ATTENTION READERS! BLOGGER is acting up and for some reason may be placing a blank text box in the middle of the piece making the blog piece unintelligible... If that happens to you, there's a simple fix. Before reading this post, scroll to the bottom and click on the comments. Somehow this fixes everything... Go figger?
Last week it was determined that the court case pitting Walmart and five other American chain stores against the OQLF, will be heard sometime next Spring. The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) is the government agency that is charged with protecting and promoting the French language in the province and which has demanded that these store must change their masthead to include a French descriptor.
Until the disposition of the case, the threat by the OQLF to revoke the famous francization certificate from these companies has been put on hold.
Here's an article that explains the situation somewhat sarcastically, tearing a bit of a strip off the OQLF.
If you are familiar with the particulars, you can skip it and go on to the rest of the post;
"The Office Quebecois de la Langue Francaise, perhaps detecting that
Quebecers have been burdened for too long with debates over such serious
matters as corruption, tuition fees and the choice of government, has
stepped in to offer its own unique brand of foolishness. The OQLF are
the language police, those people who skulk around the streets of the
province searching for threats to the French language, and inventing
them where they don’t exist. It sometimes seems that whenever the rest
of the country is in danger of taking Quebec seriously, the language
police appear to remind us of the essential absurdity of identity
politics. In this latest instance, the language apparatchiks are being taken to court by
a group of internationally-known retail giants, including Walmart,
Costco, the Gap, Best Buy, Old Navy and Guess. The companies have all
been careful to comply with the province’s laws on language, but are
upset that the office, without changing the law, has changed the way it interprets the law, and wants changes from them, pronto"Read the rest of a very good article.
The issue is rather simple, the OQLF has re-interpreted the law that regulates language in Quebec (Bill 101,) telling businesses with English-phrased names (e.g. 'Foot Locker') that they now must add a describing French phrase (descriptor) before or after the name to pay some sort of homage to the French fact in Quebec. The OQLF tells us that with the recent invasion of American retailers, the agency can no longer turn a blind eye to violations of the law, in order to preserve the French face of Quebec.
The retailers involved in the lawsuit disagree and affirm that a law that hasn't been changed, cannot or should not be interpreted differently after thirty-five years.
There is a legal question as to whether companies can be required to modify international trademarks and therein lies the crux of the matter, but in many cases, CANADIAN TIRE for example, which has been operating for 85 years in Quebec and for the entire life of Bill 101, an acquired right has clearly been established.
It is actually no different from the case of a fence separating two residential properties, which is determined to be incorrectly placed, infringing by a couple of feet on one of the neighbour's property. If the fence has stood for a certain number of years (I believe that number is 15,) the offending neighbour cannot be compelled to move it and has in fact, acquired the right to infringe upon the property of another.
I'm not a legal expert, perhaps a knowledgeable lawyer like Brent Tyler can wade in on the subject as to whether certain businesses have in fact acquired a de facto right.
Quebec linguiscists heading for a Humpty-Dumpty fall.
But in the cases of businesses that haven't operated in Quebec for decades and who cannot claim an acquired right, it seems to me that the OQLF can quickly shoot down the argument that they are making, that a re-interpretation of a standing law is unfair.
The PQ government can quickly put an end to this argument by passing a simple and short amendment to Bill 101 that would make descriptors necessary.
Such an amendment would actually pass, even in the minority position that the PQ finds itself in the legislature.
I cannot envisage the opposition voting against such a limited proposal, supporting English over French.
T'aint gonna happen.....
That would leave the companies with only one defence, that of trademark law and I haven't the expertise to say who will win or lose. If it goes to the Supreme Court, I would venture an educated guess that the court will rule on the OQLF side, as it has in the past over the question of French signage.
But in the end, win or lose it hardly matters, the OQLF, by initiating this action has in fact set itself and language militants up for a mighty fall, Humpty-Dumpty style.
Should the OQLF lose, language militants will go ballistic, bitching and moaning for years to come over the fact that in their estimation, Canadian courts, be they in Quebec or Ottawa are an instrument of federalism and can never fully protect Quebec culture and the French language.
It will be a whinger's paradise, with the victim card played to the hilt and frankly I don't look forward to that scenario at all but must admit that the silver lining will be the insufferable pain and angst they suffer as a result.
But should the OQLF actually triumph in court, it will be a Pyrrhic victory and French language militants who will rejoice should be mindful of the old say that reminds us to... "Be careful of what you wish for, you might get it"
Let us consider this scenario, where these companies are forced to add these pathetic descriptors to their masthead.
Of course they will comply, passing off the considerable costs of the name change to consumers across Canada, (yes across the country) who will be asked to pay a little extra to cover the added expense.
But readers, take a look a the Walmart sign at the top of the page which includes an acceptable descriptor.
Does the OQLF really believe that francophones will start using the term 'Supercentre Walmart" over just plain old "Walmart."
The entire issue is flummery, a useless pissing contest
over something that is inconsequential, something that hardly
affect our lives as Anglophones, nor does it make the slightest
of difference to Francophones.
I have to say, that I would entirely support the use of descriptors as some sort of a language compromise. If descriptors somehow validate Francophone Quebecers and the way that they look at themselves, I certainly wouldn't want to stand in the way, it's really no skin off my nose.
But I honestly don't believe a word from linguicists who tell us that something so trivial can actually validate francophone society.
Nope, there is something else going on here.
I will refer readers to another old bit of wisdom, the proverbial story of the dog chasing the truck... the truck stops and the dog thinks to itself..."What do I do now?"
