Why Anglos Hate Pauline.

Most of we Anglos and Ethnics who have chosen to remain in Quebec all these years, are a hardy and resilient lot.
Depending on our age, we have survived various Parti Quebecois governments and separatist premiers starting with  René Lévesque through those who came after,  Pierre-Marc Johnson,  Jacques Parizeau,  Lucien Bouchard,  and Bernard Landry.

I don't think that I'm talking out of turn in saying that few of us were thrilled with the previous PQ governments and the Premiers that led them, but it seems to me that Pauline Marois, who hasn't even started her turn as Premier, is by far the most disliked despised, feared and unpopular among the lot.

That's my opinion but I daresay that in talking with those around me, it accurately reflects the sentiment of our community.

Our ultimate disdain is certainly not based on the fact that she is a woman, the question of gender is certainly beside the point. While chauvinists would argue that women aren't forceful enough to be leaders, nobody would argue that Pauline hasn't got the intestinal fortitude to lead, she may not be a Margret Thatcher but she certainly is no Elizabeth May.

So what is the difference between Pauline and almost all of her above-mentioned predecessors?
Actually, quite a lot.

"With Jacques Parizeau, it was like an army behind a general, says former PQ minister Louise Beaudoin. René Lévesque was charismatic, emotional and passionate. Lucien Bouchard, was theatrical, it was inspiring. Pauline Marois?

While none of these sovereigntist leaders were perfect, far from it, none were particularly 'scary' and none went out of the way to antagonize Anglos, at least not to the extent that Pauline does.

The first and foremost difference between Pauline and them, is the fact that they all were fluent in English, she sounds like she has never heard the language spoken in her life and perhaps she hasn't.

On the rarest of occasions when she offers a short comment in English, she speaks as if she is trying to repeat phonetically something that was prepared for her beforehand. At best, the effort is sadly amusing, at its worst, shockingly embarrassing .
When she speaks English, her handlers stand beside her anxiously, like a mother attending a kindergarten recital, hoping upon hope that little Paulina will not embarrass herself by botching the three lines she has memorized by rote!
One of the basic rules of politics is not to speak in a language where you are handicapped, even if you can manage a few words. Speaking English so poorly, she looks weak and confused, not a particularly good look for someone running a province.
But the real problem relating to her lack of English is not communication, the problem has to do with the optic that unilingualism imposes, which is a complete and utter lack of understanding of another culture.
Her lack of English indicates a narrow and cloistered life and quite honestly, a closed and restricted mind.
While it may be perfectly acceptable for many Quebecers to remain unilingual, their circumstances allow for it, it remains unacceptable for the Premier of Quebec, a province that is surrounded (as we are so often reminded by sovereigntists) by a sea of English.

All that  being said, the overwhelming  reason we hate Pauline so much is the fact that she went out of the way to antagonize us during the election campaign.
She deliberately beat us up in order to appeal to the hardliners she was trying to win away from the two other more militant sovereigntist parties.
Because of the emergence of a third party, the CAQ, Pauline strategized that she could win the election by appealing to the hardliners, hoping the majority in the middle would split the vote.

It was a cruel, cold and cutthroat move, throwing a whole community under the bus for crass political gain.

During the campaign, she put forward the most ridiculous hardline and repressive policies, none of which could possibly work and most quite illegal, all in an effort to woe away Quebec solidaire and Option Nationale voters. 
In the end, her strategy worked... somewhat.
She may have won the election with 32% of the vote, but even her supporters are loath to admit that it was largely a Pyrrhic victory.
Pauline alienated more than she won over and all the election proved is that if the Liberals had anyone else at the helm except Jean Charest, Pauline would have lost the entire election to a Liberal majority and would today find herself pulling the knives out of her back in the finest tradition of the Parti Quebecois.

In assessing Pauline's character, the only tool that I can think of,  takes me back to college where I recall studying the code of Roman Personal Virtues, which remains surprisingly useful today;

"These are the qualities of life to which every citizen (and, ideally, everyone else) should aspire. They are the heart of the Via Romana — the Roman Way — and are thought to be those qualities which gave the Roman Republic the moral strength to conquer and civilize the world. Today, they are the rods against which we can measure our own behavior and character, and we can strive to better understand and practice them in our everyday lives." Wikipedia

Here is a sampling of these virtues and how Pauline stacks up;

'Comitas'..."Humour" Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
Nobody, not even her closet allies and friends could ever define Pauline as such.

'Clementia'..."Mercy" Mildness and gentleness.
FAIL...

'Dignitas' "Dignity" A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
FAIL...

'Firmitas'..."Tenacity" Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
When it comes to the political issues of the day, Pauline has flipped-flopped more times than a trained seal at Marineland.
In the election campaign, Marois did a 180 degree turn on at least three occasion, after public reaction to her announced policies went south.

'Gravitas'..."Gravity" A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
FAIL...

'Honestas' "Respectibility" The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
FAIL....

'Humanitas'..."Humanity" Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
FAIL...

'Industria' "Industriousness" Hard work.
I give her this one, she's definitely a keener...

'Pietas' ..."Dutifulness" a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. 
FAIL...

'Prudentia'..."Prudence" Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
Big fat FAIL...

'Severitas'..."Sternness" Gravity, self-control.
FAIL...

'Veritas'...Truthfulness" Honesty in dealing with others.
Big fat FAIL...

Think I was too hard on her?......Please tell me where?
Can somebody please describe her positive attributes. Scouring vigile.net you'd be hard-pressed to find too many articles describing Pauline in a flattering manner, this from militant sovereigntists.

Here is another point that separates her from the other Premiers, who were all stabbed in back by those in the PQ seeking new leadership.
Pauline would actually fall into the category of the backstabber. Remember Gilles Duceppe?

Then there is one last reason to despise her, her husband the utterly detestable Claude Blanchet, who will happily embrace the title of First Lady Husband of the Province.
With his record, he will somehow turn the unpaid position into a cash cow.

But hold on.
Interestingly, there is another reason we are taking such a hard and aggressive position towards Marois.

Can it be, (shudder!) that the nutbar who tried to kill Pauline actually touched on a truth when he shouted his warning?

