Comical Language Police Pathetically Out of Touch with Reality

Only the most militant language fanatic can abide by the farcical inspection of a restaurant over some flimsy complaint about an English language sign during these desperate and trying of times for the restaurant business.

While most language militants kept silent out of embarrassment, not so Quebec's most enduring xenophobic and Anglophobe, Gilles Proulx, who in a radio interview with Richard Martineau referred to the owner of Kitchen73, Carmine Anoia by name as a "cursed impudent who just got off the boat" ("Un maudit bel effronté qui debarque du bateau") Link{fr}  

An insulted Proulx made the reference again just for good measure, again complaining about "those who just got off the boat who don't care about Bill 101" He then issued another racist insult invoking the term Tête carrée" a slur against Anglophones which is akin to Anglophones using the term "Pepsi" to insult French Quebecers.

More than a comical blowhard. Proulx is a sickening racist

It goes to underline the level of Proulx's racism that he made his remark about Mr. Anoia based solely on the Italian sound of his name. In fact, Mr. Anoia assures me that he was actually born here. He was also none-to-pleased by Mr. Proulx's racist remarks over immigrants.

I guess Quebec remains the only jurisdiction in Canada or America where one can use this type of language on the radio without complaint or repercussion. I wonder how it would go over  on Montreal radio station CJAD if I as a guest referred to Francophone Quebecers as "Damned Pepsis!" I can imagine the level of rightly-deserved censure that would ensue and this from an outraged Anglophone radio audience. As for Mr. Martineau, he is guilty of racism by allowing these types of remarks on his show with a wink, wink, nod, nod, and nary an objection. Shame on them both.

This in a time when almost all restaurants are on the brink of failure due to the in-house dining room closures as a result of the pandemic. It is indeed a stressful and bewildering time for hitherto successful restaurateurs blindsided by circumstances that can only be described as a "Black Swan" event. Not only is the pandemic a critical financial blow, but it also is wrecking a dastardly psychological toll on everyone in the restaurant business. 

The very last thing these people need is an idiot inspector showing up to add insult to injury.

As you probably heard the OQLF conducted an inspection of this restaurant which was actually closed to indoor customers. The exasperated owner of Kitchen 73 unloaded on the sad-sack inspector sending her scurrying away in the best tradition of the Shawville reception afforded the OQLF  years ago.

"A posse of Shawville, Que., residents, fed up with being harassed about business signs, has run one of Quebec's language police out of town -- and the residents say that if they have to, they'll do it again.

"At this point we are taking a stand, because I'm no longer being made to feel guilty for being English in Quebec," says Lynn Wilson, co-owner of the H&R Block in Shawville, a predominantly English town of 1,500 about 80 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

"Come and take me away -- I don't care, do what you have to do. I'm not changing (my signs)."    Read the rest of the story

 The saddest part of it all is the mindset of the OQLF, completely out of touch with reality, actually insulted at its treatment of its inspector and the support shown the restaurant in the press and in social media.

So aggrieved was the agency that it felt necessary to defend itself on its website, actually playing the victim instead of the bully.

Here's a translation of what the OQLF had to say about the situation;

The Office québécois de la langue française deplores the fact that certain untrue information is currently circulating about the visit of an inspector from the Office to the Kitchen 73 restaurant. personal on social networks. [-]

The Office therefore wishes to point out that it did not issue a fine to the Kitchen 73 restaurant, nor did it request any corrections during its visit. The Office responded to a complaint that involved indoor signage, not the outdoor signage or company name.

The Office is fully aware of the context of COVID-19 and is making all necessary efforts to minimize its impact on its clientele. In addition, he always makes sure to make an appointment before carrying out an inspection. This is what was attempted in this case. Unable to reach the owner, the inspector went to the Kitchen 73 restaurant on the afternoon of Thursday, October 22 in order to carry out the required checks. Link{fr}

First of all, let me point  out the utter irony of the OQLF in referring to those restaurants inspected as "clients,' a reference as realistic as lambs being led into the slaughterhouse being referred to as 'customers.'

But the above OQLF defence shows how completely oblivious and insensitive the agency is to the reality of the current pandemic, where inspecting closed restaurants on the verge of catastrophe is deemed perfectly normal and where beleaguered owners are expected to offer business as usual cooperation. It is strictly beyond the pale

The QOLF maintains the fiction that it protects the Province not only from the insidious creep of English but other languages as well. This charade offers the agency the fiction that it is not purely an anti-English tool.

Not having learned its lesson from the infamous pastagate affair, the OQLF was at it again, attacking a Montreal Italian bakery for its use of the word "Granita".

 Read the story

The agency is especially fond of harassing Italian owned businesses, their second favourite target, next to  Anglos themselves. Italians are especially despised by the OQLF because although almost all are perfectly bilingual, they like the Jews of Quebec identify with the Anglo community and are staunch federalists.

Ans so the OQLF has a big problem with words like pasta or granita. It's amusing that restaurant words rooted in other languages are considered kosher cacher like egg rolls, dim sum, tacos, tapas, bibimbap, wonton, ceviche, fajitas, queso, chilli con Carne, etc.etc. The OQLF much prefers legitimate French translations of these 'foreign' dishes in the spirit of the  famous "OT CHIKEN" sandwich, a staple in rural Quebec dives.

Perhaps the agency would be more sensitive if half of their staff were furloughed and the other half had to work from home at half pay for the duration of the pandemic.
It might sensitize them to the reality that is the restaurant business across not only Quebec but the entire western world.

 

 

It may be time for opponents of the OQLF to organize and up their game.
Up to now we have been bitching and moaning with the few legal challenges led by Brett Tyler largely unsupported by the community both financially and morally.

I want to congratulate Carmine Anoia for showing a little backbone in kicking out the offensive inspector.

Nothing terrible will happen and if his establishment is fined, it will well be worth the publicity. 
I for one never heard of this restaurant beforehand and now will make it a point to patronize it. A $500 fine is peanuts compared to the publicity.

