Montreal Refinery Closure all About the Union

Recently, the Journal de Montreal newspaper ran a series of articles written by Dany Doucet concerning the closure of the Shell refinery in the east end of Montreal. Surprisingly, the stories weren't splashed over in a big way on page two/three spreads, but tucked away rather modestly deeper into the newspaper, where the impact was decidedly more restrained.

Le Québec a perdu la raffinerie Shell{fr}

Too bad, the story told is one of the most shocking examples of how out-of-control unionism and misguided government policy has cost Quebec thousand upon thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs.

Yesterday I told you how the Gazette writer Janet Bagnall argued for the strengthening of labour laws protecting unions. LINK
Here's what happens when the balance of power between union and management becomes dangerously skewed. When unions hold the ultimate power to close a factory or work site, bosses are blackmailed  into unreasonable concessions that raise the cost of production significantly and it affects company decisions whether to operate, close or move.

Ms. Bagnall is right about one thing, where jobs cannot be transported, such as in government employment or construction, unions can, and do, run roughshod over employers. That's why everything costs more in Quebec, be it the salaries of government and quasi-government employees or the roads we build and the buildings we erect.

But when companies do have the opportunity to move, radical union demands push them to leave. It happens more often than you think and on the flip side, companies choosing where to locate a new factory, shy away from Quebec like the plague.
I'm hard pressed to think of one large enterprise that located to Quebec in the last ten years, without a massive government subsidy or tax break. 

When the Shell refinery in east-end Montreal announced that it was shutting down, the potential loss of almost 1,000 high paying jobs sent shock waves in the local community of Montreal-Est. The local and provincial government launched a furious campaign to convince the company to remain in business or failing that, find another company to take over the factory and continue operations. The direct salary impact would be close to 100 million dollars, and perhaps another 50 million when spinoff jobs are factored in.

Alas Shell, which owned the company seemed entirely disinterested and played a public-relations game as well as it could, considering their real position.
You see Shell had made the irrevocable decision to close and not to sell to competitors. The motive behind the closure was couched in doublespeak with the company clearly unwilling to officially admit the real motive for the closure, which was the out-of-control employee costs and the related lack of productivity.

There's no doubt that the union bargained themselves a pretty good deal at Shell. The company foolishly caved into the unreasonable union demands up until the point that the cumulative effect of union gains made the plant a prime candidate for relocation.

The union's ultimate power to close down the plant, with no right by management to replace workers, led to unfortunate decisions.
Management, still making a lot of money, didn't want to risk closure and so the Prefect Storm was brewing.....

The Journal de Montreal got an incredible scoop when it got the disappointed plant mangers to open after the plant was closed. Their honest assessment and deconstruction of the refinery closing should send shivers down our spine. Ms. Bagnall should pay close attention.

Here's what they said;

"A Coddled and Greedy union; The managers were unanimous in saying that relations at Shell has been rotten for at least ten years. There were over 2,400 outstanding grievances.

"It's okay to make money, but there was abuse. For example, when operators were dissatisfied with a situation, they put out the word to slow down the work of subcontractors costing us $100 an hour. Sometimes we had 40 guys on standby in trailers, waiting for the right to work . They (operators) could delay the issuance of work permits and make us lose considerable sums, it was a common means of pressure which cost us a fortune. "

"In such a work environment, employers no longer believed their employees and vice versa,... "

"We showed the unionized workers that year after year, we ranked in the bottom quarter in terms of productivity compared to other Shell plants. The union responded by saying that figures can be made to say anything."

"Management regularly battled with Local 144 International, which represents all pipefitters and pipe welders in Quebec. .... this union is by far the most powerful of all unions in Quebec.....All major industrial projects in Quebec need the cooperation of local 144 and its president, Gerard Cyr. Despite this power, he is one of the less well known union leaders in Quebec and he keeps a low profile.
Shell used on a daily basis  nearly 300 members of this union through subcontractors, the biggest being Gastier, owned by businessman Tony Accurso. (argh.....)
"Is it normal for an electrician who is changing a pump to be prohibited from loosening the two bolts that hold it in place and that we are obliged to bring in another trade for this specific task?

