French versus English Volume 95

Minority Quebec Liberal MNAs demonstrate their only talent.... self-preservation!

On Wednesday, the National Assembly voted unanimously to rebuke the federal government for supporting and now participating in the legal challenge to Bill 99 launched by Keith Henderson and pleaded by lawyer activist Brent Tyler.

One by one the Anglo and Ethnic Liberal members stood up and voted to support a PQ motion castigating Ottawa for mixing into affairs that supposedly only Quebecers have a right to consider.

Now I know these useful idiots are obligated to tow the party line, but when members of caucus are profoundly in disagreement with the party line and if it makes no difference to the outcome of the vote, they are sometimes (rarely) given an opportunity by the whip to skip the vote.
A really motivated member who is refused permission by the whip to skip the vote can always call in sick, but this sometimes has consequences, like losing travel perks and committee spots and other goodies dished out by the all-powerful whip.
It also puts at risks, the member's re-nomination, so it takes guts to follow your heart and let's face it, our Anglo and Ethnic members of the Liberal party have as much heart as the Cowardly Lion.

And so the Anglo and Ethnic Liberals voted along with the house in favour of the motion, seemingly happy to do so.

I was particularly disappointed with Lawrence Bergman who seemed to have had no qualms whatsoever about supporting the PQ motion.
Before the vote, an unconcerned and upbeat Bergman rose in the Assembly to make an all important statement, congratulating constituent Anthony Housefather, mayor of Côte Saint-Luc , for excellent performance in the Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics held in Israel this past summer. 

"Mayor Housefather, congratulations, you’re definitally (sic) a source of inspiration for us all. You show us that, even in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, determination and discipline can bring us even further. You’re also a superb and well-liked mayor of Côte-Saint-Luc. Thank you." Link

Arghhhhhh!!!!! Pee-ukke!!!.....

What an insipid  brown-noser, this on a day where he sells out the very residents of Mayor Housefather's town!
Now Mr. Housefather must be feeling a little embarrassed receiving such accolades from the spineless Bergman, Housefather is a very active defender of minority rights and has testified against Bill 14 before the National Assembly committee sitting on the issue.

Of all the MPs representing minorities and Anglos in Quebec, the nebbish MP from D'Arcy-McGee has always been the least effective, carrying zero weight within the party.
In fact Jean Charest wanted to dump Bergman in favour of a more capable Jew who had been lined up to take over the seat, one who could actually make the cabinet on merit and whose first language was French. I shall leave out that person's name, because it never happened.
A prominent Jewish senator from Ottawa was enlisted to have that conversation, in which Bergman flatly refused to give up his seat.
This information, to my knowledge, has never been made public.

In 2003 Bergman had a brief term as Minister of Revenue, but that was before the infamous 'meeting.'  After that, Charest left him out of the cabinet, now you know why.

Mr Bergman and supporters may be riled by these comments, but truth be told, he would have to step up his game considerably to become a lightweight.
As for the other Liberals, Geoffrey Kelly, Kathleen Weil, Yolande James, Filomena Rotiroti, and Gerry Sklavounos, all I can say is that they are what they are, nothing less than deadwood, or even worse, the Kapos of the English and Anglo community.
Now the argument that all these MPs make, is that they are doing the best they can considering their position trying to bring some level of moderation to government policy affecting Anglos and Ethnics, but truthfully how's that going?
By the way, given Bergman's precarious position in his party, he is highly dependant on the support of powerful people like Housefather, whose popularity among his townspeople is so high that he is running unopposed.
So that's what the Bergman's Assembly grovel was all about.

More PQ Smoke & Mirrors

Mr. Bamboozler

Bernard Drainville

I took in a masterful performance by Bernard Drainville, the PQ minister in charge of selling the infamous Charter of Values, wherein he held a news conference to give reporters his interpretation of the comments received on the government website created to solicit public reaction to the Bill.

