One doesn't have to look much farther than the second provision of Bill 14, to understand that the law is one of the most pernicious attacks on the rights of minorities ever undertaken by a government in this country, one dedicated to disenfranchising minorities and anglophones from forming a recognized and valued element of society.
In one fell swoop the government of Quebec has taken the unprecedented step to relegate the over 21% of those Quebecers who do not share a French mother tongue and who do not share the 'common culture' of poutine and maple syrup, to second class citizenship, a situation where their culture and language is no longer recognized as part of the greater Quebec society.
According to Section 2 of Bill 14, as pertaining to French;
“It constitutes the foundation of Québec’s identity and of a distinct culture that is open to the world.”
To those francophones reading this and pooh-poohing my interpretation as overly harsh and who believe that minorities and Anglophones are not being marginalized, I would ask them to consider the following;
What would be your reaction to the Government of Canada enacting the similar legislation on a national level.
“English constitutes the foundation of Canada’s identity and of a distinct culture that is open to the world.”
I'm sure francophones wouldn't be excited to see their language and culture excluded from the definition of how Canada defines itself and if there is a difference between what the Quebec government is planning and what I propose above, I'd like to see someone attempt to do so in the comments section.
Come to think of it how about New Brunswick enacting the same type of legislation, one that erases in one fell swoop the value and worth of francophone culture in that province.
“English constitutes the foundation of New Brunswick’s identity and of a distinct culture that is open to the world.”
Do you find this insulting to the 30% of francophone New Brunswickers?
I certainly do, but to Quebec's French language militants and the PQ, it is perfectly normal to marginalize a significant minority of the population, telling them that their particular language and culture may be valued only as it pertains to being adjunct of society in general.
There is only so much tap dancing that one can do to justify such a draconian, hurtful and exclusionist provision.
It is a law conceived in discrimination and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created unequally. (apologies to Abraham Lincoln)
And I am tired of hearing the excuse of that old chestnut that 'desperate times require desperate measures,' it is patently untrue that French is in any sort of danger in Quebec.
More people speak French today than ever before and more people will speak French in Quebec tomorrow.
French has achieved a critical mass that precludes it from being in any sort of danger. To say otherwise is a naked attempt to manage public opinion through lies and chicanery.
Any talk of French being in danger is just separatist talk by militants meant to frighten Quebecers into buying the sovereignty pipe dream.
Twenty years ago there was hardly a politician in the National Assembly who couldn't speak English, good English at that.
Today, how many French members of that august assembly can actually watch an English television show or movie and have an acceptable level of comprehension. Less than 20% I imagine.
Most in the PQ (save for half a dozen) rehearse in the mirror the one or two lines of English they will speak to reporters and then quickly retreat into cloistered world unlingualism.
Is this the new bilingual Quebec?
Bill 14 and Bill 101 and attacks on bilingual store signs is an attempt to alter perceptions, in other words, putting English out of sight and out of mind.
With English signs removed from view, militants can foist the fiction upon an unsuspecting public that Montreal is a French city, when clearly it is bilingual and ethnically diverse.
And when French language militants tell us one more time that the English are the best-treated minority in Canada, they should be reminded it isn't true.
In fact it is the French minority in Canada that enjoys financial, social and linguistic benefits far beyond its demographic footprint.
With sovereignty out of the question, the the only option left to
the nasty and vindictive French radicals, is a legislative attack on their enemies, the English
and Ethnics.
If the Liberals and the CAQ allow the
travesty of Bill 14 to proceed, it will send the message that they are not
honourable or brave enough to face down an evil attack on their own citizens.
It
will demonstrate once and for all that those not with a French mother tongue are to be expendable and that the
reach for power justifies the betrayal and marginalization of a million of their co-citizens.
If the CAQ and Liberals betray us on Bill 14, there is no going back. If they allow our language and culture to be relegated to second class status, they betray every value that makes us who we are. If that betrayal comes to pass, we too must make a stand and say no more and that we will not choose from the lessor of two evils.
If the CAQ votes against Bill 14 and the Liberals avoid taking a stand by not showing up as before, then the Liberals are dead to me and they should be dead to you, damn the consequences.
