Pauline's Window of Opportunity

The conventional wisdom in the mainstream press is that the new PQ minority government of Pauline Marois will be hamstrung and unable to bring forward much of the controversial new programs that the party enunciated throughout the election campaign.

We've read countless articles in Quebec and national newspapers assuring us that Ottawa's best course of action is to ignore Marois, since there is no mandate for a referendum or any support for a broad attack on federalism, for that matter.

"Now, once again, we're to be treated to the tedious, deliberate provocations, always delivered in a tone of tragic victimization, that have made Quebec separatists by far our most annoying countrymen (and women) since, oh, 1976.
And yet, what if it doesn't matter?
What if nobody came or even paid much attention?" Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia Newsink

"And that’s precisely why the emerging Conservative and New Democratic approach to provocations by Marois and her cohort of revolutionaries – that is, benign, serene indifference – is the correct one." Link

As is often my case, I remain at odds with the conventional wisdom, it seems to me that the advice to ignore Marois is not only dangerous but gratuitous. Easy for them to say...

Perhaps all that concerns Ottawa and the RoC is the reopening of the sovereignty or national unity debate, something that obviously they don't want to see happen.
But with that danger clearly of no concern, the ROC can safely take Quebec politics off the national stage and whether Madame Marois runs riot over the Quebec economy and whether she imposes more and more restrictions on the Anglo and Ethnic minority is clearly of no import to anybody but ourselves.

I guess there's nothing unexpected or unfair in that, but taking disingenuous advice from those who have no dog in the fight, is the height of folly.
Marois and the PQ remain dangerous, a clear and present danger to our community, even if nobody in Canada seems to care.

While newspapers like the Toronto Sun can write the nastiest and snarkiest articles that dismiss Marois and her government, we Quebecers, especially Anglos and ethnics, can't really afford the luxury of benign indifference,

"It would be safe to conclude that Quebec has a delusional woman as its new premier, who believes she can wield a power that doesn't exist.
Pauline Marois, unlike in The Emperor's New Clothes, is naked as a jaybird except to those equally unfit to run a province so dependent upon the billions in transfer payments that come from federalism.
To them, to all those aging Pequistes and student-movement crybabies, she is dressed to the nines, the belle of the ball, and ready to take on Ottawa with her eyes-wide-shut view of separatism.
If this is the best the Parti Quebecois can muster, it is doomed."  PQ's gong show has just begun

Perhaps it is true, just as the newspaper crows, that the PQ is doomed, but we here in Quebec are along for the disastrous ride, something that those in the RoC who wish separatists ill fortune, don't understand or care.

And so the question to consider, is what sort of damage can Pauline inflict, even in her minority position and readers I am sad to report that the answer is quite a lot.

Obviously the PQ government cannot meet Parliament with an aggressive legislative agenda that would leave the opposition no choice but to defeat the government, damn the consequences. But that being said, there's a lot the PQ can do without ever having to face the National Assembly.

One of the first things that the PQ announced was that is was cancelling the tuition hikes, as well as certain aspects to the controversial Bill 78, the law that put constraints on demonstrations.

All this is to be done by way of 'Decrees' (orders in council) or cabinet-ordained modifications of existing laws, something that defies our democracy, when used abusively.
These 'decrees' are supposed to be minor, non-controversial, re-interpretations or modifications to existing laws, but using them to make fundamental changes in legislation duly passed by the National Assembly, is an attack on our democracy.

Are we back to the days where the King or Queen had the power to accept or reject laws passed by the duly-elected representatives of the people?
If these decrees can be used in such a cavalier manner, does it mean that we are now to be governed by fiat?
This dangerous and undemocratic vehicle, whereby duly passed laws are hacked and butchered by the Premier and her cabinet at will, means that Parliament (National Assembly) is no longer the ultimate authority in our province, something all democrats should oppose.

If Premier Marois decides to use these decrees on a wholesale level, we can expect some of the PQ election promises to pass into law without the consent of the National Assembly.

These election promises, like the imposition of Bill 101 on companies having between eleven and fifty employees and/or the application of eligibility rules for English education in cegeps, can actually be imposed on us without the consent of the National Assembly!

And so the PQ can play footsie with the law, as long as it is not too blatant and as long as the National Assembly allows them to do so.

Already we are hearing that the $200 a head health tax is too be abolished, replaced by a retroactive increase in taxes on the rich. All this through the power of decree!

Aside from that frightening scenario, the PQ government can also avail themselves of simple administrative changes that can also have devastating and lasting effects on our community.

For example, the PQ can easily increase the number of inspectors in the OQLF and set them on a more aggressive campaign of enforcement, no permission needed! 
The government can also impose new changes pertaining to English services at its whim, just by giving instruction to the ministries. It doesn't take an act of the National Assembly, or even a decree to effect these changes.

