Brooklyn versus Montreal

Readers, I'm going to take the weekend to get into this whole issue of religion, immigration and the proposed Charter of Quebec values.
Hopefully I'll have a post Monday or Tuesday. It a weighty subject so I'll take my time.

In the meantime, something light for the weekend.  I hope you will indulge me.

A couple of years  back I wrote a subjective post comparing Montreal to Toronto and it remains a popular piece, receiving dozens of visits per week.
I wrote it based on livability and as to which city was a better place to raise a family.

It was of course highly subjective, but I remain convinced that Montreal remains a better city to live in than Toronto, with a couple of caveats, the first and most important, that you already have a good job, because Toronto, if nothing else, is the city of opportunity.

But for those well-established in Montreal, I stand by my analysis even though it is already starting to be a bit dated, written almost four years ago.
Read  Why Montreal is Better than Toronto

There is of course no doubt that my opinion is tinged with a home-team advantage, but I do try to be as fair as I can.

As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time in Brooklyn, New York, for family reasons and have come to appreciate the borough as a pseudo second home.
Although I spend less than thirty days a year there, the time is busily spent, as my wife and I cram in as much living as we can in the time we are there, walking the streets of mid-town Manhattan, exploring our neighbourhood Downtown Brooklyn, where our hotel is located and spending time in Park Slope, (that's where my grandchildren live) supposedly one of Americas best urban neighbourhoods and one of the most obscenely expensive.

In Montreal, I rarely go downtown, living in my west-end cottage with a backyard swimming pool. My wife and I are decidedly homebodies, living the suburban life even though we are in the city.

But when we go to New York, it is a travelling adventure, each day crammed with miles of walking.

I haven't been on the Metro in Montreal in years, but use the subway system in New York on every trip even though I arrive by car.
The same goes for taking advantage of Mount-Royal park, where embarrassingly, I haven't visited in many years as well. On the flip side, I've taken my four-year old grandchild to Prospect Park on too many occasions to  remember.

It occurs to me that  Brooklyn, (one of the five New York boroughs) is just about the same size and same population of Montreal, so it's interesting to compare the two.
Now the first thing to understand is that Brooklyn is a bedroom community, with many citizens working or studying in Manhattan.
There is really no 'downtown' and there are but a handful of tall office buildings. In fact the tallest buildings are condos, and I counted three going up around my hotel, all over 50 stories.

But Brooklyn does resemble Montreal somewhat, at least the Plateau Mont-Royal district, giving off the same trendy, young vibe that can best be described as urban chic.

The Front Steps of Two Cities

"Having just put my feet down in Montreal, one major element that stands out everywhere are the stairs. Walking down many residential streets, the open metal stairs leading to the front doors tell you you're in Montreal for sure. But they also, quite unexpectedly, remind me of another place...

The front steps of Brooklyn brownstones aren't open and sinewy like the metal steps of many Montreal residences. They're big and beefy, made of heavy masonry. But look at the repetition, the bays in between, and that inviting feeling emanating from both cities' steps. When it comes to the stairs, I feel like these two great cities are kind of like cousins."

 Credit: Go to; Apartment Therapy

Statistically, Brooklyn and Montreal line up closely, Brooklyn measuring 183 square kilometres versus Montreal's 192. As for population Brooklyn is bigger, boasting 2.5 million citizens, versus Montreal Island's 1.8 million.
But during the day commuters leave Brooklyn for Manhattan while the opposite effect occurs in Montreal where commuters from the surrounding suburbs, enter Montreal by day to work.
In fact one Montreal bridge, The Victoria, runs in one direction into Montreal in the morning and vice-versa at night.
The Champlain bridge uses a reserved bus lane with the same criteria.

So even on the population front, things are actually comparable.
Now you won't find many large cottages and bungalows on large lots as seen in West Island towns in Montreal, they just don't exist in any number.
It's brownstones, row houses, apartments and condos that are the order of the day and neighbourhoods are usually teeming with a wide collection of each.

Typically, housing costs are at least double the price in Montreal and in better neighbourhoods prices are even higher.
Certain parts of Brooklyn are gentrifying rapidly and there, housing prices are skyrocketing, like in the Plateau, multiplied by an nth factor.

But Brooklyn is also is home to some pretty crappy and dangerous neighbourhoods, so it is a case of choosing where to live.
Like Montreal where living in Montreal North is no thrill, it is a question of economics and where you live depends on how much you can spend.

Brooklyn and Montreal share some other interesting similarities, some nothing to be proud about.
25% of Brooklynites and Montrealers do not have a primary care physician and while 25% of Brooklynites live below the poverty line, so too, do 29% of Montrealers.
As for health care, it is rationed in both cities, in Brooklyn based on the ability to pay and in Montreal based on restricted access.
Purely a subjective observation, Brooklynites outweigh Montrealers (and Manhattanites,) considerably,  I guess its all that pizza that Brooklyn is famous for!

Weather
No doubt about it, Brooklyn weather (and just about any American City except those in Alaska) have Montreal's beat hands down.
The big difference is in the winter where even in January the average Brooklyn temperature is above freezing. 

 There's a huge average 6 degree Celsius  difference between Brooklyn and Montreal and it means that summer is about a month and a half longer and that winter, unlike in Montreal is a passing fancy.
Summer is still blazing on in Brooklyn in September and that's not hard to take!

So on the weather scale Brooklyn wins hands down...

Public Transportation.
Again Brooklyn wins.
The New York City subway system is the largest in the world. More importantly, it serves urban neighbourhoods, so transfers to buses are usually not needed. On my last trip, I walked four blocks from my grand children's home and took one train all the way to Coney Island in about half an hour.

Another advantage is express trains. From my hotel in downtown Brooklyn, an express train (stopping about every five stops) whisked me to midtown, Lexington and 59th (Can anybody guess what's there?) in under half an hour.
Another advantage is that the trains are air-conditioned, but alas it makes the underground platform stifling hot, as the transformed hot air from the trains is pumped out into the stations. Last time I waited for the 4 train in midtown Manhattan, it must have been over 40 degrees on the platform.
By the way, the New York subway system pumps so much heat into the ground, that  flowers and trees bloom earlier in Spring and lose their foliage later in the Fall.

Parks and Recreation

Both cities have a magnificent urban oasis smack dab in the middle of the city.
Mont-Royal (692 acres) and  Prospect Park in Brooklyn (585-acre) are both treasures where city-dwellers can escape the concrete jungle.
Mont-Royal is the prettier of the two because it lies on a mountain and is used more for nature walks, hiking, bird-watching, biking and picnicking. Both have an artificial lake
Prospect Park is more heavily used and is perhaps more accessible, jutting up against urban neighborhoods on all sides. Unlike pristine Mont-Royal, Prospect includes a kiddies zoo, many baseball fields, a tennis centre and running track.
In the summer, concerts are held at a band shell, some free, some for pay. I strolled through the park to catch a few minutes of one show, which while gratis, was actually not worth the price of admission.
But what the heck, the beer, wine and fast food under the stars clouds, makes for a wonderful summer evening.


Sports

Brooklyn has two of it's very own sports teams, the Brooklyn Nets and the soon to be moved New York Islanders.
But it's only a half an hour subway ride to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan and about 50 minutes to Citi Field or Yankee Stadium for major league baseball..

