Quebec's Higher Education Nightmare

Now if you were awaiting a blog piece condemning Quebec students for their self-destructive boycott of cegep and university classes, you probably won't be expecting this.

The reality is that the government as well as the universities and cegeps are as much to blame for the ongoing fiasco, a crisis in higher education so deep that it plumbs the depths of despair.
When I refer to this ongoing fiasco, I'm not talking about the class boycott by students which is an irrelevant distraction to the deep malaise in higher education in Quebec.

Whether students return to class or not is actually quite beside the point, because for the majority of the students boycotting, the education that they are receiving is so utterly substandard that it makes one wonder if it is worth the effort in the first place.
The old adage that 'you get what you pay for' couldn't be truer in the case of higher education in Quebec, particularly on the French side, where students don't pay a heckuva lot for an education that is commensurately not worth much either.

The ongoing tuition battle between the students and the government is a pathetic sideshow, replete with comic elements worthy of a Monty Python skit.

While student may indulge themselves by calling a boycott a 'strike,' it is incomprehensible that the media does so as well, but hey, this is Quebec.

The students realize that as far as the general public is concerned, they can stay out of classes forever
and so have resorted to the tactics of spoilt children who throw destructive tantrums until their parents cave in.
Curiously, that strategy just might work, as I said, this is Quebec.

The students appear not to care whether they lose a semester or two of studies, negating any financial gain that they may wrest from the government. Cries of altruistic motivations and mock concern for the next generation of students is hard to believe when destroying public property is the means to the end.

As Alice in Wonderland said, the situation has become 'curiouser and curiouser.'

It's easy to understand why losing a year of studies is of no import to the three leaders of the student associations involved in the boycott.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the leader of the most radical of the three, ASSE,  is a part time student taking a decidedly light course load. He will likely spend as many years in college as will the cast of GLEE in high school.
The leader of FECQ, Léo Bureau-Blouin, is not a full-time student, nor even a part-time student, but rather someone taking correspondence courses (yup, I kid you not) while the leader of the third student association FEUQ,  Martine Desjardins, is supposedly off writing a dissertation in the weighty matters of education. At thirty years old, I hope we will not still be paying for her education when she becomes a grandmother.
Ironically, all three are graduates of private high schools, where the tuition fees paid by their parents are higher than what is being asked of the university students presently on strike.

Now there are those who pan the government for refusing to negotiate with CLASSE, because as the government claims, it is too radical and because the association will not disavow itself from violent protest.
For those on the fence and unsure if this is true, let me offer this pearl from the association's own website in promotion May Day,

"To the anti-capitalists, anarchists, communists, insurgents and revolutionaries. 
This is a call for an expression of righteous rage! THIS IS A CALL FOR A  SOCIAL STRIKE May 1st ! 
We call for a general strike for May 1 and we call for an indefinite general social strike, because we do not want to be the oil that drives the gears of capitalism! We will be the iron bar that will derail everything!

As the radicals sink their clutches into the 'strike' movement, Premier Charest would be well advised to set a deadline for students to return and then shut down the classes that are subject to a continued boycott.
There is just no compromise to be had with the likes of recalcitrant hardliners like Emma Strople, a part-time student at McGill and full-time anarchist, according to her friends.
After her third arrest for participation in a violent demonstration, she was jailed for breaking previous bail conditions.
So fed up was the judge, that he actually banned her from Quebec, sending her to Ontario with the caveat not to return, until her trial! Link

While student leaders say that the 'strike' was a result of a democratically held vote, it bears a closer look.
In Quebec, all college and university students are forced to join one of the three student associations and membership fees are forcibly collected by the university. Most students are apathetic and have no interest in the student associations, nor do they participate in its activities, social or political.

When the associations say that they have a majority of support for the strike, what they mean is that they have a majority of the precious few who actually vote.
Over at l'Université du Québec en Outaouais, the students voted 397 to 244 in favour of the strike, but with 6,000 students registered at the school, it means that only 10% voted and that only 6.5% actually supported for a strike. This same scenario is repeated across the province.
In cegep St. Jerome, only 510 or about 12% of the 4,000 students voted for the strike, but it was enough to create a majority of those who participated.
At one faculty at the University of Laval, consisting of almost 12,000 students, only 442 participated in a vote to continue the strike, with 243 for and 199 against. That works out to 2.5% of the students voting to continue the strike.
It is these types of mandates that the student leaders are leaning heavily on.

