salaries demanded for menial work (STM e.g.) this province will never get ahead. As I've said before, the kids have no reason to continue in school if they can make 25/hr painting your house and/or driving a bus and your doctor is paid $35/hr for looking after his patient. Following the students getting away with breaking the law and the PQ government willing to say OK to that, we have shown the unions that they can break the law any time they want and we will cave to any outrageous demands they make. Sad state of affairs and to pay for all this they will just continue to raise our taxes until we all have one standard of living. Working for a pension all my life will not matter because they will tax me to the point that I may as well not have saved for retirement. Just f------ wonderful.

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    3. So far the only party talking about taking on the unions is the CAQ. No other party wants to even touch this. Do I believe the CAQ will accomplish everything they say..NO..but at least there is a willingness to try.
      The real problem in Quebec is that so many people depend on the government for their pay or welfare benefits that its really hard for a party to be elected who says they will cut government spending and take on the unions. We have allowed the bureaucracy to grow way too much and now like in France its very hard to take all these goodies away.

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    4. I would like to see some Federalist provincial party take on the unions instead of another separatist bunch.

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    5. Holy crap, Resident Evil, I completely agree with you.

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    6. Give more control to the federal over Quebec and you'll see support for independence considerably rise in polls.

      It's a slippery path.

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    7. Holy crap,Guillaume,i completely agree with you

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    8. Between a megalomaniacally centralizing provincial government that pretends it's a separate country and a federal government that would claim additional powers not granted by the constitution, I'm not quite sure that the latter is necessarily worse.

      I agree it's a slippery path likely to enrage those (mostly French-Canadians who reject the label) already hostile to Canada, but I agree with Resident Evil. Waste and corruption in federalist-leaning circles, just like waste and corruption in separatist-sympathetic circles, are both the byproducts of the gangrenous polarization of society wrought by the Quiet Revolution's obsession with ethnicist control of all levers of Quebec society. Everybody's carved out their own niche within an ecosystem (sic) of government-sanctioned, progress-impeding bloat, waste, and corruption. "Corruption" and "collusion" didn't begin at the end of the last PQ cycle.

      The separatists' ongoing obsession with shutting Italian construction magnates and their mafia networks out of the tendering process for infrastructure projects only speaks to a small part of the issue. Until I see as much iconoclasm waged against our province's innate inclination toward counter-productive sedition, union bloat, and divisive identity politics, I can't take Pauline's attempted "ménage" as an attempt to set our province straight. At best, she'll succeed at replacing corrupt Italians with corrupt French-Canadians, much as the Quiet Revolution itself replaced exploitative anglophones with exploitative francophones.

      By péquiste logic, that might indeed be a noble goal.
      To the two-thirds of the rest of us who didn't vote for the castafiore, it's one step forward, one and a half back.

      Amen, Resident Evil. This fascination with promoting/fighting the nation-building for a country that hasn't materialized has caused us to neglect the very society we've not-so-inadvertently evolved into.

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    9. Not if the Fed implement a system of strategic undercutting, starting with the unions in Quebec, who in my opinion are worse than the separatists, because they use seppies as the pawns that they are.

      The majority of the Quebecois are showing signs of wanting something different. Something beyond the question of national identity.

      They're disgusted by what they see at the Charbonneau Commission. I mean, take a look back at McClean's magazine touting Quebec as the most corrupt province in Canada. The typical initial reaction was to call them Quebec-bashers....

      Now no one in the entire province can say that about McCleans with a straight face. It's not Quebec-Bashing - it's the fucking truth.

      I GUARANTEE you that if you dismantle the unions and the separatist movement, things would change very rapidly for Quebec.

      If you give the Quebecois the tools they need to finally throw off the shackles of neo-French socialist bullshit and take greater belief their abilities as individuals, the sovereignist movement will disappear once and for all.

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    10. Yes, now that the public can actually see the amount of corruption within their own cities and their own elected officials, they may finally learn to think for themselves instead of having the unions and/or the provincial governments making their decisions for them all the time. When they start to realize that these people are making these decisions to line their own pockets instead of "helping the people" maybe they will rise up against them and learn to stand on their own two feet. All they have to do is pull back the blinders and we could see a whole new attitude in Quebec. We sure could use a politician that is willing to "sock it to-em" to turn the tide.