I attended a Basketball game at Brooklyn's brand new ultra-modern Barclays Centre and was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere.
Management has made it a priority to make it a family venue, patrons are warned through a series of ongoing announcements via the big screen that inappropriate dress, loud swearing and boisterous behaviour is not tolerated.
There are no national fast food concessions in the building, food kiosks are all local Brooklyn favourites, a step above and yes, there is even a Kosher Deli.
A great experience.

Shopping

You wouldn't have guessed it but Brooklynites are the epitome of shop local, as most don't have cars and hauling groceries from afar on the subway, an onerous task.
Each neighbourhood is teeming with local stores, including small food stores that serve local needs.
There are no big shopping malls as we find in Montreal, the one centre that I visited, taking my grandchild to Chuckie Cheese (an amusement centre for kids)  was the Atlantic Terminal which boasted a Target and a Pathmark supermarket, one of the few large grocery stores.
By the way, my great uncle actually founded the parent company of Pathmark, but this was my first time visiting one. It was nothing special.
The rest of the mall was pretty crappy and that's being generous.

Interestingly, there is a movement to keep Walmart out of Brooklyn because of it's poor reputation as an employer. Yup, believe it or not,  there are no Walmarts in New York City!
At the other end of the scale is Costco, a company that is renowned for good wages and benefits. I am a Costcoholic and found one in Brooklyn that boasts two floors.
How does it compare to the Costco in Montreal? ....Much more selection, but the prices are just about the same.
There's talk of Whole Foods putting up a large store, complete with a rooftop greenhouse, meant to satisfy Brooklyn locavores.
It may sound exotic but I also heard that the same type rooftop greenhouse project is going up in Laval, probably more to do with winter than anything else.
At any rate, Brooklyn shopping cannot compare to Montreal, with our massive malls and impressive downtown corps of shops.

Neighbourhoods

Like all cities, Brooklyn has the good the bad and the ugly and I can't say I'm familiar with all. Brooklyn, like Montreal is big and there are no generalizations to be made.

There are some very expensive neighbourhoods including Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, DUMBO and the one neighbourhood that I am most familiar with, Park Slope.
You know you are in Park Slope by the thousand dollar baby strollers being pushed by thirty-something dads in rumpled khaki cargo shorts wearing pastel Polo shirts.
Its a neighbourhood where a nice brownstone can fetch two million dollars plus and where the average income is over $100,000.
It's a Yuppie type of place where organic depanneurs boast 'hormone free chicken wings' and 'biomass charcoals' (whatever that is)

"Park Slope is considered one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods. In 2010, it was ranked number 1 in New York by New York magazine citing its quality public schools, dining, nightlife, shopping, access to public transit, green space, safety, and creative capital, among other aspects.

It was named one of the "Greatest Neighborhoods in America" by the American Planning Association in 2007, "for its architectural and historical features and its diverse mix of residents and businesses, all of which are supported and preserved by its active and involved citizenry" Wikipedia

But Park slope is so trendy, that it's the neighbourhood everyone else loves to hate.
Read this hilarious send-up. Park Slope: Where Is the Love?

But there's one thing that bothers me about Brooklyn, the endless graffiti that seems to infect all but a few neighbourhoods.
And the endless line of dingy shwarma or Hot dog carts that line the major streets, where you couldn't pay me to eat a morsel.  How New Yorkers eat that crap is beyond me.

Here's some other selective comparisons;

• Both cities have excellent restaurants and prices are comparable.
• Roads conditions and traffic also comparable, but both generally stink.
• Both cities enjoy a different but equal joie de vivre.
• Drivers suck in both towns, but Brooklyn drivers are worse.
• I would rate the general rudeness and helpfulness scale as equal. Nothing to boast about neither here nor there.

Which is a better city to live in? I'd have to say that the liveabilty index is equal, except for the outragous cost of housing in Brooklyn.

So as for my final assessment of which city is better, I'll use an old gambling term.... pick em.

By the way, my biggest fear is that my grandson will learn the Brooklynese of Vinne Barbarino, he has already asked my wife why she talks funny.
How about the Welcome Back Kotter  theme song

All I can respond to that is with that great Brooklynese phrase,...... 'fugheddaboudit! '

Quebec's Proposed Charter of Hate

Bernard Drainville -Religious intolerance personified

It isn't a new manoeuvre, governments in trouble have for centuries used the strategy of targeting minority groups as a scapegoat to deflect attention and responsibility for running an incompetent or racist state.

"QMI Agency has learned the Parti Quebecois government plans to amend the Quebec charter of rights and freedoms and ban most religious signs and symbols from public institutions such as daycare centres, public schools, hospitals, clinics, and other government buildings.
Visible crosses, yarmulkes, hijabs, niqabs, burkas and turbans would all be banned.
According to sources close to the government, all health workers, public school teachers and public daycare workers would have to leave their religious symbols at home when they go to work." Read the rest of the story

And so the PQ is going down that very same road, hoping to save themselves at the expense of some of its most vulnerable citizens.
The first part of the plan has already borne fruit, that is convincing the public that there is a problem, one that needs fixing.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.-  H.L. Mencken

 Sadly, when governments promote fear and hate, they find a receptive audience, such is the frailty of our human nature to blame others for our personal or societal problems, real or imagined.

Mr. Drainville, the chief PQ architect of the Charter, tells us proudly that he is exercising the will of the people.
It isn't surprising that a majority of Quebecers actually support this new Charter of Hate, they have given in to the ignorance and fear, egged on by selfish, manipulative fools who don't understand the evil they will unleash.

This has always been the PQ's specialty, frightening the public with horror stories and claims of impending doom. But in targeting minorities, Drainville has channelled the xenophobic nature of Quebec's insular and exclusive society, where the only immigrants that are to be tolerated are ones that don't speak English, act too foreign or religious.

The real problem with the Charter of Hate is that it serves as a blueprint for all of society, not just the interaction in hospitals, schools and government.

The PQ government's message is clear, it opposes all things religious, and the logical result is that this attitude will spill over into the private sector where religious intolerance will become acceptable.

Long ago I recounted an incident that I witnessed in Canadian Tire in St. Laurent, where a seventy-something francophone woman decided to browbeat a teenage cashier for wearing the Hijab.
She told the young lady in no uncertain terms, who was actually quite stylishly dressed, that she was a disgrace, a religious slave and a fool, unable to think for herself.
The poor girl was brought to tears and the manager had to come out and replace her.

This readers, is our future, that type of incident will multiply and spread as the people are encouraged by the government to hate.

Yet on an interestingly note, the law is already designed with enough loopholes to sail a crucifix through, all in a cynical effort to protect Christian signs, symbols and patrimony.
As for the Jewish General Hospital, the PQ has promised an exemption. The question is, why?

The answer is simple, the Charter of Hate is aimed at but one group, Muslims, a minority group that is roundly feared and despised by xenophobic Quebecers, who are collectively afraid that they will be over-run in the long term..
Including all religions in the Charter of Hate, is just window dressing, that is why there will be exemptions for Jews and Christians..

It's all too transparent, a faltering government targeting its least popular element, to deflect attention and somehow win a reprieve.
It remains to be seen who in the National Assembly will actually stand up and salute this monstrous assault on personal freedom.
I'm not confident.

And so gentle readers, whether you are for or against the principle of removing religious symbols from 'public' life in Quebec, understand that the consequences goes far beyond that of removing a hijab at the license bureau or a kippah in the hospital.

