tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79630354722418772922024-03-15T21:10:13.763-04:00No Dogs or Anglophones“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” -Oscar Wilde.Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05699783315783642466noreply@blogger.comBlogger1365125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-66232143622291275492022-09-15T18:17:00.006-04:002022-09-15T18:35:17.148-04:00British Royal Family an Unbelievable Bargain<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JgaKvL3yTWiBZlP7oL0WCe-IPMsGKa-3oNqiNX9w52wnYnPdU3Iv6WJR3B_smXE74S_IKINigwqoM8xO1xsZXzA17hngBjDDxoUMXepZW3MXAZth2hYyVWgJQw5BFKaTR93QEjud9WtdsNqmTQMSuX7JEtPFe_JCC19r5mnZ23KkQHqr58EjfLcxzA/s615/1_Queen-Elizabeth-II-death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="615" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0JgaKvL3yTWiBZlP7oL0WCe-IPMsGKa-3oNqiNX9w52wnYnPdU3Iv6WJR3B_smXE74S_IKINigwqoM8xO1xsZXzA17hngBjDDxoUMXepZW3MXAZth2hYyVWgJQw5BFKaTR93QEjud9WtdsNqmTQMSuX7JEtPFe_JCC19r5mnZ23KkQHqr58EjfLcxzA/w486-h323/1_Queen-Elizabeth-II-death.jpg" width="486" /></a></div>The news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth will no doubt raise the drumbeats once again that it is time to dump the monarchy. <p></p><p>There are those of us who scoff at the idea of Kings or Queens and a royal family who 'reign' over us. They hold it to be an anachronistic and medieval institution that today is irrelevant, an institution that should be discarded and consigned to the ash heap of history.<br />Not only do they decry the concept of royalty but howl at the expense borne by the public purse, viewed as an obscene waste of precious public resources.<br /><br />We are all entitled to our opinion and although I have no special bond or sentiment towards the royal family, my analytical bent causes me to take an opposite view because quite simply the British royal family is an unbelievable bargain, an asset providing tremendous value for what is spent.<br />Yes... the Royal family is an unbelievable bargain.<br /><br />First and foremost the Queen or King provides a valuable symbol of statehood, an innocent unifying and inclusive force, representing all the inhabitants of the Commonwealth.<br />If you think that this is unnecessary and stupid, look to the USA which doesn't have a monarch and generally looks down on countries that do.<br />But the USA raises the President and his attending First lady to defacto royal status, a dangerous concept that throws back to a time when the King or Queen actually ruled with absolute power.<br />Many countries that don't have a royal head of state choose to place a ceremonial 'President' over the defacto ruler, an acknowledgement that elected officials make poor heads of state.<br /><br />When an elected official such as the President of the USA acts as head of state, it presents a unique problem in that a sizable constituency feel unconnected and unrepresented.<br />It has become a tradition that championship sports teams be invited to the White House for a celebratory meeting with the President, a visit that some members of the team refuse to participate in because of their political alienation from the president.<br />The Queen represents all citizens of all political persuasions without distinction and as head of state is better able to perform ceremonial functions that unite us all.<br /><br />More importantly, having an innocent and harmless sovereign as head of state allows us to judge our politicians with a more critical eye, without the trappings of the head of state.<br />Boris Johnson and his fall from grace was facilitated by having a Queen stationed 'above' him.<br />While we respect and revere our monarch who today does nothing more than tirelessly cheer on the nation, we remain free to judge our politicians on their personal comportment and public performance without the trappings of any reverence for the office.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ7mc5yDzDpWrW6jYnDTJZUv-LfDBrUZE4oH19A5D40Z_HCiDJH03I57dS6pvJKHq3e2ekLsnR1c685O-0y6-WdcSirP6PK-DOZyPkiPAUIqEwuIz2MsDI4fXe3wGefN_OoR0mhQxcgznLYaBfmN5dogprlSkzhGSxpy5gS0Cz9ns5YS9n3vGl35fK/s300/images.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ7mc5yDzDpWrW6jYnDTJZUv-LfDBrUZE4oH19A5D40Z_HCiDJH03I57dS6pvJKHq3e2ekLsnR1c685O-0y6-WdcSirP6PK-DOZyPkiPAUIqEwuIz2MsDI4fXe3wGefN_OoR0mhQxcgznLYaBfmN5dogprlSkzhGSxpy5gS0Cz9ns5YS9n3vGl35fK/w404-h226/images.jpeg" width="404" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Seventy years of dedicated Service</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>While almost everyone in Canada knows who the Queen, her children and grandchildren are by name, I daresay precious few can name our Prime Minister's children, a situation which I find admirable and healthy. <br /></p><p>As for the cost, I fear that those citing the expense as exorbitant are dealing from a weak hand.<br />The British monarchy is an economic juggernaut generating almost a billion pounds in tourism while costing the British taxpayer less than a third of that.</p><p>Then there is the all-important pleasure dividend wherein millions of subjects and indeed tens of millions of foreigners enjoy the pageantry and trappings of a royal family.<br /><br />While not particularly smitten with the Royals, I will never forget my visit to Buckingham palace, one of the greatest attractions I've ever visited.</p><p>Now haters are going to going to say that we should boycott such visits based on the fact that the palace and Royal legacy were built on the backs of the poor.<br />Such can be said of the Colosseum in Rome, the Egyptian Pyramids, Beijing's Forbidden City, St Paul's and Notre-Dame Cathedral as well as the Palace of Versailles, to name a few.<br />Should we boycott all those as well?<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEpBvoRiQYJjnkQZXT35VuZbyGvwttM6_WPByg8-K5IYfj-SHPKdtGD3CcbKhZDEZXE8h8i7jEXWax07RP23wJKR4TiTnFBc_dfeOAjuXs2zQRnl9gEh1khqYrBJ0SyoVC5kXUNa6weDNDyHz9YHTN_FBEGALFgE_7zYq9HkLsKxFxIFM5kFfnPmF1Q/s597/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-15%20at%206.31.58%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="553" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEpBvoRiQYJjnkQZXT35VuZbyGvwttM6_WPByg8-K5IYfj-SHPKdtGD3CcbKhZDEZXE8h8i7jEXWax07RP23wJKR4TiTnFBc_dfeOAjuXs2zQRnl9gEh1khqYrBJ0SyoVC5kXUNa6weDNDyHz9YHTN_FBEGALFgE_7zYq9HkLsKxFxIFM5kFfnPmF1Q/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-15%20at%206.31.58%20PM.png" width="296" /></a></div>I don't know why, but many of us, particularly females are fascinated and drawn to the Royal family.<br />It is our nature and part of our human condition. It does not need explaining or denigration. <br />We are what we are.<br />Many little girls still daydream of marrying a Prince Charming and fantasize about their own royal wedding. <br />In fact, royal weddings are perhaps the number one television attraction in the world, all provided gratis to the general public.<br /><p></p><p>Now while you may think those people fascinated by the royal family are lame and perhaps stupid, it is important to understand that these millions of people are entitled to their own beliefs and entertainment, just as some of us (many fewer) enjoy museums or classical orchestras, all subsidized by the government.</p><p>Queen Elizabeth has undertaken over 21,000 royal engagements over her reign, a remarkable achievement by any yardstick.<br />In the real world, a royal visit to a hospital, a disaster scene or an important occasion or milestone is gratifying to those on the receiving end.<br />Royalist or not, who doesn't treasure a birthday greeting from the Queen or a letter of commendation or a sympathetic visit in hard times..<br />A visit to a school, daycare, or hospital reminds those who toil there that their work is important and appreciated on a national level.<br />A royal visit is a gesture made by the Queen on behalf of the entire country, and what can be more gratifying.<br /><br />As for the popularity of the royal family, you can safely ignore those polls that show that getting rid of the Royal family is popular.<br />Few are willing to reveal their guilty pleasure to pollsters, just like few will admit to watching the Kardashians or The Bachelor.<br />Here in Quebec the Royals are seen as wildly unpopular but when Prince William and Kate visited Quebec City a few years back, the streets were packed with gawkers, onlookers and yes, royal aficionados, belying the fact that they are loathed or disliked.<br /><br />Those who decry the monarchy are selfish snobs, failing to accept that the royals bring enormous pleasure to millions of citizens.<br />There is no economic, social or political benefit to be had in dumping the institution and those who propose to do so fail to accept the benefits which are real and tangible.</p><p>Speaking to her popularity, how many billions will watch the Royal funeral of Queen Elizabeth on Monday, a monarch who worked tirelessly for seventy years to bring a little sunshine into the lives of all her subjects.<br /><br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-17944199934851300342022-08-16T14:25:00.010-04:002022-08-16T15:53:02.341-04:00 Quebec Language Insanity... Volume 002<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGIu4kVOQjTaatnFDPTHWSv6oDSLTtPl3nLpmbGaA3AzvQ8aQMj3bxysaU2RuN75PB-ss77FZgf9-HEOmMVfRl7EbNLAcSs4Wd4C-NhNKjKzT-b8pb3NEJfzEJndbswPnSjIQNvrhiGYhYbIHMjJJQczV8T8KLUwRkvlEzN0YDNCfjRnw6T0g70T5/s798/French%20vs.%20Eng.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="798" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGIu4kVOQjTaatnFDPTHWSv6oDSLTtPl3nLpmbGaA3AzvQ8aQMj3bxysaU2RuN75PB-ss77FZgf9-HEOmMVfRl7EbNLAcSs4Wd4C-NhNKjKzT-b8pb3NEJfzEJndbswPnSjIQNvrhiGYhYbIHMjJJQczV8T8KLUwRkvlEzN0YDNCfjRnw6T0g70T5/w637-h267/French%20vs.%20Eng.jpg" width="637" /></a></p><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Judge suspends 2 articles of Bill 96</span></i></span></h1><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>"Quebec's new language law suffered a first defeat on Friday, as a judge
temporarily suspended a provision requiring English court documents to
be translated into French.</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>
Sections of Bill 96 that require corporations to pay a certified
translator to produce French versions of legal documents could prevent
some English-speaking organizations from accessing justice, Quebec
Superior Court Justice Chantal Corriveau ruled.</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>
Earlier this week, lawyers for Quebec's judicial council -- Conseil de
la magistrature du Quebec -- and for three senior provincial court
judges, including Chief Judge Lucie Rondeau, filed a suit to strike down
parts of the law allowing the justice minister to decide which judicial
postings require knowledge of English. Those sections of Bill 96
violate the 1867 Constitution Act, the lawyers said." </b></i></span><a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/judge-suspends-two-articles-of-quebec-s-bill-96-regarding-legal-translations-1.6025156" target="_blank"><u>Read the whole article</u></a></p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoDdnAEuUXzLg6VDZMcyxqjjxr4ZSqEyGtaUFYPABwdKgOAylp9JwaJebZv6sMmAixU6hD6EJxFQCKAKVf0Laq-A6sKQlHMd3jSb-m39RU2Qnb5KCZECdqhsB9cN_f3QvpQE9RPRR-YwjqcTlEle6zCrBxaRiRpnDJCFoxsr3F2soZRqwV9dlza_s/s654/Rondeau.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoDdnAEuUXzLg6VDZMcyxqjjxr4ZSqEyGtaUFYPABwdKgOAylp9JwaJebZv6sMmAixU6hD6EJxFQCKAKVf0Laq-A6sKQlHMd3jSb-m39RU2Qnb5KCZECdqhsB9cN_f3QvpQE9RPRR-YwjqcTlEle6zCrBxaRiRpnDJCFoxsr3F2soZRqwV9dlza_s/s320/Rondeau.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Qc's Chief Justice defends her turf</b></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />If the law is found to violate the BNA act, then the notwithstanding clause cannot be invoked.<br />But the government knew in advance that this would be challenged and likely be tossed.<br /><b>Simon Jolie Barette </b>the CAQ justice minister is channelling <b>Dr. Camille Laurin,</b> who also deliberately included dubious clauses in Bill 101, clauses that he knew would be rejected upon court challenge, <br />The idea was that the rejection by the court would enrage and inflame Quebecers and thus fan the flames of sovereignty.<p></p><p>In the meantime Quebec's chief judge is taking aim at the law, declaring that some clauses are clearly unconstitutional and thus invalid.<br />This is round 2 of the battle between her and the justice minister who failed to appeal a decision in which he challenged the independence of the judiciary.<br />In that first round, the judge ruled that the justice minister cannot set criteria pertaining to the selection of judges, which invalided the current requirement that judges be bilingual.</p><p>Le Journal de Montreal reported that the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec, <b>Lucie Rondeau,</b> brought a civil suit against Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette to have a measure annulled which prohibits the quasi-systematic requirement of bilingualism in the appointment of new magistrates.</p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Judge Lucie Rondeau <span style="font-size: large;">2</span> Simon-Jolie-Barette <span style="font-size: large;">0</span></b></i></span><br /></p><h1 class="articleHeadline" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Martineau and his dumb comments</span></i></span></span></i></span></h1><div>It is a little sad to see a mainstream <strike>journalist</strike> hack stoop to quoting unedited, unfiltered and cherry-picked comments from the Twittersphere to make his point that Canada hates Quebec with a passion.</div><div><br /></div><div>That is the gist of an article that he penned using a selection of dumb Twitter quotes to support his argument.</div><div>The fact that Mr. Martineau's own account <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-1ny4l3l r-1ddef8g r-tjvw6i r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/RiMartineau" role="link" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d9bf0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, "system-ui", "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; orphans: 2; outline-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: underline 1px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">@RiMartineau</a> has been <b>suspended </b>from Twitter doesn't stop him from consulting the site regularly.<br /></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span>Last Tuesday, on his Twitter account, Jean Charest wrote that he hoped that the next debate on August 3 between the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada will be bilingual, because "bilingualism is the strength of Canada" and that "</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">the two official languages must be defended equally”.</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc">
</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="3"><span class="Q4iAWc">Here's a quick rundown of the comments his tweet elicited. <u>Link{Fr}</u></span></span></span></b></span></div><div><div class="gb_Ld gb_2d gb_Rd gb_Qd"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">No one gives a damn about bilingualism, except Quebeckers who believe their language is important for the rest of the country.” </span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">I do not believe that the French language should be imposed by force on the Anglophone majority of Canada. </span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“Sorry, but most people have no interest in French. </span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">Charest
seems to forget that Quebec is a unilingual French-speaking province.
We should stop imposing French in Canada and we would save billions.
Long live Poilievre!”
“</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span>By
trying to appease Quebec with bilingualism, we weaken the presence of
Western Canadians in essential positions in the country.”</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages is a waste of public money. We should abolish it. </span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">Life in Quebec has become a horror because of language restrictions.</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">With
all the problems Canada is experiencing, the issue of bilingualism
should be number 300 on the list of priorities for the next leader of
the CCP.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">”</span></span></span></b></span></li></ul></div></div></blockquote><p>Having been <b>banned from Twitter</b>, perhaps Mr. Martineau can channel Donald Trump and create his own version of Truth Social where he and others can freely slag Anglos, ethnics and Canadiens without fear of being called out or banned.</p><p>At any rate, in another dubious post on Facebook where he slagged a group of stores for using a picture of a potential employee in a hijab, a reader offered a selection of equally nasty comments under his post.<br /></p><p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJDDvHhN_iGwXfvk86ggLmuctzAyl6rTPu-1_Kgozo3P-XeX3LViBRR5IBBRre1R4XOzdasRLSx_-vWoSeU3x0IES0IlxdNHxB6w7FPzfgk2wxtjUwk6UoFRONZQTva3cjGV-gFx3I3XHp3swbdfS19oF2LXx5uqf7RCxQFWQFLt6SeblPQkcmAj0/s730/Martineau.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="730" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJDDvHhN_iGwXfvk86ggLmuctzAyl6rTPu-1_Kgozo3P-XeX3LViBRR5IBBRre1R4XOzdasRLSx_-vWoSeU3x0IES0IlxdNHxB6w7FPzfgk2wxtjUwk6UoFRONZQTva3cjGV-gFx3I3XHp3swbdfS19oF2LXx5uqf7RCxQFWQFLt6SeblPQkcmAj0/w598-h524/Martineau.png" width="598" /></a> <br /></div><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span>What's the name of the stores, I'll boycott them” </span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">Quebec- Allah's land.</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">”</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span>Just refuse to be served by an employee wearing a hijab.</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">”</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span>While people focus on Covid, we are being brainwashed with ads featuring hijabs.”</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">Frightening!</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">”</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">Reno should be ashamed, undoubtedly bought by Islamofascists.</span></span></span></b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">We've been double-crossed.</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><br /></span></span></span></b></span></li></ul><p> So much for comments from the peanut gallery.<br /></p><div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Quebec's biggest racist<br /></span></i></span></h1></div><div>You'll remember the radical sovereigntist website <u><a href="http://vigile.quebec">vigile.quebec</a></u> which got into trouble years back for several antisemitic stories which had mainstream nationalists and politicians abandoning support.</div><div><br />Now the website regularly publishes opinion pieces which promote sovereignty in a respectful, intelligent and coherent manner and I read many of the stories with interest.<br />Where the problems lie are in the section "<u><b><a href="https://vigile.quebec/dossiers/172" target="_blank">Tribune Libre"</a></b></u> where ordinary readers are given a platform to sound off without any editorial oversight, which sometimes leads to blatantly racist, Anglophobic, anti-native, anti-black and anti-immigrant pieces which are something to behold.<br /><br /></div><div>That a <strike>Canadian</strike> Quebec website would publish these racist diatribes is simply amazing and I challenge anyone to point me to a mainstream English website that treats francophones with such utter disdain and hatred.<br /></div><div>I'm going to share some of these pieces, translating one juicy column per post. I'll start with <b>Rejean Labrie</b> who must be Quebec's biggest racist who in post after post outdoes himself with outpourings of racism and hate..<br />He is a jewel.</div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><b></b></span></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">"The place of Anglo-Montrealers is elsewhere in Canada, not in Quebec
<br />Réjean Labrie February 25, 2022 </span></span></span></b></span></span></span></div></blockquote><div><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">“</span></b>The place of Anglo-Montrealers is elsewhere in Canada, but no longer in Quebec. <br />It is up to the entire population to become aware of this and to ensure that a vast relocation plan to another province be initiated in the near future.
<br />An Anglo who learns French is still an Anglo.
<br />This is why there will always be too many Anglos in Quebec.<br />
Even if he manages to cope with the pain and misery of French and makes himself understood when necessary, he continues to live exclusively in his Anglo world, in Anglo culture, in the Anglo media.
<br />
It's quite simple: in Montreal, to hear less English, we need fewer Anglos.
<br />Anglophones know practically nothing about the people of Quebec, about current events in Quebec, about Quebec culture, which they do not consume or live. Anglos do not associate with Quebecers. <br />Anglos has no interest in the Quebec reality and our culture and will never develop any.
This is why it is only a vain illusion that it is enough to francize the Anglos and then let them continue to live quietly in Quebec in their world apart. <br />This laissez-faire attitude means that they continue to increase in number, numbers that will only accelerate the influence of North American English culture in Quebec.
<br />A second disadvantage of letting them increase in number is that it also increases the appeal of English among allophones who, too, don't care about the French language. <br />Remember that all allophones would like to become English-speaking Canadian citizens, not French-speaking Quebec citizens. It was their first choice, what attracted them here and it was what they expected when they came to Canada. Most of them even believe that they have been played a very bad trick by having been assigned to reside in Quebec.
It is well known that all the allophones join forces with the anglophones to vote for the Liberal Party of Quebec, now deserted by the native French speakers, clearly positioning themselves against all the legitimate aspirations of the Quebec people, starting with the desire for a French Quebec or the idea of becoming an independent country. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1G-NUX7AWNR0ohy4lrnx7C_jLRGn0JyywZx_ZH46woFiXj8UHR8ldJ3VZVRPTR6F-SslW9OC3Xut-KKAybsp02vGWi49TxprTR73rIv8VEzHuHZ95YGtFI1RkGbIfNHAdMkWyFGTKt2yMdiKCV1IXgrh5n2UIk31pmAqk2aRKnwmy_eqEom9cXXb/s600/Post%20card.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="600" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1G-NUX7AWNR0ohy4lrnx7C_jLRGn0JyywZx_ZH46woFiXj8UHR8ldJ3VZVRPTR6F-SslW9OC3Xut-KKAybsp02vGWi49TxprTR73rIv8VEzHuHZ95YGtFI1RkGbIfNHAdMkWyFGTKt2yMdiKCV1IXgrh5n2UIk31pmAqk2aRKnwmy_eqEom9cXXb/s320/Post%20card.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Neither of the two groups is on our side. We understand that it is not in the national interest to allow one or the other to expand on our territory.
<br />There is no other solution to this problem than to ensure that the English speakers of Quebec decrease in number (as well as the allophones opting for English of course) and are relocated to another province of their choice. It would be desirable that they feel a certain pressure not to delay.
<br />Bye, bye Anglos. Send us postcards, in French I hope." <a href="https://vigile.quebec/articles/la-place-des-anglos-montrealais-est-ailleurs-au-canada-mais-plus-au-quebec" target="_blank"><u>LINK{FR}</u></a></span></blockquote></span></span></span></b><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Phony language statistics debunked<br /></span></i></span></h1>Everyone knows that statistics can be made to support just about any argument and when a statistician has a political agenda, all manner of bullshit can result.<br />Such nonsense is the case of go-to sovereigntist statistician <span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><b>Charles Castonguay</b> who has been pedalling his contrived, massaged and misinterpreted statistics indicating French is in trouble in Quebec for years. As the author of </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> <b>“Le français en chute libre” (French in Freefall), </b>he is the poster boy of mangled, twisted and misconstrued nonsense masquerading as facts. <br /><br />His statistical account of how French is in trouble along with other studies of the same ilk has finally been debunked by an ex-professor of UQAM <u><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/calvin-veltman-1348952" target="_blank">Calvin Veltman </a></u>who destroys the phony methodology and conclusion of these sovereigntist shills.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><blockquote><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">“</span></b><b style="font-family: georgia;">The dominating paradigm in Quebec is that French is on the way to extinction. This is what statistician Charles Castonguay stipulates in his essay “Le français en chute libre”. Even Premier François Legault has claimed that Quebec could become Louisiana if it does not obtain all the powers from Ottawa in matters of immigration.
Multiple forecasting studies by demographer Marc Termote, notably this one, as well as those by René Houle and Jean-Pierre Corbeil also seem to reinforce this perspective. </b><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc" style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc" style="font-family: georgia;">However, all these studies are based on methodological principles which, from a sociolinguistic point of view, are untenable. </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The division of multiple responses, such as the declaration of a mother tongue or a language of use such as Arabic and French, pro rata between the two groups, falsifies the figures, as does the refusal to recognize the presence and meaning of “regularly” spoken second languages among allophones. </b></span></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">In this article, I demonstrate that 280,000 francized allophones are not taken into account in studies on the decline of French. As a sociologist and sociolinguist, I have published numerous studies on linguistic mobility in the United States, Quebec and Alsace. </span></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">All the data thus suggests that the French/English ratio continues to evolve in favor of French, which remains at at least 73%. This this now brings the share of French in Quebec to 83.6% according to the sociolinguistic methodology, an increase of three points compared to the calculation proposed by Castonguay.</span></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">The announced "fall" of French isn't happening soon!</span></b><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">”</span></b></blockquote><p><u><a href=" https://theconversation.com/declin-du-francais-voici-comment-on-a-egare-280-000-allophones-francises-186425" target="_blank"><b>Read the detailed article in French </b></a></u></p><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc" style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><b>MORE STATISTICAL NONSENSE </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div><div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></b></span>According </span></span></span></span></span></span>to the study, conducted by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) based on 2016 census data, people who use only English at work earn an average of $46,047 per year, or 20% of</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">more than the average income of $38,346 for those who use only French. </span></span></span></b></span></div></blockquote><blockquote><b style="font-family: georgia;">“It’s insulting and downright unacceptable to see that the person who uses only English in Quebec earns more than the person who uses only French”, indignant Jean-Paul Perreault, president of Impératif français, an organization defense and promotion of French.</b><b style="font-family: georgia;">”</b><b style="font-family: georgia;"> </b><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc"><u><a href="https://oicanadian.com/when-working-in-english-rhymes-with-big-salaries-2/">Link</a></u></span></span></span></b></blockquote><p></p><div></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">Now let's add a little context.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">Those who work in English only are almost all in jobs based in Montreal which boasts salaries higher than the rest of Quebec.<br />Secondly, companies or jobs that work only in English are usually in very high-paying industries, like high-tech, aviation, pharma, research, legal and engineering.<br />Not many English-only jobs exist in lower-paying echelons like the public service, factory, trades and the retail industry.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">Consider that the very few English-only jobs are being compared to the massive amount of French-only jobs. It is statistically dishonest. <br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">Let us remember that anglos attend university at a 30-40% higher level than francophones, boosting their earning potential. </span></span></span>So much for the outrage</div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Short stuff</span></i></span></h1><div><div><h2 class="result__title"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><a class="result__a" href="https://infotel.ca/newsitem/que-indigenous-education/cp498740012" rel="noopener">Ottawa says it will support First Nations' fight against Quebec's new language law</a></span></span></h2></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/business/the-logic/le-panier-bleu-shows-blending-e-commerce-and-nationalism-is-difficult?fbclid=IwAR0VmEvX7SHfyQv3K5Gq9mwfKboKynMFgzRh2p28m6dxMFuTQ_-gZ-pTbW8 " target="_blank"><u>Quebec's French alternative to Amazon.com is a bust</u> </a></span></b><br /></div><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9059531/quebec-towns-protecting-english-right-after-language-law-bill-96/" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u><br />Quebec towns protecting right to serve residents in English after new language law<br /> <br /> </u></span></b></a></div><div><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9059531/quebec-towns-protecting-english-right-after-language-law-bill-96/" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5y_Qbu6JPh0YoRbPWUS8WlSOXgstZ5GJYoS44pun_Q0saardLkrr5TsKvDAKGJ6IQ-1ntKKEU-QALV8gS1UFD7L0ArwlsczdWSAX_LbU1U8kQSQ0gxmQvgfXq18_CqeM72PjIGEEHd_gScOJKZ3NuRBOcXa7JGslqIkKWXC6aOKR6Q9nJptwRKMBN/s714/292518347_5924874380860634_9170913607245692923_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="714" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5y_Qbu6JPh0YoRbPWUS8WlSOXgstZ5GJYoS44pun_Q0saardLkrr5TsKvDAKGJ6IQ-1ntKKEU-QALV8gS1UFD7L0ArwlsczdWSAX_LbU1U8kQSQ0gxmQvgfXq18_CqeM72PjIGEEHd_gScOJKZ3NuRBOcXa7JGslqIkKWXC6aOKR6Q9nJptwRKMBN/w458-h404/292518347_5924874380860634_9170913607245692923_n.jpeg" width="458" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Walmart's self-checkout </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></td></tr></tbody></table><u></u></span></b></a></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u><br /></u></span></b></div>Racist Francophone harangues family over English .<br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Y28h3cUXsq6NXGrm9T27Zga5UWUruXWukFP6BljofJMNOElhmf11f-KixTVivzIcyzNTdhstxZ_DTAWrE1QQbt-wHt4_0xSXjD1pPdNM3VxnRqTomUzbUOQ0-QZG5of_-rX4gnptLEt5IWp1_f-VwkZiXwSbg7bjYCBBrcpXASx7Kv1JkmCajx1E/s968/Capture_d_e_cran_le_2022_08_16_a_14.55.200cddfbcc-f511-43a2-aac2-23ab0167d410_ORIGINAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="968" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Y28h3cUXsq6NXGrm9T27Zga5UWUruXWukFP6BljofJMNOElhmf11f-KixTVivzIcyzNTdhstxZ_DTAWrE1QQbt-wHt4_0xSXjD1pPdNM3VxnRqTomUzbUOQ0-QZG5of_-rX4gnptLEt5IWp1_f-VwkZiXwSbg7bjYCBBrcpXASx7Kv1JkmCajx1E/s320/Capture_d_e_cran_le_2022_08_16_a_14.55.200cddfbcc-f511-43a2-aac2-23ab0167d410_ORIGINAL.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2022/08/16/la-mairesse-de-montreal-denonce-des-propos-racistes" target="_blank"><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>See the video here </b></span></u></a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></u><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Encouraged by the current language hysteria, a racist goes off on a neighbour over lack of French.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Go back to India or Pakistan!"<br />"You have no business here if you don't speak the language!"<br />"Go home to where you belong!"</span><br /></b></blockquote>To her credit a francophone neighbour tries to intervene and asks the fellow politely to leave.<br /><br /><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://brooksbulletin.com/quebec-language-paranoia-good-for-alberta-language-refugees-should-again-be-welcomed-part-one/" target="_blank">Quebec language paranoia is good for Alberta…</a></b></span></u><br /><p></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><u><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> <u><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href=" https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-quebecs-new-french-language-law-will-impact-business-hiring-2022-05-27/" target="_blank">How Reuters explains Quebec's new Bill 96</a></span></b></u></span></span></span></span></span></span></u></b></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/language-law-bilingual-status-quebec-resolutions-1.6550915" target="_blank">Towns shoring up bilingual status after Quebec's new language law</a></u></span></b><br /><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></div></div><b><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-quebec-anglophones-feeling-forsaken-by-the-liberals-weigh-their/" target="_blank"><br />Quebec anglophones, feeling forsaken by the Liberals, weigh their options</a></span></u></b><div><b><u><br /></u></b></div><b><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://thecjn.ca/news/julius-grey-the-lawyer-challenging-quebecs-french-language-law-deplores-its-massive-abuse-of-civil-rights/" target="_blank">Julius Grey, the lawyer challenging Quebec’s French-language law, deplores its ‘massive abuse of civil rights</a></span></u></b>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-49604422199724853502022-08-04T13:45:00.008-04:002022-08-06T13:36:56.018-04:00Quebec Language Follies... Volume 001<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGIu4kVOQjTaatnFDPTHWSv6oDSLTtPl3nLpmbGaA3AzvQ8aQMj3bxysaU2RuN75PB-ss77FZgf9-HEOmMVfRl7EbNLAcSs4Wd4C-NhNKjKzT-b8pb3NEJfzEJndbswPnSjIQNvrhiGYhYbIHMjJJQczV8T8KLUwRkvlEzN0YDNCfjRnw6T0g70T5/s798/French%20vs.%20Eng.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="798" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGIu4kVOQjTaatnFDPTHWSv6oDSLTtPl3nLpmbGaA3AzvQ8aQMj3bxysaU2RuN75PB-ss77FZgf9-HEOmMVfRl7EbNLAcSs4Wd4C-NhNKjKzT-b8pb3NEJfzEJndbswPnSjIQNvrhiGYhYbIHMjJJQczV8T8KLUwRkvlEzN0YDNCfjRnw6T0g70T5/w570-h239/French%20vs.%20Eng.jpg" width="570" /></a></div><br />I've decided to start this column because there's just too much bigotry, hate, nonsense obsession and hilarity concerning Quebec's pathological obsession with the French.<br />Most of us don't have the time, the language skills or for that matter the inclination to follow what is being said in the French media which has embraced a paranoid narrative enounced by the cynical and racist government which pedals the falsehood that 'real' Quebecois are in mortal danger of losing their language.<br /><br />Premier Legault's direct and insulting attacks on Quebec's minority constituents have opened up the floodgates and emboldened the haters to come out of the shadows and into the mainstream media.<p></p>Here is a compendium, by no means complete, of recent stories that you may find interesting.<br /><p></p><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000;">Anglo-basher puts her ignorance on full display</span></i></span></h1><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Jdw5vZC5FPjxVnUGBYgkZs7d9TE_yIx7SoXQTlK9-BMSsNJHMGFc1MKZhmx4WQgA067oc_ySmscOoevyNcPodE-Em0qIx2XQ9ba9HUOxgXrJi7nHglX3-B-_0jULKx1rH99-_SOfshOm-Umzjn6AxMmr734XlCGtKM7wJobD_wMbuQPuLaVX91GA/s833/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-18%20at%203.51.20%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="833" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Jdw5vZC5FPjxVnUGBYgkZs7d9TE_yIx7SoXQTlK9-BMSsNJHMGFc1MKZhmx4WQgA067oc_ySmscOoevyNcPodE-Em0qIx2XQ9ba9HUOxgXrJi7nHglX3-B-_0jULKx1rH99-_SOfshOm-Umzjn6AxMmr734XlCGtKM7wJobD_wMbuQPuLaVX91GA/w566-h261/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-18%20at%203.51.20%20PM.png" width="566" /></a></div><br />When somebody makes a mistake in another language it's a bit gauche to make fun of them, but in this case, I'll make an exception because the gaffe is just so delicious and ironic.<br /><b>Sophie Durocher </b>is one half of the Journal du Montreal Anglophobic power couple, along with her husband <b>Richard Martineau.</b><br />My favourite Martineau quote is when he told a radio audience that a teacher wearing a hijab is akin to a teacher wearing an FLQ t-shirt. <br />But I digress...<br /><br />In a recent article Durocher goes off on the French over their propensity towards English phrases. On a visit to Paris, she was scandalized by what she saw and heard.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJgCmlqXDIy99vqhhELwkiI8-zTgh6apSGnYUhLwej0ZAd_LZa3K5DnpG44puhPQc8ZY-WNvs08pNYGgR7L0wdf2UuJBSgFa6HPYefAbshCtY2taFvObrJkNeJBQI7tC4ViT8Z_MbtYgTt06nLF9PAMJxdNR8yGamBzuG9MyVABZ7HkxpbsyOAsKS/s821/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-18%20at%2012.32.36%20PM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="127" data-original-width="821" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJgCmlqXDIy99vqhhELwkiI8-zTgh6apSGnYUhLwej0ZAd_LZa3K5DnpG44puhPQc8ZY-WNvs08pNYGgR7L0wdf2UuJBSgFa6HPYefAbshCtY2taFvObrJkNeJBQI7tC4ViT8Z_MbtYgTt06nLF9PAMJxdNR8yGamBzuG9MyVABZ7HkxpbsyOAsKS/w625-h98/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-18%20at%2012.32.36%20PM.jpg" width="625" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><blockquote>"What makes me laugh is when the French think they speak English, but use faulty expressions. “Take away” instead of “take-out”." </blockquote></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0r5vDoJEq22gUwvakriC4oVsIrf3bOH2V91Apjel8_CvploA3wQeYNyM8P-uihYLUTtCoCQWtJg1Y8jYGoxEBQvl6lDlVlRQfLlGQoes9GS89UFRLrRRitheRvVwl5xYj0DJqgIRfUFCSFc8GI_dAKYBlmHv4di08iolsO_ZP5zhpouXEJhvv-L8E/s275/download.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0r5vDoJEq22gUwvakriC4oVsIrf3bOH2V91Apjel8_CvploA3wQeYNyM8P-uihYLUTtCoCQWtJg1Y8jYGoxEBQvl6lDlVlRQfLlGQoes9GS89UFRLrRRitheRvVwl5xYj0DJqgIRfUFCSFc8GI_dAKYBlmHv4di08iolsO_ZP5zhpouXEJhvv-L8E/s1600/download.jpeg" width="275" /></a></div>Really? Is she that stupid?<br />Are there no editors checking her stories to prevent this embarrassment?<br /><br /><div>It's like complaining that the French are stupid because they use the English word '<i><b>lift</b></i>' when everybody knows the proper word is '<i><b>elevator</b></i>'</div><div><br />I don't think Durocher spends any time in England where '<b>takeaway</b>' is very much their word for '<b>take-out'</b></div><div><b><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2022/07/18/ze-life-in-english-in-paris">Link{fr}</a></u><br /></b><br />It's always amusing to see a dunce giving lessons.<br /><br /><div><div><h1 class="articleHeadline" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="color: #990000;">Bonjour-hi</span></i></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivV4t4FrjdapmkmOh571FXgmIxkzocWEqvBJ6Nimnaq_aGUzEP_oGOpdOxRA4rDTzM_zz8kz5XfXNkxgpmUKKYakNiqQYPUzvO7ucN58kTKNuhVz1oYOwPyXENewEYMREpbKEkRjG2jeQNoI7i6nxSKFGnfxX4S_hFpPdtQxTmym_6oajUN9G2ywmNDg/s1024/resize.