"I feel confident that these results reflect for a large part the general opinion of citizens who participated in the exercise" -Drainville

How's that for a tap dance?
Josée  Legault, an avowed sovereignist and newly hired Journal de Montreal pundit, took Drainville to task;

"Presenting the results of this invisible consultation compiled by officials and a handful of law students, Minister Drainville proudly announced that  47 % of these "citizens" support the draft Charter of Quebec Values​​. The Minister also noted that among these comments, the most often requested changes were the removal of the crucifix from the National Assembly and the opposition to the right of withdrawal  for public institutions wishing to evade the ban on the wearing of ostentatious religious signs. A happy coincidence, it is precisely the changes the government itself has envisaged for some time. That is based on some of the many leaks in the dossier.The minister also said he was unable to provide a breakdown of these comments by region, age, sex, language , etc. .. In short,  Bernard when Drainville himself recognizes the "unscientific" nature of the exercise, it is clearly an understatement. During a press conference, facing questions on this issue, Mr. Drainville , smiled and responded to his former colleagues :

  "Look, I 've been a journalist, you have the right to be skeptical . If I were you, maybe I would be as well ." Link{fr}

More PQ Smoke and Mirrors

The truth is that intellectual separatists are having an extremely hard time accepting the B/S that Drainville and the PQ are offering up in the debate.

Now I have to call Drainville out one thing he said, that these types of comment boards usually receive a disproportionate amount of responses from those highly passionate over  the project, in this case he intimated, those affected by the ban on religious clothing.
This is plainly not true, because the amount of those wearing these symbols is dwarfed by the number of those supporting the project passionately.
I venture a guess that less than 50,000 people (probably less,) wear religious symbols, while those opposed include millions.

At any rate the whole thing is just grand theatre, or more likely, theatre of the absurd.
Imagine the editor of No Dogs or Anglophones pulling data from the comments section and proposing that the results are indicative of Anglo/Ethnic opinion in Quebec.
Oh, if it were only that easy!

Now this wasn't the only Drainville performance of note, he was in top form in the National Assembly in reply to a question by Amir Khadir who complained that in considering an election this December the PQ was violating the spirit of the law passed unanimously in  the National Assembly that made fixed elections every four years in September.

Mr. Drainville replied that while it is true, the fact that the opposition can dump the government at will, because it has a combined majority, the PQ has reserved the right to call an election at will, the law be damned!

Jean-François Lisée

Jean-François Lisée.... 'factually challenged'

Nobody in the PQ government gets it wrong more often than Jean-François Lisée, whose amiable manner belies a propensity to exaggerate, misinterpret facts and take outright liberty with the truth.
He is renowned for making statements that are altogether not true.
Last December, in defending Andre Boisclair's appointment as a deputy minister as well as Delegate General in New York, he cited in rebuttal, the example of Lawrence Cannon, ambassador to France about whom Lisée told reporters;

“Lawrence Cannon is the Canadian ambassador in Paris and he was named simultaneously assistant deputy minister to Foreign Affairs Link

Trouble is, the assertion was just plain untrue and when confronted by reporters Lisée admitted in his famous 'ah shucks' manner that he just made a 'gaffe' Link

In an incident in April, Lisée accused Justin Trudeau of overstepping his bounds by requesting a meeting with opposition leaders alone, again something that never happened.

"Lisée later said he misunderstood the Trudeau request, and volunteered to buy the new Liberal leader a beer to make up for his angry words." Link

Now you might recall Jean-François Lisée telling Montreal mayoral candidates at the beginning of October that they should keep their opposition to the Charter of Values to themselves and keep it on the sidelines as did Montreal's most famous mayor Jean Drapeau over Bill 101. Link

Turns out that isn't true as well, because Drapeau was actually a fierce opponent of Bill 101.

Kudos to Montreal's largest community newspaper,  The Suburban for ferreting out the truth in an editorial article about Mr. Lisée's liberties with the truth.
I'm going to reproduce the entire editorial because it is hard to access and not many people outside Montreal are aware of it.
Of course nobody in the mainstream press has called Mr. Lisée to task for another flight of fancy.

You can visit the Suburban website HERE and access the current and past issues HERE. 

