French versus English volume 72

Montreal Bus company fart-catcher defends slighting English

Anglo community's very own Kapo, Marvin Rotrand

Montreal bus company spokesman, Marvin Rotrand, the token anglo fart-catcher, has once again defended the company from offering English services, claiming that the company's hands are tied by the law, a misrepresentation according to constitutional lawyer Julius Grey.

"Basically, we have to operate in French unless we can prove an absolute necessity in certain categories," said Rotrand.

"At the STM, we do have categories where that is necessary. For example, the people operating the [phones] have to be able to answer questions in English."

However, he said bus drivers or those who work at ticket kiosks don't fall under that category.
Rotrand said the corporation consulted with its legal department and agreed that the language laws apply directly to the transit authority.
"We have a huge volume of jurisprudence as to what our obligations are under Bill 101," he said.

Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey says Quebec's language laws do not prevent the STM from serving customers in English. Read the whole story at CBC

Here's another article on the story;

"It was a simple, straightforward request that Gazette transportation reporter Andy Riga put to the Société de transport de Montréal.
Using Quebec’s access-to-information law, Riga asked the transit authority what legal opinion it had, either from in-house counsel or outside lawyers, on how Bill 101’s language requirements apply to the agency’s employees — notably those whose jobs involve dealing with the public.
Yet getting a straightforward answer turned out to be no simple thing.
The initial response, from the STM’s director of legal affairs, Sylvie Tremblay, was that no such legal opinion exists. After that was reported, STM vice-chair Marvin Rotrand piped up to contradict her, saying that the STM does in fact have written opinions from its legal department about the matter.
However, not only was Rotrand at a loss to explain the discrepancy between their responses, he maintained that while he does have such opinions in hand, these cannot be shared with the public. Why not? Because, said Rotrand, it is STM policy to keep internal legal opinions confidential. Read the whole story at the Montreal Gazette

Arghh!!!....
Kudos to Andy Riga for getting the story.

Ripleys Nodogs Believe it or Not ....

This landed on my Facebook page and I will let the poster speak for himself;

"Hello. If there is anybody out there who can help me, I need it! I have lived in Québec since 2010. My partner (a francophone) and I have a lovely baby boy born here in Montréal. I have made great strides in learning French, and my son will be fluently bilingual. I am having a problem with my family name, however. Ever since I got my RAMQ card, the province has my surname listed in all lowercase letter. This is because the Nova Scotia birth certificate is printed in all capitals - so somewhere some fontionnaire without knowledge (or perhaps ulterior motive) listed me in all lowercase. I CANNOT seem to get my second c capitalized again. I have made numerous phone calls but all I hear is that they need to see my NS birth certificate - you know, the one written in all capitals so that you can't tell... So apparently after nearly 4 centuries on this continent, I will be the first "Maccall" - nice, eh? Government imposed!

Of course, they are now doing the same thing to my son as we have recently requested HIS birth certificate. I am awaiting word from Vital Statistics in Halifax on whether they can provide me with a letter of attestation or something, but other than that I really don't know what to do. It's breaking my heart and it's really frustrating. Is there anyone else out there from out of province with a Scottish last name who has successfully protected their name? Why isn't McGill know as "Mcgill" if there is such an issue with our names?

Will my MNA be sympathetic? ANY help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!"  Link

 Readers, I challenge you to describe the above situation with one well-chosen word....

Rich versus Poor...

The lynching of Daniel Breton

Let me preface this piece by saying that there isn't a Quebec politician that I dislike more than Daniel Breton, not on a personal level, (I do not know the man,) but rather for the politics that he practices, an insane and unrealistic environmental fundamentalism that would have the effect of paralyzing and impoverishing Quebecers by bringing economic development in the resource field to a virtual standstill.
But I want to comment upon the way he was driven from cabinet, something that I really can't abide by as a democrat.
One of the very first rules that we learn in a democratic society is that our government is chosen by the majority and that those of us who 'lose' our election can grumble all we want, but in the end, must accept the choice of the people.

