Quebec's War of the Poppies

Like just about every issue in Quebec, language, sovereignty and political allegiances tinge the debate, so it's not surprising that when it comes to Remembrance Day and it associated trappings of the poppy and military pomp and circumstance, forces collide.

Last week, the Canadian legion and anglophone forces in general were up in arms because Pauline Marois placed a Fleur-de-lys at the center of her Poppy.

"Desecration!" they shouted, raising such a din that Pauline decided that in this case, discretion would be the better part of valour and so removed the offending accoutrement.

But sovereigntists leapt to her defence, reminding anyone who would listen that adding a Maple leaf or a Canadian flag to the poppy has always been  acceptable. 
 

And so  readers, I'm afeared that in this case, the evidence falls on the side of  those supporting Marois, the argument summed neatly by the old saying... What is sauce for the goose, est bonne pour le jars."

It really shouldn't be a big deal, but of course it is, this is Quebec, where nationalists have always had a problem with Remembrance Day, not because it celebrates the sacrifices of Canadian (and Quebec) soldiers but because the military is seen as a federalist trapping, based on the British model and closely associated with the hated monarchy.

Canada's  Royal 22^e Régiment

Last year when Prince William and Kate visited Quebec City, the  royal couple spoke before a parade of Quebec's most storied regiment, the Royal 22nd, known affectionately as the 'Vandoos.' Link

As you can see from the pictures, the dress uniforms of the regiment closely resemble those of the Queen's Guard, familiar to anyone who has seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, in person or on the TV and it's something that irks nationalists to no end. 
The fact that so many enthusiastic Quebecers turned out to greet the Royal couple was also a bitter pill for nationalists to swallow, having prepared a counter-demonstration, which was kept 
well away from the proceedings.

Great Britain's Queen's Guards

But today's nationalist's problem with Canada's military, goes back a lot longer than the royal visit last summer, probably back to 1940, when conscription was the burning issue of the day.
Quebec had been promised by the federal government that in return for its electoral support, conscription would not be introduced in Canada.
Two years later, a plebiscite was held wherein Ottawa asked the nation for permission to go back on that promise.
The Yes side won, allowing the government to renege, but in Quebec, francophones voted 85% against the proposition and the betrayal and broken promise outraged the province.

Many Quebec government MPs left the William Lyon Mackenzie King government in protest to set up the Bloc populaire canadien.   Hmm...Sound familiar?

And so, all single men up to forty-five were required to register for the draft.
This set off a panic in Quebec, the Church and the government furiously denouncing conscription with many politicians advising citizens not to coöperate, resulting in violent anti-conscription riots in Montreal and Quebec city.
In an effort to thwart the draft, the Church advised young men to get married and organized mass outdoor weddings, held in places like Montreal's Jarry Park.
Many young men just disappeared, some even hiding in the forests like cowards, but to most Quebecers, these draft-dodgers were highly respected for their 'bravery' and were even referred to in the popular press as 'les patriotes.'
At any rate, the number of men actually drafted were few and less than 2,500 draftees went overseas, with less than seventy making the ultimate sacrifice.

Years later, the unpopularity of the war in Quebec and the organized resistance to conscription became an embarrassment and humiliation for nationalists.
Statements like this, made by Montreal mayor Camillien Houde in 1939 came back to haunt them;

"If war comes, and if Italy is on one side and England on the other, the sympathy of the French-Canadians in Quebec will be on the side of Italy. Remember that the great majority of French-Canadians are Roman Catholics, and that the Pope is in Rome. We French-Canadians are Normans, not Latins, but we have become Latinized over a long period of years. The French-Canadians are Fascists by blood, but not by name. The Latins have always been in favour of dictators."

Many in Quebec, like in France and some in England supported Mussolini and Hitler at the war's beginning and when victory was finally declared and the real horror story of European fascism was revealed, they realized that they had backed the wrong horse.

In 1992  Esther Delisle, published The Traitor and the Jew, a bombshell which explored prewar fascism and antisemitism in Quebec. The book ripped apart Lionel Groulx and other fascists, something that nationalist could not endure. The book caused such a ruckus that the author was vilified as the real traitor, her honest, yet mortifying description of Quebec in the years leading up to the war, unbearable and impossible to digest, fifty years after the fact.

Those nationalists who created the sovereignty movement back in the sixties remember the war years as a humiliation, not only because opposition to conscription looked cowardly in retrospect but also because of the deep fascist attachment that many in the anti-conscription movement held.

Like some Irish today, who still cannot abide the British military, history plays an important part in understanding why wearing the red poppy to nationalist Quebecers is so distasteful.

And so Quebec nationalists have consistently boycotted Remembrance Day ceremonies, the poppy a painful reminder of the inglorious past.
French schools, controlled by left-leaning nationalists, make a special effort to ignore Remembrance Day with the unfortunate result that most Quebec Francophones of this generation are painfully unaware of it significance.

Although the percentage of Quebecers answering the call to arms was smaller than in the rest of Canada, many did volunteer and served bravely, and sorrowfully, many did not come home.
It remains a bit sad that because of the cowardice of some, the bravery of others is swept under the carpet in Quebec.
I imagine that the sacrifice of those francophones Quebecers who did serve honourably, makes the humiliation of those who did not, all the more painful.

At any rate, in a change of tactics and in an effort to be seen as respecting the war dead, a nationalist group came up with a Blue Poppy, something they could wear to honour the dead, without honouring the Canadian military itself.

In a video recorded at a cenotaph ceremony in Quebec City last year, Denis Julien explained that because of the Blue Poppy, Quebec sovereigntists can show their respect for fallen soldiers, without participating in ceremonies dominated by a Canadian military that they did not support. Watch the speech{fr}

You know readers, that's something I can live with, even though a lot of you won't agree and I fully expect to take flack for that opinion. 
The Blue poppy allows some Quebecers, who would otherwise not, honour those who served and sacrificed.
From what I saw in the videos the ceremonies where dignified and respectful and if it contributes to Quebecers understanding the efforts of those who answered the call, I cannot complain...

As if the competing Blue and Red poppies weren't enough, Quebec has now seen the birth of another entry, the 'white' poppy.

