French versus English Volume 54

Air Canada versus the French language

Most people understand that English is the language of international aviation, in the air and on the ground. Airlines around the world accept English as the lingua franca and so it follows that technical manuals are generally delivered to airlines exclusively in English, even those from Airbus from France and Bombardier from Canada.
Airlines are loath to take on the responsibility of translating these documents over security and safety concerns and so generally ask employees to take maintenance courses in English.

Ever since Aveos closed its Montreal repair facility, Air Canada mechanics from Quebec have been asked to take technical courses conducted in English, in Toronto.
This of course has the union up in arms demanding that the course and manuals be provided in French. Link{Fr}

The company is now demanding that employees understand English as a condition of employment, something they didn't exactly do before and so the union is claiming that this demand is illegal.
While francophone Quebecers have the legal right to work in French, bilingualism may be a legitimate requirement of employment. This situation best illustrates the grey areas of the language debate.

Another great language kerfuffle.

Another March against against English

The Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste (SSJB) is organizing another march, this time in downtown Montreal to visit the various government offices, businesses and companies that are imperiling Quebec by offering service in English. 
According to the FaceBook page created for the event, of the 5,000 some invitees, only about 135 have accepted to attend, which means that in the end, it will be another sparsely attended separatist event, subject to overblown media coverage.
Targeted by the separatists is Revenue Quebec (for having the audacity to collect taxes in English,)  The MUHC, Montreal's largest English bilingual hospital, the Caisse de dépôt (for having two English bosses) and an assortment of other government agencies which have the nerve to offer services in English as well as French.

Talking about Facebook events, you'll recall that a Facebook group has been set up (La surprise de Shebbeare) to organize a 'surprise' march on Hugo Shebbeare's home, an act of despicable intimidation.
The group is tiny, consisting of about 40 people and had as a participant, a member of the Parti Quebecois, who has since withdrawn her name.
Mario Beaulieu, chief cook and bottle washer of the SSJB,  gave an interview feigning ignorance of the group, while maintaining the principle that nobody should be intimidated,
That being said, his name and picture remains on the Facebook page as one of the participants, giving force to the old saying that 'Action speaks louder than words."

Nordiques NHL Dream 'circling the drain.'

 Looks like the dream of an NHL team in Quebec City has taken a hard bodycheck with the announcement by the NHL, that there is a solution that will keep the troubled Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale.
The franchise was the likeliest candidate for re-location.

The second piece of bad news is the fact that the legislation allowing Quebec city to bypass normal tendering process in the construction of the new arena, has been put off until the fall session of Parliament, with the Liberal government unwilling to ram the Bill through at this stage.
This has pushed back the possibility that work can commence this Fall.

The third piece of bad news is the surprise resignation of the man responsible for the whole project, Jacques A. Bédard. The mayor of Quebec, Regis Lebeaume, who has been spearheading the project, refused to shed any details on the departure, fueling wild speculation as to the motives for his departure. Link{Fr}
Perhaps it is the spiralling estimates of the cost of the project which already is determined to be the most expensive arena (per seat) in the NHL. The $500 million estimate is almost 200 million more than a similarly built arena in Pittsburgh. As things go in Quebec, the likely final cost will push the project even higher, leading to another Olympic Stadium disaster.
Oh well.... 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.'

In the meantime, read this story about the town of Markham, a suburb of Toronto that is building a $300 million plus arena with no pro team.
God only knows why! Link

Demand for English school to skyrocket

The effect of the cegep and university boycott may have some perverse consequences on English language institutions of higher learning.
As the boycott drags on with no resolution, French students are seeking alternatives for the Fall semester.
You'll recall that 50% of French students remain out of class while less than 10% of English students are still boycotting.
But the most important difference is that the English schools remain open to the majority who wish to attend classes. Those on 'strike' have not been able to shut down the schools and so the semester will be completed on time, for those who wish to continue.