With the Liberals tied up in a leadership campaign that will last until the beginning of next year and thus loath to bring down the government in the interim, it may just give the PQ a narrow window this Fall to try and pass some of its more controversial legislation.
The question remains as to whether Madame Marois will try to do so, as such a plan would carry an element of risk. Let us not forget Prime Minister Joe Clark's folly, a similar failed gambit in 1979 that saw his minority Conservative government taken down after just seven months in office.
Most likely she will not risk her position, she has worked too hard and waited too long to become Premier to roll the dice.

But while Pauline may be somewhat handicapped in Parliament, it doesn't mean that she cannot or will not wreak separatist havoc upon us.

Make no mistake, we are in for a very rough ride and although no broad, direct and frontal attack is on the horizon, we can surely be just as dead from an attack of a thousand cuts.

She has already shown us just how petty she can be, by removing the Canadian flag from the National Assembly for the swearing in ceremony and I expect her and her ministers to continue the petty minded persecution of anything Anglo or Canadian.

Hold on tight, it's about to get very uncomfortable and nasty.

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

NOTE TO READERS

I've been asked to tighten up the comments section and I've heard what you have to say.
Gratuitous insults against other commenters will no longer be tolerated and the rule applies to everyone, not just S.R.

Secondly, I'd like to see readers address the the content of the blog piece of the day.
While all opinions are welcome and it is impossible not to run off on a tangent, it would be interesting if we could focus somewhat on the topic of the today.

Again, it is just a suggestion, no comments will be removed if they are appropriate and follow the rules as listed in the green bar at the top of the page.

Today's question:
How will A&E's (Anglos & Ethnics) fare under Marois and what can we expect?
Are we going to get clobbered or is she going to be respectful?

It's your turn.

Xenophobes and Racists. If the Shoe Fits...

Luce Cloutier & Mario Beaulieu. If the shoe fits, wear it!

On Friday I promised a piece about xenophobia and racism as it pertains to the radical French language and sovereignty movement in Quebec.
This in response to Quebec language militant Mario Beaulieu taking great exception that some in the English mainstream press and within the blogosphere (sites like ours,) had the audacity to use these terms in describing the PQ, Pauline Marois and the radical language movement.

Here is the type of thing Mr. Beaulieu is complaining about;

“Xenophobia” is applicable because it literally refers to a fear of the other. It’s not a pretty word. It pains me to use it when describing those who shape the discourse in my home province. When Quebec nationalists speak incessantly about the “Anglo threat...,” 

There’s no denying the furor that would ensue if Quebec politicians spoke of the “Arab threat,” or the “Chinese threat.” When one of the province’s most popular radio hosts, Benoît Dutrizac, mocks the Anglo accents of veteran, bilingual Montreal city councillors, where is the outrage? And had Charles Adler imitated a Québécois accent; what then? The double-standard is shocking: It is perfectly acceptable in Quebec to demean Anglophones as a form of over-compensation for past abuses. Institutionalizing that debasement is equally tolerated... ”   
Read the rest of the story: Xenophobia and Quebec’s uncomprehending radicals

and here is part of what Beaulieu complained;

"For example, in The Gazette, National Post and the Globe and Mail, Quebec separatists or those who want to strengthen Bill 101 are depicted as Franco-supremacist, intolerant, anglophobes, radicals, close-minded idiots, who want to assimilate, destroy and despise minorities. And spread without restraint, downright hateful comments from readers who are not shy to draw parallels with neo-Nazi and fascist movements. Link{Fr}

"xen-o-pho-bi-a"
-unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

French language militants and Peequists are all quick to say that the sovereignty movement is inclusive and is based solely on French as the common language and all who speak it are welcomed wholeheartedly into the fold.
Unfortunately, it just isn't true.

For the last couple of years we have been treated to incessant harangues by these so-called open and inclusive democrats, including Mr. Beaulieu and the PQ's newest minister, Jean-François Lisée, who complain bitterly that the island of Montreal is in danger of being lost because more and more of its citizens have a language other than French as their mother tongue.
In fact, alarm bells were pushed by the above two gentlemen when shock of all shocks, it was revealed that the balance of mother tongues is shifting over to the dark side and soon the majority of Montrealers will have a mother-tongue other than French.
The horrors!

Let us consider the 'problem'
Each year Quebec welcomes about 45,000 immigrants, of which, about 10,000 leave for other provinces leaving 35,000 net newcomers, of which about 30,000 settle in the Montreal area.

About 95% of these people have a language other than French as a mother tongue, so it is easy to understand that slowly but surely the statistic concerning mother tongue will shift away from French (and English).

But so what?

