Friday, March 22, 2013

French versus English Volume 78

This week in corruption

Rosaire Sauriol- White collar criminal extraordinaire
I guess it wasn't a shocker to hear testimony at the Charbonneau construction crime inquiry that Montreal's south shore suburb of Longueil has joined the list of crooked city halls where payoffs were made by construction/engineering firms to secure contracts.
The commission heard from a Rosaire Sauriol, of Dessau, one of Quebec's most important consulting/engineering firms. He admitted that his company made illegal campaign contributions and payoffs to politicians in Montréal, Longueuil, Laval, Blainville, Châteauguay, Saint-Jérôme, Chambly, Quebec City and Levis and even, as it was confirmed later, to the federal Conservative party.

He also admitted to what so many other witnesses testified to, that is, that the godfather in all this was ex-chairman of Montreal's executive committee, Frank Zampino, who just last week made a court appearance in relation to a corruption charges over the giving away selling of a piece of land to a developer friend at a fraction of its value. 
Sauriol also confirmed that ex-mayor Gerald Tremblay was a hapless sap, unaware of what was going on under his nose. Link

The decision by Jean Charest to call a premature provincial election last August was likely based on fear that damaging information would be forthcoming in this crime commission.
Surprisingly, here we are eight months later and nothing particularly damaging to the Liberal party has emerged.
In fact, it took until this week to hear about any illegal campaign contributions to provincial political parties, but the kicker is that the testimony implicates the PQ, the ADQ, as well as the Liberals.
So much for Pauline's claim that when it came to ethics, her party was holier than the Pope!
"Pauline Marois says her party had no knowledge of any disguised illegal donations allegedly passed to the PQ over the course of 12 years. Three witnesses from engineering firms have testified over the past several days to giving thousands in illegal financing to the PQ, Liberals and ADQ.
"Our party wasn't aware. Our party didn't want that," says Marois. "Our party asked those who contributed to the Parti Quebecois to sign personal cheques that were their own personal donations."
So far, executives from SNC-Lavalin, Genivar, and BPR have testified to handing her party more than $700 thousand from 1998 to 2010. That includes two years in which Pauline Marois was at the head of the party.
The Liberals are also alleged to have gathered a similar amount - nearly $900 thousand.

Language intolerance in BC

"Two women who believe the lack of English on storefront signs in Richmond is “way out of proportion” will present a petition to council Monday, asking for a signage policy.
Kerry Starchuk and Ann Merdinyan have spent the past eight months researching the issue, taking photos and gathering signatures for a 1,000-strong petition.
“We’re not saying there shouldn’t be Chinese language on signs,” Starchuk told the Richmond News.
“I’ve lived in Richmond all my life and I enjoy having so many different cultures in the city.
“But this isn’t right and it’s all the way through Richmond, not just the city centre, and the lack of English is way out of proportion.”
Starchuk said that if some body, such as city council, doesn’t “get a handle on it” soon, there may come a time when there’ll be no English to be seen.
“If this is our Canadian identity, then it’s not very inclusive, is it?” she said, adding she won’t drive up the north end of No. 3 Road anymore because of the predominantly Chinese signage. Read the rest of the story
I was asked for my opinion about this story in an email by a reader and can answer with a phrase that I recall using as a kid.
You can like it or lump it, which sums up my feelings rather succinctly and my advice to the women offended by the Chinese only signs with another phrase from my childhood...tough noogies.

All this story shows is that language intolerance is not exclusive to Quebec.

McGill's academic slide continues

Earlier this year I wrote about the inevitable slide that McGill's medical school faced in the face of deteriorating standards implemented to make the medical school more francophone friendly.
Today the school looks more to its demographic makeup than talent, with anglophones kept to the barest of majority at about 51% .
In order to counter the unrelenting criticism by French language militants that McGill doctors leave the province, McGill decided to raise the percentage of francophones by making it easier to get in. The vaunted MCAT entrance exam, the gold standard used by medical schools across North America  was dropped because it isn't available in French.
I wrote back then that it could only lead to McGill's med school losing its position  as Canada's best medical school, which of course has come to pass.

Now McGill has lost its position to the University of  Toronto as Canada's best all-around university another predictable outcome of under-financing and pandering.
"A new ranking of reputations by school has McGill University dropping from its once-proud peak as the top Canadian institution in the wrold to slightly better than a middling also-ran.
According to Times Higher Education’s reputation ranking, McGill's ranking fell from 25th in the world last year to a tie for 31st in 2013.
Meantime, the University of Toronto held fast at 16th this year, cementing its position as the Canadian institution with the strongest international status." Link

The university recently appointed a francophone to head the university, a nakedly oblique attempt to silence the language debate surrounding the school.
"McGill University has chosen Suzanne Fortier to be its next principal, turning to a French speaker to help navigate the political turmoil that has engulfed the province’s university system over the last year." Link
Below is the type of onslaught McGill faces by jealous and petty french language militants.

"How can we solve the problem of access to education while blocking once and for all, the anglicization of Quebec?
Easy!
The principal of McGill University, Heather Munroe-Blum, someone Michel David greatly admires, believes that an increase in tuition of 82% is not enough? So let's give our English the means to satisfy their brazen individualism: Privatization. 
Completely, and as quickly as possible, the entire English education system, from primary to university! Let them pursue their deranged mentality.  
Deliver them the goods which we had intended. With all the freed up money, we can provide free education for the entire French school system.Let them impose tuition increases up to 820% if they wish, but  for us, it will be free.  
Immigrants will mostly send their children to the free public system,  OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL ... and several English families will do the same! Result: no need to talk about the need for Bill 101 in schools!  
It will end the debate about  Bill 101 in CEGEPs. Money will be the constraint.

Institutions such as McGill will then become satellites separated from the rest of society, but still tolerable. And the cost savings!Is there something illegal here? Absolutely not!  

We speak their language, the language of privatization. If it's good for us, first try it out on them to see what happens!  
From the day we implement this, we will have to wait just 20 years to see our culture completely regenerated.......
....I have participated in at least 25 student demonstrations in February 2012 and the only English students I've seen in all these demonstrations were anti-demonstrators. People who showed their contempt and disgust for our cause. People who marched counter-current  calling us 'loosers.' For them, education and housing are paid for by "daddy." They come to study here because it is cheaper than in their home country, Canada, and they leave to work outside Quebec, their education paid for, courtesy of taxpayers and the Quebec Ministry of Education! It is outrageous and it has been like that since the beginning!
 

Blah.....blah...blahh.- Dominique Frappier 

And so McGill has embarked on it's inevitable and precipitous decline, sadly reminding me of the old ditty;
"Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Marois falls into constitutional trap

The newly-minted Quebec Liberal party leader, Philippe Couillard has said that he would hope to reopen constitutional talks with Ottawa with an eye to getting Quebec on-board as a signatory, a gaping hole in Quebec/Ottawa relations that has served separatists well ever since Rene Levesque was stabbed in the back on the infamous "The Night of Long Knives", back in 1982 where a constitutional deal was hammered out by the provinces without Quebec's participation or approval.

When asked to comment, the hapless Pauline fell into the trap and described her terms of signing on, instead of just saying that Quebec wasn't interested on any level. Link{fr}

Her supporters were furious at her stupidity in being drawn into the debate and in an interesting article Sylvain Racine writes that Pauline is actually preparing those famous 'winning conditions' for a referendum, but on the federalist side!
And what if the Liberal party decides to hold a referendum with the  YES side led by Couillard-Trudeau proposing that Quebecers end the squabble with Ottawa and ratify the Constitution in order to be fully part of Canada? In this case, the Liberals could easily reach the 50% + 1.

With Legault also repeating that Quebecers do not want a country, with Amir Khadir who voted NDP in the last federal election, it begins in earnest to resemble the winning conditions for the federalist camp.
I wouldn't want to see Marois-Maltais  defending the NO side, that is the side that would militate against the ratification of the Constitution, a Liberal referendum that could even legitimize  Dion's clarity Act."
Link

Bill 14 showdown set. Who will blink?

One of the provisions of Bill 14 was to eliminate an exemption for military families at the Valcartier base in Quebec whereby children were allowed to attend English schools, even if they didn't qualify under 101.The issue is contentious with the mayor of Quebec city coming down firmly on the side of the military families. 
"Quebec city's mayor Regis Labeaume is launching a scathing attack against a section of the PQ's language bill.
"They're going to laugh at us," says Labeaume, adding that the section of the bill that will  ban Francophone military families from attending English school will taint Quebec's image." Link
Since military families move quite often, most parents at the base opt for an English education in order that their children be able to enroll in any school across Canada with ease. But Education Minister Diane De Courcy stood firm on Thursday, trotting out a report that showed that most of these children remain in Quebec for their entire education and that the exemption was unfair. Link
But an angry Francois Legault , leader of the CAQ reacted harshly, saying that if the provision is not removed, his party will vote to defeat it, placing the Liberals in the untenable position where they'd have to do likewise.
For the PQ, it's time for another volte-face.

Harper government continues de-emphasing French

Using budget cuts to advance policy is one of the oldest tricks politicians use to underhandedly achieve political goals.
Ronald Reagan was the champion of cutting of funds to agencies and programs that didn't fit in with his conservative optic.

Now it seems that the Harper government budget cuts has translation services being curtailed as a cost cutting measure as federal departments just don't have the budget to translate documents and so French civil servants are being asked to write their reports in English.

Apparently budget constraints precludes Coast Guard ships patrolling the St. Lawrence river from fielding at least one member of the crew who can communicate in French with locals.

When apprised of the situation Harper tut-tutted the whole affair.

Quebecer proves myth about Work ethic false

Who says Quebecers are lazy?
If anybody proves that myth wrong,  it is Gaétan Couture of Sherbrooke, who after being paroled in September for various crimes of theft, went right back to work assiduously.
He has been re-arrested just two months later and is facing  no less than 150 charges.

103 Thefts
13 Break-ins
21 Stolen vehicles
5 Receiving stolen goods
6 Stolen credit cards
1  Evasion from police.
All this in about 70 days and this is just what the police know about! Link{fr}

And how about Canada's greatest slumlord /scofflaw;
"Notorious Montreal landlord Claudio Di Giambattista was absent for his trial in municipal court today, but that didn't stop the judge from declaring him guilty on all counts of safety and health violations.
Judge Stéphane Brière decided to let the trial go ahead without the landlord present. After he and the crown went through almost two hours of evidence including a pile of photos, he found Di Giambattista guilty of 86 health and safety violations in connection with his two apartment buildings on Ball and Outremont in Park Extension. Link

Too bad  the judge didn't sentence him to live in one of his maggot, cockroach, bed bug filled apartments, just like in that movie starring Joe Pesci. (I can't remember the name)
Actually, one judge did do exactly that. Youtube
Could you imagine if they turned it into a realty show and we got to watch?
Ahhh...perchance to dream.

Odds'n Ends


I've used Google Reader as my news aggregator for as long as I've written this bog. It allows me to scan selected websites for news articles that interest me and also allows me to save those articles for future use.
Alas, Google has announced that it will discontinue the service and so I have migrated to another service, but have not been able to migrate my starred items.
I'm going through them slowly and will take the opportunity over the next few Fridays to publish a couple of the things I've saved, most are good for a laugh.








Here's a Montreal Anglo, Leslie Peretz , making a hilaroius point.



Here's a sign that a frustrated merchant put up in regards to the student demonstrations against tuition increases.



Translation: TO DEMONSTRATORS:
Please stop using merchants and residents as hostages.
Demonstrate over at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
To our elected officials.--Grow a pair.
P.S.  Free tuition is impossible right now.
Quebec is bankrupt. - ELVIS


 Here's a riddle:
What is more powerful than God?
Nastier than the devil,
The underprivileged have it,
The wealthy need it,
And if you eat it, you’ll die?


 Have a great weekend!
Bonne fin de Semaine!

200 comments:

  1. "What is more powerful than God?
    Nastier than the devil,
    The underprivileged have it,
    The wealthy need it,
    And if you eat it, you’ll die?"

    My Mother-in-Law? LOL LOL
    i'm kiddinggggggggggggggggg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnecTOTE you said I was wise LOL
      ans."nothing"

      Delete
    2. WAC lolololol...OMG ...you're right....it never even occured to me!!
      yeah...Wise and-then-some!!

      Okay...I'm going with his answer----> WAC

      Delete
    3. I don't understand how wanting bilingual signs is being intolerant in any part of Canada where it is warranted. My mother, aged 82 with not great eyesight, lives in Richmond. I think, when she trundles off with her walker to the shopping area a few blocks from her home she should be able to look at the sign outside a store and be able to decipher if it is a store selling vitamins and herbal remedies or a store offering rat extermination. She is trilingual but cannot read Chinese calligraphy. Can you?

      Delete
    4. You are absolutely right of course. And on goes the battle - our separatist friends do not give a second thought to the senior citizens or their own children; depriving them of rights and freedoms to make choices that affect their life and livelihood and their whole future, without a second thought they let every government agency make their choices for them. It's a sad state of democracy in the Western World. That is quebec in all it's glory!

      Delete
    5. Cutie, I would like to remind you that Edith's comment isn't about Quebec. It seems like you only read the first sentence.

      Delete
    6. Parallel - that is all I was commenting on; not on Chinese in Richmond B.C. To a lot of senior anglophones in Quebec, like my 95 year old mother in law, French is as unrecognizable as Chinese to a lot of them. They never had the opportunity to learn another language and that's just the way it is.

      Delete
    7. It's good you made that parallel because it's certainly not like we've read that same comment over and over again.

      Delete
  2. Two comments here:

    1. Nowhere in North America does Chinese pose an existential threat to the English language. 1,000,000 assimilated Francophones in New England would tell you otherwise of French.