For francophone students who did not support the strike, yet are prevented from attending class in French cegeps and universities, the loss of a semester is a bitter pill to swallow and with nothing resolved, they fear the Fall semester might also be in jeopardy.

Some have decided to apply to French  schools outside Quebec, with the University of Moncton showing a 260% increase in out-of-province applications. The same is likely at the university of Ottawa.

This portends ominously for Quebec's English language universities and cegeps which will likely see a skyrocketing demand from francophones wishing to avoid any conflict and possibility of disruptions.

Over the last few years, Dawson college has seen a rising number of francophone applications and as competition to get in the limited places goes up, standards are going up and up.

English students are being displaced by francophone student with higher marks.
Given the relative difference in size between the English and French system, a serious uptick in demand by francophones may swamp the English system and alarm bells are starting to sound.

New Canadiens GM promises more French

The very first thing new General Manager of the Canadiens did was to demote anglophone coach Randy Cunneyworth.
When asked if French would play a bigger part in the team, Marc Bergevin agreed that it would, indicating that the next coach of the team would definitely be a Francophone someone who was bilingual.
He also indicated that he will hire more scouts to cover the province of Quebec in order to uncover and draft more French players.

The francophone media is head over heals in love and a bit sensitive over suggestions that the best talent may have been cast aside over language.

"In a press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York, before the second game of the series between the Capitals and Rangers, Glen Haley(sic), an analyst with CBC, asked a French journalist "Why do you deprive yourself of the best candidates over the question of language? "

....another insipid reaction was launched against the group of Quebec reporters  by a Philadelphia journalists, just before the third game of the Devils-Flyers series: "You must be happy in Montreal, to have your  French-speaking! GM " Link{Fr}

A bit touchy , don't you think?

Lack of English a problem for parliamentarian

"Some are calling for the resignation of the Conservative's parliamentary secretary for Official Languages because he speaks only French.

For the past year, Jacques Gourde has been turning down invitations from English Quebecer's main community groups.

The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) says the fact that Gourde speaks no English could be dealt with, but the fact that he seems to be avoiding them is a serious concern.

"If our access is limited by a parliamentary secretary who can not or refuses to meet with us because of his limitations in English, that is a problem," says director general Sylvia Martin-Laforge.

In 2006, the Conservatives named Ted Menzies, a unilingual anglophone, to the same position. However, within days the Tories said the appointment was a mistake, and re-assigned him.

"There is a double-standard," says Martin-LaForge, "but as anglophones in Quebec, we often deal with a double standard." Read the whole story

Racist Comedian welcomed in Quebec.

It's strange that there's not much of an outcry either in public or in the press about a French comedian Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala, aka Dieudonné, coming to Montreal to perform an act which is decidedly antisemitic.
Dieudonné  has been roundly denounced in his home of France as a Jew hating racist, who makes no bones about utter disdain not only for Israelis but Jews everywhere.

 Dieudonné was also the director of an antisemitic film 'L’Antisémite,' financed by the  Iranian government. His antisemitism has become the focus of his professional career.

He was twice fined by the Courts in France for making antisemitic statements in public and was banned from performing in Belgium.

The last time he performed in Quebec, he made some statements that landed him hot water. In a performance in 2006, Dieudonné  called  Patrick Bruel, a French artist, a "liar" and an "Israeli militarist," saying he supported the bombing of southern Lebanon by the Israeli military.

"He was ordered by the Quebec Superior Court to pay $75 000 to singer Patrick Bruel for calling him a "super Zionist militant," and  an "Israeli militarist" who approved  the killing of Palestinian children  in south Lebanon by the Israeli army on the television show 'Les Francs-Tireurs'  in November 2006, on the Télé-Québec network. Dieudonné also asserted that the singer was suffering from the "superiority complex of some Israelis," that is to say he thinks he is part of a "superior race". 

....Dieudonné has become so obsessed with Jews that he founded an anti-Zionist Party  for the 2009 European elections, which was a big flop.

....These examples give a good idea of who this nauseating character is, yet he is still welcomed in Quebec. 