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1024" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivV4t4FrjdapmkmOh571FXgmIxkzocWEqvBJ6Nimnaq_aGUzEP_oGOpdOxRA4rDTzM_zz8kz5XfXNkxgpmUKKYakNiqQYPUzvO7ucN58kTKNuhVz1oYOwPyXENewEYMREpbKEkRjG2jeQNoI7i6nxSKFGnfxX4S_hFpPdtQxTmym_6oajUN9G2ywmNDg/s320/resize.webp" width="320" /></a></div></span></span></span></h1><p style="text-align: left;">Le Droit online devoted a long report on the dangerous and anglicizing term<b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> 'Bonjour-Hi'</span></b> that has become the poster term of creeping anglicization, a phrase utterly despised by defenders of the faith.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The story describes that, unlike Montreal, <b>Bonjour-Hi</b> doesn't seem to be making much headway in the Quebec city region. The reporter sent out to investigate this important issue says that for now, things remain safe. <strike>THANK GOD! </strike> MERCI DIEU!</p><p style="text-align: left;">Interestingly the story goes on to negate the idea that French is in decline in Quebec, veering away from the conventional wisdom of an unfolding linguistic disaster'<br /></p><p class="articleHeadline" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Sociolinguist Calvin Veltman doesn't believe that "Bonjour-Hi" is a symptom of the decline of French, as others fear. “It’s normal for languages to borrow expressions from each other,”<br /><br />Quebecers - Francophones at least - have a feeling of inferiority towards the English, so we are much more touchy about cases like that than the French, for example," According to Mr. Veltman, this feeling of inferiority had its raison d'être before Bill 101 was passed in 1977. But today, it is no longer justified. In a recent article in La Conversation, Mr. Veltman argues that French is in a much better position in the 2016 census than in that of 1971, even if it has been in slight decline since 2001. <a href="#">LINK{fr}</a></span></b></blockquote><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="color: #990000;">Ikea's neat language hack</span></i></span></h1><div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmo_Lin3zqY33E3oLwaTGUDhMm2ZhD6s09MW8pDgdU5aRwsr6-A-qDpaIhDpeWY4fNV5ky25OpDRZBv8OIucKlovpwrrG4wECw-OpZf_rkeqYLByrOcorQ7_Xp50f4bnEBAwWFTR2_ntlPzRXoTKf7AbL3qJhRPzbEmTzHq2d5fPPmSFgqu4YXyHSfQ/s278/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-22%20at%203.15.04%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="167" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmo_Lin3zqY33E3oLwaTGUDhMm2ZhD6s09MW8pDgdU5aRwsr6-A-qDpaIhDpeWY4fNV5ky25OpDRZBv8OIucKlovpwrrG4wECw-OpZf_rkeqYLByrOcorQ7_Xp50f4bnEBAwWFTR2_ntlPzRXoTKf7AbL3qJhRPzbEmTzHq2d5fPPmSFgqu4YXyHSfQ/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-22%20at%203.15.04%20PM.png" width="167" /></a></div>It should have been a feel-good story about a Quebec city Ikea hiring a bunch of Ukrainian refugees, none of who speak French but who do speak English.</span><b style="font-family: Times;"><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="#" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtC4qyIxQjbatZj31qW7on0X6tSq-MUCd_m72-3fDnvcvkXGq3mZqWobqh2JFdgelvDmpWIAOR0ikeDUFDGCfBAV6nisSxZ9Y0af6n90ua-0rkVCN8Qe9kOKkcoJNbxJf6TXIhbOOU9SJp0HqtEzwTokuEisoo1vTV7cgR_WKqPhLBi7BVZH-fyXskkg/w99-h113/images.jpg" width="99" /></a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Ukrainians are keen to learn French through a company immersion program and are doing well, some have already been promoted.</span><b style="font-family: Times;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: Times;">In the meantime, they are fulfilling clerical, logistical and administrative roles but sometimes come in contact with customers and therein lies the rub.</span><b style="font-family: Times;"><br /><br /></b><span style="font-family: Times;">To prevent 'incidents' where the English-only speaking employees might be confronted by customers for not speaking French, the company has devised a clever fix.</span><b style="font-family: Times;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: Times;">The Ukrainians are wearing big badges on their chest in the form of a Ukrainian flag with the message</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Georgia;">“Je ne parle pas français, je suis ukrainien.”</b></div></span><span class="s1" style="font-family: Georgia; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>(I don't speak French, I'm Ukrainian")</b></div></span></span></div><p style="text-align: left;">Maybe I'm too sensitive but I can't help but be a little creeped out by the idea of forcing people to wear ethnic or religious identifiers in public. </p><h1 class="articleHeadline"><i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">Ex-Habs Petry asked for Trade because of Anglo Discrimination</span></i></h1>If you think confrontations over language are rare, read this story where the management of the Habs admitted that longtime veteran Jeff Petry asked to be traded for l<strike>anguage</strike> family reasons.<br /><br />His wife and kids were so miserable here that they decamped back to the USA, while Petry remained.<br />It seems that his wife felt persecuted because of her lack of French.<br /><div><div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/jeff-petry-s-wife-victim-of-discrimination-in-montreal"><u>LINK</u></a></b></span></span></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UOFddaeN_RabCSfcPfxC0-mJozzfjncH6k8N_CYibUHJRxL4JR5RI4_VS2ysiNh3mM3cmiPP3qwcOP9HMvRNLxD9Q0dLH8vCl4zRMzvf0oN4ilMuXyF_GzxXfWG26tqfLYIVUelpNbPpFL5oFR8Un7qz634b533rwQ9fm2g6NdQnebQ24LADTVasdw/s1600/main_original_60a283dc9700b_360429.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UOFddaeN_RabCSfcPfxC0-mJozzfjncH6k8N_CYibUHJRxL4JR5RI4_VS2ysiNh3mM3cmiPP3qwcOP9HMvRNLxD9Q0dLH8vCl4zRMzvf0oN4ilMuXyF_GzxXfWG26tqfLYIVUelpNbPpFL5oFR8Un7qz634b533rwQ9fm2g6NdQnebQ24LADTVasdw/w367-h206/main_original_60a283dc9700b_360429.jpg" width="367" /></a></div></h1></div><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><p style="font-weight: normal;"></p><blockquote style="font-weight: normal;"><p><span><b>"In a recent Instagram story Julie Petry, the wife of Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry, has reported being the victim of discrimination while simply doing groceries for herself, her family, and of course Jeff Petry himself. According to her story, Julie went to a local Costco where she was mistreated on the basis that she does not speak French, something that is of course perfectly understandable given that neither her nor her husband were born in a French speaking part of the world.</b></span></p><span><b></b></span><p><span><b>In order to avoid putting any words in Julie's mouth, here is her story in her own words:</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlShYKR5DagSaWsw2hAdkfV148KgFnQFToUv6FvMbKVkqiTMm_Qyy1U2-O5b484DtOOtoo4EONVUMCom50z_FH9sDpSGHcjkGast5DL2SALyWkzKLGcctbkZmLh3zI9kEuw7vfafH0g2PM8FG6FeIuK-I3mANgrkkQgoYWK9XT3bpTPT3HsIwmaqCJg/s980/inline_resized_1024_60a2853d52ddb_360429.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="980" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlShYKR5DagSaWsw2hAdkfV148KgFnQFToUv6FvMbKVkqiTMm_Qyy1U2-O5b484DtOOtoo4EONVUMCom50z_FH9sDpSGHcjkGast5DL2SALyWkzKLGcctbkZmLh3zI9kEuw7vfafH0g2PM8FG6FeIuK-I3mANgrkkQgoYWK9XT3bpTPT3HsIwmaqCJg/w423-h167/inline_resized_1024_60a2853d52ddb_360429.jpg" width="423" /></a></div><p></p><p><span><b>Unfortunately for the Montreal Canadiens this will only help fuel the negative perception that many players in the National Hockey League have of playing in this market and will only serve to make it harder for them to attract free agents that often choose to go elsewhere when the option is available. Not only do players have to contend with a rabid fan base, which can also be a positive, but they have to deal with both French and English media when coming to the Montreal market.</b></span></p><span><b></b></span><p><span><b>Stories like this have a way of getting around and both players in the National Hockey League and their spouses are often in constant communication with one another. This will no doubt reach the ears of many players around the league and unfortunately for the Canadiens, who have done absolutely nothing wrong in this scenario, it could serve to hurt their chances of attracting players in the future."</b></span> </p></blockquote></span></span></div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">Bill 96 threatens Quebec's video game industry <br /></span></i></h1>Here's an interesting article taken from a French (France) tech website discussing the video gaming industry in Quebec.<br /></div><div><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>A new law aimed at protecting the language of Molière in Quebec could have a strong impact on video game studios.<br />We love our French language, but we probably don't love it as much as it is appreciated in Quebec. In this province of Canada, everything is done to preserve the use of our language, to the point that it sometimes becomes ridiculous. <br />Certain laws put in place force the titles of films and works of all kinds to be fully translated, often giving rise to more than laughable names. We think in particular of Fiction Pulpeuse for the famous film by Quentin Tarantino or even the Pixar Cars which has become Les Bagnoles. Even fast-food brands are not immune and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) bears the sweet name of PFK (Poulet Frit Kentucky) there.
<br /> The problem when love turns to obsession is that the dynamic can quickly become toxic and harm others. And this is unfortunately what is about to unfold with the adoption of a new law for the protection of the French language. <br />But what does this have to do with geek culture you might ask? <br />The video game industry with a strong presence in Quebec could well and truly be destroyed from the inside by this new projected law adopted by the government.<br />For those who do not know, Quebec is home to many studios and some of their branches such as Ubisoft, Warner Bros Games, and Eidos Montreal to name a few. The video game industry is so developed there that no less than 11,000 people are direct employees. In this profession, English predominates as the main language, but this is not going to last in Quebec studios.
<br /><br />Indeed, the new Bill 96 law provides for many changes in the legislation around the French language and the entire province will find itself impacted. With the adoption of this project, the French language will have to be applied everywhere and systematically, including at work and in business, everyone will have to learn French. International employees are starting to get scared and many are ready to jump ship to avoid the language barrier.</b></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In
an effort to maintain the purity of the French language, officials in
France have banned popular gaming terms such as 'pro-gamer' and
'streamer'. Going forwards, official government communications will use
more traditional terms such as 'joueur-animateur en direct' in place of
'streamer', which literally translates to 'live player-host', and the
slightly more forgiving 'joueur professionnel' for 'pro-gamer', which,
as you've no doubt guessed, translates to 'professional player'.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Other
terms effected by the change include 'eSports', which is now 'jeu video
de competition', and 'cloud gaming', which became 'jeu video en nuage'.
All in all, we guess it makes sense; the French language </span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">is</i><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> beautiful and words like 'eSports' don't exactly have the same... je ne sais quoi. Hey, look what we did!</span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>" <a href="https://www.journaldugeek.com/2022/06/30/pourquoi-la-langue-francaise-menace-t-elle-lindustrie-du-jeu-video-au-quebec/"><u>Journalgeek</u></a></b></span><br /></p><p></p></blockquote>In another story</div><div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c0c0c; font-family: Lora, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px;"></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c0c0c; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.9rem; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">A group of 138 Quebec tech industry leaders signed an open letter to the provincial government taking issue with the six-month language restriction as an “unrealistic deadline” for newcomers already dealing with a life-changing move, as well as the bill’s provision that all business contracts must be drafted in French. <u><a href="https://techbomb.ca/gaming/quebecs-new-language-law-could-hurt-the-provinces-gaming-sector-immediately/#:~:text=A%20group%20of%20138%20Quebec,must%20be%20drafted%20in%20French.">Link</a></u></span></b></p></blockquote><h1 class="articleHeadline"><i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">Big stink over English on Quebec ferry</span></i></h1>This utterly hilarious article offered in Le Soleil <a href="https://www.lesoleil.com/2022/08/03/in-english-only-sur-un-traversier-de-charlevoix-b08cf17728dee9a7eb9be1b238810d76" target="_blank"></a><span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://www.lesoleil.com/2022/08/03/in-english-only-sur-un-traversier-de-charlevoix-b08cf17728dee9a7eb9be1b238810d76" target="_blank">In English only sur un traversier de Charlevoix</a> </b></span></u><span style="font-family: Volkhov, serif; font-weight: inherit;"> is my favourite story of the week.<br /><br />It seems that Quebec's scandal-plagued ferry service could not find a boat and crew to man a ferry service in the outback town of </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; font-size: 19px; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">where anglophones are virtually nonexistent and bilingual francophones as rare as a Leafs fan.<br /><br />For the ferry service (STQ,), it was a choice between bringing in an outside boat (with a crew who come from away and speak no French) or no ferry at all.<br />And so you can imagine the calamity when the decision was made to bite the bullet,<br />In the best tradition of the error-prone ferry service, a spokesman had this to say.</span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: Volkhov, serif; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div class="chapter-quote__body" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 28px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div></div><blockquote><div><div class="chapter-quote__body" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 28px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">« Nous aimerions que l’équipage soit 100 % francophone, mais l’anglais demeure une langue acceptable dans les circonstances. »</span></div><div class="chapter-quote__author _author_18r6ve" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0.1px; margin: 10px 0px -15px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_author-decoration_18r6ve" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px none; box-sizing: inherit; color: red; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">—</span> Bruno Verreault</b><br /><br /></span></div><div class="chapter-quote__author _author_18r6ve" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #231f20; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0.1px; margin: 10px 0px -15px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>("We would prefer that the crew be 100% francophone but in the circumstances, English is acceptable")</b></span></div></div><div><br /></div></blockquote><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">I don't think a spokesman for any Quebec department should announce that they </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">prefer </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">to hire only francophones and I don't think M. Verrault meant to say what he said, but we get the idea.</span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br />The story doesn't end there as the Anglo crew and the captain seem to be rather incompetent, crashing into the dock more than once and on one occasion knocking </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">down </span><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">and damaging several parked motorcycles.</span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">The word was soon put out to avoid the "black and white" boat and wait for the safer 'francophone' boat.<br /><br />Of course, complaints have been duly lodged against the boat and the ferry service, not for the bad driving, but rather for the lack of French amongst the crew<br /><br />I told you it was funny!</span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></div><div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;">Why Bill 96 is good for National unity</span></i> </h1></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">An interesting read by </span><span face=""IBM Plex Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/authors/mario-polese/" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c4122f; font-family: "IBM Plex Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre;">Mario Polèse</a> in a Policy Options article opines that Bill 96 is no big deal and in fact has the perverted effect of getting Quebec to recognize the constitution, something nationalists have always claimed was never recognized by Quebec.</div><div><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 20px;">"In the end, the two controversial clauses are mainly about symbols and perceptions. But symbols and perceptions matter. In this case, they are a much-awaited step for many Québécois on the long (and tortuous) road to enshrining Quebec’s distinctiveness in the Canadian Constitution. The final paradox is that, by explicitly invoking the Canadian Constitution, Bill 96 thereby acknowledges that Quebec recognizes, albeit implicitly, the existing constitutional order. Bill 96 may well be </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 20px;">ultra vires</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 20px;">, but it is not an attack on national unity. </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 20px;">Au contraire</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2b2b; font-size: 20px;">." <u><a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/septembe-2021/why-quebecs-bill-96-is-good-for-national-unity/" target="_blank">Link</a></u></span></b></span></blockquote></div><div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><i>Two Solitudes</i></span></h1></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Of Quebec Francophones offering an opinion, 60% believe they are economically dominated by Anglophones. . <u><a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2022/quebecers-more-pessimistic-than-ever-about-the-future-of-the-french-language/" target="_blank">Link</a></u></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfIG0DeCxyqY448I-qWSTypley-EDURiVCI9R0QSt-V7RfFCYNwe5mLFOvHKcKxFhdXvqE9pz87NWyutqs1BLj1xH_q3CDneEsVtW0c2vv3E9iOIF0tuwbPLmA0z_oeTUSviQUq_cSef6Hmoh2T6FwmXrIkMDg-dfgYtjbhfpUrfg9j4jwtwR4Uqw/s856/Table1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="856" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfIG0DeCxyqY448I-qWSTypley-EDURiVCI9R0QSt-V7RfFCYNwe5mLFOvHKcKxFhdXvqE9pz87NWyutqs1BLj1xH_q3CDneEsVtW0c2vv3E9iOIF0tuwbPLmA0z_oeTUSviQUq_cSef6Hmoh2T6FwmXrIkMDg-dfgYtjbhfpUrfg9j4jwtwR4Uqw/w453-h285/Table1.png" width="453" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #231f20; font-family: Volkhov, serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Yet in a story on CTV;</span></div><div><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"Whatever your image of Quebec English-speakers -- rich
Westmount-dwellers, perhaps -- odds are that it dates back a few
decades.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>
A new report has created an updated portrait, and it's starkly
different than what many expect, showing that English-speakers are
struggling financially compared to their French-speaking counterparts."</b></span> </p></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Quebec English-speakers have higher unemployment, lower income than French-speakers: study</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></b></span> <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-english-speakers-have-higher-unemployment-lower-income-than-french-speakers-study-1.5906233" target="_blank"><u>Link</u></a></blockquote></div><div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><i>French music is unpopular amongst francophones (especially the young)</i></span></h1></div><div></div>Only one of the top 20 songs played in 2020 is French<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL02Sj7SlXyy4peOBg2WNAMrzNKKMN6nB0Mo1tU0nsSr_Yxae_C_TTZQjexvr0K0cSTAu5uETLY46Z7BYSr-o7Ril1g4nVdzD7qpEdYPBbxRSBAny1olfN05JfdVJO2LUTaCIg3oXzbGb3yQSo4dBQl78Jjqkp-saAcBoqohbmg22_-i4IR-OzgU-H/s575/Top%20songs.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="575" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL02Sj7SlXyy4peOBg2WNAMrzNKKMN6nB0Mo1tU0nsSr_Yxae_C_TTZQjexvr0K0cSTAu5uETLY46Z7BYSr-o7Ril1g4nVdzD7qpEdYPBbxRSBAny1olfN05JfdVJO2LUTaCIg3oXzbGb3yQSo4dBQl78Jjqkp-saAcBoqohbmg22_-i4IR-OzgU-H/w525-h408/Top%20songs.png" width="525" /></a></div><br /><p>Only two of the top 20 artists played in 2021 are French and none in the top 12</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErNqtN3J70kOAfjXBAVIIFLlsPCrmg8i-q_5vxq5gw94sgNCSJDzH619q9BIf7aRVLLDcc7Tb4T0-Q8qzi-piDC67bx4Ekaj_vOpn5leHef-mYnG91Cng3WbIoLD4OVa5GGhBshStmlYNkDI_KGiHKyTOPMW9MdVJd_CC_wkkJmhWOw0d3slFIfmD/s424/Top%20Artists%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="293" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErNqtN3J70kOAfjXBAVIIFLlsPCrmg8i-q_5vxq5gw94sgNCSJDzH619q9BIf7aRVLLDcc7Tb4T0-Q8qzi-piDC67bx4Ekaj_vOpn5leHef-mYnG91Cng3WbIoLD4OVa5GGhBshStmlYNkDI_KGiHKyTOPMW9MdVJd_CC_wkkJmhWOw0d3slFIfmD/w353-h511/Top%20Artists%20.png" width="353" /></a></div><br /><p></p><blockquote><div><b>"A<span style="font-family: georgia;">ccording to a report by the Office québécois de la langue française, with regard to Francophones, “young people aged 15 to 34 are those who practice their cultural activities the least in French”.</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism must end!</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">This imperialism endangers the cultural future of Quebec, the cultural industry of Quebec, cultural diversity in the world, the Quebec difference, the survival of the Quebec nation, etc.</span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">It is essential to reverse the current trend to safeguard Quebec's difference. Quebec culture should occupy a predominant place in the lives of Quebecers and constitute the culture of reference for them. " <u><a href="https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2022/07/30/sauvons-la-culture-quebecoise-1" target="_blank">TVA{fr}</a></u></span></b> <u><a href="https://oicanadian.com/save-quebec-culture-the-journal-of-montreal/"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Link (Eng)</b></span></a></u></div></blockquote><p>What does the author propose as a solution?<br /></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"This is why I suggest that Quebec parliamentarians adopt a Charter of Quebec Culture.</b></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">The adoption of such a Charter should allow Quebec culture to regain the place it should always have occupied, that of common culture."</span></b></p></blockquote><p>...of course.<b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></b></p><p></p><div><u></u></div><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><i>No Comment.....</i></span></h1><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpa3oktgrMXCaKjvAm6IhgH03g8-hzknLq7gVIdXvxfZN0ETGMMGKebpsiwcU_O7iEjyGr9oZt5STUHC0Ot6BQF9E8cBXPkVtSlyxQmbFMyE2NK_t9yWQOcMivdC6U_HdtdSpWTbDQzU1kLJu3njgNQSY946Zx-7aNKAzGDCRERRrMAmoooauHaVbmyw/s804/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-27%20at%209.51.36%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="804" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpa3oktgrMXCaKjvAm6IhgH03g8-hzknLq7gVIdXvxfZN0ETGMMGKebpsiwcU_O7iEjyGr9oZt5STUHC0Ot6BQF9E8cBXPkVtSlyxQmbFMyE2NK_t9yWQOcMivdC6U_HdtdSpWTbDQzU1kLJu3njgNQSY946Zx-7aNKAzGDCRERRrMAmoooauHaVbmyw/w422-h276/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-27%20at%209.51.36%20AM.png" width="422" /> </a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span><a name='more'></a></span> </span></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhbKllgCZcMCr0-u2s_-uHihkAygrJO-mAlk-fMrOpqQU21j0XUQOB5ij_VQdBLNGGy1bPMl9zVzftHbuTjGpmX5KAuHGBQImfUtYKlY6Hrtq69JMZwP4-QXbTz8pT6AtVZQuuqRlwrDmZRcSMRZH5PekG51G8xmUX-9cZ61-9wsFtzkmCFyCMmwE/s825/Ben%20non.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="825" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQhbKllgCZcMCr0-u2s_-uHihkAygrJO-mAlk-fMrOpqQU21j0XUQOB5ij_VQdBLNGGy1bPMl9zVzftHbuTjGpmX5KAuHGBQImfUtYKlY6Hrtq69JMZwP4-QXbTz8pT6AtVZQuuqRlwrDmZRcSMRZH5PekG51G8xmUX-9cZ61-9wsFtzkmCFyCMmwE/w508-h210/Ben%20non.png" width="508" /></a></div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #121212; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"France violated an international rights treaty when it banned a woman from wearing a headscarf while she studied at a school, a UN committee has ruled.</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #121212; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">The move broke the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee said" <u><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-scolds-france-for-islamic-headscarf-ban/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter">Link</a></u></span></b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #121212; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b></p><h1 class="c-title__text" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 2.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><u style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-real-estate-broker-fined-1-500-for-english-language-social-media-ad-1.5693164" target="_blank">Montreal real estate broker in Quebec fined $1,500 for English-language social media ad</a></u></h1><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-quebec-amid-decline-catholic-church-province-87483613" target="_blank">American network's story on the decline of Quebec's Catholic Church</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62368931" target="_blank">Algeria to ditch French in favour of English in schools</a></u></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.danslescoulisses.com/les-joueurs-quebecois-et-le-ch-et-si-le-ch-etait-devenu-un-club-comme-les-autres/" style="text-decoration-line: underline;" target="_blank">Should the Habs draft more French Quebeckers {FR}</a><br /><br /><u><a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/regional/2022-08-01/outaouais/les-ontariens-traversent-la-riviere.php">Ottawans move across the river to Quebec for cheap housing but work and pay taxes in Ontario.{FR}</a></u></span></b></p><p></p><div class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><p></p><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://www.thesuburban.com/news/city_news/quebec-rights-tribunal-rules-repentigny-police-racially-profiled-black-teacher/article_46dfe9c2-127d-5faf-8597-9681e9d19be8.html">Quebec rights tribunal rules Repentigny police racially profiled Black teacher</a></b></span></u></div></div></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-56004405203726498942022-07-16T17:08:00.011-04:002022-07-16T18:46:19.495-04:00Quebec's Language Furor Masks a Deep Ugly Truth<p><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available"><i><b></b></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_sPzXO_dZ5BFztDGbT4dFnPhb6nK9Yux2QvElIljzPpKt_z6o_qyy_slt-6sUdkSe79KWh-tSOWygbd26Dh6mBMuMmtaD-R8nMOoesWjI1UO-1RL5jP7OyfF2FnZRfdm4aRj2PcGTM4fZU0lbMk_IHtMuF9jNvF2fxObft8d0dRsLkWN1JgjySA4/s1014/coliseum-1014x487-2428391511.tiff" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="1014" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_sPzXO_dZ5BFztDGbT4dFnPhb6nK9Yux2QvElIljzPpKt_z6o_qyy_slt-6sUdkSe79KWh-tSOWygbd26Dh6mBMuMmtaD-R8nMOoesWjI1UO-1RL5jP7OyfF2FnZRfdm4aRj2PcGTM4fZU0lbMk_IHtMuF9jNvF2fxObft8d0dRsLkWN1JgjySA4/w660-h317/coliseum-1014x487-2428391511.tiff" width="660" /></a></div></div><p></p><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Panem et Circenses" (Bread and Circuses) extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention.</span>"</span></b></div></b><p></p><p>The
raging language furor over the so-called fragile state
of the French language in Quebec dominates the media and is monopolizing political debate conveniently crowding out issues that need to be debated and are fundamental to Quebec's well-being.<br />Premier
Legault and his evil minions continually hammer away at the subject, reminding 'real' Quebecers
at every opportunity that they are in the gravest of danger at the hands
of an evil barbaric horde of Anglos and Allophones who dangerously breached the gates of fortress francophonia.</p><p>Like the Russian media that
parrots Putin's mad fantasies about Ukrainian Nazis, so too does Quebec
media parrot the fantasy that <i>Quebecois du souche</i> will soon be
drinking tea and toasting the Governor-General speaking in the very best Queen's English, whilst their beloved French language
and heritage is long-forgotten, consigned to the ash-heap of history, mercilessly drowned in the anglicizing sauce imposed by the overpowering English monolith.<br /></p><p>T<span>he expression "<i><b>Panem</b> and <b>Circenses</b></i>" was coined to denounce the unwillingness of the citizens of Rome to act against their incompetent leaders. The idea was that as long as the distracted population was entertained and had enough
to eat, the powerful could do what they wanted.</span><br /><br />And so the language debate is a convenient distraction, one that papers over the deeper and more sinister malaise that shrouds the province in collective dysfunction.<br /><br />Quebec is a province run by pencil-head politicians and a bloated cadre of bureaucratic idiots who overspend, over-govern, over-regulate, under-perform and under-deliver on just
about every level.<br />The truly sad state of an under-performing society is ignored by the media obsessed with language and language alone.<br />Yes, other provinces have their own faults and
problems and managerial messes, but none rise to the level of
dysfunction, laziness, incompetence, mean-spirited and financial
mismanagement that is Quebec.<br /><br />J'accuse.<br />Today the news cycle is filled with two stories that just about sum up the problems of Quebec.<br /><br />A married couple, both emergency room doctors have decided to call it quits and move to Ontario to continue being doctors because life in Quebec is just so much harder.</p><p></p><blockquote><p> <span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"I love Montreal. It's the city I grew up in, and to leave it again for the second time, it's disappointing," Stasiak said.</b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> They are leaving at a time when the <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/there-s-a-whole-chain-reaction-to-this-doctor-uneasy-as-ers-tip-over-capacity-1.5865101">Quebec health-care system has been heavily criticized for being fragile.</a><br /></b></span> <span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /> Montreal alone is short 18,399 health-care workers, <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZjY3MmMyMWEtZjBiNC00Y2YzLWEzODctYjUyNmE1ZThhYmJkIiwidCI6IjA2ZTFmZTI4LTVmOGItNDA3NS1iZjZjLWFlMjRiZTFhNzk5MiJ9">according to the government's July 4 health-care system dashboard</a>.</b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>
But after all their agonizing, it became clear to the doctors that
compared to the hospital system they remember in Toronto, Montreal's
working conditions, which they consider to be tough and inflexible, are
incompatible with raising a healthy family. They say those conditions
are a natural consequence of government rules limiting hiring.</b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> And if they still had doubts about the move, Quebec's new language law, commonly known as Bill 96, sealed the deal for them. <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/two-young-er-doctors-quit-montreal-jobs-blaming-quebec-s-broken-health-care-system-and-bill-96-1.5974759" target="_blank"><u>Link</u></a><br /></b></span></p></blockquote><p></p><p> The second sad story is infuriating because not one politician had the guts to answer questions or apologize for the utter failure of Quebec's incompetent and understaffed paramedic service.</p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #404040; font-size: 1.125rem;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 1.125rem;">A 91-year-old Montreal woman died over the weekend after waiting seven hours for an ambulance and her family is now blaming ongoing staffing shortages within paramedic services.<br /></span><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 1.125rem;">On Saturday evening, Therese Pardiac injured her leg after a fall and when she couldn’t stand her family called for an ambulance.<br /></span><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;">Urgences-Santé said Pardiac’s call was re-evaluated multiple times and was considered low priority on each occasion. </span></b><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;"><b>But by the time it arrived, seven hours later, Pardiac had passed away</b></span><b><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;">On averag</span><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;">e, Urgences-Santé is short-staffed by around 30 per cent every night </span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;">due in part to a lack of new recruits and workers absent due to COVID-19</span><span style="color: #404040; font-size: 18px;">.....</span></span></b><a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-woman-91-dies-after-waiting-7-hours-for-ambulance-1.5983232" target="_blank"> <b style="color: #404040; font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; text-align: right;"><u>Read more</u></b></a></blockquote><div><p>This crisis is not new, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7963035472241877292/5600440520372649894#">La Presse reported</a> on the shortage back in February. On some nights Montreal is served by half the necessary units meaning that response time is absurdly long.<br />Now the part about a lack of recruits is interesting because La Presse also reports that many qualified candidates are being routinely rejected without explanation.<br /></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"We regret to inform you that your application has not been accepted", reads a laconic email received in May by Ahmed, the fictitious first name of an ambulance driver who worked for more than 20 years in the region of Laurentians—Lanaudière. Like all the other rejected paramedics who spoke to La Presse for this article, Ahmed requested anonymity so as not to harm his career.“I did the whole process, then I was refused without giving me any explanation,” he says indignantly. A process that spans several weeks and includes two interviews, psychometric tests, a medical examination and a drug test.</span></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"I have no feedback from human resources after multiple attempts by email, by phone, I have no response from them as to why I was not selected," he continues, discouraged.<br /><br />“There are no details of the reason,” confirms Urgences-santé spokesperson Benoit Garneau. “They have to work through all the things they have to do with the process,” he says, adding that candidates are welcome to reapply within a year . I don't understand how they can't even give at least one reason for the paramedic to improve, correct their shortcomings...</span></b> </blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> And Ahmed is not the only one in this situation. La Presse spoke with three experienced paramedics and a new graduate who were refused a position at Urgences-santé without receiving an explanation. However, Urgences-santé regularly lacks personnel to fill all its shifts, and the situation is particularly acute at night and on weekends. During a weekend at the end of May, La Presse reported that more than half of the scheduled ambulances were missing due to a lack of available employees. The fact that it is so understaffed at night may force Urgences-santé to prioritize urgent calls at the expense of those for whom there does not appear to be an imminent danger to life. </span></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">And this weekend again, almost all shifts will be marked by absences. During the night from Sunday to Monday, no less than 38 paramedics will be missing out of the 98 who should be on duty, according to Mr. Garneau, a situation representative of the last few weeks."Our goal this year is to hire more than 100 paramedics, but I don't think that will be achievable because there is a shortage of people coming out of school," </span></b></blockquote><p>Now I don't want to ascribe motives to the writer of the article but in choosing an Arabic-sounding pseudonym for the rejected paramedic candidate is he in fact trying to pass on a message about hiring discrimination?<br />And so it's easier to let people die waiting for an ambulance because
in Quebec nobody will put up much of a stink anyways. The public's lack of concern or forgiving nature is staggering to behold or understand.<br /><br />Perhaps Urgences-Santé might consider lowering their standards in the face of a crisis, perhaps taking an example from the Russian army in accepting any and all recruits including those cursed ethnics in the face of staggering manpower shortages. <br />Considering that Quebec paramedics don't offer much advanced medical care on the scene as in other jurisdictions, (the service is disparagingly categorized as a <b>'<i>scoop and run'</i></b>) how much training is actually required?<br /><br />This
tragic mess is unsurprising in Quebec, where a higher level of failure
and dysfunction is to be expected and endured without complaint or consequence. In
Quebec, like in ancient Rome, the public has become inured to failure and
mediocrity and as long as there is enough to eat and language controversy to distract,
life goes on. <br /><br />60 years ago I was playing street hockey on La Peltrie street in the Snowdon district of Montreal when an unfortunate miscue caused one of the lads to fall and break his leg. With no cell phones, we knocked on the nearest door and the homeowner called the police who managed the ambulance service in that era.<br />In less than four minutes a police ambulance screeched onto the scene and scooped the injured boy, padding him off to the hospital with sirens blaring.<br />The cops came back an hour later and told those of us still sitting around nervously that the boy was being treated and having a cast placed on his leg at this very moment. The two cops then presented us with a giant box of fries to assuage our concern.<br />Have we really made progress since then? <br /><br />Like most senior folks, who grew up poor by today's standards, the vast majority of us actually had a family doctor who even made some house calls when necessary.<br />When my bicycle was stolen back then in the sixties, a detective actually came to my house to take the report.<br />Progress over the decades in Quebec is not exactly something to brag about as our politicians would lead us to believe and while technology
and modernization have made us all richer as the standard of living has
risen dramatically, the fact is that the government's performance
has deteriorated exponentially.<br /><br />Hows many hours is the wait today in the emergency room to get stitches or to set a broken bone <br />compared to pre-Medicare times? <br />How many weeks or months is the wait for elective or 'non-urgent' surgery compared to the past.<br />How long a wait is it for an ambulance?<br />On and on it goes....<br />The Department of child welfare claims to be too understaffed' to take action when children are abused with sometimes tragic results. Then there is the complaint that 20% of Quebecers cannot find a family doctor. This is in consideration that Quebec has on average more doctors than the national average.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Though the national average is 230 doctors per 100,000 residents, Quebec boasts 243 for the same number of people</span></b></span></b> </blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Theoretically, we should have easier access to doctors,” Dr. Charles
