Montreal Mayor Fiddles While City Crumbles

Montreal's Mayor Tremblay

"the portrait of a blinking idiot"

Before my summer break, I wrote about the Montreal U2 concert that was a critical success but an economic failure.
At least the event didn't fail on all levels.
It was, to be sure, a rollicking good time and is a good example that if you're going to go off on an expensive bender that will guarantee a big bill and a hangover the next morning, you better have a helluva good time to make it worthwhile.

Unfortunately that is not usually the case in Montreal, where more and more city-backed events have proven to be utter failures on all counts.

In that same blog piece I wrote about Montreal's swimming fiasco hosting a 2005 World aquatic event which was not only an economic disaster but a critical failure as well, with fans staying away from the competition as if there were bedbugs in the seats.
A recent article has placed the losses related to the event at number even a higher than I quoted and when all is said and done, the city lost over 20 million dollars!

Off course the ever-ebullient mayor of Montreal, has perfected the fine art of explaining away every city blunder and disaster as a 'learning experience,' 'bad luck' or a 'one-off mistake', surely never to be repeated.
Unfortunately for we taxpayers suckers, this is not particularly true, as the same boondoggles are perpetrated on an exasperated public over and over again, ad naseum.

But even to my jaded and cynical eye, the mayor has recently risen to a new level of 'chutzpah'  in telling us that he has committed the city to a repeat performance of the very same aquatic disaster of 2005, by hosting the event in 2014.

Listening to the mayor make his pitch I am sadly reminded that I've heard this all before.
From Mayor Jean Drapeau who told Montrealers  arrogantly that; "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby"  only to run up a billion dollar deficit, Montrealers have been on the losing end of unrealizable promises made by incompetent fools posing as mayor, for decades.

With unmitigated gall, Mayor Tremblay has taken a page out of the playbook of those famous Montreal telemarketers, who having once fleeced their victim, go back for a second bite by assuring the unfortunate mark, that given another chance, their lost investment will be recouped.

It's nothing new. the Mayor's spiel is as old as the hills and brings to mind the pitch that Bassinio makes to Shylock in Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice,' wherein the delinquent borrower beseeches the moneylender to advance more funds, with the hollow assurance that this time, the money will be well invested.
"In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight
The self-same way with more advised watch,
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof..." - Bassinio-Merchant of Venice

(To those with weak Shakespearean English, Bassinio begs for another loan by telling the moneylender that in his youth, when he shot an arrow which he subsequently lost, he'd shoot another in the same direction and watch more closely, sometimes recovering both arrows in the process.)

Shylock was not impressed with the story and so too we should be wary of another Tremblay misadventure.

To Montrealers who will foot the bill once more, all I can say is that we deserve it;
"Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me"

Ten days ago, another chunk of the infamous Ville-Marie expressway came crashing down.  It wasn't a small piece, but rather a whole span of the roof of an underpass, with tons of concrete raining down onto the road. Luckily nobody was killed. Had the event happened during rush hour the death toll would likely have been between five and ten people.
This same road has already been reduced by one lane because of falling concrete.
Montrealers remain petrified driving on this critical artery and with good reason.
The last time a chunk of concrete separated and crashed down, engineers discovered that the reinforcing metal supporting rods (rebar) that was supposed to be buried within the concrete when poured, was not present.
Yup, contractors building the highway either cut corners or just plain forgot to install this critical element. How pronounced the problem is, nobody knows, but the highway may just be the most unsafe elevated highway in North America.

Montreal's newest road sign

With all this in mind, what is the mayor's priority?
Our idiot mayor assures us that while our bridges and underpasses collapse and our homes are flooded by backed up sewers, there's nothing to be worried about.
For him it's important to spend money on bike paths, Bixi and swimming meets. Hundreds of millions of dollars in feel-good projects, while the city infrastructure collapses.

Montrealers have been rocked by City Hall scandal after scandal, too numerous to enumerate. There is no doubt that Montreal ranks as the worst run major city in Canada and is right up there with New Orleans as the worst in North America.


Through all this  we are re-assured by our mayor, wearing the unnerving smile of the Cheshire cat that all is well and that citizens should maintain confidence.

Bah!
The government Montreal is so rotten, that trusteeship is the only way out. A clean sweep, starting with the mayor, all elected officials and senior civil servants is about the only thing that can right the sinking ship.
Maybe we could bring in Regis Lebeaume!