"Les Anglais se réveillent!"..."The English are Rising!" 

Is nobody in the mainstream Press, the media or the blog community willing to entertain the possibility that what he said might might have some truth to it, or is it too frightening to even contemplate?

Many francophones I've talked expressed a fear that things will escalate and that the warning was serious.

I get a sense that our community is getting close to drawing a line in the sand and we are now subconsciously testing the boundaries.

All these hateful manifestations towards Marois and the PQ, the Facebook messages of hate is nothing compared to the water cooler talk in the office and dinner conversations around the kitchen table in English homes.
I am starting to believe that the English and Ethnic community is ready to push back, taking our cue from the students who showed how easily and effectively it is to descend society into chaos.

While Marois is talking about doubling or tripling the amount of language inspectors, she should be aware of the seriously destructive pushback on the way and like Charest who underestimated the damage the students could inflict, Marois would be best advised to mind her P's and Q's.

French versus English Volume 49

Fear of 'English jobs' leads to decline in English vocational funding.

“....Someone who is very highly placed in the world of Quebec education told me at the Quebec Federation of Home and School Associations annual meeting last fall in Beaconsfield that English school boards are having a terrible time getting Quebec to approve new student spaces in English vocational education.

“The problem,” the person told me, “is that the ministry has started to say to us, ‘You’re trying to get us to create English jobs,’ but we’re not. Vocational training is part of the education system, but the government has started to decouple the two.” Read the rest of the story

Furious demand shrinks access to English cegep.

“...The other day I was talking to a colleague who told me she's been hearing anglophone parents of high-school students expressing hope that Bill 101 is toughened to keep francophones and immigrants out of English-language CEGEPs.

Normally, language crackdowns aren't something anglophones like to see in Quebec. But competition for limited spots in English CEGEPs, which are not bound by Bill 101, has become more intense as applications have risen through the ongoing economic sluggishness.

The access quandary is politically amplified by the fact that old attitudes toward English in Quebec are breaking down. Bright, ambitious young francophones and children of immigrants increasingly see English CEGEPs as stepping stones out into the wider world. Read the rest of the story

Don Cherry complains about lack of "Ontario" players on Maple Leafs

Many readers are of the opposite opinion of mine when I say that there are not enough Francophone hockey players on the Montreal Canadiens.

It remains my position that a NHL hockey team is a business and as such, must serve its clients as best it can.
Listening to what customers want and delivering a product in tune with those desires, is what makes businesses SUCCE$$FUL.
There remains those who believe that language or national origin should have no place in any decision to hire one player over the other.......Fair enough, we've each got a right to our opinion.

 But those who complain that it's only Quebecers who complain about such issues are wrong. I bet most teams would love to have local talent.
Here's the proof that Quebec is not alone in this desire.

Listen to Don Cherry complain about a lack of Ontario players on the Toronto Maple Leafs and listen to Brian Burke's (the Leafs' general manager) defend himself from allegation that he is anti-Ontario.  HERE

By the way, I had lunch this week with a former coach of the Canadiens, (I won't drop his name because it was a private conversation.)  He told me, as we were discussing the French/English issue,  that French players do try harder when wearing a Habs jersey. He said some players who had a bad game were too scared to go out and face the public. Oh Boy!
No need to motivate them!!!

Gilles Duceppe wins Waste award

"Former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe received a lifetime achievement accolades in the 14th annual Teddy Waste Award ceremony, put on by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to highlight what it deems to be wasteful government spending.

At 2:50 Montreal is skewered for it snowplows plowing bare sidewalks
At 9:10 Gilles Duceppe receives a lifetime achievement award

Read  the story

Small Quebec town  to challenge Bill 101

"The city of Huntingdon is vowing to keep serving its citizens in the “two official languages” after the Office québécois de la langue française asked it to transmit its communications to residents in French only.

In an email to the municipality in January, the OQLF noted it had received a complaint against the city.

It was a written, bilingual publication from the city that sparked the complaint, although Huntingdon Mayor Stéphane Gendron said that’s all they know. The city’s communication with citizens is always bilingual, Gendron said.

By transmitting bilingual communications to its residents, the city of Huntingdon gives the impression of being a bilingual city and, as a result, “doesn’t fully play the exemplary role expected of a public administration body” in terms of the French-language Charter, the OQLF’s email said. It also noted a publication can be transmitted in another language afterward to people who make the request.

“I don’t understand. Does it hurt someone to receive a bilingual publication,” Gendron asked? Link

Remaining adamant, the mayor, Stéphane Gendron hasn't backed down in the face of a furious backlash. He has however said he's going to step down early as mayor to concentrate on a media career.

Protest over Bilingual Hospital continues

"Ryan Alguire is a student at St. Lawrence College who wants to work as a water technician for the city but he's been told that he needs to be bilingual. "It's frustrating to have to pay money to go to school here, pay taxes and everything and live here my entire life, but not actually work in the province that I love," he says.
 St. Lawrence College nursing student Colleen Rudowski came to voice her opinion even though she says a lot of students are afraid to speak up. "I find a lot of students or people in general are just apprehensive to speak up about it for the fear of not getting hired at the hospital in Cornwall, not finding employment or somebody holding a grudge against them. I'm already planning on leaving because I can't speak French fluently," she says. " Read the rest of the story

Quebecer asks Queen to 'fire' Harper

“.. Somebody wrote to the Queen asking her to fire Stephen Harper as Prime Minister Link{Fr}

Quebec versus Alberta

"Three years after global energy prices tanked, Alberta’s oilsands are booming once again.

But industry players say they’re already bracing for what they fear lies ahead: chronic labour shortages and soaring cost pressures, two factors that caused so much havoc during the last boom.

As 2012 began, the number of workers employed in the province was already five per cent above its pre-recession high, the Conference Board of Canada says, handily outstripping the national growth rate.

Over the next two years, the board predicts Alberta will create 132,900 net new jobs — or about 40,000 more people than the entire population of Red Deer — cutting the province’s unemployment rate to 4.5 per cent by 2013. That’s just one per cent above the pre-recession lows of 2007." Link

Sounds like good news?

Not if you are  Françoise David, co-president of socialist Quebec Solidaire.