If you think that the students forced out of classes by a militant minority are happy about the situation, go over to a FACEBOOK page where 9,000 students (and counting) have added their name so far in calling for the firing of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, chief spokesperson of the most radical of the three associations, the CLASSE.

Some of the students, furious about being locked out of classes, have gone to court seeking an injunction forcing the universities and cegeps to reopen. So far, 25 of the 26 demands were granted, much to the chagrin of 'striking' students who are using all manner of intimidation to close the schools.

But let us put the boycott aside, most of those who might actually lose a year are the students studying nothing much of value, in courses taught by teachers equally dismal academically and intellectually and where student are preordained to pass their courses with decent marks regardless of the effort they put in or results of their exams.
Among those on strike, you won't find those studying engineering, the law, medicine or any of the disciplines that actually mean something.
It is of course, those studying the humanities, the arts, the social studies and education that are the boycotters, those who have plenty of time to spend in school because they are generally going nowhere and are in no rush to get there.

The degrees they receive will earn them the right to a McJob and not much else.
There's not much call for French Art History graduates who at any rate, couldn't tell you the difference between a Monet and a Manet.
I wouldn't be in a rush to graduate either, if the only job I was qualified for, was slinging coffee in Tim Horton's.

The real crisis in French higher education is based on the fact that  fewer francophones are actually interested in a university education.
Anglos and ethnics earn 50% more university degrees than francophone Quebecers.

This fact has been a source of deep humiliation to the  political class and so in an effort to catch up to the Anglos, standards have been pushed so low that even those who haven't completed high school are given the opportunity to attend cegep with the promise of a degree, if only they stick it out.
Unfortunately for over half of these non-achievers, they drop out anyways.

"The Department of Education is obsessed with the dropout rate. The problem is serious, boys are struggling and quit school at an alarming rate and the department is so desperate to curb the dropout rate, to the extent that they are shooting themselves in the foot. Lower the requirements, say the bureaucrats, and the failure rate will also fall. The problem is that the level of quality, also falls.
As of this September, the criteria for admission to cegep will be lowered. Students may start college without graduating high school" Link

Entry standards are lowered across the board, not only in cegep but in universities as well, because in the French system, there is a huge overcapacity and cegeps and universities are funded in relation to the numbers of students they teach and graduate.
So desperate are the schools to fill places, that foreign French students have been given the opportunity to study in Quebec, paying the same tuition rates as locals, including free medicare coverage.
Hilariously, many of these students take up the Quebec government offer, but enroll in English language schools like Concordia and McGill.
Ironically, foreign students who attend McGill, who are not French and thus not eligible for this  program must pay about three times as much tuition as those who benefit from the 'French first' program. All this in an English university! Did  I mention 'Alice in Wonderland?"

At any rate, it's understandable that the desperation to attract students leads some schools to take extraordinary means to attract warm bodies.

"Discounted Diplomas, inflated marks, useless courses,  finances in the red and an unhealthy competition between institutions that are competing for students. "

"Cegeps are weak because high schools are weak and universities are weak because cegeps are weak. Weak + weak will never result in something strong. The tragedy is that the Department of Education does not seem to understand this."

"Over the years, universities have turned into big cegeps and cegeps into high schools."   Link

 The UQAM, the University of Quebec at Montreal, with its 60,000 full and part time students is the best example of this mediocrity. It is the glaring example of everything that is wrong in the post secondary francophone educational system in Quebec.

Academically UQAM, may very well be the worst  publicly funded university in Canada with standards so low, that it is in effect a glorified cegep.

Substandard and lazy students, crapola separatist/unionist teachers and incompetent administrators, the school is best known for turning out firebrand socialists and separatists and not much else.

Quebec's largest university doesn't have a medical school, a law school or an engineering department. It doesn't have a football team, but it does have a cheerleading squad.
Let's just say that the school's forté is underwater basket-weaving courses and one wouldn't be overstating facts in describing UQAM as Quebec's very own version of Greendale Community College.

"At UQAM, in the Department of Communications, even before the first examination, even before the first assignment, students already know how it will end: with a group mean mark that "should normally be between 83% and 89%"
In addition, at UQAM, students are asked to vote to approve the lesson plan. They always refuse any idea of holding 'tests' and demand that they be judged on teamwork."