....The French are no longer fooled, why are Quebecers?" Link{Fr}

Read a story about the issue in the National Post

I haven't found one story in the Quebecois media condemning his show or questioning whether it is appropriate to allow an antisemitic show like this to be presented.
Do you think that if he was someone who spewed anti-Muslim hate, the Press would remain so indulgent? 
Methinks NO....

Polls offer disturbing views of attitudes

"A month ago, when The Gazette published poll results showing at least a significant minority of French-speaking Quebecers hold negative attitudes toward the anglophones in this province, some people were quick to express skepticism.

Among the findings of the poll, conducted in late-March by Léger Marketing for The Gazette and the Association for Canadian Studies:

• 53 per cent disagreed that “in Quebec most anglophones feel positively about francophones.”
• 51 per cent disagreed that “in Quebec, most francophones feel positively about anglophones.”
• 44 per cent agreed that “English-speakers are the main threat to the French language in Montreal.”
• 38 per cent disagreed that “relations between English and French Quebecers have gotten better over the past five years.”
• 31 per cent disagreed that “Quebec anglophones have made a positive contribution to Quebec history.”
• 61 per cent of Québécois – that is, French-speaking Quebecers – disagreed with the statement that “most anglophones in Quebec speak French satisfactorily.”" Montreal Gazette     Alternate Link

Another poll, this time by Forum Research, seems to confirm these findings;

"Substantial minority says Anglophones make negative contributions"

Three-in-ten Quebeckers think Anglophones have made a positive contribution to Quebec's culture (29%), but almost one fifth think their contribution has been negative (19%), and close to half think their contribution has been neither positive nor negative (46%). 

Download the complete report

Believe it or Not

Here's one that's a bit hard to believe;
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is working with a company owned by controversial Quebec construction magnate Tony Accurso to bid on the Quebec government's $3-billion project to renovate Montreal's Turcot interchange.
Let's see, a disgraced engineering firm, plus a controversial construction magnate with alleged mafia ties, recently arrested for fraud, teaming up to bid for one of the biggest construction contracts of the decade.
Yup, that should work!!   Link{Fr}

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"Actor, singer and host of Haitian origin, Luck Mervil, met students of the Pierre-Laporte high school as part of Intercultural Week presented at the end of March."

As readers might recall, Mr. Mervil was the performer that celebrated the FLQ legacy by reading its famous manifesto at an outdoor separatist poetry fest in Quebec City, the Moulin à paroles.  YouTube

What's wrong with this picture?
The school is named for Pierre Laporte, an FLQ murder victim!
Thanks for the story to Hugo....

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"Former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon, who lost his Quebec seat in the last election, has a new job as Canada's ambassador to France.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the appointment during question period on Thursday, saying Cannon has the necessary experience for the position.

Harper thanked the outgoing ambassador, Marc Lortie, a longtime diplomat who has been stationed in Paris since 2007." Read the rest of the story

Is this another Harper snub to Francophones?
Although the decidedly anglo Quebecer speaks French very well, wouldn't you think that the job should go to a bone fide francophone?
After all, there aren't that many French speaking countries.
Just asking.......

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Despite the many leftist public figures who have emerged over the last two months, Amir Khadir admits having great difficulty in recruiting star candidates for Quebec solidaire.
Ya think?

*********************

In an effort to do something about the exaggerated number of employees working for the government, the Quebec civil, the most bloated public service in North America, has announced that it is adding another 2,200 employees over the next two years. Link{Fr}

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 About two years ago, Premier Charest ran roughshod over the tendering process and awarded the contract to build Montreal's new metro cars to Bombardier in the town of La Pocatiere, which was, just by chance going to have a by-election in the near future.
Well, that strategy didn't work out, the PQ won the seat, but the contract was already sealed.
It seems that Bombardier is now having a spot of trouble with the union over sub-contracting and is threatening to leave.

