Stupidity and Greed Cross Language Divide

Financial abuses in Quebec's School board system is so legendary that the public is largely inured to surprises. The disconnect that the administrators have from their students and the public that they serve is nothing less than legendary.

And while student population falls across the province, the number of administrators keeps going up.

How about the cegep director who expensed a guided tour of the Grand Canyon and also claimed reimbursement for a meal in a museum that didn't have a restaurant? (It was actually for money spent on presents in the gift shop.) Did she lose her job?  LINK f

Recently, the Minister of Education had to step in when plans for a spanking new $13 million head office for the Commission scolaire des Patriotes were revealed, plans that included hiring of a company to water the plants. The head of the commission, continues to insist that the board needs more office space, even in light of falling enrollment

Such is the sense of entitlement, that when the minister turned down the proposal summarily, the furious, head honcho of the commission, Normande Lemieux, demanded a meeting to explain her position. Thankfully the minister told her to take a hike. Link fr

Yoga classes, meditation sessions, workshops of all assorted manner are all de riguer for school boards administrators, all on the public dime and all done on company time.

To date, I've read about these abuses, smugly assuming that it is a problem found only on the francophone side of the education system.

How arrogantly stupid I was... Shame on me!

A story in the Journal de Montreal, had me gagging on my morning coffee. I'm a cynic by nature and not much surprises me, but the abusive disregard of the public trust as described in the article had me seeing red.

It seems that a bunch of school directors  from anglophone schools went to a swanky hotel in the Dominican Republic to ostensibly improve their leadership skills, all on the dime of their respective school boards. All of this of course in the dead of winter.

Why the Dominican Republic? To study the fine education system down there and to learn how the schools cope with limited resources.

Sorry, I have to scream...

AGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to the organizer of this pork barrel vacation, a certain Lynnn Butler-Kisber, the trip to the stunning beach front hotel in the middle of winter is not really a vacation. "They went there to work"
Of course, she admitted that during the free time participants were most certainly free to partake of the hotel's fine facilities and access to the ocean.

By the way, the conference locale is no Motel 6, take a look a the promotional video of the place, it's a palace!

 

Next time these administrators feel the need to study schools operating in adverse conditions, perhaps they might plan a trip to the Gaza Strip or North Korea. Although the hotel situation may not be as favourable,  it'll certainly be a great learning experience.

In reaction to the story, school board spokespersons are all hiding and with good reason.

Anybody who tells us that this was an 'educational experience' must think we are morons.
Anybody who defends this abuse deserves to be fired.

By the way, each of the participants should be T4ed for the pleasure part of the trip.

How are we anglos going to react to this unforgivable insult to our intelligence and the disgusting abuse of public funds, by our very own people frittering away the school taxes that we pay?

While there appears to be no accountability in the French school boards, is there any in the English ones?

I fear we are one and the same. Losers.

Parkavenuegazette.com Webmaster picked up by Police

Faster than you can say Jack Rabbit, Canadian Internet providers commenced blocking the site
Parkavenuegazette.com  after complaints voiced on places like vigile.net.

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

This is not true. Parkavenuegazette.com reports that it was a maintenance issue, that weirdly coincided with the separatist attack.

Here's what to do if sites do get blocked.

Back when the Urban Outfitters site was intimidated into blocking viewers from Quebec from visiting the site because it was English only affair. I received a suggestion from a reader who told me to use a free simple proxy to view the blocked web site.

It pretty simple affair, just go to a site like HideMyAss.com and type in the website address that you wish to visit in the box provided.

It's a great place to view blocked sites or to keep your identity completely hidden when browsing.

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

A Montreal radio station reports that;

"A blogger who runs an anti-separatist website here in Montreal was taken to provincial police headquarters for questioning last evening. James Angus Brown came to the attention of police because of a headline on a posting arguing for the death penalty for francophones pursuing the ethnic cleansing of anglos in the province.

After the discussion at SQ headquarters, Brown removed the headline, which called for the hanging of Pauline Marois for the good of humanity. The article itself remains on his website, parkavenuegazette.com"

Parkavenuegazette.com is available again......but both articles in question seem to have been pulled completely.

The links in the previous post now lead to a '403 ERROR'

Developing...............