In an interview she showed concern that Quebec's  'Plan Nord will be too successful and thus depopulate areas south of the St. Lawrence river, its workers tempted by high wages in the North.

"Young people might be tempted to leave school to go north. What will they eventually become without formal training?" Ms. David wonders. 
Madame David also expressed concern for families who will be separated because of the far-away jobs. Link{Fr}

By the way, Quebec's unemployment rate..... 8.4%

Here's another interesting comparison, this time between Quebec and North Dakota over at antagonist.net

It is comprised of two videos, one showing the benefits of shale gas production in North Dakota followed by a video by Quebec 'zartistes' demanding a moratorium on any development.
SEE IT HERE

Radio-Canada now working for the OQLF?

It seems that the French CBC has undertaken an investigative report concerning the existence of stores that allegedly contravene Bill 101's provision that an English store name must have a French modifier.
Horror of horrors, 26% of the stores were found delinquent.
The funniest part of the story was when the interviewer asked a passerby what he thought of the situation. The man replied that he was from Paris and all the store names there were in English!!!!
 
The report was so anti-English, you'd think Mario Beaulieu was the editor.
Your federal tax dollars at work! LINK{Fr}      Watch the news report{Fr}

Montreal film director camps it up in 'GOON.'

Montrealer Jay Baruchel, co-writer, producer and star of Goon, had his tongue firmly in cheek when offered this scene of a hockey arena in Quebec.

The scene flashed by, almost unnoticed, but not to this eagle-eye.

"I swear I'm not making this up!

Just when you thought government waste couldn't get any sillier, here is a story that will have you shaking your head in disbelief.

The Journal de Montreal ran a story last week detailing the wasteful spending habits of Quebec's school commissions charged with running the provinces education system up until the end of high school.
Detailing a litany of dubious spending practices where expense reimbursement is out of control, including golf tournaments galore, or hiring a separate service to water plants in offices, the horrors go on and on.
But one last item caught my eye.
The Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys pays employees 44¢ per kilometer when they use their vehicle to attend meetings outside the office.
Now here's the kicker...
If at the same time, they give a lift to another employee, THAT EMPLOYEE receives10¢ per kilometer as a gesture of good will for ride-sharing! LINK{Fr}



The school commissioners who are elected,  have a pretty good gig controlling a $9 billion budget.
By the way the turnout in recent school elections of 2007 was 7.9% and 67% of Commissioners (879 of 1305) were elected by acclamation.

  In Monday's Wednesday's post we continue our discussion of Partition;

'Does Partition Make Sense for Sovereigntists?'

Monday's Post- 
'Huntingdon Mayor Humiliates Gutless Anglos'

Further reading:

French versus English Volume 48

 Have a great weekend!

The Ignominious End of Gilles Duceppe

A PICTURE TO REMEMBER!

Witnessing the sudden collapse and downfall of the political career of Gilles Duceppe, I must admit to a raging case of schadenfreude.
No politician deserves such an ignominious fall from grace more than the duplicitous, back-stabbing opportunist that defines the persona of Gilles Duceppe.

As you can imagine, I'm no fan, not so much for his separatist politics, but rather for his proclivity to bite the hand that feeds him.
We Canadians have paid his Parliamentary salary for over  twenty years and now are obliged to pay his 140k pension until God knows when, during which time, he has and will continue to tell the world that we Canadians are exploiters and colonialists. 

The ethics scandal that has brought him down is particularly satisfying because it was Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois that presented himself and itself as more Cathoic than the Pope.
Two elections ago, the Bloc campaigned on the platform of honesty and integrity and so there's a sense that Duceppe is receiving his just desert.
Like a pious televangelist who is ruined when caught cheating and whoring, it sets the world right, for a moment, anyways.

My favorite comment on the affair by a Le Devoir reader;
 "Duceppe l’arroseur arrosé, Youppi"  (Duceppe the sprinkler, sprinkled)

Unethical or illegal, Duceppe displayed the shady behavior of a disgruntled employee who steals from the company where he works, while continuing to cash a cheque.

Whether guilty or innocent of using public funds for partisan political ends, it doesn't really matter.
Despite a spirited defense put on for him by Le Devoir and assorted hardliners, wherein they claimed that he technically violated no rules, the public has already made up its mind......Guilty.

Mr. Duceppe didn't exactly help his cause, his actions after the revelations were made, were those of a guilty man.

I am reminded of a story told to me a while back when I participated in a golf tournament put on by the Montreal police.  A senior Montreal detective regaled our table at the 19th hole with a story about the down and dirty investigative methods employed by cops.
In this particular case two suspects were picked up for a crime that only one committed. They were both placed in jail overnight having been told they'd be charged in the morning.
Overnight the cops observed their behavior.
The first suspect was agitated and angry, demanding a lawyer and telling all who would listen that he was innocent.
The second suspect remained calm, asked warders for a cigarette and turned in early, sleeping quite well.
In the morning the detective let the agitated suspect go and charged the other.
You see, as my detective friend explained, the behavior exhibited by the men, clearly indicated that one was innocent, the other guilty.
The first, furious that he was being charged with a crime he did not commit, the second resigned to the fact that he was caught.

Who did Gilles Duceppe closely emulate, the guilty suspect or the innocent?

There are politicians around the world charged with crimes or accused of various misdeeds who almost universally fight the charges tooth and nail while remaining in office. It's par for the course.
Silvio Berlusconi spent his whole political career under an ethics cloud and never wavered. a good chunk of the Israeli cabinet is under scrutiny for either ethics violations or outright criminality. American senators and congressmen are regularly subject to impeachment through a process that takes years to play out.
Who resigns? Practically nobody.

Mr Duceppe cut and run, hoping that if he left the political scene, perhaps he would be left alone.

Had he come out and raged against the allegations against him, labeling the charges as partisan attacks, I'm sure that he could have withstood the attack, but Duceppe is a chocoladnicky, a Russian expression for someone apt to melt under the heat.

Now there are those who say that Duceppe used the ethics investigation as a convenient device to extricate himself from a sticky situation where his attempted coup against Pauline Marois failed.

I find it a little hard to believe, but no matter.