After turning out hundreds of thousands of graduates, there is hardly a recognizable name among the alumni, except perhaps Pierre-Karl Péladeau who graduated not in business, but a UQAM specialty....philosophy.

That being said, one of the few things that the school does do well, is to teach students that Canada is an evil colonialist empire and that Quebec is an innocent victim of Anglo imperialism, exploited by rapacious Ontarians and Albertans, determined to feast on the blood of innocent and defenseless Quebecois.

When I stated that the students and faculty of UQAM is substandard, it is nothing compared to the incompetents who run the school.
Who can forget the 500 million dollar fiasco whereby UQAM administrators so botched an expansion project that the government had to shutter the whole thing after it went over budget to the tune of several hundred million dollars.  Read "Hiding the shame that is Îlot Voyageur"

The unfinished building is so embarrassing that the government paid $60,000 to wrap it in a shroud so that the public would not be reminded of the economic catastrophe.

Inside the bus terminal, over which the project was to be built, one of the sad reminders of the failure, is this escalator leading to a blank wall, as the second floor has been shuttered.

The cost over-runs were so severe that the police actually investigated the rector of the school, Roch Denis with a view towards charging him criminally.
When those charges were not forthcoming, the school and the rector parted ways, but not before  Mr. Denis was awarded a big, fat severance cheque, of close to $200,000.

Before I receive the requisite hate mail over my supposed francophone bashing, let me say that the situation over at Concordia is not much better, both academically and financially.

 "Jordan Fainstat, a political science student at Concordia University, tells of his experience in one of his courses. "If half the class fails a test, the teacher makes an adjustment where for example, the tests value will be reduced to only 15% of the final grade." Link{Fr}

Concordia does have some quality programs, as does the University of Montreal, the University of Sherbrooke and Laval University in Quebec City.
The problem is that all these schools maintain, in addition to their quality faculties, some that are as pitiful as those in UQAM.

As for the strike, it is no big deal, if I was a UQAM student or enrolled in one of the dead-end diploma courses, I'd go on strike too.
Finishing school with a worthless degree is something to be put off at all costs. It's no wonder that students in these disciplines want to strike so that they can extend their years in college, after all, the alternative is not so attractive.

"Un p'tit chausson aux pommes avec ça, Monsieur?"

Sovereigntists Failed Strategy

Whenever I scan the pages of vigile.net, Parti Quebecois or other sovereigntist websites, all chock full of posts prescribing the various strategies that will ostensibly lead to sovereignty, I breathe a little sigh of relief at the utter misguided nonsense of it all.

Sovereigntists just don't get.
Like a general preparing for the next war by reliving the last war, sovereigntist leaders believe that if they just tug hard enough on the emotional heart strings of Quebec francophones, as in the 1995 referendum, they will ultimately win enough votes to put them over the top next time.
And just as Dr. Phil asks the losers on his talk show sarcastically, "How's that working for you?," the answer for sovereigntists, is not so well.

For the last seventeen years, leaders of the independence movement have been begging, pleading, threatening and frightening Quebec francophones, in the vain belief that they can recapture the spark of that almost victorious referendum.

The latest variation in this campaign of emotional manipulation is meant to frighten and guilt enough of those very stubborn francophones who are likely to vote NON in a referendum, into changing their minds with exaggerated and alarmist horror stories of language and cultural decline.

The gambit is of course doomed to failure, those who are frightened of English or who harbor disdain for Canada are already on board.
Those who need convincing, aren't afraid of Anglophones or bilingualism and are pretty much immune to these scare tactics.

And so, despite Herculean efforts, the sovereignty movement continues to stagnate and nobody but nobody in the movement can offer a viable plan to get the numbers up.
Frustratingly for sovereigntists, support numbers remain high, but not high enough and if there is anything that the1995 referendum taught us, is that a miss is as good as a mile. 

As long as the sovereigntist movement continues to use language and culture as their keystone issue, they are doomed to failure.
Like giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a corpse, no matter how hard they blow, they aren't going to get any results, yet the movement continues to press on with the same tired theme which reminds me of Albert Einstein's definition of insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

Until sovereigntists address the elephant in the room, the one issue that keeps many, many Quebecers from voting 'OUI,' they will continue to remain in no-man's land.

That issue, the one which hangs over the independence movement like a dark shadow, is of course, the economic and financial dependence of Quebec on Canada.
To put it quite simply, many voters will never vote YES because they believe (quite rightly) that a better financial deal lies in remaining within a united Canada.