If the CAQ votes for the bill or doesn't show up for the vote, well a pox on both their houses and for us it means that there is no political route left in Quebec to defend the interests of our community,
We are getting close to the time when it is time to move towards street activism.
....yup.....I said it.
If Bill 14 passes, it is time to give up on the political route and take the argument to the streets...
What does that mean....well we can start with humiliation and ramp it up from there, but that is for the future...
Montreal City Hall raided "Quebec’s anti-corruption crackdown has reached into the heart of
political power in Montreal – City Hall itself – in a sweeping police
operation said to be tied to illegal party financing. Investigators
with the UPAC, or Unité permanente anti-corruption, entered the Old
Montreal landmark late Tuesday afternoon and ordered municipal employees
and political representatives and their staff to evacuate.
Investigators were seen inside the office of interim Mayor Michael
Applebaum."Read the rest of the storyWatch a video story
Construction boss claims he's no member of the Mafia
"A former construction company owner who delivered cash to Mafia leaders
spent his third day in front of the Charbonneau Commission Wednesday.
On the stand Wednesday, Nicolo Milioto continued his display of
ignorance, claiming that he had no idea what the Italian word 'capo'
meant, and also saying that he did not understand English.
Milioto has testified that he doesn't know what the Mafia is, and that
despite seeing Mafia leaders like Nick Rizzuto Sr. daily for decades, he
had no idea what Rizzuto did for a living.
Milioto, also known as Mr. Sidewalk for his company's dominance of that
industry in and around Montreal, said his only mistake was to act as a
go-between for cash exchanges.
Milioto was caught on surveillance tape delivering tens, if not
hundreds of thousands of dollars to Rizzuto Sr. during several
exchanges. On the stand Milioto said he never asked what the money was
for, and assumed it was all for the Catolica Eraclea community
organization named after his home village in Sicily."Link + video
Hospital employees targeted in affidavit
"Provincial anti-corruption investigators alleged in a sworn affidavit that employees at the McGill University Health Centre — as well as employees of engineering firm SNC-Lavalin — committed fraud and forgery arising from the $1.3-billion MUHC superhospital contract.
Sergeant Jean-Frédérick Gagnon, of the Unité permanente anti-corruption, made the allegations in a signed affidavit on Sept. 4, 2012, in order to obtain a search warrant of the headquarters of the MUHC on Guy St. Investigators raided MUHC offices on Sept. 18, and left with boxes of documents.
The affidavit is the first time that police allege that MUHC employees have committed wrongdoing in connection with the superhospital contract, noting that the infractions were committed from Nov. 1, 2009 to Sept. 23, 2011.
Richard Fahey, director of public affairs of the MUHC, told The Gazette Wednesday night that MUHC officials were informed by investigators that “there are no current employees of the MUHC that are under investigation.”
Fahey added that the hospital network itself is not under investigation, either.
The affidavit does not identify which MUHC employees are alleged to have broken the law or their exact positions.
It does, however, shed some light into the police investigation. Police allege that Riadh Ben Aïssa, a former vice-president of SNC-Lavalin, “orchestrated” $22.5 million in unauthorized payments by the engineering firm to a company under the name of Sierra Asset Management Inc."Read the rest of the story
New York Times reports on Quebec corruption
MONTREAL — “We ask everyone to kindly leave,”
said the voice over the loudspeaker in Montreal’s City Hall on Tuesday.
Minutes earlier, a fire alarm had gone off — even though there was no
fire. As politicians and city officials filed outside into a gathering snowstorm, dozens of cops from Quebec’s Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit
moved in for an unprecedented raid, searching for documents to prove
allegations of fraud, misrepresentation and abuse of trust. At
that precise moment, other anticorruption officers were raiding six
Montreal borough halls, as well as the headquarters of the former ruling
party in the city, Union Montreal. The operations were all part of a
sprawling multiyear investigation into illegal party funding that has
rocked the city establishment, already claiming one mayor’s head and making his replacement very uncomfortable just months into the job. Link
Montreal Bakery faces extortion
It's not a big story, but it's interesting because it's being reported in a Lebanese newspaper. Over here, not a peep in the press about a baker who is facing demands from a Black street gang to pay up 'protection' money, or face the consequences.