Largely a creation of Quebec leftists and Quebec solidaire, the white poppy pays respect to all the victims of war.

"As noted by the group, wearing the white poppy also aims to dissociate one from the tendency of some political powers that use the "Remembrance Day" to justify wars and increasing militarism.

Read a story about the backlash to the White poppy. Link

Remembrance Day in Quebec...it's very complicated.

I was reminded by a reader, of a piece I wrote two years ago about Quebec's general disrespect of Remembrance Day.
It still is relevant and a good read for this weekend (if I do say so myself) in the run up to Remembrance Day.
Read:  Annual Remembrance Day Embarrassment in Quebec

I bet many of you have never attended a Remembrance Day ceremony, other then standing at attention in school at eleven o'clock.

This year Remembrance Day falls on a Sunday, so there's an opportunity for you to attend.
If you have children, take them to see the vets, I know the effort is appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

Montreal -The Rottenest City North of the Rio Grande

As the Charbonneau Inquiry drones on, a disgusting parade of corrupt city officials and crooked businessmen are spilling their guts, confessing their decades of thievery, not because of remorse but rather because everything they say before the commission cannot be used against them in court.

Although they all proclaim a sense of shame and regret, two of the principle witnesses moved to protect their assets by selling their homes to family members for one dollar, hardly an act of contrition.

At any rate, a tawdry picture of institutional corruption is revealed, so pervasive and encompassing that it is not hyperbole or exaggeration to describe it as mind-boggling.

Watching the HBO drama entitled Boardwalk Empire, the saga of crooked politicians running Atlantic City during prohibition, I can sadly conclude that our cast of villainous rogues at city hall could give poor Nucky, the chief villain of the show, a run for his money. 

On Monday, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay resigned, fatally wounded by allegations that he walked out of a room where corrupt practices were being discussed by fundraisers of his Union Montreal municipal party, telling the room as he departed that he didn't want to hear what was about to be discussed.
 I honestly don't believe Tremblay took any money for himself, but by burying his head in the ground like the proverbial ostrich, he gave his tacit support to the illicit shenanigans.

In his resignation speech, a bitter Tremblay told the audience that he wasn't dishonest, but that the corruption in Montreal city hall is so entrenched and overwhelming that he wasn't in a position to do much about it. According to his story, he was a victim, not a crook....ahem.

Over a year ago, Jacques Duchesneau met with the mayor discreetly to warn him that four senior members of the mayor's entourage had been identified by his anti-corruption unit as bent. As of yesterday, when the mayor resigned, some of these people were still on the job.

I can sympathize with the mayor's impossible position where if he denounced his inner circle as corrupt, he may as well have tossed his political career in the garbage, the re-cycling bin not even an option because there's no recovering from that type of political hit.

And so the situation at Montreal City Hall can only be described as a kleptocracy, a government defined by its greed and corruption.
Even for a cynic like me, it is hard to understand how such unlawful activities could remain undiscovered and unreported for decades.

Where were the whistle-blowers, the investigative journalists and where were the politicians?
I would hope that there are actually some honest ones among the thieves.

It seems that Montreal was engulfed by the Perfect Storm of corruption, where all the components and elements; the construction contractors, the politicians, the city employees and the outside engineering firms, ALL conspired to defraud Montreal taxpayers of billions of dollars.

Imagine a hockey game where all the players on both teams, all the coaches, the referees, the team owners and the league all conspire to fix the outcome of a game.
Under these circumstance what chance do the fans have to watch an honest match.

For me, the fact that most of the engineering/consulting firms dealing with government are corrupt is particularly disheartening.
Just yesterday the anti-corruption unit UPAC raided four of these firms in Laval, including DESSAU, up to now, a proud fixture representing Quebec know-how. Link
That these large and supposedly professional companies, stocked with the best and the brightest minds are corrupt enterprises boggles the mind. We've already been rocked by allegations against SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec and international behemoth.

It's like finding out your health clinic, run by professionals and doctors was systematically defrauding patients by overcharging.
When will these revelations end?

Some in the Press are clamouring for harsh new rules and penalties, but it isn't the only answer.

Obviously an outside auditor can easily verify the integrity of a construction contract by comparing elements within. If the quoted price of say... concrete in Montreal, is double what is being paid in Quebec City (which was actually the case)  it doesn't take a genius to cry foul. But in Montreal, as I said, even the auditor is corrupt.

But even diligent oversight is not enough when so many of the players are corrupt. 
Here is a con that was described at the Charbonneau commission whereby a crooked city employee who was in charge of preparing the tender, falsified the requirements to favour his crooked construction company cohort..
Let us pretend that the actual project called for ten metric tons of concrete, the tender was written to include 18 tons of concrete and all the contractors based their submission including the cost of the fictitious extra concrete. The crooked contractor has been warned beforehand that he could complete the project using just the ten tons and so could easily underbid the others. Dastardly!

Corruption is a state of mind, and eliminating it means acting decisively and ruthlessly.
Half-measures, that include keeping the same dirty players (including the politicians) on the payroll are bound to fail.

Half-measures are not enough.

That is why the city of Montreal needs to be placed under provincial trusteeship and a thorough cleansing undertaken, like a hospital that stops normal operations in light of a dangerous contagious outbreak.

Montreal is set for a municipal election in a year and during the interim a government appointed administrator should be installed.

Every single elected politician should be dismissed and all construction projects not already underway, put on hold, including the gazillion dollar rebuild of the Turcotte Exchange.

During the next year, a thorough house-cleaning should be undertaken, where corrupt employees are to be dismissed, as well as those who knew of the corruption and did nothing about it. As witness after witness testified, every senior employee at city hall participated or tolerated rampant corruption.

Aside from the human element, the province can re-invent the city's political structure, dumping the bloated and counter-productive system of decentralization including the positions of borough mayors and councils, slashing the ridiculous number of elected officials in the process.

Yes, by all means we need to institute new regulations. We need to enforce these rules diligently and we need to step up all aspects of good and honest governance.