These are the voters who are the pragmatists and the realists.
They are people who under the right circumstances might vote for independence, but realize that right now, they cannot afford it economically.
They are no different from the woman looking at $1,500 shoes in the window of an expensive store or the man dreaming of himself behind the wheel of a Ferrari, only to have their good sense bring them back down to Earth as they realize that they just don't have the wherewithal to pay for it.

It is not dissimilar to the teenager who wants to move out of her parents house, but is unable to do so because she doesn't have the money, nor the prospects to support herself independently.

In the end, sovereignty will turn on the economic realities of independence, not the emotion of language.

If by chance, during the years since the last referendum, Quebec enjoyed an economic boom similar to that of Alberta, is there is any doubt that a referendum held today would be successful? 

Can any reasonable observer contemplate a situation where a wealthy Quebec would remain a willing partner in a Canada where each year, the province would be required to over-contribute billions and billions of dollars of its hard earned cash to the federal coffers, in order to help out the 'poorer' Anglo provinces?
Let's be realistic, "c'est la vrai nature de Bernadette" or as we say in English "the nature of the beast' that precludes this scenario.

"It's the economy, stupid" was a slogan first used during the successful presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, running against George Bush in 1992.  I cannot think of a more appropriate phrase to describe the key element in the sovereignty campaign's prospects of success or failure.

So why don't the leaders of the sovereignty movement understand that economic prosperity, not language is the key to independence?

Firstly, the leadership is made up of politicians, unionists, teachers, journalists and artists, people who never have and never will make the connection with wealth creation and success.

Secondly, it is a tough road to hoe and harder to sell.
Making wealth creation a priority means an about face in the entrenched political philosophy of the sacrosanct nanny state.
It means that people will have to work harder and accept less and more importantly it means accepting, that similar to Alberta, natural resources need to be exploited despite the environmental and social objections.

Every time I see Pauline Marois and her cohorts cry out for free university tuition or other entitlements, I realize that the sovereignty option is fading fast as a viable option.
Each time the separatists march against the Plan Nord or the exploitation of shale gas, it represents another nail in the sovereignty coffin.

The poorer Quebec gets, the more firmly attached it becomes to Canada and as long as sovereigntists concentrate on Bill 101 instead of Economics 101, they are writing their swan song.

French versus English Volume 53

Hugo Shebbeare intimidated by language fanatics

Hugo has started a Facebook group to counter this movement and within four days has about 500 members. 

Why not join?    Montreal against the SSJB and OQLF.

Rich Asian immigrants spurn Quebec

"Nine out of 10 wealthy immigrants accepted into Quebec’s investor immigrant program never come to Quebec, federal immigration minister Jason Kenney said Friday.

“I do think it is peculiar that the province that was given power to select immigrants primarily to reinforce the French fact in Quebec is in fact flipping Asian people into Vancouver,” Kenney said during a meeting with The Gazette editorial board.

“In principle, the Quebec immigration program should be about immigration to Quebec.”

Kenney defended the investor program, which was the means by which Mohammed Shafia brought his family to Quebec." Read the rest of the story

DVD movies don't conform to OQLF rules

In the old days of videocassettes, French language films were marketed as standalone products. Today DVDs have alternate audio tracks, so multi-languaged movies can be sold in one package.

The trouble is that video clubs are getting into trouble because in some cases, the outer packaging is in English and distributors are not keen to change the artwork to satisfy such a small market.
This has the OQLF up in arms and they are actually threatening the video clubs themselves with fines.
The owners of the video clubs are powerless to change the packaging as this would probably violate copyright as well as being prohibitively expensive.

Hilariously, if the DVD included every language BUT FRENCH, an English only package would be legal!
Go figger. Link{Fr}

Ignatieff stabs Liberal party in the back

“Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says Quebec will “eventually” become an independent country and that a victory for Scottish separatists in an expected 2014 referendum will launch a new effort by Quebec nationalists to fulfill their sovereignist dream.

CLICK HERE to watch the interview

Ignatieff, an author and academic who left the Liberal leadership post after his party was drubbed in the 2011 election, made the comments in an interview being broadcast Monday” Read more of the story here

I don't know what to Make of Ignatieff's musing on the BBC, asserting that Quebec's independence is inevitable.

His opinion is just that of one man, but significant because it confirms what most Canadian voters suspected, that he was untrustworthy when he led the Liberal party.