We've seen it with Bill 101 where citizens are assaulted by other citizens for speaking English, why should this be different?


P.S.
If religious regalia is to be banned in public institutions, how about political messages?

Or union messages, here the Montreal police union have added a  message on the backs of their vests complaining about their three day week  being taken away.

Should people be banned from wearing a Rainbow, Lady Gaga, or Justin Beiber T-shirts to cegep?

Just what is offensive... that is the question.

I imagine the day that this t-shirt will also become illegal in Quebec, promoting unhealthy attitudes.... IT CAN HAPPEN!

For those who have French, here's an interesting take written by Charles Taylor in the Journal de Montreal  absolutely  pillorying the potential law, entitled :  Charles Taylor fait un parallèle avec la Russie de Vladimir Poutine 
Mr Taylor savages the PQ government, comparing it to that of Vladimir Putin, who recently enacted anti-gay legislation in Russia.

Of particular interest are the comment s under the story.

Couillard Too Smart to Fall for Pauline's Infantile Trap

"QUEBEC — Pauline Marois opened the door Sunday to Philippe Couillard entering the National Assembly.
During the Gay Pride Parade in Montreal, the premier invited the Liberal leader to run in a by-election in Viau riding, which became vacant with the recent departure of Liberal MNA Emmanuel Dubourg.
Marois said that she would not present a PQ candidate against Couillard in the by-election.
Couillard has already indicated that he is not interested in running in Viau, which covers the Saint-Michel district of Montreal. The Liberal leader instead is looking to run in Roberval, in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, in the next general election. Link

I usually agree with much of what Robert Libman has to say when it comes to politics, but not when he suggested in an interview that Liberal leader Philippe Couillard should jump at the chance to run in a by-election, made necessary by the departure of the Liberal MNA Emmanuel Dubourg, who is making the jump to federal politics for Justin Trudeau's Liberals, in the vacant and very safe seat that Denis Coderre vacated in Montreal, in order to seek the mayoralty of Montreal.

And so when Pauline offered to let Couillard run unopposed, it wasn't much of a gift considering that Viau is a Liberal party stronghold, one which has sent a Liberal to Quebec for as long as I can remember.

Actually Couillard is doing just fine on the sidelines and that is what is bothering Pauline so much, she'd like to get him into the National Assembly and rough him up a bit, perhaps taking the shine off the apple.

Coullard scoffed at the infantile offer, because when he does get into the National Assembly it will come at a cost of a sitting PQ MNA, one Denis Trottier, a backbencher whose only claim to fame is that he serves as a fart-catcher for the dumbass Minister of Natural Resources, Martine Ouellet.

As it stands now, Pauline and the PQ are imploding and sometimes doing nothing and letting your opponent self-district is the smartest thing to do.

But Couillard is doing a lot more than just watching.

He is charting a new course, betting on the fact that there are enough Quebecers tired of the separatist debate and tired of hearing that the French language is about to disappear, confident that a new debate, one based on prosperity is one that will resonate with voters.

And so he is unequivocal and very presidential.
He isn't vacillating like his predecessors nor is he spouting the  rhetoric of oppressed. He told us that the Liberals will oppose Bill 14 on principle and are not interested in compromise. He has told Quebecers that they shouldn't be frightened by the scare tactics of the PQ that lie that French is going down the drain and his message from the sidelines has resonated with enough voters and scared the crap out of the PQ,

This Fall, the disastrous decision to support more wind power generation will hit the PQ like a ton of bricks.
Notwithstanding that it was the Liberals that introduced the disastrous policy, Pauline has embraced the idea at a time when Quebecers are waking up to the expensive white elephant that will be paid for by a large Hydro-Quebec rate increase.

Pauline will find herself firmly ensconced between the proverbial rock and a hard place (entre l'arbre et l'écorce) where she dare not backpedal on the issue once more.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't... Even the skillful Pauline can't wiggle  out of this predicament.

For Phillippe Couillard it must be like those running against Anthony Weiner in the mayoralty race in New York City.
Best to stand back and watch the meltdown..

Pauline's offer to let Couillard run unopposed in Viau is a desperate and transparent attempt to change the political dynamic, but for Couillard, handing Marois a life jacket while her ship is sinking, is just not in the plan.

Ignoring English.... a Disastrous choice for Young Quebecers

An argument recently raged in the comment section where an American family who visited Quebec was angry that English wasn't spoken to them.

True?...An urban myth?....dunno.

Let's not quibble over details and if it is not true, it could very well be.

On the surface it seems a bit outrageous that strangers come to your country and expect you to speak their language (yes, Canada is a French language country as well) and the moral outrage by unilingual Quebecers may be justified, but unfortunately, wrong-headed just the same.

Over the last twenty years or so, it is a fact that English has evolved into the lingua franca of the world. Wherever you go in the civilized world, you'll find somebody in the room who speaks English and for the hospitality industry, the political class and international business set, it is an imperative.

I'm a polyglot, and at ease in several languages. When I used to travel, it was with phrasebooks and I always made an effort to speak the local language,
Visiting Mexico often, where our company had a factory and where the locals, living in the hinterland, spoke no English, I took up Spanish and got by quite well, but alas have given up for practical reasons.

I remember one such trip to the beautiful boonie town of Zacatecas, where my wife remarked on how surprised she was that nobody spoke English, to which I remarked that she'd never been to Chicoutimi. Hmmm.

But this is twenty years later, I hope the Mexicans made some progress but I'm pretty sure that the
Saguenéens have not.

Now when I check into a hotel or eat in a foreign restaurant of a decent calibre, I actually expect service in English...

Arrogant.... I don't think so.

English is as necessary to a big city hotel or restaurant as clean linens or good food. Those that don't offer the service are suspect and lazy, so I wouldn't trust what I was being sold.

For francophone parents in Quebec who fail to ensure that their children learn English, it is akin to keeping them illiterate or without basic math skills, a dereliction of parental duty.

Quebec remains an oddball society, the only one that I can think of that has made public policy the persecution of all things English.
It's a clever campaign, where politicians and language militants profess encouragement for francophones to learn English, but actually hope they don't.
Through subtle and not so subtle attacks on all things English, the message is passed down rather successfully that those who don't learn English are just fine.

The Mario Beaulieus of Quebec are no better than the Ayatollahs who instruct to their flock that schooling is irrelevant to girls, who after all, are expected to stay home and make babies, and so, education an utter waste of time.
We hear this all the time, that English is unnecessary if a francophone sets a goal to become a barista in a Tim Horton's in Matane.
That is the nationalist version of reaching for the stars.

It reminds me of bygone days where school guidance councilors would regularly tell parents of poor students to send them to technical or secretarial school.
I thought that behaviour went out in the sixties, but apparently language militants in Quebec are of the same mindset.
"Don't bother learning English, it's too big an effort and since you're going nowhere in life, it's unnecessary."

Tell me you haven't heard the Quebecois version of that argument often enough.

And so a generation of children have been told by their government that learning a foreign language like English is nice but not entirely necessary.
Read the anglophobes on vigile.net who tell readers that it's more important to learn Spanish or Chinese and  one can understand the fantasy world of the anti-English militants.

Now to those sovereigntists who believe that the only answer is independence, the sad fact is that it will not make English less important, but rather more.

