French versus English Volume 99

Too little English =Too much French.

It was quite amazing to see the virulent opposition in the French media directed at a protest at a shopping centre, located in the heart of Anglophone country in the western part of Montreal.
Activist Murray Levine organized the protest because merchants have given up posting signs in English even though the law allows for it.
The mall's clientele is mostly English and Levine is demanding that the mall and its tenants demonstrate a little courtesy;

"Is something rotten at fairview? I'm not sure, is something rotten with bill 101, I am sure! Yet all the same the fact still remains in an area of Montreal while still complying with bill 101, the retailers at fairview could make more of an effort to place English signs. With that said still, today I am buying new $200 shoes, not at fairview. With language disputes growing daily, I reckon protesting outside of fairview will continue to grow. Shame...Shame" -Murray Levine

Now I well expected some strong reactions from French language militants and ultra-nationalist lobby groups like Impératif français, who used the word 'supremacists' in a press release, but I didn't expect such a harsh reaction in the mainstream press, especially La Presse, where the headline read;

"Too much French at Fairview Pointe-Claire"
(Trop de français au Fairview Pointe-Claire?)
 "There is too much French at the Fairview mall. That at least is the view of a Dorval resident claiming to want more bilingual signs and to achieve that end and has called for a demonstration and boycotts. Link{fr}

Now any article that uses a sensational headline that is untrue and patently false  cannot be particularly impartial.
I don't know Mr. Levine personally, but have followed the story closely and never has he, to my knowledge, demanded a reduction in French signage.
To pretend that a request for English signage is a demand for the reduction in French signage is just plain dishonest.
Shame on journalist Louise Leduc for a garbage article.

Boisclair exiled to James Bay

"André Boisclair will be earning about double that of his predecessor in his new post as the president of COMEX, an environmental review board for the territory covered by the James Bay agreement.
Boisclair follows in the footsteps of Pierre Mercier, who was earning about $90,000 a year.
Now the Quebec government is prepared to pay Boisclair a total $172,000 per year for the same job.

Boisclair, the former Quebec delegate to New York City, was relieved of his functions in September amid allegations of his past cocaine use, following testimony before the province’s corruption inquiry. 

He asked to be relieved from his diplomatic post in New York so that he could fight those allegations.
Boisclair’s new job will involve heading up a committee that plays a role similar to Quebec’s Bureau d'audiences publiques en environment (BAPE), with a particular focus on Quebec’s north, in the region governed by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
Boisclair’s status will also be different than his predecessor’s.
Mercier worked on a contractual basis and invoiced his services at a daily rate of $372.
Over the past five years, he charged the government for a total of 242 days per year, the equivalent of about 12 months worth of 35-hour weeks, with weekly earnings of $1,860." CBC

 Insiders are revealing that Boiscliar wasn't happy with the offer and dithered for a while before deciding that this was the best the PQ had to offer.
Clearly Marois wanted Boisclair out of public view, and so buried him with under the radar, 'busy work.'

Quite a downfall from the chic life in New York City to trolling around James Bay.
Boisclair will make his office in Montreal, even though the offices of COMEX are located in Quebec City, but it doesn't really matter where you are, when your major occupation is twiddling your thumbs.
Remember when I told readers that Boisclair's decision to sue Jacques Duchesneau would be disastrous for him professionally? Well it's even worse than I imagined, Boisclair has officially been declared radioactive, and this by his supposed friends.
Duchesneau has already won, destroying Boisclair's career in short order. Probably worth the $200k risk.

Why do I continue to use the pig face?
Because it is unconscionable to accept this type of payoff at the public expense.
Boisclair has turned himself into a cheap joke, a poster boy for government waste and entitlement.

Drainville shrugs off  renewed opposition to Charter, even from friends

¡Ay, caramba!

"Bernard Drainville, Quebec’s Minister of Democratic Institutions and point man for the Parti Québécois’ divisive charter of values, is becoming a master at shrugging off criticism. On Wednesday, it was news that the Université du Québec à Montréal — as PQ-friendly a campus as you will find — had joined a growing chorus of universities denouncing the charter’s proposed ban on conspicuous religious symbols." Read more


Another stab in the back from Gilles Duceppe

Duceppe joins the 'mothers-in-law club

"Gilles Duceppe, who led the Bloc Quebecois on Parliament Hill for 14 years, says a proposed PQ ban on religious symbols in the public service goes too far.
He made the comments Monday to QMI Agency's French broadcast partner, TVA.
Duceppe joins former Quebec premiers Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard, both of whom say parts of the bill are divisive." Read more

And so Duceppe joins the ranks of the 'mothers-in-laws', ex-leaders of the sovereignty movement so named for their meddling and unsolicited advice.

