French versus English..Volume 58

Separatists apoplectic over subsidy to Anglo groups.

Much to the chagrin of French language militans, the Canadian government has announced a $4.4 million subsidy to various Anglo groups, mostly centered in Montreal. See the list of groups receiving funding

The usual suspects in the French language militant movement went ballistic, calling the subsidies an affront to Quebec and the French language.
Interestingly, many of these militants offered up the idea that anglophones aren't a minority and don't deserve special protection in Quebec.

"The federal government, controlled largely by the English, does not hesitate to act in a discriminatory manner in favor of the Anglo-Quebecers, as recognized by a UN committee, which in no way constitutes a minority as long as Quebec is subject to the Canadian constitution" Link{Fr}

There is a term for taking two diametrically opposed positions, depending on the context.
It's called 'Sucking and Blowing"

So when is a minority a majority and when is a majority a minority? 
Dunno....ask Mario Beaulieu.

By the way the same department spends $33 million on French organizations outside Quebec. Link{Fr}
And just for your information, the NDP, our national alternative to the Conservatives, expressed outrage at the subsidies.
Speaking for the party, spokesman Pierre Nantel observed that the subsidies are "a form of contempt" Link {Fr}

Adding salt to the wound, Canada has quietly cut finding to an international Francophonie group, Link{Fr}

TSN Radio's English to French format change enrages loyal English sports radio listeners

 "When the news came out last Tuesday that Bell Media was going to convert TSN Radio 990 into a French-language radio station as part of its acquisition of Astral Media, the response was overwhelmingly negative from the anglophone community, with most people not sure who to blame.

That hasn't stopped them from doing so. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates radio stations and will hear Bell's application for the language switch at a hearing in Montreal on Sept. 10, has received more than 400 comments about it already, mostly from individual listeners." Link

Who is to blame? 
Methinks Bell is playing a duplicitous role by passing the buck to the CRTC very conveniently, because the change to a French format is extremely beneficial to it's bottom line.

After all, if you could own only one sports-talk station in Montreal, would you take the French license or the English license? 

Prediction....The CRTC will not play ball and will ask BELL to give up the frequency and open up a competition.

Best Tweet concerning the demise of TSN 990;

Pauline Marois buys some love

Every now and then, something comes along that bowls me over. 
Like the proverbial Black Swan, I never even fathomed that this existed, the ability to buy approvals on FACEBOOK.
For a price, a company will boost your FACEBOOK numbers artificially and that is what Pauline Marois appears to have done on her FACEBOOK page!

Unfortunately for Pauline, the maneuver is not untraceable, as you can see by the spike in graph displaying each day's new 'approvals.'
In a one week period, the number spiked almost a thousand each day. Well-played!

It seems that Pauline has kept up her position as a bone fide member of the Quebec politicians 'Liars Club'

Watch a hilarious video about it on YouTube

Quebec government adopts a policy of speaking English only when they want something from you.

It seems that just about the whole public service of the Quebec government has adopted a policy of dealing with clients in French only.
There are some exceptions, those agencies that want something from Anglos.
And so the Revenue department, Lotto Quebec and Hema Quebec continue a policy of offering English services.
The latest to remove English service is Quebec's Medicare provider, RAMQ.

"The Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec has a policy that promotes French at all costs in communications with its customers,  to the detriment of public safety, according to some social groups.  

The practice is qualified as "intimidating" by English speakers of Montreal.

When Jasmine Butterfly-Smith called the Insurance Board (RAMQ) this week, she was shocked by the greeting she received. "The Board informs you that it communicates with its customers in French first" A message that she doesn't hesitate to call intimidation.

Since January 2012, RAMQ has adopted a new language policy in terms of customer service.
"When we begin a conversation, we do it in French, even if the person before us  addresses us in English, if we judge that the listener understands French, even if he does not speak it, "said spokesman  Marc Lortie, representing the RAMQ. Link {Fr}

Best-selling exposé of Amir Khadir faces boycott in independent bookstores

It seems that the bestselling book, an exposé of Amir Khadir is practically unavailable in Montreal's independent French bookstores.
The book is subject to an unofficial boycott by leftists who are unamused at the shots taken at their exalted Dear Leader.
Don't try to find "Les faces cachées d'Amir Khadir"- ('The Hidden Faces of Amir Khadir') anywhere in the Plateau!
Listen to a radio show with a bookseller who spills the beans, in French Link{Fr}

Here's an excellent review of the book which in spite of the boycott sits near the top of the bestseller list in Quebec;

"Quebec playwright and novelist Pierre K. Malouf has recently published an explosive book on one of the most controversial and divisive figures in the Quebec political scene.....

The book also examines why Khadir has an almost fiery obsession with Israel while having remained practically mute about  Islamist dictators and the tyrannies and hypocrisies of the left.....