If all targeted merchants took a stand, the OQLF would be paralyzed. 

If we are not willing to take firmer action we deserve what we get.

Perhaps we should take note of the effect that the Black Lives Matter movement wrecked on American society with a few well-aimed acts of civil disobedience.

The Quebec government is painfully sensitive to being publically humiliated over language, especially internationally. The OQLF inspectors have had an easy time harassing merchants and should be confronted in a more meaningful manner.

In other words, it's time for us to put up or shut up.

Sorry.... French Quebecers Don't Really Care About Saving French

This post isn't about climate change, but let me preface it with this observation on that subject before I go on.

I often find myself embroiled in debate with climate change proponents who froth at the mouth when they discover my skepticism.
The holier-than-thou lecturers invariably descend into name-calling where I'm treated to various insults which usually includes the infamous 'denier' label, a pejorative inspired by the apostle Peter's denial of Jesus.

My reply is almost always the same. I simply ask these virtue-signallers how much cash they'd be willing to fork over each week to a national fund that would combat climate change.

That's right, how much would they personally commit to paying each week....$10...$20...$50....$100.
You should see their stunned faces. It's as if they never contemplated the question.
I have never had any of them answer quickly and decisively with an amount. It is as if they never considered the idea of paying themselves because climate change is always someone else's responsibility.

Of all the climate change blowhards that you know, how many have downsized their home, sold their car in favour of mass transit, cancelled vacations and given up air travel?
Have they renounced air-conditioning and given up or drastically curtailed meat consumption? Do they buy fewer clothes and manufactured products and do they buy only food locally grown even if more expensive?

The protection of the French language by Quebec francophones falls under the same hypocritical reality that I've described above.

Francophone Quebecers, even the most militant and vocal are not really prepared to lift a finger themselves to help boost their language. As climate activists, their plan is for others to do the heavy lifting while they shout instructions and encouragement from the relative safety of the peanut gallery.
Simply put Quebec francophones believe that despite French being under threat as they believe, responsibility for corrective measures falls on somebody else's shoulders and of course, therein lies the rub.

This post is dedicated to all the French language alarmists like Mathieu-Bock Coté, Richard Martineau and his insipid partner Sophie Durocher, Gilles Proulx and Regis Lebeaume et als as well as the OQLF, SSJB and MMF. 

Let's go...it won't be pretty.....

The Quebec government is presenting its latest iteration of anti-English language measures crafted ostensibly to further promote and protect the French language.

"Quebec will open three new Office quebecois de la langue française (OQLF) offices, hire dozens of new employees and create a French-language accompaniment program to help certain businesses conform to Quebec’s language law, said Simon-Jolin Barrette in a Monday morning news conference.

“We have to be very clear. French is the common language and we need to give the resources to the OQLF to make sure the law is enforced and respected,” said Jolin-Barrette." Link

The language minister is huffing and puffing publicly about the addition of a paltry five million dollars to the OQLF budget, the Quebec agency entrusted in enforcing Bill. 

Proponents on both sides of the language debate have been roused to spirited debate by this announcement ushering in the latest flame-war in the never-ending polemic.

Comedian Sugar Sammy, a poster boy for immigrant children forced into French schools is the embodiment of the reality that while you can lead a horse to water, you cannot make him drink. Flawlessly bilingual, his act roasts Quebecers, English, French and Allophones in both French and English shows.
Sophie Durocher, columnist at Le Journal de Montreal blasted the comedian for the tweet as if he attacked the very soul of Quebec by humiliating the idea of adding more money to the OQLF in times where businesses are dropping like flies.

She then went on to invite him onto her radio show where she'd no doubt lambast him some more but refusing the bait Sugar Sammy told Durocher where to stuff the invite in no uncertain terms.

He tweeted this back to her....

"Even though I've been out of the country for five years I still remember what to avoid in Quebec.
1. Columnists like you.
2. Carbs.

Ha! Ha!

At any rate, the pro and con positions made a big splash in the newspapers but the debate missed the point entirely, which is that the announcement is an exercise in "sound and fury, signifying nothing' as Shakespeare so eloquently described in Macbeth. For a government agency, five million dollars doesn't buy lunch. The idea that it can in any way shape or form make a difference is ludicrous, the government knows it, you know and I know it. 

The obsession with Bill 101 is promulgated by the belief that it is necessary for the preservation of the French language in Quebec an idea which has been driven by generations of politicians and language advocates hammering home the message over and over again, to the point where it is considered sacrosanct in the francophone community, even amongst the less militant.

But Quebec's obsession with Bill 101 can be explained by the selfish desire to have a law protect their language, relieving ordinary folks from any responsibility to take up the task. In other words, why fight the fire yourself when a perfectly adequate fire department is available.

But this bedrock concept that French be protected through legislation is not a given as we'd been led to believe. Denmark, who's Danish speaking population of similar size to Quebec Francophones find themselves in almost an identical predicament, yet eschew the notion that legislation is necessary. Instead, the Danish government promotes the idea that it is the responsibility of each Dane to use and promote its own language to protect it. 

"The Danish Culture Ministry has announced that there is no need to pass language protection laws in Denmark at this time, but that other steps should be taken to protect the Danish language.

According to the Copenhagen Post Online, the announcement marks the conclusion of a special government committee investigation into whether or not the use of English is threatening the future viability of Danish.

Although the report released by the committee did not recommend that any new laws be passed to protect Danish, it did recommend steps that the Danish people should take to help preserve their native tongue. For example, the report stressed the “duty” of Danes to preserve the language in their homes and in their schools."  Link

Aha!

Unlike Quebec, the Danes believe that the protection of their language rests on the shoulders of its Danish-speaking natives, while Quebec believes that it is the minorities and the English who need to embrace French to protect the language and in Quebec's case, its culture.

As Quebec faced a population decline it boosted immigration of French-speaking immigrants, largely drawn from the French-enabled Maghreb hoping to fill the breach.