    2. Did this usiness owner who put this sign up get a deeply discounted post-secondary education in Quebec because of policies implemented by the Lesage and Levesque government? If so, why should he expect Millennials to pay more for school than he did? The students who are protesting this are not the ones who are going to suffer because of the tuition increases; they'll be done school by the time the worst of it comes to fruition. They're increasing their time in school and decreasing their earning potential in the job market by virtue of the fact that they are spending less time studying and more time protesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Nowhere in North America does Chinese pose an existential threat to the English language."...Therefore English language "militants" in BC are not justified..."1,000,000 assimilated Francophones in New England would tell you otherwise of French."...There French language "militants" in QC are justified...

      That's one way of looking at it.

      Here's another way: French language activists do have a case...in Saskatchewan, NB, Manitoba, New England, Florida. In QC, those with a legitimate case are the English language activists, who do not, it turn, have a case in BC.



      Delete
    2. The whole question of a language "posing a threat" makes no sense.

      A language can't injure a person or impinge on their rights and freedoms. It is speech, pure and simple. People speak a language if they want to. Thus, a particular language may gain speakers, lose speakers, morph or change. A language is not static. And languages disappear, just like the English spoken on the British Isles of a thousand years ago has disappeared and has been replaced by its current version.

      Have you seen the Coen Brothers' version of "True Grit"? I really loved the script; the English dialogue that, I assume, was spoken in the Olde West of a 150 years ago was highlighted. It had a cadence and flavour quite different from what we speak or what is spoken in the U.S. today. But it has disappeared just as the French of a 1,000 years ago has disappeared and been replaced by a different French which borrows many words from English and other languages (just like 40% of all English words find their root in French or Latin via the French). Let languages evolve, change, disappear, gain speakers, etc. It's the result of free people freely deciding what and how to speak.

      So once we start this numbers game of how many are speaking French on the Island of Montreal and how it has declined, or how many anglophones are bilingual in Quebec and all that is simply beside the point. The danger in the numbers game is that it gives credence to the premise that languages should somehow get protection from the state, which I summarily reject.

      By all means grant language(s) official language status as it pertains to government services. But outside of government, language must remain unfettered by rules, regulations, and laws. And charters of rights are supposed to keep this area free. Unfortunately, in Canada it does not.

      And I'm not talking just about Bill 101; the Official Languages Act is replete with social engineering in this regard as well and, as far as I'm concerned, parts of it are unconstitutional.

      Delete
  3. The fact this lady needs to fight for English on signs in Richmond is an embarrassment to our country. WTF is happening to our country?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ WTF...and you just noticed? mm

      For now, I'm still trying to deal with this:

      "$254,290,000,000.00, a debt that keeps inflating by the second"

      it's probably more as of this morning. I think my head just exploded again!

      Delete
    2. "it's probably more as of this morning."

      dude you are a genious.

      Delete
    3. Dudent, if you're going to make a gratuitously smart-ass comment about someone being a "genious" at least make sure you have the requisite number of brain cells to spell the word correctly. And you wonder why I dump on you.

      Delete
    4. That lady in Richmond "fighting for English on signs" is totally mistaken.

      If she doesn't like the fact that a storeowner is putting unilingual Chinese on signs, she doesn't have to give him her business.

      None of her goddamned business how a storeowner communicates with his clients.

      Delete
    5. @diogenes

      you're right it's spelled genius. thanks mate.

      however i must warn you spelling pricks are forbidden on this blog.

      you probably didn't know. don't do it again.

      Delete
    6. @diogenes

      by the way, it's student not dudent

      Delete
    7. The Editor must be sleeping a little easier tonight knowing that his faithful sidekick, Student, is diligently patrolling the blog. You're the Tonto to his Lone Ranger, the Robin to his Batman, the Joe Biden to his Obama, the manure to his mushroom. God knows, the quality of your writing and the luminesence of your ideas is almost his equal. I feel sure that the next time the Editor goes on vacation there'll be an extra spring in his step because he'll know that No Dogs is in the capable hands of Student. I can only be thankful that it was you who noticed me breaking the rules and not the Editor as he probably wouldn't have been nearly as fair and just as yourself. I know that I'll be forever grateful that it's only "spelling pricks" that are forbidden because if it was all pricks, neither I nor the rest of the contributors here would have been able to benefit from your presence these many months, and what a tragic loss that would have been for us all. Thank you for being you.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous said:
      "@diogenes

      by the way, it's student not dudent"

      Really, Dudent? Have you also heard that Nixon resigned? :)
      Student loves calling people "mate" or "dude", so I just thought he'd feel more at home with Dudent.

      Delete
    9. @diogenes

      you're welcome, mate.

      Delete
    10. By the way, Dudent, as the editors faithful sidekick, you should know that 1) posting under "Anonymous" is not allowed and 2) having more than one screen name is not allowed.
      Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.
      Now, run along.

      Delete
    11. @diogenes

      anonymous is not me. i don't care if you call me dudent.

      Delete
  4. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 6:05:00 AM EDT

    "You can like it or lump it"

    Bravo Editor. Kinda sums up this blog, I mean it could easily be its slogan.
    It should be Cutie's personal motto.
    May I suggest "Like ot or Leave it"? There is not much for french canadians in quebec with all its pro-separatist subversion. Even less for the anglos.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 6:27:00 AM EDT

    Separatist Mulcair accuses Ottawa to be anti-quebec:
    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/201303/21/01-4633577-les-conservateurs-declarent-la-guerre-au-quebec-soutient-lopposition.php

    Seperatist Marceau accuses Ottawa to sabotage quebec's economy:
    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/201303/21/01-4633577-les-conservateurs-declarent-la-guerre-au-quebec-soutient-lopposition.php
    --------------
    Someone should tell separatist Marceau that when quebec has an accumulated, total debt of near $255 000 000 000 you have NO economy!!!
    What a mediocre, small people that are the quebecois.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. can you explain your addiction to a newsfeed about "mediocre" people?

      doesn't look very sane to me, mate.

      Delete
    2. @UN GARS. I will be as gentle as I can. I don’t blame you for leaving for greener pastures, I am convinced with your parents’ blessings. Your parents have lost a son and maybe grand children, this must be very difficult for them.
      Life is good, maybe to much home made wine and I don’t want to give up all my toys that I have accumulated over all these years. That is why I am staying.
      You abandoned your mommy and daddy, that makes you a rotten son and you left them in our hands, now that makes you a morally corrupt human being.
      Enjoy the wine and the eye candy(waitress from Rimouski).
      STOP urinating on your parents’ and my parade.

      Delete
    3. what a bunch of coddled 'Dreamers" ... I for one enjoy UGBSDC posts.. there's nothing wrong with a little lucidity... .. Too many people in Quebec that can't face reality.... Socialist paradise paid for by the graciousness of other people's money.....

      Delete
    4. I agree, it always interesting to read about what is going on in Calgary. Many people have left Quebec, doesn't make them morally corrupt.

      Delete
    5. FROM ED
      Tazmandoo and Liam,
      It might be more interesting to know what's going on in Calgary if we were getting a true picture. All we really know is what Gars tells us and that is mostly bullshit. People who really have a lot, don't brag about it. It's a false one upmanship that makes bragger's feel good. The fact that he has to keep on telling us how wealthy he is makes me not believe him. I don't understand how you enjoy hearing him put down Quebecers and insult people on this blog. I guess you also watch "Maury"
      You can enjoy a lot of other people's pain there. Gars does not come here to give good news, he comes to make us all feel small compared to him. He knows we are in trouble and he actually tells us how much he enjoys it. If you follow his thinking I feel sorry for you. Ed

      Delete
    6. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 7:18:00 PM EDT

      Funny how Ed always bad mouth me. Always.
      I was merely providing a different perspective about life outside of quebec. maybe a refreshing angle on things. A few posters here have commented positively about this.
      As an ex-soldier, I defended democracy, so go ahead Ed, make my day. Bad mouth me all you need.
      Enjoy.
      Want to know what really goes on in Calgary, Ed?
      Better positive things compared to where you live, buddy.

      Delete
    7. You can tell us how good Calgary is if you like and I personally like to hear how the french Canadians are doing, but I sure don't need your comments like "separate already" and what "losers" those of us that live here are. That's what Ed is talking about - the unnecessary digs about the mess that we're trapped in and you love to dig us about it. That my friend is sadistic whether you like it or not.

      Delete
    8. @liam

      what did you learn from un gars bs de calgary about "what is going on in Calgary"?!?

      only thing i learn from him is there's at least one half-assimilated self-loathing french canadian swaggerer over there.

      what did i miss?

      Delete
    9. I have to admit un gars that your constant gloating and quebec-bashing grows tiresome pretty quickly. Not sure why you are so angry and obnoxious all the time? You should be happy living in Calgary and you say so but you come across as someone who is trying hard to get revenge for some past wrong-doing. It comes across as pretty immature and petty. I lived in Calgary for several years and yes its a great place to live and I do miss it in many respects..its a much more livable positive city to live in than Montreal. But one thing I dont miss about Calgary was the obsession most people had about money..it seemed that people talked about how much money they made..the value of their house..their salary..the level of taxation ad nauseum as if it was the end all be all of life. There is no question that Calgary is one of the top..if not top business city in this country..but there is more to life in the end than a good paycheque.

      Most of us on this forum are well aware of how messed up Quebec is..just listen to my posts..Eds posts..Cuties posts..we disagree on a lot but we all agree that this province is in big trouble and has been mismanaged for a long time. We dont need someone like you to remind us of that..what we need are useful comments on how we can improve things here in Quebec. I will be honest..I dont hold out much hope that things will ever change for the better here..but I havent totally given up. If you are coming on this forum as some sort of sick hobby to sooth your own wounds or vent some unresolved anger from your youth than I think we would all appreciate if you saw a psychologist instead..

      Delete
    10. @LofT “there's nothing wrong with a little lucidity” I like lucidity too.
      @Liam “doesn't make them morally corrupt“. I agree, no problem.
      but this comment from UN GARS “What a mediocre, small people that are the quebecois”. Calling his mommy, daddy,HIMSELF and all Quebecers mediocre. That makes him despicable and morally corrupt in my book

      Delete
    11. FROM ED
      "What a mediocre, small minded people that are the Quebecois."
      WE ARE the Quebecois. You attack us directly and wonder why I answer with rancour. You have made statements that , "My most glorious day will be when I see Quebec go down the tubes and Quebecers with it ." We are the Quebecers you speak of you ignorant asshole. You insult and laugh at us like we're shit beneath your great calgarian feet and you wonder why I attack you. Myself and others have told you many times how painful it is when you call our home Quebecistan but you ignore our feelings and go on as if we don't feel pain.
      I'm fighting for my life right now, my breathing won't let me walk the length of the house without sitting down and fighting for air.
      I'm hoping to see our homeland recuperating so my grandchildren will have a safe environment after I'm gone. My posts are based on what I feel is the best chance for our future. I sure as hell don't need your downers and neither does any one else. Telling us how great it is in calgary would be fine if you could stop there, but you seem to have an uncontrollable urge
      to hurt us while you're at it. ED

      Delete
  6. I watch one of my shows on CTV Halifax. There, there is an ad from NDP Nova Scotia attacking Stephen McNeil, the leader of NS Liberals. What funny is that the NDP uses McNeil's position regarding Hydro Quebec in Nova Scotia.

    So the NDP, the party that gains its fortune in Quebec, is blasting Hydro Quebec in its provincial ad. Watch the ad here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was Joey Smallwood’s fault for having accepted such a lopsided deal for Newfoundland and Labrador… still, it reflects poorly on Quebec for having taken advantage of the situation for so long. That suits the purpose of the separatists, of course. Anything they can do to cause a “chicane” with their neighbours, they will do. Sounds promising for a future state, doesn’t it?

      Delete
    2. True Smallwood should not have taken the deal. That is why Darrel Dexter and the NDP are using McNeil position to support Hydro-Quebec. Good thing Newfoundland had a premier like Dany William to fix up the province economy and get them out of equalization.

      Delete
    3. @the cat

      "Anything they can do to cause a “chicane” with their neighbours..."

      that's a bad liberal party line. that's how they translated "prevent federal attemps to foray into provincial matters". sounds better doesn't it? it's also more honest.

      Delete
    4. "Not be unable to physically change their mind"??

      Delete
  7. For all here who keep telling us that the CAQ are a bunch of seperatists please explain the article below. Hard to imagine any seperatist making those statements such as 'I don't understand this attitude except that it is just to please the caribous, the hardliners, or to pick a fight with Ottawa." Oh where oh wehre are our precious "federalist" Liberals in this whole debate..they seem oddly silent..

    http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/lashes+Courcy/8133056/story.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not every member of the newly-created, sit-on-the-fence CAQ is a separatist (unlike François Legault, I suspect). You are quoting CAQ MNA Nathalie Roy, who said at a news conference that "They (in the PQ) are digging in their heels over schoolchildren who they themselves admit pose no threat to the French language". The PQ are trying to pick a fight with the federal government by attacking a symbol of the feds, which is the Canadian Forces, over a few hundred schoolchildren. Meanwhile, 10,000 schoolchildren who have the right to attend English school attend French school instead. De Courcy of the PQ is ludicrously implying that people join the Canadian Forces in order to avoid Bill 101.

      What do you make of these opinions?

      Letter: Sorry that I voted for CAQ
      MONTREAL GAZETTE MARCH 14, 2013

      I can’t begin to express my disappointment in my choice to vote for the CAQ during the last provincial election!

      I have been a long time Liberal supporter, but this time, they demonstrated that they did not deserve my support. I thought it was time for a change. I was wrong! François Legault and the CAQ are about to sell out by sitting on the political fence.