Readers may wonder, given the gross incompetence of the mayor, how on Earth he got re-elected.

Again, it comes down to language and politics. (Doesn't everything come down to that in Quebec?)

The opposition candidate in the last municipal election was an ex-Parti Quebecois minister, an avowed separatist who spoke no English.
Those thirty or forty percent of anglos and ethnics who vote, had no use for such a candidate and thus, holding their nose, chose what they believed was the lesser of the two evils, Gerald Tremblay.

But enough is enough.
I'm joining the ABT campaign (Anyone But Tremblay) and would even vote for a separatist before I'd vote for this buffoon.

Montrealers should be boiling mad at themselves and at the fool they elected as mayor. As I rage at the thought of our idiot Mayor dreaming up more vanity projects to feed his delusion of grandeur, as his city crumbles, I take solace in the immortal words of the Bard....

"Think therefore on revenge and cease to weep."
 _________________________________________________
Don't miss Friday's Post -
"Air Canada Deserved its Language Fine"

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Stop Worrying! ... Montreal Should Embrace its Crumbling Infrastructure

I've always been impressed by the images of those cool and collected soldiers in Humvees driving the dusty and dangerous roads of Afghanistan or Iraq.
Faced with the ongoing risk of being ambushed or being blown up by an IED, they display a sang-froid, that is unnerving, as they joke and kid around while barrelling down the road, running a dangerous gauntlet.  

For Montrealers, its getting to that same point, where drivers have to face down and ignore the fear that they may not come home at night, victim of a collapsed bridge, overpass or tunnel. Although the chance of being the unfortunate sap that gets killed in an infrastructure disaster is microscopic, we cannot help but fantasize over the nightmare, it's human nature.
It's the opposite side of the coin of the dream that we all share of winning the Lotto and striking it rich- not likely to happen as well.
Like terrorism, the real damage is the fear, which isn't commensurate to the actual risk.

Most of Quebec's road system was built in the sixties and seventies with second class materials, shoddy workmanship and inferior engineering and so, just about every road, bridge and tunnel is in need of replacement.
Given the magnitude of the problem and the utter inability of our government to deal with any sort of problem in a timely and effective manner, it's pretty clear that things will get worse before they get better.

Perhaps it's time to get over the fear and accept the reality.

After so many failures and mishaps, maybe we should just come to terms with the fact that our bridges and tunnels will fall down every now and then and that actually, it's not that big a deal!

Over the last decade, less than ten people have died in such accidents, a pittance on any measuring scale.

By my humble calculations that represents a risk of about one in eight million per year for each of us Quebeckers.
The chances of getting killed by lightning is more than twice as likely, but you don't hear people freaking out about that or demanding that the government act to mitigate the risk, do you?

The sound approach is to fix up our bridges and roads when they actually break down or collapse, rather than undertake a massive and costly rebuilding project that will impoverish us all.
If we must suffer a death or two a year, so be it, it's acceptable. After all, can you justify the government spending billions and billions to save one or two lives a year?
The money could be put to better use and be far more effective if spent on the health system where the return on spending would be exponentially higher! 

Like the soldiers in the Humvees, let's put the tiny risk in perspective and ignore the minuscule chance that we might get flattened like a pancake in a tunnel collapse. Once we conquer this fear, we can look to the positive aspects of the situation and as the old saying goes "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade"

So readers, let's look at the bright side and the profit potential of our crumbling infrastructure.

THE BENEFITS OF A CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE 

Entertainment

Truth be told, we are all riveted by a good train wreck, car accident or falling bridge. The recent collapse of the Ville-Marie tunnel has been the talk of the town.
The government should cash in.
An official agency should be created to maximize returns on each disaster. As soon as a bridge or tunnel collapses, the government should set up a perimeter and charge gawkers for the privilege of seeing what's going on.  Once the dead and wounded are removed, tours can be arranged at premium prices where those with big bucks can actually explore the scene of the tragedy.
Newspapers and television coverage would be restricted to the media that paid for the privilege of covering the event exclusively, somewhat in the style of the Olympic games where rights are auctioned off beforehand.

The bus driver thought it was just a puddle!

Helicopter tours and double decker buses can all be employed to get tourists close to the action......for a price.