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  4. Double +1 for Diogenes

    Unions really are a refuge for weak, courage-less who don't have the first idea how to generate an income honestly.

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  5. Anyone else think it's curious how Franco-Ontarians, who according to separatist rhetoric are the target of an ethno-linguistic genocide and are practically on the verge of extinction, seem to be less worried about the status of French in the National Capital Region than their counterparts in Quebec?

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    1. I'm actually encouraged by and a lot more sympathetic to francophones outside Quebec. If anybody ought to be listened to, it is they and not the shit disturbers at SSJB Montreal headquarters.

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  6. The STM thing is despicable, the young black fellow who was falsely arrested was equally despicable, but this seems to be life in fascist Quebec. If you're not white, Roman Catholic, French mother-tongued and several generations of those first three criteria, you're a second-class citizen. This has become the way of things the last half century in Quebec. In many ways the bad is getting worse because the governing party is overtly spewing racist rhetoric and so it legitimizes individuals, especially small-minded ones, to emulate the lowest common denominator.

    The police force is laced with rabid racists and egomaniacs like Badge sept-deux-huit! As the editor wrote several months ago, keeping the black community on edge is an objective of theirs.

    All this badly reflects on Quebec, and if tourists are being shouted at for speaking English on the streets, it will have a negative effect on the tourist industry, mostly through negative word of mouth. Too, it eclipses the one positive, redeeming thing the bitchy premier has done - improve her English.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "and if tourists are being shouted at for speaking English on the streets"

      Nous ne sommes pas fous à ce point...Nous leur demandons avant de tirer.

      Delete
    2. I wouldn't be surprised if that Applebaum fellow is overlooked as an interim replacement for Tremblay. That would go over about as well as hiring Randy Cunneyworth as the Habs' coach last season - who was then thrown under the bus by his hirer just days later.

      If Applebaum (unlikely) becomes the interim mayor, like political activist Howard Galganov before him, he'll be labelled in the French language media as the «anglo-juif». That is no less racist than the derogatory innuendos still used in the American South to describe black people, but not in the mainstream media. Despicable!

      Delete
    3. "Nous ne sommes pas fous à ce point...Nous leur demandons avant de tirer."

      And seppies fear the erosion of French? As you can see here AlcoWelfareTroll thinks the term "shout" means "shoot".

      For the time being, Quebec does not deserve a tourist industry and though I find it upsetting to see the way the STM is comporting itself, I do pray for one more anti-Anglo incident...

      ...this time against an American journalist who'll write about it in the New York Times and have his story picked up by 60 Minutes, CNN and spread the shame Quebec deserves.

      PS - LET'S KEEP THIS A HAPPY FRIDAY BY DEPRIVING THE ALCOWELFARETROLL OF ANY DIGITAL NOURISHMENT, SHALL WE?

      Delete
    4. Je voulais dire : Nous leur demandons avant de tirer...des conclusions.

      Delete
    5. These separatists do not deserve anyone to visit this province - if the publicity gets bad enough, and it will given a few more of these STM confrontations, people will visit other parts of Canada rather than take a chance of being accosted on the street for speaking the language that 99.9% of North America speaks. More money spent elsewhere because of this backward place. I'm sure that the PQs know that we don't need the money - lol











      Delete
    6. Out of the 10 countries in continental North America, only three have English as the language of the majority. Doesn't exactly sound like 99.9% to me, just saying. Either way, though, it's completely discriminatory to tell someone what language to speak. According to the separatists' logic, shouldn't they be saying "En Québec, nous parlons iroquoienne, cri, micmac et algonquin!"? I think everyone should have the right, not privilege, to communicate whatever language they want wherever they want.

      Delete
    7. North America contains three countries: Canada, the United States, and Mexico. If you're going to count countries, that's 2/3 of North America with English as the language of majority. If you're going to count total population regardless of borders, the percentage will be a bit higher.