But nothing short of trusteeship will restore taxpayer faith and hopefully the year-long interlude in municipal rehab will allow political forces to re-organize. I seriously doubt that Union Montreal will survive, but that is a good thing.
Those politicians who are honest should welcome the opportunity to re-brand under a new leader.

Will any of this happen?

You know the answer as well as I, but at least we can dream.

Pauline Steers a PQ Ship of Fools

During the election campaign that brought Pauline Marois to power, I fretted in several blog pieces that I didn't see much talent or experience on her roster, those who would make potentially good cabinet material.
After the election, the talent pool got even shallower and the pickings even slimmer as many of the more capable went down to electoral defeat.

Here is a brief review of the qualifications and experience that the new PQ cabinet members bring to the table. It isn't a pretty tale, with most woefully under-qualified and several so dogmatic that they actually pose a threat to our economy, democracy and way of life.

It's hard to condemn the whole kit and kaboodle so shortly after the election, but the monumental gaffes made in the first month augers poorly for the future and honestly when you start with shoddy construction material, it's impossible to build a very strong house.

Think I'm exaggerating?  ...Read on.

Let's start with the bottom row, those who represent the most important and powerful elements in the cabinet.

(Note; Clicking on the various cabinet ministers underlined names will take you to the National Assembly website detailing their biography)

One of the ministers that I held out hope for was Finance Minister, Nicolas Marceau who at least had some credentials as an economist which should have provided a strong foundation enabling him to succeed in the most important portfolio in the cabinet.
But alas his experience though impressive, is all academic and although a likable and charming character, he lacks the gravitas that a finance minister needs to exude.
Certainly he doesn't compare to Raymond Bachand who in all his years as finance minister under Charest looked and acted the part.
Marceau of course made a monumental gaffe in his first act as finance minister, when he announced that he was increasing taxes retroactively, a move so patently stupid, only someone who doesn't really understand tax law could commit such an egregious error. Soon after his announcement he was forced to retract the plan in the face of a public storm. It was to say the least, an embarrassing fiasco.
Usually those professionals in the Ministry, especially the deputy-minister, (who actually runs the department) would warn the Minister of the negative impact of such a reckless and rash policy, which leaves me to suspect somebody in the department wanted to teach the minister a lesson and hang him out to dry.
Either that or Marceau received advice that he refused to accept, I don't know which situation is worse.
At any rate he has become damaged material in the shortest of time, his credibility and confidence in shambles. Don't look for any bold policy decisions, as they say, once bitten twice shy.

 Then there is Marie Malavoy, a dishonest and hardline separatist (you'll remember, she was the one who broke the law on more than one occasion when she voted illegally while not even a citizen)

"Already howls of resistance are being raised and this on the francophone side where Malavoy is trying to put a sovereigntist and anti-English bent in the education of francophone children, despite overwhelming parental support for the wider teaching of English.

And so Madame Malavoy is rushing to restrict English in the early grades and is set to re-examine (and likely reverse) the not-yet implemented plan to give grade six students a half year taught exclusively in English as well as implementing other measures meant to indoctrinate and politicize students towards the PQ way of thinking. " Read my post Marie Malavoy is Quebec's Worst Nightmare

Like a Taliban mullah, she knows better than us and is ready to impose a dangerously narrow and regressive pedagogical regime.

Although Agnes Maltais has been a sitting member of the National assembly for over a decade, nothing in her record or in her background or experience would qualify her for the important portfolio of Labour Minister.
Armed only with a cegep degree, Maltais had a career in theatre where for the 18 years before she was elected to the National Assembly, she participated or was the director of various theatre companies, hardly a prerequisite for the job.
First elected in 1998, she spent the first couple of years in obscurity, perhaps a little timid as she remained firmly ensconced in the closet. When she came out in 2003 one expected to see her bloom but alas she remains a timid party hack with little drive and not much experience to depend on.  And so she remains a proxy for Marois, a Minister who serves at the beck and call of the Premier, much like Yolande James did for Jean Charest.
Incredibly, in addition to her duties as Labour minister she has also been named Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity AND Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
As if that wasn't enough, she is also the minister responsible for the Quebec City region.

The deputy Premier in the Marois cabinet is François Gendron who sits in the National Assembly since 1976, thirty-six years of mediocrity.
I bet you never even heard of him..

Mr. Gendron was a high school teacher and guidance counsellor before hitting the big time. Over 38 years he has built up am impressive resumé of committee and board appointments, none of which are the least bit important.
Chosen as deputy-Premier because of his steadfastness and because he represents no threat to Marois, he too brings little to the table, his experience way back when no preparation for his job as Minister of Agriculture.

Perhaps he doesn't need any real talent, the main job of the Minister of Agriculture is to shill for the UPA, Quebec's powerful farmer's monopoly that enforces rules and regulations that keeps the price of agricultural products artificially high.


That readers, is the power row of the Marois Cabinet, I shall save a review of Pauline's career and qualifications for a separate post.

If you weren't impressed, it is downhill from here, and so let me detail the bone fides of some of the other members of cabinet.

Jean-François Lisée is the Minister of International Relations and the designated point man in relation to the English community who is perhaps one of the cabinet's most dangerous fools.
He has written extensively about how wonderful the economic situation is in Quebec, almost all of his child-like missives thoroughly destroyed by brutal rebuttals in the blogosphere especially by a blogger named DAVID over at antagonist.net{Fr}
What makes Lisée so dangerous is that he is a fantasist who now has the power to act on his flights of fancy.
As of late Mr. Lisée is pandering to his constituency of language extremists, frightening Quebecers with the story that Montreal is going to the dogs (dogs= anglos & ethnics)
Read my blog piece Jean-François Lisée is Our Worst Nightmare

Diane de Courcy is another hardline ideologue who doesn't like the idea that employees be required to speak English as a condition of employment. Link

Madame De Courcy comes to government from the offices of the Commission scolaire de Montréal where she was the president of the largest and least successful school board in Quebec, boasting the highest dropout rate in the province country. (excluding native school boards)
Among Madame DeCourcy's bright ideas over at the school board was forbidding English (or any other foreign language from being spoken on the school playground)

Of all the ministers named, Martine Ouellet, is probably the most destructive nomination.