"From the North American headquarters in Houston, it may seem a little bizarre  ... "

"At Shell, the average salary of unionized workers approached $100,000 and the employees enjoyed several extraordinary non-salary conditions. A part-time student earned over $20 an hour."

"If Quebec is a distinct nation, its industrial construction industry is also in many respects distinct  from what is happening elsewhere in North America. To build, expand or maintain a plant here is not so simple. Construction is regulated and controlled, especially by powerful unions."

"Nobody is looking in the mirror. In Quebec, it is good to put the blame on others. I am very worried about the economic future of Quebec.."

Of course the union isn't the only culprit, the government which believes it can tax without consequences is as guilty as the union in chasing Shell from Quebec.
The new "green tax" imposed on the industry four years ago was costing the refinery nearly $50 million per year, another good reason to seek friendlier environs.

"Globalization allows for cheaper manufacturing alternatives elsewhere and this is the way that investment decisions are made." 

 It isn't for no reason that Quebec with the highest level of unionization enjoys the poorest economic fortunes of the major Canadian provinces.
If we are poorer in Quebec, thank the greedy unions and the dysfunctional government.

The announcement that Quebec is undertaking the foolhardy construction of a new arena bothered me on many different levels, but most importantly on cost.
The projected price of $400 million dollars is 25% higher than the recently completed arena in Pittsburgh of which the specs and capacity are almost identical. Why will it cost so much more?
The Consul arena was budgeted at $287 million and ballooned to $321 million before it was finished. Is there any reason not believe that the Quebec arena will go over budget as well, perhaps up to $450 million?

Quebeckers should ask themselves why their arena will cost 30%, 40%, or 50% more than the one in Pittsburgh.........The answer is out of control union wages and low productivity.

Does anybody care?....... Not really.

Read:
Six sujets de réflexion
Six sujets de réflexion (suite)

In Quebec $22 for a Babysitter Makes Sense

Last Friday, Janet Bagnall, the Montreal Gazette's resident hack columnist used her amazing cut and paste journalistic talents to cobble together a perfectly dreadful piece defending Quebec's out of control unionism.

The article was so amateurish, its argument so high-schoolish and simplistic that it had me wondering if she has a blackmail tape buried somewhere in her closet that safeguards her job. 

Ms. Bagnall was arguing for a strengthening of the law banning any manner of replacement workers during a strike, in light of circumstances in the ongoing conflict at the Journal de Montreal, where Quebec's craftiest boss, Pierre-Karl Péladeau, used a flaw in Quebec's labour law to circumvent the picket line to employ contract journalists to replace strikers.

Ms. Bagnall worries that any fiddling with Quebec's sacred anti-scab law will turn Quebec into China, where workers she tells us, make a $1 a day and commit suicide regularly.

Hmmm....Not exactly a description of conditions at the Journal de Montreal where workers  made salaries ranging upwards of $60,000 to over $100,000 a year, for jobs that included a four-day, 32 hour work week, as well as six weeks of paid vacation including a 50% bonus.  LINK{fr}

As background to this story, Péladeau has set up his own  independent news agency (QMI,) to provide replacement content for striking journalists.
The cost of the non-unionized agency is a fraction of what staff journalists cost him before.
The content is transmitted electronically over the Internet and so, technically does not constitute the definition of crossing a picket line. Ha ha!

The newspaper has been publishing effortlessly throughout the strike and has been making even more money with reduced costs. Incidentally, the union's call for a public and advertiser boycott has gone unheeded. In fact readership and ad revenue is UP!

Suffice to say that Mr. Péladeau is not interested in re-hiring the striking journalists- ever!

And so Quebec's unions (and Janet Bagnall) are demanding that Quebec labour law be amended to include a prohibition against this 'virtual' crossing of the picket line.