      Now even if you meant to say the "Americas" as in both South & North, you'd still be wrong, as only two countries have English as the majority language.

      "I think everyone should have the right, not privilege, to communicate whatever language they want wherever they want"

      Agreed!

      Delete
    8. Central America is part of North America as well, just a subcontinent like India. This includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. All of these have Spanish as the language of majority, except for Belize which has English as the majority language.

      Delete
    9. I confess I did not know that about Belize. Also I find myself guilty of a very American-like generalization of Central America. For shame.

      Delete
  7. Un peu comme les courtiers financiers finalement.

    ReplyDelete
  8. FROM ED BROWN
    We need to do something to make the Francos know we're here and intend to live free. The ideal thing at this time would be a nus strike like the Rosa Parks incident did in Montgomery Alabama. When they start losing money they will notice. It also would make great press. Unfortunately, I don't think the English have the spunk to do it. Howard Galganov proved that. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it a bit pretentious to compare your "battles" to those fought by the black people in the USA?

      Delete
    2. Faudrait demander l'avis du docteur Troy qui a diagnostiqué chez moi des troubles d'ordre schizophrénique,je ne suis peut-être pas le seul sur ce blogue finalement.

      Delete
    3. Oups...Erratum...C'est LE CHAT qui a posé ce diagnostique.Mes excuses à Mister Troy.

      Delete
    4. Ed, the Francophones, being the less affluent, are the biggest users of the transit system. The Rosa Parks boycott was effective because the black people were the biggest users of their bus system so naturally they had the biggest impact. It's not as if an Anglo boycott wouldn't have an effect, but it wouldn't have anywhere the effect the black boycott did in Mongomery, AL.

      I'll go along with you re the complacency of the community as we learned previously through Howard Galganov.

      Delete
  9. Pauline has given in to pressure once again and removed the Fleur-de-lys from her poppy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yet another one of this matron's cynically opportunistic ploys where win = lose.

      Then again, those who put Canadian flags inside their poppies are about as irritating. War is hell, divisive nationalism has led to numerous wars, and here we are making political hay, irrefutably demonstrating that we've learned nothing from the very conflicts we're supposedly "commemorating".

      We really do need another flood.

      Delete
  10. Received a reply from IKEA that they are looking into the matter of why their flyers are being sent in french only format. Wrote back thanking them and mentioning that the SSJB and IF are probably responsible for the removal of bilingual advertisements and reminded them that Bill 101 entitles the anglophone population to receive written materials in English. Will post any further developments.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Would be interested in what pressure the witch received to remove the symbol. Someone she would listen to? Seems unlikely that it was anyone in her party - perhaps families of soldiers killed or wounded in one or more of the many wars we've been involved in over the years. Anyway, I'm glad it's back to its original design - our military deserve our respect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cutie: It WAS military families who made the most noise along with their legions.

      Delete
  12. ****ERRATUM***

    Readers, I erred in saying that Michael Applebaum would likely succeed Mayor Tremblay in the case of a resignation.

    Should that resignation come and I predict it will, Jane Cowell-Poitras, a municipal councillor from Lachine would accede to the mayor's chair.
    Ms. Cowell-Poitras is also ENGLISH and when I say English, she is originally from England.

    But she probably won't be mayor for long.

    Rules say that within 30 days after a mayor's resignation, his party (in this case, Union Montreal) would hold a secret ballot to elect a new Mayor and I don't think that any Anglo has a chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I saw that Jane Cowell-Poitras could become mayor of Montréal my reaction was : "Ah non! Dis-moi pas qu'une ostie de canadienne-anglaise va diriger ma ville!

      But now I know she's from England, so she's a first-class anglo-saxon, I have no problem at all that she accede to the mayor's chair. But no more than thirty days.

      Delete
    2. It's not his fault, Edgar.

      He's a small potato without a future...if you were hopeless and uneducated, I'm sure you'd have the same attitude.

      Delete
    3. I suppose when the best you can aspire to be is a big fish in a small pond, you get that sort of attitude.