      Bill 14 is endorsing the concept of intolerance, and Legault seems to believe that it is okay to cherry pick the document. Every word of the document is designed to strip citizens of rights and freedoms that are the hall mark of our democracy. It is time to tell politicians, irrespective of their political stripes, that there is only one kind of Quebec citizen, and the rights that belong to one linguistic group belong to everyone and as such should be respected by all.

      Bilingualism should be the law of the land. The benefits of this concept far outweighs the negative. Montreal and Quebec will thrive and our economy will strengthen by promoting this common-sense idea.

      Glen K. Malfara
      Beaconsfield

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    2. Macpherson: De Courcy a poor choice as language minister
      BY DON MACPHERSON, THE GAZETTE MARCH 23, 2013

      MONTREAL - She insulted French-speaking Quebecers in the armed forces. She sucker-punched commissioners from a small English-language school board. She double-crossed a key potential ally. And she did all that just to score points with members of her own political party.

      It was all in a day’s work this week for the Parti Québécois’s ham-fisted language minister, Diane De Courcy.

      It’s becoming apparent that De Courcy was a poor choice by Premier Pauline Marois for the sensitive task of passing the major “new Bill 101” the Parti Québécois promised. De Courcy can’t speak English well enough to reassure the English-speaking minority about the government’s proposed language legislation, Bill 14. But that’s not the problem.

      True, as a Montrealer who can’t speak English, the former chair of the city’s largest school board makes poor evidence to support the government’s argument that Montreal is becoming anglicized. But nobody could reassure the anglos about a bill that would reduce their access to public services in their language and weaken their legal protection against linguistic discrimination. It is a hopeless task.

      And Bill 14 isn’t intended to please anglos. It’s to satisfy the members of the PQ. Since the PQ has only a minority in the National Assembly, however, it will need the support of the Coalition Avenir Québec party, which holds the balance of power, to pass Bill 14. This calls for an especially diplomatic language minister. And as she demonstrated this week, tact is not De Courcy’s strength.

      On Wednesday, a delegation from the English-language Central Quebec School Board testified at a National Assembly committee hearing on Bill 14. The CQSB’s sprawling territory includes the Canadian Forces bases at Valcartier near Quebec City and Bagotville near Saguenay. So the board is especially concerned that the legislation would eliminate a 36-year-old exemption for children of military personnel from the restrictions on admission to English schools in the present language legislation, Bill 101.

      The CQSB had submitted a brief to the committee saying that if the exemption were eliminated, the board would lose nearly 700 pupils, or 16 per cent of its total primary and secondary enrolment. In particular, the effect on its four schools near the bases would be “quite simply disastrous.” Leading up to the board’s late-afternoon appearance before the committee, De Courcy and the PQ had drawn the attention of their Twitter followers to it.

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    3. The reason why became apparent when the CQSB delegation unsuspectingly walked into an ambush set by De Courcy.

      Without prior notice, she produced a 1½-page “clarifying” document justifying the elimination of the exemption — which had been introduced by a previous PQ government in the original Bill 101 — and dismissing the board’s concerns. The document, and a communiqué issued by De Courcy, said the issue was fairness. They accused the board of using the exemption to run “bridging” schools, whose sole purpose is to get children around the restrictions on admission to publicly funded English schools. They likened the Forces personnel to parents who used private English bridging schools to buy their children’s way into English public schools. In effect, De Courcy ludicrously implied that French-speaking Quebecers signed up to risk their lives in places such as Afghanistan just to get around Bill 101, and she called them cheats.

      This infuriated Éric Caire of the CAQ, which has said it will not allow Bill 14 to pass as long as it would eliminate the military exemption. The Valcartier base is in Caire’s riding of La Peltrie, and he has led the opposition in the Assembly to the elimination, sponsoring a petition on the Assembly’s website against it. And Caire told a news conference Thursday that previously, De Courcy and Agnès Maltais, the PQ minister responsible for the region that includes the Valcartier base, had privately assured him the government wanted to work with the CAQ to resolve the issue.

      This damaged De Courcy’s credibility by making her look untrustworthy. And her overall handling of the CQSB’s appearance at the hearings on Bill 14 make her choice as language minister look like another of Marois’s mistakes.

      © Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

      Delete
  8. "Kerry Starchuk and Ann Merdinyan have spent the past eight months researching the issue, taking photos and gathering signatures for a 1,000-strong petition. “We’re not saying there shouldn’t be Chinese language on signs,” Starchuk told the Richmond News."

    These two should get a life. As should the French language "militants".



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dont seen anything unreasonable with the actions of Kerry Starchuk and Ann Medinyan. Is it so much to ask that the signs be bilingual or at least some words of english?? Last time I checked the two official languages in this country were english and french. There has to be some limit..most of your here are opposing them so you can prove you are morally consistent with your position on bilingualism here in Quebec not because its the right thing to do. I have been to Richmond and I felt like I was in another country..everything is in Chinese.

      Delete
    2. "Is it so much to ask that the signs be bilingual or at least some words of english??"

      It is too much to ask.

      Delete
    3. "most of your here are opposing them so you can prove you are morally consistent with your position on bilingualism here in Quebec not because its the right thing to do"

      That's one theory. Another is that having been on the receiving end of this kind of thing here, we can identify with those subjected to it elsewhere.

      Delete
    4. Adski - I suspect that many anglophones living in Quebec would find it annoying if the signs in their neighborhood increasingly were in another language that they could not understand. You have to understand that there are Canadians who have lived in Richmond their whole lives and now due to a massive influx of Asians feel like they live in another country. Easy for you to sit here and say no its not a problem but I dont think you would be so smug if you were living there. At least here in Quebec most signs are bilingual and many french/english words are similar..good luck trying to figure out what Chinese characters mean.

      Delete
    5. Another is that having been on the receiving end of this kind of thing here, we can identify with those subjected to it elsewhere.

      There is a big difference between what is going on in Richmond and what is going on in Quebec. Chinese is not an official language in Canada and English is. We have a much more legitimate right here to demand that english be treated equally wheras the Chinese dont. If you just stand back and let ethnic communities come in and take over whole towns and cities then eventually you are breeding all sorts of future problems. Go talk to people in Europe on how the integration of the Arab and African communities is working out. Sorry but when immigrants move to another country they should at least the basic respect to use the official languages in the country..if not they should be sent back.

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    6. "We have a much more legitimate right here to demand that english be treated equally wheras the Chinese dont"

      They come here with some expectation too, just like "we" came here centuries ago with our culture on our minds, not the Indians' culture.

      This is a question of mentality. You can see the Chinese as "guests" in a country in which their language is not "official", and hound them for their "trespasses" as you define them. Or you can see them as just people going about their lives, and leave them alone as you go about your life.

      Delete
    7. Isn't that the case that, while Chinese isn't one of the most widely spoken languages in Canada, regardless of official status or not, having a neighbourhood entirely signed in Chinese forces it into isolation from mainstream Canada? Is it in these businesses' interest NOT to have non-Chinese speaking customers? It's hardly the case of the Vancouver Chinese being subject to the treatment of the Anglos in Quebec: if an entire neighbourhood is signed completely in Chinese it means that the British Columbians have been substantially more tolerant than their Quebecois brethren. Rather, it's a case of creating an enclave that is off-limits to anyone who doesn't speak Chinese. It's not unreasonable in a multilingual multiethnic country to have a lingua franca, just like it's not unreasonable for someone born and raised in a place to be able to function in and around their home in their own language. Anglos in Quebec never made the case for a return to English-only, just that English wasn't suppressed. Nobody wants to suppress Chinese in Richmond, but having enough English displayed on the streets, so that non-Chinese speakers can find their bearing, doesn't seem like asking too much. After all, everybody knows that the Cantonese for supermarket is... what?

      Delete
    8. It seems to me that any immigrant who comes into Canada should show some basic respect for at least one of our official languages. I am not sure I want immigrants coming here and then acting as if they were still in their own country and we do have the right to demand that. In the past all immigrants more or less learned the official language..now it seems more and more seem to lock themselves into these ethnic communities and pretend as if they havent left their own country. The problem as in the case of Richmond is that native Canadians start to feel like they no longer live in theiw own country..cant understand the signs or what most people are saying..when you get to that point I think we can say there is a problem mission control.

      As Yannick points out these ladies in Richmond are not demanding that english be predominant or a certain size but merely that there are some english words on the sign..if thats too much to ask then we have a serious problem.

      Delete
    9. Well, actually free-market should decide. If their is a market for chinese sign go for it. If not, lost revenues will be a powerfull motivation to the business owner to translate the sign.

      Delete
    10. The problem Liam is that an invasion of immigrants from one country can come in and literally take over a community or city. Then they become the majority at some point and start to dictate to all residents what language will be used..thats just wrong. If they can't respect the official languages in this country not sure I want them here. It shows a certain arrogance in my opinion..I have seen this from too many different cultures..the attitude that we can come live in Canada but essentially live as we did in our home country..thats not what made Canada a great country. The free market should decide which products people buy or not, which businesses become successful or not, but not what language ends up on signs. Native canadians have the right to live in their home and not have it taken over by an invasion of immigrants who do little to adapt to the Canadian way of life. In Europe there is a great deal of tension in many areas because of predominantly Arab and/or North African immigrants who have not adapted to the European way of living. It will happen here eventually if we just sit back and say nothing.

      Delete
    11. Sorry, Complicated but you argument doesn't stand. When Europeans arrived in North America, did they adopted the language of First Nations? Just because some one is majority doesn't mean they can dictate the language of everyone else. It is like here in Pontiac, a primarily english region where french are dictating the language on the signs.

      You bring Arab immigrant. Now that is a different thing all together. If the Arab think they can set up Islamic arbitration, now that is something unacceptable. No Sharia in Canada. One law for all Canadian.

      Delete
    12. I think thats a poor example..the Europeans came in and essentially took the land from the native americans with little respect for their culutre or language. Are you trying to compare them to the Chinese..if so its not very flattering?? If you think so then we really should be concerned then :)
      I dont really care about signs in chinatown in general but when it gets to the point that an entire city like Richmond is over-run with Chinese signs then its too much. You have to remember that there are non-Asians who grew up in Richmond who have seen their city essentially over-run by one ethnic group. Are you suggesting they just leave and move on? Why should an ethnic group be able to come in and essentially take over and on top of it show little respect for the official language in this country..seems pretty rude and arrogant.

      Delete
    13. First of all, the Chinese didn't not over-run anybody. All building was bought legally. No one was evicted. Second of all, not the entire city of Richmond has Chinese. One neighbourhood has a Chinese community. You are overeacting. I still don't think the government should mandate a language but free-market should decide. Remember, the Government of Canada has an official language, citizen can speak any services they want. Finally, part of your argument is it is okay if the European took the land with no respect for the Natives but when the Chinese come and purchases a building and places a sign, it is not. Remember all the building were legally purchases. Sorry but that is very hypocritical.

      Delete
    14. Maybe over-run was the wrong choice of words but they certainly have a dominant presence in the city of Richmond. There has to be some limit at how accomodating we are..we accept more immigrants than practically any other country per capita..we embrace multi-culturalism..but there has to be some basic rules respected when you come to a new country. I dont think its asking much to at least respect the official languages in this country..people should be able to understand what a sign or a menu says in their city. It displays to me a certain level of disrespect for your new country..as if we can go on as we did in China.

      Listen to the words from this chinese-canadian from another website..
      This isn't racism. I'm Chinese, don't read Chinese and I'm sick of not being able to read certain restaurant menus or promotions because they're all written in Chinese. Just go to Parker Place and you'll see what I mean. The food court there, while the store sign may have English means nothing when the menus are all written in Chinese. Thankfully, my wife can read Chinese and can order for us, but if I'm there by myself, I just don't order from the fast food places that don't have English on them.

      Only in Canada do you find ethnic groups like Chinese people not willing to assimilate to the local culture. As a doctor, I am forced to try to speak broken Mandarin to give service to people who will not learn English. I've even encountered UBC students who refuse to speak English with me. Our strata corporation is owed a lot of money by owners who refuse to check their mail. We send them letters asking them to please pay, and of course, they can't read the letters because they're in English. Curiously, this has all been with Chinese people. It is rare that people of other ethnicities refuse to speak English with me. Am I racist? No, I'm Chinese. But I do wish we can all communicate. That doesn't make me racist. It makes me a realist.

      Delete
    15. FROM ED
      I'd like to butt in here to ask a question. Are we talking about advertising outside a shop or resteraunt or signs that direct people such as street names etc.? I think there should be a difference as to how each of the the two affect others. Ed

      Delete
    16. Since one side of my family immigrated to Canada maybe I could provide a different perspective.

      I think it's perfectly normal for adults not to assimilate, it's their children who will be educated here. Think about what your asking people to do, really think about it. They have to take the first job that comes their way(low wage) and work till retirement. So you want them to get up in the morning work 8 hours a days or more with a second job, come home take care of their kids... and find time for Eng/FR courses in that? WHY? Everyone except my grandmothers generation is integrated with Canadian society.

      ^^Some of those opinions strike me as, "The second your foot touches the ground you better know the language!". That's just not how it works, especially when those people are poor.

      My 2 cents.

      Delete
    17. Complicated is not looking for integration, he wants to have immigrants give up their freedom of expression and bend over to facilitate communication for the "maitre chez nous" types outside of Quebec. You mention your Chinese origins complicated, but if you actually read up on Canadian history, you'll know that the 1st Canadian chinese Canadians bent over backward to facilitate their own self exploitation by the maitre chez nous WASPs in BC. All it got them were more regulations and discrimination against them and all the other ASIANs there. Basically be second class citizens and be grateful for it.