Jacques Brassard, an ex-PQ minister had plenty to say about her in a written opinion piece;

"But the worst is Martine Ouellet, a granola who occupies the most important economic Ministry of the State, that of natural resources. It is, I admit, the appointment that horrified me the most. 
It's like handing the  responsibility for guarding the hen house to the fox in the belief that it will encourage hens to lay eggs! Unbelievable!
The militant ecologist started to create havoc very quickly. Her statement concerning shale gas is an example of her ideological inflexibility. She has said that she doesn't foresee the day where secure technologies will allow for the exploration of shale gas! Aberrant!" Link{Fr}

Nicole Léger is the new Minister for Families and one of her first statements of public policy was to announce that she would force day cares to adopt entrance policies along the lines of Bill 101, in other words banning immigrants or francophones from attending English daycare.

This unguided missile was shot down quickly by Marois  and Diane DeCourcy who were none to pleased at the junior minister shooting her mouth off without prior consultation.

Madame Leger brings a wealth of experience to the table, she was an elementary school teacher and then a high school gym teacher before going to work for her famous papa as a secretary at Leger Marketing where she worked until her father's death.
Her biography tells us that she was a professional model for eight years, which is a little hard to believe, looking at her picture, but perhaps she was, ahem, .... a hand model!
Born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, she remains, just the same, a political lightweight.

 The rookie Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Élizabeth Larouche seems to  have earned the job by default because her seat is deep in native territory.
For fourteen years Madame Laroouche pedaled newspaper advertising space and radio time as a sales rep in the Abitibi region, before spending five years as a secretary.
But over that career she's been a dedicated PQer as her long record of involvement indicates.
What any of this has to do with natives, is beyond me. I don't even think she speaks English, a must for dealing with Quebec natives.

Bernard Drainville the Minister of Democratic Institutions, is an ex-Radio Canada reporter who starts his tenure as Minister pretty much discredited. His defining political project, that of consultative public referendums was  dumped by the government as its implications became clear. Link
Bitterly disappointed, Drainville never the less sucked it up and accepted the ministerial limousine in good grace.
Some of the ideas he put forward in the darkest days of the PQ last year were so ridiculous that its hard to take the man seriously, despite his strong academic accomplishments. Link
Drainville is dead to Marois and represents cabinet deadwood from day one.

Mako Kotto is the only true ethnic in the cabinet, born in the Cameroons and rewarded for his loyalty with the stewardship of the Ministry of Culture. 

Mr. Kotto was a second rate actor and an ex-bloc Quebecois candidate, who recycled himself into the PQ, much to the relief of the party which boasted only one other electable ethnic,  Djemila Benhabib, who was defeated in Trois-Rivieres.

It would be cruel of me to say that his biggest contribution to the cabinet (and the caucus) is the fact that he adds a little colour, but hey, political correctness has never been my forté.

Oddly his nomination doesn't sit well with many of the faithful who are off-put by a Black non-native Quebecer acting as the protector of Quebec culture.
As for competence, it doesn't take much to be the Minister of Culure, sign a few cheques to provide funding for Quebecois talent, show up to the Fete National celebrations and hobnob with Quebec artistes. Not a bad gig, if I do say so myself.
He's been around forever, never making much of an impression, but for the Marois government he is desperately important and like most sell-outs, he is a hardliner.

Marjolain Dufour is president of the caucus and the only cabinet member who held a blue collar job while toiling for ALCOA for many years as a labourer. He distinguished himself as a union organizer which he parlayed into a seat in the National Assembly.
With a high school education, his only practical experience seems to be that of a union organizer.
At least he earned an honest living...

Pascal Bérubé the new Minister of Tourism, is another lightweight whose experience is pretty much limited to being a student representative, vice-president of the now famous FEUQ student union. He worked for a while as a political aide, but hasn't really any qualifications at all. But tourism is another throw away cabinet position, with occasional trips to New York and Paris as a definite perk.

Daniel Breton, the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks is a hardline environmentalist.
His first brush with the press was not particularly auspicious as it was revealed that he was a member of a militant environmental group which he denied, notwithstanding the evidence to the contrary.

"In 2005, he founded the  MCN21 movement - 'Masters of the  21st century.'
The movement promotes renewable energy, the nationalization of wind energy on the model of the nationalization of electricity in 1963 and the gradual replacement of fossil fuels in Quebec. In 2010, he campaigned for a moratorium on the exploitation of shale gas in the St. Lawrence River Valley. Wikipedia{fr}

An ex-member of the Green party and the Ndp, he is also one of the most dangerous members of Pauline's cabinet, with the capacity and the will to forestall much needed economic development.

Sylvain Gaudreault is another political nobody who hasn't done much before arriving in the big leagues.
I do give him credit for tenacity, as an openly gay candidate he faced a cruel and sadistic campaign of homophobia, running in the least gay-friendly region of Quebec, the Saguenay.
That being said, there is absolutely nothing but nothing in his background that qualifies him to take on the Transport Ministry, especially with the ongoing corruption and incompetence levels plaguing the Ministry.
For the last seven years before being elected to the National Assembly, he was a cegep teacher of history and of media art.

Pierre Duchesne, as you might remember is a Radio-Canada journalist who quit his job after a promise from Pauline of a soft seat and a subsequent cabinet position.
He got into hot water even before the election, accused of continuing on in his job covering the National Assembly, while negotiating a job with the PQ, an egregious breach of ethics. His lame-ass denials were pitiful as he claimed that he first he quit his cushy job before negotiating a position with the PQ.
Mr. Duchesne left Radio-Canada on June 15th and was named a candidate for the PQ on June 30th. He then pretended that he never discussed a job before he left. Hmmm....
Unfortunately, Mr. Duchesne hasn't brought his journalistic integrity over with him from the CBC, he also spouts the nonsense about French being threatened in Montreal because of the mother-tongue issue;

"The sustainability of the Quebec nation is not guaranteed and the status quo won't guarantee it," Education Minister Pierre Duchesne said."We're a nationalist government that will do everything to promote this language" Link

It's hard to understand how such a hardliner could ever muster the required journalistic impartiality to conduct his job fairly, covering the National Assembly for all these years.
I remember Mario Dumont complaining that he was ambushed in an interview that he gave to Duchesne while he was leader of the ADQ.  Link{Fr}
At any rate, what his experience at Radio-Canada has to do with being Minister of Higher Education is beyond me and he remains just another political appointment without any qualifications at all.