"The union president, Mario Levesque, argued yesterday that outsourcing has skyrocketed in recent years. The roofs of the future Montreal subway cars, which were to be made ​​of stainless steel in L'Assomption, will eventually be manufactured by an aluminum company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Bombardier responded that it was not profitable to invest in the machinery needed to manufacture aluminum roofs for a single contract. "You can not invest millions of dollars in equipment like this for a project without knowing whether we will need it for any other," said Marc Laforge, spokesman for Bombardier Transportation, in a telephone interview
This explanation made Mr. Levesque hit the roof. "Don't tell me that Bombardier cannot afford the machines, he said. They invested US$26 million in their plant in Plattsburgh. ... This is because they just don't want to invest here. "  Link{Fr}

Yup, that's what they said!

"Because of the excessive representation of unilingual and bilingual jobs in the public service of Quebec in regions like Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, it  indirectly contributes to the anglicization of the greater Montreal area",   Link

This according to the president of the Mouvement Québec français, Mario Beaulieu.

Readers are reminded that anglophones make up just 2% of Quebec's public service and the vast majority work in French.

Some Good Weekend reading;

Kraft Dinner et soutien-gorge
An article in French describing how good students have it compared to the 'good old days.'

*********************

You know how some television shows use product placement to raise revenue? Well, those that refuse the practice (like the Big Bang Theory) are careful to alter the appearance of name brands on products used as props on the show.
Here's an effort on Quebec television that didn't exactly come off as expected.  As we say in English- "Close, but no cigar!"

Credit FailQc .com

Come to think of it, it might be some smarty pants biling pulling an fast one on unsuspecting viewers....Dunno.


On Monday, I will tell you why the riot in Victoriaville was completely the fault of police.
Until then, please have yourself a very good weekend!

$7 Daycare Defines Quebec as Fiscally Challenged

 "...Denis Coderre, the politician, exclaimed that $7 daycare, "defines us as people." A professor at the University of Montreal adds, solemnly, "it is a symbol of Quebec's identity!" Link{Fr}

I actually agree with these two, but as you can imagine, not in the way they imagine........

For many taxpayers across Canada, watching Quebec's orgy of social spending, spiraling ever upward (much of it financed by taxpayers outside Quebec,) can be an infuriating and frustrating experience;

Many of you ask yourself quite openly; "Are they nuts, or am I?"

Seven dollar a day daycare, extended maternal and parental leave, low tuition rates for post secondary education, free in-vitro fertilization, cheap electricity rates, free prescription drugs, etc. etc.
On and on the list goes and it sounds like a famously good deal, a recipe for social harmony where people may pay more taxes, but receive so much more in benefits.

Many, if not most Quebecers are proud of the system they have created. Defenders of the mommy-state model, known in Quebec as the 'Gouvernemaman,' claim that Quebecers fund the system through higher taxes, (38% in Quebec versus 31% in Canada) and that it is a deliberate societal choice to pay more taxes for more services. 
In this respect, Quebec citizens may be unique in the world.

But is Quebec's policy of tax and overspending really something to be proud of?
More importantly does it make for a healthier and happier society? Hmmm....

The first thing to consider, is that as things stand today, the 'Gouvernemaman.' is not sustainable.

Even with transfer payments from Ottawa, there is not enough money coming into the government coffers to pay for the entitlements and so heavy borrowing has raised the province's debt load five-fold since 1984, making Quebec one of the most indebted societies in the world, a fact defenders of the system conveniently ignore.

Now comparing Quebec society to say, that of Alberta, which despite being wildly more affluent, doesn't offer these extended social services is difficult, because Quebec finances a part of these services with debt.
It's like comparing your lifestyle to that of your neighbor who is living it up on credit card debt, while you dutifully pay off your bills each month.

But putting the debt problem aside and with all other facts considered, an impartial observer would still come to the conclusion that the Quebec model is an unmitigated disaster.
In fact, it is so dysfunctional, it should serve as a global example of what can go wrong when governments run amok.

The first thing to consider, is that the Quebec government, despite the enormous taxing and borrowing, must still rob other programs to help pay for these perks and benefits.