Bernard, president and CEO of the Collège des médecins du Québec, told
The Canadian Press. “I think there’s an organization aspect</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">,” <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3777181/quebec-has-more-doctors-than-national-average-health-institute/" target="_blank"><u>Link</u></a><br /></span></b></span></b></blockquote>Today bureaucracy, wasteful spending, and under-performance underpin everything that the government touches.<br />I read an article about how Quebec's vaunted immigration department is so dysfunctional that french-speaking immigrants are opting to go to Ontario because of the months and years of delay. One fellow from France was refused a visa because he failed a French test, the only language he spoke.<br />Absurd? This is Quebec.<br />As for the political and public service, let me offer but one tiny example of how bloated Quebec has evolved in relation to public spending. </div><div>The city of New York with a population of 8.4 million is represented by 51 members of the city council while that of Montreal with a population of 1.5 million is composed of 64 city councillors, which represents six times larger representation.<br /><br />This bloat and dysfunction are really only half the story, after all the government is just a reflection of the society it represents.</div><div><p>And Quebec society, its people can shoulder much of the blame for what ails Quebec.<br /><br /><b>QUEBEC'S DISTINCT SOCIETY.</b><br />Quebec nationalist elite scoff at Canadian society, from the Premier's wife who disparaged Canadian culture to every nationalist journalist that describes Quebec societal values as kinder and gentler.<br />This fantasy is utterly false and sadly absurd. Statistics and facts bear out the opposite.<br /><br />Quebecers <b>work less</b> than the rest of Canadians <br />The United States averaged 38.7 hours per week, per job, followed by
37.5 hours in Alberta, 36 in Ontario and 35.5 in British Columbia, while Quebec stands last at 35.1 hours.<br />Defenders will say that working less is a societal choice and it might well be, but Canadians in other provinces who do work longer hours contribute around 10 billion dollars annually to Quebec's budget through the moronically indulgent equalization program.<br />It's like your layabout brother-in-law telling you that he's making a lifestyle choice of working less while demanding that you augment his income.<br /><br />As for generosity, Quebecers are notoriously tight-fisted and miserly with charitable hours volunteered, coming in last in both categories compared to other provinces.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQqJH1JhJRpC1459g3yiEcJLy_VkAsyx1BlH-0MbCbSjUkXydxqcV1hpotZ2PUpzQ9zzU_waDv9wYUa0Ii_r94_vW2vIce0u70Hfxo8mcfxhxUNR1_k_ik5u-OHEiryYX0nIvS41tuZpM4tWHG7S0B-doFOU5xFvba-NgIx15YzUIll0MLYgNBnge/s675/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-14%20at%201.43.27%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="675" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQqJH1JhJRpC1459g3yiEcJLy_VkAsyx1BlH-0MbCbSjUkXydxqcV1hpotZ2PUpzQ9zzU_waDv9wYUa0Ii_r94_vW2vIce0u70Hfxo8mcfxhxUNR1_k_ik5u-OHEiryYX0nIvS41tuZpM4tWHG7S0B-doFOU5xFvba-NgIx15YzUIll0MLYgNBnge/w508-h368/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-14%20at%201.43.27%20PM.png" width="508" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Average annual volunteer hours by Canadians </b></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWGOeymsybWDNbMiScnPK2NPpe6W0ggdTQkdXyVav1S3NO5RAz5T4-YWaS_sv_I-23FCmmmLmmHlCUi3_QFIsNxrp_pVtTJhCybQlV8ZOFWom0TQwklrgZP2BcaRKFIBd2jWKtxLp3iiBYvyWQKQkI79pM50QmXatETK0g_dv5dxPWCA2FlD8OeJg/s604/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-14%20at%201.36.22%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="604" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWGOeymsybWDNbMiScnPK2NPpe6W0ggdTQkdXyVav1S3NO5RAz5T4-YWaS_sv_I-23FCmmmLmmHlCUi3_QFIsNxrp_pVtTJhCybQlV8ZOFWom0TQwklrgZP2BcaRKFIBd2jWKtxLp3iiBYvyWQKQkI79pM50QmXatETK0g_dv5dxPWCA2FlD8OeJg/w467-h305/Screen%20Shot%202022-07-14%20at%201.36.22%20PM.png" width="467" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Average charitable donations made by Canadians</span></b></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>Quebec loves to boast that it is different from the rest of North America and goes to lengths to prove the point.<br />Its universal junior college system known as CEGEP replaces grade 12 and the first year of university with a burdensome extra layer which seems to fulfill no useful purpose. Like a country with a different train track gauge, trains must stop at the border.<br />It seems that the only function CEGEP fulfills is to keep Quebec students from attending post-secondary education outside the province because high school graduates are missing a year.<br />In response to Bill 96 and the proposed reduction in admissibility to English CEGEPs, some private high schools decided to offer a grade 12 in order that their students be equipped to seamlessly pursue an English education outside Quebec.<br />On hearing the proposal, the Quebec government went apeshit and immediately proposed banning any such program lest students find an easier avenue to leave Quebec.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even Quebec's vaunted subsidized daycare system is so expensive that the service can only be offered to a portion of the population, creating a two and three-tiered system, something that Quebec is dedicated to fighting in the healthcare industry.<br />And then there's systemic corruption and discrimination that permeates Quebec society, worthy of an entirely different blog post.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Quebec salaries lag behind the Canadian average while being subject to the highest taxation rate in North America, further diminishing spending power. </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, nobody complains. </div><div>Prisoners of language, Quebecers accept their lot, buying the nonsense that they are different, persecuted because of language and their supposed higher communal values and morals.</div><div>It is nonsense that politicians and nationalists pander in order to keep the masses from complaining.</div><div><br /></div><div>And so Quebec is mired in mediocrity and dysfunction but as long as there's enough to eat and the English to bash, all is well.</div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-72491098090675460742022-06-27T09:01:00.002-04:002022-06-27T14:09:19.315-04:00Language Insanity Sweeping Quebec <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxdifmLYpABO0EH7G9kiLwq79g1wp5q9fol9IrkvPsP9LeMhUchx5AKWmjo4oZuv_M6yp9FH2n7KrtBgfXccy3_UIdoEoip-KWAwJ2-LVDnVGNij6GIWOjt5DYEZd-TAznsbpYcfTS_qsw0G8rpAscMHNb3XwQGqq-AlnCsel1PttleXqUqJmM35p/s238/images.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="238" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbxdifmLYpABO0EH7G9kiLwq79g1wp5q9fol9IrkvPsP9LeMhUchx5AKWmjo4oZuv_M6yp9FH2n7KrtBgfXccy3_UIdoEoip-KWAwJ2-LVDnVGNij6GIWOjt5DYEZd-TAznsbpYcfTS_qsw0G8rpAscMHNb3XwQGqq-AlnCsel1PttleXqUqJmM35p/w482-h429/images.jpeg" width="482" /></a></div>Back in high school, a million years ago, I learnt a valuable lesson about the human condition, not in the classroom, but in the most unlikely of places.<p></p><p>Over fifty years ago, the scene in Montreal's Northmount High cafeteria of an out-of-control food fight remains indelibly stamped in my mind.<br />It started out innocently enough but before you knew it, too many otherwise rational and level-headed students were flinging food across the room in an orgy-like scene of mayhem and depravity.<br />The lunchroom monitors' efforts to intervene and restore a semblance of order proved woefully ineffective and it was abundantly clear that there was no stopping the bedlam as adrenaline coursed through the bodies of the frenzied participants, a scene that would ultimately play out to its exhausted conclusion.<br />While the majority of students in the cafeteria participated in the pandemonium, a significant minority either fled the scene or sat in utter dumbfounded amazement, taking in the scene in abject disbelief (myself included) wondering what mystical evil force had overtaken these people?<br /></p><p>The lesson I took from that scene was that ordinary people can get caught up in the moment and despite their better and rational judgment be swept up by the mob into acting irrationally or otherwise believing commonly held nonsense just because everyone seems to be doing it or believing it.<br /></p><p>When the Stanley cup riots occurred in Montreal it explained why normally law-abiding citizens deemed it acceptable to break windows along Ste. Catherine street and loot the stores.<br />And you'll no doubt remember that aspiring young lawyer who mugged before the camera wearing a thong over her mouth instead of a mask, mocking and insulting sanitary measures as the party aboard a chartered Sunwing jet turned into a drunken debacle. The personal and professional consequences were devastating.<br /> What on Earth was she thinking?<br /><br />Collective insanity is even more dangerous when it applies to entire populations as demonstrated by Hitler's successful campaign to convince rational and usually level-headed German people that their misfortunes were all the fault of the Jews.<br />How could almost the entire nation embrace a patently false, libellous and dangerous concept so gratuitously?</p><p>And recently Valdimar Putin demonstrated that even in a modern world, the majority can embrace utter and complete nonsense in believing his concocted nonsense that Ukrainian Nazis posed a threat to Mother Russia, to the point that close to 100,000 Russian casualties have so far been sacrificed over a fantasy with nary a complaint.<br />And the saddest part is that once in the throws of hysteria there is no reasoning, no convincing, no abating and certainly no useful debate to be had.<br /><br />Sadly such is the case here in Quebec, where mass hysteria over language has taken root, spurred on by a cynical and evil Premier Legault who channels Putin in callously fomenting rage and disgust over fantasy, the nonsense wherein Quebec is deemed to be under existential threat over language.<br /><br />Just like a food fight which starts off mildly enough, with one idiot tossing a single plate of food, it inevitably escalates into an orgy of depravity, placing Quebec on the very same path of idiotic and hurtful excess.<br /><br />Like Hitler's taunts over the dangerous Jews and Putin's taunts over Ukrainian Nazis, Legault's xenophobic and anglophilic missives have gained wide acceptance in the media, the true driver of public opinion.<br /><br />In Russia, Putin's media sycophants are doing his dirty work, inflaming public opinion with hateful and racist rhetoric, and providing much-needed backing for the tragic Ukrainian war.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HoUludht8-s" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>It's easy to understand that facts don't matter to these people and debate is a useless exercise in futility. Truth doesn't matter when a popular lie is so convenient and fun.<br />Like Donald Trump's loyal followers who still believe that the presidential election was stolen, no amount of debate, facts or truth will sway their unshaken faith in the lie.<br />There's no use in trying to convince them otherwise<br /><br />Sadly the same is occurring in Quebec with our evil Premier and his racist minister <b>Simon Jolin-Barrette</b> spewing the vilest of untruths about English, anglophone and ethnics aided and abetted by a compliant media of closeted and open separatists eager to push the falsehood in order to promote their dogged pursuance of the twice rejected sovereignty option.<br />It is in fact the perfect storm of cognitive dissonance.<br /><br />The Premier is being emboldened by the wide acceptance and media backing of his nonsense, upping the rhetoric with each week, recently offering up this hateful missive<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;">"It's important that we don't put all cultures on the same level; that's why we oppose multiculturalism," Legault said.</span></blockquote></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">All this to say, that here in Quebec we are well past the nascent stage of collective insanity. <br />There can be no debate or discourse with those dedicated to the lie of French fragility.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And the more we complain, the stronger the movement. grows.</div><div style="text-align: left;">No committee, political party, scholarly articles in the Press or any countervailing action or movement can have the slightest effect.</div><div style="text-align: left;">In fact, opposition and dissent to the idea of an existential threat to French in Quebec feeds into the paranoia, further strengthening the idea that Quebec stands alone against the world.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Parroting Putin's and Hitler's paranoiac exhortations that their societies are in mortal danger because of evil outside forces, posing an existential threat, Legault and his evil minions have employed the historically tried and true device of scapegoating and blame to cast anglos and ethnics as the enemies of the state.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Sadly, there is nothing we can do to stop the insanity.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Like those students uninvolved in the food fight, all we can do is observe the depravity and hope it ends soon.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />I'm not so sure it will.</div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-27776245946272797082022-05-24T17:24:00.017-04:002022-05-24T19:28:54.483-04:00Five Lies Separatists Use to Justify Bill 96<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1B3LVOSHaQH48rjCxx8cqikYRAOBGO9kdt5q3pMGucsqP515JImvqUEc_dH1FU_3xtaz8j9jV8SK-FI2qwi_2RvMbi-T0fMG742l3MEfxGXU607k3tF73XMAE46YvbtZ-Sn1pIhBpDXQHe_YmqIBOXddZJ8FEIF3F2hHuFKy0uBNeu7blZxFDah60/s300/download.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1B3LVOSHaQH48rjCxx8cqikYRAOBGO9kdt5q3pMGucsqP515JImvqUEc_dH1FU_3xtaz8j9jV8SK-FI2qwi_2RvMbi-T0fMG742l3MEfxGXU607k3tF73XMAE46YvbtZ-Sn1pIhBpDXQHe_YmqIBOXddZJ8FEIF3F2hHuFKy0uBNeu7blZxFDah60/w482-h270/download.jpeg" width="482" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Quebec's Language Delusion</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table>That popular political misinformation campaigns, those based on ridiculous and demonstrable lies, can succeed in a modern open society, one blessed with a free, independent and critical press, remains a stunning deception to those with an open and discerning mind, be it left, center or right-leaning.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Take for example the bizarrely successful campaign that Donald Trump led to convince his followers that he actually won the 2020 presidential election. That so many millions of Americans could be wilfully-deceived, where facts and clear evidence are replaced with a manufactured fantasy goes to the power that those elected officials hold over their supporters.</div><div>Who of us isn't utterly exasperated by the odious and successful lie that Vladimir Putin continues to pedal that Ukrainian Nazis are a clear and present danger to the existence of Mother Russia.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br />Even Prime Minister Trudeau stooped to selling the public the nonsense that the 'Freedom Convoy' (the trucker demonstration that paralyzed Ottawa) was led by armed Nazis, a convenient lie used to justify the declaration of the Emergencies Act. </div><div>Don't get me wrong, the declaration of the special powers could have been easily justified by the de facto blockade of the city, but it was just easier to lie to frightened Canadians who were eager for a resolution.</div><div><br /></div><div>It clearly demonstrates that political leaders have incredible sway over a sadly gullible and largely trusting public and so lies and deceit come easily to dishonest and treacherous politicians when there is so much to gain.</div><div><br /></div><div>And so too Quebec's Premier Legault has found his convenient lie, the one about French being in mortal danger in Quebec, manufactured to cement his hold on political power and ultimately to pursue the cause of sovereignty. <br />It plays well because it is wildly supported by a cadre of dedicated sovereigntists that dominate the media and education system, and who view the lie as a useful tool to promote independence.<br /><br />Like Putin and Trump, Premier Legault successfully pedals a pernicious lie, unsupported by facts, bolstered by nonsense statistics, fear-mongering and fanciful anecdotal tales of persecution and imminent disaster, boosted by like-minded villains and willfully deceived enablers.<br /><br /></div><div>Here are five fantasies proffered by those wishing to frighten Quebecers into believing that their language and culture is on the decline.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7Q7Oq0CWxxS913gfsLPKCQAwJ-jwLf-WcidglZL8oPN2oiJmRwxD87AOuA_wCwaAEMD0jXO49N1AFApNvKEThWbUxHZApXLkWMrkxWeMr9Lnzy8nxYxa9x6GtmR-bktOfJ7SXFJDmlFUtFMuwDl8n1yFNoijWouKrOLAP8ZX3I_x_DHbFYQwSfb-bg/s275/images.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7Q7Oq0CWxxS913gfsLPKCQAwJ-jwLf-WcidglZL8oPN2oiJmRwxD87AOuA_wCwaAEMD0jXO49N1AFApNvKEThWbUxHZApXLkWMrkxWeMr9Lnzy8nxYxa9x6GtmR-bktOfJ7SXFJDmlFUtFMuwDl8n1yFNoijWouKrOLAP8ZX3I_x_DHbFYQwSfb-bg/w479-h319/images.jpg" width="479" /></a></div></div><div><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large;">1. French is in decline</b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>In the battle of statistics, it is easy to proffer numbers that support just about any position, but I haven't seen anything real that actually supports the decline or threat to French in Quebec.</p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Like a televangelist who beats his chest proclaiming that the end is nigh, those who are in the business of frightening Quebecers with nonsense statistics about language can be best described by Shakespeare;</span></p><p><b style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: "hco mercury ssm", georgia, serif; font-size: 24px;"><i></i></b></p><blockquote><b style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: "hco mercury ssm", georgia, serif; font-size: 24px;"><i>"... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."</i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: "hco mercury ssm", georgia, serif; font-size: 24px;"> </span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: "hco mercury ssm", georgia, serif; font-size: 24px;"></span><p></p>The statistic most trotted out by language fanatics as proof that French is in decline is the one that describes French as the 'mother-tongue' or the first language spoken in the home in precipitous decline.</div><div><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">This notion is not only specious but outright xenophobic.<br />With immigrants pouring into Quebec because of a declining birthrate, it is natural that French, as well as English, is declining as the first language spoken in the home.<br />So what?<br />Imagine an African family who immigrates to Quebec, speaking no English and no French. <br />The children are sent to French school as per Bill 101 and the parents learn French rather quickly. As the family establishes themselves in Quebec, they do so exclusively in French.<br />Both parents get jobs where the language of the workplace is French. The children are absorbed into the Francophone milieu at school and consume Francophone television, movies and social media. The family remains bilingual, speaking French in all public endeavours and Swahili mixed with French at home.<br />When the children grow up and have their own children, French is the language primarily used with Swahili fading as the years go by. </span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">For this 'mother tongue' argument to hold sway, this family represents an existential threat to the French language in Quebec.<br />Not only is the theory demonstrably false but clearly xenophobic and racist as well.<br /><br />The only relevant statistic is the one that tells us that 94% of Quebecers can carry on a conversation in French while twenty years ago that number was 88%. So much for a decline!<br /><a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/andre-pratte-quebecs-bill-96-is-the-result-of-making-anglos-a-scapegoat"><u>In an article in L'Acualitié</u>, </a>a prominent statistician and demographer at </span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">Statistics Canada, <b>Jean-Pierre Corbeil</b>, has demolished the arguments, one by one, that French is in danger in Quebec.</span></p><p><span style="color: #191919; font-family: PT Serif, Georgia, serif;">Takeaway;<br /></span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">Donald Trump </span><b style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">did not</b><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;"> win the 2020 presidential election.<br /></span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">Ukrainian Nazis </span><b style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">are not</b><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;"> a threat to Russia<br /></span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">French </span><b style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">is not </b><span style="color: #191919; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif;">in danger in Quebec.</span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large;">2. Surrounded by a sea of English neighbours, Quebec is under an existential threat.</b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>We've heard this favourite argument for years and years, the one that describes Quebec's geographical neighbours as a horde of English assimilators eager to attack Quebec, relentlessly putting pressure on francophone society to anglicize. </p><p>But this fanciful and romantic notion that Quebec's geography makes it more vulnerable to English assimilation than other similarly-sized, non-English speaking countries and societies is nonsense.<br />English influence is not transmitted by the physical proximity of borders, but rather by its overwhelming influence and omnipresence on the internet, the business world, the entertainment business, the international science and education world and international relations of all manner.<br />As the world's lingua franca, English bears down on the civilized world equally and Quebec's situation is no different than countless other small countries and societies which have their own unique indigenous languages. <br />Quebec's seven million French-speaking inhabitants are no more in danger of English assimilation than Swedish-speaking citizens of Sweden (10 million inhabitants), Finnish-speaking citizens of Finland (5.5 million), Danish-speaking citizens of Denmark (5.8 million,) and Norwegian-speaking citizens of Norway (5.4 million), which unlike Quebec have a unique language spoken only within its borders.</p><p>The same goes for Estonia (1.33 million inhabitants), Greece (10 million), Israel (6 million) and Portugal (10 million) and countless other countries.<br /><br />Quebec's situation is actually much better than the above-mentioned countries because French is an official language in at least two-dozen other countries and is supported by the '<i>francophonie</i>' (a brotherhood of French-speaking nations) which supports and promotes the French language and culture worldwide.<br /><br />TAKEAWAY:<br />Language fanatics pretend that Quebec is a unique and special case, which clearly it is not.<br />Other countries with similar circumstances demonstrate none of the same language paranoia.<br /><br /><span><b style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large;">3. Anglo-Quebecers are the best-treated minority in Canada</b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span>I've always maintained that it is actually francophone Quebecers who are the best-treated minority in Canada, enjoying a disproportionate windfall of the federal government's largess and support as well as over-financing and representation in all manner of federal institutions.</p><p>But the canard that anglos are better treated in Quebec than francos in the rest of Canada fails to consider the true nature of why minorities thrive or fail, which really isn't based on the support of government resources and financing.<br />It comes down to plain numbers, where a minimum number of constituent members in any minority geographical community is necessary, be it English or French. </p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #5f6368; font-size: x-large;">'Critical mass'</span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #4d5156; font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">is the minimum amount of something required to start or maintain any project or venture. ... In physics, critical mass is the minimum amount of fissile material that is needed to support a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.</span></b></blockquote>Governments do a good job in providing English or French resources for minorities where numbers warrant, in Quebec and in the rest of Canada.<br />Where numbers are few, the expense to provide language resources is prohibitive and it is here that isolated minorities of Anglos in Quebec and francophones outside Quebec and New Brunswick suffer.<br />In Quebec where anglos represent a large and vibrant community in and around Montreal, English resources are plentiful, but as one travels out to the far reaches of the province, English services diminish in direct relation to the size of the local community.<br />The same goes for francophone minorities in Canada, where French services are available where numbers warrant and suffer where the numbers don't add up.<br />It isn't about government generosity or commitment. When minority language communities are too small to support schools, hospitals and businesses and there isn't the necessary critical mass to maintain a vibrant, functioning community, there's not much the government can do to stave off the inevitable. <br />And so, this decline in small, isolated Anglophone communities in Quebec and small isolated Francophone communities outside Quebec and New Brunswick is ongoing and unremitting.</div><div><br />The idea that other provinces are indifferent to francophones is untrue and libellous.<br />Take for example the case of the pressure put on the Ontario government to open a dedicated French-only university to support the 600,000 francophone community. Ontario argued that the school was un-needed because French degrees were offered in the Ontario universities but pressure and funding from Ottawa and whining from Quebec put the project forward.<br /><br />But alas, francophones weren't interested</div><div><b></b><blockquote><b>"If there was hope that Franco-Ontarians would quickly embrace Université de l’Ontario Français (UOF) after the institution’s disappointing inaugural year of operation, they were dashed in January when new <a href="https://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/stats/uapp/prelim_jan/jan_2022_undergraduate_applications_summary.pdf">data</a> showed just 14 Ontario high school students applied for enrolment, down from 19 during the school’s first year."</b><br /></blockquote><p>No, you read that right.<br /><br />It seems that francophones outside Quebec have different language aspirations than politicians in Quebec would have us believe and where getting a rounded education that includes English instruction is of paramount importance.<br /></p></div><div>TAKEAWAY:<br />Quebec doesn't do a better job protecting English in Quebec than Canada does in protecting French outside.<br /><br /><p><b style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">4. </span></b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #4d5156; font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b>S</b></span></span></span></span><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large;">tudying in post-secondary English schools leads to Anglicization</b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span>I have never, ever seen a statistic that describes the number of born francophones who attended French primary and high school and subsequently gave up their language to become anglophone after attending English university or CEGEP.</p><p>The simple truth is that Bill 101 has had the desired effect in keeping francophones French and while language transfers remain rare, they are statistically insignificant.<br />Language militants and politicians whine that education in an English university or CEGEP leads to francophones working in an English milieu after graduation.<br />But they fail to make a case that a significant number of these abandon their French heritage to become part of the hated anglo society.<br />There are no statistics that bear out the fear that speaking and working in English leads francophones to abandon their heritage and I defy anyone to show that such is the case.</p><p>I would ask the francophones reading this piece if they know of anyone in their own family or circle of friends who have 'switched sides' <br />It is extremely rare and when it does happen it is usually in francophones who have moved out of Quebec for work or education.<br /><br />As for the canard that francophone CEGEP and university students who attend English schools are being swooped up by anglicizing anglophone life-partners, it is interesting to note that Quebec anglophone/francophone couples send their children to French schools two-thirds of the time.<br /> </p><p>TAKEAWAY:<br />Francophones studying in English CEGEPS and universities are not abandoning their francophone roots in any statistical significance</p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b>5. Immigrants must be forcibly dissuaded from joining the anglophone community.<br /></b></span></span></span></span>One of the very big complaints made by language hawks is that immigrants are being attracted to the English community in too high a number and that higher education in English should be restricted to moderate the phenomenon.</p><p>Let us take a step back.<br />The birthrate in Quebec is such that immigrants are necessary to maintain our numbers and this situation applies to both the English and French elements of Quebec.</p><p>But Bill 101 forces these immigrants into the French school system up to the high school in an effort to create francophone citizens.<br />Language militants want to restrict immigrants from access to higher education in English because too many according to them choose to join the anglophone community.<br /><br />But if this effort is successful and all immigrants become francophones, Quebec's English community is bound to disappear. <br />The language transfer by choice of some immigrants is the only thing that ensures the long-term survival of the Anglophone community in Quebec.<br />The present 'bleed' of immigrants is barely enough to keep our community alive and to further restrict transfers is nothing but a blatant attempt at ethnic cleansing.<br /><br />Today about half the immigrants choose English, maintaining the English portion of Quebec society at about 14%, a number that language militants are freaked out about.</p><p>TAKEAWAY:<br />Immigrants choosing to join the Anglophone community in Quebec are just staving off its decline and ultimate disappearance and pose no threat to the francophone majority.<br /></p><p><br />I'll leave with one last observation, a story about a debate I once had with a francophone sovereignist who posited that my support of Israel was obscene because of Israel's identity as a Jewish state despite about 20% of its population being non-Jewish.<br /><br />I looked at him with utter astonishment and asked how he could support a similarly racist state of Quebec which declares itself officially "French" despite a significant non-French minority.<br /></p><p><a data-ved="2ahUKEwiLxafaovn3AhVjgM4BHWdTDi0QFnoECAYQAQ" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deux_poids,_deux_mesures" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deux_poids,_deux_mesures&ved=2ahUKEwiLxafaovn3AhVjgM4BHWdTDi0QFnoECAYQAQ&sqi=2" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); background-color: white; color: #1a0dab; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; outline: 0px;"></a></p><b><i>Deux poids, deux mesures </i></b></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-59520770235892899392022-04-26T09:03:00.009-04:002022-04-27T10:24:00.814-04:00While Putin attempts to 'Denazify' Ukraine, Legault Trying to 'de-Anglicize' Quebec<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4K2YpFvDN-AQgqYgRfT1SEARafujnpDiSF26erTDT1Ys-vehSyD2bjFFcnwUQSvrbr2S8K698aSrxgVttT3nsi5U2XyEj4pkE6-u6OLOCls8_LWAWmJo5DYlZLoo6XS-t0mPGUCgSZIKy1kn1_uOd0MB_AhOTl-P1SEBzSDtF_5DeRkd9u9rzikt3A/s831/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-07%20at%2012.18.52%20PM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="831" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4K2YpFvDN-AQgqYgRfT1SEARafujnpDiSF26erTDT1Ys-vehSyD2bjFFcnwUQSvrbr2S8K698aSrxgVttT3nsi5U2XyEj4pkE6-u6OLOCls8_LWAWmJo5DYlZLoo6XS-t0mPGUCgSZIKy1kn1_uOd0MB_AhOTl-P1SEBzSDtF_5DeRkd9u9rzikt3A/w442-h261/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-07%20at%2012.18.52%20PM.png" width="442" /></a></div>I'll make no apologies for the title of this piece because aside from the violence, the goals of both Putin and Legault are eerily similar.<p></p><p>Both are pedalling a vicious slander for crass political gain and both are heaping blame on a specific people.</p><p>They both enlist the media as well as marshalling their vast government resources to sell the nonsense and finally, both are exacting revenge on the falsely accused.<br /><br />Again, aside from the physical violence, the playbook is the same.<br /></p><p>Fallacious scapegoating is a shop-worn device employed by rogues like Hitler who blamed the Jews for Germany's economic woes and Idi Amin who expelled Asians from Uganda because they purportedly robbed natives of the chance to own businesses. The list of historical scapegoaters is prodigious and by the way, the current onslaught on Ukraine by Russia is the second time around because dictator Josef Stalin inflicted the infamous "<b>Holodomor</b>" (man-made famine) that killed millions of Ukrainians, some ninety years ago.</p><p>Here in Quebec, as in practically the entire clear-thinking free world, we remain dumbfounded that the Russian people have largely bought into the myth of the Ukrainian Nazi threat.<br />It seems so utterly far-fetched that such a patently false idea could be so widely accepted and in fact, embraced by an entire nation.<br />With no credible evidence to support the Ukrainian Nazi threat myth (because none exists,) we shake our heads in disbelief at the utter gullibility and stupidity of the Russian public. It speaks to the power of state-sponsored propaganda with a lesson for us here in Quebec where Francophone Quebecers have largely bought into a similarly ridiculous myth that describes their language and culture as under attack with Quebec's Anglos cast as the villains whose continued use of English represents an existential threat.</p><p>Just like the illusory threat of Ukrainian Nazis to Russia, so too is the English threat to the French majority in Quebec.</p><p>Those making the claim that the sky is falling on the French language and of the English threat include politicians, educators and media types who share a militant sovereigntist ideology and so, the scapegoating of Anglos and English is nothing more than a devious and underhanded ploy to promote Quebec independence by sowing fear and discord. <br />These pot-stirring militants dominate the universities, the government and perhaps most importantly, the media, all promoting the myth of the English threat as skilfully as Russian media dis-informationists attack Ukrainian Nazis.</p><p>There was a time when sovereignty was promoted based on the supposed financial disadvantage Quebec faced by remaining in Canada. The mantra was that Canada was oppressing Quebec economically and that independence would bring financial dividends.<br />Unfortunately for those pedalling the nonsense, the argument was debunked by the economic reality of the billions of dollars in annual equalization payments made to Quebec. Today only the most radical and wilfully-blind sovereigntists cling to the idea that Quebec gets a bad financial deal by remaining in Canada,<br />So clearly a new angle of attack was needed to sell sovereignty and with the new reality of massive immigration fostered by a declining birthright, a bogeyman was invented, those evil and ungrateful immigrants who came to Quebec and ungratefully integrate into the English community.<br /><br />The new selling point of sovereignty is that as long as an anglophone community exists in Quebec, no matter how small, immigrants will be attracted to join, thus threatening the long-term viability of French Quebec.<br />And so more and more laws and regulations are enacted or proposed by a government fostering anti-English sentiment, supported by a biased media and education system.</p><p>But the simple truth is that French is not in danger, no more than Russia is threatened by Ukrainian Nazis.<br />Yes there are some neo-nazis in Ukraine and yes there are English people in Quebec, but neither Russia nor Quebec is threatened. <br /></p><p>Simply put, Quebec can offer no viable statistic that points to French in trouble because none exists.<br /></p><p>The oft-repeated and ridiculous statistic offered by Chicken Little propagandists like <b>Professor Blowhard" Charles Castonguay</b> notes that French is threatened because those claiming French as their mother tongue in Quebec is<i> </i>falling<i>. </i>This statistic is not only irrelevant but xenophobic as well.<i> </i><br />The fact that Quebec is welcoming an unprecedented number of immigrants who naturally have a different mother tongue makes it a certainty that the rate of French as the mother tongue will fall. But how this affects the health of the French language is a question never answered. And by the way, Canada also faces the same phenomenon where immigrants are reducing the percentage of English as a mother tongue.</p><p>While the French language isn't in any particular danger of disappearance, what bothers these militants is that the public appearance of the French language is changing from its hitherto lily-white face with a marked increase in brown, black and yellow faces who have gained a larger foothold in Quebec through immigration. <br />Demands that 'these' people adopt to Quebec 'culture' (which I have dubbed the "<i><b>poutine & maple syrup challenge</b>")</i> is another gambit by sovereigntists similar to what other persecutors demand. </p><p><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc"></span></span></p><blockquote><p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">" 'Russification' is a
form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether
involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in
favour of the Russian culture and the Russian language."</span></span></b></span><br /></i></p><p></p></blockquote><p>Ha!, sounds worse when others demand that minorities "comply"<br /></p><p>But here is the only language statistic that you need to remember. It comes directly from Statscan.<br /><br />Today <b>94.45%</b> of Quebecers can carry on a conversation in French as compared to 1971 when only <b>88.5% </b>could do the same. <br />So things are actually <b>getting better </b>for the French language!<br /><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/2017001/chap5-fra.htm" target="_blank"><u>Statscan</u></a> also predicts that in 2036 that number will remain stable at around <b>93-94%</b><br /></p><p> The myth of the imminent demise of French in Quebec is fuelled by furious