Let us take the example of a Spanish speaking family named Gonzalez who immigrated from El Salvador to Montreal and who speak no English at all.
The family sends their children to French school and the parents learn French quickly and get jobs, working in French. The years go by and the family is firmly rooted into the French side of the language equation, economically, scholastically, socially and culturally. The family still speaks no English and in public all their interaction is in French. That being said, at home, they speak their native Spanish.

And therein lies the rub.
Because they speak Spanish around the dinner table, they are, according to Mr. Lisée and Mr. Beaulieu, a 'problem' and are counted on as being on the wrong side of the equation in the 'mother-tongue' debate.
When militants describe a language problem in Montreal, the Gonzalezes are part of the problem!

"The future of the French language is at risk because of a steady decline in the number of people on the island of Montreal who use it as their main language, Lisée said, citing statistics from the Office québécois de la langue française showing the number of people who speak French at home dropped from 61 per cent in 1971 to 54 per cent in 2006. If nothing is done, Lisée said, it could drop to 47 per cent in less than 20 years.
“The weakening of the francophone majority imperils the ability of new arrivals to integrate in French in the city, and makes the future of the French language extremely fragile,” said Lisée, a former journalist and adviser who worked with former premiers Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard."-Jean-François Lisée, Link

When militants complain about mother-tongue, they are not only complaining about immigrants who assimilate over to the English side of the language equation, but the Gonzalezes, as well.

But honestly, what more could the Gonzalezes do to satisfy Mr. Beaulieu and Mr. Lisée?

You cannot get around the fact that the 'mother-tongue' debate is ringed by xenophobia, the only 'flaw' that language militants perceive in the Gonzalezes, is where they were born.

Mr. Lisée is particularly galled that 'real' French speaking natives are leaving the island of Montreal and being replaced with the foreigners, many like the French-speaking Gonzalez family.
And so when French language militants, complain about 'mother-tongue,' it is not really a language issue, but largely a foreigner issue, or to put it more bluntly, a 'too many foreigners' issue.

Whenever you hear the militants bring up the 'mother-tongue' debate, alarm bells should go off in your head.
Those who complain are less concerned about the French language and more concerned about who it is speaking French and whether they are 'de souche' or not.
It is no different than complaining about skin colour, religion or ethnicity and no matter how hard all these 'foreigners' try to integrate into francophone Quebec society, according to the language militants, they will always be on the other side of the 'good citizen' ledger.

In the end, there is only one solution to the 'problem' of the shifting away from French as a mother-tongue in Montreal and that is to curb immigration.
So spin it however you want, complaining about mother-tongue is xenophobia, pure and simple, something Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Lisée and all the other radicals should be called out over.

Now before I go further into this post, I'd like to preface everything I write above and below as applying to a tiny vocal minority of extremists who enjoy a disproportionate amount of media exposure.
The vast majority of francophones in this province (including sovereigntists) are as racist or xenophobic as are their Anglophone counterparts.
Unfortunately for all of us, we are over-exposed to the French language mullahs in the media, who do preach xenophobia and hate.

As an observer, I actually remain pleasantly surprised that in spite of the vast media campaign to demonize English, Quebecers remain unconvinced, much to the frustration of language militants who have no other choice but to ramp up the linguistic pressure and exaggerate problems that do not exist.

Perhaps it is the fact that collectively, francophone Quebecers, who having been led up the garden path by the Church for centuries, are loathe to put too much trust in those telling them how to conduct their lives.

Now let us turn to the racism part of this post and specifically, the most recent campaign of the Mouvement Québec français and an action by its branch in the Lanaudiere region, which recently won a great deal of media attention by compiling 1,000 language complaints for the Office québécois de la langue française.

The thousand complaint story was splashed all around the media with not many reporters bothering to dig into the specifics where they would find that many of the complaints were completely bogus, like those that cited Churches for posting signs in English.
Even the most radical of French language militants knows that religious institutions and not for profit educational institutions are exempted under Bill 101 from the obligation to use French at all.

I'll save all that for another post to concentrate on another big aspect of the complaints, that of English names or trademarks, those that the MQF demand be accompanied by French descriptors.

The very idea that a company like Canadian Tire, an institution that has operated in Quebec for about seventy years, be forced to change its name is galling, considering that the demand has zero to do with familiarizing unilingual Quebecers with what is being sold in the stores, and everything to do with humiliating and showing up those Anglophone companies who dare to trade under a non-French, corporate name or trademark.

According to the MQF, the issue is about respect and that an English name, in and of itself, is offensive and disrespectful to the majority.
Is that not utterly racist?
Imagine the public reaction if all the anglophones in your place of work were obliged to change their names to something more acceptable to the MQF?