The concept that Ms. Bagnall defends (the banning of replacement workers,) is not as natural or popular as she would intimate. In fact, nowhere in North America, other than British Columbia and Quebec are companies so enjoined and nowhere in North America are the tables so badly tilted in favour of unions as in Quebec.

The belief that a company should not be able to hire replacement workers as long as the strike is ongoing is sacrosanct in Quebec.  Of course no rule says that strikers can't find new employment during the strike and in the case of this labour conflict, workers have even set up and published a rival newspaper!

But let us examine the no-scab rule in a more understandable context.

Consider the case of your friendly neighbourhood babysitter who shows up to your door one day and tells you that the $9.50 minimum wage that you pay her is no longer satisfactory and that from now on, you'll have to cough up $18 plus benefits, for her services.

"Forget about it, " you might say in a rage."I'll hire someone else!" 

"Not so fast!" says a burly stranger standing right behind her, patiently waiting for his turn to speak.
"I'm her union rep and I want you to know we've unionized your house. Three of the five babysitters who regularly service your house have signed union cards and from now on, you can only hire personnel affiliated with the CSN, the parent union.

 "WHAT THE HELL, it's a free country, I'll hire who I want!, " you scream.

 "Actually it's not.  The law backs us up. If you want a babysitter, you must now hire a union babysitter and you must pay the going rate. " he retorts smugly.

"Your only alternative is to declare a lock-out and do the babysitting yourself. By the way, that means no calling your mother-in-law, you aren't allowed to hire scabs to replace us,  it's the law."


"So What's it's going to cost me?"

"Well, lets see. There'll be no more exploitation of these girls. From now on the hourly wage is $18 and that's for the first six hours. Anything over that is double time and by the way there's an hour of travel time added to the bill as well as another half hour, for each block of four hours as compensation for breaks that cannot be taken due to responsibilities. There are pro-rated charges for vacation and for mandatory training. You'll have to collect the union dues and send them to us directly. Here, it's all covered in this pamphlet. 

"TRAVEL TIME!!! She lives next door, you bastard! All this must add up to $22 an hour. I can't afford that, what are my alternatives?"

" You don't have alternatives, this is Quebec. If you don't like it, move your family to Ontario"

"Hmmm..."

Oh by the way, does a $22 an hour babysitter sound ridiculous?

It's actually what Quebec's newly unionized day care workers cost us, more than double the price just a few short years ago when they weren't unionized. Yup,  $22 for babysitting!

There was a time when unions were needed to protect workers from the company excess, but today the government regulates all manners of working conditions, including minimum wage, hours of employment, statutory holidays and vacation, health and safety issues as well as worker recourse to unfair treatment including harassment and unjust termination,

All that is left for the union is to negotiate salaries and benefits above and beyond what the government mandates.

And so, because of the power bestowed upon them by the Quebec labour law, unions can tell the company that unless they pay workers so much, they cannot operate. The company's only recourse is to close or cave in to demands.

Incidentally, the Mafia operates almost identically, telling the company where they must buy cement and which company they must use for garbage removal. The prices of course, are always above competitive rates, but hey, if the company doesn't 'cooperate,' they will of course, be shot shut down.

Unions and the Mafia in Quebec, have so much in common that they work hand in hand, squeezing what they can from the company by way of government regulation and intimidation.

Certain neighbourhoods in the city of Montreal have been informally divided among snow removal contractors, where nobody but the designated operator can offer services, lest some unfortunate 'accident' befall the interloper. Of course prices remain artificially high under these circumstances, but I wouldn't suggest trying to hire a cheaper alternative!

I bet Ms. Bagnall is opposed to this type of gangsterism, but somehow remains firmly in favour of unions applying the same techniques.

Overpriced and under performing employees is what today's unionism is about. The stronger the union, the lower the productivity and the higher the cost.