With the issue of descriptors resolved, language militants give up the defining issue of the signage debate, and like the dog who enjoys pursuing the truck, catching it is an abrupt and unsatisfactory end to the game, because it was always really about the chase.
The very worst thing that language militants want is to win, because it is the fight that they relish, just like the dog.
All across Quebec there are committees formed to defend the French language in regions that are devoid of anglophones. All the stores post signs exclusively in French and the only bone to pick is the English store name that lacks this famous descriptor.
Just recently a new Committe for the defence of the Revolutioncomité de surveillance pour l'application de la Charte de la langue française was formed in Quebec city, the spokesman unable to come up with any violation other than English store names.
The OQLF tells us that 80% of stores province-wide are in compliance with the signage law and that 16% of stores violate the law based solely on the lack of descriptors.
Let's do the math.
If stores comply, it will leave just 4% of stores in non-compliance and of these you're talking about Mom and Pop operations where a "Dishwasher wanted" sign is the bone of contention, hardly something to embolden the minions to man the barricades.
Now here is the delicious part, let us pretend that the Walmarts and the Foot Lockers comply with the law and add descriptors, the OQLF will then have to face the very thorny issue of enforcement, when language militants target stores with proper names that sound English.
Somebody, either the OQLF or the courts, is going to have to lower the boom on these linguicists who will be demanding that chain stores like Bentley, Simon or Quiznos add descriptors.
Readers should note that this is exactly what the Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Quebec's largest French language pressure group, is demanding today.
There isn't a judge in the province who would uphold a demand by the OQLF that a company like Reitmans be forced to add a descriptor because the origin of the family name is not French Canadian.
The idea is revolting, but that is what linguicists want.
That being said I read something that did disturb me, in an article in the New York Times that discussed the Quebec sign issue;
“This is not against any language,” Mr. Bergeron said. “English, Italian or Chinese, it’s all the same.” He added that the agency will even investigate signs containing names that are not related to any known language. ”Read the NYT article
WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT LAST SENTENCE MEAN!!!
At any rate, can it be that the OQLF will cave into radical demands that proper names that aren't French rooted, add descriptors?
It is too delicious to contemplate!
Friends, this is one English rights defender who wants to see the descriptor issue end, even if it means the OQLF winning.
Regardless of the judicial outcome, the OQLF and language militants will be the big losers and for that, I can hardly wait.
I promised a piece on the Quebec budget handed down by the PQ earlier this week, but honestly I couldn't find 1500 words that would keep readers interested.
The 'balanced' budget is achieved by reducing spending on infrastructure, the PQ confident that fixing Quebec's dilapidated roads and bridges is something that is can be put off until they are safely out of power.
It's like balancing your personal finances by putting off paying your home mortgage for a couple of years. How's that going to work?
Not wishing to offend anybody and risk the wrath of opposition parties, the PQ decided to tweak a couple of tax programs here and there, raising consumption taxes on booze and of course the most hapless of all taxpayers, the smokers, who will be driven, no doubt, in greater numbers to native smoke shacks, where taxes are but a figment of the Quebec government's imagination.
Forgotten in the budget was the ill-conceived idea of reducing the capital gains exemption by 50% or getting rid of the 'Health Tax" as promised in the PQ election campaign.
Most interesting in the budget is the proposal to get rid of 2,000 workers at Hydro-Quebec, some 10% of its workforce.
Layoffs of this magnitude in the private sector are normal, a reaction to changing market conditions or demand, but in a monopoly that produces and sells electricity, where the market doesn't really change, it is a frank admission of gross incompetence. Among the large utility companies in North America, Hydro-Quebec retains its position as the most bloated and inefficient.
Of course the PQ made sure to continue the freeze on student tuition fees, the last thing that they need is to alienate their base.
All in all, it was a budget that remains true to the tax and spend, big government reputation that all Quebec governments for the last forty years maintained.
For taxpayers, there was nothing so drastic as to get people marching in the streets, but the budget and those budgets presented by governments before, are the very definition of a 'death by a thousand cuts.'
The only problem with this whole budget charade is that the proposed tax increases won't produce the predicted revenues and that the slowdown in growth will automatically reduce government receipts over the course of the budget.
The promise of a balanced budget in 2014 is about as likely as a the PQ holding a winning referendum.
Smoke and mirrors, or as the French are fond of saying. 'de la poudre aux yeux'
Antisemitic radio rant
Here is one antisemitic rant that should never have
been allowed to be aired on the radio and the fact that the interviewer
allowed a caller to proceed was just plain disgusting.
In a radio interview on 98.5 FM, home of anglo-basher Benoit Dutrizac, another radio host Jacques Fabi,
allowed a listener to present a four and a half minute screed, refusing
to cut her off, even after this exchange, right at the beginning of the
interview .
Caller: "Do you know Hitler? Fabi: "Not personally" Caller: "Do you know of the Holocaust? Fabi: "A little" Caller: "It was the massacre of the Jews" Fabi: "Yes, exactly" Caller:"For me it was the most beautiful thing that ever happened in history."
Mr.
Fabi reminded the listener it was dangerous to say these thing on the air
because of the powerful Jewish lobby, which he himself found bothersome.
If you speak French give a listen Link{fr}
(Sorry readers, the station has wisely decided to remove the interview from its website
But you can hear it below;
*
The interview was also later denounced on another radio station by Dominic Maurais. Link{Fr}
Now
before readers denounce this as another example of Quebec antisemitism,
I will stand up and remind them that the offensive interview was
roundly denounced in the French media before the English or Jewish
population was even aware of what happened.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that this blog is the first English outlet to report the story,
but I'm confident that the incident will now grow legs.