For a modern touch, rescue workers, police and engineers could be miked up and followed by cameras for a massive pay-per-view realty show event.

Sinkhole!

A premium cable channel could be created where subscribers could get first-hand coverage and in-depth analysis of each week's infrastructure disasters. For those who don't think there's enough content, they don't know Montreal very well.

Last week, the Ville Marie tunnel collapse was justifiably the center of media focus, but there were several other note-worthy and interesting events including a bus falling into a massive pothole and a giant sinkhole opening up in the middle of the street because a 120 year old pipe burst. A garbage truck fell into a pothole and then there was the building crane that fell into the middle of St. Denis street.
Need I go on?
 

Disaster Tourism

Some disaster sites should be preserved in their falling down state. They would become massive tourist attractions that could attract people from around the world. Five well-preserved sites would make Montreal the disaster capital of the world and the premier vacation destination of the morbid (there's plenty of those!)
Who needs to see the ruins of Acropolis when you can come to Montreal and see so much more.

The whole city could become one big disaster scene. For example, a viewing platform over the L'Acadie underpass could be set up to accommodate tourists. When conditions are just right in the summer, tickets could be sold for big bucks to watch the underpass fill up with rainwater, trapping the hapless motorists in their cars. Great fun!

Adventure Tourism

Some tourists like a little danger in their vacation choice. No need to go to the jungles of South America or Borneo, Montreal can become the first urban danger zone in the world, where the actual city itself becomes a dangerous obstacle course.
Special attractions could be offered to tourists including a helmet-less Bixi ride through the potholed streets of the city. To make matters more challenging the city could cease to fix potholes to make the experience more exciting.

For those tourists who are more of the voyeur nature and who enjoy watching others take a good pratfall, a reviewing stand or a live television feed could be set up in front of a classic pothole, where they can take pleasure from the misfortunes of others and can get their sadistic fill to their heart's content.

Great entertainment potential!

Of course a Museum of Disasters could be set up in the Old Port of Montreal, which would no doubt be a big attraction. Artifacts from all the great Montreal disasters could be displayed and interactive models of collapsing tunnels and bridges could be provided.

Montreal can tap into tourist desire for live entertainment. There's already a musical written about the bridge collapse in Laval called Sexy Beton. During the peek tourist season, each summer, the play can be staged a la "Anne of Green Gables" becoming an important element of the Montreal's disaster tourism business. 

All  this would make Montreal one of the most attractive tourist destinations, attracting people from around the world and generating hundreds of millions of dollar a year in revenue.

Now I understand that there are Doubting Thomas' out there who will say that the benefits don't outweigh the drawbacks, with the reduced mobility the big bugbear.

With a little ingenuity and by honing our driving skills, we can get by with a lot less bridges, traffic lights, underpasses and stop signs.

It seems to work in India.

Check this out...no accidents and traffic keeps moving!

And before I get a slew of complaints, that friends, is what we call  "gallows humour."

Weekend Update - Volume 32

Note to Readers
I've renamed the ever-popular (ahem?..) "French versus English " column, which will now go under the very un-original name of Weekend Update.
The column will become a regular feature, usually appearing on Friday and will include the usual French versus English type stories as in the past, as well as interesting tidbits that you may find of interest.

French-only sign offers English services.

A letter to the editor in the Montreal Gazette caught my attention for its unintentional irony.

" Re: "Health Care in English" (Your Views, July 22). These signs are on all wards at the Centre Hospitalier Régional du Grand-Portage in Rivière du Loup, where I work as a dépanneur-locum."- Jeffrey Brock, Baie D'Urfe

I won't bother directing you to the online version of this story, it doesn't attach the picture of the sign that is included in the print version of the Gazette. I had to use my camera to capture it, so the quality is a bit lacking.
For those without any French, the French-only sign tells English speakers that they can get service in English by just asking (in French?)

Do you need service in English? Better read French!

It reminds me of a highway sign along Highway 20 near Quebec city that informs motorists that they can tune into an English radio station for tourist information. The whole sign was in French!
INFORMATION TOURISTIQUE - ANGLAIS - RADIO 104.9...really.

Complaint smacks of  false concern

A letter on vigile.net from a member of the Reseau de resistance du Quebecois is a classic example of a concern troll, a contributor who pretends to be sympathetic, whilst actually trying to stir up trouble.