The monopoly and unfair negotiating advantage accorded to them by the government makes Quebec the most inhospitable market for any North American company to operate in.  That is why jobs have been exported not only to poor countries, but even to the United States, as in the recent case of Electrolux, who is packing up their factory in Quebec and  moving it's 1,300 jobs to Memphis, Tennessee. Link

Ms. Bagnall has no pity for Mr. Péladeau, he's rich and his companies make a lot of money. If he's forced to dish out over the market prices for labour, all the better!
Let the rich pay!
Quebec may be the last place on Earth where this theme still resounds.

Let me finish with a story, told by Charles Adler, the syndicated radio talk show host, out of Winnipeg.

A college student is arguing with her father over his opposition to paying more taxes to support other 'less' fortunates.

"Dad, its only fair, I can't even imagine by what right someone like you, who has so much is unwilling to share."

"Daughter, let me ask you a question. How are you doing at school?

"Excellent, Dad, you know it, I'm maintaining a 4.0 grade average. I'm working like a fiend to do well. But what's this got to do with what we're discussing?

"Well, how is your friend Debbie doing, I heard she isn't working very hard"

"You better believe it, she's a party animal, skips classes and studies too little. She's flunking with a 1.8 GPA and doesn't seem to care"

"Well how about this? You've got an amazing average, much more than you need. Why don't you give her enough points to let her pass. In other words, let's lower your GPA to 3.2 and give her the 8 points to boost her score to 2.6, allowing her to maintain a passing grade. Everybody comes out better!

"Whoa, Dad, how do I come out better? I worked my ass off for the grades, I'm not giving away what I earned to some lazy under performer. I deserve the benefits of my work. How does your plan possibly makes sense for me?

"Daughter, you've got so much, why are you unwilling to share!

"Dad, with all due respect, ARE YOU RETARDED?! Are you actually suggesting that I give away my GPA average!!!!

"Daughter, I think we're more alike than you think!  

Yup, let the rich pay...
Ms Bagnall fantasizes that overpaying unionized employees, doesn't have a deleterious economic effect. She is woefully ignorant of the real world.

Tomorrow I'll tell readers about the unbelievably sad story of how a Quebec union killed its own golden goose. It isn't pretty.

How to Make sure Your Comment is Not Published

Many of you have written that I should be more generous in publishing comments, even if they are outrageous.
Obviously, when one sees the message "This comment removed a by blog administrator" it's a bit frustrating and it gets one wondering as to what was said.

As the editor, this screen shot represents what I see when editing comments. I'll let you be the blog editor here. Would you publish the first comment, the second, both or none?

My choice was to publish the second one only.  

I can't believe that any responsible person would publish the racist drivel in the first comment and I can't understand what twisted mind would even send it in.

The only reason I'm printing this screen shot is so that readers can understand the depth of the hate that some of the comments involve.

There are the occasional death threats and racist diatribes, as well as a certain level of invective directed at individual posters.

When you see a comment deleted it may not be as bad as the above comment but there's a damn good reason it isn't being published, a reason that the majority of readers would likely agree with.

I've made it policy that ranting is fine, even if it means insulting or denigrating another poster,  as long as it is within reason and has some sort of redeeming interest.

Here are things that won't be published.

• A Racist comment

• A comment that threatens

• Any comment that says something like  "I hope you are soon dead" (It's not necessarily a direct threat, but it won't be published just the same.)

•  A comment that is SCREAMING ABOUT NOTHING INTERESTING!!! 

• A comment that includes quotes like "VIVE LE QUEBEC LIBRE!" or other such drivel.

•  Any direct quote from Pierre Falardeau, Pierre Bourgault or some other separatist meant to be in-your-face annoying.

• Comments that are obviously the product of a disturbed person 

It doesn't matter what pseudonym you use, all comments are judged on their individual merit. There are some trolls who use different names to mask their identity, which is more amusing than anything else. Writing styles are hard to mask.

I've now adopted a policy of publishing and removing an offending Comment. That way the author can see that his message was rejected.

Perhaps now those who demand that we post with our real identity can understand why it is foolish to do so.