Signs of revolt mount as more French universities reject secular charter.
"The University  of Montreal  searched its human-resources files going back 20 years and found no incidents whatsoever involving conflicts over religious accommodations. Whatever minor incidents occurred were quickly settled by applying the university’s internal rules, a spokesman said.The university decided at a meeting of faculty, student representatives and administrators on Monday that the government’s legislation serves no purpose.
“It doesn’t respond to our needs,” the spokesman, Mathieu Filion, said on Tuesday. He said the university is not taking a formal position against the bill, and will present a brief at legislative hearings in the new year. Link

 

To make matters worse

"Bernard Drainville, the minister responsible for steering the highly contentious secularism charter, was in damage control mode in Quebec City this morning.
He was forced to answer questions about a position paper written in 1998 by the then-education minister Pauline Marois.
Back then, the current premier was defending the right to wear religious symbols, encouraging school boards to welcome diversity." Link

Functionally Unilingual English Hampstead mayor leads charge against Charter

'We will not comply with a racist and immoral law.'- William Steinberg, mayor of Hampstead

"Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg said the charter goes against fundamental human rights.
"We will not comply with a racist and immoral law," he said.
"In the event that the Quebec government passes this odious bill, which will force people to choose between their religious beliefs and their jobs, it will not be enforced in Hampstead." Link

Hampstead mayor, William Steinberg---No speekee dee Frenchee...

Hampstead is a tiny enclave in Montreal of monied Anglos and may be the most Jewish city in the world, outside of Israel.
Single family  homes range from about $1 million to $4 million.


Protest in Cote Saint-Luc over Charter
"The city of Cote Saint-Luc, the town of Hampstead and two french universities are all taking stands against Bill 60 and in favour of religious freedom.
Several religious leaders and hundreds of residents gathered in front of Cote Saint Luc city hall Monday to send a unified message to the Quebec government – that democracy means protecting the rights of minorities.
“I just think the law is so odious and I think that my residents were getting nervous. They were getting upset, some of them, even telling me they were considering leaving Quebec because they're made to feel unwelcome here,” said Cote Saint-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather.  Read more

English School board defiant
"Quebec Education Minister Marie Malavoy says school boards won't have much choice when it comes to applying the secular charter, once it is passed.
At a meeting Wednesday night, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), the city's largest English-language school board, passed a resolution that refuses to carry out key provisions of the Parti Québécois's secular charter." Link

Montreal General Hospital blasted for weak response to Charter
"Two physicians have blasted the leadership of the McGill University Health Centre for its “pathetic” response to Bill 60, the proposed Charter of Quebec Values that would prohibit health workers from wearing religious headgear on the job.
At Tuesday evening’s annual general meeting of the MUHC, CEO Normand Rinfret alluded to Bill 60 in his remarks to more than 200 people, warning that the ban on “conspicuous” religious symbols would make it harder to keep talented staff at the hospital network.
“I can assure you that the MUHC will be heard in loud volumes about the great needs that we have as an academic health-sciences centre to be able to retain our people and to be able to continue to recruit people across all faiths, all religions and all languages,” Rinfret said.
But two physicians — one currently practising at the MUHC and another who just retired — took Rinfret to task for not wording his opposition to Bill 60 more strongly.
“I find your remarks pathetic,” Dr. David Morris, an endocrinologist at the Royal Victoria Hospital, told Rinfret during question period.
“We have to be much clearer to the government about the impact of the application of such a restrictive bill would have on our functions.” Link

Coderre's first Blunder-Champlain bridge too far

I told you in past blog pieces that politicians don't have to be necessarily intellectual to be effective, but those who aren't rocket scientists are prone to gaffes when taking a simplistic view of issues.

Unfortunately, such is the case of Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, who pronounced himself on the issue of tolls on the new bridge being built by the federal government to replace the prematurely aging Champlain bridge, which connects Montreal to the south shore over the St. Lawrence river.

There is a growing chorus of entitlists from commuters and businesses on the south shore who are demanding that the bridge be toll-free because quite frankly, they aren't interested in paying if they don't have to.

The entitlists are putting up all sorts of arguments, including the fact that the other bridges joining the south shore are free and so motorists will flood those bridges causing massive traffic jams. Also business (like the massive Dix-30 shopping complex) are complaining that customer traffic from Montreal will be reduced because of the toll.

So let me explain some facts to the illustrious mayor of Montreal.

1. Making commuting to the south shore more expensive, encourages people to live in Montreal, mitigating to some extent, cheaper taxes and housing prices in the suburbs.

2. Montreal shopping centres and downtown will pick up any business lost by customers too cheap to pay the bridge toll to the shore mega-centres. And by the way,  Montreal has parking meters throughout downtown and expensive parking lots, which is why to some extent,  customers go to the south shore. So stopping Montreal shoppers from going elsewhere to spend money, may be a negative to businesses on the south shore, BUT a positive development for Montreal stores.