Read this bullshit....

"A sad situation persists for months in the riding of Sherbrooke, where the sign of Premier Jean Charest on King Street West, is in an extreme state of disrepair"...(blah...blah..blah) ....Sherbrooke residents deserve a little more respect from their MP, so we ask him to remedy this deeply deplorable situation." LINK{FR}

Sylvain Meunier -Reseau de resistance du Quebecois

Now I'm not making any accusations, but aren't those black stickers on the defaced sign a signature of the RRQ?
And who exactly is the likeliest culprit to have defaced the sign.

Methinks of the arsonist who pulls the fire alarm...

Air Canada - French Fine Breeds hate  

The French media was taken aback to reaction in the English community over Air Canada's fine for not having a bilingual employee available to serve a bilingual  francophone passenger in French.

An article in a French news site ran a story entitled "Air Canada triggers a stream of hate by Anglophones towards the French speakers" The article claimed that in light of the ruling that Air Canada pay $12,000, anglophones unleashed a stream of hate in the comments section under a story published online in the Globe and Mail. LINK{FR}

That ever trustworthy site Ameriquebec, translated some of the more salty missives for the benefit of their readers. LINK{FR}

By the way, the original complainer is none other than Michel Thibodeau, an Ottawa federal government employee who is a serial language complainer, who launched among other things,

"a complaint against OC Transpo public transit company, demanding that it enforce its policy of treating francophones and anglophones equally. That entails greeting passengers, calling out stops and making announcements in both languages, he said.

"So that francophones don't feel left out," he added."

I wonder if riders in Montreal feel left out when metro and bus announcements are made in French only?

The Law is the Law
Here is an interesting letter to the editor that I came across;

It was Thursday of last week, the day of my son's prom.... As we were invited to a pre-cocktail in the afternoon hosted by the parents of one of his friends, I stopped at the nearest branch of the SAQ, not to arrive empty-handed. My son asked me to buy him "something special" to drink late at night with friends after the prom. Dressed in his beautiful rented tuxedo and bow tie slightly askew, he accompanied me in the store and we agreed on a 10 oz bottle of dark rum - to share in the form of rum & coke - I laid it on the counter next to a bottle of Italian sparkling. The clerk immediately asked for an ID card for my son. I intervened by saying that I was his mother and was the one purchasing these products. "No, madame, the law is the law." which an austere supervisor confirmed. Taken aback, I first insisted that I approved this purchase and then that I loved the dark rum. Nothing worked: They just wouldn't let me purchase that bottle and I had to raise my voice for them to let me finally leave with the one destined for the cocktail party. I was shocked and insulted at seeing my right to grant a privilege to my son violated...

My son turns 18 in a few months, he finished high school with an average above 80 and is a quiet boy. Moreover, he does not have a driver's license and as he takes a taxi to return home when it's late and so I feel comfortable in allowing him to get pasted on prom night! Maybe a little alcohol in the blood will help him overcome his shyness and allow him to flirt with the girls. The corporation has decided to interfere in our family life, to absurdly treat me as a child, much as my boy. I could have gone alone to any branch and get a 40 oz bottle of gin for my son and there's nothing the nanny-state would have been able to do about it. However, in all innocence, I went with him to the SAQ, discussed drinking, put on limits and finally agreeing with him on a small plastic bottle. Ultimately, I was denied my parental authority. My maternal authority has been completely devalued in an episode of ridiculous political correctness. It is the drug dealers that are far more damaging, rubbing their hands in glee at the great ethical concern of the SAQ. What rigidity and most importantly, what hypocrisy! -Chantal Mantha .............Read the original letter in French

I'm sure many of us sympathize with the mother, but how many of us would write a letter to the editor, describing our attempt to flout the law?
And what kind of newspaper would print such a letter?

It's summer in Montreal = Flooding!

An underpass at L'Acadie boulevard remains Montreal's most dangerous spot to be when it rains hard.  The drainage system is unable to cope with copious amounts of water and floods rather badly, a couple of times a year.

We're used to seeing pictures like the one on the right and aren't particularly surprised anymore.

But even hardened Montrealers were taken aback by this flooding incident, which one would assume could only happen in a third world country.

After a summer downpour, a manhole cover exploded on Wolfe Street, between Ste-Catherine Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard. YIKES!

