French versus English Volume 98

Laval University football players arrest stalled until the day after Vanier cup victory.

Three college football players from the Laval Rouge et Or from Quebec City were arrested two days after participating and winning the Vanier Cup national title that took place on home turf in Quebec City.
When I first saw the headline that the players were arrested over a bar fight, I assumed that it was at a celebratory night of revelry after the game, but alas, the incident took place back in June, almost five months ago!

The arrests so soon after the big game had observers questioning whether Quebec city prosecutors held off in order to give the team a better shot at winning the title, but officials said it was 'just a coincidence"

HaHa! I shall go to my over-utilized pet phrase that tells readers that if they believe that, I have swampland in Florida to sell them!
New one.... "I have a perfectly good bridge over the St. Lawrence to sell them!"

The coincidence wasn't lost on the cynical media and the prosecutor's office is left with some well-deserved egg on their face.

Reading the story, I was shaking my head in disbelief and laughing at their blatant stupidity, when it hit me....
These people are not dumb at all. They have quick and analytical minds and would have to have known the optics of an arrest so soon after the big game.

And so I figure somebody was told to hold off on the arrest until after the big game and that somebody was none too pleased and thus made the arrest so soon after the game to embarrass his boss.
Why not the day after the game?
That would be too obvious and I already told you these people are clever.

Well-played anonymous person in the prosecutor's office! Revenge mission accomplished!  Link

Cowardly Drainville blames university for chickening out of Charter debate

"A handful of people who attended a demonstration against Quebec's proposed secular charter at Concordia University today said their protest posed no security risk.
Earlier this morning, Democratic Institutions Minister Bernard Drainville cancelled plans to participate in the debate at the university, citing the potential threat posed by a planned student demonstration. 
The debate went ahead as scheduled without Drainville, the minister responsible for the secular charter.
MNA Kathleen Weil, opposition critic for employment and the social economy, and André Frappier, former president of Québec Solidaire, both attended the event. 
A small group of protesters gathered outside of the university's McConnnell building where the debate, organized by the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG), took place.
Earlier in the day, Drainville told reporters that he decided to pull out over safety concerns after his security personnel told him there was a risk of things getting out of hand.
The protesters said they had no plans to disrupt the event and there was no threat to Drainville's security. 
Demonstrators said they believe Drainville was afraid to speak at a campus, where the charter is largely opposed."   Link

Drainville is not only a coward, he must be some kind of stupid or extremely arrogant to ever book a debate on the Charter at Concordia, the provinces most ethnically diverse university. There are more Muslims on campus each day than there are in all of Quebec City!!!
 It was a stupid decision to go there and perhaps he feared the same treatment accorded to Charter opponents during a debate at UQAM;

At a public debate organized by the Quebec Secular Movement (MLQ), outspoken anti-Islamist Djemila Benhabib said she was incapable of being civil to opponents of the Charter.
"I cannot talk in any fashion to Islamists," said Benhabib. "An ocean of blood separates us."
Many statements by Benhabib were cheered by the crowd, and statements by the other speakers, namely QS MNA Amir Khadir and Alexa Conradi, leader of the Women's Federation of Quebec, were mocked and booed.
Exhortations from moderator Daniel Turp for the crowd to calm down were ignored, and eventually Conradi and Khadir left the stage out of frustration. Link

Newly elected Montreal Mayor re-affirms city opposition to Charter of Values

"MONTREAL – Denis Coderre stood up against the PQ’s controversial Charter of Quebec Values before he was elected, and that hasn’t changed since becoming mayor of Montreal.
Coderre calls the charter divisive and argues Bill 60 is not good for Montreal.
He has vowed to fight against it because he believes the state is already neutral and the best thing for Quebec is to have open secularism.
Coderre will be opening a dialogue with Montrealers to hear what they have to say on the issue." Link

Montreal's newly-elected city council passed another resolution, opposing the PQ's secularism charter.

Now I was also impressed by Coderre  when he reacted decisively to the revelation by the Quebec Auditor General that an ex-director of the Montreal tourism board had taken advantage of tax payers with exorbitant salary and expense claims.