Instead of paying the Lebanese immigrant has adopted a bullet proof vest and has installed security measures. Read the story in French
Police discover Smoking Gun in Laval?
It's being reported that in a police raid on ex-Laval Mayor Gilles Vaiilancourt, a safe was discovered containing a list detailing all the politicians and municipal employees on the take and the payoffs they received.
Police aren't saying much, but it's hard to contain such a blockbuster. Link{fr}
Language Cops humiliate themselves again...then backtrack
OQLF.....Pizza is OK as a French word, but not Pasta
The latest transgression in Quebec's language wars involves an Italian restaurant that serves pasta.
According to restaurant owner Massimo Lecas, the Office Quebecois de la
langue francaise has determined that pasta is not a French word, and
its appearance on a menu without an adequate translation violates
Quebec's Language Charter.
Lecas, the owner of Buonanotte on St. Laurent Blvd., told reporters
that his restaurant was visited by an OQLF inspector on Sept. 5, 2012,
who told him there had been complaints about the menu....
Many items on the menu at Buonanotte have names in Italian, but the
descriptions are in French, and this week Lecas learned that is just not
good enough to comply with the Charter.
In a letter delivered on Tuesday, the OQLF pointed out a host of
infractions from writing 'bottiglia' instead of 'bouteille' on the wine
list, listing squid under the word 'calamari' and using the Italian word
for meatballs.....
Brit & Chips on Cote-des-Neiges Rd., which serves typical English
pub food including fish and chips, told CTV Montreal it too had been
asked to change its menu listings in English and remove other terms
incomprehensible to unilingual francophones such as the word "Gents" on a
washroom door.
The OQLF also told owner Toby Lyle that his sign out front should indicate -- in French -- that it is a restaurant.
Lyle said he will comply with those requirements but he is challenging a
demand to remove a sign saying "Fish & Chips" from the restaurant's
front window, and replace it with one saying "poisson frit et frites"
"I can't comply with this because it will literally kill my business," said Lyle. Read the story and watch a video report
Realizing that the story is going to go viral, the PQ government and the OQLF tried to get ahead of the story, but the press releases probably did more harm than good.
The minister responsible for the OQLF, Diane DeCourcy said in her press release that she has full confidence in the OQLF and agrees with their position vis-a-vis the restaurants.
Perhaps it was Opposite Day when she said let loose this beauty; "In allthe issues surroundinglanguage,judgment andmoderationmust bewhat guides us." Link{fr}
Then in another pres release the minister demanded that people stop using derogatory terms like 'political police' to describe the OQLF, calling out a Liberal member of the National Assembly for using the term. Link{fr}
In the end someone higher up whispered some sweet nothings into the ear of the boss of the OQLF and ordered her to defuse the situation. That someone recognized the brewing political disaster and humiliation. (Pauline?)
In a new press release, the OQLF said that perhaps it was over-zealous in pursuing the restaurant about the amount of Italian on the menu. How about this gobbledygook;
"The Office will considerthe peculiarities of therestaurant, takingparticular account ofthe exception relating toforeign specialties, prescribed by regulation." Link{fr}Story about the OQLF backing down
Yesterday, the chief witch of the OQLFLouise Marchand gave an extensive interview on television claiming that it was all a misunderstanding, an over-zealous employee and that all has been repaired.
Mario Dumont, the interviewer, asked sarcastically if it was the publicity that humiliated the OQLF into backtracking.
Attention Chinese food restaurants...
It may be time to find a French translation for 'Chow Mein!
In other OQLF follies, the government agency made the city of Montreal removed safety signs from Montreal parks because the according to the agency, the signs were illegal because they were in English.
Now the law provides that signs dealing with health safety can be posted in English, but in this case ruled that the signs were 'preventative' .
French/English confrontation video goes viral on LiveLeak
Remember the video from a couple on months ago where a drunken francophone Montrealer assails a couple of young Asian tourists for not speaking French?
Well it was picked up just this week and published on the Liveleek website which features offbeat videos and which has a HUGE audience.
While the video when first released on YouTube, it received about ten thousand views in five months, while one week on LiveLeek produced over 75,000 views.