The health system is so under-financed that waiting lists for surgeries extend into months and months and sometimes years and years. Hospital emergency rooms are operating at an average of 130% capacity and patients have an average wait of about twenty hours before being looked after.
Quebec has the highest penetration of private medicine of any province with services from the diagnostic to actual surgeries being offered for pay. The government turns a blind eye, because it is helping ease the congestion.
The wait time for a colonoscopy in one Montreal hospital is up to four years and so doctors unauthorized to do the procedure by the health board are offering patients a private alternative for about $500 to $600.
How do you spin the fact that 25% of Quebecers don't have a family doctor?
According to Health Minster Yves Bolduc, we should look on the bright side, the fact that 75% of Quebecers do have a family doctor!

Quebec roads and bridges are so neglected that having an overpass come crashing down or a bridge falling is something that Quebecers come to expect. Everyday, roads overpasses and bridges are closed on an emergency basis to effect emergency repairs that are usually nothing more than patch up jobs.
While Quebec students boycott classes to lower, some of the lowest tuition fees in Canada, the  university system is woefully under-financed.

Let's look at a poster boy of Quebec's social programs, the famous seven dollars a day daycare, which defenders have the audacity to tell us actually makes money for the government.

"Pierre Fortin, an economics professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal, presented his findings that for every dollar Quebec invests, it recoups $1.05 while Ottawa receives a 44-cent windfall."

 UQAM, need I say more?

Yup, defenders of the program, live in a fantasy world where every dollar spent by the government on daycare returns $1.49.

As one blogger pointed out, if such is the case, the government should pour billions and billions more into the system, filling all the demand for daycare places while making money to boot!

Such is the fantasy of the deluded and those who want to be deluded, including a Montreal Gazette columnist, copy and paste expert, Janet Bagnall, who repeated the outrageous nonsense here.

The first contention of these defenders, is that the subsidized daycare program has successfully put 70,000 Quebec women back to work, who would otherwise stay at home.

Poor Alberta, without $7 a day daycare, the province must be lagging far behind Quebec in the number of women in the workforce.

Credit l'antagoniste

errrr.....maybe not!

Nobody will deny that daycare allows women to return to the job market, but it is the cost of this daycare program in Quebec that is so outrageous.
Because the government runs daycare, employees are no longer babysitters, but are now unionized 'educators' and make up to $20 an hour plus benefits.

When first created in 1997, the subsidized daycare program (with non-unionized employees) had about 100,000 children in its care, at a cost of 526 million.
Today the program has a little more than 200,000 children (a little more than double,) but costs over 2 billion dollars, almost four times as much!

And of course, being unionized brings the added benefit of mandatory strikes and work stoppages every now and then.
Read a sad history of the program.  Historique des CPE{Fr}

Notwithstanding, those who defend the program, tell us it is money well spent, because it creates employment and economic activity.

They should all be forced to watch this video.

Let's break down the millions and billions spent on daycare by the government to numbers that we can comprehend.

The government spends 2 billion dollars to provide daycare for 200,000 which works out to $10,000 per child or $200 per week!
If a family puts two children into daycare the subsidy is $400 per week, that's right..$400

How about those 70,000 new jobs, created because of cheap daycare, which defenders of the system like to crow about.
Well, divide the $2 billion cost of the program by the number of jobs it created (70,000) and it turns out that each job costs the government about $28,000 per year to support, a little high considering that the average wage that the Quebec women earn is $28,500!
The math gets even more alarming when one subtracts from that average wage $1,750 (one child) or ($3,500) the portion that parents contribute to daycare annually.

Let's remember that the program was conceived to allow women to get into the workforce who could otherwise not afford to. The program wasn't designed for lawyers or doctors.
How the government or defenders of the system can justify spending $28,000 to support a job that pays less, is the million dollar $2 billion question!