Readers, that's enough for today, I've covered over half the cabinet and in truth, they represent the weakest elements.
The rest of the cabinet will be discussed at a later date, but suffice to say that the above collection of under-qualified political hacks represents a sad commentary on our political leadership.

Note the utter lack of business experience, almost everyone of these ministers cashed a government-funded or union cheque in one way or another, in their previous life.
Private industry, which actually pays the bills for all this is completely ignored and the under-representation of anglos is staggering.
Imagine, they couldn't even find one anglo sellout to fill out the ranks and foster the fiction of inclusiveness!

I seriously doubt that any of these cabinet ministers could successfully run a depanneur (which is not that easy.) and therein lies the problem.

While the media and the PQ government remains obsessed with language and sovereignty, the issues of good governance is ignored by all.

Almost all of the above are woefully out of touch with reality and have spent their professional life in a vacuum, sitting on committees and working in jobs surrounded by like-minded, out-of-touch unionists, functionaries and political wanks.

It's frightening, not because of this government's sovereigntist bent (which is a pipe dream), but rather its utter lack of experience and know-how in running a functioning $75 billion enterprise, which is the ship of state.

But no matter, Pauline is sailing on, captaining a crew of willing fools and dullards, with the certitude of the ignorant faithful.
As I watch radical mullahs from the Middle East on television, lecturing us on the superiority of Islamic fundamentalism, I feel a painful dose of deju vu.

We have our own dogmatic fools here in Quebec who feed us the same insane nonsense, that is that Francophones are in mortal danger of assimilation and unless they wage an unremitting language war and vote for sovereignty they will be destroyed by the great Satan.
Just like the Islamist mullahs, they cannot see or comprehend the economic cost of their policies and frankly, to most it just doesn't matter.

It is as if we have given control of the family budget to our twelve-year old daughter who decides to spend half the family budget on Justin Bieber tickets,  a perfectly sound and rationale investment according to her.

The saddest part of all, is that on Pauline's ship of fools, it is we the taxpayers who are forced to provide the muscle, condemned to an eternity of hard labour, nothing more than slaves rowing in a galley.
.
.
.

As I said before, I'll devote a post to Pauline herself and her suitability to be Premier, it won't be pretty.

French versus English Volume 66

Census data has all of Quebec atwitter

Wildly different opinions

I don't know of any society in this world which is as obsessed with a population census as we are in Quebec.
It is probably because the census provides concrete evidence of the rise or decline of language groups in Canada and particularly in Quebec.

The information is pretty cut and dried, but is subject to various subjective interpretations and bare-faced feats of cherry-picking by those wishing to push a particular language agenda.

Perhaps we can use the line from a Broadway musical to best describe the census;

"Something for everyone-A comedy tonight!"

French media coverage overwhelmingly pushed the alarmist line that French is in dangerous decline;

Le français poursuit son déclin au Québec
(French continues its decline in Quebec)
Le français toujours en déclin sur l'île de Montréal
(French declining in Montreal) 
Recensement 2011 : Le début de la fin du Québec français?

(2011 Census-the Beginning of the end of French?) 

While over on the English side, journalists had an opposite take on the subject;

Census shows language laws working
French ‘in decline’? It’s your fault
Montreal’s language affairs are not in a ‘catastrophic’ state

Oh well......

The media stories are a stark reminder of the different perceptions between Anglophones and Francophones.

In a survey polling attitudes of Canadians living in the National Capital region, which includes Hull and Ottawa, it's startling to note the differences.
The survey included three distinct groups, Ontario Anglophones, Ontario Francophones and Quebec Francophones and asked a variety of language and patriotism questions.

Read the story about the poll in the Ottawa Citizen

How obsessed are Quebec journalists with language?
A Victoriaville newspaper actually devoted a newspaper column describing it's language situation in regards to the new census which indicates that French as the mother tongue of local citizens has collapsed from a high of 98.7% back in 2001 to a disturbing 97.2% in 2011, a dangerous tilt towards Anglicization, no doubt! Link{Fr}

For a review of how language is broken down in Canada's major cities, read this article in the Vancouver Sun

Race for UQAM rectorship absolutely fabulous

Ex-union president and militant separatist Gerald Larose is vying for the top  position of UQAM, otherwise known as Separatist U.

I must admit that Mr. Larose would be a perfect fit, he typifies exactly the schools ultra-left wing/separatist philosophy and is a supporter of big government, entitlements and higher taxes.
He would fit in perfectly with all the dreamers, under-performers, fantasists and student layabouts that are the hallmark of UQAM.

There is only one small problem.
In applying for the job, Mr. Larose seems to have fudged his curriculum vitæ in claiming that he occupied a 'chair' at the university.

"In the CV submitted to the selection committee, Mr. Larose claimed  that he is the Chair of the socio-economic integration of unemployed persons at UQAM.  
The catch? This chair does not exist."

Mr. Larose was called out on the apparent misstatement  oversight  deception  error  boo-boo during a debate organized between the competing candidates. Link{fr}

The whole issue is growing into a real controversy after a professor defended Larose, saying that there are no hard and fast rules defining what actually constitutes a 'chair.' Link{Fr}
But this opinion was hotly rejected by Mario Morin, dean of the Faculty of Sciences at UQAM, who told le Devoir that such is not the case and that there are clear and precise criteria defining what is a 'chair'

"As Dean, I want to emphasize that this strict oversight has resulted in exceptional contributions from the Research Chairs at UQAM."Link{Fr}

Pauline's intensive English lessons paying off

Who says you can't learn another language later in life?
This was her a few short months ago;

 and this is her now ;

Quelle Différence!!

English civil servants lag Francophones in learning second language

"Despite his efforts to become bilingual, Michael Ferguson, the Auditor General of Canada, is finding it difficult, as are many civil servants in "passing the language proficiency test."