      Delete
    4. Hey folks, this is nothing new. To me anyway, the proof putting Francophones who achieve on a pedestal as opposed to "les autres" goes back to Rocket Richard. There has been discussion about whether Richard would have been as idolized had he been seen on TV. There is no doubt his achievements in hockey have been great, but radio leaves far more to the imagination than TV does.

      You have people like William Shatner, Leonard Cohen, Moses Znaimer, Oscar Peterson and other Montrealers who have gone on to achieve international fame, but will never be idolized in Quebec with the same impact various hockey players and Celine Dion have been. They have their idols, and the rest of us have ours.

      Delete
  13. Ah Ah - From the veterans themselves - great - I hope they complain about other things as well - she sure doesn't listen to us.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Here's one of those "Odds and Ends" that should raise an eyebrow or two. Remember how back in September 2006, a boys Chassidic school operated by the Skver community in Outremont, Toldos Yakov Yosef, was firebombed and it was caught on video and widely shown across the country? Two young guys were eventually convicted for what was described by the judge as an act of terror and one of them is still behind bars.

    Fast forward to the June 2011 provincial exams in the French and English languages, the results of which were just recently released by the Quebec education department. Guess which of the 120 private schools which teaches in French ranked first? The girls school of that very same Skver community.

    Imagine that. With Yiddish as their mother tongue and French probably their third language, those Chassidic teenage girls, who are taught in French, outranked the best of French Canada's private schools, all of whom pre-select their students. They outranked Brébeuf, Notre-Dame, you name it - in French! http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/publications/publications/EPEPS/Sanction_etudes/Rapport-epreuves_2011_a.pdf (page 55)

    Now, I wonder if a single French Canadian media source would dare make this public?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Money should be raised and it should be put up on a billboard for all to see! You want to humble these people, embarrass them!

      Delete
    2. No, not humble or embarrass anyone. Just state the facts. But have you ever read anything positive about the Chassidic communities in the French language press? Try doing a google search and see what comes up.

      The crime of the century. The Satmar synagogue (and yeshiva) came to an understanding with their neighbour across the lane, the Young Men's Christian Association - to frost 3 windows and lo and behold, the Bouchard Taylor Commission was set up, during which every evening on a daily basis we bore witness to the public humiliation of Quebec's minorities and an outpouring of vicious prejudice and ignorance. (Like Quebec is just chock full of Roman Catholic churches with full pane windowed exercise clubs facing their courtyards).

      Those hate filled antisemitic hoodlums who firebombed a children's school also tried to firebomb another institution. A "Y" as it turns out. The Young Men's - Young Women's Hebrew Association. How much attention did the French language Quebec media devote to that "act of terror"? 3 frosted windows vs. 2 firebombings, the trashing of summer homes in Val Morin, the smashing of all the windows of Muslim children's school. Now, tell me, which did we hear about more, ad infinitum to be exact. Why?

      Delete
    3. I wouldn't read too much into those grades. Students from École Mont-Royal got better grades than Brébeuf. Trust me, I know both school fairly well and something just doesn't work here. Exams probably weren't corrected the same way everywhere. Also, they were only 28 exams taken for "Les écoles communautaires Skver, Campus Outremont (section française)" Like, we've seen with the census, it's easy to use numbers to deform reality!

      Delete
    4. See page 5 of the report. The important components of the exams were corrected by the Quebec educational department itself and not the schools.

      "The Belief Disconfirmation Paradigm

      Dissonance is aroused when people are confronted with information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. If the dissonance is not reduced by changing one's belief, the dissonance can result in restoring consonance through misperception or rejection or refutation of the information, seeking support from others who share the beliefs, and attempting to persuade others."
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

      In short, prejudice.

      Delete
    5. Call that prejudice if you want...I still believe that 28 is a very small sample. Why were there only 28 exams taken? Is that the entire number of grade 5 children attending this school? I would like to have the answers to those questions before calling them the best ranked private school in Quebec.

      Maybe they could be considered the best, it's not impossible. However, I have the right to question the validity of this rank, especially since we have so little information. Also, numbers don't always tell the whole story, that's why I wouldn't jump so early on conclusions.