His attempt to take over the leadership was a half-assed effort that was so badly planned and executed that I seriously question his skills as a politician.

Once he embarked on his betrayal of Marois and she got wind of it, she put the mutiny down in short order.
The incredible thing about it all, is that if he had done nothing and remained on the sidelines as a 'loyal' separatist, Marois would have collapsed under her own weight and the leadership would have come to him without lifting a finger!

All this has led me to conclude that Duceppe was no brainiac, but rather an opportunist who talked up a storm but was always out manoeuvred by the Prime Minister of the day or Pauline Marois back home. Readers will remember that this is the second time she beat back an attempt by Duceppe to take over the PQ.

Over the twenty odd years in Ottawa, the Bloc led by Duceppe brought Quebec not an iota of benefit, in fact, its very presence insured the opposite. 
In asking Quebecers to support a party riding the pine of ignominy, in the opposition benches of Parliament, the Bloc robbed Quebecers of representation in cabinet and the halls of power, a frightful price to pay for the luxury of thumbing ones nose at the hated Anglos in the RoC.

I'm glad that Gilles Duceppe is going out a disgraced loser, because that was what he was his whole career, a disgrace who cost Quebec influence and power, a humiliating presence in Ottawa that rendered Quebec impotent and irrelevant.

His phony Don Quixotesque act, tilting at federalist windmills has crippled this province incalculably.

As he exits the stage a disgraced and beaten man, it remains a bittersweet victory for federalists.

After all, we will have the pleasure of paying him a handsome pension for the rest of his natural life.

The idea of Gilles Duceppe in retirement, sipping margaritas in Aruba, on our dime, while lobbing the occasional separatist bomb at we evil Canadians, remains a bitter pill to swallow.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Downfall of the PQ Painful to Watch

Even for federalists, watching the PQ go through its agonizing death throes is a bit much to take. Like a cancer patient ravaged with the disease, but who fights the inevitable conclusion tooth and nail, even those who care, must ask would it not be better if the patient was put out of its misery sooner than later.

Ever since last May's federal election that drove the Bloc out of Ottawa, die-hard sovereigntists held onto the belief that the meltdown was a hiccup, an obstacle like so many others, with the project of Quebec independence remaining intact and inviolate.

Alas for them, circumstances dictate an alternate reality, one where Quebecers have given up on their forty year flirtation with sovereignty, where even those still willing to support the independence option admit that the project is no longer doable.

And so quite simply, the CAQ of Francois Legault is rising to replace the PQ as the natural alternative to the Quebec Liberal Party. It's a party that preaches nationalism without any threat of an actual referendum, something that is striking a chord with many Quebecers who wish to maintain a strong nationalistic front against Ottawa without any of the painful drama promised by hard-liner sovereigntists.

And so, many separatists, including defecting members of the PQ caucus, are moving over to the CAQ, something that Premier Charest is trying to exploit as an issue, calling the CAQ a separatist party in sheep's clothing.

The truth is rather the opposite, those separatists moving over to the CAQ are going to the safest place where they can go to give up their sovereigntist dream without sacrificing their pride.
In order to assuage the guilty consciences of these fallen sovereigntists, Mr. Legault has said that in the future, perhaps ten years, they might review the independence option, a convenient lie meant to make the painful transition more palatable.

What remains are the hard-liners in the PQ and their supporters who live in a fantasy world where they believe, that they can turn things around by pushing the sovereignty and referendum option even harder.
Its like a store raising its prices, in reaction to a market survey that indicates that consumers have rejected the company's products because they are already too expensive. Talk about disconnect...

The reality is that the PQ is out of leaders and out of options.

As the end approaches, we are treated to a frightening view of the real personality of the members of the Parti Quebecois, the selfish, cruel and incompetent fools who are clawing and fighting each other like pigs in a trough.  

The opening salvo in the PQ war of independence was fired by the betrayers, the old guard who quit the party to sit as independents because the party leader couldn't produce a successful independence strategy, where quite frankly, none exists.

Led by the ugly duo of Louise Beaudoin and  Louise Lapointe (Jacques Parizeau's wife) and supported by the very simple Pierre Curzi, the betrayal triggered an undisciplined food fight, with Marois served up as the main course.

Then, more betrayers and more defectors, tearful interviews and hand-wringing, the birth of the CAQ, all leading to the inevitable conclusion that the Parti Quebecois is circling the drain.

But reality is hard to accept.
Everybody within and everyone outside the party have suggestions as to how to right the sinking ship, the pages of vigile.net chock full of ideas that smack of flightful fantasy or desperation extraordinaire.

The final straw for the party is the now failed Duceppe gambit.

This desperate belief that if only Gilles Duceppe would take over from Marois, perhaps all could be saved, with party faithfuls telling each other that we federalsits would be quaking in our boots at the threat of so formidable an opponent.

This is of course, that very same Gilles Duceppe who just eight months ago led the separatists to their greatest electoral debacle ever.  What galling fantasy to believe we'd be afraid.

And so in the fine tradition of the PQ, the knives were unsheathed by Marois supporters and Duceppe was gutted like a fish by a monger.  Et tu, Pauline?

At least this time it was the hardliners feeling the hard edge of the blade.

The political tragicomedy continues to run unchecked with today's chapter, a blueprint published in the form of an open letter by the insufferable, Bernard Landry, the ex leader of the PQ.
Here he provides us with his valuable insight, a road map to lead Quebec out of the desert and on towards the promised land.
The solution- a quick referendum. Arghh...

The overwhelming reacting of Quebecers to his open letter? -Indifference....

While hardline PQers and their diminishing band of supporters piss and moan in public, their audience is gone.
The PQ isn't destroyed over infighting as we are led to believe.
The PQ is destroyed because sovereignty is no longer relevant.

It's over...

Ladies and gentlemen of the sovereignty movement, turn out the lights on your way out and please, don't let the door hit you in the ass as you leave.

Pauline Marois Destroys Gilles Duceppe

My least favorite politician in Canada is the thoroughly dislikeable Gilles Duceppe, a weasel of a politician and a poster boy representing everything we Anglos hate about separatists who look to cynically fleece Canada, while plotting its destruction.