As the rest of Canaeda de-bilingualizes, it means the protection of French in a bilingual Canada will disappear.
Quebec will be all alone, the 7 million francophones facing off against 375 million instead of the 35 million who protect French officially.
Hitherto bilingual Canadian companies with head offices in Toronto will de bilingualize, a natural progression based on the new reality.
Some companies selling into Canada, who were forced to keep French on the label and on the instructions even if it didn't pay, will eliminate translation.
Many companies will continue with French if it pays, but those who believe that it always pays are dead wrong.

Today there is an issue wherein Toronto or Calgary based public companies making public offerings are not bothering to issue documents in French, because they don't see enough  interest or aren't interested in selling in Quebec under the rules of the AMT.
French language militants celebrated a great victory when the Quebec government ruled that the practice of making French summaries of English documents will no longer be tolerated and full translations will be required before companies can trade in Quebec.
The question remains whether this new rule will increase or decrease the amount of stock offerings in Quebec?
Those who believe the former are dreaming in technicolor.
It is like those who want to ban plastic water bottles, believing that everyone will alternatively switch to water fountains instead of bottles of soft drinks or juices.

Because of the protective bubble that Canada provides to the French language, francophones have come under the impression that there is an equivalency between languages, the need for anglophone Canadians to learn French, as necessary as francophones to learn English.
French language militants always boast that francophones are more bilingual than Anglophones, but fail to understand that the need for an Anglophone to speak French can in no way compare to a francophones's need to speak English.
It's like boasting that more girls use makeup than boys....there is no equivalency.
Sorry for the painful truth.....

The reality is that French is protected by all 35 million Canadians, like it or not.
Those who believe that Quebec stands alone protecting French are like the toddler whose training wheels are taken off her bicycle for the first time, and who pedals furiously and successfully, unaware that her father is running behind her with a firm hand holding the whole thing upright.

I want to share this tweet as an example of the arrogance of the ignorant, who believe the world revolves around French Quebec.

Pierre Trudel, a retired Quebec sports commentator took offence at Eugenie Bouchard for Tweeting to her followers in English only.

His missive is typical of the ignorance of those who live in the cloistered world of the unilingually French and denotes a not so subtle level of hatred directed at the English.

First, Mr. Trudel assumes or wishes that Ms. Bouchard would be a francophone, which she is not. He adds an accent 'egu' to her name because it fulfils his fantasy.

The product of a French/English family, Eugenie speaks both English and French, but is decidedly Anglophone, having attended school at the very upper class and English "The Study"  in Westmount.
Listening to her interviews in both French and English, it is clear that English and the English culture is her preference.
But still, at ease in both languages, (she has a French coach) she is the embodiment of the bilingual class of Quebecers. A fine testament to the young successful bilinguals of Quebec (be they English or French).

But read into Mr. Trudel's tweet and we see quite the frustration. He sarcastically mentions Westmount 'Kwibec,'  a pejorative that francophones use, to describe how Anglos pronounce Quebec.

Now on what level is an Anglophone Canadian, who lives in Quebec, but plays on the international world tennis tour (which operates in English,) obliged to tweet in French.
Is it not the height of entitlement of Francophone Quebecers to assume that she should?

Such is the reality of French language militants.
It is sad and destructive, the painful reason so few francophones are really bilingual.
Listening to politicians, police or industry spokesman on television and on the street, it is more than clear that the level of English comprehension is abysmally low.

Thank the government and the Mario Beaulieus for keeping Quebec francophones barefoot and stupid, after all, like the Afghani girls who don't need education, so too are Quebecers, who don't really need English.

And so the rate of real bilingualism of francophone Quebecers is pitiful, with the majority of those claiming to speak and understand English basing that rating largely on the ability to order breakfast in English.

How many can watch a Hollywood movie and fully understand and appreciate what is said?

Francophones reading this blog, and who are truly bilingual, know the truth.
To those who actually achieve real bilingualism, I salute you.
You've done so despite your government and society, which actually resents your success and views your bilingualism as some sort of treason.

Sad but true.....

Is There a Sovereigntist in the House?

"So long...suckers!"

First, let me gloat a little bit over a prediction I made when Jean-Martin Aussant quit politics, telling everyone that it was time for him to take care of his family.
What he didn't say then, is what is obvious today, he already had a job lined up and the fiction that he was starting a job search, political malarkey.
Read: Founder of Quebec independence party moves to England

I've told readers before, when a politician leaves a cushy job, especially a young family man, it is because he's got something lined up.
When you hear a politician tell you that he or she is quitting a political position mid-term, to 'explore other possibilities,' your baloney detector should go off.

I remember laughing at the absurd news conference given by Frank Zampino, who quit his job as deputy mayor of Montreal to 'explore other opportunities.' Hah!
He already had a job lined up with the infamous Tony Accurso and was leaving the city job because of the impending investigation into his corruption.
Not one reporter called him out on the obvious lie, I wish I was there to put the question to him.

The same for Jean-Martin Aussant
And so I'll remind readers of what I said in June, when Aussant announced his retirement;

"Does a committed father of twins really leave a secure job just like that without having something lined up?
Look for a well deserved summer vacation for a month or two, followed by the announcement that to nobody's surprise, Aussant has 'found' a new position.
Care to bet a two/four?" Link

By the way, all this BS about not being able to find a job in Quebec is just a red herring, a story put out by Aussant to mislead us over his decision to dump Option Nationale, which was going nowhere. And so he reached out to his old friends in London and asked for or was offered a job, before he quit.

There was no summer job search, all was settled beforehand. It's perfectly logical.
But sovereigntists are weaving the fiction that he was blackballed in Quebec for his sovereigntist views, all this without a shred of evidence. Link {fr}

I'll repeat what I said before, a family man does not abandon a good and secure job on the 'if-come.'

While in the gloating mood, I'd like to remind readers that I was THREE years ahead of the Montreal Gazette in exposing the fact that the McGill University medical school was abandoning anglos in search of political safety.

Last week the Montreal Gazette published a good story about the situation and in fact the writer reached out to me for background.

I'm glad this story finally hit the main street press as Montreal Gazette journalist Karen Seidman reported;

"MONTREAL - With only about 10 per cent of all applicants getting into medical schools across the country, the dream of becoming a doctor is one filled with lots of heartache for even some of the brightest students.
And the dream seems to be a castle in the air for more and more anglophone students in Montreal who are competing to get into the one English medicine program in the province, at McGill University, where an increasing emphasis on diversity has many urban anglophones grumbling that they aren’t the cohort McGill is courting these days.
A growing list of anglophone students rejected from medicine at McGill — many with GPAs ranging from 3.95 to 4.0 who didn’t even get interviews — are wondering if they are too English, too urban and too affluent to get one of the 185 or so highly coveted spots in the program. Read the rest of the story in the Montreal Gazette

Three years ago, I wrote this;

McGill Caves in to Language Pressure- Affirmative action Arrives  -August 4, 2010 

"In one fell swoop McGill has destroyed its reputation. It is in the process of turning itself from an elite program into a run of the mill secondary medical school......

.....Shockingly, in an announcement last week, McGill said that it is dropping the MCAT, much to the derision of the traditional medical community.
.....The decision is one of the most blatant cases of caving in to language militants, an  abrogation of responsibility to maintain high standards that shames the school and will likely lead to the school losing its status as the best medical school in Canada. Read more.