The Liveleak audience is a tough crowd and the comments below the video are something to behold, over 2,000 and counting.
Here's a sample of the sarcasm....
"I don't mind French people in Canada.
What I do mind is having to rotate my cereal box around 50% of the time
to read it in English."LiveLeak
Justin Trudeau drives separatists bonkers
"Speaking in Quebec on Tuesday, Liberal leadership candidate Justin
Trudeau declared that “at least” two thirds of Quebecers would need to
approve of secession before the federal government would be obliged to
take notice. “If we are going to change the Canadian constitution and the state of
our country so profoundly, it should at least require the same level as
that required to change the constitution of the New Democratic Party,
which is two-thirds” said Mr. Trudeau as quoted in French by La Presse. The statement, made before a crowd of about 100 students at McGill
University, was a jab at NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, whose party recently
tabled a private member’s bill to amend the Clarity Act, a Chretien-era
piece of legislation mandating that a clear majority of Quebecers need
to approve of secession before the federal government is obligated to
set out terms." Read the rest of the story
Readers, if vigile.net ran a poll as to the most hated politician in Canada is, Justin Trudeau would win hands down.
He represents everything that separatists hate, plus he is one of them, a francophone Quebecer seen as their very own version of Benedict Arnold.
With his pronouncement in regards to the two-thirds majority, he reopens one of the touchiest issues that separatists face, something that they thought had been settled.
Like a bandaid being ripped off an unhealed wound, all they can muster is a loud 'OUCH!'
In an article in the Journal de Montreal, the newspaper just hisses venom, it's headline "Justin Trudeau admits he's a millionaire" speaks volumes about Quebecers' perception of success. Link{fr}
Hundreds protest against PQ's French language policies
"About 200 protesters blocked a downtown street outside the Montreal
offices of the Quebec Premier Pauline Marois on Sunday afternoon
demanding her government rescind its new language legislation.
Some protesters went so far as to threaten to withhold their taxes if language restrictions aren't eased in Quebec. The PQ's Bill 14, which is at the debate stage in Quebec's
legislature, seeks to strengthen the province's French-language
requirements, including for businesses, schools and individuals. The protest was organized by two English-language rights groups, Put Back the Flag, and The Unity Group" Read the rest of the story
Although the numbers were rather modest, the protest seemed to strike a cord in the French press which strangely devoted a lot of ink to the smallish demonstration.
In fact, much to my surprise, some were frightened by the rise of the 'angryphones'
In an opinion piece entitled : "The Equality party in Power," the author wrote;
"Given that JimKalafatidisand his flockhad notrouble gettingPLQandCAQto maintainthe maple leafin the Blue Roomof the National Assembly, it seems that Bill14 isindeed stillborn. Thisleads to the conclusionthat althoughPauline Marois leads PQgovernment,this party is not really in power. On the other hand, the Equality Party..." Link{Fr}
Interesting letter to editor
"Despite protestsfrom academiaand medicine,the PQseems to be staying the coursewith its cutsof $ 10 millionin medical research.Yet this isan area ofactivity that is important andthat should beprioritizedeven in difficult times. In addition to thelives thatcould saved,the industrywillretainourgreatest minds, who will be otherwise forced into exileif the fundsare notavailable. However, theOfficequébécois de laFrench (OLF) hasa budget of$20 million.Willsomeone explain to me why thePQis more afraidofAnglos than cancer! " Link{fr}
Last Friday I featured a link to a Radio Canada video story about those in Montreal's Chinese community who have implanted themselves in suburban Brossard, a prosperous bedroom community just over the Champlain Bridge on the south shore of the St. Lawrence river.
I didn't offer much more than a link to the story and was called out in the comments section for characterizing the piece as a Radio-Canada hatchet job.
You can watch the piece in either English, French or Chinese over at the at the Grand Dossiers website at Radio Canada. English subtitles are provided when necessary. Link
The main focus of the piece was about the Chinese community's difficulty and perhaps refusal to integrate into mainstream francophone society.
The issue of ethnic communities integrating into Quebec society is a touchy subject, with French language militants generally enraged and insulted that these 'outsiders' refuse to join the great francophone society.