"A visibly angry Denis Coderre said he had asked for the resignation of two key figures appearing in the auditor general's damning report on Tourism Montreal.
Former Tourism Montreal chief Charles Lapointe was asked to step down from the city's arts council.
Tourism Montreal's board chairman Jacques Parisien was asked to relinquish his duties planning Montreal's 375th anniversary celebrations. The mayor does not have the power to dismiss him from Tourism Montreal.
The auditor general found that Lapointe had filed extravagant claims on expense accounts and left the non-profit this summer with a severance package worth over $650,000.
This is on top of his salary of nearly $400,000 a year, more than any other Quebec bureaucrat.
Addressing reporters this afternoon, Coderre didn't mince words.
"People work so hard, and when they see [something like Lapointe's perks], they're pissed off. And rightfully," he said.
He noted there was a clear lack of oversight at Tourism Montreal - that's why he is ordering an investigation into the organization. Link  Read a story in the Montreal Gazette

Now Coderre may not be able to get back money from the ex-director, but he made sure to destroy his reputation, something that retired politicians and civil servants hold dear.
Coderre humiliated the ex and current director of the agency and all those involved in the free spending will be duly dealt with, at least in the court of public opinion.
FINALLY, a mayor who walks the walk.......

Journal de Montreal: Anglos and Ethnics don't count as Quebecers

Here is a translation of a story in Le Journal de Montreal about CTV network's Canadian version of The Amazing Race.

"Is there going to be a team from Quebec in the next season of  'The Amazing Race Canada'
(Est-ce qu'il y aura une équipe du Québec dans la prochaine cuvée de l'émission The Amazing Race Canada?)

Producers are hoping for one, because the number of Francophones  fluent in English  makes it possible.
Teams are encouraged to put forward their personality and explain why they wish to participate in this televised competition." Link[fr]

So according to Le Journal de Montreal, a team from 'Quebec' means a French team only.
By the way there actually was a 'Quebec' team on last year's show, Holly Agostino and Brett Burstein from Montreal, but hey, they certainly don't count as 'true' Quebecers.

Finance Minister blows budget, blames Quebecers for not spending enough

It comes as no surprise to readers of this blog that the PQ's promise of a balanced budget was nothing more than hyperbole, a promise that nobody should have taken seriously.
And so Quebec, for the seventh year in a row will run a budgetary deficit.
The PQ finance minister Nicolas Marceau, in the great spirit of Maxwell Smart announced that oops, he missed the target 'by that much!"
Perhaps Marceau is actually a secret KAOS agent. 

And so the government will run a $2.5 billion dollar deficit this year, to nobody's surprise.

Six months ago,  I predicted a shortfall of between $2.5 and $5 billion and the year is not out, things can get worse and these type of predictions by Ministers are always worse than they announce.

At any rate, the minister also announced a deficit for next year, a more modest. $1.7 billion, but hey the night is young.
Most economic journalists were stunned by Marceau's lack of engagement and meek acceptance of the deficit, pointing out that without fundamental spending cuts, nothing will change because increasing tax revenues will continue to come up short.

Sadly in all this, is Marceau's lamentation that he missed his target because inflation was less than anticipated, something that only a finance minister from Bizzaro World could be disappointed in.
He also blamed ordinary Quebecers for curtailing family spending, thus cutting government tax revenue.

PQ to Ottawa....Show me the money!

Pauline Marois has asked Ottawa to fork over the money for the bridge replacing the Champlain and let Quebec run the project;

"The latest brilliant idea from Premier Pauline Marois is to take over the management of the bridge project from Ottawa.
Let’s just take a look at the recent track record of our transport department:

• We had the fatal tragedy in Laval when an overpass collapsed
• We had a near disaster on the Ville Marie when the roof crashed onto the road
• We have a Turcot exchange that is falling apart and is held together, I fear, with hope and prayer
• We have a Dorval circle airport project with its roads to nowhere that is going nowhere." Link

Then  Gilles  Duceppe piped in with his report on the unemployment insurance employment insurance reform.
Duceppe headed a PQ government commission which looked into the problems associated with the Tories new reform package that was designed to get long-term and habitual freeloaders off the dole.
Duceppe's conclusion;
Let Ottawa fork over the money to Quebec and let Quebec run the program.
But how much money should Ottawa fork over?
According to Duceppe, it should be an amount no less than what it is receiving today, which is almost 40% of the total fund to which Quebec contributes around 20% to.
When asked to explain  the discrepancy, he told a reporter that it wasn't in his mandate to review federal programs and who pays in what and who gets out what.
What a charmer! Link

Further reading...

Oh! Oh!...another Quebec bridge falling down? Link{fr}

 

Radical lobby group objects to emergency notices sent to citizens in English as well as French Link{fr}

Here's another thing that has them in a lather;

Committee recommends pay hike for Quebec MNAs
Basic pay of an MNA now is $88,186 – recommendation calls for $136,010

Peter Hadekel: High unemployment among young Montreal anglos taking its toll: report



Oh..Oh...The OQLF wants to rename "BLACK FRIDAY" 

Have a good weekend

Bonne fin de semaine.