A newspaper story, claims that Prime Minister Harper regrets having named a unilingual English speaker to the job of Auditor General. Link

Mr Ferguson got a serious dressing down from Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe a Ndp MP from Quebec, who was frustrated by Ferguson's pitiful French.

"Mr. Ferguson, I appreciate very much your effort to speak in French, but unfortunately I think the committee is not the place to practice and I think I deserve a quick and efficient answer as much as my colleagues," she snapped.
"Is it possible to ask you to answer in English." Link
Ouch!!

According to a report Francophone civil servants are doing much better than their English counterparts in acquiring the 'other' official language.

Here is a summary of pass rates for tests for civil servant learning...

Written expression...... French 58%  English 80%  (Levels A, B, C)
Written expression...... French 45%  English 74%  (advanced)
Written comprehension...... French 76%  English 93%  (Levels A, B, C)
Oral comprehension...... French 67%  English 81%  (Levels A, B, C)

These courses are mandatory for certain civil servants who are not fluent in the other official language but are required to be so as part of their job description.
The number of civil servants who are deficient fell from 1.7% to 1% over the last five years  Link{Fr}

In another bilingualism story, the federal government is set to waste spend tens of thousands of dollars to offer one-on-one language training, for up to a year, to an employee with a learning disability and who has extreme difficulty learning French.
The government is ready to blow a whopping $100,000 to provide a personal tutor for up to 1700 hours of French lessons. Read the story

Not enough French instruction in Shawville English school

"A group of anglophone Quebecers in the Pontiac are upset over a language restriction they feel has been forced upon them: They aren’t getting enough French. At issue is the curriculum of Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School in Shawville.
Five years ago, the school had 320 students; now it has 220. Parents say the reason for the decline is the fact that many families don’t think the school teaches enough French. Worried that their children won’t become bilingual, a growing number of those parents are choosing to bus their kids to more distant French-board schools" Read the rest of the story

Another Montreal metro ticket taker flies off the language handle

Last Thursday I made this prediction;

 "So get set to see more sandwich throwers, more refusals by paramedics, metro ticket takers and bus drivers to speak English, they are being encouraged to do so." Link

 That prediction, in light of the story below, may seem somewhat prescient, but before taking too much credit for my ability to look into a crystal ball, it wasn't much of a stretch.

When you feed some poor shlub liquor the whole night, give him his car keys and send him on his way, it isn't much of a stretch to anticipate trouble.
Responsibility for all  these incidents can be laid directly at the door of language hotheads.

"A Montreal woman said she wants charges pressed against a public transit worker who she says assaulted her and ordered her to 'go back to your country,' after a disagreement over a faulty automatic metro fare machine....
....She said the woman told her to speak French and said, 'Go back to your country.'
Barak said that remark left her furious, and she then used a nearby telephone to lodge a complaint....
"At that moment, she was knitting — and she was giving me the finger at the same time," Barak said. "I told her, 'I am going to make sure you lose your job for what you said to me.'"
She said the clerk dropped her knitting, emerged from the booth, put her in a headlock and started to punch her repeatedly.
She said three witnesses, other commuters, stepped in to separate the pair. Read more

Now readers, I'm not going to comment on the veracity of the story, we've only heard one side...but..

I am reminded of a story told to me concerning a road rage incident where an acquaintance admitted to playing chicken with another driver, who took serious offence, got out of the car at a red light and charged him with a makeshift weapon, a snow scraper he had lying in his car.

The man was subsequently arrested and appeared before a judge where he was convicted of assault. 

"Why only me, he asked the judge, what about the other guy?"

The judge looked down from the bench and told him sternly that he is solely responsible because it is he who got out of the car......Case closed!

I think the ticket taker is in real trouble, not only with her job, but in the eyes of the law, that is if she really left her booth.....and readers, there is almost certainly a video of the incident, but count on the STM to guard it with its life.

Lost in all this is the fact that when confronted, the ticket agent was calmly knitting in her booth. I can only imagine the arrogance, to be goldbricking in plain sight.
If she isn't fired for attacking a client, perhaps a supervisor can gently remind her to restrict her hobby to her own time.
But hey, this is the STM and Quebec, where unionized employees are as hard to get rid of as stubborn case of herpes.

By the way, when the ticket taker realized or was told what kind of trouble she looking at, she hightailed it to the hospital feigning injury in an attempt to showcase herself as a victim.
Well-played!

Here is a quote from the insufferable Marvin Rotrand, a Montreal politician and one of the faithful apologists at the STM. Mr. Rotrand must love the gig, he long ago sold out his soul;

“The STM does not compel employees to speak any language other than French.
The STM notes that under Bill 101, it is not allowed to require employees to know a language other than French. There can be exceptions to the rule, in cases where “the nature of the duties requires such knowledge.”
The STM will not look into the possibility of requiring front-line employees to speak English, Rotrand said.” Link

Hmmm....

As I said in many posts before, all the STM has to do is designate a few people in each Metro station and bus drivers in the downtown area and the west end, as 'bilingual.'
Notwithstanding what Mr. Rotrand tells us, it is completely within the right of the transit authority to do so.
They could even give these designated bilinguals a small pay raise, it would make sense, and you'd think the money would probably satisfy the union.

You might think that but you'd be wrong!

The union is actually dead set against any such proposal because.....wait for it, it would punish unilingual employees and give an unfair advantage to those who are bilingual, something that violates the spirit of Bill 101.
I'm not making this up, I swear!

Readers, I don't think the STM can sweep this under the rug, especially if there is a video of an assault.

I fully expect the employee involved to declare a 'burnout' or stress-related condition, it's her best defence.
Maybe she should mount a defence based on diminished capacity as a result of depression or even go for it all with the infamous "Twinkie Defence"

By the way, the French media waited two full days after the English media reported the story to react.
This same thing happened with the incident of the sandwich thrower at the JGH.
Conspiracy?

Montreal Police continue their Keystone Kops escapades

What do the Montreal police do when they arrest the wrong person?