Last year, I wrote this; 

McGill University Medical School Decline was Inevitable  -July 4, 2012

Sadly my prediction has come true, McGill's medical school's world ranking has plummeted and it likely has to do with that dreadful decision to cave in to language extremists.  Read More

I liked the story written by Ms. Seidman, except for the fact that McGill honchos failed to tell her truth, the real reason for which they decided to lower standards.
For that answer, go back and read the above two posts.

At any rate, with John-Martin Ossant off to merry old England where his children, whose welfare he so dearly professes to protect, can become truly anglicized, it begs the question....

Is there a real sovereigntist leader left in Quebec?

With Pauline and her crew fully committed to sovereignty sometime in the distant future, in a galaxy far, far away, and with Option Nationale about to collapse, there doesn't seem to be many options left, unless you call Amir Khadir a serious contender.

By the way, Khadir seems to be a little burned out, his family legal problems perhaps too much of a distraction. He is keeping a decidedly low profile these days.

And so who will take up the torch of the sovereignty NOW movement, or is it all over.

Does the capitulation of Jean Martin Aussant mark a tipping point where the sovereignty movement goes from the possible to the impossible, where everybody, even the sovereigntists realize in their heart of hearts, that the dream is over?

There is gentle readers, a silent and profound humiliation in the sovereignty movement today over the Aussant defection. It isn't being articulated because it is just too painful and so, better not to discuss it in public.
That malaise was clear to Aussant, who felt compelled to write an article in the Journal de Montreal defending his decision.  Read: Au fait, je ne mangerai pas de bébés{fr}

I'm pretty sure that Aussant's defection to England will be a lot more devastating than sovereigntists comprehend today, he will forever be remembered as the symbol of the broken sovereignty dream.

After all, if Quebec's most dedicated and militant sovereigntist leader can give up, what hope is there for everyone else?

Montreal's Extrajudicial Police

extrajudicial [ˌɛkstrədʒuːˈdɪʃəl]
adj

1. outside the ordinary course of legal proceedings 

2. outside the usual procedure of justice; legally unwarranted.

This week we heard the story of Montreal political activist Katie Nelson, who is being targeted and harassed by Montreal police in a story that should have garnered more attention and public outrage.

Sadly the story was largely dismissed and mostly ignored  because most of us have little sympathy or use for this dedicated anarchist.

It's too bad, I always thought that the hallmark of a great democracy was the commitment of the majority to support and defend those wronged, notwithstanding their political opinions and actions which may be in direct opposition to popular opinion. 

"Katie Nelson is a twenty-one year old Anarcho-Syndicalist, insurrectionist, and anti-fascist, organizing against neo-nazism and combating Police repression. She was raised on the Mexican Border in Texas, moved back to Alberta at eight years old, and last year moved to Montreal to support the student strike and never left. To date she has racked up almost $6,000 in fines, almost all to do with peaceful participation in protests." Link

 It seems that Nelson started a Facebook page documenting what she and others deemed to be police brutality during the student protest last Spring and published photos of 'offending' individual officers as well as some contact information.
As you can imagine, the police didn't take kindly to the publicity and embarked on a campaign of pure harassment and intimidation in a juvenile act of reprisal.

"Katie Nelson says she’s been ticketed so many times, Montreal police have stopped asking for her address when handing her a citation. They know it by heart. The 21-year-old Concordia student racked up over $6,500 in fines during the 2012 student protests. The litany of charges include jaywalking, swearing, spitting on the ground, flicking cigarette ashes and “emitting a noise” in public.
One ticket reads: “for having professed insults in a park.” That $146 fine came after Nelson apparently said “bastard” in Émilie-Gamelin Park.
At first, Nelson found her predicament funny.
“I actually hung (the tickets) up on the fridge at my apartment. It was kind of a joke,” Nelson told The Gazette. “Eventually we ran out of room on the fridge.”
Nelson isn’t laughing anymore.
Now she’s busy looking for a lawyer willing to work her case pro-bono and attempting to work out a schedule that won’t involve her having to go to court hundreds of times over the next few years. On Wednesday, the 21-year-old was in court to contest her spitting charge and she’ll appear before a judge on Aug. 23 to fight another citation.
Read more and watch a video news story : Meet the Montreal protester with $6,500 in fines after she outed cops for misconduct

There are those of you reading this blog who might say good on the police because she deserved a little payback.
If you believe that you should be ashamed.

Katie Nelson is in fact an avowed anti-'everything' and has crossed the line more often than not. I don't agree with just about everything she stands for, but as the quotation inaccurately attributed to Voltaire goes;
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

As I researched Ms. Nelson across the net, I was saddened to learn of the poor state of mind of this obsessive-compulsive activist. It's hard to comprehend such a young, brilliant, articulate and energetic sole descending  into such a dark and forbidding place.
Read this disturbing article written by her, to get a limited understanding of what she is about.

"Letter from a young activist on her 21st birthday

I want to thank the people who have supported me this past year. It is for your courage and trust that I am grateful today. I didn't think I would ever live to be twenty-one. For me, this is an unbelievably impossible day, one that five years ago, I didn't think I would ever see and that a month ago I didn't think I would live to experience. But despite every dark hour and every night that I got close, I am here. And for now, I'm not going anywhere.
So if I don't live for the twenty-second birthday, remember my only request: What you are fighting is the most honest and amazing thing, and no matter how many people tell you different, you are doing the right thing. So take this system by the balls and burn the mother fucking city to the ground. 
In love and in rage, -Katie." Read the entire piece 

To get her point of view, read this; Eyewitness account of Montreal police repression of monthly bike ride

Now I want to preface this next part with a defence of the Montreal police for their actions in relation to the student street actions in opposition to tuition hikes.
It is true that the police crossed the line, using methods like 'kettling' and preemptive arrest and over-exuberant arrests, but harsh times call for harsh measures.
The students were determined to cause mayhem, for no other reason but because they could.
There was a distinct possibility that the police would 'lose' the streets and that would have brought on even more repression with authorities forced to invoke Martial law, akin to what happened in the October crisis.
The students didn't get what they deserved, they got what they wanted, violent confrontation. 

So I'm not going to take police to task over their harsh methods in putting down the student insurrection and as for the students, including Ms. Nelson, I've no sympathy for the bruises, bumps, fines and tickets they incurred in the act of rioting or demonstrating illegally.

That being said, this current campaign of harassment against Ms. Nelson is completely unwarranted, immoral and patently illegal.
There is no 'greater good' to be argued and the police action against her should be seen for what it is, an illegal action of intimidation and harassment.

I would hope that the police chief of Montreal would rein in his activist cops, but alas, every Montreal police chief in the last twenty years has been held hostage by the policeman's union, who actually rule the roost.

Now that the story of this harassment has become public it remains to be seem what remedial action will be taken.
I would hope the Quebec Justice Minister, looking down from his office in Quebec City will call the Montreal police to order and demand a return to the strict rule of law.
The extrajudicial punishment meted out by Montreal cops, tolerated and perhaps encouraged by superiors cannot be acceptable in a truly democratic and free society.

Last week a Montreal man was given a $147 ticket for sitting under a tree in a Montreal park, which is supposedly forbidden.
The policeman explained that since ticketing was a standard operating procedure for keeping vagrants from sleeping in the park, it was only fair to ticket 'regular' people once in a while... Link

And so Montreal police have an arsenal of 'ticket' weapons to be used against those they don't like.
Spitting, swearing in public, sitting on the grass and jaywalking are but a few nonsensical offences used by police to harass those they don't like.