      Also Canada was always a multicultural country. The only difference is all that mattered was WASP culture via their tyranny of the majority. Now you have the Quebecois doing the same in Quebec.

      Delete
  9. “But this isn’t right and it’s all the way through Richmond, not just the city centre, and the lack of English is way out of proportion.”

    I am scratching my head about this. I just do not get some people. What do they mean "out of proportions"? Who sets these proportions? Aren't we talking about something really subjective? Are the proportions set by them the final ones?

    How about this solution, neat and simple: if you think there's too much Chinese in this or that quarter, why don't you go for your strolls somewhere else?

    I guess that's the scourge of the politicized era. Important issues enter political agenda as they should, but with them enters a host of nonsensical ones. Anything to get attention, seems to be the way of today. And what compounds the problem is that once of these nonsensical issues get some airplay, it tends to stick around for a long time. It refuses to go away.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Moneysense: Best place to live in Canada 2013.

    http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canadas-best-places-live-2013-140050533.html

    Congratulations Un Gars, Calgary takes the No. 1 spot.

    Here's a little interesting paragraph:

    "Calgary's jump to the top of the list shouldn't come as a surprise. High incomes and an abundance of jobs fueled by the energy sector have been drawing young people west for years. Calgary's 4% unemployment rate-well below the national average of 7%-is the big draw. Housing may expensive in Calgary, but home ownership is manageable thanks to above-average household incomes. That's not the case in many of Canada's other big cities, where high home prices far exceed residents' ability to afford them."

    As for La Belle Province, read it and weep. Not one city in Quebec is on the list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Best place to live in Canada 2013."

      Errr

      Delete
    2. Yes, Canada, the nation where Quebec is found.

      Delete
    3. Yannick, unrelated, are you a medical physicist?

      Delete
    4. I have to say that any list that places Moncton above Quebec City is fulla crap.

      Now I know I'll catch a lot of heat for this, but Moncton is by far the worst city I visited on a regular basis during my long career in field operations.
      Dreary, boring, crapola restaurants and aesthetically displeasing.
      WAIT!!
      I take it back, Saint Jean NB is even worse....

      The best part of visiting was flying home to Quebec where I'd pick up an hour with the time change.

      Delete
    5. I lived in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. My take is that Calgary is number 1 because of jobs..low taxes..modern infrastructure..great recreationl activites as the Rockies are only 1 hour away. But its a pretty character-less city..very little history..not lively..suburban sprawl..its pretty reflective of many american cities. But I do miss the Rockies..fantastic hiking and skiing. The climate though is very odd in Calgary..often mild winters but snowstorms sometimes in May..days in June/early July that you need to turn the furnace on..rarely gets close to 30 degrees..often need to wear a sweater on summer evenings. Edmonton had a bit more history..beautiful river valley..but overall not much character either and was 3-4 hours from the rockies and much colder in winter..calgary wins hands down.
      Winnipeg has the worst winters..bloody cold and always windy..nice hot summers but you need to hide from the armies of mosquitos. Winnipeg has much more history and overall surprisingly good restaurants and pretty strong cultural activities..nice beaches within an hour or so.
      Toronto - bloody expensive..horrible smog in summer. Cloudy dreary winters. Excellent restaurants..great museums..very cosmopolitan. plenty of interesting neighborhoods..overall thought the people were friendlier than Montreal but not as friendly as people in western canada.
      Montreal - a city which has so much potential but likely will never come close to living up to it which I find quite sad.
      Personally I think the Okanagan Valley is about as close to paradise as it comes in Canada..absolutely beautiful scenery..best vineyards in Canada by far..fruit orchards..some surprisingly great restaurants..fantastic climate..great skiing nearby..not too expensive..pretty friendly people.


      Delete
    6. Quebec is still the most beautiful province in Canada. It has everything great about this country in one province. This blog shouldn't be about talking about how much you hate Quebec. There's a lot of positives to the province that people are ignoring. I've spent a lot of time in BC, and I would still say Quebec is more scenic. BC may have taller mountains, but it doesn't have that old country warmth and charm that Quebec has. Everything is so cold and modern there. In terms of liveability, Montreal is still No. 1 I would say. Great public transporation, very friendly people, low cost of living (for Canada), the best restaurants, very family friendly atmosphere. There are a lot of reasons. As far as weather goes, I love snow and ice, so I would say there's nothing wrong with Quebec's weather. Remember the grass is always greener on the other side.

      Delete
    7. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 10:04:00 PM EDT

      "Quebec is still the most beautiful province in Canada. It has everything great about this country in one province. This blog shouldn't be about talking about how much you hate Quebec.

      LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      It's not about hate. It's about facts!!!
      Alberta wins hands down big time.

      Delete
    8. I've lived all over Canada and if I had to give out ratings, here we go:

      1. Vancouver (love the Pacific air, but those gray, rainy winters can be really hard)

      2. Ottawa (was boring as shit when I was a teen, but the place is very impressive now)

      3. Toronto (kind of the same as Ottawa except there was always more to do. I'm always in awe when I step off the train and see the amount of construction going on)

      4. Winnipeg (surprise!) - too cold to live in during winter, but I love the summers there. Osbourne Village rocks and I love the Corydon street festival.

      5. Georgian Bay (ok, so it's not a city, but check it out, you'll see what I mean)if you're ever in Ontario for a weekend, rent a car and go visit this region.

      6. Victoria - Not happening and kinda dull, but if you're into the quiet life, this is a beautiful, clean city with a gorgeous beach, from which you can see the Washington mountains.

      Newfoundland was just too damn weird.

      Saskatchewan proved to me that humans can indeed die of boredom.

      I'll give Quebec City a micro-mention, but only because it's the city I was born in. Otherwise it's best part (old town) is over run by tourists, merchants shamelessly gouge you on prices and the winters are too brutal.

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    9. Everybody seems to have their preferences. Evil, your take on NF is not fair. You have to realize that NF & Labrador consists of only about 550,000 people of which about half live in the St. John's area.

      I once had a work assignment on the West Coast, in Corner Brook. I found it quiet, tranquil and very unspoiled by modern industrialization, except for a pulp and paper plant in town, formerly owned by Bowater and taken over by Kruger. My lunch breaks were NEVER under an hour (whether I liked it or not, and this was strange for big city yokels) but I could get used to it. In the out-ports, the locals would practically throw a party in honour of your arrival! St. John's was OK, but I was there mostly in winter, and THAT was tough because their winters are long, cold and harsh...at least the one in one in 1986-87 was. If you don't like sweltering heat, NF is for you.

      All in all, I found it was the people of NF that made the place, not the weather or scenery, and that's pretty much true anywhere. At least that's my take on places I visit.

      Delete
    10. Wonder how Calgary would do when these record high oil prices collapse? Worldwide oil production is increasing in leaps and bounds. Oil won't have these prices per barrel consistently over the years. Already the oil shale, which is light sweet, perfect for refining in the majority of current refineries, is increasing in leaps and bounds. Even if Keystone is approved and construction starts, the oil prices will probably start falling. Alberta oil is increasing landlocked making Canadian Select oil (oil is also heavy requiring more processing compared to oil shale) discounted compared to west texas intermediate. Alberta is going into deficit because their oil price per barrel hasn't panned out. Plus the high Canadian dollar is not only killing manufacturing but new projects in Alberta.

      Delete
  11. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 2:47:00 PM EDT

    quebekistan refuse to adhere to new Ottawa employment scheme. "«Ils veulent négocier? Ils le connaissent notre point de départ: on veut les sous, c'est ce que tout le Québec demande»":
    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/201303/22/01-4633810-main-doeuvre-quebec-refuse-dadherer-au-nouveau-programme-federal.php

    Separate already! What are you all waiting for?

    Meanwhile, another carre rouge demonstration tonight in Montreal:
    http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/dossiers/conflit-etudiant/201303/22/01-4633847-une-manifestation-etudiante-du-22-prevue-ce-soir-un-an-apres-la-premiere.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_BO2_quebec_canada_178_accueil_POS1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "On veut les sous" should go on the Qc license plates. It seems appropriate.

      Delete
    2. «Le slogan de notre manifestation est ''PLQ et PQ, une lettre en moins, mêmes politiques''. That is true. Two socialist that have no idea how to handle the province. Kick them both to Greece with the PLQ and PQ members.

      Delete
    3. While I can't stand Quebecs whining about its battles with Ottawa. The budget is cutting transfers for employment training from the provinces. While requiring an equal contribution from provinces, and employers for EI skills training. Plus its a typical electioneering budget by the CONs.

      Delete
  12. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 4:24:00 PM EDT

    A reader comment from Le Devoir today:
    (http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/373821/marceau-prepare-une-mise-a-jour-budgetaire)
    Huguette Daigle - Inscrite
    22 mars 2013 10 h 00
    Déficit zéro?????
    Je me demande si le gouvernement Péquiste ne devrait ps laisser tomber le déficit zéro parce que les gouvernements fédéralistes font tout et toujours le même coup aux gouvernement souverainiste.Ils endettent les Québécois leur mette pleins de battons dans les roues,fond des déficits énorme comme ça ils ont l'air de faire pleins de bonne choses pour le Québec et les Québécois mais ce n'est que foutaise et chagrin.
    Quand le P"Q arrive au pouvoir ils doivent toujours faire face à de gros déficit,redresser les finances et serrer la ceinture de tout le monde et renoncer à leur projet pour les Québécois et quand viens la prochine élection les gens les mettent dehors et ça recommence.
    Faudrait peut être que les gens commence à s'en rendre compte parce que c'est toujours la même chose.
    Remarquez le fédéral qui ne veut rien savoir des libéraux depuis les 9 dernièeres annes ils sont encore pire avec le gouvernement du P.Q.
    Faut que ça change.
    ----------------
    Faut que ca change Huguette? Just separate already. The ROC does not need an ungrateful province full with brainwashed social democrats. Get out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "les revenus en provenance de la taxe de vente seraient inférieurs aux prévisions." Only a socialist could beleive that increasing the Sales Tax would increase revenue.

      "Le porte-parole de la Coalition avenir Québec en matière de finances, Chritian Dubé, croit dur comme fer que le gouvernement Marois fera un déficit plus important que prévu. « Pendant combien de temps le gouvernement actuel va-t-il poursuivre l’oeuvre de camouflage du gouvernement précédent ?" Good question.
      Quebec should separate and then kick socialist Jean "I can't run a province" Charest and Pauline "I don't know economics" Marois to Greece.

      Delete
    2. @liam

      why do you write marois doesn't know economics? isn't she on the way to zero deficit? you'd prefer she spends more?

      Delete
  13. “Rene Levesque was stabbed in the back on the infamous "The Night of Long Knives", back in 1982 where a constitutional deal was hammered out by the provinces without Quebec's participation or approval.”

    I’ve always been peeved that Quebec nationalists ripped off the term “Night of the Long Knives” for the purpose of sounding dramatic.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives
    The Night of the Long Knives, outside of Quebec, is known as the purge orchestrated by Adolph Hitler. Hitler’s secret police, namely the SS, gathered up the leaders (Ernst Rohm) of the SA, the infamous brown shirts, and executed them – Hitler was eliminating any potential challenges to his leading the Nazi Party, Ernst Rohm was becoming a little too popular for Hitler’s liking.
    BTW: Many historians believe Ernst Rohm, and his SA organization, were actually crazier than Hitler and the SS - IMAGINE!!!

    If Rene Levesque was tricked, stabbed in the back, is a subject of great debate among Canadian/Quebec historians. However Quebec nationalists appropriating the term Night of the Long Knives, just because it sounds cool, borders on outrageous and in many cases makes Quebecers look somewhat provincial.

    Unfortunately many young Quebecers when they hear the Night of the Long Knives term actually think of Rene Levesque and the Constitution debate as opposed to the real Nazi deal and all the horrors that were to follow.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mr. Sauga on the McGill (and English school) proposalFriday, March 22, 2013 at 5:09:00 PM EDT

    Actually, the McGill proposal should be extended to ALL English schooling, from elementary school through university. In return, the students, and their parents, should be able to deduct the costs of the schooling against their Quebec income taxes, and the federal excess portion of income taxes that is forwarded to Quebec for equalization and other programs in Quebec supported by the federal government. In any years where the cost of schooling exceeds the income tax, the deficiencies can be carried forward until completely written off.

    WORKS FOR ME!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Once again..a lot of people here keep saying the CAQ are a bunch of seperatists..so why the kind words for the federal government..why dismissing the PQ are trying to provoke a fight?? Real seperatists would be screaming up and down about how horrible this budget is for Quebec..yada yada yada.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/03/22/montreal-quebec-budget-reaction-job-grant.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geez complicated just trying to win over disillusioned federalists - politics as usual.

      Delete
    2. Answer this Cutie, what has the Liberal done to your and my riding, Outaouais?

      Delete
    3. I agree with you Liam - they have done nothing and I cannot even get a proper answer to an e-mail from them. Only voted for them because there was no other option than separatist parties and they will always get my vote if I have no other choice unfortunately. Hopefully we will get some new options in the future - sick of the whole damn system.

      Delete
    4. Geez complicated just trying to win over disillusioned federalists - politics as usual

      I am trying to elect a party that I believe has the only chance of improving things in this province. A party that actually has a chance of winning the next election..a party that is not simply defined by the out-dated "seperatist" or"federalist" tags..a party that wont waste energy on endless language battles..a party that has never been given a chance to see what it can do. You call it politics..I call it common sense and hope for better things.

      You instead prefer your partition and equality party fantasies that have as much chance of becoming reality as I do of becoming the queen of england!