Malouf makes an eloquent and convincing indictment of Khadir who while ardently painting himself as a compassionate doctor at the service of humanity, has a much less flattering side of service to many causes that reasonable people would consider deliterious to a liberal, pluralistic society." Read the rest of the review

Re-districting in Montreal, likely to create new Tory riding

Liberal member of Parliament Irwin Cotler is up in arms over the redistricting of his Montreal riding, Mount-Royal, where according to the proposed plan, a very large neighborhood of ethnic voters has been replaced with Anglos further west. The largely Black Caribbean and Filipino voters removed from the district might prove disastrous, since they voted Liberal en masse.
Mr. Cotler can no longer count on the Jewish community, which makes up the bulk of the riding to assure his election. It seems that Tory support among Jews has skyrocketed in Hampstead and Cote-Saint Luc. There was a time that the riding was 90% Liberal. 
If Cotler, who still enjoys great personal popularity, decides not to run again, (He will be pushing seventy-five when the next federal election is held) the riding will go Tory.

By the way readers, what do you think of all the stupid names they've given to the new ridings?  Link

UQAM to host anti-capitalist symposium

I guess nobody should be surprised to learn that Montreal's UQAM university is hosting an anarchist anti-capitalist conference this month.

"In recent decades, capitalism has been reorganized (the so-called neoliberalism). It wants to consolidate the dominant patriarchal structures in subordinating women. They want to "restore order" in the workplace, especially for youth and stealing senior's pensions. They want to privatize public space and politics in favor of opaque networks by reducing public services in favour of  business. They want the good old tradition of "divide and rule" that can reinforce racial and national barriers against alternate groups. This neoconservatism is an assault not only against the achievements of recent decades, but also against all that our world contains values ​​of solidarity, equality, social justice....

This symposiun is given to unite the indignant, activists, workers, intellectual from academia and the street, in short, for all those who want to think outside the box."    Link{Fr}

Your tax dollars at work! 

Retail Council of Canada takes position against descriptors and French appliances

The Retail Council of Canada has written to the Quebec government to oppose the proposed law forcing appliance manufacturers to add French to the machines.
The Council underlined that it would cost a fortune and in many cases would lead to many products being removed from the Quebec market  Link{Fr}
The RCC has also let it be known that they have received a legal opinion that the OQLF's demand that companies using English trademarked names be forced to add French descriptors is not founded in law.

OQLF statistical fantasy

I bet if the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) sent out a press release saying that the number of Anglos sprouting horns had increased by 11% over two years, there'd be many a newspaper that would print it, unchallenged!

Some of the stuff coming out of the office is pure unadulterated NONSENSE!
According to the OQLF;

"Bilingual greeting in the shops of downtown Montreal jumped in two years,  from 1% in 2010 to 13% in 2012" Link{Fr}

Are they on drugs! 
Can anyone believe that something like that can change statistically by 1,300% in two years?
Think about it....
If shop clerks offered 10 million bilingual greetings in 2010, that figure would have jumped to 130 million in just two years, Utterly ridiculous.
Then there is this;

"According to the latest findings of the OQLF, 43% of Francophones do not ask to be served in French when first addressed in English in the stores. Link{Fr}

That's a little strange because only 33% of Quebecers can carry on a real conversation in English. 
It's likely that the survey deals with stores in Montreal where the rate of bilingualism among francophones is higher, but still only about 40-45%.
According to the OQLF, that means that every single francophone who is bilingual, will respond in English when greeted in English.
Hmmmm.... I don't think so.

Separatist loses court case

The Conservative government's decision to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol was legal, and it wasn't obliged to consult Parliament before doing so, the Federal Court has ruled.

Daniel Turp, a former Bloc Québécois MP and former Parti Québécois member of the province's national assembly, went to Federal Court to challenge the government's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. Link

 

Jewish Hospital told to dump patients

 "In a new plan being rolled out this week to control the volume of patients, people seeking medical care at the Jewish General Hospital who are from the West Island or off-island regions are going to be told to consider getting care closer to home.

While hospital officials insist no patient will be turned away and patients requiring specialized services not available elsewhere will certainly be treated, the hospital says it is under pressure from the government to reduce the number of patients it treats so it is asking doctors to encourage patients to seek treatment closer to home if it won’t compromise the quality of their care.

And while the hospital says it hasn’t been told specifically how many patients to cut, it’s been told to work within government budgets and help spread out the patients. And despite its insistence that no patient will be turned away, the reality is it can’t continue to treat the same number of new patients each year." Link

Hmmm... Is it case of "Do as I say, not as I do?"

If patients from Laval are being told to make alternate arrangements, what about the politicians from all over the province who flock to Quebec's best hospital in time of need.

Paging Mr. Parizeau, paging Mr. Parizeau!

By the way, here's a follow-up to my post about English doctors being forced out of Quebec;

Quebec's policies are chasing MDs out of the province

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting a small gathering of graduates of the McGill University School of Medicine. It had been some time since they had seen each other, and they wanted to rekindle the wonderful bond they had formed at McGill. Since I live in Montreal and one of the graduates was one of my children, I offered to host the party.

Here is the main thing I can tell you about the seven grads at the gathering: Not one is currently practising in Quebec. They are all practising in the rest of Canada – and not necessarily by choice... Read the rest of the story

Short Stuff

Vigile.net's most prolific racist reminds us once again that there are too many ethnics on Quebec television. Link{Fr}

David at Republique de Bananes reminds us with two charts that Quebecers are at the bottom of the list when giving to charity and donating their time. 
Quebecers on average donate $147 compared to Albertans $470 and donate 47 hours to charitable work as compared to Nova Scotians, who donate 111 hours. 
See the charts, you don't need French to understand. Link

Here's a hilarious spoof in French that describes the illness known a 'Separatist Fever.'
I wish I had time to translate the article and if anyone would do it,  I'd gladly print it.  Link{fr}
Thanks to Frank for the link.