Whoever invented the word "smarmy,' must have been thinking of Gilles Duceppe, it describes his character perfectly;
(smarmy- sleazy, self-centered and insincere. One who has his own agenda which conflicts with the interests of others. Very fake and/or two-faced.)

One of the worst things I hate about Mr Duceppe is his manifest glee in fleecing Canadians for his own personal and political benefit, seeing no contradiction in collecting a $140,000, while working to destroy the country that pays it.

Would he have become leader of the PQ and get elected to the National Assembly, I've no doubt that he would have continued collecting his pension, with no compunction or embarrassment over the double dipping, as long as it is the federal government was paying for it.

As of late Mr. Duceppe has embarked upon a behind the scene campaign to destabilize the leadership of Pauline Marois, all the while smiling before the cameras and professing his love and support for the separatist leader.

A few months ago, Duceppe was very public in his support of Pauline, but recent events, especially  the continued defections from the PQ ranks, has moved him to go after the Marois' job, once and for all.

Mr. Duceppe is not one to do the dirty work himself and so has delegated responsibility to his minions (Pierre-Paul Roy, Bob  Dufour and François Leblanc) to organize and carry out a back room putsch against Madame Marois.
It's the nature of the rat that he is, to let others do for him, what he is not prepared to do openly.

Madame Marois called on him to take responsibility for his actions and demanded point blank that he declare his intentions and whether he would respect his word given months ago, not to destabilize her leadership.
In response Mr. Duceppe made a wishy-washy statement when interviewed on the radio.; 
"I trust that the PQ leader and  members will make the right decisions .."

For Marois it was the last straw.

"NO I DIDN'T"     "YES YOU DID!!"

And so, on Friday, La Presse published an extremely damaging ethics story about Duceppe, which is being widely quoted by newspapers across the country.

But here's an important fact that nobody has yet to report.

An ultra reliable source has told me that it was the Marois camp that leaked the information to La Presse, in an effort to harm Duceppe and check his advance on her leadership.
It makes sense if you think about it, especially the timing.
It seems that the information had been held in reserve by Marois just in case Duceppe went back on his word (which he did) and so she decided that she had no other option but to unload on him with any or all pretenses of separatist solidarity tossed aside.

It's a story that really came as no surprise to me, a further account of Duceppe's dishonest and cavalier abuse of public money for personal and political benefit. Read the original article in French 
Read the National Post recapitulation

"The former leader of the Bloc Quebecois, Gilles Duceppe paid the salary of the Chief of his party, Gilbert Gardner, for seven years from the budget provided by the House of Commons for the operation of his office in Ottawa, La Presse has learned.

This practice violates the rules of the House of Commons since the funds provided elected officials must be used to finance the activities of Parliament and not partisan activities. The other parties have confirmed to the press that their CEO is paid by the respective funds of the party, not money received from the House of Commons.

Mr. Gardner, who worked at the headquarters of the Bloc in Montreal and  occupied himself with the management and organization of the party, was hired in 2004 by Mr. Duceppe. He pocketed a salary that exceeded $ 100, 000 in the last years of his term......
La Presse has also learned that Marie-France Charbonneau, the  significant other of his chief of staff, François LeBlanc, was paid by the Bloc leader's office as a consultant while she was pursuing a master's degree. She was also paid during the time she was writing a book on the 20th anniversary of the Bloc Quebecois with Professor Guy Lachapelle, Concordia University.
Although Marie-France Charbonneau was officially a councilor to Gilles Duceppe, she rarely set her feet down in the House of Commons. "We did not know what she was doing apart from writing this book,"  said the Bloc Quebecois. Ms. Charbonneau received an annual salary of more than $ 90,000, according to our information

The article elicited comments from Maxime Bernier of the Conservatives and Marc Garneau of the Liberals who both blasted the former Bloc leader as a hypocrite for wrongfully spending Parliamentary money on partisan politics, while complaining about the ethics of others.

When Duceppe lost his seat, all the aforementioned 'employees' lost their jobs as well, but all were eligible for six months severance pay, courtesy of Canadian taxpayers.
All three were immediately rehired by the Bloc Quebcois office in Montreal at essentially the same salaries, something that caused a certain uneasiness among Bloc members.

When Daniel Paillé, the new Bloc leader assumed his position in December, the first order of business was to fire them all, so clearly there were forces in the Bloc that were unhappy with Duceppe's arrangements.
Someone within the Bloc, an enemy of Duceppe, leaked the story about the wrongful use of Parliamentary funds, to Marois.

As to the issue of paying those salaries with taxpayer money, Mr. Duceppe doesn't deny the facts, but dismisses the complaint about the spending as a partisan political attack, nothing else.

It remains to be seen what will happen.
Those who wanted to see Mr. Duceppe succeed Pauline Marois as leader of the PQ  worked overtime to spin the story as nothing but politics, rather than ethics.

Le Devoir, a nationalist newspaper, reported on the La Presse story rather dryly, but what is more interesting are the comments under the story where about eight out of ten readers supported Mr. Duceppe and proposed that the so-called scandal was a hatchet job cooked up by federalists.  See the comments here.
But one reader remained unconvinced of Duceppe's innocence.

"Typical PQ reaction...
When a newspaper exposes a scandal against the Quebec Liberal Party, they applaud wildly.
When the same newspaper denounces the mismanagement of the PQ or Bloc, they talk about propaganda, revenge, political operation, etc ...
And they believe themselves to be credible?"

So readers, I'm not so sure those defending Duceppe will be entirely successful.
The fact that he paid his chief of staff's girlfriend out of taxpayer money will be not be easily forgiven by the public.

Voters may be simple and not understand the intricacies over whether Duceppe did something wrong in using House of Commons money to pay the salaries of those involved in partisan politics, but providing someone a 'No-show job' is something even the uninitiated understand to be graft.

Look for the lovely Marie-France Charbonneau to  come under a fierce attack by journalists sensing a juicy scandal.
I look forward to hear her denials. I'm not sure that the Bloc, which has already cleaned house of all these Duceppe cronies is ready to defend her.
Who knows, she could be thrown under the bus. It could be interesting.