Anglo Website Triggers Charges of Racism

ParkAvenueGazette.com, is a radical anglo rights website that sent Quebec nationalists over the top with some pretty provocative pieces that it published of late.

The website went dark after an article in vigile.net accused the site of racism and demanded that it be shut down.

I emailed webmaster, (who I have been in contact with in the past) and he assured me that he'd be up and running soon.

Good to his word, the website is operating once again, much to the displeasure of many.

The center of the controversy are these articles;

 Hang Pauline Marois  for Humanity's Sake

Are Military Solutions Necessary?

 Go ahead and read the two articles and come back here to read this translation of this demand on vigile.net, for a police action. LINK French

A Call to civil war and the summary executions of Francophones

What is the Sûreté du Québec waiting for to intervene 

"Considering the provisions of the Police Act, giving the Sûreté du Québec's mission to protect the people, our institutions as well as Québec's strategic infrastructures against various intentional threats, including terrorism, organized crime and extremism;

Considering the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to public incitement of hatred, seditious conspiracy, incitement to fear of terrorist activities,

Considering that the website ParkAvenueGazette.com including in its pages the Colonel James Angus Brown and Ma'at Inkstir encourage anglophones and members of ethnic communities of Greater Montreal to:

• Take over of the Grand Montreal and "by military force if necessary" and to declare Montreal a "city state";

• Undertake a military rebellion in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods of Montreal, to separate Greater Montreal from Quebec,  reinstate the death penalty in order to ethnically cleanse the French;

• Undertake a bloody civil war during which the "racist French people" would be summarily executed in a "military style", as in Sarajevo, when they take over the island of Montreal;

• To acquire powerful weapons to protect themselves from the "racist French";

• To establish a clandestine network of military squadrons ('Squadron Three') to patrol the streets and neighbourhoods and protect them from "malicious actions of the dirty French  racist"

• Not to rest until each and every "small-minded garbage Francophone" be indicted and convicted under harsh emergency laws;

• To declare the Quebec people illiterate savages, with limited brain capacity, with only a vocabulary of 400 words of 'slang', racists who  should be "terminated" by all means necessary;

• To hang the opposition leader Pauline Marois, Member for Charlevoix in the National Assembly and leader of the Parti Quebecois;

THEREFORE, I hereby request  that the Sûreté du Québec and the Police Service of Montreal inquire into and act as quickly as possible to:

- To proceed with the closure of the website ParkAvenueGazette.com and the seizure of the web server in question;-

Carry out the arrest and indictment of Angus Brown and Ma'at Inkstir  for  hate, seditious conspiracy and membership in a terrorist organization;-

To declare "Greater Montreal City State movement" as a terrorist organization.-

Prohibit the "Abolish Bill 101 Rally planned Sunday, April 17, 2011 at the City Hall of Montreal for the reasons mentioned above and the dangers of a riot that might ensue.

Lax law enforcement has gone on long enough."

Jean-Paul Crevier-Delisle

WOW!
Comments are now open.....

************************UPDATE: **********************

It seems that Internet providers are again blocking the site. Please read the next post to find out how to view blocked websites easily.

Listen

Read phonetically

Dictionary - View detailed dictionary

►

The Assassination of Jacques Duchesneau -Mob Mentality Sweeps Quebec

 The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking around. -Alice in Wonderland

In light of the utter failure of the government, the police, or the justice system in general to deal with lawlessness and corruption sweeping Quebec, it isn't any wonder that citizens are attempting to take matters into their own hands by demanding loudly that miscreants be removed from office.


There is a distinct smell of blood in the water, which started with the mayors of both Terrebonne and Mascouche stepping down temporarily in the face of overwhelming public pressure. In the case of the Mascouche mayor, he was lucky he didn't show up to the next scheduled city council meeting, after the story of his alleged corruption broke, as an angry mob was set to greet him.


A petition demanding Premier Charest's resignation has reached over two hundred thousand signatures in just two weeks and continues to  grow. Although without any legal status, the petition is nonetheless a powerful message that people are not happy.
Last year, the PQ launched a similar Internet petition demanding a construction industry inquiry and was able to raise a scant 60,000 signatures over two months. Not much of an accomplishment considering that there are a 100,000 card carrying members of the PQ.

But things have changed.

