Quebec Pasta-Chasers Hall of Shame

Pasta-Chaser
 pästə-ˈCHāsər     Noun
A humorous yet derogatory term borne out of the infamous Pastagate affair describing;
1. A Quebec politician obsessed with curbing minority language rights.
2. A public servant working in the OQLF charged with enforcing language laws.
3. A member of a French language lobby group or media personality obsessed with curbing minority language rights.
Synonyms
Language police, language cop, 

10- Benoît Dutrizac -radio personality

Unlike the other nine personalities that follow, Benoît Dutrizac is actually highly intelligent, lucid and remarkably talented. He differs from them in that he probably doesn't really believe half the bullshit he spouts on the radio, but rather is obsessed with the accrued ratings that language conflict produces.
And so, Dutrizac knowingly panders to language hotheads encouraging them to take direct action in defense of the true Quebec nation.

He once urged listeners to invade the tiny Anglo/Jewish enclave of Hampstead, in order to disturb the peace by loudly honking horns and making all manner of noise, protesting a town bylaw that forbids noise (gardeners mowing the lawn..e.g) on two of the Jewish religions holiest days.
Protesters took him up on the challenge and did exactly that, parading through the town in a provocative show of force, supported by an escort of police who made sure that the demonstrators had free passage.
What Dutrizac failed to tell listeners is that the town, which is about 80% Jewish, also forbids noise on Sunday (not the Jewish sabbath) and on Christian holidays as well. This willful misrepresentation  and his willingness to never let the facts get in the way of a good story speaks to his cynicism and contempt.

"In August, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found that another 98.5 FM host – Benoît Dutrizac – breached its code of ethics when he called on listeners passing through the predominantly Jewish neighbourhood of Hampstead to honk and make as much noise as possible to protest a bylaw against noisy outdoor activity on Rosh Hashanah.
On another occasion Dutrizac also railed against an African depanneur owner who made some injudicious remarks after being accosted for not speaking French." Link

As to that second reference, Dutrizac took aim at a hapless African depanneur owner, who made some injudicious remarks after being goaded by a Dutrizac producer for not speaking French in a secretly recorded conversation.

"Williams is the dépanneur owner in Verdun who found himself at the centre of a Bill 101 debate after a producer from 98.5 FM’s Dutrizac called him anonymously, speaking to him only in French. When asked why he was not speaking French and citing Bill 101, Williams erupted into a tirade.
“You claim you are Quebecois but what do you contribute to Quebec? You stay at home, you drink beer, you smoke cigarettes, you take welfare. I am an immigrant, yes… I take care of your people… you have no right to question my language background.”
The comments caused a fury. The Jeunes patriotes nationalist group held a protest at the store on Saturday. About 30 protesters stood outside the store, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes; a reply to the store owner’s comments." Link

 Incidentally the tirade by the convenience store depanneur owner is enshrined in the annals of the French language debate, fitting in somewhere between the fictional  story of the parrot who was not allowed to speak English and the Mordechai Richler interview on 60 Minutes. 


9- Rejean Tremblay -sportscaster and journalist

Rejean Tremblay may be one of Quebec's most respected sportscasters, but he's a man who holds a lifelong grudge against Anglos and Canada, one who wears his utter disdain like a badge of honour.

Whether it is the Canadian Olympic Committee or the NHL, Tremblay sees plots against francophone athletes everywhere.
Last year, he raged publicly over the Canadiens hiring of unilingual Randy Cunneyworth and was instrumental in putting the language debate into the sports pages.

Tremblay has in the past conducted a long and virulent public campaign against ex-Habs captain Saku Koivu because he never learned to speak French and so sought every opportunity to denigrate his hockey and leadership skills.

His most famous assertion is that the Montreal Canadiens have a sacred duty to hire more French-speaking players, so that the team can better represent the city and province for which they play for.
Mr. Tremblay actually believes the romantic notion that French Canadian hockey players try harder than Anglos or Eurpoeans because they are playing at 'home'

"The less French-Canadian players there are," he argued, "the less problems (the owners) will have with the media, the more (the owners) will be able to control information and the team's image."

"The Canadiens are the blood and oxygen of an entire part of Quebec society," Tremblay continued. "In normal times, from what I have observed in the last 40 years, is that the Canadiens precede what happens in Quebec society." Link

Mr. Tremblay also believes that the rest of the NHL discriminates against Francophone players, preferring to hire Anglos instead.
It's hard to jive the two theories, on one hand holding that the Canadians should discriminate in favour of French players, but that English teams should not discriminate in favour of Anglos.

At any rate, it makes sense to Tremblay because Quebec and Francophones are in his opinion, 'special' and have inalienable rights to affirmative treatment.
The whole thing is paranoid nonsense, typical of the persecution complex that typifies Quebec's legion of Pasta-chasers.

8- Denis Trudel -failed artist
The hapless Denis Trudel makes the list not for any of his achievements, nor his impact in the language debate.
He is like Robin to Batman, the hapless sidekick, to the heavyweight president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the Mouvement Québec français, Mario Beaulieu.

But he is the representative of crappy and failed arteests who seek to revive or extend their careers by hitching their stars to the language movement.
The list is long including Luck Merville, the dreary Loco Locass and super-actor Maka Kotto, for example.