      Delete
    5. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 8:24:00 PM EDT

      cutie: move to Alberta. My HR would consider you to work here if you are fit to work. They train. Then up you go to Fort Saskatchewan (east of Edmonton) or Fort St-James, BC. Mostly clerical work.

      Delete
  16. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 7:36:00 PM EDT

    Worldwide, anyone can follow what Montreal is really about:
    http://live.montrealgazette.com/Event/LIVE_One-year_anniversary_of_2012_tuition_protest_demo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Soon, they will want to get paid to study.

      Delete
    2. @liam

      and why would it be wrong, liam? you forgot to write an argument.

      Delete
  17. looking at this video of the Montreal Police Brutality summit.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0haGe9zRM

    What a guy with nothing to do. Seriously get a job, or volunteer do something constructive of your life. Officers from Ottawa had to come and help Montreal Cops! Haha! Ottawa is a boring city. Well at least we don't have a group of anarchist destroying property and vandalizing street. I like when the police man told him we saw you. Take that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who the heck brings a kid to a protest. Only in Montreal, where protesting is the new national sports.

      Delete
    2. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 8:20:00 PM EDT

      Yes Liam you are bang on. Since they don't/can't/desire work, they all need a "national" p[asttime: bitching.
      Take today's protest in Montreal. A Friday, 6pm. Really? Im usually beat after 50 hours work week!!!! And Im 34!!! Busted my ass all week... I'm rather disgusted at those commies.
      F@ck them all. They got what they deserve: nothing. Time to start my awesome Napoleon barbecue to grill my ribeyes. That #99 Pinot Noir is excellent! Nothing like treating oneself when you work hard;)

      Delete
    3. @un gars bs de calgary

      dude were you already like this before you did your time in the army?

      Delete
    4. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 9:19:00 PM EDT

      @student
      Sorry I do not argue with idiots - you.
      Save your time.

      Delete
    5. @un gars bs de calgary

      it's telling that you don't make a distinction between responding to a question and "arguing". you swap from out of nowhere attacks (idiot!) to exagerately tight defense (i won't argue with you) on a dime. like an infantry soldier.

      so the army turned you into this? or were you attracted to the army because you already had this temper?

      Delete
  18. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 8:02:00 PM EDT

    Update on communism in Montreal: 150 arrests.
    http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/infos/faitsdivers/archives/2013/03/20130322-182805.html

    Yes!!!
    I will now open a nice bottle of red wine and savour the downfall of quebec into quebekistan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's really insane what goes on here and passes for normal and acceptable.

      Finally the police are putting the student into buses quickly and getting the whole thing over with. They should have been doing this from the beginning and this mess would not have gotten so out of hand.

      Silly students sucking up to the PQ then getting bitten by getting nothing.

      Did anyone see how at the Charbonneau commission this week they blamed all the red tape bureaucracy of montreal for causing corruption.

      The PQ love the employment (without any real work to be done) that jobs like burocrats create for themselves. Where are they going to hide the overpaid union masses that vote for them.

      Somehow they never understand that if they suck all the money from companies everybody will be ordering from the internet even their food soon. There wont be any other jobs around at all.

      Quebec is already totally disconnected in the workers it educates and what companies need. Somehow the logic of "where will all the BA history" work never seems to occur to students. Blogger is about the only option left.

      I'm not naming names, but $1 a post is a hard living until retirement if that's the only marketable skills you have beyond "organizing large gatherings" (riot) on facebook.

      Delete
    2. @cebeuq

      "They should have been doing this from the beginning and this mess would not have gotten so out of hand."

      what do you mean by "beginning"? when was that?

      "Where are they going to hide the overpaid union masses that vote for them."

      can you make examples of overpaid unionized people?

      "Somehow the logic of "where will all the BA history" work never seems to occur to students."

      don't you think a healthy society needs historians, mate?

      Delete
    3. @un gars bs de calgary

      "The idiot is back..."

      yes i noticed.

      Delete
    4. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 9:01:00 PM EDT

      @student

      Don't be so hard on yourself, mate.

      Delete
    5. @yannick

      history students know there are slim chances of getting paid as an historian after their degree. so they end up doing something else. yes some work at the coffee shop. i have nothing against a cultured coffee shop dude.

      "Believe me, I'd have studied history were it actually conducive to employment."

      well you should have, mate. you would probably have become a great teacher and writer. in any field, there are always great opportunities for the best ones.

      Delete
    6. me neither. but these people only have themselves to blame if they end up unhappy because of their choices. after their history degree, thanks to low tuition fees, they'll be able to start other studies. literature coupled with translation? great combo. history and journalism? awesome combo.

      plus nobody tells social studies students they'll have tons of offers when they graduate. if they still go it's their choice. what is so wrong with this? the cost to society? we went through that the other day, and i'm fine with the cost. if you want to save money check out charbonneau commission. this is where the real fuc&%£$%n' leeches are.

      Delete
    7. "if you want to save money check out charbonneau commission. this is where the real fuc&%£$%n' leeches are."

      False.

      I am so sick of this juvenile argument.

      When you look at the number of students (hundreds of thousands) holding out their tin cups begging for a handout to a few corrupt politicians, the proportions are all wrong.

      I've lost count, but so far, how many corrupt politicians have they sniffed out?

      Let's say 20 (could be more, I'm not sure).

      Now let's say each one of those crooked people fucked us out of $250,000 each.

      That would amount to $5 million.

      As for the students, I think the tally of the red square camp was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000. The initial Charest hike was for a total of $1,625 X 150,000...

      ...that's $243,750,000.

      Now, while you might not care about paying out the ass for such a huge amount of money, I'm against it and believe the public should be consulted about such matters.

      So for all you readers, next time some huffy, self-important red-square tells you that corrupt politicians are the real problem, you just point out that their little mafia is a far more lucrative enterprise.

      And one other thing Student, I've worked in journalism and since the Internet became widespread it is a very difficult and underpaid racket. As for translation - it's a very crucial industry, but thanks to sites like Craigslist, the days of getting paid $1 a word are pretty much over.

      Delete
    8. Just for shits and giggles, I thought I'd throw in this picture of a young man who can't pony up some extra cash for his education (READ: FUTURE), but has no qualms shelling out for a blunt:

      http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/wp-content/uploads/Quebec-naked-underwear-protest-e1339173108359.jpg

      Delete
    9. @complicated

      can you answer this one for me please?

      "Now let's say each one of those crooked people fucked us out of $250,000 each. That would amount to $5 million."

      @resident evil

      you say journalism and translation doesn't pay much nowadays. what's your point?!? or is it just free info you're handing out here?

      Delete
    10. How selective of you, Student. I knew you'd only focus on the corruption number.

      The figure I gave for the students was wrong. It's actually a lot bigger

      Now why don't you be a man and start answering questions?

      Delete
    11. @resident evil

      "The figure I gave for the students was wrong."

      i did well not commenting your first draft, then.

      Delete
    12. So if we follow the figures here:

      http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/numbers-arent-with-students---and-quebec-shouldnt-be-either/article4103063/

      ...it doesn't matter whether the students are AGAINST the hikes or FOR them.

      There are 460,000 students in Quebec, meaning that the figure is $747,500,000.

      Now let's say the Charbonneau commission finds out that 40 politicians each cost the public purse that's $12 million...compared to $747,500,000.

      Delete
    13. @resident evil

      460000 includes cegep students. the hike was only for university.

      try again.

      Delete
    14. Better bark orders at someone else sepadouche. Even if its half that numbers you parasites are worse than the mafia

      Delete
    15. @resident evil

      ok when you come back bring a better corruption number as well.

      12 millions??? haha!

      here's a picture of you http://tinyurl.com/dyyzbah .

      arthur porter alone took in double that amount.

      Delete
    16. No need to come back... you've been beat.

      You keep asking for data and proof and I gave you both.

      I proved what leeches you and your friends hapen to be.

      As for the pic, no thanks, dont see a need to check it out.

      Come back to us when you finally discover the concepts of
      Accountability and taking responsibility for your life.

      Delete
    17. In addition, it’s hilarious that each of the 200-odd participants in Friday's illegal march protesting against even a $70/year tuition increase (who were arrested just moments after defying a police order instructing them not to march through downtown) was slapped with a $634 fine… paying 9 years’ worth of the tuition increase instead.

      Delete
    18. @r.s

      and i don't think it's hilarious that canadian citizens are denied their right to assemble and protest.

      you need to read this: http://tinyurl.com/bp86a83

      the new police fad is preventive arrests. arresting people before they did anything against the law. you think it's funny?

      Delete
    19. @resident evil

      "You keep asking for data and proof and I gave you both."

      true you proved a few things here. here they are:

      1. you proved that you still consider insult as a valid way to make a point.
      2. you proved that you have perverted morals in claiming students are worse than the mafia.
      3. you proved that you didn't think things through by changing your numbers with every reply.

      did you prove anything else i might have missed, mate?

      Delete
    20. @Dudent - Really? that's all you got?

      @R.S - You also proved another point about the child and his incessant hypocrisy.

      Delete
    21. @student

      Now you are blatantly lying. Canadian citizens are not at all being denied their right to protest. They are simply being asked to provide information about the route along which they plan to protest beforehand, in order that the police may redirect traffic in order to accommodate the said protest route. This is a very common request among many democracies around the world. That Quebec protesters choose to ignore such a simple request demonstrates their contempt for democratic society.

      Delete
    22. http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/dossiers/conflit-etudiant/201303/22/01-4633847-intervention-policiere-rapide-a-la-manifestation-du-22.php

      « Ils l’ont dit qu’ils ne le toléreraient pas et puis le droit de manifester n’existe plus à Montréal. C’est « ferme ta gueule, t’as plus le droit. » »

      “They said that they wouldn’t tolerate it anymore, and so the right to protest no longer exists in Montreal. It’s “shut your face, you don’t have the right anymore.”

      Can you believe some people believe such misguided bullshit? It’s incredible! There are actually people in this day and age who are sucked into this! They must've gone to UQAM... if that.

      Delete
    23. @r.s

      dude you don't get it.

      first of all you say it's as bad elsewhere. won't you ever learn? comparing yourself to a worse case is not a proof that what you do is fine. so bad an argument but you still use it every other day. this is incredible coming from a great mind such as yours.

      then your only valid point here is p6 makes it easier for cops to divert traffic. true, but cancelling the protest with a mass arrest and high fines for this reason is disproprotionate, as stated by la ligue des droits et libertés, the quebec bar http://tinyurl.com/b4o22ue , and me. but not by you and others fools who don't want to think about it but prefer to take a rigid stance against students because they look like they could be separatists. so wrong, mate.

      if making the cop's life easier is your priority here, why not make all protests illegal to start with? i mean why stop there? it would be even easier for cops, no? where does constraining the right of association and expression should stop, r.s?

      Delete
    24. About 200 people who consider themselves to be above the law at $634 a pop = over $125,000 in revenue. Glad to see that the police operation is self-financing this year!

      Delete
    25. We both wish, but that's seriously naive to thing that the protestors were actually ticketed.

      If they were it's unlikely they will have to pay or will actually be convicted if they don;t get a student lawyer to fight it in court and get it "reduced" $634 "in total".

      This is a PQ Quebec. The students are to be forgiven quietly, otherwise it will come up in the media again.

      Seriously tho. It's like a child molester getting 10 years but serving 1 after all the nonsense of our legal system. Double credit time? I think Harper did away with that. Can;t remember. Can only hope and google.

      Ok if I'm the PQ govt, I commission a "rewrite" of the history books for children. "Je me souviens" what I tell you!

      Delete
  19. Barbara Kay: Quebec’s Bill 14 is a pathological attack on the sin of speaking English
    Barbara Kay | 13/03/22 |

    Thanks to Bill 101, Quebec’s 1977 Charter of the French language, no language in the world is as regulated as French is in Quebec.

    But Pauline Marois’ young minority PQ government was not satisfied with French merely being protected from erosion. This government seeks to establish the primacy of French in a way that will reduce the presence of English in every walk of public and private life. To that end Bill 14, the first substantial revision of Bill 101, was conceived, written up and prepared for passage.

    Bilingual municipalities would lose their bilingual status against their will over slight demographic shifts. Bill 14 contains 155 proposed amendments to the Charter of the French Language. The government considers them necessary because the French language “constitutes a stronger vector for social cohesion…and maintaining harmonious relations.” What Bill 14 is essentially designed for is to elevate the wish of francophones never to speak a language other than French — even the other official language of Canada — to a human right on the same level as the right to medical care.

    To this end Bill 14 would co-opt all public institutions, municipalities, school boards, unions, private enterprises and even ordinary Quebecers as participants and – not to put too fine a point on it – occasional spies in the great common project of suppressing English. That the project would radically diminish the freedoms and quality of life of non-francophones seems irrelevant, perhaps even a matter of satisfaction, to this government.

    Some examples of the proposed amendments:

    • A government regulation that allows English-speaking members of the Armed Forces who are in Quebec temporarily to have their children schooled in English would be rescinded.

    • Curtailing francophones’ opportunities to become fluently bilingual by requiring English CEGEPs to give priority to English-speaking candidates for admission when resources are inadequate to accept all comers. That would mean francophone students, even if they had better marks, would be the last to be chosen, and might not get in at all if the “resources” weren’t there. (What the PQ really wanted was to extend Bill 101 to CEGEPs, which raised an uproar amongst francophones; this would accomplish the same thing by the back door.)

    • Officially bilingual municipalities could lose their bilingual status against their democratic will because of slight demographic shifts.

    • Daycares would have to facilitate the acquisition of French-language skills by infants.