This story won't end here and I'm sure that Mr. Fabi is in for a rough ride.......
New French-language coalition demands Bill 101 boost
"A new coalition of French-language groups is calling on the Quebec
government to strengthen the province’s language law, Bill 101. Partenaires pour un Québec Français (PQF) said it wants the
province’s language watchdog, the Office Québécois de la Langue
Française (OQLF), to have more power and resources to protect French. Mario Beaulieu, spokesman for the coalition, said Bill 101 was
weakened to respect the presence of the "historic anglophone community." "Gradually, with the weakening of Bill 101, we came back to full
bilingualism. This means someone can live in English in Montreal without
having to use French," said Beaulieu. He added that with weak language laws, the province would not be able to force people to learn French. Louise Mercier, spokeswoman for the Quebec Labour Federation, said
encouraging new Quebeckers to speak French at work is crucial in
fighting assimilation. “One day, we will lose our language,” said Mercier."Read the rest of the story
Rinse, repeat....
Retailers make first court appearance in fight with Quebec language police
Several multi-national companies willing to take the Quebec government to court may not have to go that far to keep their names the same. Lawyers representing some of North America's biggest brands, including Walmart, Best Buy, and Costco, are negotiating with the Office Quebecoise de la Langue Francaise. The OQLF wants the companies to alter their names to include some indication in French of what they sell. The changes are outlined on a website run by the language agency that gives businesses options on how to change their names. For example, Walmart, a household name on the retail scene that doesn't really have a French equivalent, could change its signs to "Le Magasin Walmart." But retailers say the language laws have not formally been changed and they will ask the courts to decide whether the language office has the right to make new demands. Lawyers representing the coalition of retailers said negotiations to work out an agreement were going well, but they still planned to file their lawsuit on Thursday in Quebec Superior Court. They expect the case will go before a judge -- if needed -- in the spring. Read the rest of the story
Readers, I think you'll find Monday's blog concerning this issue rather interesting.
In that piece I will tell you why, in my opinion, regardless whether the retailers win or lose, Quebec militants will come out on the decidedly short end of the stick.
Several
multi-national companies willing to take the Quebec government to court
may not have to go that far to keep their names the same.
Lawyers representing some of North America's biggest brands, inluding
Walmart, Best Buy, and Costco, are negotiating with the Office
Quebecoise de la Langue Francaise. The OQLF wants the companies to alter
their names to include some indication in French of what they sell.
The changes are outlined on a website run by the language agency that
gives businesses options on how to change their names. For example,
Walmart, a household name on the retail scene that doesn't really have a
French equivalent, could change its signs to "Le Magasin Walmart."
Photos
Walmart, Old Navy, The Gap and other companies are fighting to keep their logos unchanged.
".....Yves-Francois Blanchet, the PQ MLA who first asked the legislative
Speaker to remove the flag, told QMI Agency Wednesday that the Maple
Leaf shouldn't be in the legislature as a question of jurisdiction and
history. He said the flag was introduced to Quebec's parliament in 1985 - the
Maple Leaf only dates back to 1965 - and was removed for the first time
by former PQ leader Jacques Parizeau in 1994, only to be reinstated in
2003 when the Liberals regained power. "The principle is that the only people who have jurisdiction in
Quebec's legislature are those who are elected," Blanchet said. "It's
about the exclusivity of the Quebec flag." Liberal MLA Laurent Lessard wrote to the Speaker of Quebec's
legislature last week and argued that the Canadian flag "is not an
accessory." "It's a symbol of belonging to our federation and a symbol of
Canadian identity," he wrote. "As long as Quebec is part of the Canadian
federation, it would be unacceptable to remove it from the legislative
chamber." The PQ caused controversy when it removed the Canadian flag in
September from the legislature's upper chamber, also known as the "red
room." The upper chamber most often serves as a backdrop for ceremonies. The lower chamber, or "blue room," is the legislative assembly......
But the Canadian flag will stay in Quebec's legislature. The leader of Quebec's third party announced Wednesday afternoon that
his MLAs will vote with the Liberals to keep the flag where it is. The separatist Parti Quebecois had asked the Speaker of the legislature last week to remove the flag. The Liberals were steadfast against it. The motion to remove the flag was set to be voted on in a week's
time. The vote would have been the first of its kind in Quebec history. On Wednesday, Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault - who
himself once championed sovereignty - told QMI Agency that his 19 MLAs
will vote with the Liberals next week. The PQ's minority government doesn't have enough votes by itself to remove the Maple Leaf." Link .
Anglos' accented French an outrage to French linguicists
Last week, popular Montreal radio host Benoît Dutrizac mocked Mr.
Rotrand and another anglophone councillor, Michael Applebaum, after
deciding their French was unacceptable. He ran a spoof ad suggesting the pair need a miracle “Instant French” product for people who get flustered when they have to speak French. On Twitter, he complained that the two councillors spoke “gibberish” French and were an insult to francophone Montrealers. By Mr. Dutrizac’s standards of linguistic purity, it is not enough to
speak French — it must be free of an accent that betrays one’s origins.
He is not alone. Writing in the Journal de Montréal on the
weekend, Université du Québec à Montréal sociologist Mathieu Bock-Côté
complained about being greeted with an accented “buuuunjourr” when he
goes into a shop in Montreal. Read the rest of the story .
The complaints about accent, particularly that of new Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum, an anglophone with decent but heavily accented French, belies the true motives behind the attacks.