While these largely Muslim  immigrants speak French, they have stubbornly refused to give up their religion and faith. Planners believed that over a couple of generations these immigrants would adopt Quebecois customs as well as language, but it hasn't quite worked out. Maddeningly, these immigrants have kept their faith, their customs and more and perhaps worst of all, embraced Canadian federalism.

A bitter pill for desperate language nationalists and governments who have proposed and enacted stricter provisions in the law as its effectiveness over time is seen as wanting.

But the French language in Quebec cannot be saved by immigrants and Anglos adopting French.
Like the Danish proposal, it is up to Quebec francophones to save their own language if indeed it needs saving.
Alas, such is not the case because quite frankly Quebec francophones are just not interested in putting forth the effort required to save their own language. It is that simple, painful truth that is never discussed, a dirty secret best left under the rug.

And so the entire language debate blaming Anglos and ethnics for the perceived weakened position of the French language in Quebec is constructed to cast blame away from francophones who are shockingly lackadaisical, indifferent and utterly uninterested in making an effort on their own.

If Quebec francophones were serious about saving their language they could accomplish the goal by;

• Getting 63% of Francophones to vote for sovereignty in a new referendum after which a successful outcome, declare independence and totally ban English  
• Have all francophone native women undertake to have three children to patriotically ensure survival of the race. This would totally negate the need for those cursed immigrants who are perceived as the major threat to French in Quebec
• Somehow appeal to francophones not to embrace 'foreign' English culture. Last year I looked at the acts playing at the Bell Centre in Montreal and 90% were performing in English. In fact there were much more English Canadian acts than French Canadian acts (so much for the old canard that English Canada has no culture.) If francophones want to preserve their culture, they should be taught from a young age to promote and support their own artists. 
• Francophones need to boost their own language skills considering the pitiful state of affairs where the majority of new teachers on the francophone side can't pass a simple written French test.
• Francophones should voluntarily stop attending English schools, cegeps and universities in the name of preserving the preeminence of the French education system. Proposed laws banning the crossover are cited to contain allophones from attending English schools, but francophones are flooding English schools as well.
• Discontinue the practice of new companies from adopting English names and discontinue the practice of  adopting English names for products run by and created by francophones.
• Stop listening to English music on the radio or streaming services and stop watching Netflix in favour of homegrown francophone media.

Have you ever heard a language activist propose the above? Ha!

All these measures should be embraced voluntarily by Quebec francophones if the desire to protect and nurture the French language and culture in Quebec is real. Coercive laws would not be necessary.

Not interested? I fear not.

Then francophones need to shut up about language and live with the consequences. 

It isn't our job as anglos and ethnics to save your language if you aren't willing to lift a finger yourself.

OQLF- Quebec Language Cop's Slimy Incoherence

I've tackled this subject before but after channel surfing and coming across a BELL FIBE how-to video in French concerning the operation of the skinny remote control, I couldn't help but shrug my shoulders and wonder as to the utter incoherence of Quebec's infamous language police, the OQLF (l'Office québécois de la langue française.)

The thing I noticed was that the labels on the device were unilingually English, something I never thought about because I assumed that Bell sent me an English version because of my language preference.
Not so, I discovered to my surprise, all the remote controls have English only labelling.
Now why the OQLF does not force Bell to provide French labelling is mystifying, after all, Bell may have bought the devices in the USA, but they seem to have been able to add their BELL logo at the bottom of the device with no problem, so why not add French labels to the actual control buttons?

It is this type of incoherence that is maddening.

The OQLF seems dogged in attacking English only websites of mom and pop businesses that operate in Quebec, in order to shut them down or have them provide a French version.
It is hard to understand the rationale whereby the big players get a pass and the little players are screwed.
As they say in Quebec, Deux poids et deux mesures (Two weights..two measures.)  One set of rules for the rich and powerful companies and one for the schnooks.

It remains almost comical that vehicles in Quebec are allowed to be sold with dashboard labels exclusively in English but toy cars require French lettering.

Now I'm not going to return to the discussion about whether the OQLF serves a purpose and whether the defense of the French language at the expense of English is justified.
The whole subject of the place of English in Quebec is riddled with paradoxes and counter-intuitive opinions on the French side.
Polled as to the necessity of Bill 101, Francophone Quebecers are overwhelmingly in favour of the law, yet privately wish to send their kids to English school.

It seems to me that the OQLF has adopted a policy of doing what it can to reasonably implement aspects of the law while accepting that in certain instances, it cannot realistically impose its will.
That in and of itself seems logical, my father taught me as a young lad that if it's impossible to obtain the whole loaf of bread, take half.

The OQLF offers waivers to tech companies to operate in English, something they'd never allow small businesses to do.
While cars sold in many foreign countries have local language dashboards, North America has been deemed an 'Engish' market by car makers and so labels are exclusively in pictograms and English. (That being said, all computer generated instructions on smart screens are available in French in Canada.) But car makers have rejected the notion of bilingual or trilingual dashboards in North America because including Spanish and French would make the dashboards too cluttered and aesthetically displeasing. Not to mention the outrage that Americans would heap onto car makers for including 'foreign' languages, undermining the American principle of the 'melting pot.'
But to change the dashboards for Quebec cars to include French-language labels would be expensive, a cost that purchasers of said vehicles would have to bear, something the OQLF could not abide.
An overriding principle of the OQLF is that Francophone Quebecers should never be forced to pay the additional cost of adding French to a product.
Imagine the outrage if movies that were dubbed in French for Quebec francophone audiences included a surcharge to defray the cost, resulting in Quebec theatres charging more for the French version showing in Screen 1 in the multiplex, than the English version showing in Screen 2.
And so the OQLF demands that moviegoers across Canada share equally in the additional cost of French dubbing, having the effect that such cost is borne by the 75% majority of English-speaking movie-goers.
Perhaps separatists should consider this specific subsidy as an example of the hidden cost of sovereignty that would pervade the entire consumer market in an independent state... But I digress.