In highly developed democracies like Canada, this rule has been honoured ever since confederation. There's hardly one among us who hasn't been enraged by the outcome of a local, provincial or federal election, but we've all learned to grin and bear it.
This rule of the majority is particularly tested in Quebec, where the government switches every few years between two diametrically opposed sides with two very different optics as to how the province should be governed and where its future should lie.
The differences are fundamental, but just the same we all accept that the elected government has the right to govern as it sees fit (within the confines of the law.)

Daniel Breton is certainly no saint, but his transgressions were those of a poor man, that is, stiffing a landlord for a few thousand bucks and overstaying his welcome on employment insurance.
I'm not condoning his actions, but the Press made him out to be a degenerate thief and seemed to delight in 'taking him down.'
I can only think of all the rich businessmen who lie and cheat and when caught employ an army of lawyers to spend their way out of trouble and I can't help but feeling had Breton also been a rich businessman who pulled some dubious and illegal moves in his past, he would not have suffered a similar fate.

I am reminded of cads like Donald Trump who roll the dice with other people's money and when successful reap the rewards, when unsuccessful, stiff investors and hide behind bankruptcy laws, all the while sipping champagne and eating caviar.
It is without a doubt an unconscionable double standard.

The poor can't hide. They can't use high priced legal talent to shield themselves from justice.  People like Breton are at the mercy of the Press, from which they do not have the means to defend themselves like the richniks.
For those readers who believe that Breton's actions were unacceptable and his resignation was justified, I can only tell you how poorly you know our politicians.
I know too many who have done and continue to do much worse. Much, much worse, but they are never held to account because they are rich or powerful.

Why is it then when somebody tweeted salacious details of  Conservative cabinet Minister Vic Toews personal life, the Press was up in arms  over the invasion of privacy, the fact that he fathered an out-of-wedlock love-child with a much younger woman while married. Is it not  a matter that voters who place their trust in his good judgment, be apprised of? Link
Some readers may defend him by saying that his behaviour may be reprehensible but not illegal, so how about the fact that he was CONVICTED and fined after pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws.
How is it that the media went so easy on him and why is it that he remains in the Harper cabinet while Daniel Breton is relegated to the back benches?
I can repeat similar stories over and over again.

Mr. Breton's real crime was being a member of the hoi-polloi, getting caught on piss-ant transgressions and not having the wherewithal to defend himself.
Had he been rich or powerful or both, the media would have laid off and Pauline Marois would not have thrown him under the bus so quickly.

...just my opinion

Descriptors? 

We don't need no stinkin' descriptors!

In an article posted in a Trois-Rivieres newspaper the local head honcho of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de la Mauricie (SSJB), Guy Rousseau,  complains about stores in the local mall that have English names. LINK{FR}

"The OQLF requires merchants whose image is English, add a generic term or slogan in French.  
For example,  'Toys 'R' Us' could become 'Toys 'R' Us Magasin pour enfants' (store for children..ed)
"If you're in Norway, it is normal to display in Norwegian, likewise in Japan. Why would it be different here? Because we are only eight million? "Asks Mr. Rousseau. "We must stop denying our roots and show a little pride," he adds.

Mr. Rousseau should have gotten his facts straight before shooting off his mouth, because in both Norway and Japan, Toys 'R' Us uses it's original English doesn't use descriptors of ant sort. In fact a quick peek on Google streetview across Europe and Asia reveals that Toys 'R' Us doesn't use descriptors or a local version anywhere.
But hey, as long as nobody is checking....

 "Toys 'R' Us Magasin pour enfants"... Catchy, isn't it?

By the way, if you are too young to get the heading reference, it is a take on a scene in the classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart, where bandits impersonate law officers, which mimics my feeling about French language militant frauds like the above Guy Rousseau.
Watch the short scene over at Youtube.

French +English versus the NHL

I thought it would be appropriate for a small piece about the end of the NHL lockout, as hockey in the dark, cold days of mid-January to end-March is important to many Canadians across the country and where cheering for whatever team they choose is an important part of life.
Let us not forget that the vast majority of hockey fans are not wealthy, they follow the game on television, listen to talk shows on the radio and read stories about their team and the NHL on the internet, all virtually for a pittance.
For these not so well-moneyed fans, hockey is a wonderful distraction, where being a fan is something that even the poorest can afford.