For many French language militants, Anglophones or Ethnics participating as elected officials in any capacity where they can influence public policy is dangerous.
For these linguicists, English or Ethnics in high places is a threat.
Quebec sait faire
One of my favourite time-wasting web sites is Fail.Qc.com a lighthearted, tongue in cheek look at the errors, gaffes and generally stupid things that are captured by the public, a testament to participatory journalism.
Every single province should have its own website of a similar nature, where, no doubt, there is a wealth of material.
If you know of a similar site, please let us know in the comments section.
I don't know if the story about this particular utility pole went viral because of the appearance of this picture on the failqc.com website, but I suspect it did.
Once the picture went mainstream (read: out of province), reaction by authorities was lightning quick and whatever department that was responsible, reacted with uncharacteristic haste to correct the embarrassment.
Here's another ill-placed utility pole, which doesn't seem to bother anyone in Valleyfield.
By the way, here's another photo which I received over Twitter from Mathieu Boivin, a street in Quebec City. Yikes!!
In another story of dubious planning and achievement, the new ambulances put into service recently by Urgences-santé in Montreal and Laval offer unlucky patients a decidedly rough ride.
It seems that the suspension of the new vehicles are so stiff that patients and their litter are regularly tossed into the air when the vehicle hits a bump.
Oh well... Link{FR}
Reaction to Gaza War
I told you that I wouldn't write about the recent Gaza blowup other than to comment as to how it pertains to Quebec, where last week, there was a demonstration in support of Gazans held in Montreal.
The demonstration wasn't particularly big, but was still the largest in Canada, where support for the Palestinian side was somewhat muted.
I have absolutely no objection to people demonstrating peacefully in favour of their constituency, be it Jews in support of Israel or Muslims in support of Palestine/Gaza, regardless who is right or wrong.
But this being Quebec, it wasn't much of a surprise to see the various left-wing groups, led by Quebec solidaire and Amir Khadir come out to give Israel another public bashing, again something that is their absolute right.
Amir Khadir and company are quick to point out that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism, but it is a little hard to believe given that the only two countries in the world that these people regularly march against, is Israel and the United States.
Over the course of the battle that raged between the potent Israeli military machine and the crude but highly effective missile brigade of Hamas, about 160 people died tragically over the course of the eight days, an average of about twenty sad deaths per day.
But let us consider that on every single day over the last 22 months of fighting in Syria, an average of about 65 people died (a ghastly 40,000 deaths) with this carnage continuing unabated.
Somehow the media, Amir Khadir and assorted lefties are obsessed with dead babies in Gaza, but not in Aleppo....
Without supporting Israel, I can only say that the hypocrisy is galling and I defy anyone to explain why Jews killing Arabs is more newsworthy than Arabs killing Arabs.
Today, tomorrow, another 50-60 people will be killed in Syria. Where will Radio-Canada, Anderson Cooper and all the European networks be reporting from?
I wish readers to understand that the above comment is in no way a commentary about who is right or who is wrong between Israelis and Palestinians, it is only about fair reporting which is admittedly, a subjective matter.
While the Canadian press (as well as the Canadian government ) were largely pro-Israel in their coverage, in Quebec, Radio-Canada took the opposite tack, reporting rather favourably on the Gazan side of things.
A Journal de Montreal journalist took Radio-Canada and its reporter Agnes Gruda to task over what she perceived as shamefully biased reporting. Link{Fr}
So I guess it comes as no surprise that a Jewish professor had his office vandalized over at UQAM, a hotbed of leftist and anti-Israel support (along with Concordia university.)
I suppose it serves the good professor right, who showed more guts than good sense in publicly supporting Israel on the campus of UQAM! Link
Bits'n pieces
Now since this is Friday, I will allow myself to go off topic to present a video related to the Gaza conflict that is mind-blowing.
First a little background;
In some cases, before bombing the residence of Hamas leaders, the Israeli military phone or text those at home, warning them to get out of the building, which seems a bit counter-productive if the goal is to kill the militant. Obviously the bombing of the home is meant to render the lives of Hamas leaders and their families miserable.
Now we are all familiar with those grainy black and white videos shot from the cockpit of warplanes delivering a devastating payload upon a target, culminating with a big puff of smoke. Truthfully, if you've seen one, you've seen them all.
Here's what it looks like from the ground, an incredible sight.
It seems that after receiving the call from the IDF to get out of the house, someone got the idea to set up a camera and film the whole thing up close.
I don't know if it goes to the confidence that the filmmaker had in the marksmanship of the Israeli air force pilot, or whether it was a case of foolhardiness or sang-froid, but to set up a camera and remain on-site, no farther than a hundred or so metres from the target, is rather amazing.
I'll bet you've never seen this, up close and personal!
**************
Back on topic, here's a video, a Western Canada rant against Quebec that many readers may or may not agree with.
I look forward to your comments, don't be shy.
******************
Now that students have successfully had their tuition fees frozen, some of the more radical are launching a new initiative, demanding free tuition.
According to the most radical student association, ASSE, 60,000 students stayed away from classes on Thursday to protest.
