No Problemo For English at Loto-Quebec Gaming Site ...................... but Hospitals.... Not so Fast!

Leave it to the insufferable Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste president, Mario Beaulieu to attack a re-habilitation hospital for offering services bilingually. 

The latest outrage concerns an institute that is the result of the 2008 merger of the Institut de readaption de Montreal and the Lindsay Rehabilitation Hospital.

Before the merger, the English hospital, was recognized as a bilingual institution under the rules of the Charter of the French Language. See the Montreal Gazette story.

The management, acting in extremely good faith, petitioned the government to be accorded bilingual status for the merged institution, so that they could continue to service English patients in their own language, as they pursued their various treatments.

This, of course is some sort of an outrage for French language militants who see it as another English plot.

Standing in front of the institution in Montreal, Mr. Beaulieu held a news conference where he recycled the hackneyed 'Sky is Falling' argument to bolster his position that Montreal is on the road to becoming an English city. 

Embarrassed management were none to pleased with the grandstand antics held in front of their institution.

"It's an emotional issue. It's a pity the SSJB is exaggerating things a bit." said  rehab centre spokesperson Pascal Mailho. 

Instead of attacking a hospital, why doesn't Mr. Beaulieu and his gang of merry men attack more visible government institutions?

The newly launched gaming site at Loto-Quebec. has no problem serving Anglos in the language of Shakespeare!
How very considerate!

Click to view catalogue

Also, I'd like to mention that the SAQ (Liquor Commission) is quite English friendly as well.

It publishes extremely well-conceived circulars that are included in English newspapers. The various publications instore are all available in English as well. Aside from that, these aren't cheapo translations à la Google Translate, it's clear that the advertising agency given the job used Anglophones to work the advertising campaign.

I also was pleasantly surprised to see a Happy Channuka sign, pasted on the window of the Cavendish Mall location, remarkable since Christmas seems to be verbotten!

As well, clerks in stores in anglo districts are all friendly and very bilingual. In fact anglos make up a reasonable proportion of employees in these stores, unlike other government departments.

Unlike the CSST, who has announced cancellation of English service , REVENUE QUEBEC has no problem speaking English even to business', when it takes your $$$$!

I guess when it comes to taking your money, language accommodation is not a problem.

Quebec's Most Popular Politician- Ugh!......

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, according to a survey conducted by the Leger Marketing company, Amir Khadir is Quebec's most popular politician. LINK

With a 45% approval rating, he scored the highest number of any noted politician in Quebec.

Now before I go on, it would be remiss not to comment on the sad state of affairs wherein not one politician received even the lowest of passing grades.
If this was high school, every single politician in the survey would have to be left behind.

I guess the survey is no surprise, Khadir is an earnest looking fellow whose calm and rationale demeanour, coupled with a simplistic message, and most importantly, no track record to defend, appeals to those dreaming of a Shangri-la Quebec, where everyone is honest, well-fed and where a five-day work week means one day paid as overtime.
A world where rich people and other Canadians pay for everything and where the meek dictate how the money is collected and spent. A world where the provincial deficit disappears over time instead of being passed down to future generations and where the Montreal Canadiens compete each year in the Stanley Cup finals against the mythical Quebec Nordiques, both teams boasting twenty francophones on each team. A place where Quebeckers celebrate their uniqueness by driving around in electric cars on potholed, yet billboard free streets.
A province where every home is heated with environmentally clean electricity, provided free to all but the rich, who will bear the responsibility for the entire bill.

This is Amir Khadir.
Salesman extraordinaire, one who makes the salesmanship talents  of the Music Man or Bernie Madoff seem amateurish, by comparison.

I give him his due, no politician is better at pedalling bullshit and distorting reality than Khadir. So well has he hidden his true self, that the majority of supporters are either unaware or pooh-pooh charges that he is an unrepentant pinko of the first order.
Protected by a fawning press, otherwise known as 'La Clique de Plateau,' he easily tosses aside legitimate questions about his true beliefs and agenda for a socialist worker's paradise.

Nobody ever questions the good doctor, save a precious few like Eric Duhaime, who like the legendary Emile Zola's shouts of J'ACCUSE goes largely unnoticed.

The real Amir Khadir is far from his public personna, a 9/11 Truther who believes (along with his communist family, including the lovely Nima Machouf) that Israel and the United States bombed the World Trade Center, he now however prefers to keep these opinions to himself, lest he open himself up to ridicule. Link

A testament to his slickness is his recent non-condemnation of the Reseau de Resistance's intimidation campaign against large Liberal Party donors. See my post.