tales of dastardly immigrants and anglos spitting on the French language
through gratuitous anecdotal tales, most of which are made up (Eaton's famous "<i>Speak White</i>" myth) and spread through a media as
bent as the Russian commentators who regale TV viewers with horrifying
stories of Ukrainian Nazi atrocities.</p><p>The Journal de Montreal is full of stories like the poor Asian depanneur owner who disrespects the French language by speaking only pigeon English to customers.<br />Oh, the burn! <br />Perhaps working 110 hours a week the poor sod hasn't quite made the time yet for French lessons, but no matter.<br /></p><p>Here is another typical whine by a francophone cegep teacher decrying the influence of English<br /></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“Many
of my students don't know any francophone artists, don't read in
French, never watch TV in French, and this in a francophone CEGEP!</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc">Imagine, then, what place Quebec culture occupies in the education of Francophones and allophones who study in English."</span></span></b></span></i></span></blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="1"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span> </span><p></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc">None of the above is true except the part about Francophone artists who are largely shunned because they are as a group, quite mediocre. <br /><br />As well, I daresay the vast majority of francophone students don't have the language skills to watch English TV or movies </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc">and as
for the assertion that francophone students are actually reading, no less reading in English is complete fantasy. </span></span></span><br />In fact, most of Quebec francophones who do speak English don't have the proficiency to consume media in English. It is another myth disproved by</span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc"> ratings for francophone TV channels in Quebec which are astronomically high.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="2"><span class="Q4iAWc"> </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></span></b></i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc">“</span></span></b></span></span>The media bubble linked to the decline of French in Quebec is almost entirely created artificially by a whirlwind of rehashed news and chronicles written by people with an interest in fanning the flames of identity nationalism.</span></span></span></b></i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"> <a href="https://ricochet.media/fr/3580/de-quoi-parlons-nous-quand-nous-parlons-du-declin-du-francais" target="_blank"><u>Link{fr}</u></a><br /></span></span></span></b></i></span></blockquote><p>The underlying assertion by militants that any contact with English is dangerous because it leads to assimilation is a pernicious lie.<br />The assertion that French is under threat is also a pernicious lie.<br /><br />It is time for us to push back by peeling off the skin of this onion of lies.<br /></p><p></p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="3" data-phrase-index="0"><span class="Q4iAWc"></span></span></b></span></span><p></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-2520118373739690022022-03-28T13:19:00.011-04:002022-03-28T13:55:25.650-04:00Myths about Russia You Need to Give Up<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmewMsAdJZapo98HHhrfLqDdbicclDx2psrcMMzmV4aeARFkoR8AnDvu2e1yQaDo_6JoHu6JAjEmUAWpjc_xjrjwA7iwjERu6akGLpO7EvOHW6AeJOFXm2Tl0G14MdWKoeF52Ojn33pgMBTDtUdkv403Y51XMS-cPCil8_JRdgcD2jSZgy_9PvZAfzjA/s767/51kMXNruBVL.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="767" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmewMsAdJZapo98HHhrfLqDdbicclDx2psrcMMzmV4aeARFkoR8AnDvu2e1yQaDo_6JoHu6JAjEmUAWpjc_xjrjwA7iwjERu6akGLpO7EvOHW6AeJOFXm2Tl0G14MdWKoeF52Ojn33pgMBTDtUdkv403Y51XMS-cPCil8_JRdgcD2jSZgy_9PvZAfzjA/s320/51kMXNruBVL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Although I wrongly predicted that Russia would not invade Ukraine based on the correct theory that the war would be an unmitigated disaster, I do feel some sense of redemption in having predicted the unfolding calamity that the mainstream media and indeed the Pentagon, NATO, the CIA failed to anticipate.<br />So in that respect, I feel somewhat vindicated.<br /><br />Western Military planners and the intelligence services vastly over-estimated Russia's military prowess, basing their analysis on the fact that Russia had developed very modern weapons and has an enormous military.<br />It also served the military/industrial complex to talk up the threat.<p></p><p>But the west failed to understand that while Russia can develop fancy
and modern weapons, it remains a backward and dysfunctional nation
unable to financially support nor operate a modern military regardless
of the top-end weapons.<br /><br />Everything that is necessary to win on the
modern battlefield is utterly lacking in the Russian military, be it
logistics, organization, integrity, secure communication, coordination of forces,
equipment maintenance, quality and workmanship of rolling stock,
munitions and armour and most importantly motivated and well-trained
soldiers. <br />The west should have understood this.</p>At any rate, here are six more important misconceptions we share about Russia.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">Russia is a Powerful Nation</span></b><br />Russia is a nuclear weapon power and as such can be feared, but that's where its power ends.<br />For some reason, we have the impression that Russia is a wealthy and powerful adversary, which it is not.<br />Its 145 million population is just 43% of that of the USA and its economy is about 11 times smaller. <br />In fact, Russia's economy is half the size of that of California and smaller than that of Texas and New York.<br />Canada, with 25% of Russia's population has a bigger economy.<br />The average salary that Americans make is 7 times larger than that in Russia.<br /><p></p><p><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">Putin is Insane</span></b><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjqwxtNYWDF87tC7K85YFgw6lpbsSbpRB6HCwMUoqicSWvR7VkRSVa-SXYNUEq4N1T4TOa_NokecABjupp1c8-lnfVbgrJsKCEZYqyTty64a8giqnZm64zl30PPre1R4lKEYad3STfek9JsB14_FCk1YZUF8lJ0L33kZc8JvSczxf9Mtm4BKuCyBlgA/s636/IMG_8014.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="636" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjqwxtNYWDF87tC7K85YFgw6lpbsSbpRB6HCwMUoqicSWvR7VkRSVa-SXYNUEq4N1T4TOa_NokecABjupp1c8-lnfVbgrJsKCEZYqyTty64a8giqnZm64zl30PPre1R4lKEYad3STfek9JsB14_FCk1YZUF8lJ0L33kZc8JvSczxf9Mtm4BKuCyBlgA/s320/IMG_8014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Putin isn't insane at all. <br />He started the war based on the utterly false impression that Ukrainians would welcome Russian interference, while vastly overestimating Russia's military prowess. His professional military and intelligence community all fed him a false picture of reality. Putin thought he could win easily.<br />Sound ridiculous and implausible? <br />Think back to the war in Iraq waged by America on the utterly false assumption that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The military and intelligence services all fed the President an utterly false view of the situation, all because President Bush wanted to go to war.<br />Nobody called Bush insane for waging an idiotic war based on nonsense.<br /><p></p><p><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">The Russian people are not responsible for the war</span></b><br />There is a fundamental misunderstanding in the west that holds that Russians are a people oppressed, yearning to be free of communist control.<br />Not at all true.<br />Unlike the rest of eastern Europe which threw off the shackles of communist control to join the west, Russian embrace the myth that they are special and entitled to an empire.<br />Most Russians wholeheartedly endorse the war because its expansionist goals are roundly supported.<br />If you are wondering why there is relatively so little protest against the war in Russia, it isn't because of fear of retribution or ignorance.<br />Russians mostly accept the brutal fantasy that they are destined to conquer other nations and rule by force and terror.</p><p><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">Russia shares western values</span></b> <br />Russia's prosecution of war has always been marked by brutality and incompetence with little value placed on human life be it the enemy or their own.<br />Russian militarily doctrine is to throw into battle enough bodies to tire out the enemy with little regard to its own losses. During the famous Russian/German campaign of World War 2, Russia took seven casualties to every German one. When asked about the horrendous losses Field Marshall Zhukov shrugged off the question with the flippant remark that '<span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Russian women will make more babies.</b></i></span>' He also is quoted as saying;<br />"<i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>If we come to a minefield, our infantry attacks as if it is not there</b></span></i>". ....yup.<br /><br />Russians don't care about their own, which explains why they are so brutal to others.<br />Modern Russian military doctrine is the same as in the middle ages where siege weapons including catapults or trebuchets would encircle population centres and lob projectiles.<br />And so the levelling of the city of Mariupol with artillery is just another example of what Russia did in Georgia, Chechnya and Syria.<br />Generalizations aside, Russians don't share western values about life.<br /></p><p><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">Getting Rid of Putin will Solve the "Russia Problem"</span></b> <br />Sadly, regime change won't change Russia's aggressive attitude and dreams of conquest and empire.<br />There is a very deep and dark problem in Russian society where even Russian liberals espouse imperialistic policies which largely accept the notion that Ukraine and eastern Europe belongs to Russia by manifest destiny.<br />There is a deep aversion to democracy and an open acceptance of wars of conquest.<br /></p><p><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;">A long war will benefit Russia </span></b> <br />Russia has already lost the war, all they can do is destroy Ukraine. But they will destroy Russia as well.<br />The goal of conquering Ukraine and installing a puppet government can no longer be achieved regardless of how long the war lasts.<br />A protracted war will only make things worse for Russia and Ukraine with all parties losing.<br />But with weapons pouring in from the west and an energized resistance buoyed by Ukrainian victories, the Russians are between a rock and a hard place.<br />Between decimated armour and personnel and supply lines unable to replenish forces, Russia faces a grim outcome.<br />Running out of weapons and soldiers as well as crippling sanctions that will bear down on the economy, a long protracted war will destroy Russia.<br /><br />The real winner in a long protracted war (if there can be any) is NATO, which will see Russia's conventional forces utterly degraded if not destroyed.<br />All the weapons NATO ships to Ukraine are a bargain because they were meant to be used against Russia anyways. It can be said that Ukraine is doing NATO's dirty work and while NATO didn't choose this scenario, it is certainly enjoying the collateral benefits.<br /><br />In conclusion, we might want to reconsider our image of Russia as an enemy.<br /><br />Married to the dogma of entitled manifest destiny via violent conquest, Russia most resembles ISIS in its philosophy and war-mongering.<br /><br />We owe Russia the same respect and consideration.<br /><br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-11601248259983884282022-03-12T10:46:00.009-05:002022-03-12T19:42:19.460-05:00SHAME ON ISRAEL FOR NOT HELPING UKRAINE<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBvCxyCZy4dQ1ju_6BxRSonAc21lCp7L0WA-7f0Gnq36ddBW9uc5dgYtXyWzu-fRu-bMYGtjU_ZjJ4N6D3bYBpirpqJxa3vd876P_bh43YiVey2CpVyP9Uq39dn0ed1-EOPkHu1DTzbvrvrkJaQvUeue3qY0mbkz_CTAkhR0ADWRQrp1slWEEPOu3N=s758" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="758" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBvCxyCZy4dQ1ju_6BxRSonAc21lCp7L0WA-7f0Gnq36ddBW9uc5dgYtXyWzu-fRu-bMYGtjU_ZjJ4N6D3bYBpirpqJxa3vd876P_bh43YiVey2CpVyP9Uq39dn0ed1-EOPkHu1DTzbvrvrkJaQvUeue3qY0mbkz_CTAkhR0ADWRQrp1slWEEPOu3N=w433-h247" width="433" /></a></div><br />As a committed Zionist and Israel booster, I've always been proud <span style="color: #030303;">of the country's achievements especially its military which has proved itself fabulously successful over the many wars.<br /><br />But
Israel's lack of tangible support for Ukraine in the face of Russian
aggression is disturbing and shameful, especially considering the
history of the holocaust where country after country turned a blind eye
to the extermination of the Jewish people from Europe some eighty years
ago.<br /><br />Sadly and pathetically, Israel is now doing the same to the Ukrainians.<br /></span><br /><span style="color: #030303;"><span style="color: #030303;">Israel has been loathe to criticize Vladimir Putin for
fear of antagonizing Russia, a strategic player in the middle east. <br />Like Britain's Neville Chamberlain before him, Prime
Minister Bennett made a journey to Russia to meet the madman
Putin, purportedly to mediate but realistically to show neutrality.<br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">How cowardly and shameful!<br /><br />And like </span><span style="color: #030303;"><span style="color: #030303;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain"><u>Chamberlain</u></a>'s</span> humiliating legacy,
history will be harsh on those who seek to appease Putin, who like
Hitler entertains negotiations only as a pretext and time-delay device.<br /><br />One
can understand Israel's reluctance to get involved considering Russia's
giant footprint in Syria. Israel is jealously protecting the
informal understanding that it has with Russia concerning freedom of action in
attacking Iranian installations in Syria as long as it doesn't threaten
the current Syrian regime.<br /><br />But taking the political expedient tact instead of taking the moral high ground is exactly what Israel has lambasted other countries for doing for 50 years, abstaining in United Nations on resolution after resolution castigating Israel.</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">And now Israel has abstained in a United Nation resolution condemning Russia, not because the resolution is faulty but rather because it is inconvenient.</span></p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield protested to her
Israeli counterpart over Israel's refusal to join 87 countries in
backing a U.S.-led resolution to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine at
the UN Security Council on Friday, Israeli officials tell Axios.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Israel has attempted to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine during the crisis, and has <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/israel-russia-ukraine-mediation-97369080-a058-4ad1-92d5-0652482d64ca.html" data-vars-content-id="db20c1ce-16d2-4782-9ab8-461105a6cce5" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="U.S. protests Israel's refusal to back UN resolution condemning Russia" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="even offered to serve as a mediator" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.axios.com/israel-russia-ukraine-mediation-97369080-a058-4ad1-92d5-0652482d64ca.html" target="_self">even offered to serve as a mediator</a>. But that fence-sitting has resulted in criticism from <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/israel-evacuates-embassy-kyiv-ukraine-invasion-00633b69-c8cb-4446-be81-c56b53fa8c50.html" data-vars-content-id="db20c1ce-16d2-4782-9ab8-461105a6cce5" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="U.S. protests Israel's refusal to back UN resolution condemning Russia" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="both" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.axios.com/israel-evacuates-embassy-kyiv-ukraine-invasion-00633b69-c8cb-4446-be81-c56b53fa8c50.html" target="_self">both</a> <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-click-url="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-russia-summons-israeli-envoy-over-statements-supporting-ukraine-1.10635940" data-vars-content-id="db20c1ce-16d2-4782-9ab8-461105a6cce5" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-headline="U.S. protests Israel's refusal to back UN resolution condemning Russia" data-vars-item="in_content_link" data-vars-link-text="sides" data-vars-sub-category="story" href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-russia-summons-israeli-envoy-over-statements-supporting-ukraine-1.10635940" target="_blank">sides</a> and now from the U.S. </b></span></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The
Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry had been claiming
for weeks that the Biden administration understood Israel's need to
calibrate its reaction to the Russian invasion in order to maintain its
security coordination with Russia in Syria.</b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>But Israel dragged
its feet as the U.S. was gathering co-sponsors for the resolution and
did not provide a clear answer before the meeting began.</b></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>After
the vote, which Russia vetoed, Thomas-Greenfield passed a message to the
Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan stressing the Biden administration’s
disappointment <a href="https://www.axios.com/us-protests-israel-refusal-condemn-russia-un-db20c1ce-16d2-4782-9ab8-461105a6cce5.html" target="_blank"><u>Link</u></a><br /></b></span></li></ul></blockquote><p><span style="color: #030303;">Disgraceful... </span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">While Israel has sent much-needed humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it hasn't sent what Ukraine most covets from Israel, that is, its large fleet of drones and defensive missiles like Iron Dome.<br /><br />In fact, Israel has sent no weapons at all to Ukraine while just about every western country in the world has rushed to Ukraine's military defence</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;"><b></b></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #030303;"><b>Germany</b> will
deliver 1,000 anti-tank rocket launchers, 500 Stinger surface-to-air
missiles, nine Howitzers, 14 armoured vehicles and 10,000 tonnes of fuel
to Ukraine.<br /></span><br />Sweden announced that it would deliver anti-tank weapons to Kyiv.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>France, for its part, has committed defence equipment and fuel support.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Belgian is promising 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel, 3,000
additional automatic rifles and 200 anti-tank weapons.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Portugal has offered protective equipment such as
bulletproof vests and helmets as well as night vision goggles, grenades
and ammunition of various calibres.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Czech Republic
is sending 30,000 pistols, 7,000 assault rifles, 3,000 machine guns and
several dozen sniper rifles as well as one million rounds of
ammunition.<br />Romania is providing fuel, body armour, helmets, ammunition and other military equipment.</b></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Canada announced the sending of military protective
equipment, such as helmets and bulletproof vests but also anti-tank
weapons systems and upgraded ammunition.Finland, a country that is not yet aligned with NATO
but is a member of the EU, announced a historic policy shift to send
weapons to Ukraine, promising 2,500 assault rifles, 150,000 rounds of
ammunition, 1,500 rocket launchers and 70,000 field rations.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Denmark announced that it would be sending 2,700 anti-tank
weapons and would let Danish volunteers join International Brigades
forming in Ukraine to defend the country.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Norway,
which had already announced on Sunday shipments of helmets and
bulletproof vests, said it would also be sending 2,000 M72
anti-tank weapons.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Croatia is sending €16 million worth of protective gear and light arms while Slovenia has promised rifles, ammunition and helmets.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Italy has also announced that it will send military equipment but has not disclosed details yet of what this may entail.</b></span></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimCYVfgMZBuOxQrLLefT8DHA14jr_4c1MfT4aSgRBa6p8L9mwSC7QyL9yNftWqx5xVL0DdGcaqw5Yg573vz27fXI9UViELkLGhM_ns_Pnby3OMUyweaBxGj9baca3ZUMzcGeJjOXhL0urU8s4cOoHhXYt4RdCfzY_qomjeRzPuOzlwwWb3GDBDpJgg=s315" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="181" data-original-width="315" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimCYVfgMZBuOxQrLLefT8DHA14jr_4c1MfT4aSgRBa6p8L9mwSC7QyL9yNftWqx5xVL0DdGcaqw5Yg573vz27fXI9UViELkLGhM_ns_Pnby3OMUyweaBxGj9baca3ZUMzcGeJjOXhL0urU8s4cOoHhXYt4RdCfzY_qomjeRzPuOzlwwWb3GDBDpJgg" width="315" /></a>And of course, Britain and the United States are sending massive amounts of weapons on a daily basis.</p><p><span style="color: #030303;"><br />Israeli drones are every bit and more effective than those few Turkish drones that are shooting the heck out of Russian conveys<br />A couple of dozen Israeli drones could have wreaked utter havoc on the sad-sack Russian armoured brigades which were left exposed and vulnerable because of poor tactics, logistics and lack of air cover by a failing Russian air force.</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">A couple of Iron Dome batteries could not stop the coming onslaught to Kiev, but they could have shot down hundreds of missiles fired by the Russians, saving countless lives and frustrating the Russian attack.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #030303;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1_86klkSK8ktdayort0rwUdXI7qdA6L6hMid5qbcBDlIGsmSicY4qABtdfLjyOj2lnYZa_EjD9fvT7dYxPCZ5PNXRCWfsqhuz7_9b-AErq1D3yMdqaQoUv6cGaLT3Sgmp04naXTuBvGR_rPLTR8NY4mdwZCxEENJKMSsP-n-YwIPP_OVlH_fYVhhv=s298" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="298" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1_86klkSK8ktdayort0rwUdXI7qdA6L6hMid5qbcBDlIGsmSicY4qABtdfLjyOj2lnYZa_EjD9fvT7dYxPCZ5PNXRCWfsqhuz7_9b-AErq1D3yMdqaQoUv6cGaLT3Sgmp04naXTuBvGR_rPLTR8NY4mdwZCxEENJKMSsP-n-YwIPP_OVlH_fYVhhv=w389-h196" width="389" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #030303;">At any rate, it turns out that Israel's strategy
of appeasing the Russian bear was and is 100% wrong, as the vaunted and
feared Russian military turns out to be a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village" target="_blank"><u><b>Potemkin Village</b></u></a>, with lots
of show upfront and nothing behind the facade, like a Hollywood western movie set.</span><span style="color: #030303;"> <br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">Military analysts are stunned at Russia's inept military and lack of operational capabilities. NATO, Israel and other western countries have vastly over-estimated Russia's military might.<br /></span><span style="color: #030303;"><br />It turns out the Russian military is hobbled by corruption, poor training, low morale, faulty equipment and logistical ineptness. And while Russia has some modern equipment, its military is unable to use it effectively and has effectively lost the Ukraine war to an inferior but determined foe. <br />In today's battlefield, quantity doesn't guarantee success and a 1000 tanks and armoured vehicles costing billions can be easily defeated by a infantry based missile defence costing a fraction of the cost.<br />This is what is happening in the Ukraine, where a well-armed defensive force with modern western weapons is making mincemeat out of Russian armour.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">And so the Russians are reduced to destroying what they cannot conquer, employing barbaric siege warfare on civilian population that is banned under modern rules of engagement. Their current military doctrine dates back to the era of the Hellenic period of the catapult, hardly something to fear for a modern military.<br />Against any western foe, NATO or Israel, the Russian conventional military would be wiped out.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">And for Israel, it is now clear that the feared Russian bogeyman in Syria is a paper tiger.. <br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">Russia should be warned to no longer threaten Israeli operations lest their force be directly confronted and defeated. <br />Assad should be sent the message that he cannot count on Russian protection anymore and his continued stewardship of Syria is based on Israeli permission. <br />Israel can easily wipe out Russian defences and air elements and with no Russian reinforcements available, the Russian expeditionary force in Syria is a beached whale.<br />Let us remember that Israel too is nuclear power so that possible threat is unrealistic.<br />Such is the new reality of Russian weakness and I promise you that conversations and discussions are being held at the highest military levels in Israel.<br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">At any rate, back to Ukraine...</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">I know that some of you are saying that Ukraine is a corrupt fascist country with deep ties to Nazism that doesn't deserve western support.</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">But times change, just as America is a reformed slave nation, Ukraine has worked hard to adopt western ideals after opting for Europe instead of Russia. Embracing western ideology Ukraine has made great strides in getting rid of rampant antisemitism and corruption.</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">It is the only European nation to have an elected Jewish president so there's that.</span></p><p><span style="color: #030303;">At any rate, I'll repeat my main point that Israel is acting shamefully in not supporting Ukraine militarily.<br /><br />I'm sure that won't be a popular position among faithful readers.</span><br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-81551992206325744242022-03-04T13:23:00.008-05:002022-03-04T13:32:12.360-05:00Insane Putin Starts War He Cannot Win<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmkvxK36e3W4HhPdZh16zc8qxxa3KekFdo7hkBZUZP-gktMkvhyBYn7URF8W9E8NfUdUyAUrzN9FyBetJpVkfa2BSj9t3EUt696nE29OuVvMUS3apI-GaNX5rj4c6Ze_39eqHpbffdyKeUJpBCId0i6ONIsLRCDg9GzMkskHMyryIsO9BuKCA1saoI=s640" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="640" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmkvxK36e3W4HhPdZh16zc8qxxa3KekFdo7hkBZUZP-gktMkvhyBYn7URF8W9E8NfUdUyAUrzN9FyBetJpVkfa2BSj9t3EUt696nE29OuVvMUS3apI-GaNX5rj4c6Ze_39eqHpbffdyKeUJpBCId0i6ONIsLRCDg9GzMkskHMyryIsO9BuKCA1saoI=w499-h321" width="499" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paranoid or legitimately fearful of assassination?</td></tr></tbody></table>My last post detailed five important reasons Vladimir Putin wouldn't go to war in Ukraine and as predictions go, it was laughably incorrect.<br /><br />No sane person would undertake a war with no possible positive outcome and my big mistake was to assume Putin was sane when clearly he is not.<br /><br />It's hard to believe that the two largest powers in the world were, until Trump's dismissal run by maniacs concerned more with their own power than the welfare of their respective nations, but there we are.<br /><br />At any rate, can anyone out there imagine how this invasion turns out well for the Russians?<br />What is their best-case scenario?<div>For this reason, I could not fathom a winning strategy in invading Ukraine.<div><br /></div><div>As for the rest, my other predictions that the war would be a nightmare for the Russians wasn't that much of a stretch given the state of the Russian military, its incompetent leadership and its uninterested and unmotivated conscripted military personnel.<br /><br />As the blitzkrieg stalls, the Russians are reverting to form, bombing civilians into submission which did not work for them in Afghanistan but did so in Iraq.<br />But Ukraine has already demonstrated that they will not yield and so the carnage will continue until a resolution is found.<br /><br />For the Ukrainians, the best thing they can do now is to shift to the next phase of the conflict, which is an urban guerilla war waged against an occupying force.<br /><br /></div><div>Instead of having their cities bombed into oblivion, the Ukrainians should just let the Russians in and allow them to occupy. <br />The subsequent guerrilla war against the occupiers will be devasting on the Russians and has a better chance of sending the Russians home sooner than later.</div><div><br /></div><div>With supplies from the West and knowledge of the cities they are defending, as well as the support of the population to resist, a motivated force of underground soldiers can devastate the occupying force.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQhAVZ7cKPpaonAmznCjkSvvtPLaE2KOnW11vHHWx7nwdHwBmQKIhCZTJ10mC9IjdQmITUAKhuSnFfxB32TcuQO7gKeUPRbH0bnbh27k2LYPwR4vcbC4cQj-K9gik-2Y7hxwH8X74GmpiVh8k1Xp_tWk8XwPRtd47o6USup2zh4-kAHWeaY1MgZXJ7=s300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="300" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQhAVZ7cKPpaonAmznCjkSvvtPLaE2KOnW11vHHWx7nwdHwBmQKIhCZTJ10mC9IjdQmITUAKhuSnFfxB32TcuQO7gKeUPRbH0bnbh27k2LYPwR4vcbC4cQj-K9gik-2Y7hxwH8X74GmpiVh8k1Xp_tWk8XwPRtd47o6USup2zh4-kAHWeaY1MgZXJ7=w342-h245" width="342" /></a></div>The cost of a western anti-tank missile is less than $150,000 while a Russian tank costs in the neighbourhood of 7 million dollars. An investment by western powers of $100 million can wipe out the entire Russian expeditionary tank force.</div><div>Supplying the resistance with hundreds of these missiles will send Russian tanks into hiding outside the cities or better yet, home.</div><div>Softer occupying vehicles like jeeps, trucks, missile launchers can be easily attacked with Molotov cocktails and small arms fire.<br />Russian soldiers can be easily picked off by snipers making an occupying presence untenable.</div><div><br /></div><div>Putin has made the greatest strategic blunder since Hitler invaded Russia. </div><div>He should have learned from his forefathers who beat a superior Nazi force back by sheer determination and grit.<br />And the Nazi invaders were infinitely more capable than the present-day Russian military which is demonstrating and confirming their incompetence by resorting to mass civilian bombing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Russia is cooked, win or lose they will lose.<br /></div></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-56084669442101826982022-02-15T11:25:00.014-05:002022-03-01T00:19:06.423-05:005 Reason Russia Shouldn't Invade Ukraine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiY0ZkD35buJUjEwyzDZMSvlJnSD3G0dsS7XiWAYwWux6P_OfRqVASKybDqxXec3yFL3iJDe4pa5H7uY9uqsWqHa5DSQJHkhHcChraZAnHMlJaP0RtYnAut_ZeP4sS3Wxu5ONG9jgOIHJj5HN8hpjaf2crCCJaq8q1YMpASl7B1XN0KFXeZp-TY61aQ=s620" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="620" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiY0ZkD35buJUjEwyzDZMSvlJnSD3G0dsS7XiWAYwWux6P_OfRqVASKybDqxXec3yFL3iJDe4pa5H7uY9uqsWqHa5DSQJHkhHcChraZAnHMlJaP0RtYnAut_ZeP4sS3Wxu5ONG9jgOIHJj5HN8hpjaf2crCCJaq8q1YMpASl7B1XN0KFXeZp-TY61aQ=w401-h355" width="401" /></a></div> We're hearing a lot of noise concerning a potential attack on Ukraine by Russia with politicians across the West making dire warnings that an invasion is about to be launched by Russia.<p></p><p>I'm not buying it because as Judge Judy is fond of saying .... "If it doesn't make sense it isn't true!"<br /><br />I think we are being sold a fantasy in order for the West to frighten us and soften us up for the inevitable negotiated concessions that it will make towards ending the standoff. </p><p>While the western governments and its attendant media keep whooping up such an attack, Vladimir Putin says he isn't planning any such thing. <br />I believe him,.<br />A Russian invasion of Ukraine makes no sense at all while bluffing a war does make complete sense.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeARITd1d4xHscK2oqEAOogzGEyFe9bYKOlG7LlYLpojbAS6fxpOyAIcISN6_RlYRQqY4I3kGkeiGwVkPdi166845WtmiHuucH64YlxkbDfNhI1_qz2pLxtDU89QtlhOFySXIq-4eYzUjKuzJO_Lj5vHXFUn7JCLzyfuxo5glfTiXSXyRAjbPzgzP3=s300" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeARITd1d4xHscK2oqEAOogzGEyFe9bYKOlG7LlYLpojbAS6fxpOyAIcISN6_RlYRQqY4I3kGkeiGwVkPdi166845WtmiHuucH64YlxkbDfNhI1_qz2pLxtDU89QtlhOFySXIq-4eYzUjKuzJO_Lj5vHXFUn7JCLzyfuxo5glfTiXSXyRAjbPzgzP3=w440-h246" width="440" /></a></div><p>Here are five reasons war is not on tap.<br /><br /><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>NUMBER 1</b></span></u><br />We have been told that Russia has amassed a huge force of 150,000 troops surrounding Ukraine, poised to attack any time now.<br />BUT 150,000 troops is NOT as big a number as we are led to believe.<br />When the USA led an invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, it consisted of 500,000 troops, more than three times larger than the Russians invasion force today. And those American-led troops were infinitely better trained and equipped than the Russians who haven't fought a conventional war since World War 2. Ukraine is not small, it has twice the land area of Iraq, making an invasion even harder than the largely undefended Iraq.</p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><u><span style="font-family: georgia;">NUMBER 2</span><br /></u></b>A common military rule is that invading forces need to be three times as large as the defending force and Ukraine's 250,000 person defence force while not a crack-fighting force, is still formidable considering that they only have to defend, a huge advantage.<br />With the supply of ultra-modern weapons provided by NATO recently, Russia would likely win but with unacceptable losses.</p><p><u><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">NUMBER 3</span></b><br /></u>The last contested military adventure Russia fought was in Afghanistan, a total disaster that still reverberates in Russia with the population unforgiving towards the government over the 15,000 dead and 35,000 injured soldiers.<br />All for naught.<br />The Russian people are hardy and brave as World War 2 demonstrated, but they aren't stupid and have little appetite for a foreign military adventure that will cost lives over little to gain.</p><div><u><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">NUMBER 4</span></b><br /></u>The risk to reward is just not there.<br />That Russia doesn't want Ukraine to join NATO or fall deeply into a western alliance is hardly a reason to risk a devastating war that would have, win or lose, Russia suffering disproportionate harm.<br />The victorious Russians would have to keep a huge occupying force to maintain control and a motivated Ukrainian population would launch a devastating guerilla war all backed by western support and weapons. <br />The Western reaction would be crippling sanctions that would further drive the Russian economy into the toilet.</div><p><u><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">NUMBER 5</span></b><br /></u>Putin is a supremely crafty customer who understands that the West, whose leaders in both Germany and the United States are in no mood to face off in any military confrontation.<br />A bellicose and threatening Russia with a feigned invasion will wrest the necessary concession from the West, which is that Ukraine not join NATO or become a Western proxy state.<br /><br />And so the fear-mongering spread by Western media is merely a smokescreen meant to soften the public into accepting Putin's terms.<br />Putin doesn't want another Western proxy state on its border, which is not altogether unreasonable.<br /><br />Before you accept the Western argument that a free, independent state should not be bullied into accepting a foreign government dictate, let us remember that the USA did exactly the same thing back in 1962 in threatening Cuba into giving up offensive Russian missiles during the Cuban missile crisis.</p><p>So don't believe an invasion is coming, it makes no sense to either side.. </p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-30843967931622796582022-01-30T12:14:00.004-05:002022-01-30T13:40:43.999-05:00The Truckers are Right About Covid<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUfDyb1d3VmQBhigH2TQNp-CrjEByj-e6ZzRK1IeNulmMBySJAYexf6CSZDxghiEof13hbRXf3rJtHEaofLfZEFTTDRgNwRdZMaEq2O2xgMqaE3_-1YVxDb6K27WGay90iCFVvUqFtubyHvG2E4MRVdQ83aNNZg4PV2IYh9neTo7p5G85pQvT9XyM4=s474" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="474" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUfDyb1d3VmQBhigH2TQNp-CrjEByj-e6ZzRK1IeNulmMBySJAYexf6CSZDxghiEof13hbRXf3rJtHEaofLfZEFTTDRgNwRdZMaEq2O2xgMqaE3_-1YVxDb6K27WGay90iCFVvUqFtubyHvG2E4MRVdQ83aNNZg4PV2IYh9neTo7p5G85pQvT9XyM4=w412-h216" width="412" /></a>I know it's hard to change positions on a deeply held idea or position
but is there anything I can say that would change your mind regarding