For the rich fans who can afford the ticket prices, well that is their choice, it seems there is enough of these who can afford the ridiculously high prices and so the market dictates what people are willing to pay.

I've attended NHL hockey games across North America and remain amazed at the price differential between what American teams charge versus what Canadian teams charge.

Here's a chart of average ticket prices in the NHL, which you may or may not find interesting;
Check out this link from ESPN that details paid attendance by team, although those at the bottom end of the scale, I believe that the numbers are fictitious as tens of thousands of tickets are given away or dumped at a fraction of list price.

At any rate, at the top end of the scale, the Toronto Maple Leafs rake in over $106 million, just on ticket sales, exactly double the $53 million that the New York Rangers take in.

As for gate revenue for other Canadian teams are:
Montreal....... $83 million
Calgary......... $58 million
Vancouver..... $57 million
Edmonton..... $52 million
Ottawa.......... $47 million

At the bottom of the NHL is the Phoenix Coyotes, the NHL's basket case, which officially takes in just $19 million dollars, which is probably inflated anyways.
YIKES!!!

Here's another useless set of statistics that only a dedicated fan could find interesting, that is the average price of beer in an NHL arena, per average 16 oz. serving;

Canadiens..............$9.94
Rangers.................$7.50
M.Leafs.................$7.21
Capitals/Sabres.....$4.96
See the entire list


Do you think attending a Maple Leaf home game is a little expensive at say, $400 for the evening?
Check out this offer I received from COSTCO  to attend Super XLVII in New Orleans....YIKES!!!

By the way Cosmopolitan magazine has come out with a list of its thirty hottest NHL players, if by chance, you are interested.
By the way, Carey Price is rated number 7. See the list

Further reading;

Case not being taken seriously says Montreal man after tomato sandwich attack

PQ 'liberates' Lachine Hospital from English clutches

National Post editorial board: English is a right, not a privilege

Ottawa paramedics no longer responding to West Quebec calls

Bilinguals Have Faster, More Adaptive Brains When They Get Older


Pardon My French, Quebec, But Your Language Laws Are Ridiculous

Nutbar Richard Bain gives an interview in French to crime reporter- Listen

After links to drug bust, two Quebec judges not given new cases

Quebec City mayor ranks 4th in world's best mayors list

The last laugh

Oh Sh!t Moments!!!   Click here for more  ....I promise you're gonna chuckle!

Have a good weekend!
Bonne fin de Semaine!

Of Trolls and other Minutiae

I'm going to take a time out to address several issues that have been brought up in the comments section of late.

TROLLS
People keep writing me and demanding that I control negative comments written by certain readers who take offence to this web site and who believe that they can cast aspersions by denigrating us with foolish comments that are mostly boring and mostly devoid of anything redeeming.

I want to separate these trolls from those who write legitimate comments that oppose the majority view of this blog.
Too many readers confuse dissent with 'trolling' and wrongly (in my opinion) demand that they be somehow squelched.

At any rate, it isn't I who empower the trolls, it is you.
Ignore them and they will be frustrated and go away, otherwise don't complain.

One of the reasons I allow trolls to post is to remind readers in what environment we live, their insignificant and content-less missives, a testament to their mindless dogma.

Trolls are a good barometer of how much we bother French-language militants and the more we attract, the more damage I know we are inflicting.

Every now and then, trolls reveal certain nuggets of truth that offer an interesting insight into their optic.
Here is an example that proves rather telling.
In response to Monday's bog piece about the OQLF harassment of English and the effects of keeping many products and services out of Quebec, a reader noted that for many years, the Monopoly promotion wasn't offered in Quebec McDonalds restaurants.

"For several years, the Monopoly game promoted yearly by McD's was not promoted in Quebec because they didn't want to make the game pieces in French as well as the game cards"

Which elicited these two sarcastic responses;

"less mcdonald's promo? what a blessing."
"Vraiment triste :(" (Very sad)

Now these responses are telling and reveal much about how French language militants react when faced with the reality that they are missing out on North American life to some extent by exaggerating French language requirements.
The reaction is as old as the hills and was described by Aesop in the famous fable of the fox and the sour grapes written over 2,500 years ago.