When asked to react, Khadir smoothly replied that he wouldn't support a National Assembly motion to condemn the RRQ for it's actions, because it wouldn't be fair, given that the RRQ wouldn't be given a chance to defend itself in the National Assembly and that the august body shouldn't be a court of law.
He then reminded all of the Michaud Affair,  to underscore the unfairness of these types of condemnations and even submitted his own motion asking the Parliament to revoke that censure, passed over a decade ago, in regard to Mr Michaud's supposed antisemitic utterings.

Very smooth...

But his high principles of fairness hasn't stopped Khadir from proposing his own motions of censure, when it served his purpose;

 "....We proposed a motion condemning unequivocally the action of the Israeli government's deadly raid against a flotilla of peace. We then asked Quebec to suspend the agreement, signed in 2007, which provides Israel with considerable commercial benefits."- Amir Khadir  LINK

And so Mr. Khadir's principles are more flexible than he'd have us believe.

I didn't expect Mr. Khadir to reject the RRQ's campaign of intimidation, such acts are right up his alley, but he should have been called out on his phony excuse.

What could we expect if Mr. Khadir ever achieved power?

Just look to the current situation in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a district in Montreal where Mr. Khadir's pinko friends have taken over.

The potty-mouthed Borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez has taken to hurling expletives at dissenting citizens in Council meetings, those who have the audacity to question the dubious decisions taken by social experimenters, bent on destroying the lives of merchants, shoppers and seniors in search of  a socialist/granola Garden of Eden. LINK

While the borough apparatchiks debate grander projects of socialist import, the concept of fixing giant holes in the street with exposed broken pipes for weeks on end is beyond the scope of the current council. LINK  

Watching these clowns operate in just one district of Montreal should sends chills down the spine of taxpayers, who alone bear the burden of the socialist folly.

Should Mr. Khadir and the Communist Quebec Solidaire ever win a measure of power, one could only imagine the meltdown. No doubt their first order of business would be to nationalize Westmount mansions à la Doctor Zhivago, in order to turn the palaces over to the proletariat.

Perhaps we should draft an outsider as a counter-foil, perhaps someone like Tony Accurso, who could form a new political party.
He's a man who has proven he can get things done and his savoir-faire and iron fist would keep those pesky unions and lazy bureaucrats on their toes.
No doubt that his party would be corrupt, but it would still be a lot cheaper than a clownish communist regime.

To all the buffoons (yes there are a lot of them) who support Amir Khadir and his Communist band of merry comrades, all I can say is, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.....

In Quebec, Hypocrisy is Spelt "A-S-B-E-S-T-O-S"

To listen to the various interviews of old time residents of Asbestos, Quebec, the asbestos capital of the world,  one might be pardoned for thinking that the much maligned mineral is as harmless as Play-doh.

Interviewee after interviewee explain on television news programs how they've been working around asbestos their whole lives with no ill effects and that the campaign against the product is ill-founded. Yessir!

I'm not going to insult readers by presenting the opposite view, the scientifically accepted fact that asbestos is a dangerous product that well deserves it's placement as a banned substance in the industrialized world.
If you'd really need convincing about the life-threatening consequences of living with asbestos, READ THIS

The current debate about the opening of the defunct JEFFREY MINE, to re-start production is one of the saddest and clearest cases of the politics of hypocrisy that I can recall. LINK

At stake are 450 direct jobs and 1200 indirect jobs in a decidedly depressed area of the province. The town of Asbestos grew up around the mine and the mineral's downfall led to  a similar downward spiral in the fortunes of the residents.

It is just amazing to see the tap dancing occurring by politicians trying to justify the project, based on the idea that the product can be handled and used safely under the right conditions.
But those conditions don't exist where the product will be exported to, third world countries like

India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where "little or no protection exist for workers or exposed populations. LINK

The minister in charge is hemming and hawing, claiming a decision on the required 58 million loan guarantee hasn't been made, but the pressure is on.  

Before giving a green light to the project, he demanded that local politicians take responsibility for the decision, in a sad effort to spread around the inevitable blame and somehow shirk responsibility.

"This is not a prerequisite, but it is a desirable condition that there is community support for the operation of chrysotile. I think it's a major consultation that will come in weighing the government's decision."- Clement Gignac, Minister of Economic Development.