    • Employers would be required to justify the need for employees to speak any other language than French. An employee required to communicate in a language other than French would have the right to sue his or her employer for monetary damages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The PQ is obsessed with language domination to a degree that is in political terms pathological. The devastation of English school boards; the linguistic hardships imposed on the men and women who protect our country from harm; the cultural and psychological marginalization of fellow citizens for the Original Sin of being anglophone: What we are seeing with this government makes the patriarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in the years before the Quiet Revolution seem anodyne by comparison.

      The religious metaphor is apt. In throwing off the Church’s domination, and with it all the trappings of their religion, Quebec also divorced itself from its cultural roots. Without roots, there can be no new branches. All Quebec has that may be called culturally unique is language. The moral panic we have seen over the years – first to preserve French from disappearance, but now the push by Quebec’s new high priests to sanctify it and keep it safe from the pollution of other languages – is unjust to non-francophones, but arguably more harmful to francophones, whose aspirations have been appropriated as burnt offerings to the language gods.

      Bill 14 should be voted down in its entirety. The opposition numbers of the Liberal party and the CAQ are adequate to do so. All it would take is a sense of fairness and a little political will.

      National Post
      bkay@videotron.ca


      The top comment regarding this Barbara Kay article is genius and succinctly describes the situation:
      g. apley II •

      Bill 14 was designed to force a crisis.

      If the CAQ and the Liberals vote it down, the PQ will affirm its allegiance to the TRUE FAITH and seek a majority. The Liberals are in disarray, and the Charbonneau Commission has yet to get outside metropolitan Montréal, where the eels under the rocks may be blue instead of red.

      If the Liberals and CAQ swallow Bill 14, it will force direct action from the anglophone community to protect basic human rights. It was aimed not at the anglophones, but at neutering their political representation.

      Since Quebec has been given seats at various UN bodies, one step might be to launch minority discrimination complaints with such bodies. Another might simply be to adopt the tactics of the extreme francophone groups.

      The measure against military personnel will simply force the federal government to return to base schooling of dependents children -- thus stripping students from the English boards. Like the measure against the CEGEPS, it is the death by 1000 cuts.

      The point is that Marois cares about none of this.

      She is single-mindedly committed to the purification of Quebec society from the Anglo cancer at its heart, in the hope that this will allow her to tear Canada apart. A narcissistic fantasy by a petty individual. That in the process she will ruin a great cosmopolitan city and one of the nicest places to live in the Western world means nothing to her. She can barely speak the language she hates, and is a good mirror image of the iconic Westmount Rhodesian.

      Delete
    2. No, CEGEPs were created in 1967 with the intention of making post-secondary education more accessible, as well as to smooth the transition into adulthood between more regimented high school life and more independent university life. The largest CEGEP in Quebec is English-language Dawson College. English CEGEPs are no more intended for anglophones than are English universities but the PQ wants to make it harder for French-speaking students to get into English-language CEGEPs. If a francophone wishes to attend an English-language university (such as McGill, Harvard or Oxbridge), an English CEGEP is an ideal stepping stone. The point being made here is that a francophone with superior grades will be given lower priority to attend an English CEGEP than an anglophone with lower grades. In other words, qualifications don’t matter, only what language your parents spoke, thus diminishing francophones’ choice (one again).

      This was back in the prosperous days before the PQ inaugurated the decline of Quebec and when the idea for free university tuition was initially considered during the Royal Commission on the State of Education in Quebec (known as the Parent Commission) of 1964. Obviously, Quebec’s financial situation has changed since then, but this is of no consequence to the boycotting students.

      As for your second question, it’s not one of the worst aspects of the proposed changes. I think the difference is a matter of stronger enforcement. Are you aware of any other jurisdiction in the world where the right to work in public trumps the rights of the public? I mean, this is not about being able to buy a bus ticket in English in Matane but in downtown Montreal.

      Separatists like to say how Quebec is a distinct society; well Montreal is also a distinct society from the rest of Quebec.

      Also, among the many egregious changes is that Bill 14 proposes is that, unlike the real police who require a warrant, the language police would be able to SEIZE anything they believe is evidence of an offence against the language charter (computers, anything at all) without a warrant at all. Dozy inspectors would be able to take their findings straight to the director of criminal prosecution without notifying alleged offenders or giving them a chance to comply, and inspectors would be able to visit establishments at “any reasonable time” (they are currently limited to business hours).

      Delete
    3. Oh RS - it's so depressing living here - I used to enjoy my home and neighbours and now I'm suspicious of everyone on the street and anyone that may move into my neighbourhood. Their obsession with the extermination of my language, my rights, my choice of where to shop, of where to eat, of where to obtain health care, are all affected because of their obsession and their determination to exclude me from every aspect of society in quebec. The ones doing the worst damage are the IF and the SJBS. They are continually writing to the newspapers, going to businesses, putting some kind of mental pressure on people to ensure that the only language that is visible is french no matter what business is being conducted. It's disgraceful and they are allowed to operate with impunity. No one even tries to stop their harassment of our communities' businesses. I wish we had the same number of pushy people that they have.

      Delete
  20. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 8:59:00 PM EDT

    There's at least some good news out of Montreal tonight:
    Jamel Richardson just signed a 3 year extension:)
    Go Als!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I’m surprised that no one on this blog has yet mentioned the Town Hall meeting that was held last night in NDG by CBC Montreal that wrapped up their “Living English” season, which looked into the province's English-speaking population and the issues anglophones face and what Quebec anglophones need to do to ensure a vibrant future for the community.

    Panelists included the ever-bubbly Anne-France Goldwater (Quebec’s answer to “Judge Judy”), Terry Mosher (“Aislin”, cartoonist at The Gazette), and Jean-François Lisée himself (the “Minister of Endangered Species”, as fellow panelist and director of “Bon Cop, Bad Cop” Kevin Tierney put it).

    The event is approaching 30,000 views since last night. If you missed it, please watch the replay of the live stream here:

    http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/features/livingenglish/live/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 9:31:00 PM EDT

      Couldn't care less about what goes on there.

      Delete
    2. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYFriday, March 22, 2013 at 10:01:00 PM EDT

      STFU: Pussy's not happy;)

      Delete
    3. Here’s a testimonial by a Danish immigrant, Nina Clausen, engaged to a franco-Quebecer and eager to learn French, about the welcome that she received in the Bois-Francs region of Quebec:

      Almost two years ago, I moved to Plessisville, Quebec, to be closer to my fiancé's family - he was born and raised in Quebec - and begin a family of our own. As an immigrant from Denmark, I was not afraid of moving again and was in fact excited to begin living in Quebec and learn French.

      Upon our arrival, I immediately began looking for French classes or a tutor as well as looking for a job. I eventually was enrolled to learn French in an adult school while being paid by federal unemployment - I was living and working in Ontario before our move. I was eager to begin learning the language and continued my search for a job.

      The program I was enrolled in was eventually closed after many complaints that students (one being myself) were not learning anything because the program was not built to teach French as a second language. My many attempts at finding a private teacher or tutor were only met with smirks and closed doors.

      In an attempt to find help in my job search, I sought help from provincial and federal employment services. I met with government employees who were supposed to be bilingual but quickly discovered that being bilingual just meant they could say 'hello.'

      I made an appointment with a 'bilingual' employee from Service Canada regarding my unemployment application and was eager to speak with them to finally get some answers to all questions. When I arrived, the employee greeted me in French and I replied with the little French knowledge I had.

      As we sat down to discuss my concerns, she seemed annoyed that she had to speak English with me and kept switching to French as my fiancé was there and he is fluent. At one point, the employee turned to me and said 'see he speaks French.' I was extremely confused, frustrated and sad that I was continuously being hit with so many closed doors. I left my meeting that day in tears and wanting to drive out of Quebec forever.

      I have been living in the Bois-Francs region for almost two years now and despite wanting to learn French and wanting to submerge myself into the culture here, I have not been 'allowed' to do that. Everyday life for me here is such a struggle and I have sadly started to look for a new home for my family outside of Quebec where we can all live happily and feel like we are a part of a community...and not just a black sheep. It breaks my heart that we are being forced to leave because my son's grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins and godparents all live here...but without the language or a job I will not be able to help support my family.

      I am not writing to make any complaints - I have made enough already - I am writing in an attempt to maybe help another English-speaking family who finds themselves the same shoes as me. Life as an English-speaker in the Bois-Francs region is an incredibly sad, frustrating and lonely one!

      Delete
    4. It is extremely annoying how Blogger eats comments at will. Sometimes they reappear later, sometimes not. Now that Google is eliminating Google Reader, I've read that Blogger is likely to be next on their hit list.

      Delete
    5. I'll repost it and if the original post should magically re-appear tomorrow, the Editor can delete one of the two.
      ------------------
      Here’s a testimonial by a Danish immigrant, Nina Clausen, engaged to a franco-Quebecer and eager to learn French, about the welcome that she received in the Bois-Francs region of Quebec:

      Almost two years ago, I moved to Plessisville, Quebec, to be closer to my fiancé's family - he was born and raised in Quebec - and begin a family of our own. As an immigrant from Denmark, I was not afraid of moving again and was in fact excited to begin living in Quebec and learn French.

      Upon our arrival, I immediately began looking for French classes or a tutor as well as looking for a job. I eventually was enrolled to learn French in an adult school while being paid by federal unemployment - I was living and working in Ontario before our move. I was eager to begin learning the language and continued my search for a job.

      The program I was enrolled in was eventually closed after many complaints that students (one being myself) were not learning anything because the program was not built to teach French as a second language. My many attempts at finding a private teacher or tutor were only met with smirks and closed doors.

      In an attempt to find help in my job search, I sought help from provincial and federal employment services. I met with government employees who were supposed to be bilingual but quickly discovered that being bilingual just meant they could say 'hello.'

      I made an appointment with a 'bilingual' employee from Service Canada regarding my unemployment application and was eager to speak with them to finally get some answers to all questions. When I arrived, the employee greeted me in French and I replied with the little French knowledge I had.

      As we sat down to discuss my concerns, she seemed annoyed that she had to speak English with me and kept switching to French as my fiancé was there and he is fluent. At one point, the employee turned to me and said 'see he speaks French.' I was extremely confused, frustrated and sad that I was continuously being hit with so many closed doors. I left my meeting that day in tears and wanting to drive out of Quebec forever.

      I have been living in the Bois-Francs region for almost two years now and despite wanting to learn French and wanting to submerge myself into the culture here, I have not been 'allowed' to do that. Everyday life for me here is such a struggle and I have sadly started to look for a new home for my family outside of Quebec where we can all live happily and feel like we are a part of a community...and not just a black sheep. It breaks my heart that we are being forced to leave because my son's grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousins and godparents all live here...but without the language or a job I will not be able to help support my family.

      I am not writing to make any complaints - I have made enough already - I am writing in an attempt to maybe help another English-speaking family who finds themselves the same shoes as me. Life as an English-speaker in the Bois-Francs region is an incredibly sad, frustrating and lonely one!

      Delete
    6. To me, this story is indicative of the ethnocentric nature of Quebec nationalism, which is why it is doomed to fail. Especially outside Montreal, most foreigners are not truly welcome, only francophone ones are and then only grudgingly.

      This is a dismal basis for the social re-engineering that the PQ is trying to achieve.

      Delete
    7. Yannick, I have a feeling that others can provide more clarification (hello, Apparatchik!) but FYI, Montreal currently has an anglophone (and first-ever Jewish) mayor, Michael Applebaum (although granted he is there on an interim basis). As you could expect, the usual sources (*cough*Dutrizac*cough*) tried to make an issue that his good French, though accented, made him unfit to be mayor.

      Prior to him, there hadn’t been an anglophone mayor for a century, when Irish-MontrealerJohn Edmund Guerin was in office (1910-1912), although it is suggested that he was francophone in day-to-day life. Prior to him was Henry Archer Ekers (1906-1908) of the Ekers Brewery fame, the location of which later became the site of the Just For Laughs Museum on St. Lawrence Blvd.

      More interesting information about this topic can be found here:
      Opinion: The last anglo mayor may surprise you
      Don Macpherson: A glass ceiling for anglos at city hall

      Anglophones used to be regularly involved in provincial politics. However in 1989, following Robert Bourassa’s language policy and the adoption of Bill 178, which invoked of the Notwithstanding Clause to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in order to require French to be the dominant language of commercial signs, three anglophone MNAs resigned in protest (Clifford Lincoln, Herbert Marx and Richard French). Anglophone discontent with the Bourassa Liberal government soon after resulted in the creation the Equality Party, which elected four candidates. Since then, anglophone participation in provincial politics has been rather minimal and generally acquiescent.

      With St. Patrick’s Day having just recently passed, a recent article about Montreal’s Irish community pointed out that there have been six mayors of Montreal of Irish ancestry (William Workman, Francis Cassidy, Sir William Hingston, James McShane, Richard Wilson-Smith and James Guerin) as well as four provincial premiers (Edmond James Flynn, Daniel Johnson Sr., Pierre Marc Johnson and Daniel Johnson Jr.).

      Delete
    8. Actually, that is not at all an example of a Pyrrhic victory. Rather, somebody had to become interim mayor after Gérald Tremblay resigned on account of the Charbonneau Commission and it turned out be Mr. Applebaum, a long-time borough mayor and the Chairman of the Executive Committee.

      Also, I don’t know why you thought that anglos wouldn’t vote for francos but francos would sometimes vote for anglos. If you look through the list of mayors of Montreal, you will see that there used to be a mix, until recent times. That doesn’t say who voted for who, but still… To even contemplate electing a Naheed Nenshi as mayor of Montreal is so far out there (considering the kerfuffle over having even an interim anglophone mayor) that it says a whole lot about the tolerance of Montrealers, or the lack thereof.