Police were looking for a black suspect in a hold-up and erroneously arrested the first black person they came upon.
Now if you are the Montreal police, you certainly don't apologize for the error, after all it is the victim's own fault for being Black and loitering so close to a crime scene involving a Black suspect.
And so in the spirit of the philosophy that the best defence is a good offence, you arrest the victim for resisting arrest!

This seems to have become standard operating procedure for Montreal police who screw up.
Arrest the victim as a measure of intimidation in the hope that they can trade away the arrest against a complaint or lawsuit.
Good for the police, not so good for the innocent victim, have a listen and tell me if you aren't outraged at the distress caused to this innocent family.
For shame!!!

 

Read a post I wrote a while back about police harassment of the Black community

Corruption inquiry witness claims former city politician guilty of fraud

The hits just keep coming at the Charbonneau commission, which is looking into fraud and corruption in Quebec's construction industry.
When Lino Zambito first made his blockbuster accusations that almost all the players....politicians, civil servants, outside consulting firms and construction industry bosses were crooked, it was almost too hard to believe.
But subsequent testimony seems to have confirmed that this is exactly the case.

This week another 'insider,' Elio Pagliarulo, a former cohort of construction magnate Frank Catania  (who is under indictment for corruption) spilled more beans, alleging  that Frank Zampino the former St. Leonard borough boss and Mayor Tremblay's number two man for many years, (he abruptly resigned his job at city hall to work for Tony Accurso, another controversial figure under indictment for corruption,) was as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks. Mr Zampino is also presently under indictment for corruption.

"The former chair of Montreal’s executive committee was “corrupted” by construction bosses attempting to cheat the city’s system for awarding public contracts, the Charbonneau Commission inquiry heard on Monday, and accepted cash payments and high-end kitchen renovations from at least one entrepreneur in exchange for political favours....

On top of the $300,000 kickback, the commission heard that Zampino got his kitchen remodelled courtesy of the Catanias, to the tune of $250,000.
Read the stunning account of  Pagliarulo's testimony story, a gripping saga worthy of any mafia crime novel. Link
Zampino's lawyer, Isabelle Schurman, was  quick to deny Pagliarulo's allegations. She told reporters that;

"Monday’s damning testimony about Frank Zampino before the Charbonneau Commission is “false, untrue and outrageous,” lawyer Isabelle Schurman claims." Link

Now if Zampino and his lawyer are serious about impeaching  Mr. Pagliarulo's testimony, they can do so rather easily.
How about a visit to the Zampino home for a tour of the kitchen?
It's pretty hard to hide a $250K re-model.
If reporters find IKEA cabinets and Kenmore appliances, I'll be the first to agree that the allegations are false, but if he's got Wolfe and SubZero appliances and perhaps Poggenpohl cabinets......well....

Adding to the bizarre nature of the story, is Zampino's demand that the city actually pay for his legal defence, the very definition of chutzpah. Link

Marois' big plans

Pauline Marois bastardizes the Poppy, defacing it with a superimposed Fleur-de-lys

Facing the National Assembly Pauline Marois walked on eggshells as she tried to forge some sort of agenda that was acceptable to the opposition.
Of course she announced that she would be introducing an enhanced Bill 101, but downplayed or ignored other PQ promises like Quebec citizenship, a charter of secularism, etc. etc.

All of this is rote, the only surprise was her relative timidness and the whole subject not worthy of a blurb in this post.....except for this monumentally stupid pearl.

"A parliamentary commission will be created to study the relevance and impact of a law which would fix book prices. The Government wishes to support authors, publishers and booksellers from Quebec who can not compete against the big box stores that offer discounts from 25% to 30% off the suggested retail price of bestsellers." Link{Fr}

Ha!
I bet you weren't aware of that beauty!
It has inspired me to work on a post concerning the Quebec government's attitude (both Liberal & PQ) to interfere in the marketplace to the detriment of society.

An English mayor for Montreal?

Mayor Gerald Tremblay is taking a few days off to recover from the painful allegations that he was aware of corrupt fundraising practices of his Union Montreal political party.

"A witness at the Quebec corruption inquiry appears to have driven a dagger into the heart of Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s political career.
In the latest bombshell to rock the mayor’s office, a former organizer for Tremblay’s party told the Charbonneau commission that the mayor walked out of a meeting after being told about illegal contributions to his campaign.
“I don’t want to know about that,” Tremblay said, according to Martin Dumont, who testified at the inquiry Tuesday."  Link

"I don't want to know about that" 

Perhaps my caricature of Mayor Tremblay as Sergeant Shultz from Hogan's Heroes in a post a while back was more apropos than I thought.
Those of us old enough, remember the bumbling prison guard of Stalag 13 who turned a blind eye to prisoner escapades, spouting his infamous catchphrase, "I see nutink, I know nutink!"
Yup, sounds like our good mayor!

 In light of the revelations, 75% of Montrealers want him to resign immediately.

The media is abuzz with speculation as to his successor. La Presse did a poll and it was no surprise that Denis Coderre can have the mayoralty if he wants it.

Read the story in La Presse{Fr}

Gerald Tremblay is actually at 7% support, the lowest number I've ever seen a sitting politician garner.

Now for some fun!
If Gerald Tremblay resigns tomorrow, guess who will likely fill in as mayor......Michael Applebaum the second highest ranking politician and chairman of the city's executive council.
Mr. Applebaum is an anglo Jew from the west end of the city and it begs the question whether he would be acceptable.

Remember a while back we had some fun with a piece written by Rick Blue entitled "Why the Mafia is better than Separatists" in which he joked around that anglos should better vote for a mobster than a separatist Link
The question to ask our francophone friends is whether Applebaum is acceptable or is it better to stick with the alleged corrupt Mayor Tremblay?
If that happened, I'd love to see the look on Benoit Dutrizac's face? Link

Odds'n ends

Montreal one of the top 10 best cities in the world: Lonely Planet

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Road in front of Hospital to be named after alleged crook Arthur Porter

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Quebec companies pay 26 % more taxes than their competitors in Canada and twice as much as in the United States.  In French 

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Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois the smarmy ex-leader of the most radical of Quebec's students associations has been found guilty of inciting his followers to disobey a court injunction, something that judges frown upon.
The conviction shouldn't surprise anyone, pissing off the courts who are then going to render judgment on your behaviour is never a good idea.
Jail time?...depends how pissed off the judge was. Link

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Horrors! Toronto to get permanent Cirque du Soleil venue before Montreal 

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I hope you had a great Halloween, but does anyone recognize this zombie seen skulking around the National Assembly?