Here's an interesting article by Alberta conservative and Sun TV personality Ezra Levant;
English-speaking oil: Separatists get it entirely wrong in pipeline protest
It’s tough being the newly elected separatist government in Quebec. They only won 31.95% of the vote, compared to 31.20% for the Liberals
and 27.05% for the CAQ. And with just 54 out of 125 seats in the
legislature, it’s a minority government that is doomed to accomplish
very little. But solving real problems — like unemployment and corruption — has never been a forte of the Parti Quebecois. So the new government is doing what it does best — showboating, trying to pick symbolic fights with anglos. This time the PQ has done something really weird. They have decided to demonize — get this — English-speaking oil. Read the rest of the story
******************
Here's another opinion piece that you may find interesting;
Opinion: What happened to my city? Returning to Montreal after 37 years in Toronto, I found that much had changed — not for the better
Marlene and I were both born and raised in Montreal, but we moved to
Toronto to pursue business opportunities in 1975. It was a successful
experience, but after 37 years it was time to come home. It was time to
reconnect with our families and friends and our grown-up nieces and
nephews. Time to reacquaint ourselves with “steamies” and smoked-meat
sandwiches and all the other delicacies that Montreal was famous for. It
was time to relive and enjoy the bilingual culture of the great city of
Montreal.
Wow — what a glorious time it promised to be, going back home. We
shed a few tears as we got into the car and headed east on the 401, full
of anticipation and excitement. Oh my goodness — what happened to Montreal? Are we in the right city? Are you sure this is Montreal? Read the rest of the story:LinkAlternate Link
******************
What's up with these new stealthy Montreal police cars?; Link
The tabling of Quebec's new budget yesterday afternoon, hasn't afforded me the time necessary to study and comment upon it in so short a time.
These documents are complicated and what appears obvious upon first glance, isn't always borne out when the full document is analyzed, which takes time.
There's always a danger that the mainstream media, in an effort to offer instant analysis, gets the immediate interpretation wrong, the very best example that I can think of is the wholesale misreporting of the US Supreme Court Decision on Obamacare, where many media outlets, including CNN, falsely reported that the court had knocked down the statute when in fact it had done the opposite and upheld the law. Read a story about the blown coverage
I'll look over the budget today and offer an opinion either Friday or Monday, but I thought that it would be very useful to understand what exactly Quebec's budget is, how much the government takes in terms of revenue and how and where it spends the money.
Perhaps with a little better understanding, we can all make better sense of what the current budget changed, for better or for worse.
Here is a high resolution illustration, representing last year's budget, one that clearly shows how much money the governments take in and where the money is spent. Unfortunately, it is available in French only, but it's not so hard to understand.
You can click the picture to enlarge it then drag it to your desktop where you can use a picture viewing software (MAC="Preview") to enlarge it. Because the illustration is such high resolution, even the little, little writing is clear when enlarged.
Before we start analyzing how the Quebec government spends this money, we should have a general idea about how it raises this money.
I'm only going to provide a rough sketch, not wishing to impose information overload, this post is actually meant to give readers some understanding and background on last year's budget spending, so we can better understand the provisions and changes in the new PQ budget tabled yesterday.
The government actually takes in more money than the 73 billion spent, but that difference is placed into special funds, meant to cover specific long term projects, not covered here. We won't discuss those elements here.
Where the Quebec government gets the 73 billion dollars it spends; 34%.............. personal income taxes and payroll tax levies 17%.............. transfers from Ottawa (equalization and other transfers, etc.) 15%............. provincial sales tax, gas tax, tobacco, licensing etc. 6%.............. dividends from SAQ, Hydro-Quebec, Loto-Quebec 4.5%........... corporate taxes 7%.............. premium collected (social security, drug plans, etc.) 8%.............. investment income 9%.............. other income 3%.............. deficit Link to StatsCan
Readers, the numbers above are very approximate....
Now to understand the chart above and how the government spends the 73 billion dollars, follow the spokes radiating out to the various coloured balloons representing a major area of spending. Around that balloon written in the same colour are sub balloons and smaller details describing spending within that sphere.
Let us consider one of the smaller and easy to understand sections, that of "Famille et Aines" (Family and Seniors) the green spoke, radiating out from the center at about the 6:30 position at the bottom.
That green spoke brings us to a bubble that represents $2.4 billion in spending and as you can see from the satellite comments, $2.1 billion of this money is earmarked for daycare and other family care facilities.
Following the same method you can follow all the spending of each major sphere of government expenditures, it's quite interesting.
Health and social services = $29 billion
Education = $16 billion
Debt service = $8 billion
Municipal affairs = $3.7 billion
Employment = $4.2 billion
For your information, the royalties on natural resources, something the PQ has announced with great fanfare that it is increasing, is hardly the windfall promised. Even if Quebec were to charge 50% more, it would raise an additional $600 million at best, not a drop in the bucket, but not a game changer.
And by the way, in my last post I told you that Quebec gives away an amazing $6 billion in subsidies to Quebec business each year, three times more than Ontario does, despite Ontario raising considerably more taxes than Quebec.
You won't find a direct reference to it in the chart above, the subsidy is done through tax credits, whereby taxes to be collected are forgiven. This leads to Quebec corporations to contribute a paltry 4.5% of the 73 billion Quebec budget through corporate taxes.
As for me, I think I pulled away some interesting facts from the chart, the first and most important, the fact that almost half the budget goes to pay for government and quasi-government salaries which go up each year by a couple of percentage points adding a billion or two to the budget each year. The only way to change this is to cut down on the size of the civil service.
This reminds me of the best advice my late father ever gave me, which was that it is more important to watch what you spend rather than what you make.
Living within your means, and putting a little aside is a sure road map to prosperity. In tough times, spend less.
It makes sense, even for a government.
As for services like subsidized day care, reduced tuition fees, I am not against these programs on principle, but object that they are universal, meaning everyone rich or poor gets the same benefit.