      Delete
  15. FROM ED BROWN
    At the trial of Paul Rose and Francis Simard the two that murdered Bernard Lortie, Jacques Rose told how his brother and Simard put a wire and Lortie's throat and squeezed until he was dead. Two years later Paul walks out free because it was found he was not there at the time of the murder. Huh?
    In 1982 the three received a standing ovation at a Parti Quebecois convention. And we need an investigation to find out why Quebec is corrupt. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed, who is Bernard Lortie? Do you mean Pierre Laporte?

      Interesting you should bring up this topic. I called my M.P.'s office here in Ontario about a program I want more information about three weeks ago, so after two calls in and no responses, I sent my M.P. an e-mail, cc'ing Harper's office and the party whip to see if someone there could remind my M.P. that her duty is to consult with her constituents on question posed to her.

      In my anger, I went into the Ashley Smith affair, the adolescent girl who ended up dead for throwing crabapples at a postal worker. She was mentally ill and treated like an animal, moved around to 9 facilities over 17 months, restricted, constricted and just plain tortured, to the point she took her own life while prison officials witnessed her final curtain call without lifting a finger to help. In my message, I compared the pathetic plight of this young woman to the fact the FLQ terrorists, who actually deliberately commited premeditated murder, walked away free as birds and were hailed heroes. I stated what I witnessed with this young woman is something I'd expect from the likes of the KGB and Hitler's SS. Both incidents are a national disgrace!

      Delete
    2. Couldn't agree more Mr. Sauga. She needed help and we, as a society, let her and her family down. Crab apples for Christ sake! Yes, both are a national disgrace.

      Delete
    3. FROM ED BROWN
      Yes Mr. Sauga, I meant Pierre Laporte. Lortie was the fourth gang member of that cello. Ed

      Delete
  16. Editor,

    The list of 10 best cities is a joke. New York and London did not even make the list.

    ReplyDelete
  17. A few posts up, I made a comment about how the Feds should go about taking control without igniting sovereignist fervor.

    Part tow to that would be this - since so many Quebecois boast that they're "environmentally conscious"...even when they've been found to be some of the worst polluters in the country, why not offer a little something to the more stubborn seppies...

    ...after the "new Quebec" I mentioned a few posts up becomes a reality.

    Instead of tossing our trash into a landfill, let's use it to build a brand new island off the coast of Quebec and send them all there.

    We'll even let them call themselves "une nation"

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I know Editor covered this in his previous blog post, but just a few more words on JF Lisee. I think Editor got it spot-on that we’re to be extremely sceptical about him. If one considers what JFL has said and done in the past, in regards to the Anglo community in particular, you would have to venture a guess that Marois is really not fond of him for having saddled him with his present assignment. It is no secret that he harbors some kind of aversion to Anglos yet she puts him in charge of Anglo relations? Either she wanted to stick to him, or she wanted to stick it to the Anglo community. In actuality, she accomplished both. So he wakes up every day, I would bet my last dollar, just hating his job; and in a way, isn’t it of poetic justice ? I would also bet that the first chance he gets; he’ll pounce and get even.

    In any event, no one should expect anything from this guy in terms of improvements or progress at any level where Anglos and minorities are concerned. He’s there completely for lip service and no one is fooled. Except that I’m really bugged about the fact that he’s earning a paycheck in the process. Yet again the tax payers take one for the team. Bloody frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What are politicians but big bags of wind who are very generous with our tax dollars? Being a politician in the opposition - permanently - is a cinchy job. They shoot their mouths off like loose canons and get well paid for it - and do little else. What a dream job! Ask Gilles Duceppe.

      Delete
  19. Very frustrating and expensive - we can't even communicate with this man because I'm sure all these seppies would sit around a table somewhere having wine (supplied by some contractor) and have a big laugh at the expense of the Anglophone and Allophone communities, reading the correspondence aloud and slapping their knees in applause at our stupidity in trying to send any kind of message. Makes me sick. Wouldn't waste 3 minutes trying to appeal to their sense of fair play and/or justice for any of us in this province. Let's hope for a dignified, well spoken new leader of the Liberal Party in Quebec and an even faster election before the PQ can do much more damage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "I'm sure all these seppies would sit around a table somewhere having wine (supplied by some contractor)"

      Jean-François est péquiste pas "liberal".