Added to this, is the farcical situation where everyone but everyone is eligible, even millionaires and so it's no wonder that the Quebec run daycare system is desperately short of places!
There is no centralized wait-list and so scoring one of the rare vacancies is a matter of who you know or how much you are willing to pay under the table.

By the way, you don't even need a job to qualify your child for subsidized daycare.
You can drop off the little tyke in your Rolls-Royce, have a spa day or go shopping in Ogilvy's or Holt-Renfrew, secure in the knowledge that taxpayers are subsidizing your child's care!
Wonderful!
Think I'm exaggerating?

Here's a story told by David Descôteaux, one of Quebec's best bloggers on issues of econonics.
On a television show discussing Qebec's $7 daycare;

".... talk to Mauricio, a taxi driver in Notre Dame de Grace. One morning, Mauricio stops his car outside an opulent home in Westmount. "A lady comes out of this chateau, he tells us, bypasses the impressive Hummer that is parked in the entrance, and jumps into my taxi with her granddaughter. I drive them to the daycare and then I bring the lady home.

"Excuse me? The cost of the taxi ride exceeds the $ 7 that this lady pays for child care expenses for the whole day. Meanwhile, the boy of a mother from Lachine  drives a rusty 1995 Tercel, and is stuck on a three-year waiting list! Link{Fr}

Readers, if you're shaking your head in disbelief, I sympathize.

Hey...wait a second
On re-reading the story above, I get the sinking feeling it is an exaggeration, another famous 'Speak White' concoction, complete with the requisite evil anglo from Westmount as the antagonist.
But I digress.....

The Quebec daycare system is so ill-conceived, expensive and poorly run that one has to suspend critical thinking (are you listening Ms Bagnall?) to believe that it is a worthwhile program.

It's no wonder that in the thirteen years since its inception, every single province and state which looked at the Quebec model of daycare, rejected it out of hand.

The fact that Quebecers are proud of this program boggles the mind and puts into question the intelligence of the average voter.

The first rule of sound financial management, is something every head of household masters early on is......Never overpay.

How many families would choose to hire a babysitter at a rate of $20 per hour plus another $8 for benefits?
Who would choose to pay $15 for a glass of orange juice..... only the government.

Seven dollar a day daycare is an unmitigated financial disaster and those who defend it are the direct beneficiaries or outright idiots, adherents to the 'Broken window fallacy.'

For those in the rest of Canada, a bit jealous of the program, remember the consequences of overpaying for anything.
It means less money to pay for other things, like bridges and hospitals.

Quebec Government and Students Both Cave In

The mainstream media is too politic to put it so bluntly, so let me be the first to say that both the Quebec government and the students both caved under the relentless pressure of battle.

The press is calling the proposed agreement between the students and the government a win/win situation for both, when a closer analysis reveals it to be more a case of lose/lose.

I'm saddened to say that just as the government had the student movement on the ropes, the government blinked and turned tail, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

For the students, what they got was more than they had before, but not at all what they wanted, which was a total victory which would humiliate the government.

The student boycott had already fallen to its lowest point in support since they left class a couple of months ago. The most recent poll put that support at just 32%, a precipitous fall from the 45% they enjoyed at the onset.

After a night of rioting in the small town of Victoriaville (where the Liberal party was holding a meeting,) one that led to injured police and rioters, the students could have expected to see their support plunge to the mid twenties, a number that would give the government a free hand to act decisively.

The police showed off some of the projectiles that the students brought with them, including billiard balls and chunks of concrete. Trust me when I say that the general public watching the mayhem was not amused.

The mayor of Victoriaville made an impassioned defense of the right of students to demonstrate, but not to destroy property or attack police.

More importantly, he warned other communities outside Montreal that their turn to suffer the wrath of student anarchists was coming and that no town in the 'regions' was safe.
This sent a chill throughout Quebec, which up to now, viewed the fight between students and the government as something that was occurring 'over there' in Montreal.

When the Charest government called the students in for a 'marathon' negotiating session and the students accepted, it was a forgone conclusion that a deal would be hammered out, with both parties too tired to continue the fight.