The respect that the MQF demands, reminds me of the respect demanded by young King Joffrey in HBO's War of the Thrones, a nasty sort who demands that subjects bow down to him both physically and metaphorically, under pain of certain death.
I don't call that respect, I call it intimidation.

Racism?
Not convinced, let us explore the story just a little further.
Forget about FUTURE SHOP or CANADIAN TIRE for the moment, the MQF and the local windbag, Luce Cloutier, took the debate over English to a whole new level of ugliness, when she included in the 1,000 complaints, stores and businesses that sported English proper names.

"As for complaints about company names, the photos showed not only the usual Canadian Tire and other Pizza Hut, but also several IGA, Bentley and Reitmans, which are not English words but proper names or initials without meaning.

Mr. Beaulieu believes, however, that all these companies should accompany their names with a generic name, according to the law, as did the Second Cup chain, which appears to Quebec under the name 'Les Cafes Second Cup' " . Link{Fr}

"It has become normal in our environment to see store names like Reitmans, Smart Set, Bentley said Ms. Cloutier. Link{Fr}

So let us get this straight, if a store is named after an English founder (Reitmans) it needs a descriptor, but if a store is name after a French founder (Tanguay) it does not.

I'm curious if the cookie store called Monsieur Felix & Mr. Norton, needs half a descriptor?
Such is the utter pettiness and stupidity of these racists.

Madame Luce Cloutier, went on to say that certain English Italian Spanish 'foreign' proper names like 'Quiznos' are also 'unaccetpable'
And so, following the MQF criteria, here is a list of store names that need and don't need descriptors.

Harveys / Lafleurs
HMV / Archambault
Reitmans / Marie Claire
Aldo / Jean-Paul Fortin
Birks / Sebag
Bentley / Fournier
Greiche & Scaff / Antoine Laoun
Rogers / Videotron
Laura Secord / Laura
Ernest / Vincent D'Amérique
Parasuco / Tristan

Many of you readers are looking at the list above and asking yourselves if this is joke, but I assure you, it is not.
This is what the MQF is about....
I've heard some racist crap in my life and this fits right in with the worst.
Demanding that proper names pay 'tribute' to the French language is discrimination pure and simple.

According to the MQF, this sign is offensive

Perhaps Mr. Beaulieu and Madame Cloutier could implore the PQ to host a Wannsee-like conference to figure out rules and regulations pertaining to proper names and what will be permitted with or without descriptors.
After all, there are some thorny issues.
Stores like Ernest can be considered English or French, but considering that Ernest the owner, (who I know personally) is an Anglophone...well...

What about a store like 'Simons?'
Although the family has Scottish roots, the word Simon can actually be considered French.
But then one has to consider pronunciation and alas, the English version prevails (Sigh-mon, and not Cee-mo), so I guess a descriptor is in order.

Ah well, the subject boggles the imagination of any bone fide racist.

Ditto for Reitmans

By the way, I'd like to point out to that miserable piece of hate, Luce Cloutier, that the Reitmans clan (who I also have the honour to know personally) are a fine old Montreal family who run their retail empire from a head office right here in Montreal.
I don't know what her problem is with this Quebecois family.
Is it because they are Jewish, or is it because they are a Anglo?
Like the English, the Scots, the Irish, the Italians and a multitude of of other ethnicities who dominated business and industry in Quebec, are we all disdained for our success?

Back to Reitmans, a company which started with one store on St. Lawrence boulevard in 1928 and now operates close to 1,000 stores with 10,000 employees, across Canada.
For almost eighty-five years the company has provided employment for Quebecers and has paid millions upon millions in corporate taxes here.

Perhaps Madame Cloutier wishes to chase the head office of Reitmans out of Quebec, perhaps to Toronto, where they will be welcomed instead of humiliated.
Such is the depravity of the MQF racists.
For shame.

Incidentally, just in case the MQF doesn't know, there isn't a Quebecer in a gazillion who does not know that you don't go to Canadian Tire to buy a dress and you don't go to Reitmans to buy a hammer.

All the rest is racism, pure and simple.

Quebec Language Mullahs Give us Lessons in Free Speech

I can't think of a better analogy than comparing those sanctimonious French language militants who are demanding Anglos tone down the hateful 'rhetoric' to that of the Muslim extremists demanding that the West take stern action against those who insult the prophet Muhammad.

The idea that these zealots can give us a lesson in what constitutes free speech or hate is not only laughable but is as downright offensive as the Arab mullahs who demand that we conduct our lives in a manner that they prescribe....or else.


Last week the insufferable blowhard, Mario Beaulieu, chief cook and bottle washer over at the  Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, made an impassioned public plea for the English media to tone down what he considered hateful commentaries in the English press depicting the Parti Quebecois and certain of its members, especially Pauline Marois as being xenophobic and racist.
I suppose it is no fun being called those things and I don't suppose it is fun being called a colonialist or a tête carrée, but such is the price of free speech.