      I always thought that being a Francophone meant one could identify with minorities and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

      This is exactly what’s so sad about Quebec nationalism. Instead of taking the high road by being an example and showing society how they feel people ought to be treated, separatists have opted to take the low road, seeking revenge for whatever transgressions may have happened decades ago, before I was born, or even centuries ago.

      They’re not really interested in finding a happy medium where the pendulum can settle but rather, they want it to swing even farther in the other direction than it ever did before.

      This is why they will always be frustrated.

      Delete
    9. An exercise in futility “Living English”. Please, what does that mean? I live “Montreal“, 4 languages (I am lucky) and some choice words in other languages. Tell that poor excuse for a human being j f lisee: Send me a memo directing me to the beheading. The male enjoyed the attention and grovelling. We would do best if “it” was ignored.

      Anne-France Goldwater (Quebec’s answer to “Judge Judy”), A poor facsimile, Quebec can do better. In my opinion the non White French Canadian Roman Catholic is a version of marois. If you watch “L'Arbitre“, bring along a barf bag, just in case and Les franc tireurs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo9TeGNyPGE an interesting exchange of words.

      Danish immigrant, Nina Clausen a tall tale but life is stranger than fiction: Adski covered the French courses he attended. It is not easy for a stranger to fit in anywhere. Ask any emigrant or Canadian with a strange sounding family name I know, I have one.

      When does an allo become a franco etc. lisee is an anglo because he speaks better English than me.
      The PQ with the help of the media, are doing a damn good job of confusing Quebecers and dividing us(allo, franco anglo). For this they should be admired. New PQ term “ cultural community”. I don’t know what that means, anybody, help. Defining the PQ: anyone who read Animal Farm, remembers the arrogant, self righteous, they were the PIGS(now I am insulting the pigs), anybody have a better idea?

      Delete
    10. Thanks for the link to the panel discussion with Lisee Cat - very interesting - he's quite a politician and very adapted to double speak - Too bad he's not the premier rather than Pauline - he actually sounds like he understands the anglo problems but Bill 14 speaks for the real ideals of the PQ not Lisee. It is unfortunate that they don't practice what he preaches but that lady in pink (not sure what her name is but she was sitting right next to him) didn't let him off the hook one bit - good for her also.

      Delete
    11. Well, I frankly don't watch Marie Mai. Also, Lisee wanted to close dowm the anglophone CEGEP and Universities. Jean Francois Lisee is a hypocrite. Je me souviens. I will never forget.

      Delete
    12. @liam

      "Lisee wanted to close dowm the anglophone CEGEP and Universities..."

      when is it that he wanted to close english universities? or did you just make this up?

      Delete
    13. Nina's story is so sad and I hope she finds happiness somewhere else. The pur laine francophones who think this is a fair and just society whereby we treat people badly just because they are new arrivals in our homeland, is the kind of society that the PQ are promoting and encouraging in their whole political agenda. I hope she does not leave here believing that all of us are that way; I find it so embarrassing to be called a quebecer with that kind of baggage attached to my home province. I want to be part of my normal country of Canada that believe people should be judged by the way they behave and do unto others. I would love for the liberals to hold a referendum on signing the constitution the way it stands minus the "Notwithstanding Clause" and let us get back to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for all Canadians.

      Delete
    14. "I want to be part of my normal country of Canada"

      Facile...Prenez la 401.En passant le canada n'a jamais été et ne sera jamais un pays normal,en tous cas,pas dans les conditions actuelles

      Delete
    15. Cutie, the woman in pink on the panel discussion is no-nonsense lawyer and perfectly fluent anglophone, Anne-France Goldwater. She was involved in the "Eric v. Lola" case and also appears as the judge on a TV show called "L'Arbitre" (the Quebec copy of Judge Judy).
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlAt6qt0i8g

      Delete
    16. Thank you - she certainly is no nonsense and I enjoyed the way she wasn't sitting back pretending that she agreed with everything that Lisee said. I don't think the audience was fooled much (and they shouldn't be) when dealing with the bigots in the PQ. The moderator was afraid that things were going to get tense and tried to ensure it was a "discussion" on a respectful level but wouldn't allow any hard hitters to make their point. Just heard on the news at 6:00 that Legault is going to let some parts of Bill 14 go through - not sure what parts or what harm will be done but I was hopeful he would turn it down in it's entirety. Any chance that I would ever vote for his just went out the window because he is part and parcel of the same group of bigots and robber of our rights and freedoms. Other than that, I may have given his platform a second look. Back to the drawing board.

      Delete
    17. I wonder if Canada would be a "normal" country is troops were sent into quebec and threw all the traitorous politicians that promote the breakup of the country into jail for about 50 years like they would do in other countries that aren't as "understanding" as we are? Perhaps it's time to stop being "understanding" - I know I'm tired of pandering to this bunch of radicals.

      Delete
    18. @cutie003

      well if to you a country that jails people because of their opinions is more "normal" than yes.

      Delete
    19. "This is a dismal basis for the social re-engineering that the PQ is trying to achieve."

      It's very telling how the ethnocentric separatists on here don't even try to dispute this.

      Delete
    20. @r.s

      maybe it's because there are no "ethnocentric separatists" on here.

      Delete
    21. That's one way of looking at it. Another is that they don't want to acknowledge the truth.

      Delete
    22. Quebec’s political class are playing on people’s fears. For the Francophone’s they are taking a double hit, both the PQ and the Liberals, tell them we need to protect you from linguistic and cultural assimilation by the greater North American Anglo sphere and the local Anglophone diasporas. Their fears are constantly being fed by a highly concentrated (not very many outlets) Francophone media consisting of equally trashy talk radio and very opinionated newspaper editorial boards. The Anglophone community are preyed on by the Liberals who in not so veiled language constantly tell them vote for the Liberals and there won’t be any referendum. Both parties, the PQ and the Liberals, need everyone to be as afraid as possible in order to gain and hold on to power.

      We have in Quebec an emerging class schism especially amongst the Francophone communities. Most well to do Francophone’s make damn sure their children master the English language. According to their calculus English = Influence = Money = Power. Many French language private schools have English ESL programs, if not outright clandestine English emersion programs. As proof, look at the negative comments the French language media elites made about Pauline Maurois’s poor spoken English. Madame Marois being in a position of power and lacking English skills is the exception to the rule! Essentially what happened during the quiet revolution was the old Westmount “Golden Mile” wasps that used to run the show were replaced by a new class of Francophone elites, (Demarais, Peladeau) and the bishops were swapped out for politicians. What’s left of the Anglophone community, well we’re tolerated as long as we remain quiet and don’t bitch too much.

      I’ve lived in Quebec all my life, I am even married to a Francophone girl from 3Riv, and I make the above statements based upon my observations of the past 30 years. I don’t think it is a conspiracy I just honestly believe that certain laws, pertaining to language and labour, have created an accidental social engineering effect on all Quebecers, Franco and Anglo alike resulting in us all living in fear of each another.

      Delete
  22. I don't care if someone wants to put a sign up in binary code. Let them! It's their business, their right to choose. Leave people the heck alone. I'm guessing the Chinese owned business caters to Chinese customers, so what's it to people if they can't read the signs? Go inside and you'll see what the business is. The words written on a sign should be up to the business owner and only the business owner. If you don't like it, don't shop there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thought I'd top-up EDM's excellent point with this...

      When I'm in Toronto, I spend a lot of time in Kensington Market/Chinatown.

      If you walk around on Baldwin street and others in that neighborhood, you'll
      see plenty of signs on the fences, windows or posts that have nothing more than
      Chinese characters and a phone number.

      Guess what? It's a "for rent" sign in Chinese only.

      But that's cool. These landlords feel more comfortable dealing with someone from
      their community.

      Just so long as they're courteous with me when I visit their shops and restaurants (and they always are)then all is good.

      Did someone say Dim Sum?

      Delete
    2. I lived at U of T’s New College at Harbord and Spadina in the summer of 1987 and remember the variety of great, cheap ethnic eats available in The Annex (especially Hungarian!). These days, there are also other Chinatowns in Toronto and the Chinatown East at Gerrard/Broadview is usually where I go when I visit. A Toronto buddy who also lived in Asia with me introduced me to Pearl Court and it’s our usual haunt. Nearby is a terrific Indian dive that’s delish, Udupi Palace. Mmm-mmm!

      As for dim sum here in Montreal, lately I’ve been partial to Tong Por out in Ville St. Laurent (parking is much easier there). They used to be in Chinatown, where Kam Fung and Ruby Rouge are the mainstays. Any faves?

      Hmm, I just noticed that Kam Fung now opened a branch in the West Island on Sources Rd. Anyone else still remember when the Galeries des Sources used to be called the West Island Mall?

      Delete
  23. Don't know how many of you have seen the uber-underrated movie Idiocracy, but at the rate the seppies are going, I can see this as the inevitable outcome for Quebec:

    http://bit.ly/U4dIhl

    After reading Student's belief that there's nothing wrong with studying a subject that offers little hope for employment after four years and thousands of dollars of study, it's couldn't be more clear what we have to expect.

    Yannick pointed out that subjects like history are little more than Ponzi schemes and he's right.

    The thing with Ponzi schemes however, is that they all topple over eventually.

    You can't run a car on fumes for long and you can't power an economy on scrip.

    ReplyDelete
  24. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYSaturday, March 23, 2013 at 8:35:00 AM EDT

    Just got a msg from an old friend from the HEC. He just got laid off a few weeks ago and can't find anything. The guy is a BBA just like me! No BBA jobs in quebec? Unreal!
    I'll tell him to move here. I bet he'll get a solid new career here within one week.
    -------------------
    Cant wait to have all my lights on EVERYWHERE in the condo for earth hour tonight.
    I'll even open all my windows and crank the heat, blow my speakers by playing loud music and have my 2010 BMW M5 idle for the whole time. My meter's gonna spin so fast I'll be able to cut lumber LOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't forget to eat a baby seal/veal burger on a coal-fired BBQ.

      That post actually really made me laugh!

      Delete
    2. UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARYSaturday, March 23, 2013 at 9:24:00 AM EDT

      Great idea R E!!!
      LOL
      Seriously!!! Why are average people so gullible with useless and idiotic fabs?
      Folks feel so guilty all the time that redemption is a mere 60 minutes of darkness yearly?
      Ridiculous! Al Gore must be laughing in his big electricity wasting mansion:
      http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp

      Delete
    3. That's the problem with first-worlders.

      They think taking an hour's break from their lifestyle will get them a ticket to heaven.

      Most of us live in cities. That very fact right there means we'll always be polluters, NO MATTER WHAT.

      If you truly wanted to make a difference, join the back-to-the-land movement.

      If you truly wanted to live with no impact whatsoever on the Earth, there's another option for that...and it's coming for all of us. So don't worry, we all end up being environmentally friendly at some point.

      Delete
    4. Here are some fact the environmentalist will not tell you:

      Last year, Canada’s GHG emissions were projected to be 785 Mt in 2020. Since that time, there have been several key developments and GHG emissions are now projected to be 65 Mt lower at 720 Mt in 2020.
      Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows a decoupling of GHG emissions from economic growth.
      http://www.ec.gc.ca/Publications/253AE6E6-5E73-4AFC-81B7-9CF440D5D2C5%5C793-Canada's-Emissions-Trends-2012_e_01.pdf

      Here is the great Dr. Suzuki being rebuffed by then-Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien
      http://ezralevant.com/2013/02/saint-suzukis-long-history-of.html

      Delete
    5. Yannick, would you say that a tacky parvenu like Un Gars (someone who evidently thinks that flashing his money around is classy) is a type that one encounters in Calgary more often than in other Canadian cities?

      Delete
    6. @r.s

      "tacky parvenu". that's the expression i was looking for. good one r.s.

      Delete
    7. Yannick/RS - I lived in Calgary for 5 years back in the 1990s. One thing that always stood out when I lived there was how people whined incessantly about high taxes even though Alberta had the lowest income tax in the country and no sales tax. There was a lot of talk about money and business..too much in my opinion. For someone who loves money and wants to make a lot I would say Calgary is the best place to be in this country..even more so than Toronto. The people work hard in Calgary and are very business-oriented, entrepreneurial..a high level of volunteerism..and a can-do attitude. The government is very business friendly and goes out of its way to promote business. So in the end you attract a lot of hard working motivated ambitious people which will feed of each other.

      These are positives and moving from Calgary to Montreal was a real shock because Montreal is literally the total opposite. In Montreal people dont seem to care about the quality of their work or about even putting in a fair days work..many seem to take pride in doing as little as possible and getting away with it..and of course trying to suck as much money from the government as possible. On the other side though people are not as obsessed about money and business but instead they are too obsessed with their own needs with little regard for how it affects others. I also found people a lot friendlier in Calgary..Montreal is the least friendliest city I have ever lived in by far. In Calgary and most western cities it is common for people to greet you especially when you are in a store..in Montreal its not uncommon to be totally ignored in a store. I am always stunned when I go to the USA and even elsewhere in Canada at how mucb better the level of service is..you get used to the horrible service in Montreal..where workers look annoyed when you ask them for help or they are just plain incompetent or rude or even insulting in some occasions..I have seen it all here. You can tell that there are many people in this city who are over-protected and feel like its their god-given right to abuse the system, get paid well but do as little as possible, whine whine and whine again to get even more and so on. And I have seen poor service from all types of people - francophones, anglophones, allophones. My theory too is that all the fighting and tension between the french and the english has created a bunch of grumpy, irittable and miserable group of people.

      Is Calgary perfect..no..its overly obsessed with money..but is it a better place to live than Montreal..without doubt..not even close. Even the people in Toronto I have fond to be friendlier on average than in Montreal.