7- Louise Marchand -ex-chief of the OQLF

Had Louise Marchand remained in place as the head of the OQLF she would have surely made the list in first place.
Now that she's gone, we can safely ignore her, but must recognize the profound impact this anglo-hater had during her reign of terror at Quebec's language agency.
As the most powerful Pasta-chaser in the province, she led her agency to an unprecedented mean-spirited application of the language laws, setting policy that encouraged language inspectors to lay the most trivial of complaints like English on/off switches which ultimately led to Pastagate and her Humpty-Dumpty fall from grace.
While the French media tried to portray Pastagate as an unfortunate result of the act of an over-zealous inspector, it was nothing of the sort.
The OQLF, under Madame Marchand became a shrill, dogmatic and vengeful agency of repression. Like religious police in radically Islamized countries, the minion of OQLF inspectors roamed the streets, measuring English on shop signs instead of the length of women's skirts.
Madame Marchand once remarked that clerks who spoke English weren't doing anything illegal, but annoying because its effect was to anglicize Quebec.
While it is a case of good riddance to bad rubbish, Marchand remains the poster girl of a government bureaucrat filled with hate towards Anglos and Ethnics, who sadly was given the power to wreak havoc.


6- Louis Prefontaine -French language militant
Louis Prefontaine stands head and shoulders above the other self-appointed  pompous defenders of the faith, a blowhard pseudo-intellectual who uses the fire and brimstone of televangelists to preach the gospel of fear, hate and oppression.
Never failing to remind francophones that they are the colonized victims of Anglo repression, his victimization spiel is as tired as is his persecution complex.

When not writing hilariously childish anti-English screeds, Mr. Prefontaine occupies his time filling out endless complaints over English signs, a preoccupation that borders on the obsessive-compulsive.

His statistical razzle-dazzle, using such inventive terms like 'historical English community' can only be inspired by the equally insipid Claude Castonguay, another pasta-chaser that sees the francophone world collapsing under the interminable steamroller of English.


He actually took the time to photograph and complain about this sign in the back of a car.
Does the term Get a life mean anything?

If this sign offends him, there is no shortage of material in Montreal and poor Louis is doomed to a life of eternal disappointment. I can't say that I feel bad for him.

I enjoy his essays because they are filled with so much ennui, outrage and angst that it actually brightens my day to know that we anglos and Ethnics can inflict so much pain by the simple fact of our existence.


5- Gilles Proulx-longtime radio shock-jock and Media personality

Gilles Proulx reminds me of that stereotypical southern cracker, an old-timer who sits on his hillbilly porch, whittling away on a stick of wood like Jed Clampett, occasionally pulling on a jug of 'shine, whilst railing against 'dem niggers.'
When it comes to pasta-chasing, there's no whore like an old whore.
Proulx is an expert communicator, the consummate francophone victim, blending humorous righteous outrage with annoying whinging.

Proulx's dislike of anglos and Canada is absolute, but actually pales in comparison with his enmity towards natives. Listen to a radio screed {fr}
In regards to Quebec's Oka crisis, he inflamed listeners who were already fuming over the closure of the Mercier bridge in a radio tirade laced with derogatory descriptions of the natives, including the fact that they didn't speak French. It may very well have led to the shameful rock-throwing attack on a native convoy including women and children. Youtube

Mr Proulx continues his decades long battle against the English, getting away with using pejoratives on television while making fantastical complaints about Anglos. Youtube {fr}

One of the more humorous battles he has waged concerns a local auto repair shop located close to his home.
For years he has hissed and moaned against his nemesis, "BT AUTO REPAIR LTD." in Greenfield Park. He's ranted about the sign on so many occasions, I truly lost count.




4-  Jean-Paul Perreault.-president of Impératif français

Jean-Paul Perreault is the indomitable leader of the Gatineau based Impératif français, an organization dedicated to the defense and preservation of the French language.

Based across the river from Ottawa, trapped in the midst of a the only real Anglo bastion in Quebec outside of Montreal, Perreault has no shortage of battles to fight.

A dedicated uber-separatist, he has a visceral hatred of all things English and while making all sorts of French demands on the Ottawa side of the river, seeks to remove every last word of English from Quebec.

He is so militant that he objects to Gatineau being included in the National Capital region.

Mr. Perreault reminds me of the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going and going and going, year after a year.
Like all true pasta-chasers he is a dedicated perseverer, going from one battle on to the next, never losing his zeal or religion.

His organization's website is a humorous collection of screeds and rants, written by whinging pasta chasers, bathed in self-pity and paranoia.
My favorite photo from the gallery of language offenses on the website is this one which serves as sad indictment of the ideological rigidity of the organization.
Instead of lamenting over one more casualty of the Quebec economic reality, a bankrupt store is chastised for its bilingual sign.

3- Réjean Labrie- frequent contributor vigile.net.

If anyone stands as a shining example of the mentality of those who contribute to the separatist website, it is the prolific writer (240 texts) named Réjean Labrie.

I have read his work over the years and remain stunned at how backward, racist and downright xenophobic Quebecers like him remain.

 "The culture of Quebec is  firstly language, but also a way of thinking, reasoning, expressing,  creating, building and seeing the world, in short, a way of life that depends ... part in language and part  in history. Link{fr}

My favorite pieces are two contributions that define his vision of which traits  make up a 'good' Quebecer.