After all, running for Prime Minister of Canada without disclosing the fact that you believe Quebec separation is inevitable is surly a deal-breaker as far as the voters are concerned.

His statement leaves the Liberal party with a lot of egg on their face, the disclosure couldn't have come at a worse time.

While the Ignatieff comment, (notwithstanding his latter efforts to stand down from his assertion)  provides  the separatists in Quebec a passing moment of ironic satisfaction, they won't get much traction from the whole affair.

Not so for the Liberals. How many voters who put an X beside a Liberal candidate's name, now find themselves horrified at the betrayal, knowing that they voted for a leader who harbored secret and incompatible views with the Liberal party itself and those of its supporters.

That is why Bob Rae and the rest of the Libs are doing cartwheels to disassociate the party from the remarks.

But the cat is out of the bag and the damage done.

Certain things just can't be repaired.

Opinion poll shows Quebecers mistrust

 A poll taken by Le Journal de Montreal had some pretty sombre findings;

Do you believe that there are problems with corruption in the following; 
94% YES -Firms working in the construction industry.
87% YES -Municipal mayors.
85% YES -Quebec Liberal Party.
76% YES -Engineering Firms
76% YES - Government employees
65% YES -Parti Quebecois
36% YES -Coaliton Avenir Quebec

Do you believe that corruption can be eliminated in Quebec politics?
36% YES
55% NO 

Do you believe that the Charbonneau commission, the police or UPAC can get to the bottom of corruption?
33% YES

 45% NO 


Do you believe that corruption is limited to  a few politicians and entrepreneurs or is it widespread??
85% WIDESPREAD

10% LIMITED


Do you believe that members of Parliament are corrupt?

33% HONEST

55% CORRUPT 
     

Hate crime? What hate crime?

"The Sûreté du Québec says it’s still too early to call recent attacks on Jewish-owned summer homes in the Laurentians hate-motivated crimes, although B’nai Brith is urging the force to do so.

“What we saw says it could be hate-related,” said SQ Sgt. Benoît Richard. “But is it just kids being kids or is it hate-related?”

Police are investigating 14 break-ins that occurred April 12 and 15, two of which involved defacing the Val Morin buildings with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti." Read the rest of th estory

Hmmm. "Kids being kids....."

Here's some news for Sgt Benoit.

The culprit is a local who is the same person who tagged other houses with swastikas last year.

How do I know???

Well the swatiskas are drawn backwards, exactly as was the case last year, making it likely that the perpetrator was the same and that he is a local. As a repeat offender, probably not a "kid being a kid," either.

Sovereignty gang off to inauspicious start

“Marois has assembled a new committee on sovereignty – a committee made up entirely of white francophones and mostly men. Of the 12 politicians, union leaders, intellectuals, artists and actors in the group, only three (including Marois) are women.

If the Parti Québécois’s dream of a future independent Quebec looks anything like this committee, it may be in for a shock when it wakes up to reality.

According to committee member Daniel Paillé, leader of the Bloc Québécois, the group’s job is to “convince a majority of Quebecers of the soundness of sovereignty.” Given this mandate, I think it is fair to shine a spotlight on who has been chosen to represent and define the parameters of the PQ’s “national project.” It is also important to highlight who is absent from the table.” Link (thanks for Frank for the Link)


"Will the Estates General on Quebec sovereignty fall flat? Monday, during the presentation of the document that will serve this summer as a basis for public meetings, only two media showed up. Last fall , however, the media extensively covered the debates surrounding the establishment of these Estates-General, in a context where the sovereignty movement was actually in danger of imploding. Today, internal dissent within the Parti Quebecois seems to be silenced and the urgency for action seems lower. Link{Fr}

Gilles Proulx's Freudian slip

 

Montreal sandwich named in top 12

No it isn't Schwartz's famous smoke meat sandwich, it the everlasting "Wilensky Special' that was named by Travel+Leisure magazine among the world's top twelve sandwiches.

“This tastes like the history of Montreal, especially the Mile End neighborhood. That yellow bread with grilled salami and bologna, served with Swiss or cheddar—and always with mustard—is just delicious.” —David McMillan, chef at Joe Beef

The sandwich and the restaurant "Wilensky's Light Lunch' are part of Montreal's colourful culinary history.

It's a decadent greasy delight, that once you bite into, you instantly know you shouldn't be eating it.

Don't plan a special visit around it, but if your in the area, give a shot. 