And now, just for fun;

Now to those who accuse me of being a fan of hockey and hockey alone, I offer this evidence that I am a fan of the CFL and the Montreal Allouettes in particular.

Here's a video taken from the last CFL football game played between Calgary and Montreal, where the referee has a horrible time making himself understood.

I didn't put it on YouTube, because I didn't want to embarrass him too much and I hope he understands that it is all in respectful good fun.

How Canadians deal with road rage!

And finally, completely off topic, but the funniest thing I saw on the Internet this week;

Please have a great weekend!

Bon weekend à tous.

Quebec's Election Law Encourages Cheating

Those who advocate massive state intervention and regulation generally fail to understand that you cannot easily pass laws to control human nature and that in many cases, regulation has the effect of doing more harm than good.

I'm always amused at those do-gooders who advocate getting rid of bottled water in the misguided belief that people will change their habits and run for the water fountain. The sad truth is that any ban on water bottles will have the unintended consequence of sending most people over to bottled soft drinks and juices, infinitely worse for the diet and no better for the environment.

You can't legislate good sense or righteous behavior and sometimes when we try we to, we suffer the slings and arrows of unintended consequences.

Such is the case of Quebec's beefed up rules concerning political contributions, a good idea in theory, but one that only hurts our democracy in practice.

First things first;
There are three major ways to finance political parties;

1. Unlimited donations by any individual or corporation, as is practiced in the United States.
2. Public financing of political parties on a per vote basis.
3. Limited donations by individuals or companies with caps and restrictions.

None of these systems are perfect and like the debate between medicare and private health insurance, the discussion can go on forever, with neither system proving to be the ultimate panacea.

This whole blog piece is based on the proposition that there is no 'perfect' system for regulating political financing and no matter which system we choose, it will be anything but perfect.

Of course, we in Canada and Quebec in particular would never accept the free-for-all system of campaign financing as is practiced in the USA, where anything goes. Barak Obama spent almost a billion dollars on his presidential campaign, a frightening scenario for Canadians who would never accept a situation where companies regulated by federal statute could donate millions to the candidate or political party that best represented its interests.
In the American presidential and senatorial campaigns, the unbridled need for money makes candidates vulnerable to those that control the purse strings and offers large donors an unprecedented advantage to influence elected officials.

As for public financing of political parties using a per vote subsidy, as we practiced in federal politics until Mr. Harper repealed it recently, the system favors the also-rans, those parties that get votes, but few seats in Parliament.
In the end, it would encourage minority governments, something that really doesn't serve the country well.
I know many people like the idea of a minority government, but ultimately it can lead to too much power given to those small parties that control the balance of power, as in the case of the Bloc Quebecois for the twenty years prior to the last election.
In it's worst manifestation, it can cripple a country like in the case of Italy, which hasn't enjoyed a stable government in my lifetime, or worse still, the example of Israel, where the 10% share of Parliamentary seats owned by the ultra-religious, means that the 90% of Israelis, (both Jewish and Muslim) who don't share their religious views, are subject to parliamentary blackmail which forces the country to adopt ultra-religious measures.

And so it leads us to the third system, the one adopted by Quebec where the public may donate to political parties under a rigid and controlled set of rules.
It sounds like the best of a bad lot and it probably is, except for the fact that the rules adopted by Quebec are so draconian that it begs politicians and donors to cheat.

And trust me.....cheat they do!

The campaign finance laws in Quebec reminds me of those well-intentioned laws pertaining to the sale of cigarettes, which put consumers through so many hoops in their quest to buy tobacco products, that it is easier to buy contraband.

First the government raised the prices sky high and restricted where cigarettes and to whom it could be sold to.
Cigarette machines were banned, even in bars and clubs, where no under eighteen year-olds were allowed to be on site.
Then depanneurs were forced to build expensive cases that hid cigarettes from view, another expensive and useless exercise in futility.
All of the above measures have had the unintended effect to drive Quebecers to buy contraband tobacco from Indians, at a much reduced price and bother.

In 2007, it is estimated that 44% of cigarettes sold in Quebec were contraband. A newspaper investigation by the Journal de Montreal indicated that over 20% of the cigarette butts found directly outside the National Assembly in Quebec were contraband. Oh, the hypocrisy!

And so it seems that you cannot control human nature through legislation and at this point, any more restrictions placed on consumers in relation to buying cigarettes, will drive the 44% number even higher!

In certain situations, where citizens have simple options, it's important to understand that the more restrictive the rules, the more law-breaking it encourages.
This is the lesson the government should have minded in making it harder and harder to donate money to politicians legally.

DGE Jacques Drouin,  misguided sap.

Recently the Quebec government did two extraordinarily foolish things, they lowered the maximum permissible donation to $1,000 from $3,000 and then they decided to make public the names of everyone who donates to a political party or candidate.

Both these provisions will have the most extraordinary unintended consequences and will increase fraud and those famous stories of 'brown envelopes'

Now readers, a little maturity.

On this subject, I think I have a little more experience as to what goes on, than the DGE himself, Jacques Drouin.