And so they denigrate what they cannot have (the sour grapes.)
Of course it's easy to disparage a silly promotion in a junk food restaurant, but it is the same reaction that is trotted out when Quebecers are deprived of something more significant.
There are those who declare that anybody or any company that does not knuckle to excessive language requirements is not welcome and ultimately no great loss to Quebec and Quebecers.

And so trolls can offer insight into the mindset of French-language militants and as such, play their own role on this blog. 

That being said, I'm not defending McDonalds, there is no excuse for not respecting the French language, they certainly do enough business here to warrant the effort.
But for other businesses that isn't always the case.
There is a legitimate debate about protecting French language versus greater choice, but where that line is drawn is the issue at hand.
A company with one or two stores in Quebec (even if they have thousands of locations across North America) shouldn't be held to the same standards as a company that has hundreds of locations in Quebec.

But that is what legitimate debate is about. I cannot fault those who take the opposite view from myself.

Readers know me as someone with a particularly thick skin, criticism is part of the game and you should be aware of the venomous comments that aren't published and the hateful and threatening emails that land in my inbox frequently.
When regular readers, including so-called trolls offer a comment that violates the established standards of this blog, I censor the comment, but let readers know that I have done so by the familiar;
 "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator."
It lets the regular contributor know that the comment was deemed unacceptable and allows him/her to modify it or otherwise react.
It isn't a rebuke, call it a safety valve, that checks excessive zeal or emotion.

But comments that are hateful, cruel or obscene, from strangers to this blog, never see the light of day and the writer never gets to see his comment publicly blocked.
I can say that the regular so-called 'trolls' to this blog do not fall in this category and I cannot remember removing one of their comments in this manner.

A couple of final notes on the comment section.

BLOGGER doesn't allow me to view IP addresses and I cannot 'ban' anyone based on such information. (I wouldn't anyway)
Readers have made many suggestions and I consider them all, but understand that there are no magic solutions that will satisfy everybody.

MODERATION: I do have the option to review comments before they are published, but I cannot pick and choose who I moderate, it is all or nothing. Sometimes it would mean long delays before what you write is published, which is frustrating. My choice is to let everything be published immediately and clean up any mess later.

Tuer les tous, Dieu reconnaîtra les siens   (not Latin, but old French this time... I cannot resist!)

It is a choice I have made based on the fact that we really don't have so many abusers. Again I do not consider regular so-called 'trolls' abusers.
Some have suggested that I use a system like DIQUS to control the comments section, but the drawback is that you need a legitimate email address to participate and even with a dummy account it leads to casual commenters avoiding participating.

As for those who criticize me for not policing the comments section to their satisfaction, I can only reply that I do my best.
I want to remind readers that I am but one person with help from my wife. Sometimes people hold this amateur blog to standards that are unrealistic given the reality.
I am not a newspaper, nor a website that has contributing writers and support staff, nor a budget.

To people who don't like this blog and tell me how shitty my opinions are, all I can say is that nobody is forcing anybody to read my missives and those of our commenting community.
Just the same, we are doing pretty well and will probably hit a million pageviews in 2013, as Adam Sandler tells us... Not too shabby! for a blog that deals with a narrow subject.
By the way, when I  use the 'our' or 'we' to describe the blog, it is of course because of the comment section, that is integral to whatever success we enjoy.

Stay or leave
There are some readers who have reacted angrily that their decision to emigrate from Quebec is somehow denigrated in this blog. Not true.
The decision to leave Quebec or to stay is highly personal and giving advice to others about the issue is gratuitous at best.

For every good reason there is to leave, there are as many good reasons to stay. For those who advise Anglophones to abandon their homes, one should understand that the advice is based on the writers successful transplantation.
I have never maintained that those who left to greener pastures have 'abandoned' the linguistic fight and there have been precious few comments that have said anything like that.
I for one, remained in this province because I had a successful business, which I didn't want to abandon. I have recently retired and also see no need to leave as my friends and family are mostly here.
This story is mine, but readers who have chosen to remain have made their own choice, based on their own circumstances.
Many of you have left Quebec and have built new successful lives elsewhere.
Good on you, but everyone is entitled to live where they want to and yes, bitching about circumstances is also allowed.
The idea that Anglos who complain about linguistic persecution should just pick up and leave is not akin to walking out of a theatre because the movie sucks. It is more complicated.