And so, according to this pasta-chaser, Good Quebecers; 

• ...Clap when the pilot lands the airplane
• ...Have an above-ground pool in the backyard and a BBQ on the balcony
• ...Celebrate Christmas in a camper
• ...Eat at least one poutine a year.
• ..Venerate Frere Andre
• ...Baptize their children, even if they believe less than their parents
• ...Use all-terrain vehicles in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter
• ...Attend midnight mass
• ...Wait for the French version of an English film to come out before attending
• ...Go to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion and the Cirque de Soleil
• ...Read nationalist articles in the newspapers
• ...Copy American music but pay for Quebec music
• ...Take the children to eat at the Roi du Patate on Sunday.
• ...Dream of a cabin by the lake.
• ...Know the names of the contestants on Star Académie
• ...Voted YES in the referendums... There's more Here{fr} and Here{fr}

......and no, he wasn't being tongue in cheek. 

After defining how a Quebecer must live he reminds us that;
"In Quebec we live this way, not differently."

Some of his other musings are less humorous.

"Indeed, in radio, commercials, we present too high a percentage of visible minorities who do not correspond to the reality of Quebec. The world of television has become a propaganda tool for the minority status of the Quebec nation...
....Even a television program as innocuous as "Just for Laughs" projects a distorted image of Québec to the world. .... the majority of people in the Montreal based show are visible minorities, and in doing so, we give the false impression that the entire province is composed of people of the third world..."   Link{Fr}

(On immigrants)   
A minority prevents a majority from achieving its legitimate objectives, that is to say, the recognition of it's aspirations to become a nation recognized as such internationally.
More than ever, it is a priority to not let people into Quebec who don't want to assist us in our business of making a country freed from the dominance of Canada. Link{fr}

In another piece he complains that francophones shouldn't marry or partner with Anglophones.   Link{fr} 

"After decades of having our head in the sand, our wonderful PQ will finally talk about demographics and immigration at the end of next week. So let's talk about it because it is finally permitted ...

Kirpan, turban, Sharia, Ramadan, circumcision, polygamy, honour killings, gangs, Jamaican posses, Chinese triads, Russian and Italian mafia. Since the beginning of the 21st century Quebecers find this on the corner of their street, the limits of Canadian multiculturalism and the Trudeau Charter ."

Living in Quebec doesn't make you a Quebecer Link{fr}

2- Mario Beaulieu- president of the SSJB and Mouvement Quebec Francais

Mario Beaulieu is the hardest working pasta-chaser in Quebec and it makes sense since he is just about the only one paid a full-time salary to wage a never-ending war against the forces of English and Anglicization.
Of the entire group, he may be enterprising, but he is probably the dumbest, spouting off nonsense after foolishness, using misinterpreted statistics and bad sums, while passing off facts that are not facts.
Mr. Beaulieu doesn't like to be called a Franco-supremacist but that's what he is and when he asks for a respectful debate about language, he means that the Anglo media should shut up.

 Mr. Beaulieu wants us to believe that he isn't radical, but his pronouncements tell another story.
In the past he has actually demanded that English Churches add French to the bulletin boards on the front lawn, in order to show 'respect' to the majority, even while the law provides an exemption for religious establishments.
He continues to maintain that not only should stores that use English trademarks be required to use French descriptors, but also those stores that use proper names that don't sound French enough, like REITMANS or BENTLEY.

He also demanded in the past that English artists be barred from the annual Quebec Day celebration if they were to present their work in English.

Everyday he wakes up looking for another language battle where he can in the best tradition of pasta-chasers, let loose a torrent of righteous indignation, followed by dire Chicken Little warnings of impending gloom and doom.

Beaulieu is an ignorant blowhard who gets all too much airtime, incommensurate with his support. The demonstrations he and his groups mount, rarely draw more than a hundred or two of the faithful, usually silver-haired separatist veterans,  manning the barricades in thinning numbers as they die off.
All this with hundreds of thousands of dollars in free publicity, courtesy of an accommodating press.

1- Diane de Courcy- PQ minister of Education

Diane de Courcy gets first place, not for a history of anti-English/ethnic activism, but rather because of her unique political position which allows her to actually effect legislative change, something that none of the above-mentioned pasta-chasers can do.

Her latest legislative foray, the egregious Bill 14, is an attack on everything not French in Quebec, a mean-spirited law meant to discriminate and marginalize everybody but the French majority.

The proposed law is a frontal attack on Anglos, an attempt to apply a coup de grace to the community, taking away any notion that English and Anglos are valued members of the Quebec mosaic.
Actually the law is intended to dash any concept of a mosaic at all, making French the only official language and culture of Quebec.

De Courcy is more than a pasta-chaser, she is nothing less than a devoted ethnic cleanser, bound and determined to  inflict the most pain she can with the resources she has. Such is the case with her determination to remove the exemption for military families who wish to choose English for their children's education while posted in Quebec.

She is the reincarnation of Camille Laurin, Quebec's most revered ethnic cleanser and has inherited his mean-spiritedness as well.
De Courcy is a committed pasta-chaser extraordinaire, full of hate and contempt on the prowl looking to skin the English cat and exact a measure of revenge for all manner of imagined slights.

There it is, Quebec's greatest pasta-chasers, any comments?