For many years and as many of you might have guessed from reading this blog, I was a volunteer fundraiser and was privy to a lot of what happened on the inside of a political fundraising machine.

I'm also going to choose my words carefully now.

I never did anything illegal, but that doesn't mean I didn't see things.
As a junior bagman in those days, I tagged along to meetings and dinners, some in those famous Montreal restaurants you read about in the newspapers.

Money was passed between fundraisers and political aides, (never the politicians themselves) and whether it was legal or not was beyond my purview.
It was however the first time I ever saw or became familiar with the term 'Pinkie.' (a thousand dollar bill.)
Readers should understand, that contrary to what the press leads you to believe, the envelopes were never brown or particularly big, you can actually stuff $50,000 in an everyday regular envelope, using pinkies.

I've seen many envelopes passed but never that famous 'brown' one!
By the way, I fully understand why the government in its wisdom removed pinkies from circulation. (later on they were red.)
By the way, the reverse side of the old $1,000 bill featured a picturesque covered bridge from, you guessed it, Quebec!
 
Back then, lobbyists and fundraisers like Karlheinz Schreiber were given a free rein. They had unfettered and free access to Parliament Hill. 
I'm not lying when I say that a lobbyist could drive up to the front door of Parliament Hill, park his car at the curb and tell the guard that he was going to see so and so. Things were a lot different before 9/11.

The access surprised me. When I asked a colleague if he found it strange that a man like Schreiber could waltz into a certain cabinet minister's office as if it was his own, unabashedly offering secretaries Hermes scarves and expensive French perfume, he reminded me of the old adage-
Money talks and bullshit walks!

In those days (less than twenty years ago) things were less structured and believe it or not, giving wads of cash to a politician wasn't necessarily illegal.

Things have changed, the rules have been tightened up, but in the end, nothing is different.
When I started my 'fundraising' career, I was reminded of this phrase over and over again.
"Cash has no provenance."
In other words, get the donation in cash if you can!

So trust me......the money still flows and as long as cash exists, somebody will be handing it over to politicians.

What the government bureaucrats don't understand is that campaign finance laws can only be applied to traceable transactions, they are completely useless when cash is the currency of influence.

As the summer recess of the Charbonneau construction probe arrived, one of the last bombshells was delivered by my friend Jacques Duchesneau who told the disbelieving commission, that 70% of the money given to political parties was done so illegally.
Yikes!!!

Speaking mainly off-the-cuff but partly from prepared notes, Duchesneau told co-commissioners France Charbonneau and Renaud Lachance on Tuesday that a full 70 per cent of political donations in Quebec are being made illegally, without the knowledge of Elections Quebec.  LINK

Jacques Drouin,  the Quebec Directer of Elections, was stunned by the allegation and like a cuckolded husband, the fool seemed to be the last to know!

What did he expect?

The consequence of the new public disclosure rule of donors led to the publishing of the names of those who contributed to the Quebec Liberals by the nationalist RRQ, who used the opportunity to publicly harass the donors by way of intimidating letters sent in the guise of friendly advice.
It was without a doubt, a case of political intimidation extrodinaire! Read the story

The DGE remained stupidly mute in the wake of such an egregious abuse, hiding his head in the ground like the proverbial ostrich.  For shame!

The law was clearly proven to cause more harm than good.

So readers, if you were a Liberal donor, could you see yourself giving money again?
How much easier and less bothersome to pass a brown envelope and to Hell with the tax deduction!

In Quebec, democracy is diminished by over-regulation and the misguided idea that transparency always serves democracy. 
If we are to accept that everyone who makes a donation to a political party should be outed, we should accept that everybody's vote should become public and that our tax return be the subject of open scrutiny.
The other side of transparency is privacy and the election law has destroyed the political finance system by creating a climate of fear for those who donate. 

Limiting contributions to such a pittance ($1,000) and publicly naming those who donate will only lead to more under the table contributions.

Quebecers are the champion cheapskates in Canada when it comes to donation, so adding another barrier is going to drive donations down even further.

As it stands, by my calculations, few individual candidates can run a successful campaign based on what the rules provide.
So where else is a politician going to get the funds he needs to run a decent campaign?

The restrictive rules guarantee dishonesty and demonstrate once again that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Mr. Drouin is enforcing rules that will forever perpetuate brown bag financing and like cigarettes, putting up more barriers just sends people over to the illegal side.

Like the fools in the government who run the anti-tabacco campaign, he should learn that more is less and perhaps he and the other public servants and legislators should be required to take an oath similar to doctors....
First do no harm!

Language Militancy Breeds Institutional Disrespect

This last month, several incidents involving the Société de transport de Montréal (STM,) Montreal's publicly run bus and metro operator, focused the spotlight on some pretty poor behavior by employees who disrespected clients based either on language and or ethnicity.

First there was the story of a bus driver being so frightened of a twelve year old black girl, who incidentally is cute as a button and looks about as menacing as Tinkerbell, that he called the police,

The young lady, who is slightly challenged made the mistake of insisting that the driver answer her question which she posed in English.
The police met the bus and boarded to find the girl sitting quietly at the back of the bus.
Their response?
Strong-arm the girl off of the bus on the say so of an obviously oversensitive and thin-skinned driver.
Obviously the police over-stepped their authority, after all, the girl was on the bus legally and was not doing anything wrong when the police intervened.
Of course we all know, that in relation to the police, 'Driving while Black' is a hazardous experience in Montreal. It now appears that  'Riding the bus while Black' is also an automatic determination of guilt by our supposedly colour-blind police. Read a frightening account of the story

Then there was a Montreal professional soccer player who Tweeted to his fans that Montreal was a racist city because of his harsh treatment at the hands of ticket sellers in the Metro. Link

"A Montreal Impact reservist is calling Montreal racist after problems with a city transit employee.