While all consumer products are required to have French labels and instructions, the OQLF turns a blind eye where vital products, produced outside Canada don't or won't provide such labelling. A good example is the tiny football helmet market where the few producers are all based in the USA and won't go through the expensive translation process for what is, in fact, less than 1% of their customers. And so university teams such as the vaunted Rouge et Or of Quebec suit up in equipment that has English only instructions, as the OQLF stands by without comment.
And of course there is the elephant in the room, the fact that the OQLF ignores the sale of English books and magazines without translated versions because to demand their translation into French would be impossible and to ban them unacceptable with the ensuing charges of state book-banning a humiliating result.
But that being said, toys and video games are subject to the law because the OQLF deems that exposure to English by children is a dangerous element of bilingualism, the bane of the organization.

And so, the OQLF seems to have put a bit of water in its wine, doing what it can, ignoring what it cannot. That in and of itself isn't inconsistent or incoherent, but where the operation of the OQLF is fraught with incoherence, is in the decidedly cruel enforcement of the rules on small English businesses imposed in a spiteful and vengeful manner, meant to inflict pain, perhaps out of frustration that the big players get away Scott-free.
I imagine that those who work at the OQLF are dedicated Anglo-bashers, it takes a certain hater to suffer the slings and arrows of abuse, especially the actual inspectors who relish their role in coming down hard on small anglo 'offenders.'
It is here where I charge the OQLF with incoherence, imposing rules on some and not others.

A notable example is Loto-Quebec casinos operating in various locations across the province.
Here the casinos offer slot machines obviously purchased in the USA and which remain exclusively English. All with the blessing of the OQLF which has either provided a waiver or turned a blind eye.

Now before apologists point out that it is just the name of the game that is in English, let me point out that the words on the spinning tumblers are also exclusively in English.
This is nothing short of dereliction of duty because if any organization can afford to translate the artwork into French it is the printing press that is the casinos. Ignoring the casinos English-only transgressions while demanding that mom and pop stores provide French labels for English board games is the height of hypocrisy, but then the very nature of the OQLF is hypocrisy because its raison-d'etre has always been not only to promote and protect the French language but to punish anglophones for using English.

That is why the OQLF goes after small home businesses with ridiculous demands that those who don't even sell their products in Quebec bilingualize their websites at additional cost, without consideration of the added burden.

"When contacted by The Montreal Gazette, the OQLF said that even if items are not sold in Quebec through the website, it must still be in French because it advertises a business operating in the province." Link

It has always been the goal of the OQLF to reduce English however it could, with the operative word 'could.'
Quebec municipalities wishing to communicate with citizens in English must prove that 50% of the residents are English, an absurd situation where the English community has to be in the majority to be considered a legitimate minority.
This rule is the hallmark of petty vindictiveness and is utterly inexcusable.
And how is this for pettiness....

"A restaurant owner has a warning for other restaurateurs in Montreal: if you get a good review from Trip Advisor, don't advertise it.
The latest complaint filed with the OQLF is for a tiny sticker placed on the front window of The Burgundy Lion, a pub in Little Burgundy.
The language police have no problem with the name of the establishment -- that is protected by language laws. The sticker reads, in letters less than one centimetre high, "Recommended on tripadvisor.ca," and is accompanied by a large logo of an owl.
However the agency says a small sticker, smaller than the palm of your hand and located about knee level in the pub's front window, is in violation of Quebec's laws regarding signage.
The sticker reads, in letters less than one centimetre high, "Recommended on tripadvisor.ca," and is accompanied by a large logo of an owl." Link

Getting back to toys, especially those 'talking' types like the infamous Buzz Lightyear, the OQLF has not only banned those toys from being sold in Quebec stores but also online.
That has the result that an English Quebecer cannot order an educational toy for her child no matter what, even online. Is that really the mandate of the OQLF?

"A board game cafe in Montreal, Chez Geeks, received their third complaint last week from the Office Quebecoise de la Langue Française (OQLF) about selling English board games.

The OQLF is targeting a recent English-only ad for a new board game release at the store. They told shop owner, Giancarlo Caltabiano, that in order to sell the English version of the game he needs a French one." Link

We all understand that many products have just too small a production run and in many cases are produced by small businesses who cannot afford translation for the minuscule Quebec francophone audience.
The OQLF position is that if we can't have it neither can you.

Let me finish with what I believe is the most telling story of OQLF over-reach, its attempt to get retailers to abandon the infamous 'Boxing Day Sale' a tradition in Commonwealth countries. For this reason, the OQLF wants the holiday to be renamed.
Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas and is a tradition whereby the home is purged of the Christmas mess including boxes and wrapping.

"Quebec's language watchdog is encouraging retailers to do away with the term “Boxing Day” when describing the sales that usually begin Dec. 26.
The OQLF wants retailers and consumers to use "Les soldes de l’après-Noël," which translates to "After Christmas sales” instead.

 And so the OQLF doesn't want a French-language name for the holiday, it wants to eliminate it because it is an English tradition, an offensive travesty akin to demanding that Halloween be renamed  "Nuit de costume et de bonbons."
Come to think of it, considering Quebec's new obsession with separating religion from public life, the OQLF should have suggested that Boxing Day be renamed Les soldes d'après le 25 decembre.'

For these reasons the OQLF has shamed itself and the political masters who continue to indulge its excesses. Having learned from past gaffes that have humiliated Quebec across the globe, the OQLF is mindful but unrepentant, they remain a frustrated band of anglo-bashers looking to inflict pain on the English as a delightful fringe-benefit of their work.

That being said, I am less opposed to the work of the OQLF than most other anglos. I feel that government does have a role in protecting the French language, but when limiting the rights of one group in favour of another it is important to do so in as kind and as gentle manner as possible, something the OQLF ignores.
The OQLF has always viewed its role differently from what we are officially told, inspired by the nasty father of Bill 101, the hateful Camille Laurin who wanted to drum the English out of Quebec by hook or by crook.
It is sad that the OQLF has adopted its underhanded and mean-spirited methods, instead of working to make French respected and implemented in a thoughtful, respectful and coherent manner.