Although the producers tried to 'round' off the report with various human interest aspects, there was no getting away at what they were bringing to the table (not egg rolls), that is, that the Chinese community lives apart from mainstream Quebec society in a cocooned and sheltered world, something that remains an anathema to language militants who believe that immigrants are obligated, as part of the implied social contract they accepted when they immigrated, to learn the French language, adopt and assimilate Quebec culture, Marie-Mai, poutine and maple syrup, the whole kit and caboodle.
The piece includes features on several different Chinese, a chef, a mother, a real estate broker, a pastor and some elderly Chinese, each story describing their lives and how they live outside mainstream French milieu.
I'm not sure those who were interviewed understood what was going on, they innocently answered the questions as best they could and freely described that for many in their community, especially the older generation, living apart from mainstream Quebec is de rigueur.
Given the context of language in Quebec, I couldn't help but get the feeling that they were being 'set up' to make the producer's point, that the Chinese are diametrically opposed to assimilation, a poster boy community of uncooperative and recalcitrant social self-imposed isolation.
In many respects, the Chinese were used like the chumps interviewed by Jay Leno on his infamous 'Jaywalking' segment, where stupid people are made fun of without their cottoning to the fact. Take a look .
Now perhaps my interpretation of the motives of the film maker is flawed and paranoid.
If so, I apologize for that conclusion, but after screening the video there was one thing that I was dead sure of, that it wouldn't take long before an outraged response to the story would appear on vigile.net, decrying the continuing ethnic rejection and humiliation of Francophone society.
Readers, I was not to be disappointed, but more on that a bit further on.
I hope you watch the videos, if not, these screen caps sum up the piece rather succinctly.
Looking at the story in the context of the current language debate and the overriding fear that ethnics are choosing to live apart or in English, it's not a reach to conclude that the Chinese were being served up to language militants, like a red flag waved in front of a bull's nose to elicit a reaction.
The quotes in the screen caps above pretty much summed up where the story was going.
"No speakee da Englese"
I'm writing this post in a hotel room looking down on the Manhattan bridge in New York City, on the Brooklyn side of the East river.
Crossing the bridge over to Manhattan, vehicles are deposited onto Canal Street, directly into one of the great and most famous 'Chinatowns' of the western world. The quaint and touristy neighbourhood is famous for its Chinese restaurants and knockoff Louis Vuitton purses and Rolex watches, hawked right on the curbs of Mott Street and environs, to rapacious tourists out for adventure and bargains.
The most popular Chinese restaurant with visitors is the cavernous Jim Fong, where dim sum is served up by decidedly non-English speaking waiters.
The neighbourhood is also home to a local community that lives and breathes in Chinese, a place where one can live an entire life without a word of English.
Back here in Brooklyn, just a couple of miles down the road from my hotel room, is another 'Chinatown', this one in the neighbourhood known as Sunset Park and interestingly, it's even bigger and more 'ethnic,' than its more famous cousin in Manhattan.
One thing both these Chinatowns have in common is the fact that many of its Chinese residents live, work and recreate entirely in Chinese, the same as some in the Brossard community featured in the Radio-Canada story.
I'm reliably informed by someone who works in a local hospital in Sunset Park that many, if not the majority of the local adult Chinese seeking medical help, speak no English at all.
I guess it's pretty much the same all over North America, be it San Francisco, Vancouver or Toronto, where in my favourite Chinese food restaurant on Spadina, it is a case of pointing at the English side of the menu, in order to be understood by the aging waiters, who only speak a rudimentary version of pidgeon-English.
In Sunset Park as in Brossard, it is true that one can live an entire life in Chinese, but it's important to note that the phenomenon applies exclusively to first generation immigrants, even those who have lived there for fifty years.
Come to think of it, the same applies to the Russian community of Brighton Beach, another storied Brooklyn neighbourhood nicknamed Little Odessa, because of the many resident who hail from the Ukranian city.
Here too, many first generation immigrants live their entire lives in Russian, eschewing English on every level..
Sunset Park's English-speaking next generation
It's no big deal.
Nobody in New York city is demanding that these non-English speakers become good citizens by learning English and adopting baseball, hot dogs and Lady Gaga.