It also remains to be seen what the legal opinion ordered by Joe Comartin (Ndp), chair of the Parliamentary committee responsible for overseeing these expenditures, will reveal.
In a worst case scenario the Bloc would have to refund up to a million dollars to the government.
It's also been reported that other Bloc members are also being investigated for similar abuses.


Daniel Paillé, the current leader of the Bloc, refused comment, distancing himself from the story by saying that the affair predated his leadership.

We could be in for a scandal on a par with the Sponsorship affair that destroyed the Liberals.

And so the battle between Marois and Duceppe has exploded into open warfare, a drag'em out brawl that ended with a devastating second round knockout counterpunch by Marois. 

Yesterday Duceppe admitted defeat and announced that he was withdrawing from politics.

Well played  Madame Marois.  Game....Set......Match...  


For federalists, it's also Christmas in January! 

Keep on truckin', Pauline, the longer you remain at the helm, the happier we federalists remain!

Stay tuned....

***************UPDATE***************

In a television report, late last night,  Jean Lapierre (an Liberal ex-politician and star pundit) reported that every MP is furnished with a manual explaining the rules and that if they misspent money, they, not the party are personally responsible for reimbursement.
He also intimated that Duceppe is clearly guilty of violating the rules, which according to him, are pretty clear.

SWEET!

Weekend Update Volume 33

Quebec versus Florida- Vehicular Homicide 

Most Montrealers are familiar with the horrific hit and run incident that cost the life of a Laval teenager last September. 15-year-old Rona Mansourian was killed when an unlicensed scofflaw ran a red light while speeding, passed three cars, struck the girl and fled the scene. The teen was thrown into the path of a bus and died of internal injuries in hospital. Link

The 23 year old driver was a serial offender, driving without a valid license while awaiting trial on a fraud charge.
According to the placard held by a protester in the picture on the right, the driver, Robert Bélanger, just 23, has already had quite a few problems with the law.
You can imagine the surprise and fury of the family when the prosecutors recommended a five-year sentence (free in 1½ years?) Even the judge commented that it wasn't harsh enough..... Link 

Robert Bélanger, will be sentenced on SEPTEMBER 2.

Now lets compare this sad story to that of a Floridian (with no prior criminal record at all) who killed three Montrealers while driving drunk. Kenneth Jenkins, 28, drove the wrong way up highway I-95 in Florida and collided with a car full of vacationers.
At the trial, the judge was not amused and handed down a real sentence.
Guess how many years he got?  9 years, 18 years, 24 years or 33 years?
Read the story, it's interesting. LINK

Distracted bus driver "no big deal" according to union.  

Ah, those cell-phone cameras, they'll do it to you every time. As you can see in this video, a Gatineau bus driver was caught in 'flagrant delit' filling out paperwork while driving.

 

Now these type of incidents are certainly not isolated to Quebec. You can go on YouTube and find many idiot bus drivers driving while texting, talking on phones or what not.
What is interesting in this story is the reaction of the bus driver's union who took an unconventional avenue of defence.
Now all unions defend their members, it's to be expected. In this case I'd imagine the union would claim that the driver was  just having a bad day and made a mistake for which he shouldn't be crucified. If the driver had a good record it would be trotted out as an excuse for leniency.
But that's not the position the union took and that is what makes the story stand out.

A spokesman for the union claimed that the driving filling out paperwork isn't that big a deal, "After all, women drive while putting on makeup and teens send text messages while driving all the time.."
The union rep went on to say that the real culprit in all this was not the driver, but rather the passenger that filmed the incident. Claiming that the driver's privacy rights were violated, he went on to demand that the transport company ban anyone from filming on a bus.LINK{Fr} LINK

Hapless mayor reassures Montreal over falling  concrete.
How jittery are Montrealers over falling bridges and raining concrete? Very....
When a piece of concrete hit a car passing under a viaduct in northern Montreal, the mayor rushed to the scene to calm fears.

After a quick inspection engineers discovered that the grapefruit size piece of concrete didn't fall off the bridge. LINK
A beaming mayor assured cameras that citizens should feel safe that the bridges were intact. What he failed to warn citizens was what the police told him, that it was probably some nutbar who threw the concrete at the car driving below.

That's right! Nothing to worry about!

At any rate the mayor needn't have rushed to the scene, it was very unlikely that the bridge was falling apart.
You see the viaduct was built by Canadian Pacific, not the province or the city and as such is probably one of the safest bridges in the city......

Quebec Communist movement losing steam ?

For the past couple of years, The Quebec Communist Party (Yes it still exists) has been holding a summer 'training' session at the chalet of the Khadir family in the Eastern Townships. Once again, Amir's wealthy capitalist father, (a bit of a contradiction for a communist) opened his home this last weekend to a celebration of Communist and socialist values, with the traditional slagging of Canada, the United States and you know which other country.

According to the pictures posted on this year's affair it was a modest  attendance falling off dramatically from last year. In fact you can count the amount of participants using nothing but your ten fingers. Last year's event would have required toes as well.
Check out the story and picture gallery! HERE

Funny Quebec accent leads to vicious assault.

Quebeckers visiting France have long had the locals sneer and mock their Quebecois accent, but this is the first I ever heard of things turning violent.
A report from Dublin tells the sad story of a young French doctor on loan to a local hospital asking two Quebeckers for a cigarette in a local bar. An ensuing argument over the Quebecois' accent led to an altercation that sent the doctor to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
LINK 

Minister not amused by mystery shoppers.

Minister lectures language commissioner

"Heritage Minister James Moore doesn't agree with the federal language watchdog's decision to spy on Ottawa businesses. 

Moore, who oversees official languages, said his government believes it's important to protect and promote both English and French in Canada, but in this case, Official Languages commissioner Graham Fraser has overstepped his mandate.

“It is not the federal government's business to police the language in which private businesses communicate with their customers,” Read the story

Gilles Duceppe gets job with CBC, then gets fired

"With his party’s stunning defeat in the last federal election, which included losing his own seat, behind him, former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe is poised to become a weekly commentator on Radio-Canada, the CBC’s French-language division." Link

"You are getting sleepy. You will hire me. You will give me money."