The True Effect Of Language Intolerance

I'll let you in on a little secret, my shopping street of choice is a stretch of Somerled Avenue (a good Scottish name) in the NDG (Notre Dame de Grace) district of Montreal.

This isn't the more affluent yuppified neighborhood of NDG bordering Monkland Ave, it's more of a transition area that leads to the decidedly working class area around Cavendish/Benny Farm.
For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the area, it is home to a chunk of Montreal's Anglo black community, most hailing from the Caribbean islands, as well as other anglos and francophones members of the lower middle and working class. It still remains about ⅔ anglophone, the community's history reflected in the name of the streets and schools.

I shop there because there's a bunch of small merchants that I love to encourage, patronizing locals is something that I take as a personal source of pride.

Seen on Somerled- My all-time favorite sign!

My greengrocer of choice is run by a lovely extended Tamil family, who various members toil seven days a week from early morning to God knows how late. The sisters man the cash, the husbands do the heavy lifting and on the weekend, the ladies are given off to attend to family matters, while the men take over.
They speak perfect English which they learned in school back in Sri Lanka and yes, they have started to master French quite well.
They always advise me on the ripeness of cantaloupes and are never wrong. I would never shop elsewhere.
Lately I've noticed a 'Canadianized' teenager who is starting to help out as well. He goes to French school as per Bill 101, but somehow speaks perfect English. No doubt a Dawson and McGill candidate in a couple of years!
There's a bilingual poster on the glass door advising customers about something or other concerning the NDG food co-op. I hope the OQLF and their minions of frustrated retards don't complain.

Across the street there is a government SAQ (liquor monopoly), which believe it or not, offers English speakers a first rate service.
A mixture of bilingual anglophone and francophones work there and none of them are hung up on language, speaking to the clients in the language of choice, where the familiar Montreal greeting of Bonjour/Hi still reigns supreme.
Documents and literature are all available in English and the translations are excellent, done by native English speakers, you can tell.
Hats off to the SAQ, the most English friendly service of the government.

Weather permitting, on the terrace of the bar across the street, gruffy patrons lounge over a beer or sometimes, but rarely, a glass of wine. They discuss the affairs of the day bilingually and rage against each other in the language of Shakespeare and Moliere.
Back across the street is a little grocery store run by Russians which features eastern European specialties.
I particularly enjoy selecting from the ten or twelve varieties of frozen perogies which I pick up from time to time.
The clerks speak wonderful English and French, all with an adoring thick Russian accent. I always say "Zarosevo d-nja!"(Have a nice day!) before I leave.

Sadly, the M&Ms franchise just next door is closed, the family which bought the franchise likely  losing their life savings on a failed Canadian dream.
Let's face it, this isn't the district for fancy frozen expensive food and the company should have known it. It falls on the small investor, essentially buying a job, to take the fall for a marketing error.

Life is unforgiving in the retail marketplace and everyone's business on the street here is tenuous.
A couple of bad weeks and.....well.
Alas a Subway franchise has taken over and I hope the owner ekes out a living. So far it doesn't look too busy.

Down the street is a pizza joint that is busy. It serves cheap food, two slices for the price of one. I don't know if the owner is English, French or Greek, he toils in the back whipping out the pies while a young bilingual counter clerk serves out the plates.
It's a favorite of the area's young Anglophone black community and working class families.

Across the street from the pizza store is a Chinese food counter where you can order takeout. I haven't bought anything there in years, but back then, the Chinese cook (a one-man-show) didn't speak much English or French. You pointed out the dishes you wanted on the menu, which he cooked up right in front of you.
One thing I can say, even those who don't speak English or French understand the universal language of money and all can ring up a register and give proper change!

Here in this part of NDG, people are not wealthy, but rich in culture.

They don't care or think much about language, because almost all are bilingual.The immigrants are learning English and French, on the job. Some have more difficulty than others, but it doesn't matter when clients and neighbors are of good will.

The last time I was in the SAQ a francophone patron helped out an elderly English couple, by carrying out a heavy box of booze to the car. On this street, people are down to Earth and generally kind and cooperative.

It's the kind of district where you can overhear that quintessential Montreal conversation, the one where one half of the conversation is in French and the other in English. Alternately, there's the conversation where the speaker actually switches mid-sentence between languages.
And of course, many of us have had the experience of addressing someone in French and receiving a reply in French, only to realize that both are English!
This happens to me in the Rona Hardware on St. Jacques all the time!
Ah NDG!