One thing that I do know, is that a great proportion of those expatriates who come to this blog, do so  because Quebec is remembered fondly and remains part of who they are, this sometimes after twenty or thirty years.

Getting the message out.
Some have vented some frustration that this blog isn't making enough of a difference, a position  I heartily disagree with.
We are widely read and although it is hard to gauge the impact, at least I know we drive French language militants batty.
The newly crowned Fuehrer of vigile.net, Richard Le Hir makes it a point to remind readers every now and then what vicious and dangerous 'angryphones' populate our blog.
I take it as a badge of honour, like being called a bigot by a racist.

What can you do to contribute?
Popularize this blog by getting the message out, new readers arrive every day and mention that they had no idea we existed.

There are one or two regulars who post blog pieces to REDDIT which drives a tremendous amount of traffic.
Ironically, the latest poster to REDDIT was someone who ironically opposed my position re: the OQLF. Nonetheless, it generated  150 new pageviews.

One of the best ways to promote this blog is to comment in national newspapers like the Globe and Mail or the National Post mentioning a post in NDOA that you feel relevant to the discussion.
This also drives a lot of traffic, but I cannot do it myself as it would be somewhat unethical.

Mentioning and promoting a blog post on your Facebook or Google+ page can also help us go viral and get the message out to a wider audience, so don't let me hear that you feel frustrated because you don't know what to do to help publicize our cause.

There are many other ideas out there, but it is mostly up to you, I've done my part, now it is your turn.

Bill 101- You Can't always Get What You Want

I am always amused by those who deem that it is not only reasonable but desirable to legislate social behaviour, as if personal choice is something repugnant, and that the public, like an untamed horse, needs to be whipped into submission and obedience for the greater societal good.

Much to the consternation of these social engineers, state intervention into social issues and personal choice seldom works. As Woody Allen told us about falling in love with his step-daughter,... The  heart wants what the heart wants.

Perhaps the best example of misguided social engineering is the desire by environmentalists to ban the sale of bottled water, despite the fact that people want to buy the product.
To social engineers, the product is stupid and environmentally wasteful and as such should be banned.
But what would be the reaction to such a ban?
Would consumers run to the water fountains instead?
Would they accept as an alternative, begging at the fast food counter for a Styrofoam cup of tepid tap water, in lieu of a sanitary and perfectly chilled bottle of purchased water?
The reality is that such a ban would probably increase the amount of soft drinks or juices sold, a disastrous and unintended consequence of deciding for others how they must act.

No society in North America compares with Quebec when it come to government social engineers telling citizens how they must act, think and function.  Front and center in the pursuit of state mandated behaviour is the foulest of all agencies, the Office québécois de la langue française, otherwise known as the OQLF.

Last week an article published in La Presse complained that certain retailers were contravening Bill 101 by not offering a French language website comparable to that offered in English. Link{Fr} .

The article named a few companies but particularly singled out Urban Outfitters because it services Canadian customers from an American website which is unilingually English, something that Bill 101 forbids. (or so the newspaper article concludes)

So why has the company not been fined or otherwise punished by the OQLF over the last four or five years?

Quite simply, (contrary to what the newspaper article tells us,) it is because the company hasn't  broken any law or regulation, much to the outrage of the OQLF, which is powerless to do anything about it.

Somewhere along the line, Urban Outfitters deemed it too expensive or inconvenient to open a website exclusively for francophone customers and as I told you before, Canadian customers are directed to the English website based in the USA.

In order to comply with Quebec law that demands that French customers be treated equally to English customers, Urban Outfitters decided (quite bizarrely) to treat English customers from Quebec as badly as it treats French customers!
What they have done, is to ban any online sales to Quebec from their English website, an embarrassing work-around copied and repeated by other American retailers.

If you go online to Urban Outfitters, don't bother trying to order something to a Quebec address, it isn't possible and for consumers, both English and French it is quite galling.

No QC -Quebec

Notwithstanding what La Presse or the OQLF says, Urban Outfitters is actually following the letter of the law, so what's the beef?