French versus English Volume 78

This week in corruption

Rosaire Sauriol- White collar criminal extraordinaire

I guess it wasn't a shocker to hear testimony at the Charbonneau construction crime inquiry that Montreal's south shore suburb of Longueil has joined the list of crooked city halls where payoffs were made by construction/engineering firms to secure contracts.
The commission heard from a Rosaire Sauriol, of Dessau, one of Quebec's most important consulting/engineering firms. He admitted that his company made illegal campaign contributions and payoffs to politicians in Montréal, Longueuil, Laval, Blainville, Châteauguay, Saint-Jérôme, Chambly, Quebec City and Levis and even, as it was confirmed later, to the federal Conservative party.

He also admitted to what so many other witnesses testified to, that is, that the godfather in all this was ex-chairman of Montreal's executive committee, Frank Zampino, who just last week made a court appearance in relation to a corruption charges over the giving away selling of a piece of land to a developer friend at a fraction of its value. 
Sauriol also confirmed that ex-mayor Gerald Tremblay was a hapless sap, unaware of what was going on under his nose. Link

The decision by Jean Charest to call a premature provincial election last August was likely based on fear that damaging information would be forthcoming in this crime commission.
Surprisingly, here we are eight months later and nothing particularly damaging to the Liberal party has emerged.
In fact, it took until this week to hear about any illegal campaign contributions to provincial political parties, but the kicker is that the testimony implicates the PQ, the ADQ, as well as the Liberals.
So much for Pauline's claim that when it came to ethics, her party was holier than the Pope!

"Pauline Marois says her party had no knowledge of any disguised illegal donations allegedly passed to the PQ over the course of 12 years. Three witnesses from engineering firms have testified over the past several days to giving thousands in illegal financing to the PQ, Liberals and ADQ.
"Our party wasn't aware. Our party didn't want that," says Marois. "Our party asked those who contributed to the Parti Quebecois to sign personal cheques that were their own personal donations."
So far, executives from SNC-Lavalin, Genivar, and BPR have testified to handing her party more than $700 thousand from 1998 to 2010. That includes two years in which Pauline Marois was at the head of the party.
The Liberals are also alleged to have gathered a similar amount - nearly $900 thousand.

Language intolerance in BC

"Two women who believe the lack of English on storefront signs in Richmond is “way out of proportion” will present a petition to council Monday, asking for a signage policy.
Kerry Starchuk and Ann Merdinyan have spent the past eight months researching the issue, taking photos and gathering signatures for a 1,000-strong petition.
“We’re not saying there shouldn’t be Chinese language on signs,” Starchuk told the Richmond News.
“I’ve lived in Richmond all my life and I enjoy having so many different cultures in the city.
“But this isn’t right and it’s all the way through Richmond, not just the city centre, and the lack of English is way out of proportion.”
Starchuk said that if some body, such as city council, doesn’t “get a handle on it” soon, there may come a time when there’ll be no English to be seen.
“If this is our Canadian identity, then it’s not very inclusive, is it?” she said, adding she won’t drive up the north end of No. 3 Road anymore because of the predominantly Chinese signage. Read the rest of the story

I was asked for my opinion about this story in an email by a reader and can answer with a phrase that I recall using as a kid.
You can like it or lump it, which sums up my feelings rather succinctly and my advice to the women offended by the Chinese only signs with another phrase from my childhood...tough noogies.

All this story shows is that language intolerance is not exclusive to Quebec.

McGill's academic slide continues

Earlier this year I wrote about the inevitable slide that McGill's medical school faced in the face of deteriorating standards implemented to make the medical school more francophone friendly.
Today the school looks more to its demographic makeup than talent, with anglophones kept to the barest of majority at about 51% .
In order to counter the unrelenting criticism by French language militants that McGill doctors leave the province, McGill decided to raise the percentage of francophones by making it easier to get in. The vaunted MCAT entrance exam, the gold standard used by medical schools across North America  was dropped because it isn't available in French.
I wrote back then that it could only lead to McGill's med school losing its position  as Canada's best medical school, which of course has come to pass.

Now McGill has lost its position to the University of  Toronto as Canada's best all-around university another predictable outcome of under-financing and pandering.

"A new ranking of reputations by school has McGill University dropping from its once-proud peak as the top Canadian institution in the wrold to slightly better than a middling also-ran.

According to Times Higher Education’s reputation ranking, McGill's ranking fell from 25th in the world last year to a tie for 31st in 2013.

Meantime, the University of Toronto held fast at 16th this year, cementing its position as the Canadian institution with the strongest international status." Link

The university recently appointed a francophone to head the university, a nakedly oblique attempt to silence the language debate surrounding the school.

"McGill University has chosen Suzanne Fortier to be its next principal, turning to a French speaker to help navigate the political turmoil that has engulfed the province’s university system over the last year." Link

Below is the type of onslaught McGill faces by jealous and petty french language militants.

"How can we solve the problem of access to education while blocking once and for all, the anglicization of Quebec?
Easy!
The principal of McGill University, Heather Munroe-Blum, someone Michel David greatly admires, believes that an increase in tuition of 82% is not enough? So let's give our English the means to satisfy their brazen individualism: Privatization. 

Completely, and as quickly as possible, the entire English education system, from primary to university! Let them pursue their deranged mentality.  