Quebec Language Police...Life Imitates Art

Quebec store owner ordered to change Facebook page to French

"Eva Cooper argues that Quebec's language law, Bill 101, doesn't cover social media

The owner of a store in Chelsea, Que., says she has been inundated with calls of support since the Quebec government ordered her to change the language on her store’s Facebook page to French.
Eva Cooper owns the women’s clothing boutique store, Delilah (in the Parc), with locations in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood and in Chelsea, just north of Gatineau

• CBC Community: readers mock Quebec's Facebook language complaint
• Speaking out: Quebec's debate over language law

The Facebook page is only in English, though the store's pamphlets and signs are in French. (CBC)
Cooper said she serves customers in both languages, but her Facebook posts are mostly in English.
“I was a little bit in shock. I was a bit taken aback,” Cooper said regarding the request to change her Facebook page.
“It’s not like I’ve ever not followed the law with my businesses on the Quebec side.”

Customer complaint prompted order;
Cooper said she received a letter from the provincial government after a customer complained the page did not meet the requirements of Bill 101, the main legislation in Quebec’s language policy.

Bill 101: Chapter VII
Language of Commerce and Business52. Catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories and any similar publications must be drawn up in French.

Cooper has been ordered to translate her page by March 10 or she could face legal action.
Jean-Pierre Leblanc, a spokesman with Quebec's French-language office, said any promotional material from a business must be written in French, including posts on Facebook and Twitter.
"It's not the media itself, it's the use of it, so when you use it for commercial purpose, advertising, you are selling product or you are advertising for a service, it's applied," said Leblanc.
But Cooper argues there are blurred lines because the law does not mention social media."

Read the rest of the story at CBC

 How many of you remember this scene from the movie Canadian Bacon?;

It is a little funny and a lot sad. Ridiculous, and vindictive. 
As Oscar Wilde reminded us so eloquently, "Life imitates art." (the notion that an event in the real world is inspired by a creative work.)

I wonder what kind of hateful mind one must possess to work at the OQLF and thrive in such an atmosphere of intolerance. Like Iran's dogmatic and fanatical religious police the Basiji, who scour the streets in search of immodestly dressed women, so too does the OQLF, which views itself as the protector of all things linguistically pure and chaste.
When Quebec militants observe that religious zealots are unwelcome in Quebec, they conveniently ignore that the only ones terrorizing the public over morality and language are they themselves.
While the PQ and its followers hold that extremists who demand religious piety from those disinclined represent a dangerous affront on freedom, they hold that extremists who demand language compliance, honourable instruments of legitimate public policy.

The reality is that the OQLF, Quebec's language police, is a chickenshit outfit, prone to terrorizing and bullying mom and pop businesses, but utterly afraid of the big boys.

Humourless and faceless ideologues who can actually make sense of demanding English television and radio stations to advertise their wares in French on billboards....Mais Oui!

But when faced with the harsh reality that some big companies will leave Quebec rather then operate in French, the solution is to offer waivers.
Think the OQLF will offer small boutiques, whose clientele is foreign or exclusively English the same opportunity?

I repeat what I've always said, why is it that toy cars must be labeled in French, yet real cars continue to have English dashboards?

Quebec language laws are morally reprehensible because they are enforced selectively.
How would we react if police stood on a busy downtown corner in any Quebec city and ticketed jaywalkers selectively, that is, picking out only those who are people of colour, ignoring the whites. (Oh wait, this actually happens in Montreal.)

And so why do Quebec casinos, owned and operated by a government of Quebec agency, flout the language laws with impunity. How is it they are given a pass, while small fry shopkeepers are terrorized?

The below screenshot comes directly from Loto-Quebec's French language website, proudly showing off all the wonderful slot machines offered in its Quebec casinos, with nary a word in French;

Take note that not only is the artwork in English only, but the instructions as well!

You can visit Loto-Quebec's webpage that proudly introduces all its exclusively English slot machines through a well produced slideshow. HERE

Why do the Quebec casinos, own and operated by a government of Quebec  agency, flout the language laws with impunity?

So I repeat what I've always said, why is it that toy cars must be labeled in French, yet real cars continue to have English dashboards?

I'm going to say this again, that we as a targeted minority shouldn't complain if we are not willing to make any effort to resist.

Most businesses just cave in to the pressure in order to buy their peace, it is sad, but true. 

 “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”- Ben Franklin

If every targeted business would invest a thousand dollars and would committ its time to drag the OQLF in a time-consuming and bitter legal battle, the wheels of the OQLF would fall off.

If every OQLF inspector understood that he or she was walking into a hornet's nest instead of a fearful and compliant victim and every single file would be a bloody battle royale, things would change.

Like a bully who finds that his victims are fighting back and with effect, attitudes quickly change.

Each case can easily be dragged out for years and years and this at almost no cost. Most cases will be dropped anyways because for the OQLF, pursuing tiny cases costs an enormous amount of money and so tying up legal resources, a legitimate act of social defiance.

If Eva Cooper just says no to the OQLF over the Facebook page, it will mean a lengthy delay (years) before the issue is decided in court (and there is absolutely no overwhelming expectation that the OQLF will win.)

In the meantime, the OQLF will send out hundreds of letters pretending that the issue is cut and dried, when clearly it is not.

If everyone who received such a letter refused to comply based on the position that the request is beyond the scope of the law, it will be the OQLF which will be perturbed.

Every OQLF employee who is required to spend loads of time on the most obscure offences, it means that he or she cannot terrorize someone else.

Legal resistance is not only a viable defence, but an obligation in the face of collective oppression.

For our community, it is time to put up or shut up. The OQLF cannot flourish unless we blindly obey their every caprice.
Nobody is asking you to take a truncheon in the noggin or face a jail term for resistance, as did many who fought for their human rights.
If we aren't willing to spend a few dollars and expend a little effort we absolutely deserve what we get.

Fight back or shut up, which will it be?