What is hard to stomach is the media lobbying campaign that is being waged by forces in favour of the return of the mine.
The Quebec government has for years provided the major funding for a propaganda website that promotes asbestos.
The Chrysotile Institute 'strives for;'

"THE SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE USE OF CHYRSOTILE"

While medical journals like The Lancet condemn asbestos production as immoral, the Quebec government, the asbestos industry and all it's beneficiaries, stick their collective fingers in their ears, shouting the familiar child's chant of; 
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" 

"Although Canada will not expose its own citizens to asbestos, its plans to continue exporting the deadly substance to developing countries has drawn widespread condemnation."  Read the Lancet Article

Of course internationally, it is Canada that is suffering the black eye, not Quebec.

A demonstration was held on Thursday outside the Canadian embassy in London, England protesting the project. LINK 

 The story is reverberating around the world, as far away as Australia;

"A high-income country like Canada dumping their asbestos on countries where there are no health and safety regulations, the population is completely exposed to any sorts of hazardous exposure - it's pretty reprehensible," she said.
Ms Kazan-Allen says Canada has also blocked attempts by the World Health Organization to include white asbestos on a list that alerts nations if they are about to import hazardous substances.
Protests against the new Canadian mine have been held in Seoul and Tokyo and more are planned for Quebec, Paris and London". ABC News

Anti-asbestos activists from Asia came to Quebec to get  their message across;

"Millions of workers in the developing countries are going to be exposed to the asbestos which is being exported from Canada," said union activist Anup Srivastava from India.

It is utter hypocrisy for Quebec to complain about the Alberta Tar Sands at international conferences , while pedaling asbestos innocently on the world market, like a drug dealer, who maintains that the product can be used safely.
 
And so Quebec is somehow seen as Canada's green Garden of Eden, something that would be laughable if not so patently untrue.

"If Quebecers  felt pride seeing an Australian forest named  after Premier Jean Charest for his actions on climate change, would they be just as happy if one day we baptized a cemetery in the name of their first Minister to commemorate the victims of the Quebec asbestos in the world? " Link fr

What is more galling, is that this asbestos mess is being blamed on Canada internationally. The reputation of all Canadians is being sullied by a policy that wouldn't fly in any other province but Quebec.

I'd expect the Premier of Alberta to point out the irony and step up and condemn Quebec at some international conference himself, but perhaps he's too much of a gentleman.

We all know what would be if the shoe were on the other foot....

French versus English Volume 18

CSST -no longer providing English service to business

Many readers contacted me concerning the new policy of the Quebec's workman's compensation board, known as the CSST, which announced it will no longer offer service in English to business owners who are English. LINK

Ironically the commission will provide English assistance to business' which have head offices outside Quebec. The commission is funded 100% by employers , many of them English.

It seems that the CSST is being strong armed by the government's OQLF, the French language police, to drop the service.

The CSST was quite clear on it's website  that the decision to drop English was based on a requirement to obey the OQLF.

 Thanks to Anglo Montrealer, Mitch and others for the tip....

Councillors Give up on Richler Street

It seems that Marvin Rotrand and Michael Applebaum have thrown in the towel with respect to naming a Montreal city street after controversial author Mordechai Richler.
A firestorm of criticism was raised against the idea by those who saw Richler as an anti-Quebecois racist.
Ironically a Facebook group entitled "Non à une rue Mordecai-Richler ! Non au racisme anti-québécois"  (No to Mordecai-Richler Street! No to anti-Quebecois Racism) is full of racism itself.

"Marvin Rotrand is the same person that I wrote to almost  twenty years ago because he wanted to remove the crucifix from the city hall ... I told him that in that case it would be necessary to remove all the Stars of David from in front of Jewish places of worship, or companies and kosher restaurants" Denise Groulx

Listen

Read phonetically

Laval University bilingual football program

On November 13th 2010 at the PEPS stadium in Quebec, in front of 16,635 fans, Laval’s Rouge et Or football team won it’s record eighth straight Dunsmore Cup. But the game was interesting for another reason, at least to me.
The referee made his announcements to the crowd, bilingually. (Even the  Alouettes or Canadiens can't muster that.) The music that blared in the stadium during breaks was decidedly English and perhaps La Presse columnist Rejean Tremblay will take on a new cause celebre. I overheard the team's coach Glen Constantine shouting instructions  to a player in English and at the end of the game, the team took a victorious photo shouting "ALL THE WAY!  ALL THE WAY!"

On top of it, rumour has it that the university is exploring switching its football program to an American football conference in the Northeast United States. Ouch!