Lisée, Drapeau and Montreal’s special status
One of the reasons that the nationalist narrative in Quebec gained currency over the past forty years particularly with young Francophones is that our history is not known. People buy into whatever version of history the nationalists sell, particularly the skewed version of Francophones having been victims of imperialists in their own native land when in fact their very presence here is as much the product of European imperialism as the Anglophone presence. History matters. And not just because, as Santayana wrote, `Those who forget it are bound to repeat it.” It matters because Its perversion is used as a political tool. Particularly in a jurisdiction with North America’s highest high school dropout rate.
That’s why Minister Jean-François Lisée’s comments last week professing the view that our current mayoral candidates should follow the lead of former Mayor Jean Drapeau - who according to Lisée, remained neutral and mute in the debate on Bill 101- and remain neutral in the Charter debate. Well Drapeau did no such thing. What he had to say in the October 1983 hearings on reforming Bill 101 mirrors what civil rights advocates have said for years and what has been most vociferously re-stated by opponents of Bill 14 just this past year. They are worth reflecting on and all Montrealers owe a debt to CBC Radio`s Bernard St-Laurent and his assistant Loreen Pindera for digging out the entire presentation and making it an issue this past week. We will go into some of Drapeau salient points later in this column. But we must first examine Lisée`s comments.
To begin with, no government official has any right to tell any citizen candidate or nor what to think, say or write. It is reprehensible for anyone, particularly a Minister, to make such a thoroughly illiberal and undemocratic intervention. But more than that, we have to examine the man who made them, and why. M. Lisée is not your ordinary Quebec-centric politician. This is an extremely well-educated and cosmopolitan politician. Post-graduate studies abroad; over a dozen years as a Washington-based correspondent; author of “ In the Eye of the Eagle” and winner of the Governor-General’s Prize. This is a man who knows his history.
Drapeau’s comments not only made headline news, but the political events around the October 1983 hearings on the then Bill 57 “assouplissement” of Bill 101 did as well.
René Levesque had just replaced Camille Laurin as Minister responsible for the French Language Charter with Gérald Godin who was considered a moderate on language.
Godin`s opening statement at the hearings already made everybody sit up and take notice. After explaining the need to protect French in a “sea of English” not only in North America but from global “assimilation”, he then made the “radical” statement for those times that “Let us be clear. Anglo-Quebecers have very little to do with this assimilation and it is not them that we should consider responsible, or their institutions.”
The background to the 1983 reforms have been widely written about. Marc Levine’s “The Reconquest of Montreal” and Andrew Sancton’s “Governing Montreal” are just two of the works that examined those events. Lisée is a student of history. He lived those times. He was senior aide to Premier Bouchard. For him to say what he did evidenced that either he thought no Quebecer would remember or that they would be too intimidated to reply. He was wrong on both counts.
But now that Lisée has opened this Pandora’s Box, let us repeat – again and again what Drapeau said in his testimony. He called for special status for Montreal exempting it from aspects of 101 because he felt the language laws were irreparably hurting the Montreal economy. He said that the most negative effects of Bill 101 were being felt not so much because of the words in the legislation as by the manner of their enforcement.
He called for exemptions for English-speaking executives bringing their children to Montreal so that they could send them to schools of their choice. And perhaps most poignantly, he made the point thirty years ago next week – that many areas of Montreal have non-francophone majorities and these citizens should not be estranged from their own city because of an insistence on unilingual signs. He called for bilingual and even trilingual signs as long as French was included. Today the City of Montreal has a non-francophone majority.
History matters! And quite inadvertently, Lisée has made many re-examine our own recent past. It’s lessons are important for today. Let`s hope everyone learns them.
We encourage everyone to go to the following link and read Mayor Drapeau’s words" Link

Péladeaus cozy up to the PQ brass

"There are some concerns being expressed about media baron Pierre Karl Peladeau's role in Quebec politics, notably his close ties to the pro-independence Parti Quebecois government.

The province's opposition leader says he wants to know more about the political involvement of the chairman of Quebecor (TSX:QBR.B), which dominates the private multimedia landscape in the province and which owns the Sun TV and newspaper chain in English Canada.

Peladeau has been sitting in on cabinet meetings on green-transport projects in his other role — as chairman of Hydro-Quebec, to which he was appointed by Pauline Marois.

His tabloid newspaper, the Journal de Montreal, provided positive coverage in exclusive reports about the project two weeks ago.

More recently, the newspaper has offered prime real estate to a project spearheaded by Peladeau's wife, Julie Snyder, who was among several prominent feminists to organize a grassroots campaign in support of the PQ's controversial values charter.  Link

Pierre Karl Peladeau and wife Julie Snyder make it official. We're PQ separatistes!