The problem is that it's a bit humiliating that the OQLF cannot force a company to offer French online shopping based on the fact that such a service is available to customers in California or Ontario.
So to retaliate, the OQLF, (instead of just admitting it is powerless,) has organized an underhanded intimidation and smear campaign, by falsely suggesting that Urban Outfitters is acting illegally.

CLICK photo to enlarge

Recently I received an offer from Costco in my inbox for a home telephone system at a substantial discount if I ordered online.
I was interested and went to the checkout page only to be informed that the product was not available in Quebec. The notice didn't say why, but I can imagine it was because the product did not have French instructions.
The same goes for Canadian online websites that have toys or other products that only interact in English, you have to buy them through US based online retailers.
Read my previous post  Buzz Lightyear -Parlez-vous Francais?

French language militants will tell you that this is only fair, that because a French customer cannot buy a product in French, an English customer shouldn't be allowed to buy the product in English...Hmm....

The politics of Bill 101 are strangely paradoxical, forcing some areas of the marketplace to comply with French language requirements while ignoring others.

Take for example, books, which may be sold in English in Quebec without a French version.
Why is this?
You may think that cultural products are exempt from the law, but Hollywood movies may not be shown in Quebec without a French dubbed version being available at the same time.
Not so for coffee house movies or foreign language movies (other than English) , probably because nobody cares.

How is it that Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift, aren't required to record French lyrics for Quebec?
Why do real cars have dashboards with English words only, yet toy cars must be French or bilingual at the least?

The truth is that if French were required in the above examples, Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift wouldn't bother selling their product in Quebec, a humiliating situation that the OQLF recognizes and avoids by remaining silent. By the way, even the English only packaging is allowed. 

As for cars, it would be easy enough to add French to the dashboard, but the car companies wouldn't pass off the added cost to customers across North America, the additional expense would be added to the sticker price in Quebec only, (like higher car prices in California because of tougher emission standards) making cars more expensive in Quebec than in Ontario, something francophone consumers would be up in arms over.

The reality is that the OQLF is fine with forcing French onto businesses as long as the additional cost of the French is passed on to the greater English market, as is the case with dubbed movies, which moviegoers across Canada pay for.
Could you imagine the outrage if theatres in Quebec charged an additional dollar or so for French language version movies versus their English counterparts, to reflect the added expense of dubbing?

These are the anomalies of Bill 101 that intrigue me. It is a law that does what it can to socially engineer society, but fails because of certain economic and social realities and constraints.

While Bill 101 tells French Quebecers and Allophones that they must attend French school as a child, it dares not forbid them from watching English TV or attending English language movies.
Believe me that there are militants out there who would see English TV and movies banned, just like the social engineers who want bottled water bottles gone from the marketplace.
Again, could you imagine the riot in front of a theatre, if ticket sellers refused entrance to Francophones attempting to watch an English film. It may sound North Korean, but it is done in our schools every day.

When it comes to online sales, the legal choice in Quebec is clear, retailers must offer equivalent French services or not offer them at all.
It is when companies choose the latter alternative that the hackles of the OQLF are raised and where in response the agency reacts with an calculated smear campaign that intimates that the retailers are acting illegally, a shameful practice unbecoming to any reputable government agency.

And so, the OQLF, the guardian of the French language has evolved into a slimy, deceitful and underhanded organization that is not averse to intimidation, misdirection, lying and coercion, when faced with the limitations of its own law.

Such is the lesson of Urban Outfitters.

For the OQLF, the choice by this company and other American retailers to forgo online sales because of French language requirements should be a choice to be respected, if not appreciated. In other words, tough noogies.

Unfortunately, like dirty cops, the OQLF enforces the law where it can and uses underhanded frame tactics where it can't.
What better example of going outside the law is the agency telling the public that even though certain bilingual practices (like greeting customers with a Bonjour/Hi) may be legal, they are socially unacceptable.
Here is a quote about bilingual greetings in stores, from Louise Marchand,  head of the OQLF;.

 "It is not a violation of the Charter, but it can contribute to the feeling that Montreal is anglicized" Link{Fr}

The effect of statements like these is to encourage French language militants to intimidate those who use English quite legally and to frighten company executives from offering English services as the law provides.