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

****** LANGUAGE COPS CAVE UNDER PRESSURE! ******** 

March 3, 2014;
"Quebec’s language police have beaten a hasty retreat in their fight with a Chelsea businesswoman they’d targeted for supposedly violating provincial language laws.“I think I can do what I was doing before,” Eva Cooper, owner of a specialty clothing shop, Delilah (in the Parc), said Monday as she explained that officials with the Office québécois de la langue française — more contemptuously known as the language gendarmes — are no longer insisting her store’s Facebook postings be equally French and English" Link

PQ Language Dog Finally Put Down

Minister to OQLF "Woah! Les moteurs"

Diane de Courcy, the PQ minister in charge of the language dossier, made no bones about it, the disastrous public relations nightmare concerning Pastagate had to be addressed one way or another.

The OQLF position that the pasta incident at the Buonanote restaurant was just an isolated case of an over-zealous inspector didn't quite fly and after a few days of trying to ride out the storm, during which time more and more incidents of language intolerance became public, it became clear that some action was required to restore public confidence.

The indefensible attack on Pasta and the subsequent public humiliation of Quebec in the international press so infuriated the general public that without a major reaction by the government , the OQLF and the PQ itself risked becoming the butt of a permanent joke.

And so De Courcy did what all politicians who find themselves in such a pickle do .....throw a scapegoat under the bus, in this case the head of the OQLF, Louise Marchand.

Now the media portrayed her removal as a resignation, but nothing could be farther from the truth, the announcement of Marchand's departure came from the minister herself in a press conference devoted to shoring up confidence in the PQ government.
When politicians or highly placed civil servants actually resign on their own, it is usual for them to call a press conference and give the reasons why, thank their co-workers and employees and otherwise wind up things professionally.
In this case, Marchand was shown the door like a fired employee frog marched out of the company premises with a box of personal effects under her arm, escorted by a trailing security agent.

"Ba-bye, don't talk to anybody and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!"

Anyways, I'm not sad to see her go, quite the opposite.
Marchand was the embodiment of everything evil about the OQLF, which under her reign became even more repressive, turning the agency into a dogmatic and cruel organization that reminds me of religious police in Islamic fundementalist countries where inspectors roam the streets, verifying the modesty of women's clothing.
Madame Marchand is your classic anglophobe, somone who let her true feelings surface once in a while as exemplified in this statement.

"Greeting a client in two languages isn't against the Charter, but it's an irritant.... Link

And so it's not hard to understand in what direction the anglophobic Marchand led the OQLF.
As we say in English...."Good riddance to bad rubbish."

Of course Louise Marchand will preserve a high-paying government job, we would expect no less, after all this is Quebec.
But she will end her career as damaged goods, like a pilot who crashes her airplane, killing the passengers, but who herself survives.
She will always be looked upon as a pariah, a bureaucrat who brought shame and humiliation to her province, because that is what the public demands, an individual scapegoat to carry the burden of what should be a collective shame.
The fiasco can't be laid at the PQ's knee exclusively, let's remember that Madame Marchand was a Liberal government appointee and that her particular reign of terror was tolerated by the party that was supposedly the defender of minority rights.

At any rate, De Courcy was surprisingly honest about the whole affair, telling reporters that it wasn't in fact a case of one or two over-zealous inspectors, but rather an institutional problem, where strict application of the law across the board, damn the consequences, was the order of the day.

The minister promises changes and a gentler approach. In fact de Courcy is just getting ahead of the prevailing wind, like a pompous ass standing at the sea shore at the beginning of low tide, ordering the waters to recede.
In light of Pastagate, the OQLF could never continue in its previous iteration.

The unfortunate inspector who triggered Pastagate may not be officially sanctioned, but I don't think she should hold her breath waiting for much in the way of career advancement.
Inspectors don't need De Courcy telling them to be gentler, the message has been made loud and clear.
If anything, government workers are resilient and these inspectors will shrug their shoulders and carry on according to the new rules.
As for over-zealousness, it is a thing of the past, no inspector or supervisor in the OQLF is going to risk getting their ass waxed over an English or Italian word or two.
For the OQLF, an agency hitherto obsessed with the elimination of English and now Italian from public purview, I can sum it all up with this simple remark from the dreaded Italiano.... '“Finita la commedia” (the farce is over..)

Also to consider is the fact that potential business targets have been emboldened and in many cases are spoiling for a fight with the sad-sack OQLF.
Make no mistake about it, the restaurants involved in the latest fiasco reaped invaluable publicity, so much so that others, like the shameless self-promoter David McMillan of Joe Beef restaurant, jumped on the bandwagon claiming that his restaurant was also a victim, hoping for a similar public relations windfall!
And guess what? He was justly rewarded by an obliging press, with OQLF language horror stories generating gads of media interest. You've got to admit it's a little comical. Link

Political cartoonist  Marc Beaudot elegantly captures the spirit of Pastagate

As I said in a previous post, we've crossed a critical tipping point, where the OQLF will never again spread fear and reap havoc to the extent it did so for these last years.

By the way, the insufferable Minister De Courcy gave another speech in which she proposed giving the Commission de Normes de Travail, the government agency mandated to protect workers rights, the new task of protecting workers right to work in French. I can only imagine the boondoggle as anyone pissed off with his or her boss can sic the dogs of the agency renowned for its unmitigated hatred of bosses.

At any rate I digress, the only reason I bring up the above is because of another statement she made during that presentation;

"I believe it is time that we in Quebec adapt to the reality of the twenty-first century, and we encourage the learning of a third language, or even a fourth, a fifth, in schools and colleges, "said the minister." Link 

That's a pretty bold statement, especially from the indefatigable Madame De Courcy who speaks nothing but French and warns reporters before her press conferences that she will take no questions in English. It actually would be funny if not so sad.

But let's go on.....I'd like to offer the OQLF an olive branch, a project where they can actually help promote French with the blessing of this blog and the entire English and Ethnic community.