If all else fails, our glorious police will stop and search people based only on their skin colour, as every Black Montrealer can attest.
Montreal remains one of the few cities where 'driving while Black' is automatic probable cause for an identification check. All of this, completely reprehensible and entirely illegal.

I don't see many people sympathetic to the likes of Katie Nelson, but we should be.
Tolerating this type of extrajudicial behaviour by our police diminishes us all.

An ex-assistant director of the SPVM once told me that the public has no problem when police use extrajudicial force on criminals and as long as those measures are used against those who 'deserve it,'
well, ....nudge, nudge, wink, wink, let's all pretend we didn't see it or know about it.
A heinous dereliction of civic and social duty.

I hope Katie Nelson finds a sympathetic lawyer to take her case and sues the pants off the Montreal police. She might get a big payday.
While police spokesmen stonewall us and tell us with a straight face that nothing untoward is going on or that they can't comment on the case, that baloney won't stand up in court in front of a judge who has heard this type of bullshit before.
Any judge worth his salt will see the situation for what it is and will no doubt come down hard on the police.
Judges generally don't like the police using the courts as a weapon against its own citizens and actually consider themselves guardians of the justice system.

Read some of my previous posts on the Montreal Police;

Montreal Police Harass Entire Black Community 
Montreal Police Go Beyond Racial Profiling 
Montreal Police Get the Respect They Deserve

And so I defend Katie Nelson on principle and I hope you do too.
Why?......  Because I am reminded and live by this quote;

The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing

...Edmund Burke

Pauline's Chickens Come Home to Roost

It is one of the more curious attributes of our system of government, that is, the generally irresponsible and unrealistic braying and sniping coming from opposition benches in Parliament, from politicians utterly disconnected or unconcerned with reality.

It isn't a Quebec phenomenon, it is part and parcel of our democracy, the British Parliamentary system of government.

For politicians in opposition, it's a make-believe world, where what you say and do makes no difference or never-mind, and where with the passage of time, the irrelevancy of it all either wears you down into a cynical wretch or turns you into a zombie-like creature disconnected from reality, living in a fantasy world.

Listening to the Utopian drivel that spouts from the mouths of Thomas Mulcair and his gang of Ndp career bench-warmers, the constant gratuitous bellyaching, nit-picking and outright distortions, is enough to turn ones stomach, but alas its part of the game.
Mulcair hasn't been there long, but already displays the classic symptoms of 'oppositionitis,' his latest irresponsible outburst, the unfounded and contemptuous claim that rail deregulation, instituted by the Conservatives, was a contributing factor in the Lac-Megantic train wreck disaster.
When faced with the evidence that the incidence of train wrecks has actually gone down since deregulation, Mulcair did the honorable thing and denied ever having made the assertion.
Nobody paid much mind to his gaffe, at best it received a condescending chuckle in the Press, because what Mulcair and the Ndp think or say affects our lives not a whit.

It's a pet theory of mine, that long bouts in opposition render politicians unfit for power, their minds permanently hobbled by the numbing forces of obscurity and irrelevancy, where imaginary battles long fought, make real ones impossible to face.

God help Canada if the NDP ever attained power.
I cannot imagine the harm that the arrogant (Do you know who I am!) Mulcair, abetted by the insufferable Libby Davis and the likes of the injudicious and nasty Pat Martin could cause.

Wait a second!
I can imagine what it would be like to suffer under an Ndp government.... We've got our own not-ready-for-prime-time gang of PQ fools wreaking havoc here in Quebec, right now!
And what glorious and destructive havoc it is!

I'm not sure why pundits expected  from Pauline Marois' motley crew of amateurs, I wrote about  the inevitable disaster to be anticipated courtesy of the talentless hacks and nobodies that make up her cabinet, long before the gaffes manifested.
Read: Pauline Steers a PQ Ship of Fools

The only real surprise was Pauline herself, who should have had enough experience to carry the ball as Premier, but she too, it seems, has suffered from the long years in obscurity and has developed a healthy dose of 'oppositionitis,' the numbing and debilitating condition that renders politicians useless and ineffective.

Now let us consider Pauline's first goal, to convince Quebecers that sovereignty aside, her government could and would provide honest, capable and effective government.

As the modern vernacular puts it.... 'How's that going for you, Pauline?'

So like Lucien Bouchard before her, the goal of convincing Quebecers that the PQ is responsible started with balancing the budget, surely an achievement that the electorate would have to take notice of.
Back in the day, Bouchard nearly destroyed the health care system in a wrong-headed attempt to balance his budget, reducing staff, buying out doctors and nurses contracts in a self-harming and long-reaching debacle that has repercussions today. 

Pauline is going back to that same playbook, doing a balanced budget variation that is just as destructive and futile as Bouchard's folly. I wonder if she expects a different result?

And so Pauline asked the Education department to take over $200 million in cuts, knowing full well that  the various School Commissions which would be affected have the ability to tax homeowners directly and that they could raise the difference in funding on their own and this, without affecting the provincial budget.
That's exactly what happened, with announced school taxes rising by up to 60% in some unlucky districts.

In adding additional capacity to the province's money-losing wind generation power program, Pauline knows that it will be Hydro-Quebec, not her government, which will bear the financial burden.
And so Hydro-Quebec has announced that it has no choice but to raise rates substantially to pay for Marois' promises.

How clever of our Premier!
Forcing other agencies to hike taxes and rates in order to help her balance her budget. A not-so-sophisticated political game of Three Card Monte, where like the elusive Queen of Hearts, the taxes are always hidden from the suckers.

The politics of these issues  are usually above the public's capacity to understand and so, a little political rope-a-dope is usually all it takes to tire the public of the issue..

But alas, this issue may be the exception that proves the rule, somehow the white elephant that is the wind-power program has ignited and resonated with the public.
Taxpayers are not bright, but recognize a simple swindle when they see one, especially when it is they who are being conned.
The issue of the egregious political pork, benefiting a small PQ constituency in the boonies, while the rest of us pay the obscene bill, is something that will not pass unopposed.

There is a rising crescendo of rage in the Press, the Premier's sneaky attempt to have her cake and eat it too, not passing the mustard of acceptable governance.

As the issue gathers traction, more and more horror stories are appearing in the Press every day and so it seems that Premier Marois' chickens have come home to roost.

There will be Hell to pay in the Fall when Parliament resumes sitting. The Liberals smell blood, but more importantly the Press smells a story that will spark interest.

Either the Premier does a quick reversal on the wind energy project (entirely possible), or her government is in deep, deep trouble, the CAQ cannot on principle support that kind of waste and so with the Liberals lapping at the PQ heals, something may just give.

 Pauline has demonstrated but one political talent, the ability to survive, but like the Teflon Don, sometimes your number is up.

Back to the Future..."No Klingon in Quebec"

Readers I'm out of town and still loafing around, enjoying family, especially my grandkids in Brooklyn.
In such a happy frame of mind, it hard to turn attention to the dismal affairs of state back home.
Instead of a blank, I'd like to reprint some pieces that I wrote early in the history of this blog, pieces that most of you haven't read and those that I am most proud of.
This one was written almost four years ago and it is a personal favourite.

Not many of you read it, as the blog was new back then and had few followers.
Enjoy..

Imagine that scientists discover a 'wormhole' in space, one that allows humans unlimited access to the universe. The United Nations sends an exploratory team through this portal that finds thousands upon thousands of inhabited planets, most of them teeming with intelligent and sophisticated life.