Meanwhile his wife is getting busy politically on behalf of the PQ and the Charter of Values.

"We may be wrong to suspect that Pierre Karl Peladeau wants to enter politics, it is his wife Julie Snyder we should ask. It is she who  created the 'Janettes', Janette Bertrand revealed on the talk-show, Tout le monde en parle. It was she who called the signatories of the letter written by Mrs. Bertrand to a meeting to discuss the Charter of Quebec values​​.... Link

The article by  Gilbert Lavoie in Le Soleil went on to detail how Peledeau's wife solicited government aid for various productions.An indignant Snyder penned an article defending herself stating;
"I am a woman of conviction and claim the right to advocate for causes that are important to me."

She also defended her actions in seeking to help a company get government subsidies.

Suspension with pay over language insult makes no sense.

Most of us are  aware of the story of a hospital orderly in Gatineau who unloaded on a cancer patient for not speaking French.

OTTAWA — The orderly who yelled at a dying vet for speaking English in a Gatineau, Que., hospital has been suspended until an investigation is completed.
The Hull Hospital orderly yelled, "On parle francais ici, c'est le Quebec" as John Gervais, a 78-year-old navy veteran, was waiting in the emergency room to be admitted.
The orderly will receive his full pay while the hospital's ombudsman investigates.
"It's simply unacceptable behaviour," hospital spokesman Sylvain Dube said.
"For clinical issues, it's so important that doctors and nurses understand what the patient is saying." Link

I've no doubt that the public outcry led to the suspension, it seems that the hospital was on a course to covering up the whole incident in the hope it would just go away.
But as pressure built and the story grew legs, the hospital suspended the employee pending an investigation...with pay.

What a patently stupid thing to do, because the way things go in Quebec, the investigation may take weeks or months, while the employee keeps cashing a paycheck.

And let's face it, the employee involved has union protection and so the punishment at best will be a few days of suspension.
How much better to have let the employee keep working, under a cloud, while the investigation carries on and then apply any sanction at the conclusion.
The real punishment being meted out is to the hospital budget which is charged to paying the miscreant to sit at home.
Imagine getting a two, three week or longer paid vacation at a cost of only a couple of days suspension!

Me, I'd prefer naming the orderly publicly and let the shaming be the punishment, but on the other hand, he would probably earn a medal of valour by Gatineau's Impératif français,

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 Let's go to some lighter stuff, because this peice is getting long;

"125 National Assembly members united against Ottawa"

"The 125 members of the National Assembly, of all parties, have unanimously passed a motion this morning denouncing the "attack" by the federal government's prerogative to choose their future Quebec." Link{fr}

 I was pretty impressed that every single member of the National Assembly showed up to vote for the motion, that type of attendance is unheard of.
So I wasn't surprised that a reader in the comments sections called the writer of the story to order, telling him that only 111 members actually cast votes.
Yup, it's true, I checked, there were 13 members plus the speaker who didn't vote.

In reaction to the comment, one would think that the newspaper would retract or modify the story, but alas, no it did not, because after all, who reads the comments section and retractions are always a bit embarrassing...
Shame on the author and editors, but hey, it's LeJdeM.

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I don't know what to make of this story in La Metropole entitled; "Marois' very Gay Cabinet'
Even though these cabinet ministers aren't in the closet, I'm not sure they appreciate being made into poster boys and girls for the Gay movement.

Réjean Hébert, Sylvain Gaudreault, Bertrand St-Arnaud, Agnès Maltais,

"It was Daniel Breton, in a conversation a few days before the Gay Pride weekend, who pointed out to me how well gays are very well represented in the PQ government. Here are the names and positions: Réjean Hébert, Minister of Health and Social Services, Sylvain Gaudreault, Minister of Transportation and Municipal Affairs; Bertrand St-Arnaud, Minister of Justice and Agnès Maltais, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Employment and social Solidarity. Link{fr}

Speaking of gays and completely off the subject, you might have read the story of the Italian homophobic  CEO of Barilla, Guido Barilla, saying he wouldn't feature gays in any of the company's advertising.
As you can imagine, there was quite the backlash and a competitor, Bertolli, showed it up with this marvellous advertisement.
Well-played!