And so, it was a question of structuring a face-saving deal that would leave both sides standing.

The students agreed to the government's increased tuition fees in return for promises by the government to reduce other charges that students have to pay each year.
It's like your mother demanding that you pay $100 more in rent for your room and board, while promising to increase your allowance by that same amount.
It's a weird deal, the students actually winning, but looking like they lost.

For all their tough talk and fiery rhetoric, the students were out of gas and facing a very scary future.

The big unions who were backing the students financially (who do you think paid for the 50 plus buses sent to Saint-Hyacinthe) were deathly afraid of Charest pulling the plug on the school year and warned the student leadership in no uncertain terms that the doomsday scenario had to be prevented at all costs. If Charest cancelled the school year and successfully broke the student strike, it could embolden the government and might represent a harbinger of things to come vis-a-vis the whole unionized movement.
It was not something the big unions wanted to chance.

At any rate, with falling support in the opinion polls, the students had clearly 'jumped the shark' and with violence the only course left open, they understood that they were on a precipitous slide to oblivion.
Recognizing that if the school year was to be cancelled, the student associations themselves would never survive, they took what deal they could get, which was surprisingly pretty good.

They got that good deal, because clearly the government had also lost its nerve. Go figure.....

In the end the students didn't get a tuition freeze and the government didn't get any extra revenue.
And so the strike/boycott ends, in perfect Quebec style, with both sides losing.

That being said, for the radicalized students and anarchists, it isn't quite over yet. No doubt, they will  march and riot for a little while longer even though they have a deal, clearly having a great time of it and loathe to give up a party.
It will take a few more demonstrations before things calm down, mark my words.

Of all the political decisions made by the Charest government over the almost decade in power, none was more politically or morally wrong than this one.
A cancellation of the school semester and a subsequent hardline stance against the students may have led to more confrontations and riots, but each one would cut support for students and their chief backer, the PQ.
It would have presented Quebecers with a choice, the Liberals supporting law and order or the PQ backing the rioting students.
It was the only hope the Liberals had at re-election.

It's a political organizer's wet dream.
With a little cynical planning, the Quebec Liberal party could have turned the rioting students into a profitable road-show, calling meetings in all the regional centres of Quebec.
Each riot or mini-riot by students, resulting in broken glass and torched police cars on streets in towns that never saw this type of conflict, streets like Rue Racine in Chicoutimi, or Third avenue in Val D'Or, would trigger a tidal wave of panicked outrage.
Add into the mix, a couple of paid agents-provocateurs, with a mission to inflame and escalate the situation and voila, a scenario for a re-elected Liberal government emerges!
(Readers, how I miss the old days of hardball politics!)

Aside from the above described political flight of fancy, one that the political organizer in me couldn't resist putting forward, let us return to reality.

So what is the political legacy left by the student strike?
What message does caving in to student demands send to Quebec's unions?
What does it say about the governments resolve to govern in the face of opposition?

The answer is painfully obvious and it augers poorly for the future....

Government by intimidation.

Quebec on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Let me preface this blog piece with an apology to those students, almost all on the Francophone side, who are going through Hell watching their school year go down in flames.

On Wednesday I made some injudicious generalizations, painting students on 'strike' as all taking basket weaving type courses, but such is not the case.

I was reminded of this by Eric Duhaime, who on television told the story of a francophone student, in utter despair because her school is closed and she is in danger of not finishing her year.
She was accepted to McGill medical school, one of the hardest programs in the country to crack a spot, a dream come true for ultra-high achievers. If she doesn't finish her school year, she will not be allowed to start this Fall and will lose a year. (You cannot start medical school mid-year)
I'm not even sure she'll be allowed in next year, the McGill program has a policy of only accepting students who finished their undergraduate work in the minimum of time. Don't bother applying if you've spent four years in cegep.
I hope they make an exception for her....