It seemed that Gilles Duceppe endless pursuit of the federal gravy train had struck paydirt as it was announced that he secured an on-air job at the CBC French division. This coupled with a $140K Parliamentary pension (indexed) for life would assure that Canadians across the country would continue to fund the propagation of separatist ideology over the public airways.
Radio-Canada's mandate has always been to foster Canadian unity by providing an Canadian optic on the news and entertainment. But for the last forty years, the public broadcaster has been a hotbed of separatist sentiment and while Canadians in the ROC shook their heads in disbelief at the announcement of the Duceppe job at Radio-Canada, here in Quebec it made perfect sense.
Then on Thursday, the shit must have hit the fan in the Ivory Tower of Radio-Canada offices in east-end Montreal with senior management reconsidering the decision. Duceppe was unceremoniously dumped citing blah, blah, blah, reasons. Perhaps mindful of the Conservative governments latest blast at the English CBC, when Minister Vic Toews publicly rebuked the public broadcaster for refusing to air a most-wanted terrorist list, with the un-stated threat that there would be funding consequences, the CBC also reconsidered that decision. Perhaps the CBC and Radio-Canada's journalistic independence is not as strong as we are led to believe, as they remain mindful of the old dictum, that it's unwise to bite the hand that feeds you. Read a rant in the National Post

Minister backs down over Arab immigration

Quebec Immigration minister, Kathleen Weil, did an about face and has announced that the government has abandoned the idea of restricting immigration from North Africa (a euphamism for Arab Muslims)
In April, during a presentation on the orientations of Quebec in immigration for period 2012-2015, Mrs Weil had said that she favoured more diversity as to the provenance of the immigrants.
This is in reaction to reports that Arab immigration to Quebec from North Africa had reached 37% of the total.
Mrs Weil noted on Wednesday that the plan to place limits based on 'geography' lacked "social acceptability" and public support for the plan was just not there. LINK{Fr} 

Vermont town proposes to accomodate Quebec tourists

The town of Burlington, Vermont announced a proposal in city council to encourage local business' to encourage Quebec tourists by offering some services in French.
The proposal is not binding, but asks everyone to try just a little bit to make the town a tourist destination for unilingual Quebeckers.
As you might guess, the francophone press in Quebec greeted the news with enthusiasm and likely approved of this 'reasonable accommodation." LINK{FR}

Not everyone in Vermont is pleased over the proposal. Read a humorous blog piece written by a local. Burlington City Council Proposal to Make BTV a Québec Colony

By the way, does anybody see the irony in this story?
The Quebec francophone press gushing over a language accommodation wherein they applaud the concept of merchants attempting to serve customers in the clients own language?

Sovereignty is Dead!

In light of last week's federal election and Quebeckers' massive rejection of the Bloc Quebecois, it is strange that pundits, politicians and those who are generally in the know are falling over themselves to warn us that it would be a mistake to take the results as a sign that sovereignty is somehow diminished.
Why?
Nothing is clearer than an election result to signal the mood of the nation.  Vox populi, the people have spoken.


Why is it that we accept the people's verdict that the Liberal party no longer has the favour of the nation and that the Conservatives do indeed have the confidence of the majority of Canadians in ROC. These truths are self-evident.

Why then is the results of the Bloc's demise somehow portrayed as anything less than a rejection of their philosophy?

Somehow I get the impression that we are living a perverse version of the childrens' tale of the 'Emperor and his New Clothes, 'where nobody is willing to admit what is patently obvious.

Separatist apologists are pinning the defeat as merely a shift in strategy, a decision by the people to repatriate the sovereignty question to Quebec, where it rightfully belongs. Even if that were true, it signals that the twenty year experiment of separatist representation in Ottawa has been a monumental failure, hardly a success by any measure.

First, let me clarify that when I say that sovereignty is dead, I don't mean that the sovereignty movement will disappear.

So long Gilles, close the door behind you...

The movement will soldier on, regardless of the prospects of actually ever achieving its stated goal. Over-represented in the Quebec media, the unions, the civil service, the artistic community and the universities and colleges, the movement will persist. There will always be a respectable measure of support for the independence of Quebec and unlike the Communist Party of Quebec, which pitifully soldiers on to the tune of Marx and Engels with almost zero support, the sovereignists will remain a viable and active force.

If you're  a high school student now, rest assured, that when it comes to cash your old-age pension, you'll still hear sovereignists arguing that 'winning conditions' are just around the corner!

The results of last week's federal election didn't change anything, but did serve as a confirmation  that Quebeckers have tired of the sovereignty argument. In dispatching the Bloc from Ottawa the people are sending the clearest of messages, that sovereignty and its discussion no longer interest them.

A poll last year determined that over 70% of Quebeckers don't believe that sovereignty can be achieved. I daresay that if that poll were repeated today the number will have risen dramatically and the issue of sovereignty has become for most Quebeckers a case of beating a dead horse.

Gilles Duceppe and his supporters pulled out all the stops in the final days of the campaign, warning Quebeckers of the dire consequences of voting against the Bloc. He told them that they risked their future, they would be diminished and that they in fact had a sacred obligation to vote for sovereignty.

Quebeckers showed that they are no longer swayed by these arguments. They showed that they cannot be guilted into supporting a unrealizable fantasy. Those in the Bloc cannot escape the reality that voters  were so tired of supporting a losing concept, that in one particular riding, they voted for  an absentee, unilingual anglo from a far off region to represent their riding, rather than someone advancing the separatist option.  'Comeuppance' is the only word that accurately describes the humiliation.

Sovereignty is dead because the window of opportunity has closed.

Since the last referendum, over 500,000 immigrants have made a home in Quebec (more than that came, but many left to greener pastures in the ROC,)  making up for a falling falling population due to a generalized reduced Quebecois birth rate.
The vast majority of these new Quebeckers are NO voters, which means that all things remaining equal, the NO's have picked up around 5-7%  additional votes in any potential referendum.
Every five or so years, this phenomenon changes the YES/NO dynamic by another 2% or so, in favour of the NO's.
There was a time that sovereignists believed that while first generation immigrants would massively vote NO in a referendum, the second and third generation, once assimilated will mirror more closely native-born voting patterns. That hasn't exactly worked out at all, with immigrants farther down the evolutionary line maintaining their federalist bias.
As things stand today, 64% of francophones would have to vote YES in a referendum for sovereignty to pass, considering the Anglo and Ethnic vote.
Each year that passes sees that number increase by about ½ of 1%. Shifting demographics{FR}

But even in the Francophone community, the sovereignty option has been badly on the decline.
Some of the decline can be credited to fatigue and some to the realization that Quebec is economically privileged by remaining in Canada.