How many retailers have given up posting signs in English, even though the law allows for it, this even in towns and cities that are overwhelmingly English?

You know the answer as well as I.

Quebec's Annus Horribilus

A small break away from the blog is always a pause that reinvigorates the creative juices, but let's face it, those of us so inclined to blog are badly infected with what is described in Latin as....Cacoethes scribendi, so it's good to be back. 

At any rate, here we go....

"May you live in interesting times."

Although the above aphorism is attributed to the ancient Chinese, the origin, as well the meaning, is probably not what we have come to understand.

Today we use the phrase to wish upon the beneficiary some positive excitement or new and happy experiences, but in reality, the phrase means quite the opposite...

"May you experience much disorder and trouble in your life." Link

And so, 2012 was certainly a year where Quebecers 'lived in interesting times' and not in the good sense. For old-timers like myself it's hard to remember so disastrous a year for our dear province.

As I search for the right words to describe last year, I have come up with but one that succinctly sums it all up ..."Bizarre!"

It was a year that challenged our deepest faith and convictions about who and what our society really is.
The public revelations of shocking and pervasive corruption of too many public and elected officials rocked our world and had us collectively confronting issues of trust. The number of public miscreants and delinquents rose to a level where we now wonder, not which officials are dirty, but which few are actually clean.

The middle of the year was dominated by an incredibly naive and patently stupid and disruptive  student revolt over rising tuition fees, which ironically remains the cheapest in Canada.
The decision by students to put their school year at risk over a couple of hundred dollars, baffled ordinary Quebecers and for good reason. When push came to shove, the student radicals opted to lose their year of school, demonstrating that they essentially placed no value on their time.
When classes resumed on an accelerated basis, meant  to perhaps save the semester, many students chose to forgo the onerous effort and opted to repeat the year, demonstrating no particular rush to get on with their lives.
Strangely, for these students who lost a year over the proposed tuition hikes, a lost year meant a repeated round of tuition fees, the irony of which went unnoticed by most.

Then there was the election of the PQ, which because of vote-splitting by federalists, backed into a minority government and proved within a few short months to be a group of utter incompetents and fools, unable and incapable to govern responsibly, looking like the rank amateurs that they are.

And so both separatists and federalists are faced with the worst case scenario, for the separatists, a government which won't promote or attempt to move the sovereignty file forward because of the lack of real support.
And for federalists a government incapable of dealing with the financial complexities of a province strapped for cash and unable to pay for its election promises.
Not much of this and not much of that, a veritable pig's breakfast.

As I think of the disappointing year we experienced, I'm reminded of the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson, an American baseball icon who was exposed as one of the crooked team members of the Chicago "White Sox" who collectively fixed the 1919 World Series for gamblers.

"Legend has it that as Jackson was leaving the courthouse during the trial, a young boy begged of him, "Say it ain't so, Joe,..." Wikipedia

In regards to the revelations emanating out of the Charbonneau crime commission, I too found myself muttering that same phrase, 'Say it ain't so,' because so shocking were the allegations being bandied about, that for the sake of our society, I honestly wished that the witnesses were lying or embellishing for effect.
But as the year rolled by, most Quebecers also came to feel this same sense of betrayal, the daily reports of malfeasance and corruption exposed at the Charbonneau commission, made it seem that the mob run city of Chicago of the '20s and '30s was a prim and proper Mormon town, in comparison to us.

This year I was captivated by two television mini-series, both with the subject of public corruption as its centrepiece. One is called "Boardwalk Empire," detailing the criminal goings on in a prohibition era Atlantic City and the other entitled "The Boss" starring Kelsey Grammer as a modern-day mostly corrupt Chicago mayor.

Compared to the corrupt goings on in our province, these two shows seemed mild in comparison! 

It all started just over a year ago when Maclean's magazine wrote a story labelling Quebec as the most corrupt province in Canada, which understandably raised indignant howls of protestation at the perceived Quebec-bashing in the local media. Link
The powers that be in the media were so outraged at the article that Quebec's Press Council unanimously reprimanded the magazine for poor reporting;

"......Mr. Patriquin displayed a lack of journalistic rigour.
"We are forced to conclude that they (the comments) reveal prejudice and are all the more condemnable under the circumstances as they carry prejudices against all Quebecers," the council wrote.
That lack of rigour was also attributed to a column by Mr. Coyne." Link

When events over the next year proved that if anything, Maclean's understated the length and breadth of Quebec corruption, one might have expected the Press Council to rescind that reprimand and apologize to the two wronged journalists, but alas this is Quebec, where covering one's own ass always trumps doing the right thing.