Soccer player Miguel Montano says in a pair of tweets today that he was unable to buy a ticket to ride Montreal’s metro system because he didn’t speak French.

The Colombian-born soccer player alleges that when he tried to converse with a ticket taker in English, he was told that he needed to speak French and his money was returned to him.

“They are so racist in Montreal,” he wrote Wednesday on Twitter, in Spanish. “They didn’t want to sell me a ticket to let me in the metro because I don’t speak French.” Read the rest of the story

Then this story, just last week.

"Michael Dunning told the QMI Agency that when he asked, in English, for an all-day pass at a Montreal subway station on Monday, the two employees behind the glass laughed and cursed him.

"They didn't say: 'We don't have to speak English,'" Dunning, 55, told the QMI Agency on Friday. "They told me: 'We don't serve English people.'"

Moreover, Dunning said he was dismissed on the phone when he called to register a formal complaint two days later. He said it was only when Montreal's English-language media reported on the story that he received a call from the transit authority's legal department. 

Read the rest of the story

Now I'm not going to tear into the above mentioned employees.
The vast majority of agents and drivers at the STM are polite, diligent and pleased to offer service in English if they can.

Like any large company with thousands of employees, there is a small minority of nasty,  jaded racists, looking for an opportunity to pass along their anger by dumping on the innocent.

But it is the company's responsibility to keep things in check, first by creating a positive culture and next by punishing employees who embarrass the company with racist and anglophobic outbursts.

So readers, blame the company.

Over the last year, we've heard of disgusting sexist behavior within the ranks of the RCMP, where many detachments have in large part degenerated into a hostile work environment for female officers and employees.

The problem was so serious that the government had to take extraordinary actions, by bringing in an outsider to run the RCMP in order to break the institutional culture of sexism that permeated the organization, up to the senior ranks.

While employees bear responsibility for their personal behavior, the RCMP hierarchy itself is almost completely responsible for the breakdown in discipline and the loss of moral compass.

Company culture at the STM, just like the RCMP is driven by management and so responsibility for the recent spate of poor behavior by rotten employees can be laid directly on the doorstep of management.

Unfortunately for us, unlike the RCMP which is going through a cathartic process of renewal and redemption, at the STM, it is the same old, same old, with nobody in oversight, the least bit concerned with the culture of hate and intolerance condoned AND PROMOTED by management.

The real question Montrealers must ask themselves is 'Who really runs the STM?"
There's little doubt that a timid and frightened STM management has abrogated its responsibility to lead, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by militant French language fanatics and union goons.

Every time a language or race incident occurs, management rushes to cover up employee malfeasance by dropping a cone of silence on the incident, conveniently claiming that an investigation is underway and that any public comment would be prejudicial.

Invariably these so-called 'investigations' go nowhere and those who complain about their treatment at the hands of STM racists and goons are put through an institutional ringer that lasts for years, the entire process expressly designed to sap the energy of the complainer and to serve up an example to others, sending the message that if you attack the STM, you will be tormented until you give up.
We are not fooled.
Readers  of this blog are sophisticated enough to understand that this rope-a-dope strategy is a disgusting abuse of the public trust.

In the incident described at the opening of the story, the young girl was painted in the most unflattering light by the STM spokesperson, leading one to conclude that no fair disposition of the incident can ever occur.
While the girl's identity and reputation was sullied, the identity of the bus driver and supervisor is kept secret.
Where is the transparency?
How on Earth is keeping the identity of the employee involved going to promote the public perception of fairness?

"Marianne Rouette, spokeswoman for the city's transit department, said it received Dunning's complaint and "an investigation is underway."
Rouette said the investigation into the two soccer players' complaints had been concluded, and the transit authority wasn't going to publicize the results, nor say if any employee had been reprimanded.
She said she couldn't speak to the specifics of either case, but said by Quebec law, the city cannot force its employees to speak another language other than French.

I find myself at a loss.
How do we tolerate a public corporation telling us, without any shame, that they concluded and disposed of an investigation into a complaint of racism, but will not reveal the result.

Can any reasonable observer come to any other conclusion but a coverup?

Then the idiot spokesman dropped this beauty, evidence that the company has completely sold its soul to language militants;

"Article 45 and 46 of Quebec's French-language law stipulates that an employer cannot reproach an employee for not being able to speak a language other than French. Nor can employers force an employee to speak anything other than French on the job, unless their specific duties necessitate them knowing another language"

Really?
Many government and quasi-government agencies, corporations and offices do offer English services and no, they aren't breaking any law either.
The STM excuse about Article 45 and 46 is hollow, dishonest and vacuous.
I cannot believe that the English media allows the STM to bluff their way with a lame excuse about the law.

All the STM has to do is to change some job descriptions for certain employees and voila, they could be required to offer service in English.
It is simply a question of either wanting or not wanting to provide service in English and clearly, enlightened readers know the answer to that question!