Of course the story got a lot of play in the French media, any story that depicts Francophones as victims is ratings gold.

Recently the police arrested a fellow who chose his words rather poorly on his Facebook page, words that did indeed sound like a direct threat, even if it was the farthest thing from his intent.

That's not the story today, it is about the aftermath where the police invited the public to be vigilant and guard against hate and report dangerous and threatening speech in social media.

To francophone language extremists this was nothing else than MANNA FROM HEAVEN!!

Complaining about Anglos to the OQLF and now the police is what they live for, the thrill of denouncing a hated enemy, an undertaking too delicious to resist.
If the police charged a $10 fee for every complaint, our deficit could be tamed in no time.

I always knew that our site annoys these fanatics to no end. The fact that I denounce their pettiness, expose their racism and treat them for what they are, is all the more painful to endure, knowing that this site is read by tens of thousands of people, all around the world.

When I put up a disparaging cartoon, it is out there for eternity and I understand it hurts, but as they say on the playground, tough noogies.

Each week I am the beneficiary of several denunciations and email threats, so I'm not surprised that the low-brows over at Imperatif francais complained to the Quebec police that our site is fomenting hate.

What did surprise me was that whoever is behind the Twitter account has the time to go through the comment section and is sending 'offending' comments off to the police for investigation, as well.
I won't reprint these, lest some readers be upset that they are a target of extremists and that their free speech is attacked.

By the way, it is quite an impressive time commitment, all this reading, that is. I suppose the author of this account is one of my most loyal readers!

At any rate, these rabid language mullahs are about as sophisticated as their Iranian and Pakistani counterparts, finding offence in just about any barb thrown at them and just like the Arabian extremists, What's good for the goose is never good for the gander

While  language mullahs like Richard Le Hir take great offence and brand as hate my humorous reference to Quebec as Kébecistan, he has no problem writing for (and now heading up) a web site that publishes outright racist articles by the likes of Ivan Parent and company, as well as reprinting as the most blatant antisemitic screeds.

And so when Gilles Proulx goes on television and uses racial slurs to describe Anglos, all is fine in Quebec mullahland.
When the Anglos are described as colonialist, exploiters, cultural imperialists and purveyors of cultural genocide, all is fair.

Actually, it is all fair. It is called free speech.

You can call us what you will, and we can do the same.

I make no threats, I only describe what I see as possibilities. If those predictions are irksome, so be it.
 
I shall leave this subject with a small lesson for French language mullahs to consider, even though the exercise will surely go for naught.


Here is a picture of the NHL's president Gary Bettman that was re-printed in a Quebec sports blog.
I won't name the blog, it is of no consequence, because they did nothing wrong.

Now the picture has been Photoshopped to include bullet holes, likely indicating humorously the displeasure that the author holds over the NHL lockout and who he or she holds to fault.

Is this HATE?

I think you'd all agree it is not, just good fun, perhaps in bad taste, but nothing more.

Is this website making a THREAT?

Here's where I need Quebec language mullahs to concentrate and consider..

What if this website, Nodogsoranglophones, printed a picture of Pauline Marois with those same bullet holes?
What would their reaction be?
How many phone calls and emails would be directed to the police?
I'll let readers answer that question and I'll ask the language mullahs to respond honestly.

As for calling Peekists or language mullahs xenophobes or racists, that is the free right of the press and whether those targeted don't like it, is entirely beside the point.

As for Mr. Beaulieu's contention that it is the Anglos who are ratcheting up the language tension, all I can say is that he has the credibility of an ignorant, fanatical mullah calling on the faithful to wage Jihad on the West, because we have insulted Islam.

Nobody, but nobody in this province is more responsible for upsetting whatever linguistic harmony we have and to listen to him whine about unfair treatment is galling to the nth degree.

As to whether these people are xenophobes and racists, on Monday, I'm going to offer two devastating examples that proves that they are.

As for Imperatif francais, it isn't a hate website, it is an ignorant website, run by small-minded anglophobes, who go into convulsions at the sight of a hand-painted, 'waitress wanted" sign.

Like the SSJB, they work to create discord.
After all, if every one of their demands concerning language and culture were met, sovereignty support would plummet even farther into never-never land.

Just like the mullahs who promote hate against the west, Quebec's language militants are working hard towards creating conflict, division and hate, in a vain efforts to drive Quebecers towards sovereignty via fear and enmity.

Reader Chronicles....Volume One

 Today we start what I hope will become a regular feature of this blog, stories written by our contributors detailing their personal experiences as an anglo or ethnic from Quebec.