MORE;

HOW TO KEEP TYPOS AND SPELLING MISTAKES OUT OF YOUR COMMENTS 

HOW TO USE AN ALIAS WHEN COMMENTING

French versus English Volume 21

Roads Department's banalization of English
Returning to Quebec from a road trip to Toronto, it didn't take more than a few feet past the border to remind me that in this province, language is more important than anything.

Apparently, those in charge of Quebec road signs have a perverse sense of humour.
It's seems that to them, it's not only important to demonstrate that French is the dominant language in Quebec but also, that English is no more important than Spanish and Portuguese!
I have nothing against the Spanish and  Portuguese, but there are only about 60,000 Spaniards and 20,000 Portuguese in all of Quebec!
There's over 250,000 Italians and about 130,000 who speak Arabic. There's 90,000 Germans and over 80,000 Jews.
How come no greeting for them?

Idiots!

Alberta forced to pay for French court challenge

 Over a year ago, back in October 2009, I told readers that a case of a unilingual speeding ticket was headed to the Supreme Court because the citation wasn't written in French as well as English. Read that story
The story is back in the news as the case winds it's way through the judicial system. The latest update is that the Supreme Court has decided that the case is so important its appropriate that the government fund the legal expenses of the complainant LINK 

Not all  francophones are pleased over the prospect of bilingual tickets and some argue that Quebec should get rid of the English portion on tickets. Here is a letter writen on the website of  imperatif-francais that argues for this change. Perhaps they should submit a brief opposing the Alberta plaintiff and argue that he should lose his case in the highest court

British Columbia downgrading French language instruction

"Teachers are sounding an alarm about the future of French-language instruction in B.C. schools if the provincial government proceeds with curriculum revisions next year intended to recognize and value all languages.

They say they're worried the new "additional languages" curriculum -- so named to promote inclusiveness -- will make French the equivalent of other languages and erase its privileged place in B.C. elementary and secondary schools as one of Canada's official languages." LINK

Bilingualism loophole used in drunk charge

"A New Brunswick judge acquitted a francophone man of a drunk-driving-related charge because the police did not offer him the option of being arrested in English,.....

.....In the French-only ruling, Provincial Court Justice Yvette Finn lambasted the police for not respecting Mr. Robichaud's rights to be served in the language of his choice, even though he clearly understood French. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives special status to New Brunswick's bilingualism, rights that are "inviolable," she wrote." LINK

Lack of French at Vancouver Olympics the fault of Quebec songwriter

 Blowhard VONOC chairman John Furlong couldn't leave bad enough alone in regards to the painful lack of French at last year's Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies.

"An explanation about why there was almost no French spoken at the opening ceremonies of last year's Vancouver Olympics is being picked apart and pilloried in Quebec. The pile-on has continued today onto Games CEO John Furlong. In a new memoir, he writes that the ceremony lacked French content because Quebec nationalist hero Gilles Vigneault refused to let organizers use his song "Mon Pays." LINK

Mr Furlong demonstrates his utter ignorance of the true nature of separatists if he actually believed Mr. Vigneault would allow his work to celebrate the concept of a strong and united Canada internationally.

If Mr. Vigneault is responsible for the lack of French at the ceremonies, who, according to Mr. Furlong should blamed for the rest of the snore-a-thon?

Battle between French school and French immersion

 One of the very few places in Canada where French education is in hot demand is in the Ottawa area where French immersion classes are all the rage. The classes are tremendously popular with anglophone parents wishing to bestow the gift of bilingualism upon their children.

But the classes have proven wildly popular with Francophone families wishing to give their own children a French education with a strong background of English.
This has enraged Francophone school boards who are furious at the idea of losing students to English schools, even those offering French immersion and so they've embarked on an expensive public relations campaign to win back students.

"That is the gist of the public relations campaign launched earlier this year by the umbrella group that represents the province's 12 French Catholic and public school boards. The $1-million campaign, which was launched during kindergarten registration, aimed at informing those eligible for French language schools -- largely, students with a parent whose first language is French or who were educated in French -- of their rights. The campaign also points out that French schools and French immersion schools are very different things. The French Catholic board, for the second year, ran a campaign with the controversial slogan: "A real French education for your child." LINK

Much ado about a birth certificate

It was a human interest story par excellence, the battle of a poor immigrant vainly attempting to secure a French birth certificate for his child after a government snafu.

