Only In Quebec

President Obama should speak French
A letter writer in the Quebec City newspaper, Le Soleil complains that President Obama didn't speak any French in his visit to Ottawa. What's amazing is not the idiot letter itself, but the fact that a newspaper would publish such drivel. Article

The Insidious March of English
In another letter, a reader from Baie Comeau complains that English names are taking over French business'. He complains about a hotel called 'LE MUST" and another called 'TIMES'. He implore the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste to take action. Article

Bloc Comes out Against Volunteerism
The Bloc Quebecois has a such pathological hatred of the name Trudeau that it actually found grounds to oppose Justin Trudeau's proposal that the federal government offer financial support and create programs encouraging young people to get involved in their communities by way of volunteer work. Bloc youth critic Nicolas Dufour postulated that the program could become “federalist propaganda.” Article

Mntrel Roads Dptmnt spels bdly

It's not often you get a spelling mistake on a street sign. Photo journalist Martin C. Barry captured this picture at the corner of Rosedale Ave. and Terrebonne Avenue . Read the article in The Chronicle.

Habs Party On

Sunday night Jean Perron, the ex-coach of the Habs and popular commentator on CKAC radio in Montreal visited ' Tout Le Monde en Parle', the wildly popular Sunday night talk TV show on the French CBC. He shed some light and provided some background vis-a-vis the recent not so positive headlines concerning 'Nos Glorieux'.
Mr. Perron is not only famous for winning a Stanley Cup with the Habs in 1986, but also for his honest and hard-hitting commentary on the CKAC radio, as well as his witty catch phrases which have entered the lexicon of modern Quebec vernacular. Mr. Perron has a lot of good sources and knows a lot of stuff about the players that is unflattering. He clearly knew more than what he was willing to divulge, but just the same gave out some interesting tidbits.
If you're not interested in Habs dirt, stop reading, otherwise--carry on!

First of all he cleared up mystery concerning Ryan O'Byrne's arrest in Florida for 'stealing' a purse. It seems Ryan was trying to retrieve a telephone from somebody's purse in order to erase a compromising photo of a team mate. M. Perron made it clear that he did not know specifically if the picture was of Cristobal Huot, the only married member of the group. Methinks he doth protest too much!
He went on to say that Cary Price, Sergei K and Chris Higgins are partying and carrying on to the point where their performance is being affected. He even called Bob Gainey to fill him in on the goings on.
He said that their behavior is much worse than '3 Amigos' as they were known, (Ribero, Theodore, Dagenais) ands who were shipped off because of off-ice escapades.
He predicted that something bad may explode.
His conversation is highly nuanced and if you understand French watch it here.


If you want some great dirt on the Hab players , by all means go to the 25Stanley.com blog where you'll find some great off-ice photos and stories. The site is not mean spirited at all and is great fun. Congratulation to them.

Patrick Bourgeois and the RRQ's Dangerous Victory

Most sovereignists and some journalists would have you believe that the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was called off because the growing opposition by both mainstream anglophones and francophones. The idea is patently false. See my previous post entitled Josee Legault- Out to Lunch Once Again.

The Reseau de resistance du Quebecois, a small radical sovereigntist organization and it's spokesperson Patrick Bourgeois deserve all the credit.
A potential violent protest hinted by the RRQ, was the overriding consideration in the decision by organiser's to deep six the event.

Up to now, the tiny, year old group was satisfied with organizing a few protest and vigils and it's most dangerous activity was some alleged graffiti tagging. They were roundly ignored (except by the police and various security agencies) and spent most of their time preaching to themselves and the converted in separatist bars and coffee shops around Quebec City.

In protesting the battle re-enactment at Plains of Abraham, the organization changed tactics and whether by accident or design, stumbled onto a magical formula. It appears that the mere suggestion of violence, even couched in the most oblique terms is enough to set the dogs running.

The Parti Quebecois was so alarmed by M. Bourgeois statements which they themselves described as "inappropriate comments with seemingly violent undertones.", that they pulled all advertising from M. Bourgeois separatist revue, "Le Quebecois" and severed all relations and associations with the radical. Until now the newspaper derived up to 80% of it's revenues from Bloq and PQ advertising.