Deliver them the goods which we had intended. With all the freed up money, we can provide free education for the entire French school system.Let them impose tuition increases up to 820% if they wish, but  for us, it will be free.  
Immigrants will mostly send their children to the free public system,  OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL ... and several English families will do the same! Result: no need to talk about the need for Bill 101 in schools!  
It will end the debate about  Bill 101 in CEGEPs. Money will be the constraint.

Institutions such as McGill will then become satellites separated from the rest of society, but still tolerable. And the cost savings!Is there something illegal here? Absolutely not!  
We speak their language, the language of privatization. If it's good for us, first try it out on them to see what happens!  
From the day we implement this, we will have to wait just 20 years to see our culture completely regenerated.......
....I have participated in at least 25 student demonstrations in February 2012 and the only English students I've seen in all these demonstrations were anti-demonstrators. People who showed their contempt and disgust for our cause. People who marched counter-current  calling us 'loosers.' For them, education and housing are paid for by "daddy." They come to study here because it is cheaper than in their home country, Canada, and they leave to work outside Quebec, their education paid for, courtesy of taxpayers and the Quebec Ministry of Education! It is outrageous and it has been like that since the beginning! 
Blah.....blah...blahh.- Dominique Frappier 

And so McGill has embarked on it's inevitable and precipitous decline, sadly reminding me of the old ditty;

"Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,

Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.

The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,

Many long years ago.

Marois falls into constitutional trap

The newly-minted Quebec Liberal party leader, Philippe Couillard,  has said that he would hope to reopen constitutional talks with Ottawa with an eye to getting Quebec on-board as a signatory, a gaping hole in Quebec/Ottawa relations that has served separatists well ever since Rene Levesque was stabbed in the back on the infamous "The Night of Long Knives", back in 1982 where a constitutional deal was hammered out by the provinces without Quebec's participation or approval.

When asked to comment, the hapless Pauline fell into the trap and described her terms of signing on, instead of just saying that Quebec wasn't interested on any level. Link{fr}

Her supporters were furious at her stupidity in being drawn into the debate and in an interesting article Sylvain Racine writes that Pauline is actually preparing those famous 'winning conditions' for a referendum, but on the federalist side!

And what if the Liberal party decides to hold a referendum with the  YES side led by Couillard-Trudeau proposing that Quebecers end the squabble with Ottawa and ratify the Constitution in order to be fully part of Canada? In this case, the Liberals could easily reach the 50% + 1.

With Legault also repeating that Quebecers do not want a country, with Amir Khadir who voted NDP in the last federal election, it begins in earnest to resemble the winning conditions for the federalist camp.
I wouldn't want to see Marois-Maltais  defending the NO side, that is the side that would militate against the ratification of the Constitution, a Liberal referendum that could even legitimize  Dion's clarity Act." Link

Bill 14 showdown set. Who will blink?

One of the provisions of Bill 14 was to eliminate an exemption for military families at the Valcartier base in Quebec whereby children were allowed to attend English schools, even if they didn't qualify under 101.The issue is contentious with the mayor of Quebec city coming down firmly on the side of the military families. 

"Quebec city's mayor Regis Labeaume is launching a scathing attack against a section of the PQ's language bill.

"They're going to laugh at us," says Labeaume, adding that the section of the bill that will  ban Francophone military families from attending English school will taint Quebec's image." Link

Since military families move quite often, most parents at the base opt for an English education in order that their children be able to enroll in any school across Canada with ease. But Education Minister Diane De Courcy stood firm on Thursday, trotting out a report that showed that most of these children remain in Quebec for their entire education and that the exemption was unfair. Link
But an angry Francois Legault , leader of the CAQ reacted harshly, saying that if the provision is not removed, his party will vote to defeat it, placing the Liberals in the untenable position where they'd have to do likewise.

For the PQ, it's time for another volte-face.

Harper government continues de-emphasing French

Using budget cuts to advance policy is one of the oldest tricks politicians use to underhandedly achieve political goals.
Ronald Reagan was the champion of cutting of funds to agencies and programs that didn't fit in with his conservative optic.

Now it seems that the Harper government budget cuts has translation services being curtailed as a cost cutting measure as federal departments just don't have the budget to translate documents and so French civil servants are being asked to write their reports in English.

Apparently budget constraints precludes Coast Guard ships patrolling the St. Lawrence river from fielding at least one member of the crew who can communicate in French with locals.

When apprised of the situation Harper tut-tutted the whole affair.

Quebecer proves myth about Work ethic false

Who says Quebecers are lazy?
If anybody proves that myth wrong,  it is Gaétan Couture of Sherbrooke, who after being paroled in September for various crimes of theft, went right back to work assiduously.
He has been re-arrested just two months later and is facing  no less than 150 charges.