The battle of Kamal El-Batal was so interesting that it was the subject of a segment on 'Mongrain,' a nationally televised French talk show.

It seems that Mr. El-Batal was offended that his family was classified as cursed anglos in the government's computer and so try as he did to get a French document for his son, the certificate was continually spit out in English.

A persistent bugger, his effort and zeal to repair the affront was an extraordinary story and excited public interest.

But of course, being the curious sort that I am, it struck me as a huge overreaction, not something an immigrant was likely to do. 

And so, a little checking revealed that Kamal El-Batal is not the simple immigrant portrayed in the story, but rather an experienced peekiss hard-liner who ran (and lost) as a PQ candidate in the last election.

Mr. El-Batal is also no stranger to complaining, he also won a $15,000 judgment in Quebec's human rights tribunal for racist hiring practices at the Quebec's agricultural co-operative. LINK

It seems that the minister responsible for the department that issues the certificates, fell for the political ruse, hook, line and sinker. 

Michelle Courchesne even phoned the PQ stalwart to tell him of her intervention. Well-played! Ha ha!
LINK{fr}

Pierre Curzi -Quebec's Most Dangerous Fool

Many years ago a senior civil servant in the Ontario government told me the story of how a government minister whilst on a whistle stop speaking tour through several towns in northern Ontario, reached into the wrong pocket and gave the wrong speech in the wrong town, much to the consternation of his political minders, who cringed in abject horror at the gaffe.

Making matters worse, the minister's speech included a promise of several million dollars for the construction of a library or some such affair, an undertaking meant for the next town over.
When shocked handlers insisted that the minister correct his mistake, he was having no part of it.

"We'll just have to build two!"

 
"In 1983 Marc Lalonde, the then finance minister, accidentally allowed a cameraman to film parts of his budget that indicated a deficit. It's a Parliamentary tradition that the budget is to remain top secret until tabled in Parliament and any leak is automatic grounds for the Minister's resignation. 

"To deflect charges that his deficit forecast has been leaked, Lalonde decides to boost spending in the final budget document, which allows him to claim that the correct deficit figure hadn't really been leaked.."Link

The reaction to these gaffes highlights the problem of foolish politicians unleashed.

The lengths certain politicians will go to save their own skin or salvage their image can only be categorized as criminal when it means the abject waste of taxpayer resources.

Even worse than these idiots, are the politicians who advance flawed or capricious policies based only on a 'gut' feeling and an overclocked sense of importance.

These are the politicians that cause even more damage than the above-mentioned idiots.

Major Jean Drapeau of Montreal was one such self-important fool, who knew better than all the advisers around him. There was no stopping his unbending and ill-conceived vision of a self financing Olympic games, which saddled the city of Montreal with a billion dollar deficit and a monstrously ugly and dysfunctional Olympic stadium, a monument to self-aggrandizement and uncontrollable ego.

Such is the character of Quebec's most dangerous politician, Pierre Curzi, the under-educated, unilingual, Peeqiss Anglophobe who passes himself off as some sort of language and cultural expert.

Mr. Curzi, although born in bilingual Montreal, never bothered to learn a lick of English and just like many French language militants, his frustrating unilingualism is the basis of his loathing for everything English.

Back in 2007, Curzi intimated in a radio interview that anglos could be stripped of their voting rights in a sovereign Quebec.

"We can't take away their right to vote because that is a right we cannot control because we are still a province within the federation. Obviously, the day when the country is there, we will control citizenship, which will have more teeth, if I can dare to say so."  

Read the Montreal Gazette Story

Of course, he later backtracked, once informed of the racist implication of his pronouncement, but the incident highlights the grave concern minorities must share with the very real possibility that this type of fanatic can get his hands on the levers of power.