The Maclean's magazine article, which called Quebec 'the most corrupt province in Canada' was the match that lit the fire. It was the 'tipping point' that sent the media on a witch hunt with the determination of a bloodhound, a chase that has proved more fruitful than one could have imagined.

And so the front pages of the Journal de Montreal and La Presse have become the new Place de la Révolution, the public square in Paris where over 1,300 French aristocrats and 'anti-revolutionaries' met a very public demise at the hands of a vengeful and bloodthirsty mob, under the blade of the infamous guillotine.

So hungry was the mob for blood, that feeding its appetite for blood led to the arrest and execution of some whose only crime was suspicion and innuendo.

No matter, a mob is a mob and must be fed.
Like the hapless Duke of Orleans who was executed in that 'Reign of Terror' with the flimsiest evidence, his last words remain prescient: "Ah liberty, how hast thou been sported with!"

And so I was deeply saddened to see the picture of Jacques Duchesneau featured amid a rogues gallery on the front page of the Journal de Montreal last week.

Adding his name to the list was a cruel act, unworthy of a reputable newspaper. But of course, it was Le Journal de Montreal, where the truth never gets in the way of a good story.

It is a case of over-reaching on a monumental scale, because Jacques Duchesneau is not a crook.

How do I know? 
Because I worked with him long enough to get a sense of the man. 

Jacques may have many faults, but dishonesty is not one of them. 
His worst fault is his monstrous personal ambition, a mega force that has driven every aspect of his career. 

I knew him from the time he was chief of police of Montreal where I noticed right away that he didn't do much of the  mundane everyday work related to his job, preferring to let highly capable associates carry the ball.

It was his style of management to delegate everything, whilst he looked for a new challenge. Something his employees joked about. Ambition.  

While working as police chief, Jacques had his eye firmly on the next job. He concentrated on making contacts and upping his scholastic achievements by attending those executive types of programs offered by universities to highly placed executives.
When the opportunity presented to run for mayor, he jumped, one of the few mistakes he made in his upward career march.

When asked to support his campaign, I told an organizer that his run was a mistake. Montrealers hate cops. He wasn't going to win. I told him that It would be a setback, which it turned out to be.

Jacques then went on to become head of CATSA (equivalent to the hated TSA in the States) where he immediately set his sites on something bigger. His lack of attention to the job and his globe-trotting habit of attending conference after conference on the agency's dime, finally led to a board of directers revolt and his forced 'resignation.' But in the meantime he had built quite a reputation as a crime fighter that led to the job that Charest had given him last year.

Today, the allegation that has surfaced about his campaign for mayor is being portrayed as a scandal, when in fact, even if  true, is no big deal.

When he lost the election, his party, Nouveau Montréal, was close to $200,000 in debt and instead of going bankrupt they did the honourable thing, took out a loan and paid back the debt over a couple of years.The loan required ten 'co-signers' (because nobody can 'lend' more that $10,000 dollars to a political party) and this is where one of the signatures turned out to be allegedly false. The loan however was paid back in full and the story long forgotten until somebody broke the news of the so-called fake name.  Had the loan defaulted it would have been another story.
The whole incident if true, would be sanctioned by a small fine. No big deal.

For a good analysis read Patrick Lagace's article in La Presse 
An article in LE DEVOIR says that the campaign to hurt Duchesneau is being orchestrated by construction industry types, who want his investigations to stop.

At any rate, the accusation that Jacques was behind the so-called fake signature is patently absurd, he couldn't arrange a car loan himself, he'd most certainly delegate it out. It's what he does

Jacques delegated the running of his campaign to a close friend and confidant Jean-Pierre Allaire, a slick and capable over-achiever with a financial background as an accountant, who was equally on a upwardly mobile career tract.

Ever since their days together, volunteering to run a large Quebec charity, they've become Fric and Frac. 

As campaign manger, it was Allaire that controlled the money. It is likely that it was he who arranged the 'loans' and it is a fact that it was in his office where the signings took place.

When asked about the incident of the so-called 'fake' signatory, Allaire told the press that; "It's in the past. I haven't got anything to say about" Hmmm... Very reassuring!  LINK


Don't look for him to take responsibility, if he did in fact engineer the affair. It isn't in his nature, he's also a notorious career climber.

And so it appears that we are about to sacrifice one of the good guys. It's too bad.