      Delete
    8. "I'll be the first to admit that Earth Hour is dumb, but to say we don't need to be worried at all about our impact on the environment is a slippery-slope fallacy."

      @Yannick - I do agree with you.

      However, I feel that in terms of push coming to shove, the members of our society simply can't be bothered to make more of an effort with their pollution levels.

      The IGA is always packed in favor of locally grown food.

      People still insist on buying fucking SUVs, which I simply just do not understand.

      Consumers also stick closely to cheap imports, which contributes very largely to the problem, but at the same time, you can't always fault the consumer for that.

      At the end of the day, I'd have to say that the Stanford Prison Experiment reveals what you can truly expect from people when it comes to forgoing their own interests.

      Delete
    9. Just returned from Florida and couldn't get over how friendly people were = from the airport to where I was staying. Everyone but everyone talks to you and the store clerks go out of their way to be helpful. Such a switch from doing business here in quebec - wish we were more like them.

      Delete
    10. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    11. You reminded me about “peaches and coconuts”, Cutie. Let me explain: I used to live in Japan, where people are generally considered stoic/uptight/hard to know… that is, until you go out drinking together and then they “let their hair down” and you see how much fun they really are (hard on the outside, soft on the inside). Americans are the opposite, immediately getting on a first-name basis with you, for example, yet are pretty superficial and it’s hard to get to know their real selves (soft outside, hard inside), which I don’t necessarily find to be preferable. Hence, Americans = peaches and Japanese = coconuts. (Maybe we Quebecers are apples?)

      Delete
    12. You may be right Cat but my experience was that most were pretty nice people in the limited time I spent with them. I'm sure we're generalizing - everyone has the potential to be "nice"as it were.

      Delete
  25. Mayor asks Montrealers whether city should fill potholes

    Montrealers have to choose between having potholes, or having them filled by companies caught up in the corruption inquiry. "Danielle Pilette, a professor of municipal management at University of Quebec in Montreal, said the city should look elsewhere for companies with better reputations." That is not a bad idea.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/03/22/montreal-applebaum-potholes-corruption-asphalt-shortage.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. Equality Party is having it's first official meeting for anyone who would like to attend:

    https://www.facebook.com/EqualityPartyPartiEgalite

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I send a email to the Equality Party asking them what they intend to do for the Outaouais and Pontiac region. I asked him if he will finish Highway 50 and connect it to Montreal via Highway 40. I ask him if they will support a LRT expansion for Gatineau, because the BRT proposed by the Liberals will not relieve congestion on King Edward Avenue, in Ottawa. Didn't get an answer right now. To bad it is in Montreal, hope they will organize a meeting in Hull. The Equality Party needs to be more than Montreal-centric party and challenge the CAQ and PLQ over the equality between region. Right now to be many people in Gatineau go to Ottawa for healthcare, even when Jean Charest was in office.

      Delete
    2. I too hope they get some candidates in our area Liam - I'm sure you will hear back from them although they may not have all the answers to your questions right now. And yes, our health care system is in chaos - Thank God Ottawa is still taking care of us. We have to hope they continue to do so or we're screwed. I still think our best option is a National Capital Region whereby we would be protected by the feds but this will take forever as we need a constitutional amendment signed by the idiots in quebec to make this happen. I would be ecstatic if that came to be. We need some lawyers living in this area to take on this project but so far no one has come forward.

      Delete
    3. @liam

      "because the BRT proposed by the Liberals will not relieve congestion on King Edward Avenue..."

      dude they are still wondering what to propose around bill 101. don't you think it's a bit early to expect equality party to have an action plan about the traffic in ontario?!?

      Delete
    4. Cutie, I just got an answer. They said they would put me in contact with the local riding. Quebec Government has always opposes integrating Gatineau with Ottawa.

      Student, I don't know what you mean. Lots of quebecker work in Ottawa. I have a friend who works at Adobe's offices and another one works for a local software company called Corel. The entire problem is the Quebec Government authorized the construction of highway that was opposed by Ontario. We need a train but PM Jean Charest told us that we would have to make due with more buses.

      Delete
    5. @liam

      well good luck with that.

      it's interesting how you are often concerned with your very local interests when everybody else here, from the most imbecile to the smartest, discuss about broader concepts like a nation's future, immigration, culture and other significant things.

      i'll go as far as concluding you are a very selfish dude, liam.

      Delete
    6. As usual Liam - ignore the beast - just trying to bait you into an argument.

      Delete
    7. Let me know when you get the info on the local riding please - am most interested. Thank you. Of course quebec objects to anything to do with the ROC - what else is new? Pricks - never think of the population

      Delete
    8. I am concerned with the province future. I always bring up the need for an increased investment for transit issue everywhere in the province. I have supported Montreal LRT on Champlain Bridge. I also, want to improve healthcare. I have supported the need for a second hospital in Vaudreuil, even if it isn't in my city. I bring up issue for the benefit of the province, including the health of Quebec nationalities. Funny that you care more about some artists grants than you care about the health of every quebecois.

      Beside, I still think free-market should determine culture. I also, think immigrants should be chosen if they can easily integrate the workforce and not if they speak french. We have different priorities but that doesn't make me selfish.

      Delete
    9. Sorry, Cutie, didn't read the your comment before commenting. Although, I had to. I have a duty to protect the safety of all quebeckers, whenever they are separatist or federalist. I care of the future of a strong Quebec in a strong Canada. Student promotes a view of Quebec that will be sovereign with no access to healthcare and a bankrupt and bitter set of radicalism.

      Delete
    10. @liam

      "Funny that you care more about some artists grants than you care about the health of every quebecois."

      what?!? how preposterous and malevolent of you. take it back.

      "I still think free-market should determine culture."

      then in no time everybody will be american. or chinese. you may not care if you already are american.

      "immigrants should be chosen if they can easily integrate the workforce and not if they speak french."

      and don't french speakers integrate the workforce easier, in quebec, in your humble opinion, liam?

      Delete
    11. @liam

      "Student promotes a view of Quebec that will be sovereign with no access to healthcare and a bankrupt and bitter set of radicalism."

      dude you don't have to invent crap and make believe it's my crap. the other, harder, strategy is to tackle things i actually wrote. please make an effort and choose the latter.

      Delete
    12. Sorry student, I proposed solution to improve the life of everybody in Quebec and you focus on culture. No not everybody will become American if they watch an American movie. Nor will they become Chinese, if they watch a Chinese movie. Your disdain of the United States and China is borderline arrogance. You should take it back. I want to allocate more money to healthcare and transit, and you dare say I am selfish. I have made several suggestion to improve healthcare,and you have focused on culture. Sorry but that is unacceptable. What new source of funding have you proposed for healthcare in Quebec. Also, you have not named one significant issue Quebec is facing. Only your insult. I am sorry but I will not back down from my statement.

      Delete
    13. @liam

      "I proposed solution to improve the life of everybody in Quebec..."

      what solution? the ottawa train? i think it's a local issue. the equality party guy might put it down as a level two priority at this point of their set up.

      "...and you focus on culture."

      are you refeering to that bit i wrote: "...a nation's future, immigration, culture and other significant things"? how can you accuse me of focusing on culture when it's one item amongst a list?!?

      "No not everybody will become American if they watch an American movie."

      of course not, but you didn't mention watching one movie, you mentioned stopping public subsidies to culture. different ballpark mate. and yes if you stop granting money to quebec artists quebec culture will vanish faster. maybe you'd consider this an improvement?

      "Nor will they become Chinese, if they watch a Chinese movie."

      talk to a tibet dude about this. let's see what he thinks about not becoming chinese.

      "Your disdain of the United States and China is borderline arrogance."

      again totally uncalled for liam. i think french canadians should remain french canadians. is this "disdain for the usa"? it you think it is you have some weird definitions over there.

      "Also, you have not named one significant issue Quebec is facing."

      dude you have named them all! i'm not a parrot.

      Delete
    14. "Nor will they become Chinese, if they watch a Chinese movie."
      talk to a tibet dude about this. let's see what he thinks about not becoming chinese.


      Jaw-dropping dumbness from the shift-key-averse student... And yet as outlandish as it is, it appears to be worth his while to make such statements for $9.50/hour.

      Ewwwwwww... try again, dude.

      Delete
    15. @joseph

      dude you forget to say why my comment is dumb in your humble opinion. please try to be a tad more constructive. you start from scratch so it won't be very difficult.

      Delete
    16. When you say they'll put you in touch with the "local riding", that means that the Equality Party is also organizing a local riding association in Gatineau, right? So they are also organizing outside of Montreal?

      Delete
    17. I figured they would - this area is ripe for a new political party that supports federalism = it's made up of mainly federal government workers who would lose their jobs and homes in the event of separation. No place would be more suitable than this area for a movement that promotes freedoms and rights and, if necessary, the partition of this province.

      Delete
    18. Dudent said: "Nor will they become Chinese, if they watch a Chinese movie."
      talk to a tibet dude about this. let's see what he thinks about not becoming chinese.

      Which Joseph charitably described as "jaw-dropping dumbness", and Dudent, after a great deal of head scratching couldn't figure out what about it was dumb.

      Everything about that line was dumb and showed a breath-taking ignorance. How do you possibly equate going to a chinese movie in Montreal with the life of a Tibetan? Does the movie come with an occupation by the Chinese Red Army? Does the movie require that Marois be replaced by Chinese administrators? Does the movie come with the forced resettlement of ethnic chinese into Quebec? Are people forced to see the chinese movie? No? Then there is not even the remotest similarity. Do you get up in the morning and pour yourself a big bowl of obnoxious with 2 scoops of unjustified arrogance in every box? Previously, I thought you were about 16 but now I'm lowering my estimate to 14. I read some of your comments and I get embarrassed for you.

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    19. I understand that your ADD is kicking up again, but try to focus on what Joseph was referring to, namely: "talk to a tibet dude about this. let's see what he thinks about not becoming chinese."

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  27. Hey everybody,

    Relax and smile (or laugh) a little. Here is the Language Police in action.

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    Replies
    1. Funny but sad commentary on how things are going these days with the OCLA (l'Office contre la langue anglaise) running amok.

      By the way, the video also linked to those French-Only-Zone jokers that we last saw in Chinatown. This time, they were out for St. Patrick's Day and set up language-compliance boxes on the sidewalk for people to be able to speak English freely, without fear of being harangued.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXye79Q2gIM

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  28. Since our seppies are so ardently predisposed to saying that corrupt officials are the real cause of Quebec's debt woes, let's follow along for a second:

    http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/22/pq-demands-to-be-excluded-from-jobs-training-program-after-flahertys-direct-attack-on-quebecs-economy/

    If you read that article, you'll see why the PQ is so ardently opposed to the new Jobs Canada plan.

    For any of you who've never ventured up to Cremazie, here's a photo of what federal Canadian funds have bought our little friends in the unions:

    http://www.psa.ca/assets/photo/image/90/w_99-228_complexe_ftq_0061.jpg

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, I despise Quebec's unions even more than I despise separatists.

    Why?

    Because seppies are simple minded pawns.

    The unions on the other hand are the TRUE mafia in Quebec and they propagate the seppie movement to conceal their blue-to-white collar thuggery:

    http://www2.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/FTQ-construction.jpg

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    1. The FTQ and the PQ are evil twins in separation.

      The FTQ and other Quebec unions agree to support sovereignty and push it on their members in exchange for demands that will destroy the economy.

      What other major city only does construction between 7am and 3 pm? dysfunctional ones with rotten infrastructure..

      On highways and downtown Montreal streets it should be the *LAW* that construction occurs 24x7. And not with double and triple overtime.

      The real fear of the FTQ is that more people will be put to work their members won;t have the same power.

      Construction in Quebec needs to be opened up to other provinces. The insane labour movement restrictions need to be lifted. This is anther key piece of what the 1970 Cliche commission figured out. Charbonneau commission will recommend it also on page 285.

      Fast forward another 40 years. Same corruption and unions, different decade and pile of shit.

      Look at Marois husband running the FTQ fund. The PQ and FTQ fools in love with each other.

      None of this fits the narrative of Quebec that the PQ/QS write.

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  29. FROM ED
    How about some donations to the Liberal Party so they can get rid of the PQ. At the same time it let's them know we're out here and gives us a better right to make demands. Ed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Liberals will win the next election no matte what the PQ does. Therefore there is no reason for the Liberals to support any aspect of bill 14. Bill 14 was internationally villified that neither the Liberals or CAQ have to support any aspect of it. The fact is for the minorities is nothing short of creation of a new bilingual province out of areas that are minority dominated areas of Quebec will ever bring peace and ability to economically prosper without shackles for the minorities. If it was in conjuction with Francophone dominated areas of Ontario, that a new bilingual province along the lines of New brunswick was created. It would be a win win for all those involved. Quebec while losing most of Montreal island, parts of laval, the south shore, the Outaouais, Eastern Townships, Chateauguay Valley, lower North Shore, Magadelen islands, most of Northern Quebec.

      Quebec would still be a big benificiary.

      1 - they would basically get a Quebec that is French as Ontario is english.

      2- would have a 2nd bilingual province where French would have equal status in a larger portion of Canada.

      3- would still be guaranteed 75 seats despite having lost 1/4 of its population.

      Though without Northern Quebec, independence would no longer be viable or possible. Quebec would be forced to make concessions for joint administration with the new bilingual province of made up of parts of Quebec and Ontario. Seperation would make all the investments in Northern Quebec forfeited. When it comes to revenue loss most Quebecois of all stripes will vote with their wallet.

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    2. Sounds just great to me Jarry - now if only we could get a really good movement going towards that end, I would die a happy lady!

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