103 Thefts

13 Break-ins

21 Stolen vehicles

5 Receiving stolen goods

6 Stolen credit cards

1  Evasion from police.

All this in about 70 days and this is just what the police know about! Link{fr}

And how about Canada's greatest slumlord /scofflaw;

"Notorious Montreal landlord Claudio Di Giambattista was absent for his trial in municipal court today, but that didn't stop the judge from declaring him guilty on all counts of safety and health violations.
Judge Stéphane Brière decided to let the trial go ahead without the landlord present. After he and the crown went through almost two hours of evidence including a pile of photos, he found Di Giambattista guilty of 86 health and safety violations in connection with his two apartment buildings on Ball and Outremont in Park Extension. Link

Too bad  the judge didn't sentence him to live in one of his maggot, cockroach, bed bug filled apartments, just like in that movie starring Joe Pesci. (I can't remember the name)
Actually, one judge did do exactly that. Youtube
Could you imagine if they turned it into a realty show and we got to watch?
Ahhh...perchance to dream.

Odds'n Ends

I've used Google Reader as my news aggregator for as long as I've written this bog. It allows me to scan selected websites for news articles that interest me and also allows me to save those articles for future use.
Alas, Google has announced that it will discontinue the service and so I have migrated to another service, but have not been able to migrate my starred items.
I'm going through them slowly and will take the opportunity over the next few Fridays to publish a couple of the things I've saved, most are good for a laugh.

Here's a Montreal Anglo, Leslie Peretz , making a hilaroius point.

Here's a sign that a frustrated merchant put up in regards to the student demonstrations against tuition increases.

Translation: TO DEMONSTRATORS:

Please stop using merchants and residents as hostages.

Demonstrate over at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

To our elected officials.--Grow a pair.

P.S.  Free tuition is impossible right now.

Quebec is bankrupt. - ELVIS

 Here's a riddle:

What is more powerful than God?
Nastier than the devil,
The underprivileged have it,
The wealthy need it,
And if you eat it, you’ll die?

 Have a great weekend!
Bonne fin de Semaine!

New Quebec Liberals are the same-old-same-old

Listening to Philippe Couillard backtrack on the Liberal's previous position about unequivocally voting against Bill 14, it's hard to believe that the Liberals are any different from what they were before under Jean Charest.

After winning the leadership, Couillard told reporters that the Liberals will now examine Bill 14 clause by clause, and give it due consideration, maintaining the previous government's policy of appeasing language hawks.

"New Liberal Party leader Philippe Couillard is taking a softer line on the Parti Québécois' new language bill than his party took before his arrival...
...At his first news conference since taking over the party Sunday, Couillard faced a barrage of questions from reporters on a range of subjects.
But it was when the language issue came up that he made the nuance.
While explaining that the Liberals still oppose the proposed legislation — Bill 14 — they are nevertheless listening, he said.
"If amendments are presented, we have a responsible parliamentary team," Couillard said at the Liberal's Montreal headquarters on Waverly Ave.
"They will look at the amendments and study them." "  Link

It's a sad commentary that both Jean Charest and Phillippe Couillard, as committed federalists as you will find in the political ranks of French Quebec, consider that pandering to language militants still necessary.

It is not.

For too many years, a minority of militant separatists have shaped the debate of Quebec's future, framed on language and language alone.

The narrative, repeated ad nauseam, is that Quebec is threatened by English and that without heavy-handed constraints on liberty, the province is destined to follow in the steps of Louisiana, anglicized and assimilated, French to become a distant memory in but a few short decades.

It is of course utter and complete rubbish, but the language argument has been laced with so heavy a dose of guilt, that even a Jewish mother would blush at the shameful manipulation.

And so Quebecers have been told that seeing an English sign in public or learning how to order breakfast in English is a sin before the Gods of language purity, a betrayal of the clan.
The unremitting and relentless repetition of the mantra has left the majority of Quebecers cowered and afraid, so much so that they are afraid to speak out, lest they be ostracized as heretics.

And here we are.

Both Jean Charest and Phillippe Coullard were and are, simply afraid to challenge the militants on language and it's too bad, since they can win the public debate.
A solid federalist leader who would have the guts to say out loud what most Quebecers are thinking, that is, that Quebec's language reality is not what militants profess, would upset the tiresome debate.

Unfortunately we will not get it, the Liberals believe that pander they must, lacking the intestinal fortitude to challenge the paradigm and move away from the language issue and onto the problems that most Quebecers want their government to address.

Do I like the Liberals? Not particularly, but more so than the PQ.
If I had my druthers, I would wish them to defeat the PQ  and form a government, they are most assuredly, the lesser of two evils.

In that regard I can humbly offer Mr. Couillard some advice, advice which he will surely not heed.

New leaders of any political party enjoy a brief honeymoon that only the smartest of the newly appointed take advantage of.
Remember that Francois Legault reached about 40% in popularity after the creation of the CAQ. Had there been an election in the weeks following, he would have been elected Premier with a majority government.
Couillard is sure to benefit from a bump in popularity over the next month or two, enough of a bump to beat the PQ.
If the Liberals are smart, they'd quickly work to dump the PQ government, voting unreservedly against anything the PQ puts forward in the National Assembly, thus placing the pressure squarely on Francois Legault's CAQ, to either support the government like a willing 'bitch,' or trigger an election that the Liberals can win.
It would be, to say the least, a satisfying reversal of fortunes.

It appears that Couillard is seeking the safe route, plodding out an offend-nobody political strategy, pandering to language militants and biding his time, seemingly in no hurry to win his own seat in the National Assembly or to send the PQ down to defeat, triggering a provincial election.

As in life, the safe and expedient route is not usually the wisest course, where fortune and success favor the bold.