It's a down to Earth part of town where people don't get hung up over language and transact with each other ignoring the differences,
When your store of choice is Dollarama (just down the street), you're not going to bitch about a clerk who has a bit of trouble with your language.
You're also not apt to complain about someone serving you who is wearing a Hijab, Turban, Sari or someone who sports a distracting piercing.
It's cruelly ignoble to complain about someone who is grinding it out for minimum wage, just trying to bring in a few bucks to help make ends meet..

This is NDG.....the impossible dream.
If you choose to live here it is because you are a 'live and let live' sort of person. You enjoy diversity and take pride in your bilingualism.

Why am I telling you this story of a nice street with nice merchants and similarly nice customers?

Because this is the street that the two punks from the SSJB decided to terrorize.

One of the merchants they decided to 'teach a lesson', is another fruit and vegetable store, all for the unpardonable sin of posting a copy of an English newspaper advertisement which the store had run, heralding the specials of the week.

Here is a picture of the sign over the grocery store that got the young SSJB rat boys so worked up.
I don't know what upset them so much, there's actually a descriptor in front of the name of the store,  just like the liars at the OQLF pretend that is required.

Oh oh! There it is !
Now I see the problem, do you?

As people try to scratch out an honest living, many working twelve and fourteen hour days, the intrusion by language rats is just another reason in the long list of the many hardships faced and why 25% of immigrants leave Quebec shortly after arriving here.

Quebec nationalists and those critical of this blog continue to peddle the fantasy that Quebec is open and welcoming to immigrants as long as they speak French.
The language issue is just the most visible aspect of the ethnocentrism that is the fabric of Quebec society which is bolstered by the constant bashing of the English language and the religious customs, dress and culture of immigrants.
The constant reminder of the Us/Them syndrome has left Quebec a polarized and unforgiving society.

Just this week the Montreal police were again sanctioned for racial profiling and ordered to pay an Arab businessman $18,000 for harassment. You'd think this stuff was something from the 1950's, but it's par for the course as police continue their war on minorities. Read how the city of Montreal 'handles' these cases. Link

What French language bashers fail to understand or care, is that there is someone on the receiving end of their vitriol. Someone who honestly means no harm and is just trying to make a living.

Here on Somerled Avenue, it isn't corporate Quebec/Canada that is being attacked, rather vulnerable micro businesses that are the soft and easy target that language militants like to attack.
An immigrant breaking the language laws represents the perfect villain for Benoît Dutrizac and company.
Like a hunt on the Serengeti, the language militants adhere to the policy of going after the weakest of the herd.
It is nothing short of sickening.

I'll say it again, when that young Black SSJB volunteer who terrorized the neighborhood grows up and realizes that even with his French, he is a second class citizen, it will be a rude and sad awakening.

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Readers, in order to encourage commenters to adopt screen names,  I'll be putting up this announcement periodically;

Anglo-Bashing Hits New Heights of Absurdity

A couple of stories last week had me scratching my head and asking myself if the water in Quebec has been laced with some sort of a hallucinogen that causes mass hysteria.

All over the television and across newspapers were alarmist stories about an English invasion, so shrill and panicky were the reports that they took on the proportions of the reaction to Orson Well's radio broadcast of the "War of the Worlds"

It seems every French newspaper and every television news channel was filled with  frightening stories of Anglos invading Quebec like an alien life force determined to suck out the lifeblood of the indigenous population.

The Journal de Montreal devoted a quarter of a page to denounce a French hospital for having the audacity to use a linen basket that was labelled in English only.
So deep was the insult that the paper elicited a reaction from Jean-Paul Perreault, the president of the militant  Imperatif Francais, who said that "It's unpardonable! With the tax money we pay our suppliers, they mock us!"
A slight sur-reaction,  one would think?

Then there's the story of a Young Turk who went on the radio to rant and rage that an usher  asked him to remove his feet from the chair in front of him, in English, notwithstanding that he was in an English language theatre, attending an English movie.
His complaint--He couldn't understand what the usher said in English and so demanded to be served in French.
Anybody see the flaw in this unlikely story?

A report on TVA's curent affairs show J.E, has a story about an ederly patient suffering from Alzheimer's,  placed temporarily in an English seniors residence, unable to get service in French.