When my old friend Jacques Duchesneau, Quebec's newest version of Elliot Ness announced that 70% of political financing is illegal and that the mob had infiltrated the construction industry, the press and the public chalked it up as exaggeration, too impossible to believe, likely a case of hyperbolic politicking.

"Duchesneau detailed what he called “an entrenched, clandestine universe of an unheard-of size that is harmful to society in terms of security and the economy, as well as justice and democracy.” His report described how a tiny group of construction and engineering firms—“an oligarchy,” .....
.....Transport Québec has become the cash-generating and laundering outfit of choice for Quebec’s formidable organized crime network. “There are groups of general contractors who work as cartels, organizing to collude the tenders process to protect their members, eliminate competition and to get contracts at the price they want. Though they are legal themselves, some of these firms have silent partners, thus increasing organized crime’s presence in the legal economy.” Link

But alas, all the stunning revelations, as impossible as they sounded, were proven entirely true, with elected officials, public servants, mafia dons, construction magnates, engineering firms and yes even RevCan employees all discovered to be feasting at an epic Bacchanalian orgy of greed, paid out of the generosity of the public purse, funded by sad sack taxpayers like you.

It is almost impossible for an honest citizen to make sense of it, or yet come to terms with the depths and depravity of the betrayal of corruption that was so deeply entrenched and undeclared, for so many years, with nary a peep from a single whistle blower.

The discovery of this corruption beast living within the body politic of our society is as shocking and painful as having your doctor tell you that a pernicious tapeworm has made a home within your intestines and has lived there for years and years, slowly eating your guts from the inside out, with the most debilitating and disastrous health implications now manifesting overtly.
And so our collective societal panic is understandable, where the one and only maddening obsession is to kill and remove the accursed beast.

I wish I could predict a better year for us all, but in truth I cannot. We haved lived through a vertible Annus horribilis, with 2013 auguring no better.
Unfortunately, the corruption scandal has not yet reached it zenith, we've got a lot more crooks to uncover and politicians to chase from power.
Police are slowly getting through dozens and dozens of investigations and my most flamboyant prediction is that some of these crooks will flee the jurisdiction à la Arthur Porter.

There are a least five high-profile trials coming up this year and at least a dozen in 2014.
The economy, already on shaky ground will likely deteriorate as America comes to grip with its huge debt with another recession possibly around the bend.

The PQ will continue to fiddle while the province's finances melt down. When the next budget is to be tabled the phoney revenue predictions that we were fed this year, will come back to haunt the PQ, resulting in a three to eight billion dollar shortfall, even after all the tax increases.
And this time they won't be able to blame anyone but themselves.

And so, the PQ will raise the language debate to distract the masses from the financial disaster. I am sadly afraid that the big bad anglo devil will be trotted out once again,(as was the case during the September election) in another desperate attempt of ad captandum vulgus or if you like, the more familiar panem et circenses  

I apologize for my decidedly negative assessment, it is just the way I see it, I wish I could be more upbeat.

The one and only thing to hope for is that with a little luck, the Liberal Party will choose a leader who inspires the people just enough to cause the PQ government to fall, leading to a minority Liberal government.
It is just about the best we can hope for.

My New Year's Resolution....... to remain a thorn in side of the militant French language movement and to denounce their many lies, distortions and overt racism.
For your information, I haven't gotten around yet to reading the comments regarding the possible  re-formation of the Equality Party and promise to do so this weekend, with a blog piece concerning the subject soon after.By the way that blog piece resulted in over 600 comments and over 65,000 words!

PS....If you haven't had enough Latin for a day, I will leave you with my favourite quote concerning gun control ...enjoy!

Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt

5 Reasons to Relaunch the Equality Party .. Part Deux!!

I've received some feed back about comments not registering, perhaps because of the volume,,,


So I've opened up a new thread.....