your absolute belief and faith in vaccines, masks, social distancing and lock-downs?</p><p></p><p>If there's no argument, no matter how compelling that will nudge you off your position then respectfully stop reading. <br />However, if you are open to evaluating the evolving facts that have a direct bearing on our continued Covid policy I encourage you to read on.</p><p>One of the things little known about the highly effective Israeli military is its policy of retiring its leadership early, opting for new blood in the higher ranks on an ongoing basis. It is a policy meant to breathe new ideas and stratagems in the face of evolving threats, the evolving geopolitical situation and technological advances and of course an updated analysis of the ever-changing potential threat by adversaries.<br />In other words, the Israelis don't want generals who will fight the next battle with tools and policies borne in the past.<br />Such is the case of our political leaders in both Ottawa and the provinces who are ignoring the reality of the new and evolving Covid threat.<br />There was a convincing argument for the past policy of masking, isolating and certainly vaccinating but in the new world of Omicron, most of these weapons are ineffective and costly, both to the mental well-being of us all and to the economy itself which is being ravaged.<br /><br />The doctrine was based on the notion that vaccines, masking, isolation, social distancing and curfews were necessary to stop or slow down the spread of Covid so that our hospitals could cope.</p><p>It is that supposition that is now called into question because with Omicron these measures are largely ineffective.</p><p>Those vaccinated are as likely to contract the highly contagious Omicron as those unvaccinated. While it is true that those vaccinated who contract Omicron will be less sick and tax the health system less, the benefits of vaccination are almost exclusively reserved for those who get the jab.<br />Those who refuse to vaccinate hurt themselves and themselves alone. <br />Like smokers and the obese who are responsible for the health issues related to their failure to exercise good judgment, the un-jabbed are no different and deserve no more scorn from our politicians and certainly should not be subject to abuse.<br /><br />The Prime Minister has labelled those who disagree with his Covid policy as people with unacceptable views, a thoroughly arrogant and stupid statement to make even if it was true.<br />But it's not.<br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjj9tK6tBj_IG148kOi7bTZfFZ48wB3ViasREe9z4lmtH34Waw989y_qq_PW5eCbj7Gc-Rnm-N0L9B42N8N3NiyV4w6yIt-aW_VlEj0k4oPH_RbiC2bH2s-xR3Wxc26RnKXAe4Dbupj5NbWE91cWW6L_pnCWwI-k3Mzs6gryQbhDY09hAM7Wx7xG5bx=s676" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="636" height="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjj9tK6tBj_IG148kOi7bTZfFZ48wB3ViasREe9z4lmtH34Waw989y_qq_PW5eCbj7Gc-Rnm-N0L9B42N8N3NiyV4w6yIt-aW_VlEj0k4oPH_RbiC2bH2s-xR3Wxc26RnKXAe4Dbupj5NbWE91cWW6L_pnCWwI-k3Mzs6gryQbhDY09hAM7Wx7xG5bx=w426-h453" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rangers play before a full house while Habs play to an empty house<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Other countries like Sweden and the United States have never adopted the draconian measures that we have employed here and others like the United Kingdom, Israel and Denmark are giving up on sanitary measures because they are no longer defensible.<br /><br />Would Trudeau label the leaders of these countries as holding 'unacceptable' views?'<br /><p></p>I read a recent interview with Israel's version of Dr. Faucci who admitted candidly that vaccine passports no longer provide any societal health benefits and are only useful in that they are coercing the unvaxxed to get the jab through intimidation.<p>The policies that our federal government and the provinces continue to pursue are outdated, ineffective and utterly devastating to our mental health and our economy to boot.</p><p>I'm not minimizing the danger of Covid, but am offering a realistic analysis of the necessity and effectiveness of our countermeasures.<br /><br />Politicians continue to vilify the unvaccinated and those vocally opposed to sanitary measures because scapegoating this small minority takes the focus off the reality that the mess we are in is largely because our vastly inefficient and underfunded health system could not cope with a surge in patients.<br />For want of hospital capacity, our entire economy was destroyed, saddling future generations with crippling debt. </p><p>It is this sad fact that has politicians casting blame on the unvaxxed like a sleight-of-hand magician wishing us to shift our view away.<br /><br />For time immemorial leaders have blamed vulnerable and unpopular minorities for their own mistakes and shortcomings because it was and remains an effective tool.<br />Most of us are okay with the fact that those unvaccinated can't go into a liquor store to buy booze that is being sold by clerks who don't have to be vaccinated?<br />Why is this?<br />It is because we have been encouraged by politicians to hate.<br />Because we have been brainwashed into blaming a minority for the pandemic, we shift our scrutiny away from those truly responsible for the mismanagement of our health system. Surely a year into the pandemic the government could have implemented an emergency plan to substantially boost temporary hospital capacity. The cost involved pales in comparison to the social and economic losses inflicted upon society.<br />Have our politicians never seen an episode of M*A*S*H?</p><p>The citizens of Canada and Quebec have rallied to the vaccine in unprecedented numbers that results in us being one of the most vaccinated peoples of the world, yet the government tells us that the few remaining unvaxxed are to blame for the continued calamity.<br /></p><p>As for the unvaxxed truckers, they are the last to be a threat to us. <br />They drive alone in their trucks for days upon days and when they arrive at their destination don't even unload their trucks themselves. <br />Their contact with others is more limited than perhaps any occupation I can think of. The chances of an unvaccinated long-haul driver passing on Covid are drastically less than a vaccinated office worker.<br />For Trudeau to take a stand on a vaccination mandate for truckers is about politics and not health. </p><p>Yes, the unvaccinated pose a burden on our health system, but blaming them for the continued pandemic is unfair and disingenuous.<br />It is time to admit that the landscape has changed and that sanitary measures and vaccines aren't effective in stopping the spread.<br /><br />We need to learn to live with the virus. <br />Those who are most vulnerable must take their own precautions while respecting the idea that society cannot shut down forever.<br /></p><p> It's time for us to reevaluate, something Trudeau and the old guard are deathly afraid to do because in their eyes, abandoning past policies is an admission of failure.<br /><br />As for you....<br />Are you willing to honestly and independently reevaluate the measure in place and decide for yourself whether we are not just fighting the pandemic with an outdated and ineffective war plan, one conceived in a bygone era and promoted by neanderthal politicians?<br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-36018968136239239952022-01-26T13:27:00.004-05:002022-01-26T13:36:15.671-05:00Is Kent Hughes a 'Québécois?'<div class="pGxpHc"><header class="gb_na gb_Ua gb_Ke gb_Fc" id="gb" role="banner" style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhijftUmL5QEif90jdE7HUde0jbTtBKpNalTVIsqAJqIybD7fDtS7XkmA7f7Z9sqX3G9TL97qIPjoLb118OVYqHBra2X1AaK_JBoaAPeEIlkwa5tcZgklWxgLt8w-x-l10fy-Gu7L9tT5z16bdnPsHuw8eJXDhYS2Kjfk6aftSv3VKF5tlGWIHSpxG_=s1280" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhijftUmL5QEif90jdE7HUde0jbTtBKpNalTVIsqAJqIybD7fDtS7XkmA7f7Z9sqX3G9TL97qIPjoLb118OVYqHBra2X1AaK_JBoaAPeEIlkwa5tcZgklWxgLt8w-x-l10fy-Gu7L9tT5z16bdnPsHuw8eJXDhYS2Kjfk6aftSv3VKF5tlGWIHSpxG_=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Here is a most interesting opinion piece written by La Presse associate editor, Françoise Cardinal written last week.</span></span></b></header><header class="gb_na gb_Ua gb_Ke gb_Fc" id="gb" role="banner" style="background-color: white;"></header></div><h2 class="oBOnKe" id="c5"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you have French please enjoy the original French version by <u><a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2022-01-23/dans-le-calepin-de-l-editeur-adjoint/kent-hughes-est-il-quebecois.php#" target="_blank">following this link</a>.</u><br /></span></span></h2><h2 class="oBOnKe" id="c5"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">Out of respect for the writer I offer this translation without comment;</span></span><br /></h2><blockquote><h2 class="oBOnKe" id="c5"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLg3z4mDz0hmsMOS2sVCMMPBKXJyDNFs_eaxtyrTMwAwnp0hj4kD5U4zUytMEXPvk0lJrUy8M82sHiklb3rC-ynK23nhpU1sh45KvImEOedqjC5tGQxTgtwyqkhSg5HKoxH25IoEdXJEOUYds097it0VpTxf59tfzHfStiDmZ0_43qg2Nk1y42BneT=s755" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="755" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLg3z4mDz0hmsMOS2sVCMMPBKXJyDNFs_eaxtyrTMwAwnp0hj4kD5U4zUytMEXPvk0lJrUy8M82sHiklb3rC-ynK23nhpU1sh45KvImEOedqjC5tGQxTgtwyqkhSg5HKoxH25IoEdXJEOUYds097it0VpTxf59tfzHfStiDmZ0_43qg2Nk1y42BneT=w473-h103" width="473" /></a></div></h2><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The appointment of the new general manger of the Habs sparked all kinds of reactions this week, some skeptical, others laudatory, and still others who deplored… the English-sounding name Kent Hughes.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>
“All that remains is to replace Ducharme with an anglophone and bingo! A hat trick, ”wrote columnist Lise Ravary on Twitter, a post that quickly went viral, prompting a few “likes”, but many more negative replies.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Are you saying, Madam Reporter, that Kent Hughes is less Québécois because his name is not French-sounding?, asked several Internet users. Do you mean outright that he is not… a </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Québécois</span></span></span></b></span>?
<br />No, no, no, not at all, she replied. “As Parizeau said, anyone who has an address in Quebec… But it would have been a plus if his name had identified him as speaking French without having to search his CV. </span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>
Hmm…
Who is </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Québécois</span></span></span></b></span>, who is not? The question is delicate and to be handled with tact.
We have also had evidence of this in recent weeks with the government's famous advertising campaign to "end prejudice" which seemed straight out of Bye-Bye.
"In Quebec, a man from South America with tattoos running in the street, we call that: a Quebec neighbour", for example. “A group of young black people gathered in a park at nightfall, we call that: friends from Quebec. " And so on.
This clumsy campaign full of stereotypes has aroused unease. Especially when we realized that in English, “Québécois neighbour” was simply “a neighbour. And the "Quebec friends", simple "friends".
A blunder that we then sought to correct, but which nevertheless reveals the difficulty of handling the term 'Québécois'. </span></span></span></b></span></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span> It's a difficulty which to be honest, on which the government does not have a monopoly.
How did the Habs introduce its new CEO on Twitter last Tuesday? “</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Québécois</span></span></span></b></span> Kent Hughes.</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></b></span>
But in English, he suddenly became “the Montreal-born” Kent Hughes…</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>A columnist stumbles.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The government stumbles.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The Habs stumble.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>
And quite frankly, they are not the only ones: we also occasionally stumble over this delicate question at La Presse.
As recently as last October, the language advisor of La Presse, Lucie Côté, whom you like to read every Sunday in the Context section, pointed out that we tended to reserve the word Québécois only for French speakers. of 'pur laine.' Completely unconscious.
In our texts, Leylah Fernandez is often from Laval, for example, not from Quebec (although we write the Ontarian Bianca Andreescu). Same thing for Farah Alibay, who is said to be Montrealer, because born in the metropolis, rarely Quebecer.
Lucie also pointed out that in our texts, we sometimes define those who have come from abroad to settle here by the country they left, as if that defined them forever. And this, regardless of the number of years you have lived in Quebec.
As if involuntarily, at La Presse, the fact of being Quebecois became an ethnic origin, whereas all the people who live in Quebec are in principle Quebecers, of course.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>
In order for us to do better, Lucie Côté dug into the question and offered us guidelines so that we would be more inclusive in the future.
Then a word was sent to all of the 200 journalists and artisans of La Presse to make them aware of the importance, when writing, of always asking themselves why they choose such and such a way of presenting a person.
Why, for example, is Dick Pound often referred to as a “Montreal lawyer”? And Leonard Cohen as a “Montreal poet</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>?
</span></span></span></b></span>”</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Journalists are then invited to ask themselves if it is not necessary, sometimes, to modify their text, so that it is more inclusive towards all Quebecers, whatever their name, whatever their origin. or their language.</span></span></span></b></span> </div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Which brings us back to Kent Hughes, whom we have therefore well and truly presented as a </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Québécois</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></b></span> in recent days. Because he is very </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Québécois</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></b></span>. He was born in Beaconsfield. He played minor hockey with the Lac Saint-Louis Lions. He was a member of the Patriotes du Cégep de Saint-Laurent.
"He's a guy who has always spoken French, whose parents spoke French too, noted Enrico Ciccone in an interview with our journalist Richard Labbé. He's a guy from here who ended up going to the United States for his career, like many others have done. Martin Brodeur also did that, and do we say that he is not a Quebecer? We should stop with that…”
And we should also stop having to detail the CV of a Quebecer, as I have just done, to make sure that he is indeed one.</span></span></span></b></span></div></div></div></blockquote><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="J0lOec"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></b></span> <span class="zEswK"></span></div><div class="BdDRKe"><div class="aJIq1d DSmisd" data-crosslingual-hint="" data-enable-toggle-playback-speed="true" data-language-code="en" data-language-name="English" data-location="2" data-text="The appointment of the new director general of the CH sparked all kinds of reactions this week, some skeptical, others laudatory, and still others who deplored… the English-sounding name Kent Hughes.
“All that remains is to replace Ducharme with an English speaker and bingo! A hat trick, ”wrote columnist Lise Ravary on Twitter, a post that quickly went viral, prompting a few “likes”, but many more negative replies.
Are you saying, Madam Reporter, that Kent Hughes is less Quebecois because his name is not French-speaking? several Internet users asked him. Do you mean outright that he is not… from Quebec?
No, no, no, not at all, she replied. “As Parizeau said, anyone who has an address in Quebec… But it would have been a plus if his name had identified him as Francophone without having to search his CV. »
Hmm…
Who is Quebec, who is not? The question is delicate and to be handled with tact.
We have also had proof of this in recent weeks with the government's famous advertising campaign to "end prejudice" which seemed straight out of Bye bye.
"In Quebec, a man from South America with tattoos running in the street, we call that: a Quebec neighbor", for example. “A group of young black people gathered in a park at nightfall, we call that: friends from Quebec. " And so on.
This clumsy campaign full of stereotypes has aroused unease. Especially when we realized that in English, “Québécois neighbor” was simply “a neighbor”. And the "Quebec friends", simple "friends".
A blunder that we then sought to correct, but which nevertheless reveals the difficulty of handling the term Québécois. A difficulty, let’s be honest, on which the government does not have a monopoly.
How did the CH introduce its new CEO on Twitter last Tuesday? “Quebecer Kent Hughes. »
But in English, he suddenly became “the Montreal-born” Kent Hughes…
A columnist stumbles.
The government stumbles.
The CH stumbles.
And quite frankly, they are not the only ones: we also occasionally stumble over this delicate question at La Presse.
As recently as last October, the language advisor of La Presse, Lucie Côté, whom you like to read every Sunday in the Context section, pointed out that we tended to reserve the word Québécois only for French speakers. of strain. Completely unconscious.
In our texts, Leylah Fernandez is often from Laval, for example, not from Quebec (although we write the Ontarian Bianca Andreescu). Same thing for Farah Alibay, who is said to be Montrealer, because born in the metropolis, rarely Quebecer.
Lucie also pointed out that in our texts, we sometimes define those who have come from abroad to settle here by the country they left, as if that defined them forever. And this, regardless of the number of years you have lived in Quebec.
As if involuntarily, at La Presse, the fact of being Quebecois became an ethnic origin, whereas all the people who live in Quebec are in principle Quebecers, of course.
In order for us to do better, Lucie Côté dug into the question and offered us guidelines so that we would be more inclusive in the future.
Then a word was sent to all of the 200 journalists and artisans of La Presse to make them aware of the importance, when writing, of always asking themselves why they choose such and such a way of presenting a person.
Why, for example, is Dick Pound often referred to as a “Montreal lawyer”? And Leonard Cohen as a “Montreal poet”?
Journalists are then invited to ask themselves if it is not necessary, sometimes, to modify their text, so that it is more inclusive towards all Quebecers, whatever their name, whatever their origin. or their language.
Which brings us back to Kent Hughes, whom we have therefore well and truly presented as Quebecers in recent days. Because he is very Quebecois. He was born in Beaconsfield. He played minor hockey with the Lac Saint-Louis Lions. He was a member of the Patriotes du Cégep de Saint-Laurent.
"He's a guy who has always spoken French, whose parents spoke French too, noted Enrico Ciccone in an interview with our journalist Richard Labbé. He's a guy from here who ended up going to the United States for his career, like many others have done. Martin Brodeur also did that, and do we say that he is not a Quebecer? We should stop with that…”
And we should also perhaps stop having to detail the CV of a Quebecer, as I have just done, to make sure that it is indeed one."><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div><span class="nG3XIb"><div><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></span><span class="nG3XIb"><div><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div></div></span><span class="KIXMEf"><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-left" data-append-to-body="true" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-left" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div></span><div class="dePhmb"><div class="eyKpYb" data-language="en" data-original-language="fr" data-result-index="0"><div class="BdDRKe"><span class="KIXMEf"></span></div></div></div><div class="ZyvIDe"><div class="a8FIud X0rvP L6rCcb" data-apply-responsive-style="true" data-classes="" data-initial-translation-length="4856" data-saved-translation-limit-reached="false"><div data-anchor-corner="bottom-end" data-append-to-body="false" data-enable-skip-handler="false" data-popup-corner="top-end" data-propagate-tooltip-mouseover-events="true" data-show-delay-ms="250"><div><span></span></div></div></div></div><br />Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-69890347031081474392022-01-21T13:50:00.004-05:002022-01-30T13:51:14.449-05:00Hope And Hate Greet New Habs General Manager<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPxFyj0q8gM1khDR2HIm6M8NlJklKZ68VdghiPHLnZDzUJ-kLuMAm_LOuYHbCEAtMhwZE5GfmQslCKdp6uS8GxVOAv3qyMw5Dth9MfwZQ6Doxf-43lL5oMBscUAaFx3qGhfj4c-io2RghS0H-KW8iimH8p85l92mXprkWALoGgmLAUEeMRmVO49Ee8=s259" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPxFyj0q8gM1khDR2HIm6M8NlJklKZ68VdghiPHLnZDzUJ-kLuMAm_LOuYHbCEAtMhwZE5GfmQslCKdp6uS8GxVOAv3qyMw5Dth9MfwZQ6Doxf-43lL5oMBscUAaFx3qGhfj4c-io2RghS0H-KW8iimH8p85l92mXprkWALoGgmLAUEeMRmVO49Ee8=w406-h304" width="406" />It</a> It isn't surprising that the reaction amongst Quebec's nationalist element was decidedly negative towards the announcement that the Montreal Canadiens' new General manager would be a west island anglophone named Kent Hughes.</p><p>In his introductory press conference, Hughes spoke in superior, though decidedly Anglo-French. His comprehension of questions put to him in French was pretty remarkable considering he's lived outside the province for over two decades.</p><p>For years we've been told by the likes of racist anglophobes like Réjean Tremblay, the doyon of the Quebec's French sportswriters, that Anglophones or Europeans who play or work for the Habs are remiss in not being able to communicate with fans in French.<br />From Saku Koivu to André Markov to Carey Price, Tremblay showered scorn upon those who he believed should learn a third language before fans learned a second.<br />He complained bitterly that the choice of Hughes was made before the other francophone in the running were given a chance. As for Hughes' French, Tremblay wasn't enthusiastic.</p><p>As for Jeff Gorton, he remains livid that he was hired as the real big boss over Hughes.</p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span></span></span></b></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"Geoff Molson is the one who made the biggest mistake. Meeker Guerrier asked the President a question in French. He was no doubt counting on an answer for his report on Noovo. Molson told him he would answer in English so that Jeff Gorton understood what he was saying.<br />Fuck Roberval!, fuck Rimouski!, fuck Matane!, fuck Baie-Comeau!, fuck Quebec! More colonialist than that and you'd blush with shame. We find ourselves water carriers forced to speak English at a table because one Anglophone out of the ten guests does not understand French. Simultaneous translation exists. A pair of headphones and Big Boss Jeff would have it all figured out. Otherwise, let Molson answer in French and translate or have his answer translated. That way he respects Roberval, Rimouski, Matane, Baie-Comeau and Quebec. Otherwise, it will always be the same horrible bouillabaisse. There are already enough players who don't care about the fans, a vice-president, a senior officer of a company who depends on the tickets and the ratings of the good people to get rich, well that's another story..</b></span></blockquote><p> Now fans who care about the team and not about language politics were more open to giving Hughes and Gorton a fair shot and the comments under the various stories in the French press reflected the very real difference of opinion in the two camps;</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jean.ross.1297">Jean Ross</a><br />His French isn't the best but we can understand him as well as we understand our coach.<br />Now we have to concentrate on hockey.<br />Speaking of French, let's talk about Ducharme who has difficulty putting together a complete phrase.<br /></b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.lauzon.3998" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">André Lauzon</a></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">We didn't have enough </span><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Québécois talent to fill the job? </span>We needed to find an expatriate chum of the unilingual Jeff Gorton? What a lack of respect!</span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/adam.cobb.963" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank"><br />Adam Cobb</a></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Hughes est quebecois.</b></span></div></div></div><div class="_3-8y clearfix" direction="left" style="margin-top: 12px; zoom: 1;"><div class="UFIImageBlockContent _42ef clearfix" direction="right" style="overflow: hidden; zoom: 1;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/jacques.theriault.98871" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Jacques Thériault</a></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Kent Hughes est Québécois</b></span></div></div><div class="_2vq9 fsm fwn fcg" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.358; padding-top: 2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><abbr aria-label="il y a 1 jour" class="UFISutroCommentTimestamp livetimestamp" data-minimize="true" data-shorten="true" data-utime="1642606097" minimize="true" style="border-bottom: medium none; color: #90949c;"><br /></abbr></b></span></div></div></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/jeanpierre.pineau.75" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Jean-Pierre Pineau</a></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>To be 'Québécois' is not simply an accident of birth, nor just growing up here. We'll see if he settles here and pays taxes. We know his kids don't speak or understand French. We're going to have a team of strangers with no attachment to the people.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/stephane.therrien.54" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Stephane Therrien</a><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>For a winning team you need the best talent and language has nothing to do with it, even in the LHJMQ, English is spoken by the Swedes, Germans, Russians, Slovakians and Americans. Your vision is more attuned to a garage league team rather than the NHL. If the directors succeed in fielding a winning team, the Bell Centre will be full, anglophones as well as francophones.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/usine.lachine">Thomas Usine Lachine</a><br />The NHL has been a </span></span><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">racist organization towards francophones for a long. It's an old tradition that's perpetuated here.</span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gilles.millette.9">Gilles Millette</a><br />His French isn't perfect but resembles the French we'll probably all speak in 20, 30 or 40 years as Anglicization does its job in Quebec. We're far from the teams of old that represented the specificity of Quebec with management and star francophone players. We're sadly condemned to accept these things.<br /></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/jeanpierre.pineau.75" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Jean-Pierre Pineau</a><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>With names likes Molson, Gorton and Hughes, we cannot feel more like 'owners.'</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/jean.ross.1297" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Jean Ross</a></span></span></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">For those worried about their language, does Coach</span><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> Ducharme actually speak French?</span></span></b></span></div></div></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009139081431">Ghislain Bouchard</a> </span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Very good first impression.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>It's good to see a Canadiens GM with presence and aplomb.</span></span></span> As for his French, it is already very good.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/andre.lauzon.3998" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">André Lauzon</a></span></span></b></span><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>What an embarrassment to forgo francophone talent to hire an ex patriot anglo with bad </b></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">French.</b></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Not choosing Patrick Roy indicates a profound disconnection with reality. RIP Canadiens.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Nelson Jacques</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="1"><span><br /></span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="2"><span>For the moment everything is positive, nice personality, a lot of experience and skill in negotiation, he knows the field well.</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="3"><span> Personally I believe in him and that the CH was not mistaken.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="4"><span> </span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Best of luck to the team.</span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="4"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Stephane Therrien</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="1"><span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="1"><span>Over</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="2"><span> the last 10 years with francophones like Bergevin, Ducharme, Therrien, Julien, Martin, Carbonneau, Drouin, etc. the team struggled not to finish last, so why not change the recipe a bit?</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="3"><span>And whether you're Russian, Slovak or wherever you're from, hockey is in English.</span></span></span> </span></b></span></div></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a class="UFICommentActorName" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/jeanfrancois.breton.56" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;" target="_blank">Jean-François Breton</a></b></span><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Bizarre to hire a player agent. Instead of negotiating for higher salaries, he'll now negotiate for lower salaries!</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Andre Parent</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="1"><span> </span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="2"><span> </span></span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Reading the comments, it seems to show that the attitude Canadiens fans is that of the of eternal loser. </span></span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></span></div></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </span><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Roméo Bouchard.</span></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Canadiens turn their back on the Quebeckers who pay for the tickets at the Bell Centre.<br /></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>You have to be a masochist to believe that the Canadiens respect their fans. Hockey has become an American game, controlled by Americans, for the profit of Americans. </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>After they stole our name, our country, our national anthem, our maple leaf, our nationality, Anglos have definitely stolen our hockey Canadiens team and excluded us.</b></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><div class="_3-8m" style="margin-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 4px;"><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Wow, what a mixed bag!</span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">I'd like to address two issues, the first which applies directly to the last comment where the writer claims that the historically French Habs have somehow been stolen by an anglo cabal, an idea that remains popular despite it being utter nonsense.<br /> </span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">With the cognitive dissonance of a Trump supporter claiming that the election was stolen, no amount of facts or evidence can convince these people that the Habs have always been a largely English organization.</span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">It is true that the team was historically French on the ice, due to the NHL giving the team a monopoly on Quebec players for decades, but the modern era with the inclusion of Americans and Europeans to the league, coupled with the loss of exclusivity rights to Quebec players has altered the face on the ice dramatically.<br /><br />But as for the management coaching and ownership, the Habs have always been largely anglophone.</span></div><blockquote><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>In the 112 odd year history of the team;</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Canadiens have had an Anglo general manager for 71 years or 65% of the time.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Canadiens have had an Anglo head coach for 63 years or 55% of the time.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>The Canadiens have been owned by Anglophones or groups led by Anglophones for almost 90% of their history and exclusively since 1940.</b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Of the 24 Stanley Cup won by the Habs, 19 were won while the team had an English general manager and 19 were won with an English coach.</b></span></div></blockquote><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </span>The idea that the Montreal Canadiens were a French team stolen by 'les autres' is a popular fantasy.</div><div class="_30o4"><br /></div><div class="_30o4">The last point I'd like to make is the notion among francophones that Patrick Roy would make a good General manager for the Canadiens.</div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Roy notoriously quit the Canadiens in a fit of pique by walking out of his last game in Montreal after a disastrous outing where he let in nine goals in half a game. He famously disrespected the Habs president Ronald Corey on his way out of the rink and true to his word left the team via a forced trade.</span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">His tenure as coach of the Colorado Avalanche was short-lived as he once again quit when he didn't get his way.</span></div><div class="_30o4">Former NHL defenseman Brian Engblom was an Avalanche television analyst who now works with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had this to say about Roy.<blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>“Patrick never lacked for opinions, right?” Engblom asked. “He’s always been that way, as a player and coach. This looks and smells like issues between he and the other people in the front office that they had differences in opinion, and he’s like, ‘OK, that’s it, I’m not doing it that way, ‘.</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>“That doesn’t surprise me. He never minces words or lacks conviction. He thinks what he thinks and he knows what he knows. And if it doesn’t work, that’s fine. He’ll walk away.”</b></i></span></p></blockquote><p><i><b></b></i></p></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> Never mind hiring a guy who embarrassed the organization big time, does he sound like GM material to you?</span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </span></div><div class="_30o4"><span class="_5mdd" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">This will remind you of the sorry end of Patrick Roy in Montreal, a nasty piece of work with a hair-trigger temper, ill-suited for the calm and calculating demeanour required for the job of general-manager<br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wH2k-GW21co" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-58445437241320712662022-01-17T12:16:00.009-05:002022-01-18T17:08:53.105-05:00Meet Quebec's Nastiest Racist!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVAWG5nGpgVVkKpzwZMVhth5e0bGbdcnrTWhACXMAnt7LBPWRpGWCWIMnp8YaMTnbXh2MFBx6vp377GOWIlfxM3lBALWjkvXm28oTIWZf431mYOwIdU8BrOVqkp_Z7s6Nd9x8Wre9jidcsW68LT0K_lfIr7Gv2BUNmmT8MSaqJjwASIDkpOmL3JkqO=s300" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="300" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVAWG5nGpgVVkKpzwZMVhth5e0bGbdcnrTWhACXMAnt7LBPWRpGWCWIMnp8YaMTnbXh2MFBx6vp377GOWIlfxM3lBALWjkvXm28oTIWZf431mYOwIdU8BrOVqkp_Z7s6Nd9x8Wre9jidcsW68LT0K_lfIr7Gv2BUNmmT8MSaqJjwASIDkpOmL3JkqO=w414-h198" width="414" /></a></div> I'm going to start this post with a bit of a preamble because of the nature of the inflammatory, racist and ethnocentric ramblings of the quoted articles.<p></p><div><br />I'll bet that when you read the translated passages below you'll agree that I wasn't exaggerating with the title of this blog post., but I'm not offering these translations as any proof that Quebecers are in general more racist than Canadians.<br />And so, are Quebecers more racist than Canadians?<br />I actually think not. <p></p><p>I've spent my entire 35-year career travelling the province of Quebec from one end to another managing a chain of retail stores, working and interacting almost exclusively in French in communities large and small from La Sarre in the northwest to Sandy Beach in the Southeast.<br />As an anglophone and a Jew, you'd think I'd encounter a lot of racism and mistrust but the opposite is actually true. I have always been treated with respect and can honestly say that racism was never a concern.<br />So for me, the idea that Quebec is the most racist province doesn't ring true. In fact, my first incident of racism occurred not in my home province, but actually on a business trip to Alberta. While these interactions are anecdotal, they do form the basis of my conclusions.<br /><br />What is true is that Quebec is, or more to the point was an insular sort of society, formed by a government and a powerful church that reinforced and consolidated its power by instilling a fear and loathing of forces outside the majority.</p><p><br />It would be normal and understandable that Quebec society, bathed in this sort of propaganda and conditioning would become xenophobic and racist, which it actually was to some extent. <br />But the rapid modernization of society that occurred in the sixties with the rejection of the Church and reactionary politics of the Duplessis era style politics changed all that rather quickly.</p><p>So is Quebec racist?<br />Of course, but I don't think it is more racist than anywhere else in the country and this despite an organized effort to demonize anglos and ethnics by the French press and our own provincial government.<br />While running ads decrying racism, our Premier acts and speaks like an ethnocentric racist to the applause and support of a sycophant media.</p><p>But I remain pleasantly surprised that considering Quebec's nationalist media and populist politicians' obsession with culture, race, immigration and anglos, that there isn't more racism in general.<br />It's a testament to the nature of Quebec's francophones, who generally distrust their own leaders who lecture and hector them on how to act and what to think. They remain defiantly independent in thought, perhaps a product of their past betrayal, by not Anglos, but rather their own Church and government.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdCYur7s2vGSX5qzOhA_4Nsl3v-2BajB_W0XZEbdmDB1-HJBGjW3RBIY7ATRV2m3Oq6oIz7E9Up8WOx9gCItUPyMjq5Wp0q9uTdqXjo9-tcT9MYS8lBEQ-1ctBJT4qwhWG_as-jk0IlTAhseSq6LVTFeoeJRqKtrdl8TVvjnDEiGA2lNU6TrIsEF4U=s1053" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="780" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdCYur7s2vGSX5qzOhA_4Nsl3v-2BajB_W0XZEbdmDB1-HJBGjW3RBIY7ATRV2m3Oq6oIz7E9Up8WOx9gCItUPyMjq5Wp0q9uTdqXjo9-tcT9MYS8lBEQ-1ctBJT4qwhWG_as-jk0IlTAhseSq6LVTFeoeJRqKtrdl8TVvjnDEiGA2lNU6TrIsEF4U=w345-h466" width="345" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Quebecers' view of racism mirror<br />Canada's closely</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>That being said, there remain pockets of extreme racism and xenophobia, mostly in the older generation yearning for the good old days and in the ranks of some devoted sovereigntists that see minorities and anglos as an obstacle to independence.<br /><br />Sadly the sovereigntist media has invoked the spectre of cultural and French language destruction as the last issue to militate for sovereignty, a pivot made necessary ever since the economic argument for independence collapsed with Quebecers coming to the overall conclusion that Canada represents a good financial deal.</p><p></p>A lot of hate, racist screeds, ethnocentric rants in Quebec's official and unofficial media go mostly without reply or rebuttal because few on the English side pay much attention to the garbage being spewed in both the mainstream French media and blogosphere.<br />I remain dumbfounded at the nasty, racist and ethnocentric themes and opinions that are being propagated not only on websites like <a href="https://vigile.quebec"><u>vigile.quebec</u></a> but in the mainstream media which allows commentaries and insults by nationalists that clearly cross the line of honest debate.<br /><p></p><p>In this and hopefully more following posts I'll give you a glimpse of the most egregious examples of excess, allowing you to make your own judgments and come to your own conclusions.<br /></p><br />Let me start with whom I consider to be Quebec's most racist xenophobe, a certain <b><u><a href="https://vigile.quebec/auteurs/rejean-labrie">Réjean Labrie</a></u> </b>who writes the most egregious screeds on the website <u><a href="https://vigile.quebec/"><b>Vigile.quebec</b> </a></u>an ultra Quebec nationalist website, long associated with racism and xenophobia.<br />Mr. Labrie subscribes to the Nazi doctrine of ethnic purity, denouncing and threatening all who are not 'pur laine' He unashamedly calls for Quebec anglophones to be deported from Quebec and demands that "impure" immigrants be banned,<br />If you think I'm exaggerating, I encourage you to read some of his hundreds of articles, most tinged with racism, ethnocentrism and unabashed depravity.<p></p><p></p>I'm sure that there are some equally vile websites in the ROC, but I'm not sure any have the reach of the above-mentioned <u><a href="https://vigile.quebec/"><b>Vigile.quebec</b></a></u>. Mr. Labrie boasts of having over a million views of his some 600 hundred articles.