By the way, the class boycott is almost exclusively a Francophone affair, all the English cegeps and universities are open and classes are being taught. About 50% of the French cegep and university students are out, while less than 10% of the English.
Concordia has taken a hard line and told boycotters that they may not intimidate or block other students and that if they wish to boycott classes and exams, they will bear the personal consequences, as no measures will be undertaken to save their semester.

Of course, such is not the case on the French side where universities and cegeps have gone in the opposite direction of Concordia and McGill, offering a wimpy response in the face of the intimidation of boycotters.
Teachers in these schools are largely in favour of the strike and as long as they are being paid not to teach, everything is hunkydory.
One francophone 'philosophy' professor interviewed on television complained that it was outrageous that he was being forced to teach under pain of an injunction, because it is not a healthy atmosphere. Oh my....

Now the student leadership is bound and determined to refuse all offers from the government that do not include a tuition freeze. The government cannot back down or else lose all credibility.

It's a Mexican Standoff

The students leadership remains stubbornly anchored in Fantasyland. Yesterday CLASSE actually proposed that the money devoted to research work in universities be re-directed towards tuition as well as the imposition of additional taxes on banks to offset the revenue shortfall.
Now the student union is not only telling the government what to charge for tuition, but how to tax and spend as well.
While pumping out all manner of statistical drivel supporting their desire for a tuition freeze, they ignore this inconvenient truth;

•  In 1960, Quebec student tuition fees paid for 20% of the actual cost of the education. In 1990 that figure fell to under 10%

• According to  CLASSE itself, the parents of 65% of Quebec post-secondary students don't contribute a dime towards tuition fees.

In the meantime, Pauline Marois, whoring for votes, is throwing oil on the fire by promising students that she'll not only scrap the increase if elected, but refund students any money they 'overpaid.' Link{Fr}
In 2008, Madame Marois gave an interview to a student newspaper wherein she wholeheartedly supported a tuition increase, telling students that they needed to do their part.
The about-face is a sad commentary on the politics of expediency.

And so the situation is spiraling dangerously out of control.
Students who have mocked the government and the police for over two months are now defying court injunctions.
Once the rule of law is supplanted by mob violence, it is time for society to take a stand.

People are very nervous about things degenerating further and with good reason.
Students are becoming bolder and bolder without a firm response now from authorities, things can turn very, very ugly.

If the boycott is not ended now, Quebec will become a dangerous and violent place very soon.

I am reminded of Prime Minister Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis. Most people have a negative recollection of the affair and Trudeau is roundly condemned for his actions.
What people never consider is what could have been without the decisive action.
At the time separatist/socialist leaders were moving towards nothing less than a seditious insurrection. Support for the FLQ was low, but like the student movement of today, a minority can do a lot when they decide that the law is of no consequence.

So what is to be done?
It is time for the government to take control of the situation and dictate instead of being dictated to.
It's time to call the radical's bluff.

It's time for the Premier to aver publicly there will be no more negotiations. 
The Premier should call a news conference and give those students on strike an ultimatum.
He should give them one week to hold a vote in light of the government's position that there will be no more concessions and that schools will close if they vote to stay out.
During the next days, a television advertising campaign should urge students (horribly apathetic) to take part in the vote.
If the students vote to continue their boycott, those schools affected should be shut down immediately, the semester terminated and the students given incompletes for courses missed.
Teachers should be laid off without pay and if their contract precludes this, legislation should be passed making it so.
If the teachers don't like it, they can go on strike as well!

The Premier should also enact legislation making membership in student associations voluntary forthwith and insure that no educational institution will collect fees for these associations.

This will effectively emasculate the radical student movement once and for all.
Without mandatory membership, the associations will likely lose 80% of their members and without mandatory dues and forced collection of funds, the associations will collapse.

It will be a good lesson for Quebec's unionized movement and a warning of what might happen to them.

It's time to take a stand.

*****POSTSCRIPT******

Let's try something new, Readers....

You've read what I would do if Premier in relation to the student boycott.

But what would you do as Premier?........Let's hear your solution....

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?"