As one would expect, each of these societies use their own unique and particular manner of communication. Some use telepathy, some speak orally and others use touch. All have their own unique language.
It's also discovered, that when planetary societies interact with each other across the universe, one common second language is employed.
That language is determined to be 'KLINGON.'

The explorers return to Earth and report their findings. Contact with the Universe promises unparallelled advancement. The world is moved to action.

If Earth is to communicate with the universe, Klingon needs to be adopted as the secondary common language of Earth.
The nations of the world react. Comprehensive programs in Klingon language instruction are initiated in all the nations of the world.

Everybody is excited to embrace the new language, nobody wants to be left behind..... well almost nobody....

In the obscure and sparsely populated province of Quebec, in Canada, the common consensus amongst intellectuals, educators and political leaders is that speaking Klingon is unnecessary. In fact, they hold that learning Klingon represents a threat to the preservation of the indigenous French language.

"While it's nice to speak other languages, it's certainly not necessary" they say.

'A Quebecker doesn't need to speak Klingon to work in Tim Hortons or to be mayor of Montreal, or even Premier of Quebec for that matter! We can live quite nicely in French alone!"

But there's a minority who object, they remind the French language zealots that the whole world has embraced Klingon.

The naysayers are dumbfounded."Doesn't it make sense to do the same?"

"Non! Non!" answer the zealots" Those who want to interact with us, can learn French as easily as we can learn Klingon."

"But that makes no sense! What if we want to travel around the universe? What if we want to sell our products to other planets? How will we communicate?" French is a small language and Klingon is universal, do you really believe that the onus is on them to learn French, rather than on us learning Klingon?"

"MAIS OUI, BEN SUR!!!"

Argghhh.........
Louis Prefontaine is a Quebec blogger who typifies Quebec French language radicalism, those who share a common and dangerous philosophy- "Better to be mediocre in French, than successful bilingually."

Mr. Prefontaine complains in his blog about the students of a French language university in Montreal, the Université du Québec à Montréal(UQAM), who created a video sensation on YouTube.
The students produced a humorous and catchy one-take tribute video that has recently gone viral. The video is a takeoff of the Black-Eyed Peas song "I Got a Feeling

I first became aware of the video when I saw it touted on CNN, where commentators raved. To date close to a million people have viewed it on YouTube. Not bad.

You'd think that Mr. Prefontaine would be happy for the Quebec students' international success, but if you thought that, you'd be wrong.

Here's what Mr. Prefontaine had to say about the video;

"Even our university bred elite of the future are infatuated with English, as proven by this video created by students of UQAM with it's bilingual presentation, English song and text in English. We need to restore a French complexion to the city."

"Même notre future élite universitaire s’entiche de l’anglais; à preuve cette vidéo de l’UQAM, avec présentation bilingue, chanson anglophone, textes anglophones… Il faut redonner un visage francophone à la ville."

Grrrrrr.!!!!......The students of UQAM appear to be more realistic and worldly than Mr. Prefontaine. They wanted to make an successful video and chose a catchy tune by a popular music group for maximum impact. Judging by the results, it seems that their decision was right, notwithstanding the annoying braying of French language militants.

The students understood intuitively what Mr Prefontaine and other French language militants fail to understand or accept, that artistic success on a word-wide level, means singing, dancing or writing in English.
That's the way it is. Tough luck.
Ask Celine Dion.

I imagine that Mr. Prefontaine would have preferred that the students sang 'Allouette, gentile Alloutte' I'm not sure that it would have gone over quite as big......

Should the mayor of Montreal speak English? Perhaps not, but Klingon, ah, that would be nice....

Quebec Liberals a Victim of their own Success

Polls in Quebec are notoriously fickle, probably because the voters are as well, but it's pretty clear that whatever short-lived romance the electorate had with Francois Legault and the CAQ, it's pretty much over.

The numbers for the CAQ have steadily declined to the point that they now are nothing more than a spoil-sport, presenting a dangerous situation for Quebec democracy, where the PQ government, lounging in the low 30% approval ratings, soldiers on because the CAQ is afraid of being decimated at the polls, in any potential election

With polling numbers like these below, the CAQ has good reason to fear an election. Never underestimate a politician's will to survive and between doing the right thing and preserving one's job a little longer......well.

Nouveau sondage Léger montre une situation similaire au dernier Crop

And so, much to our consternation, we aren't going to face an election anytime soon as the PQ, is ironically the chief beneficiary of the Liberal party's resurgence and the CAQ's decline.

As you can see in the chart above, the Liberal party is in majority territory, a frightening scenario for the PQ, but even worse for the CAQ, which would likely not survive an election rout.

It isn't really a case of the CAQ foundering or losing its way, but rather the reality that set in, once the bloom is off the rose, and where only the traditional true conservative base of voters  remains, less than 20%.

It's hard to envisage any scenario where the CAQ will make a comeback to that brief period where they were leading in the polls, the voters have had a chance to live with the CAQ for a while and have tired of the message of fiscal restraint.
How many times do voters really vote for cuts and restraint, something the CAQ has droned on and on about, to the dissatisfaction of most voters who prefer to live in a fantasy world where their entitlements endure forever.

I like the CAQ, its members perhaps the most honest and realistic of all the provincial parties, traits that are unfortunately a death knell in politics where stealth, deception and  blatant dishonesty usually wins the day.

Couillard delivering leadership

As for the Liberals, the very strong performance of Philippe Couillard and the party's resurgence  has been a pleasant surprise.

Before I go on, let me quote him from an interview he gave to the Suburban

“The PQ ideology is all centred on the fact that in some way French-speaking Quebecers are besieged or humiliated or threatened…It's not true, and we will stand up and say it,” he says, “and I say the same thing in the Gaspé as in the west island of Montreal.”
“Maybe we hesitated to say it in the past, but now we have to say it as it is” he says, adding is that the PQ is working to define identity of francophone Quebecers “instead of seeking to define a shared identity among all Quebecers, one that includes the primacy of the French language.”
Couillard said that while the government had suggested it will tweak some elements of its Bill 14 language legislation in committee this fall, the Liberals will vote against it “not on technical grounds or question of this or that article. No, it's based on false premises. If we want French to be promoted in Quebec there are ways to do that which would lead to a much more favourable climate.” Read the whole article

Readers, as an ex-political organizer, I can tell you this position was brilliantly crafted, whomever in his entourage who scripted it, should be recruited on the federal level and offered the big bucks.

In one fell swoop Mr. Couillard changed the dynamic of the debate, striking at the heart of the separatist argument that Quebecers are threatened and weak, something the PQ has based its entire political existence on.
The PQ have successfully attacked the Liberal's with accusations of weakness in the face of the federal government and for its perceived lack of defense of the French language, to which Jean Charest's limp reply was usually appeasement, with reactions like beefing up the loathsome OQLF.

Couillard is having none of that.

He's going on the offense, striking at the heart of the PQ's  bedrock premise and that attack has already struck a chord, as evidenced in the polls.
The Couillard message is that Quebec is not weak nor threatened and shouldn't act as if it is. Furthermore, more is to be achieved by friendly cooperation with Ottawa, than by self-destructive fighting.

Furthermore, his interview with the Suburban, (an unofficial party organ of the Liberals)  has re-established the eternal link with the English and minorities and has squelched any resurgence of Anglo protest.