<p></p><p></p>Now there are countless Quebecers named <b>Réjean Labrie,</b> throughout the province, it is a not uncommon name, so do not make the mistake of drawing conclusions to others who share the name.<br />This certain scoundrel, a retired civil servant according to his bio comes from Quebec City and proudly proclaims to be a pure eleventh-generation Quebecer. </div><div>Here is but a snippet of what he has to say;<br />All the translations are mine.<br /><blockquote><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></i><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span>Non-Western immigration destroys the Identity of Nations</span></span></i></span></span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 30px;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">”</span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></i></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span style="font-size: large;">“</span>Let's start by defining what authentic Quebecers are not: </span></span></b> </div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Quebecers are not Muslim Arabs, so why would we let Muslim Arabs into Quebec by the tens of thousands? </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Quebecers are not Africans, so why would we let tens of thousands of Africans and Haitians into Quebec? </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Quebecers are not Hindus, so why would we let tens of thousands of Hindus into Quebec? </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Quebecers are not Asians, so why would we let tens of thousands of Asians into Quebec? </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Quebecers are not Latinos, so why would we let tens of thousands of Latinos into Quebec? </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><br />No, Quebec is not their country, and it never will be, because they will never succeed in blending harmoniously with the rest of the population.<br />We see this very clearly in the overly cosmopolitan metropolis, which no longer resembles the Quebec outside of Montreal.<br />Authentic Quebecers desert it, and certainly not just because of the orange cones (and who said anything about the daily ethnic shootouts?).</span></span></span> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span></span></span> </div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Here are 13 solid reasons to oppose it;<br /><br /></span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">1- Their cultures are too distant from ours. They never end up adopting ours and remain confined to their own. Far from enriching us, these remote cultures impoverish us. There are not enough points in common for it to be possible to get along well. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">2- Many have mores and customs that clash with ours and which we do not want spread here. Their value system contradicts with ours. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> 3- Often the influence of their religion controls them to the point that they are incapable of adopting our superior and more advanced values than theirs. They show themselves incapable of separating the spiritual life from the civil life as we conceive it for the proper functioning of things (one need only think of their negative reaction to Bill 21, however desired and supported by the population). </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">4- Many come to join a community that has opted for English, jeopardizing the survival of the French language. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> 5- Many have a galloping demography, which has the effect of gradually replacing the historic Quebec nation with the appearance of a destitute Third World.</span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> 6- Several of these communities practice communitarianism and live voluntarily cut off from our world, on the margins of our society. They are only there to take advantage of social benefits paid by the State. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">7- Nationals of the most underdeveloped countries on the planet display a higher rate of crime, fraud, corruption and violence per capita, causing the enslavement of society, the multiplication of barbaric acts and the general insecurity of our good people. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">8- Several ethnic groups resentful of our way of life and our choices of society have taken the bad habit of systematically contesting in court all the laws supported by the people and the government which represents them, even pushing the insult by being financed by funds from the anti-Quebec federal Liberal government. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">9- Several third world ethnic groups do not correspond to the historical face of the population, which is one of the integral characteristics of each nation. The general appearance of a people is part of its assets and which, as such, must be protected. A country is made up of people who look alike. If you go to Scotland, you naturally expect Scots to look like Scots, not Tamils or Taliban. If you go to Corsica, you naturally expect Corsicans to look like Corsicans, not Senegalese or Congolese. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">10- Several ethnic groups bring the current home-country conflicts here, and spread them in the public square by making noisy demonstrations which do not concern us and which poison our lives in an unjustified way. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">11- Excessive cosmopolitanism unravels the host nation, it shrinks us, turning us into a minority in our own country. We no longer feel at home, a basic condition for the feeling of collective well-being and security. </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> 12- Several of these ethnic groups do not show any kind of solidarity with we the people of Quebec by helping us achieve our major objectives: the birth of a country of our own, the consolidation of the French fact, more equality for all . </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>13- The mixture of foreign races and ethnic groups gradually destroys the historical collective identity of the nation. The established society is divided and scattered, it is moving away from its roots, from its secular foundations which have enabled it to successfully face the trials over time. It loses its bearings, becomes different, empties itself of its contents of its nourishing sap; in short, it dries up like a dry spring.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="J0lOec"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">(AND TO TOP IT OFF )</span></span></b></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">.....<span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>It is up to us not to allow ourselves to be de-civilized by massive Third World immigration. </span></span></span>Western societies have been able to progress and maintain their high standards of civilization and advanced society by keeping the Third World at a distance.</span></span> </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>.... </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Speaking of uninvited immigration, we cannot avoid the analogy: you've seen the recent ravages committed by the monstrous Asian hornet which arrived here in containers imported from where certain viruses also come from...</span></span></span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>...</span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>It is in no one's interest to encourage overpopulated peoples to come and overpopulate western countries.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>Do not let them come to propagate the state of constant stagnation and renewed conflicts that they maintain at home.</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"> </span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>....</span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Quebecers are of Western, European and Caucasian extraction. Hence the vital importance that this element be part of the priority selection criteria for any candidate for immigration. We are not just anyone from anywhere, and we take just pride in that.</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span>You can read the original French post <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">HERE</a></p><p>Mr. Labrie may also be the most vocal ethnic cleanser in Quebec, proposing that Anglos be deported in another missive published on vigil.net<br /></p><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></h1><blockquote><h1 class="articleHeadline"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span></span></span></span></b>I</span></span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">n Montreal, </span></span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>to hear less English, we require fewer Anglos<span style="font-size: large;">.</span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></h1><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span></span></span></span></b>We do not want a Quebec with Anglos capable of speaking French to the Francos when necessary, but who speak in English and live in English in their English culture the rest of the time. </span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">It's not living the Quebec way, it's continuing to live the Canadian way.</span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">No, we want everyone in Quebec to speak French and live in French in Quebec culture, all the time. </span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">As a result, Anglophones (and allophones who opt for English - basically they </span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>all </span></span></span></span></b>would like to) must be considered too numerous and must for this reason be encouraged to leave Quebec to settle somewhere in Justin Trudeau's vast Canada. </span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">Government and citizen measures must be taken so that this series of moves is initiated with the aim of reducing the number of Anglos in Montreal by 90% within 10 years.</span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span> <b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></b></p></blockquote><p>He goes on to suggest Quebecers adopt these slogans which even if you don't understand French you can surmise<br /></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> <b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span></span></span></span></b>Alcool au volant, tolérance zéro. Anglais à Montréal, tolérance zéro</b></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">”</span></span></span></b></b></span></span></span></p><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“ </span></span></span></span></span></b></b></span></span></span>Tous ensemble, combattons les gangs de rue, le crime organisé, l'anglais à Montréa</b></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>l<b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></b></span></span></span><p></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">“</span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>B<span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="0"><span>y the way, did you know that at the end of the 19th century, the majority of the inhabitants of Quebec City were English-speaking?</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="1"><span>Mind-boggling, isn't it?</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="2"><span>But despite such a handicap, we finally managed to get rid of them to make the national capital the most proudly French-speaking city in America.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="3"><span>So, let's roll up our sleeves and do the same for Montreal.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="4"><span>If it worked then, it could work now.</span></span></span></b></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></blockquote><p>Not making this up. Here's the <a href="http://app.vigile.quebec/articles/a-montreal-pour-entendre-moins-d-anglais-ca-va-prendre-moins-d-anglos" target="_blank"><u>LINK</u></a></p><p>And here is his solution to the immigration 'problem"</p><h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 30px;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></h1><blockquote><h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 8px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 30px;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">“</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></i></span></span><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 30px;"><i>Immigration quotas for harmful minorities</i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 30px;"><span><i><span style="color: #990000;"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;">.</span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></h1><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>1- We could establish that Quebec should not be made up of more than 2% Africans, 2% Hindus, 2% Arabs, 2% Asians, 2% Latinos, etc. As soon as we reach this maximum percentage in relation to the total population, we close the floodgates.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>2- We could establish a maximum of 15% of non-Westerners in Quebec in order to preserve the historical face of the nation, its natural demography, and the aspect of its native population</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>3- We could establish a maximum of 3% Muslims in Quebec, the only effective way to counter the hegemonic will of conquering Islam</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>4- We could establish a maximum of 10% of allophones of the total population for the sustainability of our official French national language</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>5- We could establish a maximum of 10% of native English speakers in Quebec, the excess being relocated to other provinces</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>6- We could establish a maximum of a total of 15% of people not born in Quebec at all times </b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span></span></span></span></b></span><p></p><p></p></blockquote><p>Again, not making this up. Here's the <a href="https://vigile.quebec/articles/des-quotas-d-immigration-pour-les-minorites-qui-deviennent-nuisibles-avec-le" target="_blank"><u>LINK</u></a> <br /><br />Are you shaking your head yet?</p></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-86375453101947503442022-01-09T11:17:00.113-05:002022-01-09T19:22:16.630-05:00 Racist Anti-Chinese Screed on QUB Radio... Just Par for the Course<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdyJlXNfkwUgR9ntpsAD8Xq4rAMb9_BUYirXqjdoePwDtthWmepHyZRldN2wOdYBxnoh8W0RbrOoBCcO8N02TEX-de-jpM3Ch5S76BOh9DCYbRMsrDwn44SMZ3OJqySqEbYytim52ztuKZjerJ59W1FDVsQXFiFWByaEbQ3YUqPm2SAbIg3QvnEMn7=s406" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="124" data-original-width="406" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdyJlXNfkwUgR9ntpsAD8Xq4rAMb9_BUYirXqjdoePwDtthWmepHyZRldN2wOdYBxnoh8W0RbrOoBCcO8N02TEX-de-jpM3Ch5S76BOh9DCYbRMsrDwn44SMZ3OJqySqEbYytim52ztuKZjerJ59W1FDVsQXFiFWByaEbQ3YUqPm2SAbIg3QvnEMn7=w552-h169" width="552" /></a></div>It was a meeting of the minds of two of Quebec's most popular haters on a radio segment that illustrates the comfortable and natural state of racism in Quebec. <br /><br /> <b style="text-align: left;">Gilles Proulx </b><span style="text-align: left;">and </span><b style="text-align: left;">Richard Martineau </b><span style="text-align: left;">went off on the Chinese community in Brossard, Quebec, a Montreal suburban enclave that hosts a significant Asian community.</span></div><p></p><p>Gilles Proulx is an old-time hater who unabashedly unloads on everything Canadian, native and the non-pur-laine element of Quebec, making frenzied racist characterizations that I must admit are sometimes entertaining.<br />His paranoia, pain, outrage and hatred is all-consuming and watching him or listening to him 'lose it' over language or anglo oppression or native indulgence is sometimes entertaining in a schadenfreude sort of way <br />What he says on the air has me shuddering to think what he says off the air.</p><p>To his credit, he also unloads à la Mordechai Richler on his own francophone community sparing them no quarter with his acerbic and nasty characterizations of a people too weak to defend their culture and society in the face of this perceived Anglo oppression. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-YDD7JwVjqS9zx4UN5RmUUbvuZo0cd01fC3lDZJYJEkwtL_U3Rvv0tkyStlEJJQHIyivp9ZFyKnLdDcRT7cjE5zA2mzpDl2QOlolTzuSRvKwvTRssDDkE3hZLl9lUQb-K_i9g6reTicTC8nRH36cw6vrLmvpi67zcUkWkfqq2O-tdbJx7QPFXkbe=s225" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-YDD7JwVjqS9zx4UN5RmUUbvuZo0cd01fC3lDZJYJEkwtL_U3Rvv0tkyStlEJJQHIyivp9ZFyKnLdDcRT7cjE5zA2mzpDl2QOlolTzuSRvKwvTRssDDkE3hZLl9lUQb-K_i9g6reTicTC8nRH36cw6vrLmvpi67zcUkWkfqq2O-tdbJx7QPFXkbe=w288-h288" width="288" /></a></div>But Richard Martineau has none of the flair, charisma or smarts of Gilles Proulx. He is just plain nasty, racist and simplistic.<br />I don't know if he dumbs down his columns in the Journal de Montreal to suit his low-brow audience or if he is a product thereof.<br />His one-dimensional racist screeds offer no subtlety or nuance and his simplistic view of Quebec as under mortal attack by Anglos, ethnics and Canadians are tinged with a Trumpian sense of enemies and us/ them themes.<br />However, putting the two together on a radio show is a recipe for excess and believe me if their exchange would take place in English, there isn't a media outlet in North America that would air it.<br /><p>For those who have French, take a listen to the gratuitously racist exchange about Quebec's Chinese community that includes insult after insult, including Mr. Proulx using a hideous and mocking Chinese accent to make his point. Who actually does that today?<br />I'm sure Proulx would take offence at being called a racist. "<b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">I no tinkee so, me likeee them</span></i></b>" <br />but if the shoe fits....</p>
.... <iframe frameborder="0" height="180" src="https://omny.fm/shows/richard-martineau/cannabis-les-hells-plus-forts-que-la-police-gilles/embed?style=cover" width="100%"></iframe>
....<div><br /></div><div>Here are some of the highlights translated.</div><blockquote><div>Martineau: </div><div><i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oh, Gilles, you're gonna flip out over this...... From a flyer from Royal-Lepage in Brossard. </span></b></i>(Now speaking in English)<i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> On one side is a picture of the agent,"Buying or Selling Your house? I can help" The other side is in Mandarin so it's in two languages Mandarin and English.</span><br /><br /></b></i>Proulx: </div><div><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's not the first time I've seen this on the south shore of Montreal, which is a Chinese kingdom. Brossard has completely transformed itself and there's nobody in charge like an elite or the OQLF to intervene when you complain. A friend of mine got into a dispute over a cancelled transaction. The Chinese seller sent him a letter in English. I told him to complain which was a waste of time he explained because the OLF wouldn't intervene, which we can call a 'death by a thousand cuts'....<br />...The good little Chinese are now our dominators and future dominators of the Earth..</span></i></b></div>(Proulx continues in an demeaning and burlesque Chinese English accent.)<div><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Chicken Fried Rice, chicken pineapple wit dat?"</span></i></b></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Martineau: (laughing at Proulx's mocking)</div><div><i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ha! Ha! The lady is named </span></b></i>(doxxing removed<i><b>) <span style="font-family: georgia;">who writes </span></b></i>(now speaking in mocking English)<i><b> <span style="font-family: georgia;"> "I am here to help you find the perfect house'</span></b></i></div></div><div>Proulx: (In mocking English)<br /><i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes I am here to help you, you fucken French-Canadian! You're a bunch of idiots and cannot stand on your legs.</span></b></i></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Martineau: </div><div><i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Royal Lepage will say that it's a private enterprise and we're here to make money. Our future customers are Chinese and English, so we don't give a hoot about French.<br /></span></b></i>(now in mocking English) <i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">They don't give a flying fuck!</span></b></i></div></div><div><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div>Proulx: <br /><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'll repeat what I said before, Canada is a racist country. which I accuse of trying to destroy this tiny village of Quebec.</span></i></b><br /></div></blockquote><p>These are the same hypocrites who complain about the Canadian media's so-called Quebec-Bashing.<br /><br />Making insulting fun of ethnics and Anglos is par for the course in the Quebec media which is shielded from scrutiny because nobody in the rest of Canada or North America pays any attention to what is said in Quebec's French media. The CRTC is too timid and intimidated to intervene and since nobody in the ROC listens or hears the racism spewed, considers that it's better not to rock the boat.</p><p>The basis of this racism is the underlying notion that Quebec belongs to old stock French-Canadians alone with minorities, anglos and even natives considered interlopers with no legitimate right to help shape society.<br />The idea remains that these 'foreign' elements in Quebec society owe fealty and respect to the French Canadian majority and are obliged to mimic and integrate, abandoning their religion, language and heritage in order to satisfy the will of the majority.<br /><br />That dear readers is the definition of ethnocentric racism ...<br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-32852513518220836902021-12-18T15:28:00.009-05:002021-12-19T11:43:58.421-05:00Five Lies Separatists Spread about Bill 21 <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKr5fHU4uU5geBe_LWO9A4RcaqhCfrpjM13jEzd3rB7ueHr_igjW87arKSYk9oi9Xv0K0UAVEwDBMVkshS1F26RWudd6MzzkL0umEe_1RHfM52NOagwcPMM9xGkezNzLJ23dHB1jbDqeV-MaYVQ4O7sEdBq2nwob7iIm8mJDzVH_rKrpPfq1iJMKLFDQ=s600" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="600" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKr5fHU4uU5geBe_LWO9A4RcaqhCfrpjM13jEzd3rB7ueHr_igjW87arKSYk9oi9Xv0K0UAVEwDBMVkshS1F26RWudd6MzzkL0umEe_1RHfM52NOagwcPMM9xGkezNzLJ23dHB1jbDqeV-MaYVQ4O7sEdBq2nwob7iIm8mJDzVH_rKrpPfq1iJMKLFDQ=w482-h403" width="482" /></a></div>I've watched the unfolding drama of the debate over Bill 21 with abject fascination. The separatist media is conducting a dishonest and surreptitious disinformation campaign, an attempt to ignite an internecine war between Quebec and Canada, all in the promotion of the sovereignty option. <br />Bill 21 itself is of no matter, it is just a phony excuse to mount another battle against Canada in the ongoing war for sovereignty.<br /><p></p><p>For years the argument that Quebec was disadvantaged economically by remaining in Canada was the plan, concocted and promoted to convince Quebecers that their interest lay outside of Canada. <br />It took years, but in the end, the gambit failed as evidence mounted and the public realized, perhaps begrudgingly, that the opposite was true and that Canada represented a good economic deal.<br />A deal too good to give up.<br /><br />So sovereigntist militants needed a new tack, clearly, it was time for a 'Plan B.' <br />That coalesced around the idea that Canada represented an existential threat to the French language and Quebec culture. <br />And so here we are, facing off over a manufactured conflict and confrontation over identity.</p><p>For sovereigntists, the debate over Bill 21 is a Christmas present wrapped neatly in a bow, an issue that checks all the boxes meant to raise the enmity between Canada and Quebec.<br />The few Muslim women who will lose their jobs or be refused a chance to teach because of the hijab interdiction, are but inconsequential collateral damage.<br /><br />And in order to keep the fires of this manufactured controversy and the Canada/Quebec head-butting going, sovereigntist journalists have mounted a ferocious disinformation blitz that includes these five pernicious lies that I'd like to examine.</p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>1. Hijabs are a problem<br /></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Your neighbour knocks on your door and asks you to sign a petition to place a traffic light on the corner of your street because it's dangerous.<br />"Really," you ask, "What's the problem?"<br />"Too many pedestrians struck by cars"<br />"I haven't heard of any accidents. How many have happened exactly?"<br />"Er...I can't really say."<br />"Then piss off with your petition!"<br /></span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The government, the school boards and the media have never explained the amplitude of the so-called Hijab 'problem.'<br />Are there 10, 100, 1,000 or ten thousand evil hijabs being flaunted in the schools?<br />Why haven't we been told?<br />Likely because if we were told, we'd realize that it is but a trifling number leading us to conclude that with so few cases, a draconian law that contravenes both the Quebec Charter and the Federal Charter of Rights would not be in order, especially if it entailed the invocation of the dastardly "notwithstanding clause" <br />In other words, the cure is worse than the disease,<br /></span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><h1 class="ui post header"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>2. 70% of Quebecers support Bill 21</span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span><p></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Utter nonsense pedalled by dishonest and frustrated separatists like <b>Richard Martineau</b> who sell this assertion in print in the Journal de Montreal and on QUB radio as if it's an uncontested fact.<br />Mr. Martineau never provides links or attribution to the poll, but I found some mention of an internal CAQ web poll that indicated 65% of Quebecers supported the bill. <u><a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1137423/laicite-signes-religieux-sondage-gouvernement-francois-legault" target="_blank">Here</a></u><br />Web polls are utter garbage that no legitimate politicians or journalist should use seriously and which the public should take as seriously as horoscopes.</span></span></span><br /></p><blockquote><h1 class="ui post header"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How accurate are online polls?</span></span></span></span></span></h1><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"At worst, online polls can be seriously biased if people who hold a
particular point of view are more motivated to participate than those
with a different point of view. A good example of this was seen in 1998
when AOL posted an online poll asking if President Clinton should resign
because of his relationship with a White House intern. The online poll
found that 52% of the more than 100,000 respondents said he should.
Telephone polls conducted at the same time with much smaller but
representative samples of the public found far fewer saying the
president should resign (21% in a CBS poll, 23% in a Gallup poll, and
36% in an ABC poll). The president’s critics were highly motivated to
register their disapproval of his behaviour, and this resulted in a
biased measurement of public opinion in the AOL online poll."<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/2010/12/29/how-accurate-are-online-polls"><u>Pew Research</u></a></span></b><br /></span></span></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span> Online polls rely on </span></span></span>highly-motivated<span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span> internet </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>users </span></span></span>to answer the question and therefore have thoroughly under-weighted 'undecided' element to the poll.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Readers should always be wary of polls created by political parties or special interest groups because they are notoriously easy to fix.<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Pollster: "Madam, are you in favour or opposed to Bill 21?<br />Mada: "Er, never heard of it"<br />Pollster: "It's an anti-Muslim law.<br />Madam: "Then I'm in FAVOUR!!"</span></i></b><br /><br />By the way, in the radio discussion, Mr. Martineau likened a teacher who wears a hijab to that of a teacher wearing an FLQ T-shirt....yup!</span></span></span></p><h1 class="ui post header"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>3. The Government must remain 'neutral' with regards to religion in public institutions.<br /></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>On one side you have those who want to wear religious-type clothing in schools and on the other side, there are those opposed to all religious symbols in school.<br />The government claims to be "neutral" but bans religious articles, clearly siding with one side. <br />Pretending that banning hijabs demonstrates neutrality is a farce.<br /><br />A mother is faced </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>with a question</span></span></span> from her two daughters. <br />The first daughter proposes that all the women in the family wear red dresses to the family Christmas party.<br />The second daughter suggests that all the girls should wear blue dresses.<br />The Mother looks at them both and with the judgment of Solomon replies;<br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Girls, as your mother, I need to remain strictly 'neutral,' so we're going to wear red dresses...</span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Uggghhh!!.</span></span></span></p><h1 class="ui post header"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>4. Using the "Notwithstanding Clause" is legitimate because Quebec never consented to a Constitution that was imposed upon it by the ROC<br /></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWuXvJIlGHdQL5MJjrtTIy6xyqh1sW_py1A9Ud4kUFrpDOo4BbzPhUcbVy9YoYLMR2NEF01l4np-mamI68blz8AlnBBb5lNhzy0AfB3AWDL9Dr9b4yIy5D9-2w11efWMiEBoJ_n29_UnglOdmuPWvXtscYfjpNuDj5kkyNTZFG6JEpPm0-0sCiyJs3=s1020" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1020" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWuXvJIlGHdQL5MJjrtTIy6xyqh1sW_py1A9Ud4kUFrpDOo4BbzPhUcbVy9YoYLMR2NEF01l4np-mamI68blz8AlnBBb5lNhzy0AfB3AWDL9Dr9b4yIy5D9-2w11efWMiEBoJ_n29_UnglOdmuPWvXtscYfjpNuDj5kkyNTZFG6JEpPm0-0sCiyJs3=s320" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>But Quebec did create its very own </span></span></span><b>Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms </b>which pretty much says the same thing as the national version.<br /><p></p><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:3-ss:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean"></span></a></i></b></span></div><blockquote><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:3-ss:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean">3<span>.</span></span></a> <span class="Subsection">Every
person is the possessor of the fundamental freedoms, including freedom
of conscience, <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">freedom of religion</span>, freedom of opinion, <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">freedom of
expression,</span> freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.</span></i></b></span></div><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:3-ss:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"> </span></i></b></span></div><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:3-ss:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean">10<span>.</span></span></a> <span class="Subsection">Every
person has a right to full and equal recognition and exercise of his
human rights and freedoms, without distinction, exclusion or preference
based on race, colour, sex, gender identity or expression, pregnancy,
sexual orientation, civil status, age except as provided by law, <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">
religion,</span> political convictions, language, ethnic or national origin,
social condition, a handicap or the use of any means to palliate a
handicap.</span></span></i></b></span><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection">Discrimination exists where such a distinction, exclusion or preference has the effect of nullifying or impairing such right.</span></i></b></span></span></div><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"> </span></i></b></span></span></div><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean">13<span>.</span></span></a> <span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span class="Subsection">No one may in a juridical act stipulate a clause involving discrimination.</span></span></span></i></b></span></div><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"><span class="Subsection"> </span></span></i></b></span></div><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span class="Subsection"><span class="Subsection"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean">16<span>.</span></span></a> <span class="Subsection"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">No
one may practise discrimination in respect of the hiring,
</span>apprenticeship, duration of the probationary period, vocational
training, promotion, transfer, displacement, laying-off, suspension,
dismissal or <span style="background-color: #fcff01;">conditions of employment of a person or in the
establishment of categories or classes of employment.</span></span></i></b></span></span></span></div></div></blockquote><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:3-ss:1"><div class="Subsection" id="se:10-ss:2"><span class="Subsection"><span class="Subsection"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i><span class="Subsection"></span></i></b></span> While the defenders of Bill 21 attack the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms as illegitimate, have you ever heard any of them comment on the fact that the law contravenes Quebec's own charter?<br /></span></span></div><span class="Subsection"></span><h1 class="ui post header"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>5. Canada unfairly "Bashes" Quebec <br /></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1></div><p><span class="Subsection"><span class="Subsection">This is my favourite nose stretcher because it is meant to feed and nourish Quebec's general paranoia, hopefully raising resentment of Canada.<br />In the debate over Bill 21, it is actually Quebec doing the bashing of Canada with journalist after journalist describing Canada in the most unflattering and insulting terms.<br />Aside from one University of Ottawa professor who was quite mean in his assessment of Quebec's Bill 21, the articles written attacking the law in Canada's mainstream newspaper have been pretty much respectful.<br />Compare that the vicious attacks made against Canada and Canadians by Quebec journalists using insulting terms like "Rhodesians, " "Colonizers" "Colonialists" "Enemies"<br /></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>This is what Quebec has become in the eyes of many of our compatriots in the ROC.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>A scarecrow that they wave to avoid questioning the excesses of their crazy multiculturalism.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/17/le-debat-sur-la-loi-21-cache-les-derives-du-canada"><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><blockquote><p><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>When English Canada enters a </span></span></span></span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en">debate like this </span></span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>with its big boots and its money, it damages the quality of the debate in Quebec.</span></span></span> <u><a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/655314/loi-sur-la-laicite-qs-deplore-de-voir-le-canada-anglais-debarque-r-avec-ses-gros-sabots-dans-la-contestation-de-la-loi-21">Link{fr}</a></u></span></i></b></p><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“</span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Quebec is alone.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="1"><span>We will have to fight with uncompromising and fearless energy and will.</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="2"><span>
</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="4" data-phrase-index="3"><span>We must admit that our enemies are more devious and more hypocritical than we are inclined to believe.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/17/loi-21-affrontement-canada-quebec" target="_blank"><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“</span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Canada is no longer a country culturally distinct from the United States.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></b><p><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The violent reactions of English Canada should hardly surprise us.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/11/le-canada-anglais-en-ebullition" target="_blank"><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></p><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The Rhodesian spirit once fought against by René Lévesque wears the face of militant multiculturalism.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span> </span></span></span><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/09/30/de-maitres-chez-nous-a-de-trop-chez-nous" target="_blank"><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“</span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>It is an old habit among radical Anglos, who have always behaved like local Rhodesians, criminalizing our collective aspiration to protect our language and to place it at the heart of collective life.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/11/le-canada-anglais-en-ebullition" target="_blank"><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“</span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="2"><span>The clash of values between English Canada and us is massive and frontal.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> <br /></span></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="5" data-phrase-index="4"><span>There are two countries in this country.</span></span></span></span></i></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/11/non-elle-nest-pas-une-pauvre-victime"><u>Link</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><p> And as firebrand anglophobe Gilles Proulx wrote in <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/12/16/le-canada-la-maison-des-fous">Le Journal;</a> </u></p><blockquote><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">English Canada wants a fight. It will happen.</span></b><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">What are we still doing in this madhouse?</span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b></p></blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></b></p><p>The recurring theme in all these articles is the disparagement of Canada and Canadians meant to paint Quebec as a victim, unloved and misunderstood with a not so oblique subtext that Quebec has no place in Canada.<br /><br /></p>At any rate, not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid.<p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>I'll leave with some words of sanity by Quebec journalist Michel C. Auger,</span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="background-color: white; color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does a single case in two years pass the test of a "real and urgent goal"? Was Bill 21 intended to solve a major and urgent problem or was it not rather a fairly transparent attempt to gain political capital?
