French versus English Volume 101

Quebec Bar Assoc.: Charter of Values Illegal

In a paper prepared for the government, the Quebec Bar Association has said flatly that the proposed Charter of Values in its present form, will not withstand a legal challenge.
"The Quebec Bar Association says the Charter of Values proposed by the Parti Quebecois government would not hold up to even the mildest of legal challenges in a courtroom. 

"The Bar prepared a brief on Bill 60 for the parliamentary hearings currently taking place in Quebec City.In the brief the combined minds of Quebec's legal community tear the Charter of Values to shreds, saying the Charter is an unjustified and inapplicable law that would trample individual rights in order to promote an ill-conceived notion of "values."The lawyers also say the Charter would violate not only the Canadian Constitution and the pre-existing Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but international treaties regarding civil liberties. 
Bernard Drainville, the minister in charge of the Charter of Values, said regardless of what the Bar Association thinks, the Charter of Values is necessary."The status quo is not acceptable in our view. We do not have the same reading as the Bar of Quebec's reality," said Drainville."There is a strong consensus the religious accommodations should be set within a clear framework of rules."The Bar Association was harshly critical of the PQ government for pushing forward with its divisive bill in the lack of any concrete evidence that it is necessary." Read more at CTV

Related Stories 
Charter of Values: Public hearings begin
Charter supporters want some modifications
Quebec values charter could be key in snap election campaign in 2014 

Related Links
Full text of Bill 60 [pdf]
List of speakers in first round of public hearings
Briefs tabled with National Assembly
How to comment on Bill 60 

More collapsing infrastructure. Two women get the scare of a lifetime!

Since 2010, on average, a dangerous chunk of concrete falls off a Quebec overpass about every six months.
This is in addition to bridges and overpasses that are already known to have serious and dangerous deficiencies including the Champlain and Mercier bridges and a bunch of overpasses leading to the airport which have each had a lane restricted in order to relieve the weight these structures must carry.

The latest tale of falling concrete was a doozy, because it missed falling on the heads of the two occupants of an SUV by about four feet, landing on the front hood. Judging by the damage it did cause, had the concrete fallen four feet farther back, the ladies would surely be goners.

How lucky were they?

Well if we assume they were driving at 80kph, had they arrived at their rendezvous with destiny about 1/5 of a second sooner, they would have been nailed right on the head.

Alternately, whatever speed they were actually travelling at, had they been driving a mere 3KPH faster, the result would not be a headline in Le Journal de Montreal, but rather worldwide coverage of another fatal Montreal infrastructure humiliation.

By the way, the bridge was inspected in 2012 and was approved with the caveat that some routine maintenance be done.
But take a look at the picture below of the bridge in its present condition.

This is the condition of the concrete base to which the guardrail on top of the overpass is secured to.
You don't really need an engineering degree to conclude that it isn't particularly secure.

I wonder if the inspector who deemed the work non-critical would lean on that railing himself? Would you?
So this is what goes for a 'PASS' under Quebec inspection protocols, because the railing isn't essential and because it doesn't hold up the bridge.
And so inspectors decided that repairs could wait a couple of years. Yup, a couple of years.

Are Quebecers concerned about falling concrete? Here's a survey from La Presse 

A lot......Sometimes....Never

Poll shows Bill 101 divides province decades after passage.

The Parti Québécois government says the proposed Quebec Charter of Values will lead to greater social cohesion.
Not necessarily, if any lessons can be drawn from lingering resentments toward another controversial Quebec charter decades after it became law.
As hearings open Tuesday into the proposed charter restricting religious symbols in public-service jobs, a poll conducted by Léger Marketing for The Gazette and the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration suggests Quebec’s French-language charter remains a lightning rod and potential source of division among Quebecers. Read More

There's no fool, like an old fool

For almost fifteen years Quebec politician and activist Yves Michaud has been on a quest worthy of Don Quixote, an impossible dream to re-establish his good name in relation to a motion of condemnation issued against him unanimously by Quebec's National Assembly in 2000.