Of course this aversion to English (or French in Brossard) disappears with the rise of the second and third generation, something that the Radio-Canada piece mentions, but doesn't highlight, choosing to concentrate on the first generation Chinese immigrants, who like their counterparts in Brooklyn choose to remain safely ensconced in their community.
And so the Radio-Canada story while factually correct, holds up the insular Chinese community of Brossard as some strange and isolated phenomenon, ignoring the fact that the Chinese 'experience' is pretty much the same across North America.
The story's intended or unintended consequence is to fan the flames of outrage by French language militants who whine about the injustice of it all, like a bad 'done-me-wrong' country song.
Now to the vigile.net reaction, where one of its resident xenophobe contributors Jacques Noël, lashed out indignantly at the sad state of affairs over these stubborn immigrant Chinese, who unfairly shun the French language and culture.
"In many ways, the Chinese immigrants are models.They work hard, very hard. Their childrendo well inschool.They commit few crimes, at least fewviolent crimes.But as to their cultural integration into Quebec society, it is a total failure.Total.Total.
Quebec societyis stuck. Wedged betweenimmigrationfrom the Maghreb,whose members speak Frenchbut who certainlydon't fit in, are alittlescaryand who impoverishQuebec and theChinese immigrants who are very productive, very enriching, but who do not fitin anddo not want tospeak French. Addthe Jewsof Boisbriand andCôte St-Luc, Caribbeans from NDG andSt-Michel and you have many failures, sometimes cultural, sometimeslanguage, sometimes economic, sometimes everything. Link{Fr}
Hmmm......The above screed, to those unfamiliar with the separatist website, vigile.net, is not an exception, it is an example of the type of xenophobia that is published on an ongoing basis.
One of the great complaints of the sovereignty industry is the fact that not enough immigrants adopt French and francophone culture and that Bill 101 and other measures are required to redress the shocking situation, else-wise Quebec will become anglicized and/or overrun with foreign influence.
Mr Parent and others of his ilk who are opposed to immigration, advocate that these people don't integrate well and when they do, much too many choose the English side of the language equation, a sad and unintended consequence of allowing the English community to survive.
I'll delve into that subject, the assimilation of immigrants in another post.
At any rate, I stand by my conclusion that the Radio-Canada story was about as honest as Jay Leno interviewing idiots.
The story wasn't meant to honour or explore the Chinese community of Brossard, but rather to shame them and show them up for dishonouring the francophone majority.
"Sometimes even a government can score in its own net, actually it happens more often than not, but perhaps this was a first;
Parti Québécois MNAs were red-faced Wednesday morning after realizing
they had actually voted in favour of a joint opposition party motion
denouncing the government’s own spending cuts to universities. The incident took place Tuesday when the legislature resumed sitting – apparently in a moment of distraction. The motion has no impact and the government is in no danger of falling but it marred the government’s return to the house.
“There was confusion,” said Terrebonne MNA Mathieu Traversy, who is
the government’s deputy-house leader and was in charge at the moment the
motion was tabled by the opposition parties."Link
Ex-cabinet minister Daniel Breton, who was humiliatingly booted from the PQ cabinet early on in the Marois regime made a not so triumphant return to the National Assembly on the first day of the session.
Caught more than dozing, he was outright sleeping when Parliamentary reporters snapped this picture.
In his defence, Mr. Breton claims that he has an as yet, un-diagnosed case of sleep apnea. Watch him snooze on YOUTUBE
He promised to go to the doctor to check it out. Let's hope he has a family doctor to give him a referral and that he won't have to wait months to see the specialist!
"From rising political star to dozing denizen of parliament’s sleepy suburbs — it’s been a gruelling few months for Daniel Breton. The star recruit for the Parti Quebecois had been catapulted from green activist into the prestigious role of provincial environment minister last fall. But he was swiftly demoted to the backbenches after some personal controversies. Now he’s being forced to explain his struggles to stay awake in the legislature. Breton was caught on camera repeatedly dozing off during question period this week. Asked about it, he said Wednesday that he could be suffering from a sleeping disorder. Link
Former PQ MNA Jean Filion has won his case seeking a transition payment after leaving the National Assembly. These payments are part of the political landscape in Quebec, where those who leave office, for whatever reason, are given a bonus to reintegrate into the private sector.