The subject concerns the bad French that some consumer products bear because the company used Google or some other free Internet service to translate the French on the packaging.

The results are sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad and always disrespectful.

While small companies in China can be forgiven, I'll start the photo roll with a picture of a truck from that Canadian furniture institution LEONS.
The company translated the phrase, "Serving Canada",  painted on its familiar yellow truck into the French "Canada de portion,"  a moronic mistake that invokes the other meaning of portion (like a meal portion)
I'm not even mentioning the other dog's breakfast of a translation, on the bottom of the truck.
Laziness, stupidity, disrespect?
All of the above.

Picture credits Fail.Qc.com

For those who don't speak French, I'm reserving the explanations to the comments section so that readers can have some fun describing the gaffes.

Now wouldn't it be neat if the OQLF opened a website where small companies could get some help with French used on packaging.
They could  submit some French text and the OQLF could verify and offer appropriate changes quickly and without much fanfare.

The whole project could be funded with two or three employees and a webmaster at a cost of a two- hundred thousand dollars, tops. This in an agency with a budget of over $25 million.

It's a positive project that can make a meaningful difference, at a relatively low cost and one which we can all support.

But this is Quebec where no-brainers don't often make sense......

Do Quebec Language Cops Hate Italians?

 I've been writing this blog for about three years now and I can say that no missive in the comments section got my attention as much as this one attacking Quebec's Italian community.

Translation: Undoubtedly the Italians were once a great people. But we're forced to admit that they have been rotten for a long time. Take for example, their adherence to fascism and their chronic inability to form a stable government. Besides this, consider the Mafia that plagues their social and economic life.

This same decay can be found in Italian Quebec. Because of this, we have enough evidence to conclude that all Italians with English as a common language should be excluded from any executive position in public administration and in ownership of any construction company. Italians who use English as their everyday language should content themselves to remaining in the drug trafficking business, an activity in which the community already excels.

Now I waited a full two days to allow this active poster to either remove the post or ask that it be removed by myself, the editor, a request with which I would have complied with.
After all, most of us have shot off our mouths only to regret what we have said, especially in a drunk dial or ill advised text or tweet. In such cases, we all could benefit by a sympathetic DELETE.
But apparently, such was not the case here, the poster unapologetic and so I let the post stand.

Some will argue that it is a failing of this blog to allow such racist drivel to remain online, but respectfully, I disagree.

The vast, vast majority of Canadians (including Quebecers of all ethnicities, language and religion) are not racists and recognize garbage like this for what it is.....pure hate.
So it's important not to sanitize the minority who hold these racist views because sometimes, just sometimes it represents the common view of a discernible political group or organization and we the public are better served by being aware of their  opinions

I much prefer to hear the hateful missives of White supremacist groups who rail against Jews, Blacks and Browns, so that I can fully understand the depths of their depravity.
You and I and almost all Canadians are mature enough to handle the truth and in this respect I much prefer the American version of free speech.

I recall the stupid racist rant against Jews by David Ahenikew, a Saskatchewan native leader whose ill-advised comments brought down a firestorm of criticism and censure in the Press which resulted in his professional life being effectively ruined.
Had the reporter, to which the remarks were made, decided not to print what Ahenikew said, we the public would never have known the truth about the man and it would have allowed him to continue on in a leadership role, something he did not deserve.

So I much prefer to know what our poster Y.L. is really thinking, it clears things up for us.

The same goes for the OQLF, the incident known as 'Pastagate'  that exploded last week on the pages of newspapers around the world, which shows us exactly what the OQLF is really about and clears up any myth or misconception that the agency is anything else but an organ of state-sanctioned ethnocentric oppression.

For those who are unaware, last week the OQLF (sarcastically known as the language police) censured an Italian restaurant because it had the temerity to use the word 'PASTA' on the menu, instead of the politically correct "Pate,' the French equivalent.
In the face of worldwide ridicule, the government intervened and ordered the agency to  backtrack, claiming that the whole affair was a rare and regrettable mistake, just a small overreaction by an individual inspector, to a legitimate complaint.

Both those statements are outright lies.

First of all, the original complaint that the OQLF received about the restaurant, never mentioned the word 'PASTA,' only that the complainer was annoyed at receiving an all-English menu (the restaurant offers a separate English and French version.)
When the inspector from the OQLF arrived at the restaurant to check out the complaint, she was handed the required French menu and so had nothing to proceed on.
All by her lonesome, this OQLF inspector attacked the restaurant over the Italian words on the menu, giving birth to 'Pastagate.'

But in the fallout of Pastagate we learned that this wasn't a case of one overzealous inspector, as the OQLF claimed, in fact OQLF inspectors have harassed at least two other Italian themed restaurants over the fact that they were using Italian words to create an atmosphere. So it's no leap to conclude that the actions of the inspectors were no aberration, just par for the course.

Like the comment above from Y.L., which exposes his true racist nature, the blitzkrieg (oh no, not another foreign word!) against the Italian eateries exposes la vrai nature de l'OQLF.

The enmity demonstrated by Y.L. in his comment is not atypical of Franco-supremacists who base their disdain on the fact that the Italian community of Quebec has almost exclusively integrated into the English side of the language equation, something they are furious over.
Italians, along with Jews and Greeks are particular targets of Franco-supremacists from Yves Michaud to Mario Beaulieu for this exact reason, the failure of these communities to integrate in Franco-Quebec society. For them it remains a painful and festering sore.

And so the OQLF, an agency that defines and applies its very own twisted version of the Nuremburg laws, has a particular hate-on for these enemy communities and it is no mistake that the word 'PASTA' was censured, while 'TAPAS,'  'PHO,' 'SEVICHE,' are not, because the Spanish and Vietnamese communities are considered 'allies' in the war on the English.

The great lie of Pastagate is one told by the OQLF stating that the attack on the Italian restaurant was a case of an over-zealous inspector, it clearly was policy,  an organized attempt by the OQLF to eradicate Italian influence in public, because the Italians are allies of the English.