Prime Minister François Legault certainly does not help himself by often repeating the fact that Bill 21 is popular.</span></i></b></span></span></span><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b></blockquote><blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">“ </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">The fact is that the Charters of Rights exists precisely to protect minorities against unjust laws but which are popular with the majority. An opinion poll, in court does not weigh very heavily.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, there is mounting pressure on the Trudeau government to intervene in court, which it will no doubt do when the case goes to the Supreme Court.
But what is certain is that the legal debate is far from over and that new players and arguments will be added in the coming months. And these will not necessarily be twists and turns that will go in the direction that the Legault government wants.</span></i></b></span></span></span><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia;"><span class="quotations" style="color: #0d0d0d; font-size: 18.9px; font-style: italic;">”</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 18.9px;"> </span></span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lapresse.ca%2Fdebats%2Fchroniques%2F2021-12-15%2Floi-21%2Ftout-ca-pour-ca.php "><u>Link{fr}</u></a></span></i></b></blockquote><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span>If you read French read this thoughtful piece from La Nouvelliste;</span></span></span></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b><u><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.lenouvelliste.ca/2021/04/26/loi-21-un-recul-et-un-deni-des-acquis-de-la-revolution-tranquille-63c4718956f1cfea7fcb8596bb73b7f6">Bill 21: A retreat and a denial of the achievements of the Quiet Revolution</a></span></u></b></span></span></span></p><p></p><p><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!</i></span></b></p><p><br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-66336711622902744272021-11-29T13:01:00.012-05:002021-11-29T19:38:22.839-05:00Habs Owner Masterfully Sidesteps Language Issue <p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWM4JzlYgp4gK5o2G3CMmgVNVfGgTup55WCRz0s2rOBRwYF7Z9WlJ7JFrFQJUjtP9b-XUWOlY5hjshtlwbEo-rDMN4ZtGO90wnpeuVfapWx4jFeoUlASLSo8jgvUg_D1wkOwXJkyRhn6I/s275/downloadzz.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWM4JzlYgp4gK5o2G3CMmgVNVfGgTup55WCRz0s2rOBRwYF7Z9WlJ7JFrFQJUjtP9b-XUWOlY5hjshtlwbEo-rDMN4ZtGO90wnpeuVfapWx4jFeoUlASLSo8jgvUg_D1wkOwXJkyRhn6I/w482-h321/downloadzz.jpeg" width="482" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Geoff Molson skates effortlessly around language issue.</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table>It seems that Geoff Molson has invented a neat language workaround for companies wanting to employ a non-French-speaking boss.<p></p>Air Canada should take note of how companies can hire whom they want to the top job without the blowback associated with the hiring of a unilingual anglo boss in a French province.<p></p><p>For those who don't follow hockey in general or the Habs in particular Geoff Molson fired the General-manager of the team Marc Bergevin, a long-overdue sacking made urgent by the Montreal Canadiens disastrous on-ice results this season.</p><p>Quite simply, Molson hired an anglo Jeff Gorton, a unilingual American, to replace Bergervin but re-defined his title as senior vice president, while committing to hiring a new French-speaking general manager. The two will work together but in reality, the new general manager will be a de facto assistant general manager with a general manager title.</p><p>A clever workaround.</p><p>The new 'general manager' who will work under Gorton will be the face of the team, dealing with the media while the real boss will be quietly squirrelled away in his ivory tower, making all the real decisions.</p><p></p><p> It's a solution that is painfully transparent and I was interested if the French hockey media would go along with the charade.</p><p>After watching Molson's press conference where he breathlessly confessed that the job of leading the team is more than a one-man job in Montreal and where the necessity of working in two languages made the hiring a duo necessary, I wondered if the charade would pass muster.<br /></p><p>It certainly did.</p>The commentators attending the news conference played along because that's what hockey journalists do. Not one dared ask Molson the obvious question about his hiring of the unilingual Gorton and nobody asked why Gorton did not attend the news conference.<br />I predict Mr. Gorton will be extremely camera-shy, understandable in the circumstances.<p></p><p>Bravo! Well-done. </p><p>Mr. Molson serves us with a useful lesson in that as long as the language issue is somehow addressed, even though fakery, the public and media will go along with any charade.</p><p>But alas not everyone will accept the misdirection and already language fanatics are crying murder most foul.<br />It didn't take long for the anglophobes to come out of the woodwork as the insufferable <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/11/29/ca-prendrait-un-lance-et-compte">Rejean Tremblay in Journal de Montreal</a></u></p><p></p><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Gorton, an American, doesn't speak a word of French, but is now the vice-president of hockey, which is in fact, the real general manager of the Canadiens.<br />He's another Michael Rousseau, the president of Air Canada who doesn't speak a word of French.<br />What a sinister insult! And what cowardice.</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">So They're going to hire a 'frog' lap-dog to talk to the public and also to make the job easy. </span></b> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">But we all understood that Gorton will have the final say when the discussions get tough"</span></b></p></blockquote><p>The question is who would want such a job, a marionette required to repeat in French what is already decided in English??<br /></p><p>Answer: Lots of people.<br /><br />As fpr Air Canada, they need to hire a new French-speaking CEO while simultaneously promoting unlingual <b>Michael Rousseau</b> to the newly-created position of SUPER-CEO.<br /></p><p>In Quebec, that'll work....<br /></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-23972263350902466252021-11-19T14:05:00.007-05:002021-11-21T19:40:34.583-05:00Anglo-Bashing Replaces Hockey as Quebec's National Sport<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfIK4gorEurp-GN9wDrg5zIcY8x-WrSI1xtCCN7W0f7bKPNQ_O61fRJLUDJQZbbB7agwUqfe716uvmDg6dvuqyOX7yK-vJdyVzVhLzlbUYLiHwI0W9Kn8UECFhvtAF9_oxj3yFhYGQHA/s1300/cartoon-stick-figure-drawing-conceptual-illustration-of-hand-holding-baseball-bat-beating-man-or-businessman-into-head-and-hammering-him-in-to-ground-T6PTB4.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="974" height="520" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfIK4gorEurp-GN9wDrg5zIcY8x-WrSI1xtCCN7W0f7bKPNQ_O61fRJLUDJQZbbB7agwUqfe716uvmDg6dvuqyOX7yK-vJdyVzVhLzlbUYLiHwI0W9Kn8UECFhvtAF9_oxj3yFhYGQHA/w390-h520/cartoon-stick-figure-drawing-conceptual-illustration-of-hand-holding-baseball-bat-beating-man-or-businessman-into-head-and-hammering-him-in-to-ground-T6PTB4.jpeg" width="390" /></a></div><p>With the unprecedented collapse of the Montreal Canadiens, out of the playoffs before the snow even falls, a dejected and angry Quebec media has turned instead its attention to the blood sport of bashing Anglophones, which has reached a dangerous tipping point sparked by the CEO of Air Canada's lack of French during a yearly review.</p><p>The visceral outrage in the French media is wholly disproportionate to the slight and has engendered nothing less than mass language hysteria.<br /><br />Politicians have piled onto the wagon of righteous indignation led by our illustrious Prime Minister <span>calling it "<i><b>an unacceptable
situation</b></i>,'' noting that the minister in charge of official languages is
''<b><i>following up</i></b>.''<br /></span></p><p><span>The irony of Trudeau's complaint represents the ultimate hypocrisy, having himself appointed a Governor-General who cannot speak French either.<br />Why a non-French-speaking CEO of a for-profit company is less acceptable than a non-French-speaking Governor-General begs a response.</span></p><p><span>The apoplectic French Quebec media reaction can be understood by the very painful truth that was laid bare by Mr. Rousseau, <br />Firstly, that Air Canada is an English corporation, run completely in English and a company that would have decamped its head office to Toronto years ago had it not been blackmailed into staying in Montreal by the Caisse de Depot.<br />The second painful truth laid bare is that yes, you still can live and work in Montreal without speaking French.</span></p><p><span>The Horror of Horrors. <br />Mr. Rousseau can be credited, like the fabled little boy who declared "<i><b>that the emperor hath no clothes</b></i>" in exposing the obvious language reality, one that nationalists refuse to face by pretending it isn't true.<br />It is the same nonsense whereby eliminating English signage in Montreal is meant to foster the fiction that Montreal is other than a bilingual city.<br /></span></p><div><p></p><p>The echo chamber nature of Francophone media is best demonstrated by the universal adoption of the word "<b>Rhodesian</b>" to describe Anglos like Mr. Rousseau who don't speak French or activists like myself who speak French perfectly but who reject the notion that Quebec is a "<b>nation</b>," and that Quebec is a "<b>French Nation</b>" or that everyone living in Quebec is "obliged to "<b>Respect the French majority</b>"</p><p>Journalists and opinion writers have invoked the scourge of "<b><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Rhodesian</span></i></b>" an alternate term for "<i><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">White Supremacist</span></b></i>" to describe Anglos and ethnics who don't abide.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifylCfJikfJYap4qIV0NDwPcJqvG8FnyAEp2T4-1Z4XhoCDKt8SxC5bEgqv46mmDr0aHJ5a_Z56p93whctoUjp0y7edbxI0SbxnEGEXhxSUtj2oD995jVeTWxFKM8BfM8j88KV9neHOkw/s872/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.04.06+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="872" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifylCfJikfJYap4qIV0NDwPcJqvG8FnyAEp2T4-1Z4XhoCDKt8SxC5bEgqv46mmDr0aHJ5a_Z56p93whctoUjp0y7edbxI0SbxnEGEXhxSUtj2oD995jVeTWxFKM8BfM8j88KV9neHOkw/w502-h231/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.04.06+PM.png" width="502" /></a></div><a href="René Lévesque avait jadis qualifié de « Rhodésiens de Westmount » ces riches anglophones qui regardaient de haut la tribu conquise deux cents ans plus tôt qui campait à leurs pieds. De toute évidence, il en reste encore. On en retrouve même à Saint-Lambert, où le p.-d.g. d’Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, né à Montréal d’une mère francophone, rentré au Québec depuis 14 ans, vit avec une conjointe francophone et se félicite de n’avoir jamais ressenti le besoin d’apprendre le français." target="_blank"><u>Michel David</u></a><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzohuNOovXTx6NJuzPnOU1JEqOHvvSAvrYy3KgUVHgvFiqejitfpUKx8aRXFLDTbCoqUL8Yk1UOqlf3XsD_4jNZjFpLwTHdkOm4JrBSTqHsCoreMbdp9z9QpvEWdJ3noJib5NkU4cmj8/s750/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.08.08+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="750" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzohuNOovXTx6NJuzPnOU1JEqOHvvSAvrYy3KgUVHgvFiqejitfpUKx8aRXFLDTbCoqUL8Yk1UOqlf3XsD_4jNZjFpLwTHdkOm4JrBSTqHsCoreMbdp9z9QpvEWdJ3noJib5NkU4cmj8/w472-h202/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.08.08+PM.png" width="472" /></a></div><u><a href="https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/chroniques/2021-11-07/a-la-defense-des-plus-pourris.php" target="_blank"><span class="name authorModule__name hasFeaturedAuthor">Patrick Lagacé</span></a></u></div><div><u><span class="name authorModule__name hasFeaturedAuthor"> </span></u><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hw0uGNK65qN272IZRV5vDxVzEABA1YUp1h6DJx4NQHHQ5xSJbTSM0J9QtjfLsCYq4zS3WdWijPhkluWQUHPDgaQeRFsjW7r3T2FeR_uVaCl-dIJCd76IJE8gxqJP30HlYbsH5esrDjI/s828/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.16.26+PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="828" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_hw0uGNK65qN272IZRV5vDxVzEABA1YUp1h6DJx4NQHHQ5xSJbTSM0J9QtjfLsCYq4zS3WdWijPhkluWQUHPDgaQeRFsjW7r3T2FeR_uVaCl-dIJCd76IJE8gxqJP30HlYbsH5esrDjI/w470-h148/Screen+Shot+2021-11-17+at+3.16.26+PM.png" width="470" /></a></div><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/11/07/le-reve-de-lelectrochoc-air-canada" rel="author" target="_blank">Emmanuelle Latraverse</a></div><div> <p>My favourite "Rhodesian" reference comes from the tiresome ethnocentric blowhard <b>Mathieu Bock-Coté</b>, who referred to the black Mayoral candidate Balarama Holness as a white supremacist... "<b><span style="font-family: georgia;">a Neo-Rhodesian</span></b>." no less! He also wrote this:<br /></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>"Sadly,
it is an old habit among radical Anglos, who have always behaved like
local Rhodesians, to criminalize our collective aspiration to protect
our language and place it at the heart of collective life."</span></span></span></b></span> </blockquote>All of these journalists have no problem describing Quebec Anglos as toxic white supremacists but paradoxically whine about Quebec-bashing in the English media.<br />I wonder if they'd be okay with the Montreal Gazette or the National Post publishing an opinion piece where Quebec language militants were described as "<b><span style="font-family: georgia;">fanatical language Nazis</span></b>"<p></p><p>Quebec is living a language fantasy, one woven by nationalists and sovereigntists which the media and its populist politicians have wholeheartedly embraced.<br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b></b></i></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Quebec is a nation<br />Quebec is a French nation<br />Minorities owe the francophone majority respect<br />The French language is in decline.<br />Not speaking French is contemptuous of the majority<br />Ottawa mistreats and disrespects Quebec<br />Quebec culture is superior.<br />The English media bashes Quebec<br />blah...blah blah.</b></i> </span></blockquote><p></p><p>I'll counter these arguments in a future post but let me leave with a fanciful opinion piece written by Marc Bellemare, an ex-Justice minister under Jean Charest who demonstrates the ability to completely spin reality.<br /></p><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>After 1976, several Quebecers boycotted Sun Life, which had announced the transfer of its head office to Ontario in response to René Lévesque's rise to power.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>In 1978, the boycott of confectioner Cadbury, who moved production to Ontario after 60 years in Montreal, hurt and served as a warning to many others.</span></span></b></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="1" data-phrase-index="0"><span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Like me, will you dare to boycott Air Canada whenever you have the chance? </b></span></span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/11/08/everybody-here-speaks-english--air-canada" target="_blank"><u>Marc Bellemare</u></a><br /></span></blockquote><p></p></div><div>No, Mr. Bellemare, nobody is boycotting Air Canada or Cadbury or Sun Life or the hundreds of other companies that quit Quebec.<br />Unlike Sun Life most slinked out of the province quietly and without fanfare, unnoticed and unremarked upon by a government and media that wished to whitewash the exodus.<br />The next time a language hardliner takes a less convenient or more expensive airplane to Miami in order to boycott Air Canada, they'll be doing it board an airline that cares even less about French.<br />And we all know, it ain't gonna happen, anyways because talk is cheap.<br /><br />At any rate, the language delirium has struck our Premier rather hard.<br />Buoyed by the enthusiastic embrace of his hard-line and discriminatory policies Legault has lost his marbles and channelled the mythical King Canute who set his throne by the seashore and commanded the incoming tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes.<br />Our illustrious Premier has complained that there aren't enough Quebecers (read-Francophone Quebecers) in the National Hockey League and has hatched a plan to change the situation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why not? This is Quebec<br /></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-27001109477259872822021-11-05T14:40:00.004-04:002021-11-05T14:40:57.898-04:00Air Canada Boss Enrages Quebec....Too Bad<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6Ap0G_oq7NwCQ6wpLiGQVipfzU0IzSbeGZ3zM2V6dTNZbe3SZuRhrkqdbRFE6gVOl2ZHnz1cjMDpIdLzAuurv51Nal1fk-O3Kaosr0TEXTMJIMBTMpsoRyR_zOo6hQ879WMUBfbeXbw/s564/pwc-pricewaterhousecoopers-michael-rousseau-d-air-canada-.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK6Ap0G_oq7NwCQ6wpLiGQVipfzU0IzSbeGZ3zM2V6dTNZbe3SZuRhrkqdbRFE6gVOl2ZHnz1cjMDpIdLzAuurv51Nal1fk-O3Kaosr0TEXTMJIMBTMpsoRyR_zOo6hQ879WMUBfbeXbw/w367-h275/pwc-pricewaterhousecoopers-michael-rousseau-d-air-canada-.jpeg" width="367" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Air Canada Boss... Let them Eat Cake!!!</td></tr></tbody></table>I don't know if it is sad or funny to hear the Quebec political class and its lackey media tout the sudden importance of bilingualism, the hypocrisy boggles the mind.</p><p>All this outrage over the unilingual boss of Air Canada giving a speech in English and admitting that although he lives and works in Montreal and is married to a francophone, he cannot speak French.<br /><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic;"><b>“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal,” Michael Rousseau said after making a major speech to the city's business community. </b></span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><b><u><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/air-canada-boss-stumbles-into-language-debate-with-english-only-speech" target="_blank"><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau</span><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></a></u></b></p><p>Oh my....</p><p>The shrill and hysterical outrage is comical because it showcases a reality that language militants pretend isn't there.<br />Air Canada and just about every single big corporation in Canada operate in English. Period.<br />The need for a bilingual CEO is an unneeded handicap and limits the pool of potential candidates by at least 95%.<br />Quebec politicians can huff and puff about language but shareholders demand the most capable person for the job and speaking French isn't even on the radar when hiring. </p><p>Air Canada's rarefied boardroom may be located in the head office in Montreal but it operates in English without a whimper of a complaint by the OLF.</p><p>In the asymmetric world of language politics, it's important for you to speak French but not for them to speak English.<br />The idea that an anglophone can live in Quebec without French is outrageous while it makes perfect sense for a francophone to live in Canada without any English.<br />The argument made is that in Quebec there's really no need or requirement to speak English because everything is available in French. But that of course can be said of English in the downtown and western half of Montreal.<br /><i>Deux poids deux measures.</i><br /></p>Those who call for Mr. Rousseau's resignation because of his lack of French and apparent indifference need to understand that Air Canada is a for-profit corporation whose president and CEO owe loyalty to shareholders only.<br /><br /><div>Of course, Air Canada is subject to the Official languages Act because when the government privatized it, that condition was embedded. Paradoxically it means that unilingual French-speaking employees must be able to work in their language, but for militants, this should not apply to Mr. Rousseau.<br />In fact, the proposed Quebec language law that the government is trying to pass making a company prove that another language is necessary before making it a condition of employment can apply to Mr. Rousseau explicitly who is unilingual and has no need to speak another language. Ha!<br /><br />Language militants are making all sorts of nonsense and desperate arguments, like the fact that Air Canada received a lot of government aid during the pandemic, so the CEO must speak French because Quebec taxpayers helped foot the bill.</div><div><div>Does it mean that those same taxpayers must speak English because they receive equalization payments from English Alberta? </div><div>Nonsense.</div><br />Militants also demand that the CEO speaks French because the head office is in Montreal, a situation with an easy solution à la<u><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/bill-101-sun-life-packs-up#:~:text=6%2C%201978%2C%20Canada's%20largest%20insurance,headquarter%20from%20Montreal%20to%20Toronto.&text=Sun%20Life%20is%20one%20of,will%20affect%20around%20800%20employees." target="_blank"> Sun Life</a></u>.<br />The very idea that Air Canada's head office remains in Montreal is absurd, with Toronto the hub of its corporate and business life. Quebec remains a tiny part of Air Canada's business and should be treated as such.<br /><br /></div><div>You know what else is nonsense?<br />Forcing Air Canada to have a French-speaking cabin crew on every flight, even local ones in BC where the chances are overwhelming that nobody on the flight is francophone.<br />In the asymmetric world of Quebec language militancy, this makes perfect sense, a bus driver on a route in the west island of Montreal where perhaps 75% of the passengers are English need not answer a question in English.<p>It is time to update the Official LAnguages act to make forced bilingualism apply to all or none.<br /><br />Quebec cannot have its cake and eat it too. <br /><br />Mr. Rousseau should have not apologized (which he did) and rather should have told Quebec to like it or lump it.</p><p>As for rumblings of a boycott... another farcical joke.<br />There are only two criteria for choosing an airline, price and convenience. <br /></p></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-65060665214035982332021-10-28T15:56:00.010-04:002021-10-29T23:04:38.441-04:00Montreal Special Language Status Is Inevitable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64HCgZ0TozGDKh4YAcZVY3w6E_wTKwFfbVM6_8CHw1xgeDlMODH0XL62bYxP6UQLk8al4TWMGtSsAHpGIHfGuapyEiWUYO__WomUpQEpL-eB_Y87wGYth-WWaE_FtmcR8vAEPZoxzs9M/s843/248711527_10159411644656421_8681118714483741699_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="843" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64HCgZ0TozGDKh4YAcZVY3w6E_wTKwFfbVM6_8CHw1xgeDlMODH0XL62bYxP6UQLk8al4TWMGtSsAHpGIHfGuapyEiWUYO__WomUpQEpL-eB_Y87wGYth-WWaE_FtmcR8vAEPZoxzs9M/w401-h401/248711527_10159411644656421_8681118714483741699_n.jpeg" width="401" /></a></div>The recent pronouncement of Montreal longshot mayoral candidate Balorama Holness on language dropped onto the Quebec political landscape like the proverbial bombshell.<div><br /></div><div>Mr. Holness had the temerity to suggest that Montreal could possibly hold a referendum seeking bilingual status which if successful would create a city that would effectively opt-out of Quebec's persecutory language laws like Bill 101 and the proposed Bill 96. <br /><br />The reaction amongst language militants was swift and furious, dripping with palpable rage and visceral scorn, the very idea of 'special status' deemed an existential threat to the very essence of Quebec.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is a reaction to be anticipated, Quebec nationalists have been demanding and receiving exceptional and special treatment from Canada for decades and the idea that they themselves will have to consider a little water in their wine, an unacceptable affront.</div><div>I read with a measure of schadenfreude a noted nationalist who raged that bilingual status for Montreal would rip the heart out of Quebec.<br />Hmmm...</div><div>Let us start by exploding the myth that Montreal is and always was a French city. The lie is boldly proclaimed in nothing less than the Constitution of the City of <Montreal which proudly proclaims,<br /></div><div><div class="Heading Heading" id="ga:l_i-h1"><div class="Label-group4"><span></span></div></div><blockquote><div class="Heading Heading" id="ga:l_i-h1"><div class="Label-group4"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span>CHAPTER </span>I</b></span></div><div class="TitleText-group4 group4" id="ga:l_i-h1-t1-nb:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>CONSTITUTION OF THE MUNICIPALITY</b></span></div></div><div class="Subsection SubsectionFirst" id="se:1-ss:1"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a><span class="Label-Section consolidationWhipeTextDecoration consolidationClean">1<span>.</span></span></a> <span class="Subsection">A city is hereby constituted under the name <span class="texte-courant"><span>“</span>Ville de Montréal<span>”</span> </span>.</span></b></span></div><div class="Subsection" id="se:1-ss:2"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span class="Subsection">Montréal is a French-speaking city.</span></b></span></div></blockquote><div class="Subsection" id="se:1-ss:2"><span class="Subsection"></span></div></div><div>Now the majority of Montrealers are native French speakers as well as immigrants who identify as Neo-francophones, but around 35% of Montrealers are Anglophones as well as immigrants who identify as neo-Anglophones,<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqjOoOVa_6zj6LUvnxEhOPw3dt6hT3icsOS9h9P6PpeClzj15oT2N46Iaolqfiq72CJFk_-qxWmw8LKfk84x0rXqhsJXlfZFaXupAPTgzbefjhRCuqtBho7JrrNfhWA_4lyfS4UNysMY/s817/quote-oh-east-is-east-and-west-is-west-and-never-the-twain-shall-meet-rudyard-kipling-89-31-53.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="817" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqjOoOVa_6zj6LUvnxEhOPw3dt6hT3icsOS9h9P6PpeClzj15oT2N46Iaolqfiq72CJFk_-qxWmw8LKfk84x0rXqhsJXlfZFaXupAPTgzbefjhRCuqtBho7JrrNfhWA_4lyfS4UNysMY/w432-h188/quote-oh-east-is-east-and-west-is-west-and-never-the-twain-shall-meet-rudyard-kipling-89-31-53.jpg" width="432" /></a></div></div><div>Article 1 of the City constitution smacks of hubris in declaring Montreal a 'French city,' akin to a medieval king declaring himself ruler of the universe<br /><br />By the same objective standard perhaps the drafters could have added a second clause declaring Montreal a '<b>White</b>' city and perhaps a third article declaring Montreal a '<b>Christian</b>' city because the same threshold exists.<br /><br /></div><div>I wonder how language militants would react if the City of Westmount issued a declaration that it is an "<b>English City</b>' because Anglos are in the majority with francophones constituting only 22% of its population </div><div>By this same rationale, the Towns of Montreal West, Cote Saint-Luc and another half-dozen towns on the island of Montreal could also declare themselves "<b>English Cities</b>"<br />By the same standard, the Town of Hampstead could even declare itself an '<b>English-Jewish Town.</b>' <br /></div><div> </div><div>Of course, such declarations would be seen by French language militants as a racist or colonial provocation because Quebec nationalists simply use an asymmetrical counting method to determine fairness. <br />To them having Montreal declare itself French is fair while considering it unfair for other towns to declare themselves English.<br />It is the same rationale whereby Quebec whines that it is an endangered minority while simultaneously declaring itself a proud and robust nation. <br />On and on it goes....<br /><br />As for Montreal being historically a French city, I would remind nationalists that nothing could be farther from the truth.<br /><div>Montreal was literally built by the English and Scots, with much of the heavy-lifting done by the Irish.</div><div>Look at the downtown names of streets bisecting the main drag of St. Catherine.<br /><i><b>Simpson...Redpath..