I've told readers before, the toll to enter New York City over and under the Hudson river via the tunnels and bridge is about $6.50 one way (They actually charge about $13, but only entering NYC.) See the tolls
It costs NYC car commuters around $3,000 a year to live in the suburbs and drive into the city each workday.
Montreal taxpayers  already subsidize suburban commuters via the subway, where riders from Laval and Longueuil pay ridiculously low fares, considering the fortune it cost to build the long subway tunnels under the river.

Here's the reality that Coderre should understand. I'll make it simple so he can understand.

Confederation Bridge

The more expensive or difficult it is to enter and leave the city it is for commuters, the more attractive it is to live within Montreal.
Mr. Mayor .......think, before you speak.....

Now the entitlists on the south shore are mounting a petition to stop the feds from creating a toll bridge, all in vain, because all  major bridges that Ottawa is responsible for are PPPs financed through tolls including the Confederation bridge linking New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island and which costs a whopping $44 to use.

"The curved, 12.9 kilometre (8 mile) long bridge is the longest in the world crossing ice-covered water, and more than a decade after its construction, it endures as one of Canada’s top engineering achievements of the 20th century.
.....After four years of construction using crews of more than five thousand local workers, the Confederation Bridge opened to traffic on May 31, 1997, at a total construction cost of one billion dollars. Link

Whaaat???? Let's compare;

Confederation Bridge 

•  13 kilometres long 
• Four years to build
• 1 billion cost ($2 billion in present dollars)
  $44 toll

Replacement Champlain  Bridge

• 3.5 kilometres long
• 5 years to build....
• 5 billion cost
• $??? toll (probably under $8)

Anybody care to comment?
By the way, the new bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit that Ottawa is building will also be a PPP project including a toll, so no matter how many names are placed on that petition, a toll-free bridge ain't gonna happen. 

I had to laugh at the story in le Journal de Montreal where Richard Martineau took his readers to task for protesting the toll.

"A petition is circulating against the toll on the Champlain Bridge ...
Is it not  normal that motorists who use the bridge pay to use it? Why should a taxpayer in Chicoutimi who never uses the bridge pay as much as one who uses it every day?...." Link{fr}

A taxpayer from Chicoutimi?  

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, Mr. Martineau! .......How about taxpayers in Vancouver or Toronto? Hmm.......

****************

By the way, I'm glad to see Coderre adopting a new brand of politics at Montreal city hall;

"In his first council meeting as mayor, Denis Coderre faced criticism over an appointment that some consider a prime example of political patronage.
Coderre announced Tuesday his intention to make former journalist Philippe Schnobb head of the STM.
Schnobb ran for city councillor as part of Equipe Denis Coderre in Ville Marie’s St. Jacques district, but lost by 36 votes to Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron. Bergeron was among the critics of Coderre’s decision, saying Schnobb, a former Radio Canada journalist, doesn’t have the experience to run the organization, which is trying to increase its ridership and is dealing with a predicted deficit of $60 million for 2014.. Link

Hmmm...... Jobs for the boys?

Will higher book prices lead to more book-buying?

"In an attempt to protect Quebec’s dying small bookstores, the Parti Québécois government is drafting a new law to impose price controls on new releases.
The government announced on Monday that booksellers will be banned from discounting books more than 10 per cent in the first nine months of sales, limiting a tactic big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco have used to take a big piece of the market." Link

 As the old saying goes......"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions"

"I'm not sure making Quebecers pay higher prices for French language books will have beneficial effects either for the industry or the readers.
Quebec already suffers low readership and I'm not unconvinced that the already high cost of books is the problem.
Because of the limited runs, as compared to the English market, French books always cost considerably more;

Maybe that is why this French teacher went for the English version.....
Hey... is he in class???....oops.

Les 50 nuances de mon prof… FAIL

The lighter side

My Allegory of the week, 18-wheeler= PQ, Tow truck= us

The Champlain bridge project

Credit Ygreck

Minister Lebel ": We hired the best architect in the world!

Premier Marois:I would have preferred a sub-ministerial committee of the Environment department, presided over by a union comrade who could put together a hearing...blah.blah..

A Quebec Kippa




Don't you wish your child  had this kind of  drive and determination? 

"A good pirate never takes another person's property!
 I've spent hours and hours watching this Disney Pirate cartoon series with my four-year-old grandson. I never thought much about the idea celebrating child pirates, until l saw this posted online, a page from one of the associated books.

Really?
Is this the fantasy we're teaching our kids????
If so, Disney should consider other shows with similar optics.
How about a group of cartoon teenage drug-dealers who don't sell drugs and run a re-hab?
How about a group of cartoon teenage shoplifters who steal and then return the articles?
How about a group of cartoon teenage bullies who are kind and polite to all?

Too many French in Plateau 

 

Have a great weekend!

Bonne fin de semaine.