"The friend of my enemy is my enemy."
 It makes sense only to the the twisted ethnocentric minds of the OQLF.

How evil and polluting is the mindset of the OQLF?
It's gotten to the point that ordinary citizens are being whipped up into a language frenzy.

HERE'S JUST the latest citizen-language warrior incident;

 READ THE STORY ON FACEBOOK   (credit to R.S)

OQLF...Get the 'EFF' out!

With friends like Mario Beaulieu, it's likely that the OQLF doesn't need enemies, his defence of the agency in the matter of 'Pizzagate' must have elicited groans of embarrassment at the agency already reeling in humiliation.

For those who don't know the l'Office québécois de la langue française OQLF has been in a public relations nightmare over its demand that a Montreal restaurant remove the word 'Pasta' from its menu and replace it with the French word 'Pate'

The restaurateur went public with the nonsense and the story went viral, with newspapers and media reporting on the story around the world.

The largest foreign reaction came from Italy, where the insult was taken rather personally and seen as an attack on the country's honour.

Here's one headline that you don't even need to speak Italian to get the gist of;

"Ristorante in Canada ‘troppo italiano’: obbligato a riscrivere in francese il menù"
" An Italian restaurant in Canada, in the state of Quebec, was forced to rewrite its menu because it contained too many words in our language. It may sound crazy, but this extreme measure was demanded by no less than the Office québécois de la langue française, or the authority in Quebec who has the task of protecting the French language in a country predominantly English."  Clicca per il link

Here's a headline that you probably won't understand;
"Bareja po kanadyjsku? Policja językowa w Quebecu"
but it just goes to show how far the story has travelled when the Polish press is picking up the story where our province is being held up as a laughingstock.

The publication of the story seems to have served up some backbone for others to come forward with their version of linguistic terrorism, dished out by an agency gone rogue.

Perhaps the silliest story is that of a restaurant in Quebec City, Caffe Conti, ordered to replace the word 'CAFFE,' used I imagine to class up the place a little, with the French version CAFÉ , hence the title of this blog piece, 'OQLF...Get the EF out.'
See a video story

Others have come forward including restaurant Joe Beef who was ordered by the OQLF to take down some 'English' artifacts hanging on the wall. Link

Here is a snapshot of what the OQLF occupies its time with;

McKibbin's Irish Pub on Bishop St. downtown is too English for Quebec's language police.
McKibbin's, with its dark beams, warm fireplace and colourful Gaelic decorative touches, has been popular with the Concordia University crowd since it opened 10 years ago.
But the Office québécois de la langue française has suddenly noticed the antique English-language advertisements on the pub's walls and wants them removed.
It objects specifically to vintage ads that say such things as "Guinness Dublin 1759," "Ireland Trademark," "Cudthromach Aire," "Eat Palethorpes pork pies fresh today" and "Guinness Extra Stout, Draught & Bottled St. James Gate, Dublin" and "Caffrey's Cream."
Many of the signs - some hand-carved, some painted on tin - were acquired in Ireland by the owners of McKibbin's to give the bar an authentic Irish atmosphere.
In a letter to co-owner Rick Fon this month, the OQLF says that too much English is spoken by the bar's staff, that a customer has complained about not being served in French and that the English signs on the walls are an affront to Quebec's language laws.  Read the rest of the story

A ENGLISH school board was ordered to communicate in French.

Read the story, especially the comments

It seems that the agency is facing a 'tipping point,' (that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.) and that those previously silent are now and forever empowered to denounce the persecution of the OQLF.

The agency has overnight become a laughingstock and an embarrassment to right-minded francophones, who cringe at the negative publicity rocking the internet.

To make matters worse, Mario Beaulieu, Quebec's chief language supremacist has added more fuel to the fire of humiliation by claiming that the whole story is a plot by the English media, which he characterized as a 'cabal'  meant to hurt Quebec AND that the francophone media have fallen into a trap by picking up the story!

Now the agency which takes itself entirely too serious, is itself being mocked mercilessly like with the complaints that the "GO HABS GO" cheer in the Bell Centre or on city buses is illegal.

"The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) has put itself on an inevitable journey to self-destruction in the last two weeks. The enormous list of absurd judgements from the province's language police that have come to light are a sign that the Office has gone off the deep end with power. The resulting social media outcry has put the OQLF on an irreversible and unintended path to its own demise. While they have acknowledged that perhaps they went too far in some cases, the damage has already been done and any legitimate authority the OQLF ever had has now vanished." Huffington Post

Let's hope that Quebec merchant's no longer maintain a policy of silent submission and the recent outcry provides them with a little dose of backbone.

It's time for merchants to give the agency a hard time, both publically and privately. If every establishment would take the agency to task and just refuse unreasonable demands, it wouldn't be long before the OQLF drowned in paperwork and litigation.

A word of advice to those afraid of the expense of fighting the agency.
It doesn't take much money to defend one's right, all that is required is steely nerve.
It's close to two years before any case will reach court and a merchant can always acquiesce before that.
In the meantime a tremendous amount of effort is expended by the agency with threatening letter after threatening letter burning up bureaucratic time and effort.
The OQLF is a paper tiger, even in a worst case scenario the fine for a first time offender is rarely over $500
If everybody just said no, the agency would collapse under its own weight.

One last story....
When the OQLF visited our company, the inspector was particularly interested in the specialized computer software that ran the company and asked me why it was in English.
I mumbled an answer that I didn't know why, turned and laughed under my breath.

This as you can imagine set the inspector off and it wasn't long before a full blown investigation was undertaken over the unilingual software.
After ignoring a couple of threatening letters, warning our company of the impending Armageddon,  I received a desperate call from our software company telling me that they too were under a full scale investigation about the so-called unlingual software and wanting to know why I didn't inform the OQLF that all one had to do to toggle to the French version was to press the F12 key.

As you can imagine the OQLF was none too amused over the wild goose chase that I sent them on. Ha! Ha!
Unfortunately, the software company was also not amused......