These stories may include a description of growing up in Quebec, moving away, moving here, what it is like to be an ex-patriot, your early, medium or late childhood as an anglo, comparisons between life here and elsewhere, school life, work environment and community life, not in the least;
You don't have to give your name and can leave out specific details in order to protect your anonymity
Here is our first contribution;

A Brief Chronicle of my Youth
BY ED BROWN

 I was born in 1936.  Hitler and Mussolini were sabre rattling across Europe. My father taught me to read at four years of age using the comics in the Montreal Star which came out in mid afternoon with a later version at 6 pm.
My  grandfather had been Mayor in Moncton, New  Brunswick  for many years in the 30's and 40's so my father was indoctrinated in politics. He would sit me on his knee and after we had read the comics together, he would read me some of the articles that he felt  I could understand. At the supper table he would discuss the world situation with my mother. I noticed that while he did this, my sisters would gab to each other. As an ardent eavesdropper, I couldn't understand how they would not want to know what was going on around them. I  listened and learned.

    At age six  I fully felt the fear of war as my two uncles were in the Dieppe raid. One of whom was close to us and I loved him very much. He survived but was killed in France a few years later. I could not understand why he died protecting a country that Frenchmen here refused to defend. My close friend  Marcel Bedard spoke English well with a heavy accent and could not understand why my uncles were allowed to go and his weren't. He said they were told in Church that war is a sin.
    After the war there were tears and jubilation. Men who had been away for six years  ('38 to '45 many went before the war started, to bolster England's defences) finally arrived home among us. Some to find out that women they loved had tired of waiting and found someone else. Others to find that children had been mysteriously born in their absence. These children were passed off  as war orphans of which there were many and life went on.

     There was no lack of jobs on the English side but by 1950 companies like Bell and CNR were demanding grade nine (second high) for  menial jobs and full high school for office or executive positions. This made it difficult for francophones to get hired as many had not gone to high school at all.  Claiming a grade nine education, I became a teller at the Dominion Bank on Rachel street. Each of the four tellers balanced off fifty thousand in cash every day. We were right in the Jewish business district and most payrolls were paid in cash. We each had a forty five hand gun in our cage which we  kept under the counter out of sight. The police came once for an accidental alarm and they were angry because they only had thirty eight revolvers.

Most of Verdun at that time was forested. From Woodland avenue out toward LaSalle, it  was all bush. We had apple and pear trees in our yard. Watching ships go through the canal was interesting. Squeezing through the bridges and the locks, men from all over the world could reach out and touch your hand. The canal and rail lines were an anathema to bus drivers. Sometimes after waiting for a hundred car freight train to pass on the tracks that ran between St. James and Notre Dame, a boat would be coming through the canal and the bridge started turning to signify another long wait. The Seaway cleared up the boat problem and the tracks have been rerouted and removed.

    The Laurentian mountains area was the holiday camps for poor people. Both C.N. And C.P. had lines running through them. It enabled cheap transport to children's summer camps, family cottages and rentals for short or whole summer periods. In 1942  my grandmother came over from Ireland. My mother had rented a cottage in Weir, between Lac des Seize Iles and Huberdeau. Since my father worked for C.N. (auditor of passenger accounts) his long service gave us passes to travel. He  had been exempted from the war because his work in the railway was considered essential. At that time rail was the only link completely connecting Canada. Movement of  POWs (Prisoner Of War) was under his responsibility.

    My grandmother felt Verdun was too bustling for her. The telephone and doorbell annoyed her. “I've no idea why anyone would want one of the damn things. The door is open why do they have to ring the bloody bell.” My grandmother was born and raised and worked on the docks of Dublin and she could out-swear any sailor. The only time she went to mass was Christmas eve.

    My father arranged with our neighbour who was a warden at the Catholic Church to pay for the seats. They charged fifty cents to discourage people who only came at Christmas and took the place of regulars. It was 1950. I was fourteen and being the only regular church goer in the family I was elected to take her. My father gave me the one dollar for both seats and we left. Arriving at the Church our neighbour stated “That will be a dollar for the seats.”  Grandma perked up and said, loudly  “Jesus, Mary and Holy St. Anthony, what do ya mean a dollar. for the seats? Sure we don't want to buy them, we only want to park our arse on them.” People in the pews were looking back to see what the commotion was. Our neighbour glared at me with a look that said get her under control. I don't remember how I did it, but I did. Most of that evening is a blur, thankfully.  The upshot is that my grandmother took over the cottage at Weir and we rented it year round. 

    My father bought a two room house in the forties and it was decided that until he built another room I would live with my grandmother in the country. It was wonderful. Gram didn't care where I was or what I did, I was free to roam the wilderness. I slept under a great fir tree near Pike lake on the Log Road, swam in the lake and the creek, ate berries and went home when I was really hungry.