Mr. Curzi is famous for quoting self-serving studies and reports that he himself (or his militant friends) prepare to advance his special brand of language eugenics.

It's about as honest as asking a group of priests (or alternately, agnostics) to prepare a report as to whether religion is a positive benefit to society.
It is the very definition of a foregone conclusion.

These so-called 'scholarly' works should be roundly denounced by a skeptical press, but they are generally accepted as gospel by a compliant and complacent media as anxious as Mr Curzi, to prove that the sky is falling in relation to the protection of the French language.

Mr. Curzi, through a complete lack of understanding or alternately through cynical design, ignores the fundamental difference between 'causation' and 'correlation' to reach the most asinine conclusions, such as this beauty;

"Since Francophone students who attend English cegep are more likely to accept an English job in the future, English cegeps are responsible for their anglicization."

See: Correlation does not imply causation

It is these types of pearls of wisdom that should frighten us all.

Hear no English, See no English, Speak no English!

Mr. Curzi has displayed a deep and unabiding disdain for English, so much so that he objected to Paul McCartney singing at a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec, because he was representative of English and Canadian culture.
Mocked by the public and after being reproached by Pauline Marois, he once again was forced to excuse himself.

“Last fall, he suggested the lack of French players on the Canadiens hockey team was a deliberate move on the part of federalists to starve Quebecers of a powerful “symbol of identity.”  Link

 "He has also called for policies to stop francophones from moving from Montreal to off-island suburbs, in order to preserve a majority of the population whose mother tongue is French. The fewer francophones on the island, he warned, the greater the chance recent immigrants would form families with anglophones." LINK

Of course none of this passes for racism in Quebec, where bashing fellow anglo or ethnic citizens is par for the course to 'defenders of the faith' like Mr. Curzi, who continue to characterize anglophones and English as a disease with nary a compunction.

Here's an old clip of the ill-prepared and clearly over-matched Curzi making a fool of himself in front of a parliamentary committee charged with discussing access to to English schools.



Mr. Curzi is trying to demonize the French private school for having such a large English component to its curriculum.
First, he complains that the school can't provide figures as to how many of its grade school graduates abandon their French roots and go on to English high school, to which the surprised school official points out  that the school has indeed provided the information to the committee and that furthermore, 132 of the 136 graduates, went on to French high school. Ouch!

Then after much stuttering, hemming and hawing, Curzi warns the representative indignantly, that nothing is stopping those graduates from going on to English high school, if they so choose.
The school representative delivers a priceless and deadpan put down by telling Mr. Curzi that everyone in Quebec has that same right! PRICELESS!!

And this idiot is the man who might one day create linguistic policy.

Today, Mr. Curzi wants to apply Bill 101 to small and micro businesses, a law never intended to regulate small business.

One of the requirements of Bill 101 is that employees communicate to each other in French.

Imagine an anglophone family running a small home-based business being obliged to talk to each other in French during the work day!

Imagine them having to purchase and install on their computer hard drive, a French version of QuickBooks Accounting Software or Microsoft WORD, even if they use the English versions!

Imagine them being forced to leave notes to each other in French!

That is what's required in Bill 101, which was intended to regulate larger businesses.

Even the infamous Doctor Camille Laurin, father of  Bill 101 couldn't conceive of something so stupid.

“There is no question of preventing [non-French-speaking] employees from working together in their own language, provided it is understood that they must serve their French customers in French.”  

Obviously Mr. Curzi doesn't agree, he suggests that Montreal's 46,000 small business be inspected regularly to insure language compliance.


Mr Curzi may seem like a colourful buffoon, but he represents a real danger should the PQ ever achieve power.

His ideas about the promotion of the French language and culture are mutually exclusive to the preservation and respect of English in Quebec.
He is an ideologue imbued with the same sense of misplaced righteousness as a Spanish inquisitor and like most ultra-nationalists, he believes that in order for French to survive, English must die.

Be afraid. . . Be very afraid!

More Language Nonsense from Pierre Curzi