 Our Prime Minister opened up 24 Sussex Drive for a Halloween photo op.

Not to be insulting and no offence to the kids, but what parent would send their kids to the Prime Minister's home in the lamest costumes I ever seen, quite an embarrassment.

Let me leave you with a smile, wishing you all a great weekend! Bonne Fin de Semaine!......

 

Jean-François Lisée is Our Worst Nightmare

I much prefer enemies that are open and forthright about their enmity towards our community and though it seems counter-intuitive, French language radicals like Mario Beaulieu are preferable to snake-charmers like Jean-François Lisée who feign interest and sympathy and espouse cooperation, all the while harbouring the same nefarious attitudes towards us as Mr. Beaulieu and his ilk.

While Mr. Beaulieu is crude and visceral, Mr Lisée is calm and seemingly reasonable, which makes him all the more dangerous.

Jean-François Lisée is every bit as determined to advance the cause of the French language on our backs, his smooth-talking spiel nothing more than a clever device to camouflage his true intent.
I am reminded of the wonderful scene in The Exorcist, a story of a girl whose body and mind is possessed by the devil.
An elderly priest is called to perform a exorcism and when he arrives the young attending priest describes what the devil has been up to.

Father Merrin, (played by the inimitable Max von Sydow,) the experienced exorcist, lays down some ground rules for the younger and less experienced Father Karras to follow, telling him that it is;

 "Especially important is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen!"  Watch the scene

Jean-François Lisée, the Minister responsible for anglophones, the very title so grossly offensive, that it makes my blood boil.
And so it seems we are to be treated as exotic animals, needing 'special' handling as by a zookeeper, all because we are not 'true' Quebecers.

In choosing the talented Mr. Lisée, the PQ adopted a clever strategy, one where they feign interest and concern, but in truth are running nothing more than a cruel and cynical game of rope-a-dope, and unfortunately, there are plenty of dopes in our community that have fallen for his ruse.

And so he comes a courting, visiting our English school boards to 'discuss' the linguistic situation with officials, who fall over themselves, giddy with excitement to explain to a 'sympathetic' Peequist, the tribulations of falling enrolment. Link
What a colossal humiliation and waste of time and an utterly pitiful scene to endure!
It is nothing more than a sad spectacle of the absurd, a cruel pantomime played out with anglophones as the butt of a separatist joke!
Mr. Lisée toys with us like a kindergarten teacher pretending to take her charges seriously in a game of Ring-Around-the-Rosy

Rather than engage him in 'pseudo' negotiations, which are really nothing more than exercises in bad faith, we should heed the old adage, which tells us to be Beware of Greeks bearing gifts

Wake Up!!!  
A cursory examination of Mr. Lisée's record would have a thinking person surmise that he isn't there to help us at all, rather the opposite and as they say, "A leopard doesn't change its spots."

Read this story by Don MacPherson and honestly tell me that engaging this paranoid Anglophobe is really in our best interest.

“We refuse to be the generation that will see Montreal marginalize French! We shall not accept that francophones soon are in the minority on the island and we shall not let French lose its critical mass in Quebec’s metropolis.”
Does that read as anglo-friendly to you? Read:Lisée building bridges? Is this a joke?

Here's one of my favourite examples of how faulty assumptions lead to faulty conclusions;

In an article written in the Montreal Gazette, Lisée told us that;

“CEGEP is important for linguistic transfer. It is the time when young people make lasting friendships, find a marriage partner, start a job. We want that to happen in French.” – Jean-François Lisée Link

Let me tell you what journalist Lise Ravary said about that statement in the Journal de Montreal;

“As a colleague pointed out, replace the word "French" with the word "white" ... and it would have caused a scandal. We would have been talking about apartheid.” Link{Fr}

So it seems that our 'reasonable' Mr Lisée is deathly afraid of the mixing of the linguistic races.
I wonder how things would be perceived in Germany if a political leader would outline his goal of seeing Berlin returning to its Aryan roots.

At any rate Mr Lisée is just wrong in assuming that allowing the mixing of the pure-laine with dangerous anglophones in cegep will lead to anglicization through marriage.

A study by the English Montreal school board indicates that when Anglos and Francos partner or marry, in two-thirds of the cases, the children attend French school and in fact, French becomes the family language.
If anything Francophones attending English cegeps leads to francization, NOT anglicization!

Other ridiculous notions held by Mr. Lisée is his steadfast anger against so-called transfer schools, a hot button issue which really shouldn't be one.

Certain families, whose children are not eligible for English education under Bill 101 are using a loophole whereby they go to private English school for a couple of years (winning eligibility)  and then transfer to the public English system.

Mr. Lisée and the PQ are desperate to plug this avenue of escape and he rages on and on against the humiliating insult.
But the reality is that the number of students taking advantage is minuscule.
Plugging the loophole won't change a fig, the families have already made the decision to assimilate to the English side of the language equation and as the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"......

While a couple of hundred students a year avail themselves of the loophole to gain access to an English education, over 10,000 students who ARE eligible for English schooling, voluntarily choose a French language educational path.
But this fact of course, is never mentioned.

Then Mr. Lisée explains to francophones that English instruction in the early years is hurtful to the development of French language skills, this without any scientific facts at all to back up his claim.

Another banal stupidity, oft repeated by Mr. Lisée, is when tells everyone not to worry, Quebecers are the most bilingual of all Canadians, a shamelessly stupid statement which shall be the subject of another post.

So let our community wake up, these radical Peequistes are not our friends and never will be.
They seek to dominate and subdue our community because they view English as an opposing force and never forget that they hold us responsible for holding up their sovereignty dream.

No matter how polite, no matter how seemingly cooperative and sympathetic, we must remember that Mr. Lisée and the Pq are our Devil.
Perhaps we need to take heed of Father Merrin's advice...