The Liberals under Couillard are back in the saddle and to say that the PQ and the CAQ are frightened is an understatement extraordinaire.

The PQ, fearful of losing power will do anything to survive and so Bill 14 will arrive, not stillborn but hobbled enough to allow the CAQ to save face.

Nonetheless, even in its less restrictive form, the law will be another disastrous step backwards.

And that is where we will find ourselves politically for the next while, firmly ensconced between a rock and a hard place, the disastrous co-dependance of the PQ and the CAQ, a frightening scenario.

So don't expect an election soon, even next year.

The only bug in the ointment is the issue of Hydro rates this Fall.

In order to pay for the foolish green energy programs that the PQ government expanded, Hydro-Quebec needs a big rate increase and the media is attracted to the story like bees to pollen.

It is an issue that can rip the PQ apart and if the Liberals manoeuvre the issue onto the front page, the CAQ will be caught, unable to support the PQ on such a fundamental issue.

But from this observer's point of view, the likeliest scenario is more PQ, more Marois, more stupidity, more pain and this, not in the short-term but rather the intermediate.

I remember the great Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup victory of '93 where an improbable combination of overtime victories coupled with underdogs taking out the competition led to a less than stellar team winning the Stanley Cup.

Sometimes the stars align, and like the Canadiens in '93, the hapless, unpopular and incompetent Pauline Marois and the PQ finds itself, through an incredible serendipitous confluence of circumstances, firmly in power.

It's a sad note  to leave on but with that, valued readers, I'm off on vacation and will publish erratically over the next little while.....

I do have a post for Monday which will be interesting and spark some debate (I hope!)

Check in... As I said, I might sneak in a couple of posts, even though I promised my wife to take a break!!

And with that dear friends, I'm off to visit the grandchildren in NYC.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.

Quebec Not Very Accommodating

A half a dozen years back, a cabane à sucre  was taken to task for making an accommodation to a large group of Muslims who asked that pork not be used in the preparation of their meals.
Since the group was rather large and represented an important and profitable booking, the owner agreed. Why not?

A good time was had by all, the owner very happy to provide a service for which he was well-paid and the Muslims happy for the social outing that represents an important aspect of Quebec culture and history.

But not everyone was amused, in fact the Quebec Association des restaurateurs de cabanes à sucre was horrified that the traditional recipes which included pork were bastardized in order to make a religious accommodation.
The president, Hermine Bourdeau-Ouimet, opined that pork is part of the pleasure at the cabane à sucre and that there shouldn't be any question of modifying the traditional menus. Link{fr}

In another cabane à sucre, 260 hundred Muslims were celebrating a day at the sugar shack and asked that the dance floor be used for prayer for about ten minutes.
The only other group in the hall was about twenty non-Muslims who were told to get off the dance floor for the short period that the prayers were offered,
Incensed, that group stormed out in a huff.
When the owner was questioned by the press over the incident, he remarked casually that there were close to 300 Muslims and twenty Christians and if the majority didn't rule, their money certainly did.

And so was born in Quebec the debate over religious accommodations.

Should we or shouldn't we.

If you believe the polls, most Quebecers don't want to make what are commonly known as 'reasonable accommodations,' a clever euphemism for 'reasonable religious accommodations', fearing that it will somehow lead to a breakdown in society and destroy the all important social cohesiveness, that is the cornerstone of the nationalist narrative.

As a society, we are in fact, very in tune with the concept of reasonable accommodations, just not with reasonable accommodations that involve religion.

The leading anti-religious-accommodation journalist of the Journal de Montreal Richard Martineau makes this point about the religiously observant.

"You chose to follow the tenets of a religion? ..... Then assume the consequences.

Maybe your choice will prevent you from eating in restaurants in La Ronde because you won't find halal or kosher meat ...
And maybe your choice will prevent you from bathing in a public lake, because in Quebec there isn't separation between the sexes.

It's your choice.  
A company does not have to bend over backwards to accommodate you.
If God is so important to you, you should accept without complaint the sacrifices that the religion you have chosen .

This is the price to pay." Link

To many this argument makes sense, but it does show an incredible naïvete by someone who hasn't a clue as to what a business is all about, which is selling as much product or services at a profit, as one can.
If a group of 300 customers made a request for square dancing music to be played while they dine, then square dancing music it would be.
Maybe not to Mr. Martineau, but to any smart businessman.

If you believe in what Mr. Martineau wrote above about personal choice and living with the consequences, then you would have to agree that no accommodation should be offered to a large group of vegetarians who wished to arrange an afternoon at the cabane a sucre, because it too would entail a menu modification.
 After all, like the Muslims, it is a personal choice that vegetarians make not to conform with mainstream Quebec society and so they too should be forced to live with the consequences.

But I'm pretty sure that if faced with the question of vegetarians, Mr. Martineau would find room in his heart for an accommodation.

How about a large Yoga group, which asks that the dance floor be liberated for ten minutes so that they could do some limbering up exercises. Considering that 260 of the 280 guests are part of this Yoga group, is it really unreasonable or just good business?

Such is the folly of the debate over reasonable accommodations, because by definition an accommodation that is reasonable should be supported by all and contrarily we should all be against an unreasonable accommodation.

Of course we make accommodations all day long, the old standby that the rules should apply equally to all, is nothing but a pipe dream. We make these accommodations because they are the right thing to do.

We allow those with limited mobility to park closer to entrances and reserve parking spots just for them, excluding others.
The special prices at the movies for students or senior citizens is an accommodation that discriminates based on age.
The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts both discriminate against the opposite sex.
Golf clubs that don't allow women in the dining room may be seen as dinosaurs, but fitness clubs that bar men are seen as progressive.

All of a sudden accommodations don't seem so absurd, but when those accommodations revolve around religion, the atheist majority, led by Mr. Martineau see red, the debate always returns to so-called concept of equality, where we in fact violate those rules every day.

And so to the decision made by the La Ronde amusement park in Montreal (owned by Six Flags) to no longer allow Kosher or Halal food to be brought into the park by guests, can be seen in the Quebec context.
After a newspaper story detailing the horror, an online petition demanding that the amusement park end the religious accommodation was signed by 19,000 people who had nothing better to do with their time. Read a story  See the petition

Incidentally another petition, asking the La Ronde to sell healthier food received less than six hundred signers. Link
It is a sad commentary on what drives public debate in Quebec.
I bet if you asked these 19,000 petitioners if it would be okay for La Ronde to sell Halal or Kosher food, the majority would say absolutely not.
Why? Dunno.

The venue has a firm no outside food policy, which is fair for a business that makes much of its money selling food.
Unlike other venues who do offer kosher food, there isn't enough business in Montreal to warrant the investment and so La Ronde caved to the pressure and reversed a policy that did allow food to be brought in.

In a massive show of support, the Richard Martineau's in the media applauded this policy, citing the old chestnut of equality. If Jews and Arabs can bring in food, why not the Christians?

There is of course an easier solution to the problem and as the old saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way.

Like the airlines, the amusement park could have patrons pre-order kosher or Halal or in fact a vegetarian plate from a published menu, perhaps 24 hours before coming. Customers could pay for their purchases online and pick them up at a designated counter.
Not a big deal, certainly not brain surgery.
I'm not sure how many people would actually use the service, but if it were to be underused, the park could then successfully argue that it is unnecessary.

As I said, where there's a will, there's a way.

Unfortunately, in Quebec, there is a lack of will.