The idea that a lawyer in a BMW can pull up to a public subsidized daycare (an urban myth?) and drop off her child there for $7 a day is galling.
As for tuition, let me tell you my personal story.
My son was accepted to a medical school in the USA which informed us in the acceptance letter that tuition was $40,000 per year, to be paid up front.
When he was finally accepted to medical school in Montreal, I almost choked at the low tuition of about $5,000 per year, what a bargain!
As a successful businessman I certainly could have paid a lot more than that and I would have done so gladly, without begrudging students from less fortunate circumstances paying a much reduced rate.
I'm not against enhanced government services, I'm against universality.
A solid tweak to these programs can make them socially and financially responsible, but hey, that's just one man's opinion.
What is yours?
I'm reminded of that upbeat television commercial from the Bank of Nova Scotia reminding Canadians that "You're Richer than You Think!"
No matter how you cut it, it certainly doesn't apply Quebecers who are actually much poorer than we think.
In the war of statistics, one can convince anyone of anything as long as the recipient is attuned to the message being flogged, regardless of it's veracity or accuracy.
In this respect Quebec nationalists have raised the disinformation campaign to an art form with consummate con-artists like Jean-François Lisée telling Quebecers that all is well and that reports of economic disaster are federalist plots to discredit Quebec.
It is a message that resonates with most Quebecers and why not, who really wants to hear the bad news?
And so Quebec militants have created a potent disinformation machine, complete with spokesmen who dazzle us with selective, faulty and downright dishonesty, coupled with phony-baloney pseudo-reputable organizations that cloak themselves in an outward appearance of legitimacy, when in fact they are nothing but dishonest facades, whose sole mission is to cloud the debate with the help of a complicit media that never questions their credentials.
"Such is the case of the insufferable Institut de recherche sur le français en Amérique
(IRFA) an organization that uses the word "Institute" to give
itself a false and bloated appearance of something which it is not.
Aside from its minuscule size, it mimics the work of the SSJB, Mouvement
Quebec Francais and Imperatif Francais in promoting the French language
and the cause of sovereignty.
THE IFRA is a tiny French language lobby group, run by a university
student consisting of a website, post-office box and a personal cellular
telephone number.
The website shows a couple of academic separatists forming a 'scientific committee' which includes Marc Termote, a demographer and renowned language militant, and employee of the OQLF."Link
Other separatist propaganda organs like organization Institut de recherche en économie contemporaine (IREC), 'Institut de Recherche et d’Informations Socio-économiques' grind out statistical nonsense that the French media eat up, giving Quebecers a false economic sense of security.
Here'a an example of the type of slanted and bogus reporting that Quebecers are treated to on an ongoing basis.
A recent Journal de Montreal article focused on the fact that 65% of 4,499 students entering kindergarten and who couldn't speak French, were born in Quebec. Link{Fr}.
They even included a table which was more interesting for what it did not say.
The table shows the six principle countries of birth for these students.
Here is the problem, there are two.
The article's first line says this;
"In 2007-2008, 65% of 4499children who needed support forlearning French(SAF) on entry tothe school wereborn in Quebec.
As you can see in the table presented above, it lists a different percentage for the Quebec born, that of 37.3%. What gives??
But even if it is a typo or I am getting it wrong, and the real number of these students born in Quebec, but unable to speak French when entering French kindergarten, is as the article indicates, 65% of 4,499 or 2,900, in all.
What number does this represent as a percentage of all students entering French kindergarten?
It is the essential point that the article never addresses and herein lies the disinformation.
Is it a crisis or not? How do we know, if we don't know what percentage the 2,900 represent in relation to the total number of students entering kindergarten.
I did a little checking of my own and have found out that about of 75,000 student enter French kindergarten each years, making the problem students involved at around 4%. Link
Quite a different story, and let's be honest, did they really expect English children forced into French schools (which represents 20% of the total) to be proficient in French?
This is just the latest example of what I like to call, 'separatist statistics', disinformation, half-truths and outright lies, numbers and facts that never stand up to scrutiny.
The greatest economic fiction sold by these organizations is that Quebec is not really poorer than the rest of Canada, the argument being that the lower disposable income available to Quebec families is based on the collective decision to pay higher taxes in order to fund richer entitlements.
It's a good line, but hardly true.
In fact almost all the so-called Quebec entitlements, including $7 a day child care, extended parental leave, free prescription drugs and low tuition fees can be attributed to the $8 billion subsidy Quebec receives from Ottawa in the way of transfer payments.
Quebec can argue that it is entitled to this money, but the reality is that in the present federal economic model, Quebec has its social programs paid for by Ottawa while Alberta does not, that is a fact.
Yet despite the evening-up subsidy, Quebecers remain poorer than Canada's other big provinces, something that no statistical sleight of hand can mask.
But even the disparity in the above table doesn't tell the whole story, although Quebec families have 17% less disposable income (after taxes) than Ontario families and 30% less than Alberta families, the situation is aggravated because disposable income in Quebec doesn't go as far.
Almost everything except housing costs and electricity costs more in Quebec, a lot more, further reducing family buying power.
But even the historically higher housing cost for homes in Ontario and Alberta has been offset with rising prices, and while Albertan and Ontarian families paid more for their homes over the years, the rise in value more than offset the investment.
Just about the only place Quebecers save is in electricity where the average family pays about $500 less than Albertans and $600 leas than Ontarians. Link
But all this is wiped out by the differences in sales tax and gasoline prices which cost the average car-owner in Quebecers about $350 more than Albertans and about $200 more than Ontarians. You can double those costs for two-car families.