"That the National Assembly condemns, without nuances, clearly and unanimously, the unacceptable remarks made with regard to ethnic communities, particularly in respect of the Jewish community maintained by Yves Michaud at hearings of the Estates General on French in Montreal, December 13, 2000" LINK

Michaud was furious at the rebuke which he believed tarnished his reputation and has worked tirelessly over the years to have that motion annulled.

There's not much chance of that happening, too many Liberals take perverse pleasure in seeing an old enemy in such delicious and prolonged agony.

The reason that the PQ consented to the motion was because Lucien Bouchard, the then leader of the PQ wanted the pesky and militant Michaud out of his hair and out of the Party. Michaud had already promised that should he be elected as a PQ member of the National Assembly, he would continue to speak his mind openly, without consideration of party solidarity, something no leader could allow.
So Bouchard directed PQ members to support the motion, many of who came to regret their decision years later.

I wrote a piece about what led up to the motion and readers might want to go back and re-read the description of events leading up to the censure. Read :  Is Yves Michaud a Racist?

For 14 odd years Michaud has dragged around the censure motion like a ball and chain attached firmly to his leg, pretending to be an innocent victim of federalist enemies and like the Canterville Ghost, a pathetic whiner, condemned to an eternity of shame.

I've written before that Michaud got what he deserved, he is without a doubt someone who believes that Jews and other ethnics owe the French majority a certain respect, while the opposite obligation doesn't exist. In other words, Jews and Ethnics are a different class of citizens, who should be mindful of their place in Quebec. 

Now Mr. Michaud is at it again.

In his latest missive, Michaud proves Brian Mulroney's famous point that there's no whore like an old whore.

First he scuttled any support he had among sovereigntists by proclaiming that the Bloc Quebecois should disband and panned his enemy Lucien Bouchard and other ex-Bloc members for accepting a federal parliamentary pension.

But the real doozy were these statements which went largely unreported in the English press

"Believers of all confessions who are outraged by the Charter of Values can just pack their bags and find refuge elsewhere."
("Les croyants de toutes confessions qui sont outrés par la charte des valeurs n’ont qu’à plier bagage et à trouver refuge ailleurs, estime le militant indépendantiste Yves Michaud. ")

They'll lose their jobs or they'll lose their kippas, what do you expect? And they can go to a country where it's tolerated. If they want to go to a religious state, they shouldn't come to  a secular state, what can I tell you.
("Ils perdront (leur travail) ou ils l'enlèveront (leur kippa), qu'est-ce que vous voulez. Et ils iront dans un pays où c'est toléré. S'ils veulent aller dans un État religieux, qu'ils ne viennent pas dans un État laïque, que voulez-vous que je vous dise."}  Link{fr}

Mr. Michaud was also quoted as saying that the Charter doesn't go far enough. Link{fr}
So if according to Michaud, the Charter doesn't go far enough, what other measures do you think  he meant should have been included?
Readers any ideas?

vigile.nonsense

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Here's my favourite nonsense from vigile.net  this week.
Another moronic post that proves the point that just about any idiot can say just about anything.
François Ricard - essayiste  who dotes himself with the title of 'Essayist,' has this hilarious take on Radio-Canada, who he finds deficient for not promoting separatism.

{translation} "Radio- Canada has an annual budget of several hundred million dollars. These funds are derived from the pockets of taxpayers, federalists as well as separatists. Quebec as a whole, contributes 23% to the budget. And the share of sovereigntists, possibly 10% of the grand total. Yet, in its public affairs programming, the CBC airs only pro- federalist shows. Hence, it follows, that this represents a grave injustice to separatists. This blatant bias on the part of the public broadcaster would be, according to me, very easy to prove. And so, for years, a large percentage of the population of Quebec is cheated by Radio- Canada. It would be fair for the people involved to receive compensation for sums unduly paid but for which they received nothing in return and that in future, the CBC be obliged to give  proportional air time to the injured party. Is a class action lawsuit possible?" Link{fr}

 I'll only make two three points and then turn over comments to readers.