Would it be such a big deal to have one ticket selling window per station designated as bilingual with a sign indicating that English service is available?
Like I said, it's a question of motivation.

Now before I get a spate of comments about Montreal being a French city (which it is not) and that Montreal should be as French, as Toronto is English, lets throw cold water on this oft repeated fantasy.  
I imagine that in certain Metro stations downtown and on certain bus routes in the West island, the majority of passengers and/or tourists are English speaking, which cannot be said about French anywhere in Toronto or anywhere else in the western hemisphere.

That the powers that run the STM can ignore this English reality is a demonstration of the fact that they are afraid to challenge the union, which like almost all unions in Quebec, are anti-English.

The sorriest and saddest aspect to all this is the position taken by French language militants against employees being offered extra pay for speaking English, which would probably be a neat solution.

Their position is that this practice is discriminatory because it puts unilingually French employees in a poorer financial position than bilinguals, something that they consider unfair, if you can believe it!

This same argument was put forward last year in Sherbrooke and Hull where bilingual employees were offered a small increase in salary, if they were able to offer service in English.
There was a huge outcry by French language militants decrying the practice, leading both cities to drop the program.

How very sad, petty and oh so typical of what passes for fairness in Quebec!

And so the STM continues to foster the fantasy that it does not tolerate racism and anglophobia.
It isn't true.
The STM encourages poor behavior by refusing to confront the bullies within and by refusing to make some English service available.

It is time for a monumental shift in culture at the STM and the first thing needed is a dose of the stern medicine that was delivered to the RCMP.

Fire the bosses.

Why Carey Won't Speak French...

For unilingual francophone hockey fans in Quebec, the hiring last year of unilingually English Randy Cunneyworth, as coach of the Montreal Canadiens, was a painfully traumatic experience.
The underlining message, that French had crossed a tipping point and was no longer relevant in the NHL and more to the point, in Quebec, was a frightening development for those who can't speak English who had been promised by their leadership that they need not make the effort.

The issue of French and the Montreal Canadiens is particularly sensitive to French language militants because it strikes at the heart of their argument that learning English is not a necessity for the majority of Quebecers who work and live their lives exclusively in French.
But if hockey fans, of which there are a considerable amount among Quebecers, cannot directly understand what an English coach or player is saying, it becomes a powerful argument for learning English, an anathema to French language militants, and so the exaggerated reaction.

So panicked are these defenders of the French-only principle, that even if the Montreal Canadiens were forced to field an inferior team to satisfy the desire for players and coaches who speak French, it's a tradeoff that they are willing to make.
 One can only shudder if this rule is transmitted to general society, which unfortunately, methinks it is.
Just today, I read another tedious article, complaining that the wildly successful, Quebec Summer Festival is showcasing too many English artists. It's a rehash of the same old, same old, so I won't even offer a link.

Limiting the choice of a coach to those who speak French, eliminates 80-90% of candidates available and in the end quality must suffer.
That's how the Habs ended up with the universally panned and mediocre Michel Therrien as coach, culled from decidedly slim pickings.

But militants don't see it that way and continue to whine that players aren't making an effort to learn French once they alight in Montreal, just another reason for free-agents to strike Montreal from the list of possibilities.
As it is, Montreal is the city where the highest taxes are taken out of a player's paycheck. In fact, a player making $2 million gets the privilege of paying $200,000 more in taxes than that of a player toiling in sunny Florida! Salary Table

For French language militants, it's really just a case of wishful thinking, the idea that hockey players making millions of dollars will learn a foreign language in order to give a few interviews, for the few years they play hockey in Montreal.

For blowhard sports commentators like Rejean Tremblay, the old chestnut of 'Respect' is trotted out every time he demands that players on the Canadiens learn French, reminding his readers that it is the public that pays the players salaries.

Tremblay was particularly critical and scornful of Saku Koivu for playing twelve years in Montreal and never learning French, as if learning French was part of the job description.

He and other French language militants, remind we Anglophones, on a daily basis, that we owe the Francophone majority 'respect' purely based on our minority status.

What utter balderdash.

First things first, 'respect' is never owed, it is earned.

When a father whips out his belt and decides to teach his son some 'respect' with a few disciplinary whacks, one can hardly call what the child is learning 'respect'. Some might call it 'obedience,' some might call it 'fear,' but nobody should ever confuse it with 'respect.'

Pardon me if I don't believe that we Quebec Anglophones owe the Quebec Francophone majority any more respect than the Canadian Francophone minority owes to the Canadian Anglophone majority. (That was a mouthful!)

As for the idea that hockey players owe respect to their fans, because it is they who ultimately pay their salary, it's just another convoluted argument made to justify the demand that they learn French.
Try reminding the cop who pulls you over for speeding, that you pay his salary.

Hockey is a business, nothing else. The players are employees, nothing more.
They are paid to play hockey for a team and a league that operates in English alone.

Players come to Montreal, but few if any make it a home. Like contract oil workers sent to the middle east, most live in an English ghetto where nary a word of French is ever heard. Almost all go home when they're done with hockey.

When players do make Montreal their home, people like Hal Gill, who moved his American family here, embraced the city, his children learning French in school and his wife involved in charity work, they aren't given bonus points or preferential treatment by the fans or the Canadiens organization itself.
Gill was dumped rather unceremoniously for almost nothing in return and without any consideration for him or his family and his effort to integrate.