And so to most Quebeckers, the idea of electing a new sovereignist PQ government that will ultimately hold another losing referendum, is about as enticing as a trip to the dentist. While sovereignists believe the losing exercise worthwhile, most Quebeckers cringe at the idea, realizing that after every losing referendum, Quebec is further diminished.

The NDP victory in last week's election signals that if he plays his cards right, Francois Legault can win the next provincial election with a fledgling new party (the operative word being 'new.')
The federal election proved that you don't need content or candidates, you just need to tap in to the emerging sentiment. Mr. Legault could run cardboard cutouts of himself in each riding and he would win a solid majority.
Mr. Legault will win because he is not Mr. Charest and he is not Madame Marois. In other words, Mr. Legault is not incompetent and corrupt as many Quebeckers perceive Charest to be and he is not a separatist as Madame Marois proudly professes to be.

Apparently that's all Quebeckers really want....

All that is left for sovereignists to hope for, is that one burning issue (like Meech Lake or Charlottetown)  will ignite a new wave of anger towards Ottawa, an issue that will somehow sweep the province into a fit of rage, presenting those elusive 'winning conditions.'
Madame Marois has even promised that once elected, she will try to bait the federal government into a series of 'chicanes' that will serve that very purpose.

Sorry Pauline, it won't happen, at least not for as long as Mr. Harper is Prime Minister. There won't be a new constitutional debate or discussion or negotiations on any issue that has the potential to rile up the natives. It takes two to tango.
Ottawa realizes that there is nothing that they can offer that will satisfy separatists and that any discussion or negotiation has the potential to set off a tinderbox.

Sound management of the separatist file will neutralize any potential threat.

The federal election didn't kill the sovereignty, it just signalled its demise.

and that's all she wrote...sovereignty is dead.

For Die-Hards, Bloc Collapse as Painful as Referendum Loss

Ever since Monday night, there's been a lot of tears and hand-wringing among committed sovereignists, who watched the painful implosion of a hitherto beloved separatist institution.

Indeed, for separatists, watching the Bloc Quebecois going down to ignominious defeat was probably as painful as watching your favourite boxer being trashed for several rounds before collapsing to the canvas only to suffer the inevitable and humiliating ten-count, followed by the referee's emphatic signal, that the fight is over,
K/O... Kaput!....The fat lady has sung!

It was like referendum night all over again..

Forgive my hyperbolic metaphor, but I'm feeling mighty smug and self-satisfied.

I don't usually take pleasure at someone else's misfortune, but in this case, I daresay that I'll make an exception.
And so, I'll take some time to revel in the Bloc's wipeout as well as time to celebrate a majority government.

A special treat for me is the reaction of the you-know-whos, like Louis Prefontaine who is frothing at the mouth in rage and humiliation. Read Une race de ti-counes{FR}  SWEET!

Some sovereignists are trying to spin the Bloc defeat as something positive for the separatist movement, but let's face it, four years of a majority Conservative government must be as inviting as a trip to the dentist for root canal surgery. Read this drivel,  Un excellent pas vers l’Indépendance{FR}

Truthfully, I didn't care whether it was a Liberal or Conservative majority, as long as the separatists were dealt out of the political equation.

Ironically, with almost 24% of the vote in Quebec, the Bloc won just 5% of the seats.
For twenty years the Bloc has punched above its weight, earning two-thirds of the seats with about forty percent of the vote. Payback's a bitch!

The Bloc's presence in Ottawa underlined the fragility of our Parliamentary democracy. Those Quebeckers who decided to mock Canada by electing secessionists, put an enormous amount of pressure on an institution designed to work with elected officials who want the best for the country, not the worst.

Luckily our democracy withstood the test and ultimately the sovereignists realized that even with a forced minority government, federalists would not give in to separatist demands.

Such was the humiliating rout that the Bloc will likely disappear forever, the experiment to promote sovereignty in Ottawa, a failed gambit.
Without an elected leader and without party status, there is no basis to continue, certainly in consideration of the choice that Quebec voters made.
Looking at four years of roaming the political wilderness, it will be next to impossible to keep the Bloc brand alive. I'm not even sure they can pay off their campaign expenses, considering that the federal subsidy will drop by over 40%. If they're depending on the generosity of Quebeckers to help them pay off the debt, they may as well declare bankruptcy now!

So like every Canadian federalist, I'm glad to see them gone and gone forever.

It would be an error to believe that the rejection of the Bloc is an utter rejection of the sovereignty option. After a 20 year experiment in pushing secession in Ottawa, with zero tangible results, many 'soft' nationalists decided that it was just time to pack in the Ottawa adventure.

But while the Bloc's demise is not fatal to the sovereignty movement, it does deal the secessionists a painful body blow.
It signals that the Parti Quebecois is no shoe-in to replace the faltering provincial Liberals, whose franchise is well-past the 'use-by' date. Like their federal counterparts, the word 'Liberal' is toxic in French Quebec, but it doesn't mean that the Peekists are a natural replacement. Quebeckers have shown that they have no problem with rejecting 'all-of-the-above' and going down a different road.

 Gilles Duceppe's political career is  over, I don't see him enjoying any significant role (other than an elder statesman) in the sovereignty movement after this abject failure. The collapse of the Bloc will be pinned on him by hard-liners and the only  political role left  for him is to wear the goat-horns. His political star is eclipsed.

In spite of a brave face, the Parti Quebecois and Pauline Marois in particular are terrified of what happened election night.
Quebeckers have the told politicians that they were tired of the status quo and likely that will play out in Quebec's next provincial election.

For the Liberal and the Peekists, all I can say is....Be afraid, be very afraid.