Quebec doesn't contribute 23% to the federal coffers, (that is the percentage of Quebec's population in relation to the total of Canada.) The 23% of Canadians that live in Quebec, contribute only 18% of federal revenues.
Secondly, Radio Canada, the French arm of the CBC receives double the funding as the English CBC, when demographics are considered.
And no separatists in Radio-Canada? Are you kidding me?
.....Just sayin..

Quebec billionaires fall short

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According to Canadian Business magazine 17 out of the 100 richest Canadians hail from Quebec, a statistically weaker representation than the 23 one would expect in the distribution that is proportional to the population.

Here is a table culled from that report prepared by l'Actualite magazine showing Quebec's richest individuals and families.

The above chart is missing the name of Charles Bronfman, who according to the original list in Canadian Business report, is ranked as the 25th richest Canadian.
Now Bronfman hasn't lived in Quebec for quite a while, but if his name is on the list of the 100 richest Canadians, his designation should be that of a Quebecer and should have been placed on the above list.

At any rate, of the 17 Quebec billionaires the majority (9) are Ethnics and Anglo Quebecers and amazingly (but perhaps not surprisingly) of those 17 Quebec billionaires, six are Jewish.

It means that Anglos and Ethnics are over-represented by a factor of 2.5 and that Jews are over-represented by a factor of 35.
The Quebec Jewish community produces one billionaire for every 15,000 Quebec Jews, while one out of every 800,000 Quebec francophones is a billionaire.

Billionaire Aldo Bensadouin snags a delicious PQ free lunch

By the way, on Friday Pauline Marois was at the offices of Aldo Shoes, to proudly announce a forty million dollar loan and a $10 million gift to billionaire Aldo Bensadouin, in order to create jobs. Link

I've told you before, the PQ is so desperate to buy jobs it has now earned a reputation as an easy mark.
Any company considering expansion in Quebec on merit alone is now wise to the fact that it can shake down a the PQ for $$$$$.

Further reading

Earth to anglos: This is Quebec. Bus drivers speak French   Alternate link

Values charter endorses bullying      Alternate link

Number of Quebecers leaving province is on the rise      Alternate link

French language suffering in Canadian Airports

The most depressing article about Quebec that I've read in a long lime 

Letter to NY Times by Jean-François Lisée and  An interesting reply 

Man says he was verbally abused and kicked out of Verdun Hospital for asking for service in English

The Back end

 I was watching a trailer for a movie about student life in a French high school and couldn't resist posting a screen shot of this student who came up with this ironic pearl.; Link{fr}

"Sometimes 'Reasonable Accommodations' go too far!



Why  do you think these people from St. Adolphe d'Howard are standing outside, freezing their butts off ?

Give yourself a star if you answered .... 'WAITING AROUND FOR A UFO'.....Yup, not joking, that's exactly what they are doing  Link{fr}

Son: "Dad, I have to write a special report for school, but I don't know what Politics is."

Father: "Well, let's take our home as an example. I am the bread-winner, so let's call me Capitalism. Your Mum is the administrator of money, so we'll call her Government. We take care of your needs, so let's call you The People. We'll call the maid the Working Class and your brother we can call The Future. Do you understand son?"

Son: "I'm not really sure, Dad. I'll have to think about it."

That night awakened by his brother's crying, the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering that the baby had seriously soiled his diaper, the boy went to his parents' room and found his mother sound asleep. He went to the maid's room, where, peeking through the keyhole, he saw his father in bed with the maid. The boy's knocking went totally unheeded by his father and the maid, so the boy returned to his room and went back to sleep.The next morning he reported to his father.

Son: "Dad, now I think I understand what Politics is."

Father: "Good son! Can you explain it to me in your own words?"

Son: "Well Dad, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, Government is sound asleep, the People are being completely ignored and the Future is full of Shit."

Have a great weekend!

Bonne fin de semaine!