I'm sure that French language purists were wincing in pain.

Luc Plamondon Trashes English to hawk his album

Like a movie star who makes an appearance on Leno or Letterman to shill for a recently released film, Luc Plamondon chose to seek publicity by slagging English music, in order to promote his newly released album. See my Post
Complaining sanctimoniously about creeping Anglicisms in French music, his new album includes the word 'Star' front and center! The album, according to him, is divided into four sections, 'rock', 'pop,' 'groove' and ballades, more Anglicisms!  In a newspaper interview he deplored the fact that radio stations play 'crossover' music. Ha! Ha!  LINK 
Mr. Plamondon has now taken up the cause of opposing the federal governments Bill C-32. Quebec artists are demanding payment for illegal downloading and want, among other thing, a tax to be placed on IPod devices to compensate them.
Mr. Plamondon certainly doesn't need the money, publicity is more his thing. As for fairness towards artists, he's not the best example of virtue. Mr. Plamondon moved to Ireland, where artists were exempted from paying taxes. When Ireland amended that law, he fled to another tax haven, Switzerland!

Tim Hortons removes Maple Leaf in Quebec

"Tim Hortons has released its festive holiday mugs, but there's something missing in the Quebec version -- the Maple Leaf.

It's been replaced by a snowflake, in the latest example of Canadian companies specializing their products for Quebec culture....

Tim Hortons may have gone a step further. All pan-Canadian images, from the Rocky Mountains to the CN Tower, are removed from its holiday mugs on sale in la belle province.

The coffee chain says it has nothing to do with politics." LINK 

Sure......

Other companies are just as guilty. It seems that Molson-Coors is hiding the Molson Canadian brand in Quebec. Some say the beer can be found if you try hard enough, but if that's the case and it is available in the province, the company is in violation of the Quebec language law by offering an English-only website.
All Molson-Coors brands have their own bilingual website except CANADIAN, which can perhaps be explained by it's marketing plan which plays up Canadian patriotism. Molson Canadian website

All you can eat in French
 The Association des restaurateurs
du Québec (ARQ) has come up with another moronic poster campaign to encourage restaurants to serve people in French.

I'm sure restaurants will fall over themselves to display the sign that encourages a French only eating experience, especially in the downtown core of Montreal and parts west.

I'm also sure that English and minority restaurateurs that contribute financially to the industry group are thrilled to see their money wasted on the project.

Don't look for too many restaurants in Montreal to display the sign, risking offending its anglo and ethnic clientèle.

The campaign is based on a similarly unsuccessful effort by the government to encourage stores to post signs stating that in this establishment "HERE, We Shop In French"

Quebec teachers complain about religion

When I was a kid, like most anglos (and francophones) who were not Catholic, I attended a public school run by the Protestant School board of Greater Montreal.
Although the school taught a fair amount of religion, (we sang hymns each morning,)  not all the students were Christian including a fair amount of Jews.
To celebrate their holidays, Jews were allowed a couple of days off from school each year and I remember a fair bit of jealously on behalf of the rest of the class who claimed it an unfair advantage. Hey, we were kids.

It seems that several Montreal teachers working at the école secondaire Saint-Luc in Montreal aren't more mature, complaining that Muslim, and Jewish teachers are being unfairly rewarded with a couple of days off;

"The problem we want to raise is one of justice and fairness. Indeed, the number of working days per year for teachers is 200 days. Therefore, staff members wishing to be absent to observe a religious ritual are working fewer days than most other teachers, that is to say 197 days." LINK fr

The teachers seem very concerned that the government is wasting money.

Perhaps they are missing the simplest of solutions- eliminate all holidays including Christmas and Easter!

Anglo-basher wants to run for mayor of Montreal

The thoroughly detestable Michel Brûlé who wrote "ANGLAID" a book that childishly attacks the English language now wants to run for mayor of Montreal. Read my post about the book.
Claiming that he needs support only from francophone Montrealers to win, perhaps he should ask Louise Harel how that worked out for her.
In an interview, he told La Presse that he wants to get rid of the English influence in Montreal and make Montreal open to the world. Link fr
Huh?
His best idea for the city, is that as mayor, he would encourage beer-drinking in public.
He's presently writing another book 25 mesures pour améliorer le Québec (25 ideas to improve Quebec) 

I can't wait!
(Thanks to Frank P. for the tip)

Late Breaking...Anglos refused Xmas baskets

Anglophones seeking a Christmas basket were turned away from a Montreal suburban Church in St. Lambert and were told they were not eligible because they were English. They were told to go to an English church. The policy as explained, was to eliminate double-dipping.
The local Anglican church said that this was hogwash and nobody is turned away because of language.