Musée(Museum), Mountain, Drummond, Stanley, Peele, Metcalf, Mansfield,
McGill College, Victoria, University, Union, and Aylmer.</b></i><br />Almost the entire skyline and historical infrastructure of Montreal is an Anglo achievement.</div><div>The banks, universities, colleges, businesses, museums, libraries, waterworks, rail network were largely built by non-francophones.</div><div>Until the 1960's Montreal was an Anglo achievement, even nationalists know this.</div><div></div><blockquote><div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Before 1977, for historical reasons, Montreal was a predominantly English-speaking metropolis. French was practiced in a very minor mode." </span></b><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/19/holness-une-proposition-qui-frole-le-delire">Josée Legault, Journal de Montreal</a></u><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/19/holness-une-proposition-qui-frole-le-delire"> </a></u></div></blockquote><div><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/19/holness-une-proposition-qui-frole-le-delire"></a></u></div><div>But none of this really is important. <br />Montreal's present situation is all that matters and it's strange that on the issue of Montreal's identity, language nationalists and anglo defenders agree on the most important aspect, that is that Montreal and the rest of Quebec are two different animals.<br /></div><div><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> "In the last thirty years </span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Montreal</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> has experienced a demographic revolution, with the </span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">massive</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> arrival of immigrants far exceeding our capacity for integration. In the metropolis, the Quebec identity has become an identity among others, and certainly not the most powerful." </span></b> <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/14/le-supremacisme-anti-quebecois">Mathieu Bock-Coté,</a></u></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"French, as the official language in Montreal? No, that's over!" </b></span><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/10/on-nefface-pas-impunement-la-memoire-dun-peuple">Richard Martineau,</a></u></blockquote><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/10/on-nefface-pas-impunement-la-memoire-dun-peuple"></a></u><p></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><blockquote><b>In Montreal, English was the dominant language of work. Social mobility. Integration of immigrants. Commercial signage. Education for over 85% of newcomers. Etc. French was seen as the language of the "poor" </b> <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/19/holness-une-proposition-qui-frole-le-delire">Josée Legault, Journal de Montreal</a></u><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/19/holness-une-proposition-qui-frole-le-delire"> </a></u>.</blockquote></span><p></p><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Politically, culturally and linguistically, Montreal stands out more and more from the rest of Quebec.</span></b> <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/14/une-farce-qui-cache-une-tragedie">Joeseph Facal</a></u></p></blockquote><p><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span></span></span></span></p></div></div><blockquote><div><div><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="0"><span>Future laws that aim to protect French will not change demography.</span></span> <span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="2" data-phrase-index="1"><span>The "Revenge of the Cradles," which explains our long survival in North America, is well and truly over. <a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/05/15/nous-devons-defendre-le-francais-avec-acharnement" target="_blank"><u>Denise Bombardier,</u></a></span></span></span><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/05/15/nous-devons-defendre-le-francais-avec-acharnement" target="_blank"><u> </u></a><br /></span></b></p></div></div><div><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="13" data-phrase-index="6"><span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">"An anti-nationalist coalition in the making. There will certainly be no referendum on the bilingual status of the city of Montreal during the next term. The fruit is not yet ripe enough. But if there was one, what would be the result? A survey on this subject was conducted by Léger three years ago for the Association for Canadian Studies. The question was both simple and ambiguous.<br /> In your opinion, is Montreal a bilingual city?<br /><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="13" data-phrase-index="6"><span></span></span></span>The sample....offered an impressive answer of clarity: a massive yes. By group: 86% among allos, 83% among Anglos, 80% among French people. <br /><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="13" data-phrase-index="6"></span></span>The referendum proposed by Mr. Holness would ask: Do you want the city of Montreal to have bilingual status? <br /><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"></span><br />The No camp would make a point of emphasizing the distinction between the real city, which has a majority of bilingual inhabitants, and its legal status, which must remain French-speaking. I would gladly participate in this effort. But I owe it to lucidity to say that the Yes would win.<br />Montreal would claim to be officially bilingual. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#"> </a><a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/640764/chronique-montreal-bilingue-yes-sir" target="_blank" title="Jean-François Lisée"><span>Jean-François Lisée</span></a></span></b><a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/640764/chronique-montreal-bilingue-yes-sir" target="_blank" title="Jean-François Lisée"><span></span></a>
<span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-number-of-phrases="11" data-phrase-index="10"><span></span></span></span> </div></blockquote><p> So it's clear from the above that French-language nationalists understand what Montreal is and though thoroughly freaked out by the reality, they clearly see the handwriting on the wall. <br /><br />The language situation in Montreal is irrefutably moving towards bilingualism.<br /><br />The immigration influx, characterized by language nationalists as the chief villain in the decline of French in Montreal shows no sign of abating.<br /><br />The CAQ government is caught between a rock and a hard place, a labour market desperate for workers versus the inevitable demographic shift away from French on the island of Montreal with increased immigration.<br /><br />During the election campaign Mr. Legault promised to reduce by 20% the 40,000 number annual immigrants welcomed to Quebec each year.<br />In fact, in 2022, the CAQ just announced rather quietly that Quebec will welcome 70,000 new immigrants in 2022. <a href="https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/643497/pour-rattraper-son-retard-quebec-compte-accueillir-70-000-nouveaux-arrivants-en-2022 "><u>Link[fr}</u></a></p><p>As Mr. Lisée said in his piece, the time is not yet ripe for a head-on political fight for bilingual stats in Montreal, but it is coming.<br /></p><p>Mr. Holness serves a usual purpose if he can play spoiler in the Montreal mayoral debate by siphoning votes away from Denis Coderre, returning Valerie Plante to the office of mayor and thus setting up the real battle for bilingualism for Montreal four years from now. <br />Madame Plante will be the perfect foil and easy to beat. <br /><br />With another 200,000 immigrants and an emboldened and maturing bilingualism movement in Montreal, four years hence we can expect a real mayoral race between two opposing views, that is a candidate proposing bilingual status versus a candidate who proposes the status quo.<br />Even language nationalists knows who will win.<br /></p><p>As for the Quebec government who will threaten and bluster, in the end, political expediency will bring them to the table because the threat of bilingual status is a lot less frightening than a referendum on Montreal succession.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d5156; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><i>Alea iacta est</i></b></span></span></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-91023594952200581272021-10-15T17:28:00.008-04:002021-10-16T23:15:54.632-04:00Threat of Montreal Partition Driving Quebec Language Militants Mad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsS4XVtXDja_hlLHCLgPCOmbja2D-bzsvBTIxCHiBU8CSeqzO6zKpDK0zede7_sdZTdJMb7H-MzupltmqE2fYwamBk_8bv3Pgodsjk4vk0QM-v5dH4tjqPBdIGjwbldG3VNaaECnDg-M4/s320/Lightspring_Shutterstock_0.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="320" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsS4XVtXDja_hlLHCLgPCOmbja2D-bzsvBTIxCHiBU8CSeqzO6zKpDK0zede7_sdZTdJMb7H-MzupltmqE2fYwamBk_8bv3Pgodsjk4vk0QM-v5dH4tjqPBdIGjwbldG3VNaaECnDg-M4/s0/Lightspring_Shutterstock_0.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">I told you before that a partition movement for the island of Montreal, whether ultimately successful or not is the only strategy that can lead to any sort of satisfactory outcome for minority communities in Quebec.</div></div><p>All the good intentions and lobbying by Anglo and ethnic community leaders intended to attenuate the precepts of Bill 96 are doomed to failure because for French-language militants and the CAQ government itself, punishing our communities, either for political gain or sport, is more important than the phony and unneeded protection of the French language that the law would purportedly provide.<br />The more we howl and complain the more they enjoy inflicting the pain, like a demon child sadistically roasting ants with a magnifying glass.<br />Too graphic?<br />How about a snarly Mexican bandito gleefully shooting bullets around the feet of his prisoner shouting.."Dance! Dance!"<br />Get the picture.</p><p>They are not indifferent to our pain and suffering, they are in fact revelling in it. That is what we are up against and the sooner we accept this reality, the sooner we can pivot..</p><p>This last week something happened that I've been waiting impatiently for.<br />A political voice has spoken the unspeakable in public, firing the first real and effective salvo in protecting and defending our linguistic rights.</p><p>For all those organizing a futile lobbying effort to soften the harsh elements of Bill 96, it is time to embrace the reality that polite dissent will not be effective. We need to embrace a different tact, and as the old saying goes...the best defence is a good offence.</p><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67AUsCYyBHywZcrCst6gHNDLuXVvrT3JChB0gCgCm1X-2pzfi_bkN2hmY-fYdYUZnqpDDuFtzw-p23g3i0IweALvEgnzMKuyVZg-DJLZU9BOIveDqUl5dAzKtsqIrwpyqN_mhboC57Is/s290/images.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67AUsCYyBHywZcrCst6gHNDLuXVvrT3JChB0gCgCm1X-2pzfi_bkN2hmY-fYdYUZnqpDDuFtzw-p23g3i0IweALvEgnzMKuyVZg-DJLZU9BOIveDqUl5dAzKtsqIrwpyqN_mhboC57Is/w386-h232/images.jpeg" width="386" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Balarama Holness: Daring to go where no man has gone before.</b></td></tr></tbody></table>Longshot Mayoral candidate <b>Balarma Holness</b> finally brooched the subject of Montreal seeking its own path in the language debate, rocking the political status quo, sending French language militants into an apoplectic rage-fest.</div><p></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Balarma H</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">olness said he’d ask the Office de consultation publique de Montréal to hold a one-year consultation on the status of English and French in the city’s public and private institutions. During the hearings, he would also consult Montrealers on whether they wanted the city to hold a referendum on language. The outcome of that referendum, which would not be held during his first mandate, would determine whether French remains Montreal’s only official language, he said — even if the mayor of Montreal does not actually have the power to declare the city bilingual.</span></b></blockquote><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“The National Assembly will not determine the character and the nature of the city of Montreal. Montrealers will determine that,” he declared.<br />“If Montrealers want to hold a referendum … we will do so and we will be asking both the provincial and federal governments to respect the democratic willingness of Montrealers,” he added.<br />Should citizens want bilingual status for Montreal, Bill 96, overhauling Quebec’s French language Charter, would not apply to the city, he said. <u><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/holness-and-desjardins-announce-orientations-for-merged-party">Montreal Gazette</a></u></span></b></blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>“In 2018, Holness argued that if Quebec became a country, Montreal would have the right to separate from it. He even pleaded for the organization of a Montreal referendum to allow the separation of the metropolis. Holness is what we call a partitionist” <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/05/25/un-partitionniste-a-la-mairie-de-montreal">Journal de Montreal {fr}</a></u><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/05/25/un-partitionniste-a-la-mairie-de-montreal"></a></u></b></span></blockquote>Now if I was a consultant for the other side I'd advise them to ignore Mr. Holness because he has little chance of winning and almost no profile in the French community.<br />His missive on special status or partition would go largely unnoticed.<br /><br /><div>BUT of course, rabid protectors of the faith could not resist engaging and unloaded a barrage of hate and criticism via the francophone media that was so vitriolic it spawned a campaign of hate against Mr. Holness that included death threats and hate mail so bad that he reported it to the police.<br /><br /></div><div>Here's one such fan mail;</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0KGMcwGMgQZMQ3RByPAG-MV072mW02UJCBZXbtT1qxXy53WFfd4iWkQyGH6hF4KwOLIj_YWnjPxe5uLP_1mrmhe1iN5xUpwWvYXpnVLRqjtWOZIW1V_cY7COVOwwZsxcxFdJkoQ2KXk/s640/Screen+Shot+2021-10-15+at+1.55.07+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="640" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0KGMcwGMgQZMQ3RByPAG-MV072mW02UJCBZXbtT1qxXy53WFfd4iWkQyGH6hF4KwOLIj_YWnjPxe5uLP_1mrmhe1iN5xUpwWvYXpnVLRqjtWOZIW1V_cY7COVOwwZsxcxFdJkoQ2KXk/w478-h271/Screen+Shot+2021-10-15+at+1.55.07+PM.png" width="478" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">" In the name of proud Quebecers, I am telling you that you are an effing dirty nigger. A bastard immigrant who needs to be killed. Do us a favour Dolarama, kill yourself, otherwise ask someone to shoot you. Dammed shitty nigger, fuck you motherfucker" </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Hmmm......</div><div>While this hateful reaction is unacceptable, it does demonstrate the fear we can strike into the hearts of our tormentors. </div><div><br />I promised you in many previous posts that this would happen, that the mere mention by someone of substance the possibility of Montreal going its own way would spark the reaction we need to bring our issues front and center and force a real debate.<br />It would eliminate the free ride the CAQ is enjoying in bashing our community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are a few samples of the furious reaction in the French media.</div><div><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b>Those who believed in a credible 3rd voice for Montreal will be disappointed. Balarama Holness has just made a totally irresponsible decision by promising to hold a referendum on the linguistic status of Montreal. </b></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>He is playing with fire. </b></span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>As if we needed an open war between French and English in Montreal on the status of French city or bilingual of the metropolis when French is already faltering. What a lack of judgment!</b><b>”</b><b> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">ELSIE LEFEBVRE</a> </b></span></blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-size: 16px;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b></span></div><div>I most enjoyed the ugly screed written by ethnocentric <b>Mathieu Bock-Coté </b>who went apeshit over the pronouncement made by Mr. Holness, reminding readers that he is a black activist who had the temerity to complain that the person named by the government to combat racism "wasn't the right colour."</div><p>Mr. Bock-Coté likes to label those who oppose his views on Quebec society as "<i>White Rhodesians,</i>" but since Mr. Holness is Black he had to settle on '<i>neo-Rhodesian</i>'<br />Like many of Mr. Coté's posts, this one was quickly scrubbed of the slur, but not before being published.</p><p></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Please understand and forgive me for insisting: I am not talking here of all those who reclaim “diversity”, but rather a radical multiculturalist movement that instrumentalizes the reference to diversity in order to reject our people. in our own country.</span></b><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">This agenda will find an ever greater echo in the years to come. It expresses a real contempt for Quebeckers, who are presented as a bunch of rednecks, hicks, filthy, intolerant people behind the times regarding modern diversity. This ethnic supremacism is hidden behind the banner of diversity and inclusion.</span></b><b style="font-family: georgia;">” </b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/14/le-supremacisme-anti-quebecois">Journal du Montreal</a></u></span></b></p></blockquote><p>Another famous Anglophobe, <b>Normand Lister</b> in a sarcastic piece, hits the nail on the head with this observation:<br /></p><blockquote><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">.... the other reason for the Anglos to vote overwhelmingly for Balarama is that they could them intimidate the Legault government, which is already uncomfortable in regards to language reform.</span></b><b style="font-family: georgia;">” <u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/16/balarama--un-excellent-candidat-a-la-mairie">Link{fr}</a></u></b> </blockquote><p>In a radio interview, <b>Jean-François Lisée </b>warned that the movement to free Montreal from the clutches of an inconsiderate Quebec government is serious and may already enjoy 30-40% support on the island of Montreal. </p><p>That's much more support than Brexit enjoyed in the infancy of the movement.</p><p>Let us be inspired by the American Declaration of Independence which in part states;</p><p></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-size: 16px;"><b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.</span></b></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">”</b></blockquote><div></div><blockquote><div>Let us therefore declare;<br /><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">“</span></b><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">That the adoption of Bill 96 requires the island of Montreal be afforded 'special status' vis-a-vis the law and failing such, a referendum will be organized to seek sovereignty from Quebec with the goal of becoming the eleventh Canadian province</span></b><b style="font-family: georgia;">”</b></blockquote><div><div><div></div></div></div><div>If our leaders and journalists adopt this confrontational line we can achieve much more than by grovelling.</div><div>Of course, the idea of a referendum will be rejected out of hand by the CAQ and the media, but given the manifest support on the island, politicians will have to deal with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>More importantly is the man in the street, especially in the rest of the province, who will be frightened over a looming political referendum that just might go the other way.<br />Possibly losing the island of Montreal over Bill 96 seems a poor bargain not to be chanced when a compromise is there to be had.</div><div><br />For them, blowing off Bill 96 seems infinitely preferable to the scenario described above. <br />Politicians will pay heed and likely do an about-face.</div><div><br />I am reminded about other famous about-faces including the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was forced to accept a cease-fire with Iraq after stating he never would with the words, “<b><i>I drink this chalice of poison.</i></b>”</div><div><br /></div><div>To which I say to Mr. Legault...bottoms up.</div><p></p></div>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-63266249131076992072021-10-06T16:21:00.008-04:002021-10-06T16:37:54.813-04:00Systemic Racism: For Premier Legault and Apologist media, Denial is Not a River in Egypt<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvI-L8oyCsozIoGJmVgHsZpoTkfrn7ZYUDkW3JIZKlIRoogtMz2EO6wPJRqUZrTOyGv3cImnqKVmGD8oQRr3oFTmcbhpoZIGsefw2s7MM8xeJdSQT4IuGVf_gpKSphCk6GirNPu-Gy-A/s299/images.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvI-L8oyCsozIoGJmVgHsZpoTkfrn7ZYUDkW3JIZKlIRoogtMz2EO6wPJRqUZrTOyGv3cImnqKVmGD8oQRr3oFTmcbhpoZIGsefw2s7MM8xeJdSQT4IuGVf_gpKSphCk6GirNPu-Gy-A/s0/images.png" width="299" /></a></div>The old adage that tells us that a photo is worth a thousand words can well be updated today to say that a video is worth a thousand photos.<br />Such is the case with a Facebook video that has nothing less than rocked the foundations of Quebec society and propelled the entire province into much-needed reflection and introspection on racism, especially institutionalized racism where companies, organizations, government offices, our law enforcement, health, and social institutions discriminate against minorities in a systematic and pervasive manner.<br /><p></p><p>The short video in question was shot by a native woman in a hospital in Joliette who was not only treated with abject contempt but actually died of neglect at the hands of doctors and nurses who assumed that she was simply impaired (like so many unfortunate native patients) rather than facing a very major health crisis.<br />After hearing damning and devastating evidence, the coroner's inquest into <b>Joyce Echaquan</b>'s death concluded rightly that institutional racism contributed to her demise, a notion that old school politicians and nationalist journalists have refused to accept out of hand.</p>The idea that racism pervades Quebec institutions was roundly rejected by no less than the Premier, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, the leader of the PQ, and a lapdog French nationalist media who proclaimed that while racism existed in Quebec, it isn't widespread or institutionalized.<blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>I don’t agree when we say there’s a system,” says <b>Premier Legault</b>, refusing to recognize systemic racism exists in Quebec,</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i> Bloc Québécois leader </i><i><b>Yves-François Blanchet</b> : While “there are individuals that
are racist,” “one should avoid saying that all
individuals in that particular group are racist.</i><br /><br /><i>The new leader of the Parti Québécois </i><i> <b>Paul St-Pierre Plamondon </b>says he prefers the term
institutional racism over systemic racism because it puts the focus on
concretely solving the problem where it exists and not just blaming a
system.</i></span></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><p>As for the nationalist media, the outrage was palpable, where the idea that Quebec faces an existential crisis over racism is a vile and <span class="ILfuVd NA6bn"><span class="hgKElc">malevolent</span></span> construct, conceived by enemies of the Quebec 'nation.'</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b></b></span></span></span></i></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b></b></span></span></span></i></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b>Richard Martineau </b>in Le Journal du Montreal "</span></span></span><br /><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span>The worst part is that during this time, all these good little Quebecers who dream of seeing François Legault admit that there is indeed "systemic racism" in Quebec say absolutely nothing about the federal Indian law!</span></span></span> </span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="3"><span>...<br />"</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span>Fortunately, our PM stands up to them and refuses to give in to their blackmail."</span></span></span></i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b>Mathieu Bock-Coté</b> </span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span>in Le Journal du Montreal <br /></span></span></span></i>"The grand Liberal-Solidaire coalition, the 'PLQS,' this week sought to use the commemoration of the tragic death of Joyce Echaquan in an odious way to force François Legault to bend his knees to the theory of systemic racism.</span></span></span> </span></span></span></i></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span></span></span></span></i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><b>Raymond Parent </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><i><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span>in Le Journal du Montreal <br /></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span>"I can understand the premier of Quebec's reluctance to recognize systemic discrimination and I would tend to adopt the same posture if I were in his shoes.</i></span></span></span><i><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="1"><span>
</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="2"><span><br />He must consider all the legal impacts that such recognition may have on our political and social choices.</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="3"><span>
</span></span><span class="JLqJ4b ChMk0b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="4"><span>Plus, it's hard to strike up a dialogue with someone who asks you to be on your knees at the start."</span></span></i></p></blockquote></blockquote><p>Now before you go off on Quebecers as inherently and unrepentantly racist, it's interesting to note that despite the government's denial and the media's general support for the notion that Quebec doesn't suffer from institutional and systemic racism, the majority of Quebecers aren't buying it.<br />In a poll conducted last week, more than two-thirds of Quebecers believe the opposite of what the government and the media are spoon-feeding them, that is that institutional racism is a serious problem here in Quebec.<br /><br />As I said, the sad video of the racist treatment of <b>Joyce Echaquan</b> at the hands of hospital staff is burned into our collective conscience and all the hand-wringing and excuses won't make it go away. Nobody who viewed the video can un-see it and only the cold-hearted and truly racist cannot help but feeling a little shame and a lot of anger.<br />The coroner who wrote the damning report highlighted that without the video, the death due to racism, like so many other cases, would go unnoticed and unreported. <br />Such is the power of video evidence.<br /><br />At the inquiry, those hurling the abuse were defensive and unapologetic. They were tired and perhaps the video was taken out of context....blah..blah..blah.<br />No remorse or apology, just excuses, and denial. It's a shameful analogy for the Quebec establishment.</p><p>Years ago, I wrote about a qualified Muslim candidate who was tired of submitting his resume without ever getting an interview. He resubmitted his candidature with an identical C/V, but with a French name instead of his clearly Arab name.<br />You can guess the result. The C/V with the Arab name was rejected and the identical C/V with a French name was offered an interview.<br />This in a government office and the very definition of is institutional racism.<br />The candidate sued and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, but never received an apology and for the office involved it was back to business as usual.<br /></p><p>But the winds of change are blowing and in reaction to the poll and because of the public pressure. those denying institutional racism are changing their tune. </p><p>The new talking point is that perhaps Quebec does suffer from institutional racism but no more so than the rest of Canada.<br /><br />At least it's a positive step forward and the hard conversation has been opened up. <br />The public has made it clear that Premier's position is not one they share and that he's going to have to change his tune to remain relevant. </p><p>That said, there remains a deep and knee-jerk defensiveness in the old guard to anybody or anything that challenges the idea of Quebec as a less-than-perfect society.</p><p> In his latest article in Le Journal du Montreal, <b>Joseph Facal</b> goes off <i>pas a peu près </i>on natives in a rageful and hateful rant, one that I've not seen in a while.</p><p>I've done my best to translate for those who have no French, but for those who want to capture the nuance of the original, click on the link</p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><u><a href="https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/10/05/autochtones-une-recuperation-qui-donne-la-nausee" target="_blank">Autochtones: une récupération qui donne la nausée<br /></a></u><br /></b></span>Aboriginal people, as one of my best readers put it, didn’t have it easy in Canada.
<br />But am I the only one who found that this necessary awareness quickly turned into a vulgar display of ignorance, pretension and hypocrisy?
<br /><br />The Aboriginal cause has become, for many, the new way to show off one's political-correctness and virtue-signalling, especially when it does not require any sacrifice.
The Prime Minister of Canada improvises a public holiday, sheds crocodile tears and puts feathers on his head.
Lightweight teachers who can't write a sentence without making ten mistakes want to "indigenize" their lesson plans and look with suspicion at their colleagues who refuse drink the Kool-aid.
Others, hand on heart, want to hire an indigenous teacher, just one, even if it means lowering the criteria, just to say to themselves that they have helped to right a historic wrong.
Still others are paid to convince us that indigenous traditional knowledge should be equated with experimental science, as if herbs cured cancer.
At Radio-Blablabla, at Le Devoir, in all the media, young journalists display moral certitude proportional to their ignorance.<br />
We accept the bullshit about Montreal, supposedly un-ceded territory, a claim demolished by any non-militant historian, considering it was the site where the Great Peace Treaty of 1701 was signed, precisely because it was seen as relatively neutral.
Wrinkled journalists, who refuse to grow old and relive May 68, lecture their flock while well installed in the bourgeois comfort of Outremont.
The students, also wanting to make history, are looking for a cause that is not too compelling.
And so they are going to insult Legault as “ti-mononcle”, wear an orange sweater, light a candle, put a “Solidarity with Joyce” on their Facebook page, “decolonize” the libraries and sing Imagine.
<br />The burden will be borne and the conscience appeased.
<br />The big, big, big crusade of all these small, medium and large hypocrites is that François Legault must recognize the “systemic” character of racism.
We haven't read two books, but we are convinced, yes, ma'am, that they were truly "genocided", not "culturally", no, "genocided" period. <br />What, you deny it? Shame !
<br />The smartest have understood that there is a new profitable avenue here: jobs, media visibility, grants, dissertations and theses, etc.
Everything is spectacle, everything is display, everything is recycling, everything is small steps towards great professions of faith.
<br />But all this hypocrisy and drama is just </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span>business for the most part</span></span></span>.
<br />Almost all of the posers from the entertainment industry are </span></span></span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span><span class="VIiyi" lang="en"><span class="JLqJ4b" data-language-for-alternatives="en" data-language-to-translate-into="fr" data-phrase-index="0"><span>first and foremost </span></span></span>concerned with self-promotion.
<br />The truth, the real truth, in many indigenous communities, is less glowing: under-education, drug addiction, despair, domestic violence, billions spent who-knows-where, illegal trafficking of all kinds, etc.
We prefer not to look at it too closely. It might mar the romantic images.
<br />Our society recycles everything. The important thing is that the misfortune of some can become the "business" of others.<br /></span></span></span></b></i></span></p></blockquote><p>That's quite a blast and leaves me wondering what is the point of the article is.<br />Why exactly did Mr. Facal write the article?</p><p>Is it somehow an explanation as to why Natives should be treated harshly, discriminated against, and left to die in our hospitals?</p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-23815822194093250492021-09-24T14:16:00.008-04:002021-09-24T17:03:46.189-04:00Quebec Premier Channels Donald Trump in Pedalling the Big Lie about Language<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcZ8PEyWkuaLiJqieSW4lfY1W9zU3J-ivQ5cOIGfGCP5TtmMEg6I3ITKRJbW3PaBOlXeFKTh5RpCKqwE5F-cJ1Sy2_wOtB37hXIzwC1kVKI848IGfAZuUg_pdrHTiW5u4dZIBaaU4oX9z/s259/index.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFcZ8PEyWkuaLiJqieSW4lfY1W9zU3J-ivQ5cOIGfGCP5TtmMEg6I3ITKRJbW3PaBOlXeFKTh5RpCKqwE5F-cJ1Sy2_wOtB37hXIzwC1kVKI848IGfAZuUg_pdrHTiW5u4dZIBaaU4oX9z/w363-h272/index.jpg" width="363" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Premier Legault Pedals the Big Lie</span></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>It's one thing when dedicated sovereigntists and language nationalists peddle the big lie that in Quebec the French language is in mortal danger, it is to be expected.<p></p><p>But when the Premier of the province embraces the populist trope it crosses into risky territory where reality is divorced from fact and where dangerous and out-of-control consequences result. </p><p>Everybody expects dedicated nationalists to scream bloody murder over language, it is the only issue, albeit manufactured, that they have remaining. <br />When the only tool in the belt is a hammer, everything looks like a nail and so we are bombarded with fantastical stories of language gloom and doom, spun by con artists extraordinaire, bullshitters and flimflam artists who would make Donald Trump blush with envy at their inventiveness.<br /></p><p>Speaking of Trump, over these last months we've watched in stunning incredulity at the dismal saga of his cynical and dishonest campaign to overturn the results of the election over manufactured and nonsensical claims of voter fraud.<br />We sit in our armchairs and ask ourselves how stupid his followers must be to believe such utter tripe, without ever making the connection that the exact same situation is occurring here in Quebec, where another manufactured and phony controversy has been cooked up by devious sovereigntists and language militants and now, sadly adopted by our Premier in a naked and cynical attempt to wrest more power for Quebec from Ottawa and more specifically to consolidate his hold on power as Premier. </p><p>Mr. Legault executes to a tee the propaganda strategy invented by the Nazis and perfected in the modern era by Mr. Trump. </p><p>That is to tell the big lie, blame a certain identifiable minority, use the complicit media to whip up anger and dissent in the faithful. <br />So the comparison to the Nazis is not so outrageous as our Premier would pretend when he admonished a prominent hitherto media darling lawyer<b> Anne-France Goldwater'</b>who made such a reference.<br /></p><p>Another chapter from this populist playbook is to portray the Quebec nation as a poor victim of the evil Canadian media, painted as merciless Quebec-bashers ad nauseam by the sovereigntist media. The pseudo-intellectual Mathieu Bock-Coté is a typical example of the pot calling the kettle black where he somehow misses the irony when he describes in an article these Canadian bashers as 'White Rhodesians.'<br />This phoney hypersensitivity to criticism is particularly galling considering the insults and mud flung at Canadians and Quebec's minorities on a daily basis by these Quebec's nationalist media thugs. <br /></p><p>And so we in Quebec are living a political fantasy no different than the "<i>Stop the Steal</i>" nonsense that continues to grip America. While it may be easy for us to dismiss the American movement and its adherents as ignorant fools, it isn't so easy to admit we are gripped by the same type of political fantasy woven by cynics with similar ulterior motives. </p>Here in Quebec, we have our own version of this big lie fantasy which I will dub... "<b><i>Stop the Language Steal,</i></b>" a fantasy unsupported by statistics and facts.<p>While we are bombarded with cries of impending language extinction a la Chicken Little, there is nobody of credibility that can point to statistics that actually support the claim.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbsbgfmwzGh4-gKoL0MuEY_3E9NMmpwgXyCp5Xpiy6OuHgG7hdwngs9sFFF59xFAG1oVuEKIqkP_mrx6NN8hCpwN1YPpkOWumulcxSPPGyt-E-_OFB08dzSZAMZxKdsnqV7h-Of5_JyQ/s359/nouvelle17-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="359" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbsbgfmwzGh4-gKoL0MuEY_3E9NMmpwgXyCp5Xpiy6OuHgG7hdwngs9sFFF59xFAG1oVuEKIqkP_mrx6NN8hCpwN1YPpkOWumulcxSPPGyt-E-_OFB08dzSZAMZxKdsnqV7h-Of5_JyQ/s320/nouvelle17-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There is however one fantastic scholarly rebuttal of this language nonsense, an article written in French by <b style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 15.96px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Etienne Cardin-Trudeau</b><span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 15.96px;">, </span>a doctoral student of political science at the University of Toronto.<br />If you have French, please read the fascinating account<span style="font-family: Merriweather; font-size: 15.96px;"> <u><a href="https://ricochet.media/fr/3580/de-quoi-parlons-nous-quand-nous-parlons-du-declin-du-francais?fbclid=IwAR2WGHYlyjhC357JdX1GChWcp_N5_zqxZm6psa3X3fgw1gaGVus-kuVnu6A&utm_source=pocket_mylist">HERE{fr}</a></u>. </span><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i></i></span></b></p><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"The media bubble linked to the decline of French in Quebec is almost artificially created by a whirlwind of rehashed news and columns written by people with an interest in fanning the flames of identity nationalism. "</i></span></b></p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>"This entire media fracas and political fuss is focussed mainly on the back of two trends: the decline of French as a mother tongue and as a language spoken at home. For mother tongue, the decline predicted by Statistics Canada is 78.9 to 70.1% by 2036. For language spoken at home, the decline is expected from 81.6 to 74.4%. The federal body released these projections in 2017.</i></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>What we are rarely presented with is the background to these numbers. Notably, the similar decline predicted for English in the rest of Canada.</i></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Thus, English as a mother tongue in the rest of Canada would drop from 74% to 66% by 2036. If we take the language most often spoken at home, the expected drop is from 85.2 to 80 , 1%.</i></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Two things, therefore, appear obvious: first, the proportion in the rest of Canada of people speaking English most often at home is similar to the proportion of Quebecers speaking French most often at home. In 2036, there would even be a greater proportion of people with French as their mother tongue in Quebec than of people with English as their mother tongue in the rest of Canada.What we are rarely presented with is the background to these numbers. Notably, the similar decline predicted for English in the rest of Canada.</i></span></b></p></blockquote><p>In other words, if French is in danger of disappearing in Quebec because of the decline of French as the first language spoken at home in Quebec, a similar fate must await the English language in Canada where the decline of English as a first spoken language at home is more precipitous. <br />Ha! What utter nonsense!<br /></p><b>Mr. Cardin-Trudeau's </b>devastating take-down of the '<b><i>French is in danger</i></b>' fantasy, is replete with data, context and analysis that is hard to refute. <br /><br />So how have the language conspiracy peddlers reacted to the article?<br />To date, I've read no rebuttal to this scholarly work, nor have I seen any interviews on television or radio with the author. I dare say that the article is so toxic to the language fanatics that like a Chernobyl three-head fish, nobody dares touch it.<br /><p>Like those media types in America who push the discredited theory of an election steal, when faced with tangible evidence of contradictory facts, they choose to ignore it, hoping that those they are attempting to deceive will remain oblivious to the truth. </p><p>Every time you hear a Quebec politician or a media type complain about the decline of the French language understand that it is merely a device.</p><p>For the Premier, it is an attempt to sow fear amongst voters that they are in mortal language danger and that only he can deliver them from evil.</p><p>The nationalist media pedalling the nonsense of language doom is nothing more than a jaded attempt to drum up hatred of Canada, anglos, ethnics and immigrants to drum up support for sovereignty.</p><p>Here in Quebec, we actually face a bigger challenge over the big lie of the decline of the French language than the danger faced by Americans over the fraudulent claims of an election steal.</p><p>For every lie spun on FOX, Newsmax, OneAmerica New and conspiracy-based talk radio there are countervailing voices on CNN, MSNBC, NPR and mainstream news sources.</p><p>Here in Quebec, there is sadly nobody in our political class, either federal or provincial or in the media willing to oppose the big lie.</p><p>It is important for all of us to openly and vociferously deny that French is in Danger fantasy because to ignore it is to give it credence and oxygen and provides our political opponents with a victory based on fraud and deceit.<br /></p>NoDogsorAnglophoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523082697175549006noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7963035472241877292.post-69753207477842359512021-08-27T14:33:00.002-04:002021-08-27T15:33:53.785-04:00Liberal MP Anthony Housefather's Dirty Little Secret<p> Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is taking full advantage of the sympathy
and publicity generated by a campaign poster that was defaced with a failed version of the Nazi swastika. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqeUdOohWx7YhjO2h7etthN4bJ-qiy4AXq1GmOD3VymXN5d_Hcr2jnEDpV2F4WByOoBJPoNldLyJxMs8rpoO1rGEd5rGp5Pmrrwt0H57bVbhGHBHKMHmbkSXGzehHRGS0YoIvyu-ES_w/s718/Screen+Shot+2021-08-27+at+11.20.41+AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="718" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqeUdOohWx7YhjO2h7etthN4bJ-qiy4AXq1GmOD3VymXN5d_Hcr2jnEDpV2F4WByOoBJPoNldLyJxMs8rpoO1rGEd5rGp5Pmrrwt0H57bVbhGHBHKMHmbkSXGzehHRGS0YoIvyu-ES_w/w419-h296/Screen+Shot+2021-08-27+at+11.20.41+AM.png" width="419" /></a></div><p></p><p>The incident says more to the intelligence author of the graffiti vandalizer who is either dyslexic or otherwise unable to correctly draw the hated symbol which today has morphed from a symbol of a bygone Nazi regime to an antisemitic symbol, </p><p>We all condemn the hateful graffiti, there isn't a politician in Canada who would offer a free speech defence.</p><p>But that being said I cannot help but that Mr. Housefather's condemnation is hollow, a case of "do as I say, not as I do."</p><p>Mr. Housefather's dirty little secret is that he was a campaign poster vandalizer himself back as a youth and that in his last campaign, his own volunteer was caught removing opposition campaign signs.</p><p><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b></b></i></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>"A
volunteer helping out with the re-election campaign of Quebec Liberal
Anthony Housefather was caught disposing of Conservative literature out
on the campaign trail.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b> </b></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>The
incident was witnessed by a Conservative volunteer who happened to be
canvassing the same apartment building in Côte Saint-Luc, Que., on Sept.
25. </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b> </b></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>Documents
shared with CBC News show that the witness claims Housefather was
campaigning with several volunteers at the time of the incident. </b></i></span><br /><br /></p></blockquote><p>But worse than that, Housefather's own past behaviour makes his condemnation look like the pot calling the kettle back.</p><p>Here is the story as I've been reliably told and have verified as likely true<br />
<b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></i></span></b><br />
</p><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Did
you know that, in a strange but very possible way, the only reason
Anthony Housefather is an MP today is because of the kindness of one <span style="color: black;">{redacted} </span>(yes, THAT </span></i></span></b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">{redacted}</span></span></i></span></b></span></span></i></span></b>; we used to be best friends)? Let me explain.</span></i></span></b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">{redacted}</span></span></i></span></b>
and I worked on the "No" side in the 1992 Charlottetown Referendum
campaign. We were putting up posters around NDG/Cote St. Luc for several
hours and an MUCTC bus driver came along in his bus, saw us, and
informed us that he saw a young male taking down our posters. He said
that if we liked, he would act as a witness to identify the young man if
we wanted to press charges. Well, you guessed it: that young man --
whom we then searched out and came upon -- was none other than one
Anthony Housefather, then attending undergraduate McGill. We not only
confronted him but saw him engaged in the dastardly deed as well. I then
discussed with </span></i></span></b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">{redacted} </span></span></i></span></b>whether he wanted to press charges (I, like the bus driver, was willing to) and he declined. I daresay that if </span></i></span></b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">{redacted} </span></span></i></span></b></span></i></span></b>
wanted to proceed with the charges, it is very possible that (1)
Housefather would have been convicted; and (2) because of the
conviction, he wouldn't have been accepted into McGill Law School; and
(3) he never would have become mayor or MP. So in a very weird way,
Housefather may have </span></i></span></b><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;">{redacted} </span></span></i></span></b>to thank for his political career."</span></i></span></b></blockquote><p><a href="http://nodogsoranglophones.blogspot.com/2019/10/anthony-housefathers-history-of-dirty.html"><u><b>READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE </b></u></a><br /></p><p>Next time Housefather complains about defaced posters, I dare any reporter to ask him to react to the above story.<br />Although this incident happened years ago, it is Housefather's claim of victimization by the latest poster defacement that opens him up to a discussion of his same prior bad acts. <br /></p><p>I wonder if anyone has the guts to put the question to him......<br /></p><p></p>Philip Berlachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11300001582273880138noreply@blogger.com1