In Sept-Iles a gateway town to Quebec's northern mining region, it seems there's nobody to take service jobs, because the mining industry is paying so much. There is actually a critical labor shortage here, despite the province's 9% unemployment rate.

"In Sept-Îles on Quebec's North Shore, McDonald's customers are struggling to get service in French. The reason: the restaurant is so short of staff it had to hire immigrants from the Philippines.

The shortage of employees is explained by economic growth of the region and the fact that the locals prefer to work in the mining sector which offers higher hourly rates. To counter this problem, the restaurant was able to get employees in the Philippines through a program of international recruitment.

The contract stipulates that the employee is hired for two years, his ticket is paid, he/she is housed, and that the hourly rate ranges from  $ 9.60  to $12 per hour, and the ​ first grocery store order is paid for.

The Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste as well as many clients find this unacceptable.

"I know they take courses in French, except that she was not able to speak French. A youth who is not able to speak French should not be hired, said Manon, a client. 

It's been 42 years since I live here and there is no question that I won't return to a restaurant where I can not get served in my language. "

Mario Beaulieu, president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montreal this is a very disappointing situation.
"It's disrespectful for Quebecers. I think knowledge of French would be an essential criterion to be engaged. French is seriously threatened right now, especially in Montreal, but it extends throughout all regions. " Link{Fr}

And so outraged clients are fuming that they cannot purchase their 'Beeg Macs' in French.
It's a big problem because, let's face it, there aren't many fast food alternatives in Sept-Iles and  95% of the clients actually don't have enough English to order a glass of water. I'm not kidding. 

French language militants from the south were lining up to remind the northerners that now they too finally have a taste of what it is to live under the relentless wave of Anglicization.

But wait.....

"Francophone immigrants are at an impasse as soon as they start looking for a job in Montreal: no English, no job. They understand that they must quickly learn the language which, in their eyes allow them to earn a living in Quebec.

That's where Quebec comes to the rescue, devoting millions of dollars of public funds to teaching francophone immigrants English, according to research by The Associated Press.. Link{Fr}

Let's see......
Montreal has a large surplus of immigrants who speak French, but supposedly cannot find a job because they speak no English....
Sept-Iles has decent jobs going a begging, where the only skill requirement is speaking French.

Readers, can you think of a solution? Think hard... Tick-Tock ......Tick-Tock.......Tick-Tock.......
I know, here's the perfect Quebec style solution!

Import English only immigrants from the Philippines and send them to Sept-Iles where they will be given French courses.
Give the French speaking immigrants in Montreal English lessons so that they can join the local job market.

No joke....this is Quebec. And who is to blame for all this...
The Anglos who are forcing English down everyone's throat........ Sigh..

At any rate can I offer this much easier solution;
Send the unemployed French-speaking immigrants from Montreal to fill the jobs in Sept-Iles......or this nifty Chinese solution;

If nothing is done to thwart the insidious spread of English it soon may come down to this;

All this hysteria is having a very sad impact on the general francophone  public, teaching them through a relentless campaign of hate that English is an evil enemy which will engulf them if not checked.

Listen to this, where a talk-show caller describes her experience getting bashed over English, for no particular reason.(Thanks to Mark and Frank for the link)  CJAD

In the meantime, Quebec's immigration minister, Kathleen Weil, is preaching tolerance towards minorities, or so it seems;

 "Quebec’s immigration minister, and herself the daughter of a doctor who immigrated to Montreal from the United States, has had enough of constant suggestions by Yves-François Blanchet, the Parti Québécois language and immigration critic, that newcomers embracing English threaten Quebec’s French character.“I find it really destructive to constantly target the other, the person that has come here,”  Link

 But the minister is getting set to to release a new declaration;

• Promote French as the common language and an instrument of social cohesion.
• Pay constant attention to the quality of the French language.
• Reinforce the use of French as the language of the public administration, work, greetings and service, signs, shopping, business and education.
• Reinforce the knowledge and mastery of French by immigrants and communicate with them in French to favour their integration into Quebec society.
• Facilitate the full participation, by all, in French in the democratic, economic, social and cultural life of Quebec.
• Consolidate the identity of Montreal as a francophone metropolis, cosmopolitan, diversified and inclusive.
• Ensure respect for the Charter of the French Language.
• Build together our future in French. LINK
  

But not every francophone is drinking the kool-aid.

Read this beautiful piece about being a modern, confident and successful francophone, living in Montreal, by Lise Ravary.