There is a simple truth that the apologists won't admit.
Quebec families are poorer than those in Ontario, B.C and Alberta because they
collectively don't produce as much wealth, and the wealth that is produced is taxed at a higher rate, this despite having the vaunted social programs paid for by other Canadians.
When militants tell us that we are poorer than other provinces because we are richer in social spending, it is like everything else they tell us, an ounce of truth and a pound of malarkey.
Social programs contribute to Quebec's bloated spending, but are by no mean the entire story.
Aside from the bloated and wildly expensive government itself, Quebec lavishes subsidizes to provincial businesses to the tune of 6 billion dollars a year, three times what Ontario spends despite being almost double our size.
In effect Quebec is forced to 'buy' jobs for its citizens through subsidies because Quebec industry is not competitive. The best example of this is the half a billion dollars the government pours into the pork industry each year, despite the industry operating at a loss. Link{fr}
Don't forget the double-whammy of agricultural subsidies coupled with higher food prices, propped up by cartel-like marketing boards that fleece Quebec consumers.
And let us remember that Quebec pays the highest percentage of any provincial budget towards debt repayment.
But Quebec apologists have steered the conversation away from reality, convincing Quebecers that their lower standard of living is an honourable thing.
Like the Church of old that told Quebecers that the meek shall inherit the Earth, Quebecers are fed the line that their reduced wealth is an admirable sacrifice for the betterment of society in general.
It is a less than half-truth, it is a lie.
As long as the media discusses the merits of a descriptor in front of the name of Canadian Tire, the problems of wealth creation, productivity, exploitation of natural resources and government overspending are ignored, as Quebecers continue their economic decline.
As long as Pauline remains obsessed with symbols like the Canadian flag in the National Assembly rather than attacking the economic challenges that face us, we are doomed to sink lower in the Canadian pecking order of wealth and when the Maritimes pass us, we will have truly crossed the Rubicon.
In Quebec, as the old saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
The priest of yore who told Quebecers not to complain and accept their humble lot in life are today replaced by a new cadre of economic gurus, who are telling Quebecers the exact same thing.
A SPECIAL NOTE:
This blog is not about Israel or Gaza, but nobody can be insensitive to what is going on in the Middle East. I'm not going to comment other to say that our problems here in Quebec seem so remarkably petty compared to what is going on over there.
Imagine the terror that all civilians feel on both sides of the Gaza/Israeli border when rockets and bombs rain down.
I'd like to ask readers to take a moment to imagine a rocket or a bomb landing on your street or neighbourhood.
These people have real problems, ours in Quebec and Canada, are manufactured nonsense.
Francophones, Anglophones and Ethnics, we are blessed to live where we do.
Imagine that we have energy, time and the inclination to discuss a flag in the National Assembly as if it has the slightest importance or meaning.
Again, I'm not going to write a blog piece about what is going on over there, but readers are welcome to comment.
The only thing that I will offer an opinion on, is Amir Khadir, someone who we've heard nothing from ever since the beginning of the conflict in Syria which has taken the lives of 29,000 civilians as well as 10,000 combatants.
Mr. Khadir took part in an anti-Israel protest in Montreal yesterday and while he tried to make impartial comments, his presence spoke volumes.
That Mr. Khadir is an Israel basher is fine, there are many.
It is his hypocrisy that is just so galling. Link
A Quebec entrepreneur who won an award for excellence, unloaded on Pauline Marois who handed him his trophy. LucPaquet, presidentof Fordia a company that does business in the mining industry surprised a packed house for remarks made to Pauline Marois. "I have threesins,he saidto thePremier.I am a manufacturer, I servethe mining industryand Imake money. ' Fordiadescribes itself as theworld leader in themanufacture of diamond tools, which are used among other things,for drilling.Its products are availablein 34 countriesand employs304 people. Its headquartersislocated in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
"Iexpect you willcure me ofmy thirdsin,"hethen said, half joking.Link{fr} .
Marois who is a pro at deflecting body blows, took the criticism with a smile and soldiered on....
Sovereignty support at historic low
A new CROP poll published in La Presse indicates that in the face of a global economy, 83% of Quebecers perceive a membership benefit for Quebec to remain in Canada.
Despite electing a sovereigntist government, 66% consider the sovereignty issue as outmoded. More than one in two, 56% expressed agreement with the Prime
Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, when he says that sovereignty awakes "old constitutional wrangling of the past." As for the possibility that the province eventually becomes a sovereign country, it is still a utopia dream for 67% of Quebecers, but if asked to vote in a new referendum, the sovereignty option would lose rather convincingly, 61% to 32%, or two to one against. While
the Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Daniel Breton, announced
that he would prevent the Alberta oil industry from selling its oil in
Quebec, 74% ofQuebecers are very favourable to the idea of Western Canadian oil being sold here rather than sending it to Asia.
Self-hating Anglo serves up the mother of all apologies
An opinion piece in the Montreal Gazette ruffled quite a few feathers as an American who has moved to Quebec City, charged the Anglophone community with being insensitive, coddled and selfish.
Read the story, it's a must;
"Just as a man from Alabama whose father had to drink from a separate water fountain would never be expected to forget the colour of his skin, so a French-speaking Quebecer whose ancestors lived as a colonized majority cannot really be expected to forget the characteristic — language — that was used for centuries to differentiate her."
"...The root of it seems to be nostalgia for the way things used to be,
before many of today’s anglophones were born, when their parents and
grandparents had advantages that in retrospect can only be deemed
unfair. .."
Readers, I'm going to let you do the critique in the comments section, I'm sure you'll have lots to say.