But the National Assembly was loath to make the payment to Filion because he was in jail, having been convicted of frauding the government by paying people through his parlimentary budget who had nothing to do with running his office. Link
After his six months in jail, Filion decided to sue and has prevailed, although the judge knocked down the indemnity to almost half.
You might recall disgraced Liberal MNA Tony Tomassi, who resigned after being charged with accepting an illegal benefit. His trial has yet to take place, but he already collected his $122,000 transition payment. Link
For Jacques Parizeau, his resignation after his referendum night drunken gaffe has always been a bitter pill to swallow and he's taken it out on every PQ leader since, undermining their authority with contrary and sometimes insulting pronouncements.
Parizeau has publicly undermined Pauline by telling all who would listen that he'd be voting for Option Nationale, the other separatist party and rival for the affections of Quebec's sovereigntists in last September's provincial election.
Nicknamed the 'mother-in-law' for all his meddling, Parizeau struck again last week, publicly backing the radical student association in calling for free college and university tuition.
“The zero deficit has spoiled everything. As soon as you set a
deadline for reaching a zero [deficit] objective and that it becomes a
religion, you stop thinking. You cut back on everything and you stop
asking questions,” Mr. Parizeau said in an interview with the Montreal
daily Le Devoir. The harsh assessment, coming from a prominent and
influential former party leader, embarrassed the Marois government,
which is facing strong criticism over the summit in two weeks on the
future of universities.Link
The PQ has enjoyed a long history of fratricide with leaders being pushed of the cliff by party heavyweights on a regular basis.
But to my knowledge, it's the party's first attempt at sororicide.
In another attempt to consolidate power, Pauline Marois rejected the idea of the three sovereigntist parties working together by not running candidates in certain ridings so as to avoid vote-splitting. BothJean-Martin Aussant, leader of Option nationale and Québec solidaire'sFrançoise David railed against the intransigent Marois, claiming that the PQ doesn't have exclusivity when it comes to sovereignty.
What both fail to realize is that Pauline doesn't really share their agenda, that is sovereignty. For Pauline, it is all about power and in her world, winning means that all the other parties separatist or federalist must lose. Link{fr}
By the way, in another cave-in to public pressure, Marois much to the chagrin of nationalist groups has decided to let school administrations decide on implementing the Charest government's initiative of intensive English for francophone sixth graders.
"In response to public pressure, the Parti Quebecois has softened its
position on English classes taught in elementary schools across the
province, QMI Agency has learned. PQ Education Minister Marie Malavoy, who called English a "foreign
language" in October, had previously announced that her government would
cancel a program that obligated schools to add 369 hours of intensive
English courses to its Grade 6 curriculums. However, sources told QMI Agency that after consultations with
teachers' unions, parents and school administrations, the PQ will still
cancel the program, but will allow individual schools to decide if they
want to add English courses." Link
Corruption Watch ...this week
There were no startling revelations made this week at Quebec's crime commission, probably because it didn't hold any public sessions and it was actually a good thing, it seems we could all use a respite from the bombshells dropping on a daily basis.
But alas, it was not to be.
A front page story in the Journal de Montreal revealed that Arthur Porters' right hand man, Yanai Elbaz, built himself a 1.7 million dollar mansion in St. Laurent.
It seems that a construction company doing business with the hospital that Elbaz helped run with Porter, picked up the tab for over a half a million dollars of the cost.
When reporters asked Maurice O’Hana, owner of the said construction company for an explanation, he had a swift attack of amnesia, claiming he really didn't remember.
Despite all that is going on, Quebec francophones show unshakable faith in Quebec, only 24% believe that Quebec is more corrupt than other provinces. Anglophone Quebecers are not so trusting, two and a half times as many told pollsters that Quebec is more corrupt than the other promises. Link{fr}
Metro versus Métro
Another humiliation for Yves Michaud?
It seems that French language militants made a demand at the the company's shareholder's meeting that Metro, the giant supermarket chain, change its name to include a diacritical accent over the 'é' to better reflect its French heritage.
Two resolutions were put forward asking that the company change its logo and to use the 'new' name exclusively.