Hockey is cruel.
Players are expendable and exchangeable, to be bartered, traded and used up for what they are worth during their short career.
I'm no expert, but what is the average career of a player donning a Montreal Canadiens uniform? Two, three years?

As for players on the Canadiens learning to speak French, I'm afraid it's a fantasy driven by an unreasonable dream of what hockey is and what hockey players are. Link{Fr}

Today, players make too much money to be bothered shilling for car dealerships on the weekend and so learning French, a difficult process that takes years to achieve, solely for the purpose of giving out a few interviews seems hardly worth the bother

When Carey Price is done with Montreal, he'll go back home to BC.

While he is here, he'll live and work in English and remain part of the Anglo community in Montreal.
It is this fact that so peeves the likes of Mr. Tremblay and his ilk, that hockey players embrace the anglophone community, instead of the francophone majority.
But really, what would you expect?

Carey Price isn't going to learn French, just as those fans in the boonies aren't going to learn English
Such is reality.

As for Saku Koivu being a bad citizen for not learning French, I beg to differ.
He was a marvelous member of the Anglo community and helped raise money for a diagnostic unit in the Montreal General Hospital.
As for 'respect,' he too was dumped rather cruely and shipped off to Anaheim for a pittance, with zero consideration for anything else but business.

That's hockey, a business, an English business.

As for Mr. Tremblay, who makes a living covering sports, doing so means speaking English, which he does rather well.
Telling fans that players are showing bad faith by not learning French does a disservice to everyone, fans, players and the team.

Telling Carey Price to learn a third language, and newly drafted Alex Galchenyuk to learn a fourth, because fans cannot be bothered to learn a second, seems a bit cheeky.

It isn't going to happen just because people want it to happen. That is life.

There is a price (pardon the pun) to be paid for remaining unilingually French, despite what French language militants tell Quebecers, even for those who don't venture outside the friendly environs of Quebec.

Pretending that Quebec can be kept English-free is a pipe dream that can only be realized in a country like North Korea, but truth be told, it's something that the bilingual Mr.Tremblay already understands.

Weak Justice System Contributes to Quebec Corruption

For years and years, successive Quebec governments, both sovereigntist and federalist have pursued a course that could only be described as 'soft on crime.'

Our current justice minister Jean-Marc Fournier, was so furious at the Prime Minister for toughening up the law in Bill C-10, whereby punishments and jail times were beefed up for serious crime, that he raced off to Ottawa to demand that the law be softened, his supplications falling on deaf ears.

For many Quebecers it is a source of pride, giving rise to a smug, snobby, sense of superiority that Quebec treats criminals more 'compassionately' than do other provinces in Canada.

That Quebec has a slightly lower crime rate as compared to the ROC has many Quebecers proudly crowing that their penal system which encourages short, or non-existent sentences and which focuses on rehabilitation is the reason.

This of course is poppycock.

One of the principal reasons for the difference, is the fact that Quebec is home to less than 8% of Canada's aboriginals, this in a province with 24% of the national population.

Sadly, Aboriginals represent 20% of Canada's prison population, five times what we'd expect demographically.
Since Quebec has statistically fewer natives, (by a factor of 66%) there's enough of an impact to account for the small statistical difference in the crime rate between Quebec and the ROC.
I'm not putting the knock on natives, but it is what it is.

Now every time somebody raises the specter of more severe punishment for criminals, the leftist intelligentsia mounts a ferocious attack on proponents, describing them as a bunch of Cro-Magnons, out of touch with modern criminal rehabilitation practices.
They invariably trot the argument, that while the United States incarcerates sevens times as many people (per capita) as Canada, there are no tangible benefits as pertaining to the crime rate or recidivism.

There is a legitimate question as to whether tougher sentences have effects on violent or career criminals, the best example is the death penalty, the scariest of all sentences that seems to have no deterrent effect on those contemplating murder.

But today's blog piece is not about those hardened career criminals, but rather the white collar types, the businessmen who cheat the government out of millions by way of rigged tendering, over-billing, under-delivering and phoney-invoice schemes that fraud not only the contracting authority, but the tax department as well.

Here, I contend, that a vigorous enforcement coupled with meaningful jail time for offenders would make a significant contribution to lessening the stain of corruption and fraud.

Unfortunately, our justice system has failed us miserably, it is simply not up to the task of meting out real and effective punishment that would have a real and signifigant deterrent effect.

While it may be true that a gang member from Montreal North has no fear of jail, it being an occupational hazard, such is not the case for businessmen, who can still make a good living without resorting to fraud.

Lax enforcement and insignificant punishment lead otherwise honest citizens to consider 'crossing the line.'
Let us take for example those 'honest' citizens who cross the border and make dishonest custom declarations.
It's a risk they take based on the slim chance they will be caught and the assessment that in the remote eventuality that they are caught, the punishment will be nothing more than a fine.

For most of us, just the humiliation of getting caught is enough to keep us honest, but for those who are adventuresome, the risk to reward is worth it.