 School was the Anglican Church. In winter, each of the six  boys in the village school had to bring a log for the pot belly stove which was in the center of the  room. The two girls were exempt. My grandmother gave me the smallest log she could find. The Schoolmaster said I would be strapped if I didn't bring bigger logs. Gram said “To hell with him, it's not him that chops them it's me.  I need them here.” I was thinking, “wait a minute it's me that chops them,”  but I knew it was no use, so I found a solution. We usually dropped our logs in the snow and played outside the school. When I saw the school master appear I would grab someone else's log and dash inside. I made sure to grab a different boys log each day so no one noticed.

    I spent two years with her and went home to hard labour. My father had added two more rooms to the house and decided to dig out the basement. Since the house came with three lots, I was given the job of running the wheelbarrows that my father and uncle filled with earth up a ramp and into the empty lots beside. The wet mud was heavy. To get the  barrow moving I had to make my skinny twelve year old body stiff and lean over until my nose was almost touching the mud. At the end of the summer I had a pair of shoulders like Gordie Howe  It was 1948, I was going to high school and felt ready to take on the world.  

    By 1952 all was right with the world. Mayor Camille Houde, having been let out of prison was back in form in Montreal and Maurice  'Le Chef'  Duplessis was at the helm in Quebec. Duplessis was against the separatists. He wanted stability and order and we got it. Montreal on the other hand was still Houdeville. Clubs and gambling were wide open much to the joy of the young  men, twenty four hours a day. The cops were bribeable and tough. They only arrested you if you gave them a hard time. First they would beat the hell out of you. On Friday and Saturday night there was two cops on each of the four corners at St. Laurent and St.Catherine, each with a truncheon in his hand.
   
 Night life on the lower main was grand. In the many western clubs where live bands played Hank Williams type music the beer was forty cents per quart. A dime tip to the waiter was considered good. Inside the clubs you were protected by the pegre. It stayed that way until Mayor Drapeau decided to lean on the clubs and gambling houses, The gangsters needed money, so we started to have a bank robbery per day in the city.

    Peace reigned until the election of Jean Lesage and a Liberal government . They took control of education and the welfare system and made it a provincial responsibility. They pumped millions into education. The quiet revolution began to form in the mind of the education minister, a man called Rene Levesque. 
                                                                          Ed Brown.

                  
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Why Anglos Hate Pauline.

Most of we Anglos and Ethnics who have chosen to remain in Quebec all these years, are a hardy and resilient lot.
Depending on our age, we have survived various Parti Quebecois governments and separatist premiers starting with  René Lévesque through those who came after,  Pierre-Marc Johnson,  Jacques Parizeau,  Lucien Bouchard,  and Bernard Landry.

I don't think that I'm talking out of turn in saying that few of us were thrilled with the previous PQ governments and the Premiers that led them, but it seems to me that Pauline Marois, who hasn't even started her turn as Premier, is by far the most disliked despised, feared and unpopular among the lot.

That's my opinion but I daresay that in talking with those around me, it accurately reflects the sentiment of our community.

Our ultimate disdain is certainly not based on the fact that she is a woman, the question of gender is certainly beside the point. While chauvinists would argue that women aren't forceful enough to be leaders, nobody would argue that Pauline hasn't got the intestinal fortitude to lead, she may not be a Margret Thatcher but she certainly is no Elizabeth May.

So what is the difference between Pauline and almost all of her above-mentioned predecessors?
Actually, quite a lot.

"With Jacques Parizeau, it was like an army behind a general, says former PQ minister Louise Beaudoin. René Lévesque was charismatic, emotional and passionate. Lucien Bouchard, was theatrical, it was inspiring. Pauline Marois?

While none of these sovereigntist leaders were perfect, far from it, none were particularly 'scary' and none went out of the way to antagonize Anglos, at least not to the extent that Pauline does.

The first and foremost difference between Pauline and them, is the fact that they all were fluent in English, she sounds like she has never heard the language spoken in her life and perhaps she hasn't.

On the rarest of occasions when she offers a short comment in English, she speaks as if she is trying to repeat phonetically something that was prepared for her beforehand. At best, the effort is sadly amusing, at its worst, shockingly embarrassing .
When she speaks English, her handlers stand beside her anxiously, like a mother attending a kindergarten recital, hoping upon hope that little Paulina will not embarrass herself by botching the three lines she has memorized by rote!
One of the basic rules of politics is not to speak in a language where you are handicapped, even if you can manage a few words. Speaking English so poorly, she looks weak and confused, not a particularly good look for someone running a province.
But the real problem relating to her lack of English is not communication, the problem has to do with the optic that unilingualism imposes, which is a complete and utter lack of understanding of another culture.
Her lack of English indicates a narrow and cloistered life and quite honestly, a closed and restricted mind.
While it may be perfectly acceptable for many Quebecers to remain unilingual, their circumstances allow for it, it remains unacceptable for the Premier of Quebec, a province that is surrounded (as we are so often reminded by sovereigntists) by a sea of English.