(Video submitted by Michael Vidde, Montreal.)

Here's an old one, but one of my favourite flooding stories;

Farmer needs fishing license to clear flooded farm

"SABREVOIS, Que. - Bureaucrats have added insult to injury for a corn farmer south of Montreal whose fields have been damaged by near-record flooding.

Martin Reid says he's been forced to buy a fishing licence to remove carp that are swimming in a metre of water on his flooded-out fields.

He says he bought the permit to avoid the problems he faced the last time he was forced to remove fish from his flooded farmland. In 1993, Reid was fined $1,000 for illegal fishing.

"My father and I ... were charged by Fisheries and Oceans Canada," Reid recalled. "We were jointly responsible for having caused the death of fish for reasons other than sport fishing."

Reid says the fine will jump to $100,000 if he's cited a second time."

More of the story in the TORONTO SUN

Quebec Emergency Room Wait times grow longer

Florida billboard- 15 minutes wait!

Emergency room wait times in Quebec hospitals grew half an hour longer, reaching an average of 17 hours and six minutes.
Average wait time in the USA is about four hours.
In Ontario wait times are much, much better, with the only problem being Toronto where the time wasted in the ER waiting room is up to 12 hours..
The longest wait times in the province were at the Gatineau campus of the Gatineau hospital, where the average wait time was 25 hours....yup more than one whole day!
Ontario has set a goal of eight hours while Quebec is setting a more modest target of 12 hours.
Good luck!
If you still think US health care stinks compared to our Medicare, read a comprehensive comparison by one of Quebec's best francophone bloggers. READ IT HERE
Even if you don't speak French most of the article is in English and the charts are easy to follow.
Very eye-opening!

Union opposes progress

Hydro-Quebec is advancing a plan to install intelligent meters that can be read at a distance, thus eliminating up to 800 meter readers. Clearly the union representing employees doesn't see it as progress.
Said a union spokesman "We are not against progress, but we find that spending $1 billion and with the resulting  loss of 1,000 jobs on a project based on a presumption, is unacceptable,."said the president of the Quebec wing of the union Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-Quebec), Lucie Levasseur
Hydro has already promised to re-integrate a least 500 of these employees elsewhere in the company, but it's not good enough for the union which is demanding nothing less than a public inquiry.


Journalism 101..duh!

Metro Montreal- proves you get what you pay for (the newspaper is free)

Big Headline:     HEATWAVE CLAIMS TEN VICTIMS
Little Headline: Ten people died during the heatwave, but the causes of the deaths are unknown.

Gilles Proulx -Anglophobe

Gilles Proulx has spent a broadcast career flinging the most offensive and racist insults at any and all groups in Quebec that are not francophone. He has a particular hate-on for anglophones and Natives.
His latest missive is a rant against Bell Telephone who had the audicity to send him an English speaking installer who allegedly spoke no French.
These type of 'speak white' stories are prone to exageration, but we will for arguments sake take this blowhard at his word.
It seems that the demand for service on July 1 is very heavy due to Quebec's nonsensical policy of having all residential leases start and end on July1st.  It creates an unbelievable burden on movers, Bell, Hydro etc.
But a universal moving day seems to make sense in Quebec, especially when it is scheduled on Canada's national holiday, another sad attempt to denigrate Canada.

In the past, because of the heavy demand created by so many moves, you'd have to wait a couple of days to have a new phone connected, but recently Bell started bringing extra help from other provinces to cope with the craziness of Quebec's moving day.
Some of these extra workers don't speak French and I guess they are assigned to Montreal where most people are bilingual.
To Mr. Proulx, this of course is an outrageous insult and bitter betrayal. He ranted and raved in a newspaper column over the injustice.

The question remains, is it more important to have a Francophone installer a few days later or an Anglophone installer right now? Especially when one is bilingual.
Mr. Proulx went on to tell readers that when he retold his story on television, the crew were rolling their eyes at him, as if he were a "hysterical mental patient, obsolete."  LINK{FR}

Gilles Duceppe won't  go away

In an interview on RDI, June 21, Gilles Duceppe justified Quebec sovereignty in these terms:  

"If Quebeckers, within 15 years, will not move, they will inevitably be on the same slope as the Franco-Ontarians and the Acadians." It is a rapid assimilation, we should not hide from  the truth." 