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"Canada’s two most populous provinces continue to lag behind most of the country when it comes to small business-friendly tax systems. Nova Scotia also makes the bottom three. The second edition of the Small Business Provincial Tax Index puts Ontario (#8), Nova Scotia (#9) and Quebec (#10) at the bottom, while Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick hold down the top three spots."

Read the article by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Link
Read its assessment of Quebec.  Link

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Here's a recent survey of Montrealers attitudes about their city;

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I laughed out loud over this story in the Journal de Montreal lamenting the fact that Anglos know nothing about Quebecois artists and its 'Stars.'

The article reported that 98% of anglos don't know who 'Infoman' is and 95% don't know who 'M.Bougon' is.
For those of us Anglos who do speak French fluently, it isn't a question of language, Quebecois culture is second rate, like Canadian or Italian culture.
We proudly embrace and contribute English language culture which is world-wide and without equal on any level.

I can tell you this, if the above francophone actors and artists were English by birth, not a one would make an impact in his or her entertainment field, they just aren't talented enough.
It's simply a question of numbers, the pool from which we pull artists is a hundred times larger than Quebecois French culture and the competition is fierce.
Not to say Quebecois aren't talented, perhaps even more so than Canadians on a per capita basis, but it still means that only a fraction could make it into the elite Anglo entertainment scene.

This assertion by journalist Marie-Claude Ducas had me busting a gut!

"I 'll tell you a secret: if you really want to upset and hurt Anglo-Canadians , explain to them that there is no Canadian star system and there is no popular culture' in English Canada. This amounts to sticking a finger into a cultural wound. And don't forget to bring up existential question: "What exactly really sets us apart from the Americans? ".   Link{fr}

How utterly naïve and quaint!
It's like having your five-year old explain to you why Barney the dinosaur is the greatest entertainer in the world.

So here's a scoop, Madame Ducas, Anglo Canadians are not obsessed with local stars or Canadian pop culture and if you think we are feeling bad about that fact, you are sadly out of touch with reality.
We don't think about borders where talent is concerned and that is why Americans as well as people all around the world, flock to see Justin Bieber, Celine Dion or Arcade Fire, because they aren't constrained either.

If Guy A. Lepage (Quebec's most famous interviewer) spoke perfect English, what are the chances of him being a success on English television? 
Madame Ducas compares Lepage to Canadian George Stroumboulopoulos, who absolutely bombed on his attempt to break out of Canada on CNN. Link
I like Stroumboulopoulos, but in the rarefied air of elite English culture, few have what it takes to make it.

When I think of Quebec popular culture, one phrase comes to mind.....wedding singers.
Sorry to be cruel, but them's the facts!

Further reading!

Boycott the English language says top French intellectual
"French philosopher complains there are more examples of the English language in Toulouse than there was German during the occupation."  Link
 
Harel wants to add language watchdog to city’s executive committee
Louise Harel announced to her party Coalition Montreal — Marcel Côté wants to add the position of promoter of the French language to the city hall's executive committee, the city's top decision-making body.  Link

English should be Brussels' official language, Flemish minister says
Brussels aspires to be an international city, it should make English an official language, the Flemish minister for education Pascal Smet has told EurActiv. Link

ONE FINAL NOTE

I follow the hockey series 24 CH, which is a sanitized version of the similar HBO series called 24/7, which follows around sports teams and gives a behind the scenes look at what really goes gone.

The 24 CH series is produced by Bell media and follows the HABS, it is sort of an advertisement for BELL and content for its sports channels RDS and TSN.

This notice at the end of the last episode, which I caught this week, vaunted the fact that the government of Quebec and the Government of Canada offered tax breaks to help create the series. Watch an episode HERE

Now readers, I'm sure you'll agree with me that neither BELL or the CANADIENS are a charity case, so really, why are taxpayers contributing a nickel towards this project?
Do we really need to help highly profitable and rapacious over-chargers make more money?
Without the tax break would the series not be produced and if so, who cares?
Maybe the government could remove the tax element on the eleven dollars beer sold at the Bell Centre, so that they could make even more money.
Have we gone mad?
...and with that little rant, it is time to bid adieu!

Have a great weekend!

Bonne fin de semaine!