All that  being said, the overwhelming  reason we hate Pauline so much is the fact that she went out of the way to antagonize us during the election campaign.
She deliberately beat us up in order to appeal to the hardliners she was trying to win away from the two other more militant sovereigntist parties.
Because of the emergence of a third party, the CAQ, Pauline strategized that she could win the election by appealing to the hardliners, hoping the majority in the middle would split the vote.

It was a cruel, cold and cutthroat move, throwing a whole community under the bus for crass political gain.

During the campaign, she put forward the most ridiculous hardline and repressive policies, none of which could possibly work and most quite illegal, all in an effort to woe away Quebec solidaire and Option Nationale voters. 
In the end, her strategy worked... somewhat.
She may have won the election with 32% of the vote, but even her supporters are loath to admit that it was largely a Pyrrhic victory.
Pauline alienated more than she won over and all the election proved is that if the Liberals had anyone else at the helm except Jean Charest, Pauline would have lost the entire election to a Liberal majority and would today find herself pulling the knives out of her back in the finest tradition of the Parti Quebecois.

In assessing Pauline's character, the only tool that I can think of,  takes me back to college where I recall studying the code of Roman Personal Virtues, which remains surprisingly useful today;

"These are the qualities of life to which every citizen (and, ideally, everyone else) should aspire. They are the heart of the Via Romana — the Roman Way — and are thought to be those qualities which gave the Roman Republic the moral strength to conquer and civilize the world. Today, they are the rods against which we can measure our own behavior and character, and we can strive to better understand and practice them in our everyday lives." Wikipedia

Here is a sampling of these virtues and how Pauline stacks up;

'Comitas'..."Humour" Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
Nobody, not even her closet allies and friends could ever define Pauline as such.

'Clementia'..."Mercy" Mildness and gentleness.
FAIL...

'Dignitas' "Dignity" A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
FAIL...

'Firmitas'..."Tenacity" Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
When it comes to the political issues of the day, Pauline has flipped-flopped more times than a trained seal at Marineland.
In the election campaign, Marois did a 180 degree turn on at least three occasion, after public reaction to her announced policies went south.

'Gravitas'..."Gravity" A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
FAIL...

'Honestas' "Respectibility" The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
FAIL....

'Humanitas'..."Humanity" Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
FAIL...

'Industria' "Industriousness" Hard work.
I give her this one, she's definitely a keener...

'Pietas' ..."Dutifulness" a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. 
FAIL...

'Prudentia'..."Prudence" Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
Big fat FAIL...

'Severitas'..."Sternness" Gravity, self-control.
FAIL...

'Veritas'...Truthfulness" Honesty in dealing with others.
Big fat FAIL...

Think I was too hard on her?......Please tell me where?
Can somebody please describe her positive attributes. Scouring vigile.net you'd be hard-pressed to find too many articles describing Pauline in a flattering manner, this from militant sovereigntists.

Here is another point that separates her from the other Premiers, who were all stabbed in back by those in the PQ seeking new leadership.
Pauline would actually fall into the category of the backstabber. Remember Gilles Duceppe?

Then there is one last reason to despise her, her husband the utterly detestable Claude Blanchet, who will happily embrace the title of First Lady Husband of the Province.
With his record, he will somehow turn the unpaid position into a cash cow.

But hold on.
Interestingly, there is another reason we are taking such a hard and aggressive position towards Marois.

Can it be, (shudder!) that the nutbar who tried to kill Pauline actually touched on a truth when he shouted his warning?

"Les Anglais se réveillent!"..."The English are Rising!" 

Is nobody in the mainstream Press, the media or the blog community willing to entertain the possibility that what he said might might have some truth to it, or is it too frightening to even contemplate?

Many francophones I've talked expressed a fear that things will escalate and that the warning was serious.

I get a sense that our community is getting close to drawing a line in the sand and we are now subconsciously testing the boundaries.

All these hateful manifestations towards Marois and the PQ, the Facebook messages of hate is nothing compared to the water cooler talk in the office and dinner conversations around the kitchen table in English homes.
I am starting to believe that the English and Ethnic community is ready to push back, taking our cue from the students who showed how easily and effectively it is to descend society into chaos.

While Marois is talking about doubling or tripling the amount of language inspectors, she should be aware of the seriously destructive pushback on the way and like Charest who underestimated the damage the students could inflict, Marois would be best advised to mind her P's and Q's.