Quebec Finally Starts Crackdown on Corruption....er.... Sort of!

It is with a sense of relief that Quebeckers greeted the news that police have finally made some arrests in the ongoing corruption scandal that is rocking the province.

Finally, finally, some action!

In an announcement worthy of a multi-million dollar cocaine bust, the Montreal police proudly announced that they had busted six doormen at the storied Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, for forcing cabbies to kick back a couple of bucks for every lucrative airport fare.  LINK

JUSTICE IS DONE !!!!

At least it's a nifty diversion from the scandalous tales of political corruption and the avalanche of organized crime stories washing across Quebec like the the Red Sea over Pharaoh's chariots.

Corruption and its impact on Quebec society has become  all-embracing and all-encompassing.

Jacques Duchesneau

This was sadly highlighted by the presentation this week, of a rogues gallery of political miscreants, published on the front page of the Journal de Montreal that even included the hitherto Mr. Clean, crime fighter Jacques Duchesneau, who was ironically hired to clean up the corruption mess and now stands accused of fudging the paperwork in relation to his mayoral campaign, twelve years ago. LINK 


In the face of all this corruption, it's hard to believe that many Quebeckers remain firmly planted in a rose-coloured fantasy world where all is not as bad as it seems.
A recent poll indicates that while 75% believe that Quebec is a corrupt place, only 22% believe the province is worse than the others and amazingly 6% believe that the other provinces are even more corrupt than Quebec! LINK 

This type of self-delusion is nothing new. We see it every day, where facts and figures are manipulated  and re-interpreted by nationalists to portray Quebec as what it is not.

It's been going on for decades, the only prerequisite, a public willing to accept any nonsense argument that satisfies a foregone conclusion.
So strong is the manipulation that there remains a goodly number of Quebeckers who firmly believe that Quebec is a net payer into Canada.  Truly....

But to those without their head in the sand, the unbelievable spectacle playing out before us, is a painful and eye-opening experience that can best be compared to a daily trip to the dentist.

Not only do we face a daily barrage of political corruption accusations, each morning we wake up to the news of yet another Montreal restaurant being firebombed overnight.
It's not even restricted to Montreal!
Pizza shops in the small town of Chambly are being blown up rather regularly, the concept of fierce competition taking on new meaning in modern Quebec. No two-for-one coupons here!

Throw in regular dose of unexplained Mafia murders and kidnappings and it's not surprising that Quebeckers are incredulous as to what is happening to their society as the clueless police offer shrugged shoulders and vacuous stares, in response. 

As the latest arson attack hits the ritzy Montreal neighbourhood of Westmount, we must sadly conclude nowhere is safe and that the entire province is engulfed in a sea of organized, disorganized and political crime that is beyond the ability of the forces of order to control.

Each Sunday night, when I sit down and watch HBO's Boardwalk Empire, the story of corrupt Atlantic city in the 1920's, I actually find myself asking if we are not actually in much worse shape.
At any rate, 'Nucky' and crew would fit right in, here in Montreal. We even have our very own sharpshooter hit man, just like the show!

It's been about  a year since all these revelations first came out and the promise by the government that we'd be better off leaving the cleanup to the police, is ringing false. Unfortunately, the only arrests made, have been the comical doormen at the Queen 'E.'
Quebeckers are fed up.

What big anti-crime measures has the government come up with to fight this corruption?

Let's see..er........ nothing!

No wait, I'm wrong!

The government has come up with a bold attack to bring into compliance those perfidious tax-evading  restaurateurs, who are robbing the government blind by accepting cash payments for your morning  nosh.
And so, from the biggest restaurant chain to the smallest coffee stand on the corner, cash registers connected to the government have been made mandatory. Any clerk who forgets to hand a bill to the client, even for a doughnut, subjects his owner to a $400 dollar fine.
The inspectors are already out in force and already a local Tim Horton's holds the dubious honour of being the first one pinched and fined for serving a Double/Double without the appropriate paperwork.

WELL-DONE! It's been what we've been waiting for. A real crackdown on corruption!

The next target.....

Mafia Bosses?

Construction kingpins?

Crooked Mayors?

Cheating civil servants?

Nope........ probably hairdressers and paperboys.

.....or maybe a Royal Commission into hotel doormen.

Tomorrow-  Has the public rage gone to far?