 It seems that in order to remain relevant Mr Duceppe is upping the rhetoric, in a sad attempt to rekindle the separatist debate that has been firmly placed on the backburner by Quebec voters. The trouble for Mr. Duceppe is that he is yesterday's news, with little or no chance at a political comeback. He has come to symbolize failure and for a politician, it's the kiss of death.

You'd think he'd get a reaction after making the above statement and he did. It wasn't what he expected.

In an article in Le Devoi, Michel Paillé, took Mr. Duceppe to task. Using statistics, instead of emotion, the demgrapher showed that Mr. Duceepe's assertion is nothing but hot air.
According to him, in fifteen years there will be more French-speaking Quebeckers than there are now, hardly the road to assimilation.

Even if Quebec's proportion of Canada's population declines, Quebec's French society is still growing and is no danger of assimilation.  LINK{FR}

Quebec Anglo ex-pats remain loyal

McGill sweatshirt on House M.D

Over the years hundreds of thousands of anglophone Quebeckers made the trek to greener pastures to find opportunity or to escape the maddening language situation.
New York, Toronto, Calgary and Los Angeles have large communities of ex-Montrealers  who have made a new life for themselves not without certain pangs of regret for the old hometown.

Hollywood has a slew of Montrealers toiling in the movie and television industry and it is always nice when they slip a Montreal reference into a television show or movie, tip of the hat to their old hometown

Here's a scene of Thirty Rock;

Lame Duck Turmel Leaves Ndp Leadership Mulcair's for the Taking

Nycole Turmel conoodling with  ultra-separatist
candidate Bill Clennett and Francoise David,
leader of Quebec solidaire.

Jack Layton's choice of Nycole Turmal as interim leader is evidence that there's not much talent in the upper ranks of the party and despite her once separatist leaning, Turcotte, in Layton's opinion, is apparently the only one with the administrative experience to run the party.
Either that, or Layton is deathly afraid that had he made Thomas Mulcair interim leader, there'd be no place for Layton to return.

Either way, it says a lot about the Ndp and what kind of party it will be going ahead without Jack Layton.

It isn't any secret that the Quebec caucus of the Ndp is riddled with separatists and/or separatists who have changed their politics and are now re-born federalists.
Those who change political sides are entitled to do so.
After all, if a drunk can become a teetotaller, Madame Turmel can become a federalist. It's rare, but it does happen.

Today she swears up and down that she is a federalist and always has been, but the facts don't bear her out.
Despite her denials, she can't hide from the truth that she was a vocal supporter and card-carrying member of the Quebec solidaire AND the Bloc Quebecois.

Here is a video of a press conference, a few years ago, in which Madame Turcotte professes loyalty to Quebec's radical separatist party, Quebec solidaire. She offers her unfettered endorsement of Bill Clennett, a union/separatist radical who is best remembered for being manhandled by Prime Minister Jean Chretien when he broke through the PM's security perimeter. YouTube
After the incident a furious Sheila Copps accused Clennett of being a radical separatist hiding behind a unionist label.
Ms. Turmel is unequivocal in her support for Mr. Clennett and Quebec Solidaire, telling the audience that she feels 'very close' to the QS political agenda.

Francois David, co-president of the ultra-separatist party declared that "The support of Ms Turmel is a great honour for me and serves our campaign well.".

"Asked to comment on her support of Québec solidaire, Ms. Turmel declared last Wednesday: “When I supported Quebec solidaire, it still hadn’t adopted the resolution declaring itself a sovereigntist party. It was before.”
However, in Quebec solidaire’s Declaration of Principles (Foundation) passed in 2006, the year before Ms. Turmel’s support to QS, the party declared itself a supporter of Quebec sovereignty. And Ms. Turmel supported the four Outaouais Bloc québécois candidates during the 2006 federal election, a clearly sovereigntist party." Link

After being confronted about her support for Quebec Solidaire and the ridiculous claim that she didn't know that the party was sovereignist, she changed her tune.

"I supported the progressive policies of the Quebec Solidaire, but such support does not apply to sovereigntists objectives," LINK{FR}

Yesterday the Globe & Mail published a blockbuster story confirming that Madame Turmel was a member of the Bloc Quebecois for almost five years and only resigned last January when she knew she'd be a candidate for the Ndp. Yesterday she admitted that she still carries a Quebec Solidaire membership card, but promised to quit the party.