I am reminded of the lesson of Operation Shingle in the Battle of Anzio in World War Two, where the allies made a successful surprise amphibious landing in Italy. The commanding officer, a certain General Lucas, preferred to take the time to entrench his forces against an expected counterattack. The initial landing achieved complete surprise and the Germans were vulnerable, the road to Rome virtually undefended.
Instead of moving out and attacking, the general decided to consolidate his beachhead and marshal his forces, giving the Germans enough time to prepare and mount an effective counterattack.
The general was ultimately replaced, with Winston Churchill commenting that "I had hoped we were hurling a wildcat into the shore, but all we got was a stranded whale!" Link

I am very much afraid that Couillard is acting the beached whale, too timid to press the attack while the advantage is his.
Political strength like military strength is relative to that of your foe's. Although the Liberals could use some time to build up force, the PQ is actually more vulnerable now than later.
With the PQ about even with the Liberals in the polls, the potential Couillard bump over the next little while can provide the margin of victory.

But even if the Liberals win, Anglos and Ethnics should not be deluded that there will be an about-face in minority rights policy. Remember that the egregious Louise Marchand was a Liberal party appointee and she and the OQLF were allowed to run roughshod on their watch.

The language militants and separatists are reeling over the repercussions of 'Pastagate,' the latest agonized and funny-if-not-sad pronouncement by Gilles Duceppe claiming that Pastagate was actually an Anglo plot by restauranteurs to undermine the OQLF.  Link

I don't know how long it will take the hapless pasta chasers to realize they are absolutely right in believing that Anglos indeed launched an attack on the OQLF, we shamelessly stipulate to that fact.
It is called push back, something that the PQ and language militants have demonstrated an abject horror over.

Pastagate has proved that despite the odds, defending our rights is an eminently achievable goal.
We need to push back much harder, making the price of language oppression much too expensive.

The Liberals are better than the PQ, so I wish Mr. Couillard good luck, but if we want to preserve and advance our own rights, we have to do it ourselves.

The Rehabilitation of Paul Rose

It's always tempting, especially with the passage of time to rehabilitate those who acted barbarously in a cause that we otherwise support.

And so on the pages of vigile.net and  l'Autrejournal the memory of Paul Rose is being raised to that of a romantic patriotic warrior, whose involvement in a murder is mostly beside the point.

There is little doubt that the FLQ would be branded a terrorist organization would it exist in present-day Quebec, but there is a reluctance in Quebec's media to use the term, because many in the media share the ideals of the FLQ, if not the methods.

Look at the headlines in Quebec francophone media including Radio-Canada and the reluctance to use the " T " word.

Le felquiste Paul Rose est mort

Exit le felquiste Paul Rose, complice malgré lui de Trudeau et de ...

La mort de Paul Rose, celle d'un doux guerrier

Le militant nationaliste québecois Paul Rose est mort

L'ancien felquiste Paul Rose est mort

I didn't cull the above headlines, they were the first that appeared in a search on Google News in French .

Now look on the English side;
FLQ terrorist Paul Rose, key player in 1970 October Crisis, dies at 69

A convicted murderer and an unrepentant terrorist, pockets of ...

It seems that in Quebec, as in many, many parts of the world, one man's terrorist is another man's liberator.

And so the death of  Paul Rose has awoken all those purs et durs who view Rose as a hero, including Quebec solidaire's Amir Khadir who proposed honoring Rose with a motion in the National Assembly.

"Amir Khadir, one of two members of the pro-sovereignty Quebec solidaire, promises to table a motion for him in the national assembly next week.
“This is someone who is significant to the independence movement,” Khadir told The Canadian Press when asked about Rose’s passing.
“You can share the reservations he had about his past in the FLQ, but no one can question his sincerity, his devotion, his integrity, his intellectual honesty.”" Link

It's too bad that after some reflection and a sea of bad Press, Khadir backed off the idea.  It would have been delicious to see such a motion presented and defeated with but one vote in favour and perhaps a few members, Rose sympathizers, fleeing the Assembly in face of the vote!

To Khadir, like many other hard-line separatists, Rose's contribution to the independence movement far outweighs the insignificant and pesky murder of Pierre Laporte and like Quebec's most revered writer, Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, the Laporte murder was just a bit of collateral damage;

VLB.... Laporte responsible for his own kidnapping

"In kidnapping Minister Pierre Laporte, the Chénier cell which included Paul Rose, highlighted something we forget all too easily today: Pierre Laporte was in bed with organized crime, as was the Liberal Party in which he was a minister, and that the members of the Chenier cell wanted him to confess to that fact." -Victor-Lévy Beaulieu Link{fr}

It seems that Mr. Beaulieu is one of the more literate and erudite proponents of violence in favour of Quebec independence.

"I've always thought that Quebec independence could be achieved much more easily by adopting the methods of Gandhi....
But in the late 1960s and early 1970s  we witnessed "liberators" favouring terrorism over civil disobedience. Quebec, acting similarly, had only to participate in the liberation struggle as practiced in the West."-Victor-Lévy Beaulieu Link{fr}

Like Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, there remains a dedicated cadre of separatists to whom Rose will always remain a hero and labeling him a terrorist or murderer is nothing more than a question of perspective.