Abandoned by the PQ and the Bloc, will the organization now pursue an even more radical profile? Given it's success in the Plains of Abraham affair it seems likely that they might well use the same successful tactic in the future. It's hard to put the genie back into the bottle.

Patrick Bourgeois is not a hothead, by any means. He is passionate, educated and articulate. In his blog he denies that he ever threatened anything violent and that he only promised acts of civil disobedience. In speaking with a reporter from La Presse, Mr. Bourgeois did say that there was a risk of violence because of the 'excited' situation. If you read French, you can read his defence here.
Whether he threatened violence or only hinted at it, his opponents believed that a violent threat was made and reacted in consequence.

Now all of this cannot be lost on the radical sovereignist movement. With one little threat of violence, perceived or real, the RRQ accomplished something they never had before, a change in public policy based on their actions.

The RRQ and Patrick Bourgeois are at a crossroads. Getting dumped by the PQ and the Bloc may have a liberating effect that will allow the group to push it's agenda in the more radical direction they demonstrated in the Plains of Abraham dossier.

I predict that the group will use similar tactics in the future. Once success is achieved, it's hard to go back to old unsuccessful methods.

What's next on the hit list?
If I had to guess, it's the future MUHC super hospital in Montreal. Mr. Bourgeois and his cohort Pierre Falardeau have been kvetching about the project and it's threat to the French language for a while now.
It is a perfect target.

Josee Legault- Out to Lunch Once Again.

The Montreal Gazette's resident separatist, Josee Legault has her own take on the cancellation of the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham debate. In today's piece she provides her particular spin and posits that it wasn't really the threat of violence by extremists, but rather public opinion, both anglophone and francophone that forced the cancellation.

I don't have any problem with Ms. Legault speaking for her separatist constituency, but she clearly has no understanding of Anglophones and what we are thinking.

Although this issue is a swirling controversy in the French media and in sovereignist circles, it is a non issue to anglophones. In the great scheme of things, the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham is less important to anglophones than who will get kicked off American Idol this week.

Francophone school children have it drilled into them, early and often by their sovereignist teachers that the battle was a disastrous and humiliating defeat, ever after to be known as 'La Conquete', Quebec nationalist's very own version of the Palestinian 'Al Naqba.'
Anglophones also learn about the Battle in school, but it's importance sits somewhere between Jacques Cartier sailing up the St. Lawrence and the Louis Riel rebellion, boring historical facts easily forgotten with the passing years. I'll bet you that until this month a large portion of anglophone community couldn't tell you what the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was and where it took place, it is that forgettable to us.
It's a difficult notion for nationalists to comprehend, the fact that we don't care or think about the things that they are passionate about. We don't watch 'Star Acadamie' and we wouldn't recognize one out of five guest on 'Tout le Monde en Parle'. The immense consternation that nationalists feel over the Battle doesn't translate in the least to our concern.

Now as proof of the anglophone community's rejection of the re-enactment based on the merits of the sovereignist's position, she cites several English language editorials. What Ms. Legault fails to understand is that without the threat of a violence, nobody in the English media would have cared or written about the controversy.
The event only became an issue to anglophones when the threat of a violent confrontation arose.
Based on that threat, anglophones immediately gave the issue their attention and rightly advocated for the cancellation of the event based on safety concerns. That's it. Period.

Ms. Legault is your polite, garden variety type of separatist, loath to give credit to the radical Reseau de Resistance (RRQ) and it's unrepentant hardliner, Patrick Bourgeois for the victory. The group did an bang-up job scaring the crap out of everyone, by introducing a level of anxiety to the equation. They never said that there would be a violent reaction, but made sure the implication was there. Well-played!
How Ms. Legault can forward the idea that the threat of violence was not the over-riding consideration in the event's cancellation is not only self-serving but beyond belief. She spins an unbelievable yarn of wishful thinking.

At any rate, I hope Ms. Legault and M.Bourgeois remember to thank the National Battlefields Commission for planning this event and giving the sovereignists an issue to sink their teeth into.
'Humiliation' and 'Insult" is what keeps the militants motivated and sovereignty movement alive. I haven't seen true separatists so happy and passionate since the run-up to the last referendum.
The only downer for the separatists is that Ottawa caved so quickly, they were just starting to have fun.