The only thing I will comment upon is this statement in order to setMr. Lipsonand the record straight.
"English is not dying in Rouyn-Noranda, but French in Moose Jaw is an assimilated mess."
Now I doubt if Mr. Lispon , the author of the article ever visited Rouyn-Noranda or knows anything of its history, because if he did he would understand that he couldn't have picked a worse example.
Rouyn-Norana was indeed the home to many Anglos and Americans who worked in the mining industry, The city of Noranda was created by the English, the name a contraction of "North" and "Canada"
The English community was well-established and quite vibrant and even had its own newspaper. In fact if you take a stroll on Ninth Ave.,uptowards the DAVE KEON (a native son) hockey arena, you might recognize the trappings of an old synagogue, complete with cornerstone in Hebrew and English, now converted into an apartment building.
If you look closely, you can find street names that include, Churchill, MacDonald, Murdoch, Ste. Anne and Pinder.
And contrary to your stated opinion, Mr. Lipson, English did die out in Rouyn-Noranda, you'd be hard pressed to find any vestige of the community today.
Clearly your ignorance about the city is telling, something that pervades the rest of your opinion piece. (Okay readers, I couldn't resist)
PQ continues installing friends in high places
As I described in a post earlier this week, the PQ is in a hiring frenzy, firing highly paid civil appointments and replacing them with friendly separatists. The Liberals hit the roof in the National Assembly in reaction to Daniel Breton, the militant ecologist Minister of the Environment's announcement that he had replaced the head of the agency that reviews environmental projects with an old friend, Pierre Baril who is similarly militant. The PQ had already fired the second in command as well and replaced him with another journalist.
All this is going to cost a pretty penny, the old president of BAPE was just given a contract extension for five years, which may have to be paid out in it entirety! Ka-ching!
Coalition avenir Québec leader François Legault, called Breton dogmatic and dangerous and accused the PQ government of politicizing the independent agency. Link
In the meantime;
"As Premier Pauline Marois was setting out an ambitious blueprint for
Quebec's economy Friday, two major bond-rating agencies issued a warning
over one of her election promises.
They warned that they might lower the rating of one of the province's
financial cornerstones, the Caisse de depot et placement, if her
government tinkered with it in a major way.
While Marois was extolling the virtues of innovation to a business
luncheon, Standard & Poors's and DBRS said in reports that the
status quo is just fine for the province's big pension-fund manager." Read more
Way to go Pauline. Keep on truckin'!
Another day, another corruption revelation
When I described the ongoing saga of the revelations coming out at the Charbonneau Commission looking into corruption, I wasn't exaggerating when I said it would make a good Mafia movie.
On Thursday a contractor revealed how the Mafia intimidated him in an effort to get him to stop bidding on projects;
"Quebec's public inquiry is getting a glimpse into how the Italian
Mafia used its muscle to maintain control of the construction industry
in Montreal.
With death threats and intimidation, the Mob
would seek to squeeze out companies when they competed for work against
members of the city's construction cartel. An out-of-town construction owner testified Thursday that he received multiple threats after bidding on contracts in Montreal. The Quebec City man, Martin Carrier, said he
got a phone call at home in 2004. His daughter answered the phone and
passed it to him. On the other end of the line was a man with a
heavy Italian accent. He warned him to stop working in the city, in the
first of two similar phone calls Carrier received. Carrier asked the man for his name. That prompted a curt reply. "Never mind who I am," the caller said. "Because the next time you won't be walking away from here... "Thank you and have a nice day.""Read the rest of the story. Thanks Todd for the link
For those who missed my Tweet yesterday, former Mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt is the subject of a serious plot to kill him, likely by those who don't want the truth to come out about corruption in Laval.
The RCMP developed the information and deemed it credible enough to pass on to the Laval police. When the former mayor gave his resignation speech, it was obvious something was afoot with some very serious looking cops doing guard duty.
Incidentally, five days after resigning, the city of Laval cut a $250,000 cheque to the ex-mayor as his severance package.
Odds'n ends
This English sign in Quebec City had several people up in a lather LINK{Fr]
Le Droit, a French language newspaper in Ottawa devoted a whole article about the abominable situation in a Hull shopping centre where horrors of horrors an immigrant employee who could not speak French was working as a sales clerk.
Blowhard president of Impératif Français, Jean-Paul Perreault, was dutifully furious, demanding that shopping centres not rent space to stores that didn't provide French speaking staff. Link{fr}
****************************
Bilingualism will never trump merit or
the ability to get along with colleagues when it comes to appointing
judges to the Supreme Court, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson argues in a
recently released letter. Link
****************************
Opposition leader Louis Harel showed a lot of class when she was questioned over the suitability of Michael Applebaum acceding to the mayoralty based on his poor French accent.
"I only wish I spoke English as well as he speaks French" was her response.
****************************
Last week I caught a round-table discussion on LCN, the French news channel where the panel lamented over the fact that it would be a dirty rotten shame if Tony Accurso's various companies, allbuilt on corruption, were to fall into foreign or Canadian hands in the face of Mr. Acurruso's problems with the law.
Yup, another Quebec jewel.....
Just sayin.....
****************************
And lastly I'm printing this picture of a woman interviewed on television complaining about English store names.
I'm sure she regrets giving the interview now, but I'm memorializing it for her.
I'm having a mean-spirited day, especially after reading that article by Brian Lipson.
The Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) is the government agency that is charged with protecting and promoting the French language in the province and which has demanded that these store must change their masthead to include a French descriptor.