"We note that the term "terrorist" is relative.
Paul Rose, committed terrorist acts, he was tried and convicted. He served his sentence and history has judged. But to call him a  "terrorist" within the bloody meaning of the term without considering the historical, political and philosophical context of October '70, it is intellectually dishonest. -Serge Charbonneau" Link{fr}

Defenders of Paul Rose put great stock in the fact that he wasn't actually present when the murderous deed was done, something that Rose himself refused to acknowledge, preferring to accept the collective guilt for the murder as an act of solidarity with his co-conspirators. Others proclaim that Laporte was killed by 'accident' a sad and convenient attempt to avoid culpability. Link
To Paul Rose, those defenders needn't have bothered massaging his reputation, he was never remorseful in the least and went to his death at ease with his actions.

At any rate, it makes no nevermind in the eyes of the law. The rule of felony murder which is upheld in Canada makes no distinction as to who is the actual murderer when a group participates in an organized crime.

"The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the commission of a felony, the offender can be charged with murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies." Wikipedia

To put it simply, a gang robs a bank during which one of the robbers shoots and kills a bank guard. The other members committing the crime, including the driver of the getaway car sitting outside the bank, are guilty of murder as well as the shooter and so in the case of Paul Rose, the argument of whether he was present or not is actually moot.

The other argument that Laporte was killed by accident, equally moot.

It's always romantic to view these murders as something other than what they are. To the families of those killed and injured by the likes of FLQ members, the differentiation is quite irrelevant.

To blowhards like those who defend Rose and other FLQ members, I wonder if their tune would change had a member of their own family been killed or crippled in the crossfire.

And so it's hard to accept that the murder of innocents in the name of a 'great cause' is acceptable and thankfully the vast majority of Quebecers are reviled by the characterization of Paul Rose as a hero.

How about Richard Bain's evil murder of an innocent bystander in his attempt at political assassination in favour of Anglo rights in Quebec?

Could anybody imagine a public figure, an esteemed writer or politician defending his actions as just some insignificant collateral damage in the heroic defense of Anglo rights?

Defend Paul Rose and you are justifying Richard Bain's action, it is that simple and there's no getting around it.

...After all, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Sunday Housekeeping - Volume 12

I don't like to criticize readers, they are the lifeblood of this blog, but there are a few who forget that this is not a professional blog.
There is no staff to correct spelling mistakes other than my wife.
There are no fact-checkers and there is no editor and writing coach.

I not only research my pieces fastidiously, I try to write interesting and provocative pieces that the mainstream media cannot or will not touch.
In this respect, I believe I have a small measure of success considering the number of people from all over the world who drop by each day.

 I put the final piece through a bunch of proofreaders available online, but we all know the reliability of Google translate and most other software do about as good as a job.

In my last piece I presented a clause from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which all three proofreaders tagged as badly written.
I'm not really prepared to pay a professional proofreader/editor $50-$100 per blog piece, so readers will have to accept my missives as they are. I do my best.

Like you I have good days and bad days, some pieces get finished right up to the deadline which I try to adhere to because many of you accustomed to a fixed schedule.

I cannot monitor the comments section on an hourly basis, I too have a life outside this blog. PLEASE remember that when you are about to click up that flaming mouse.

Last year I opened up the comments section without prior moderation and I know from feedback most of you like to see your comment up ASAP.

I've asked for trust and have been largely rewarded, but listening to readers of late complain of the one-liners and insults, I again will tighten what is allowed.

These are general modifications which I'd like to share with you.

No inane or insulting one-liners. You all know what that is.
Vicious personal attacks will no longer be tolerated, even if attached to an acceptable comment.
No mention of any reader's real name as long as they are using an alias, outing people is forbidden.
Any comment that references a reader's name other than their screen alias will be redacted, regardless of the quality of the comment.

Sometime I allow an Anonymous comment when it is clear that the reader hasn't read the rules. It is rare and if that same person continues, I'll remind him/her of the rule under their comment.

There is no more wiggle room based on the overall quality of the comment. Break any of the above rule and the comment will redacted without a trace.

No multiple screen names and no more foreign screen names. The comments just won't be printed and you will not even see "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator'  The comment will just disappear.


Argue with other readers over issues or opinions but leave out the insults. Again, a good comment with a personal insult will no longer be tolerated.

Let me reiterate that rage is part of our Anglo/Ethnic experience and this blog won't censor legitimate grievances peppered with fiery language.
All public figures however remain fair game as for insults.

Remember that I am not monitoring the board 24/7 and will delete stuff when I get to it, so please try not to take advantage to sneak stuff in. We don't want to return to moderating.

Sometimes this blog gets more comments than important stories in mainstream newspapers, so I know many feel that they can say here what is not tolerated there.
But that doesn't mean anything goes.
If you see a troll message, just let it go or add this underneath;  "TROLL ALERT"
I'll look at these comments carefully and apply the rules firmly.
And remember the rules apply to all equally.
French comments continue to be allowed for those without English. For bilinguals, I'd ask that you write in English because much more people will understand your comment.

As for traffic, I happy to report that Google Analytics tracking software shows that we have crossed a million pageviews per year, but that number is seriously understated because the blog loads five pages at a time and people who just scroll down and read post after post, but who don't click on the actual title are not counted.

Thank you for making this blog a part of your day, I appreciate your time and effort because I would never have soldiered on without your support.