      Seriously cu*tie...Take the 401 asap.

      Delete
  20. Des Torontois manifestent en appui à Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

    http://tinyurl.com/csk6jqu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I don't get that. Apparently this hyped-up "Maple Spring" that they're calling the demonstrations is getting a lot of attention from Central Canada, there have been student organizers asked to tour over there. Why, though? The students didn't actually do anything of note except break things and cry.

      Personally I think that to compare the demonstrations to the Arab Spring is typical of Quebecois' self-aggrandizement. Immense exaggeration. They really didn't accomplish anything: the PQ got the student vote and kept a promise against an extremely unpopular government, whoopty fuck.

      Overthrowing a couple of dictatorial governments through armed revolt is something to celebrate, not throwing a temper tantrum on a massive scale.

      PS, I was a "carre vert", can you tell?

      Delete
    2. FROM ED BROWN
      I wonder if the students were French or led by some seps from Quebec. Anyway, his judge might say, "you see what you started." I'd laugh if they put him in jail. Ed

      Delete
  21. FROM ED BROWN
    Congratulations everyone, we passed the whole post so far without answering SR. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Je n'ai pas dit mon dernier mot Mr.Brown

      Delete
    2. Hey Ed,

      It sure has been nice, hasn't it?

      But what makes me laugh is being ignored seems to have no effect - when seppies want to be heard they'll bang their heads into a wall, despite the result.

      Anyhow, here's a little message for any and all separatists who showed even a glint of agreement with what's happened with the metro workers, the ambulance driver who was ready to let a little girl die over language and who thinks Nadeau-Dubois got an unfair shake:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn5uGg9M9ow

      Delete
    3. Hey Ed,

      It sure has been nice, hasn't it?

      But what makes me laugh is being ignored seems to have no effect - when seppies want to be heard they'll bang their heads into a wall, despite the result.

      Anyhow, here's a little message for any and all separatists who showed even a glint of agreement with what's happened with the metro workers, the ambulance driver who was ready to let a little girl die over language and who thinks Nadeau-Dubois got an unfair shake:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn5uGg9M9ow

      Delete
  22. Heard on the CTV news from Montreal last night that the NDP are talking about forming a provincial party but can't make up their minds if it should be Federalist or separatist. I don't get it - Do we need ANOTHER separatist provincial party? What are these people thinking? When they joined Jack Layton's party, why didn't they join the Bloc instead? How many provincial separatist parties are there anyway - approximately 5 if I remember correctly. Guess we can't tell the difference in the Federalist NDP Party of who's who without reading about each and every one of them. It's a coin toss now and of course it will hurt them in the ROC when it comes election time. Mulcair has asked them to concentrate on the Federal party for now.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I would love to see the NDP loose most of the seats and end up with one or 2 seats. I want to see Uncle Tom loose his own seat in the next election. It wasn't uncle TOm but Jack Layton that started the NDP on its path to be Bloc Quebecois light.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Cutie,

    Uncle Tom doesn't want a provincial wing just yet because it will expose the NDPs two face policies, one for Quebec and one for the rest of Canada

    ReplyDelete
  25. I agree Jarry - it's just so damn stupid. It's the most frustrating province in the whole country because it doesn't know if it's bored or punched. The seats they hold in the ROC are going to be interesting if even one seppie is outed. I wonder how Tom thinks he can hold this all together when someone speaks out publicly for separation and his members in the ROC try to work with them. Perhaps they can recruit some members of the Tea Party from Alberta (wouldn't surprise me) - then his party will have two separatist groups as members.

    ReplyDelete
  26. DRAPEAU cANADIEN

    Des souverainistes et des fédéralistes s'affrontent

    http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/11/04/des-souverainistes-et-des-federalistes-saffrontent

    Héhé!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Je suis tellement dier de mon fils, S.R. Voici un clip qu'il a fait dan notre sous-sol! Je t'aime, mon grand gracon!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESogdHHgLI

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