And so her claim of never being a separatist is tenuous at best, at worst an outright lie.
She, like other soft sovereignists are able to flit between the two camps, seemingly at will. 

Today a federalist, yesterday a separatist, next week who knows what. I guess it all depends on the political winds.

There are however avowed separatists in the Quebec caucus who see no contradiction and make no apologies for their support of Quebec independence. This separatist wing of the NDP hasn't garnered much media attention, after all, the party was under the firm direction of Jack Layton, who was crafty enough to use the separatists to his own ends.

As for  Madame Turmel, I'm not sure Canadians outside Quebec could ever be comfortable with an ex-sovereignist as leader of the Ndp and so, she is indeed a lame duck and as such a perfect choice as interim leader, someone with no viable long-term leadership prospects, who poses no threat to those who aspire to the top job.

Those who are fans of Jack Layton and even those who are not, nonetheless must agree that he is a masterful politician, probably the most skilled in Canada.
Keeping a party comprised of so many different elements united and focused seemed like child's play for Jack and like an orchestra conductor who waves his baton effortlessly, the ease at which Layton held his party together is actually quite astonishing.

Unlike 'Uncle Tom' Mulcair, who would throw Canada under the bus in a heartbeat to further his own political ends, Jack was masterful at 'shucking and jiving.' Despite the rhetoric and the Sherbrooke declaration, under Layton, there wasn't any doubt over the Ndp's bone fides as a federalist party and promoter of the Canada brand.

And so until Layton recovers or resigns, the Ndp will tread water with Nycol Turmel. When and if Layton's absence become permanent, Mulcair will grab the top prize.
He is ruthless and determined. He scares people within his own caucus. Running against him and losing would be the kiss of death, so possible contenders will be reluctant to try.

Much as a I hate dislike Mulcair, he is probably the best man for the job and perhaps the perfect leader of the opposition.
Mean, arrogant, feisty and determined, his pit-bull characterization is  well deserved. He will make life miserable for the ruling Conservatives and he will no doubt command a lot of face time on television.
He is naturally combative and aggressive and has the ability to argue effectively against anything. He also has no scruples or real agenda other than Tom Mulcair.
His personality is diametrically opposed to Layton's, but that could play in his favour.
Others who try to emulate Layton's 'good ole boy' persona will pale in comparison.

No doubt the Ndp will be a different party under Mulcair, but perhaps, just perhaps, it will become a better and more effective opposition.
Instead of pushing an unrealistic socialist agenda, Mulcair will be more useful in hammering the government over its errors and policy gaffes. He can and will inflict a lot of pain on the Conservatives and even supporters of the government should agree that in light of a majority government, an effective opposition is in the country's best interest.

The idea of Mulcair as opposition leader should strike fear in the ruling Conservatives and those that are dismissive or underestimate him will suffer for it.

I hate to admit it, but Canada will be better off with a rat like Mulcair leading the opposition.

It's Good to Be Back!

When  I first went off for vacation, I reluctantly removed the pre-screening of the comments section in the belief that it wouldn't be fair to readers to keep their missives in limbo for hours and hours or sometimes even a few days.
I say 'reluctantly' because it left the door open to abuse. On the positive side, it allowed comments to be published almost immediately.

Surprisingly, only one comment warranted being yanked!

And so I've decided to keep things as they are, with comments published without pre-moderation. The benefit of having your stuff published immediately seems to be worth the gamble.
That being said, I'll still read the comments and keep an eye out for abuse.
If you spot something that clearly deserves to be withdrawn, please send me an email (anglomontreal@gmail.com).
Don't complain about abuse in the comment section. It just clutters things up.

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I have decided to continue posting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The burden of posting each day was a bit too much and I'm much more comfortable with three posts a week, which will hopefully allow me to concentrate on quality.

Each Friday, I will attempt to deliver a compendium of stories that will give readers an extended weekend read.
I've renamed this post as "Weekend Report" which will replace the traditional (and popular) "French versus English." The name change reflects that other stories, not necessarily about language will be included. It will include anything that I believe is of interest and will allow me to offer a much meatier post.

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A note on Anonymous Surfing.

Believe it or not, access to this blog continues to be blocked by certain organizations, including the BELL CENTRE.
I guess free speech only counts for vigile.net which is not blocked. ...Humm
At any rate, there is a simple work around.... anonymous web surfing.