But what if border agents started putting people in jail for smuggling, even if it is just for that one gorgeous pair of $1,000 shoes. What if the punishment would be a weekend in jail or some community service?
Simply put, the harsher the penalty, the higher the chance that honest law abiding  citizens will be discouraged from cheating.
But the government in its wisdom, deems this type of border enforcement to be a waste of resources and so a higher level of smuggling is the acceptable by-product.

I repeat what I said earlier, for hardened criminals, increased jail sentences aren't much of a deterrent, crime is their life and jail an occupational hazard.
But for otherwise genereally honest citizens, heightened penalties and the real possibility of incarceration would be a serious deterrent and this Mr Harper and everyone else in authority fails to understand.

Increased penalties for white collar crime would definitely have a significant dampening effect.
Unlike career criminals, these people think very carefully about the consequences of being caught. Generally they have homes, families, savings, and reputations that they care about. If they do cheat, it's because like the border under-declarers, it is just too easy and the punishment just too lenient.

Recently, through fits and starts, our province has arrived at a place and time when we are finally prepared to confront corruption and fraud in the public service and the construction industry.

Though we are lurching forward, with two steps forward and one step back, progress is being made, arrests are happening and even a cyncal public has to be impressed at the forward momentum we are witnessing in uncovering malfeasance, with quite a few impressive headline-grabbing arrests of late.

My fear however is, that our justice system is woefully unprepared to do its part.
If things go on as before, cases will drag on for years and in the end, prosecutors will give sweetheart deals to the defendants because they are outgunned by topnotch defense lawyers who can grind down crown prosecutors who are working on a timetable and a budget.

If the anti-crime units do their part, and they seem to be doing just that, it is on the justice system to punish cheaters and crooks in a signifigant manner.

First, Canada Revenue Agency and Revenue Quebec must clean up their act and re-orient their goals.
Up to now, both agencies concentrate on recovering as much money as it can from cheaters, foregoing criminal prosecution in the process.
In other words criminals who cheat the tax deparatment, sometimes out of millions can buy their way out of jail.

"...Construction magnate Antonio Accurso personally signed cheques at the heart of a tax-evasion scheme and used part of the funds for luxurious home renovations and fancy clothes, a court document alleges. The Canada Revenue Agency agreed to a deal last year in which two companies administered by Mr. Accurso - but not the construction magnate himself - pleaded guilty to $4-million in tax evasion and paid an equivalent fine.
By agreeing to the plea deal, Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc. and Louisbourg Construction Ltd. were affected in their ability to obtain government contracts. However, there was no direct consequence for Mr. Accurso." Link

The practice of buying ones way out of a tax fraud must be eliminated, with jail time the priority for those who organize schemes to defraud the government.
At a certain point, the money is secondary and examples must be made.
It's also time to raise the ante and if fines are to be levied instead of jail time, they should be enormous, say ten times the amount of the fraud!
It's time to take off the gloves and teach cheaters that when caught, they will have Hell to pay.

By the way, the Canada Revenue Agency needs to clean up its own act as well and finally put to bed the nasty corruption scandal that rocked the Montreal office. Link

Fighting this type of crime also means that the government must react quickly to shifting circumstances.
We are now seeing another phenomena, whereby those facing lifetime bans in relation to bidding for government contracts, are transferring their companies and assets to family members who are acting as 'innocent' fronts.

This ploy should be attacked on all angles and perhaps the government can use the new definition of a criminal enterprise as defined by the Supreme Court last week, to define families and even companies as criminal enterprises.
Let the crooks involved who object to being banned have the onus to prove their innocence. Good luck.

In the town of Mascouche, site of the arrest of the mayor and a construction king, Normand Trudel, for fraud, it seems that business is as usual.
Mr. Trudel's old company, Transport et Excavation Mascouche, at the center of the controversy, has been re-launched under his son's ownership and under a new name.
Nothing has really changed, the person who answered the telephone before, is still answering the phone now!

Tony Accurso is alleged to have installed his daughter as titular head of many of his enterprises to avoid problems in the event of he himself being blacklisted, a likely scenario, the way things are going

Mayor Richard Marcotte, at the center of the corruption scandal in Mascouche is refusing to stand down as mayor and made an appearance at a town council meeting for five minutes this week, in order to preserve his position as mayor. Had he been absent for three months consecutively, he'd have been put out on his rear end.
To the boos and hisses of townspeople who crowded city hall to demand his resignation, Marcotte made a mockery of them all, the arrogant bastard thumbing his nose at the justice system and maintaining his $100,000 salary, doing nothing for the money!

All these types of shenanigans must be recognized and stamped out. Laws need to be enacted in reaction and all that's required is a desire for justice and a burning resolve to rid our public spaces of these white collar scoundrals and thieves.

Finally, resources must be poured into the system to speed up trials, so that cases involving high profile fraud cases be completed within a year, at the most.
Right now, this is a pipe dream as cases can linger for five years, all to the defendants advantage.

A special corruption court needs to be established with priority given to those high profile trials of politicians, civil servants, consultants, engineering firms and construction magnates.

Convictions must include jail time for those at the top of the heap, sentencing guidelines must be established so that paying a fine, no matter how big, is not an option.

Without the cooperation of the justice department and the courts, all the good police work and arrests will go for naught.

It remains to be seen who will win the war, the crooks or the good guys.

Right now, its too early to tell, but I am confident that good things can happen, as long as the justice system doesn't let us down.

Let's cross our fingers!