For more;

French versus English Volume 17      

French versus English Volume 16 

French versus English Volume 15

It's Official... Marc Bellemare is Off His Rocker!

Months ago, when Marc Bellemare made his allegations that Liberal party fundraisers used their position to influence the selection of Quebec judges and that the Liberal party was taking scads of money from construction industry types, I told you what insider after insider was telling me, that essentially, Bellemare was nuts.

Why Bellemare set out on a campaign of vengeance is not clear.  Perhaps it was his frustration over the cabinet's decision not to support changes to Quebec's no-fault automobile insurance plan, his pet project, or the situation in relation to his stripper daughter. As I recounted in a previous post she was overheard by police in wiretaps associating with Hell's Angels members at a time when the provincial police were preparing a mega strike against the bikers.  Bellemare, as Justice Minister was privy to details and somebody (likely the police) leaked details of his daughter to the Press, in order to sink the minister.

Because Bellemare had been on the job for less than a week, it would have looked bad to fire him so soon. Instead, Premier Charest asked somebody in the Justice Ministry to spy on Bellemare and report back to the Premiers' office, something I can imagine didn't sit well with the Justice Minister.

Way back in April, I told you about these details and I warned that Bellemare was on a campaign of 'salisage,' as they say in French. Read The Curious Case Of Marc Bellemare.

When the Bastarache Commission  was called in reaction to his charges, Bellemare proved unable to come up with an ounce of backup, his only evidence, a piece of paper with some chicken scrawl, which he claimed were his notes. Read  Marc Bellemare Going Down in Flames

The Chief  Election Officer demanded that Bellemare meet with him to explain his allegations that the Liberals were accepting bags of illegal cash contributions, but Bellemare went to court to avoid the obligation to appear. He promptly lost that appeal.

He finally met with election officials last April and last week Marcel Blanchet filed his report and told reporters that;

"there's nothing to support what he says....(he) could not testify or recall any concrete act leading one to believe that infractions of this law were committed."

Not only did Bellemare fail to provide a shred of evidence, he even admitted that he never saw any illegal cash transactions. In consequence, the investigation was dropped like a lead balloon. Link

Readers should be reminded that in a March 15 media interview, Bellemare affirmed that construction companies financed the Quebec Liberal Party.

Bellemare's reaction to the condemnation is typical, he attacked the messenger.

"The institution has a serious credibility problem," argued the former minister yesterday. "Because it's always been the way they conduct their investigations, it's understandable that in Quebec there is much skepticism surrounding the financing of political parties." LINK fr

Bellemare's performance at the Bastarache Commission was particularly underwhelming and it is likely that the final report will not be kind to the ex-Justice minister.

While Judge Bastarache is supposed to make his report based only on what he heard at the inquiry, it is unlikely that the report from the Chief  Election Officer won't have an effect.

For Bellemare, the next phase in the unfolding tragedy, is the lawsuit that the Premier launched against him.
In the civil trial for defamation, the onus is clearly on Bellemare to prove that what he alleged is true, something he has failed miserably to do already.  Based on what we heard at the Commission and the devastating report from the Chief  Election Officer, perhaps it's time for Bellemare to throw in the towel, apologize and plead for mercy. If this goes to trial, it will be another unmitigated disaster for the ex-Justice Minister. While awards for defamation in Canada are traditionally low, nothing like those in the USA, it might still be quite hefty.  Proving the damage part has always been the difficult part in cases like this, but even a raving separatist would have to admit that Charest was badly hurt by the allegations.

The unravelling of Bellemare is reminiscent of ex-Olympian Myriam Bédard who went off the deep end, but not before costing Jean Pelletier his job at Via Rail. Bédard charged publicly that Via Rail was involved in all sorts of corruption and in reaction Pelltier denigrated Bédard saying "Deep down, I think she is pitiful."

Turns out he was right, as Bédard then made more outlandish and ridiculous claims, that finally had people realizing that she was nuts. From then on, her life went decidedly downhill. LINK.

The complete rejection of Bellemare by the Chief  Election Officer is little comfort to the Premier, the damage has already been dome.

Like someone found innocent of pedophilia, after a lengthy trial, the stink is hard to wash off.

As the looming defamation trial looms, watch for Bellemare to crack.


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