Anonymous surfing may help you avoid being blocked by hiding your IP address, which identifies from whence you came.

Simply go to one of the sites below and paste in the web address of the blocked page you want to access in the box provided. It's painless and free.

http://hidemyass.com/
http://anonymouse.org/anonwww.html
http://www.megaproxy.com/freesurf/
http://www.ninjacloak.com/ 

Better still here's a website with a gazillion anon proxies....

It also works for sites like Facebook or YouTube which are sometimes blocked by employers at the office.
Here's a video explaining all this on YouTube


As you know, the Quebec government has in the past forbidden certain companies from offering an English-only website to Quebec customers. Quebec based customers are steered away based on their IP address.
This was the case with Urban Outfitters which offers all North American customers the same English website and which was the subject of a post of mine.
I tried the urbanoutfitters.com website this morning and it is no longer blocked, but it is little comfort to Quebec customers as the company will not ship into Quebec because of language issues.

Some newspapers have gone to a pay model which blocks content based on your IP address as well. The Montreal Gazette has adopted such a model which is exceedingly frustrating because indexed stories on search engines don't have a note attached indicating that the story may be blocked. (le Devoir does do so.) This is because the newspaper does allow some limited free content based on usage, so you may or may not be blocked.
That being said it is extremely annoying to be blocked from a story after starting to read. It is a bit ratty of the newspaper to do so.
Now as a Gazette print subscriber I am entitled to the online content, but after filling out the necessary online forms, I remain firmly blocked. The password and user name the newspaper sent me, just doesn't work!

Out of desperation I used an anonymous web proxy and it worked just fine.

I suggest that if you can afford to pay for the content, please do so....but.

I'm glad to see readers adopting an online personna so that readers can track who is saying what and can reply to a name instead of 'Anonymous@12:21'
Here's a blog piece that I wrote as a  reminder on how to create a pseudonym.

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A note about my post about Jack Layton.

It seems that many readers were offended by my post accusing Jack of misleading Canadians as to when he first learned about his new cancer.
I guess that I remain in a minority in believing that hiding a major illness from constituents is unethical.

Fair enough.

Readers are entitled to their opinion as I am to mine. Some questioned whether I was alienating regular readers by taking such an (as it turns out) unpopular position.

All I can say is that I'd be offended if regular readers agree with all that I say. There's nothing wrong with disagreement among friends and those readers who disagreed with my position are entitled to express their position as forcefully as they want in the comments section.
It goes to Jack's popularity that so many rose to his defence.

But readers, let us be honest.
Do you come here to hear your own views parroted and to get a rehash of the same safe tripe printed in the mainstream media?

The most useful element of the blogesphere is that opinions which are not politically correct can be aired.
Readers come here for something they don't get in the mainstream press.  As such, they should be prepared to suffer the slings and arrows of a politically incorrect opinion that they sometimes disagree with.

At any rate, all I said online is what many Canadians whispered around the water cooler or in private.
And I'll tell you something else;
The article generated a lot of hits outside regular readers. I get to see, via tracking software, what type of keywords led readers to land on the article.
The vast majority were lines like these;'

• What kind of cancer does Jack Layton have?
• How long does Jack Layton have to live?
• How long has he had this cancer?
• Is he telling the truth?

I think many people share my view that we aren't getting the real story. Perhaps it isn't polite to ask, but politeness should not be in a journalists repertoire.

I still remained surprised that so many people objected to a straight piece which asked a pertinent, albeit uncomfortable question. Jack Layton is not a sacred cow, he remains a politician, not a saint, and like all politicans he has a propensity to lie. It's the nature of the beast.

Jack Layton looked and sounded shockingly bad and has been sick a lot, longer than he admitted. He most likely lied when he said that he only found out about the new cancer the week before.
It is not a credible version of the truth.

By the way, for all the readers who are outraged that I dared question the integrity of Mr. Layton, it seems that voices are now being raised in the mainstream press, perhaps emboldened by bloggers like myself who jumped on the inconsistencies in Layton's story. Globe and Mail

Ultimately the truth will come out and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that my version of the truth will be vindicated.
If I am wrong I PROMISE TO APOLOGIZE.
If I am right, I hope all the commenters who blasted me will have the honour to do the same.