When shareholders considered the millions and millions such a change would entail, they voted with their wallets, rejecting the motion by almost 99%!
At last year's shareholder's meeting, blowhard activist Yves Michaud, already branded a bigot by a unanimous National Assembly motion, put up a big stink, demanding that the change be made to safeguard Quebec's heritage.
As one would expect, the humiliating rejection was a difficult blow to shoulder and militants railed against shareholder apathy towards the French language. Link{fr}
Read my pieceIs is Yves Michaud Racist?
PQ's 'Friends & Family' sovereignty push.
As I told you in the last post, the PQ campaign to promote sovereignty is nothing more than a cynical device to satisfy the party's militant base.
Just the same I decided to keep a watch out for the campaign and report my findings to readers. On Wednesday I deconstructed the study in a post entitled 92 Reasons to Ignore Sovereigntist Nonsense.
Today I'm following up on the formidable YouTube campaign promised by Pauline Marois.
In that regard I headed over to the PQ YouTube channel to see what I might see and was surprised to find that I was the very first viewer to have the privilege of watching Pauline's masterful speech introducing the campaign which I have dubbed the "Friends and Family Sovereigntist Campaign," because the only people interested in it are, well.....friends and family!
Here is an unretouched or Photoshopped screen grab of both Pauline's speech and that of Bernard Drainville, which I was a bit late to the party, being only the third person to screen the videos.
At any rate, I visited the site on Monday and went back today (Thursday) to see how much interest the videos were generating and how many more people watched the videos. YouTube
In the five days since the posting a grand total of a little over 2,000 people watched Pauline's video, this in a political party that supposedly has 90,000 members. I'm not sure how many 'influencable' viewers would be left after the 'friends and family' numbers were subtracted.
As for Bernard Drainville, his speech didn't do quite as well, with a view count of under 300, it hardly seems worth the effort.
Considering that our good friend Abdul Butt's video about the French language militants' protest over the Montreal Canadiens' English coach last year, garnered over 100,000 views, I'll let readers draw their own conclusions as to the impact of the Friends and Family Sovereignty campaign.
Ah... what the heck, it's Friday and if you haven't seen this great video give it a whirl.
The trial of 42 year-old man Yvan Grandmaison wrapped up on Thursday with the judge taking the verdict under advisement.
Mr. Grandmaison ran down an elderly couple one evening while they were walking near their home in a Montreal suburb. The women died and the man was badly injured.
But the driver plead not guilty claiming that it wasn't his fault, because he had been prescribed a new medication that didn't agree with him.
But the fact that he admitted to drinking four beers, doing some cocaine and taking a couple of sleeping pills before venturing out in his car on a beer run, didn't seem to faze him at all.
The accused claimed that when he ran down the couple he was perfectly sober and lucid.
However when he was arrested by police a little later on, they reported that he was completely intoxicated, a fact confirmed by tests.
True, said the accused, but the effects of his drug cocktail only kicked in later, well after he hit the couple. Read an extended account
So readers, what do you think his chances of being acquitted are?
Well, they're a lot better in Quebec, than the rest of Canada, Quebec's courts are almost three times more likely to acquit than courts in the rest of the country.
With 23.2% of Canada's population, Quebec is responsible for 76% of the country's total criminal acquittals
While 6.3% of trials in Canada end in acquittal, that figure jumps to over 16% in Quebec. See some stats.
It's Friday so here is your laugh of the week, provided by Diogenes, who swears this is an actual memo sent by Sun Life Insurance to health insurance policyholders in Quebec
“Alert - Quebec massage establishments
Sun Life Financial has identified a growing number of massage establishments in Quebec that operate as massage parlours, offering body rubs or additional services of a sexual nature in lieu of or together with a massage, while advertising that they will issue receipts for insurance purposes. Under the terms of our plans, coverage is only available for therapeutic or medically necessary services as accepted by standard medical practices. As a result, we will decline all massage therapy claims from such establishments – even if a receipt has been provided. To avoid having a legitimate massage claim denied, we encourage you to research any massage provider you are considering to ensure it is a legitimate provider of therapeutic massage services. Any clinic that offers “additional” services or is a 24/7 operation will likely not meet the criteria as a quality provider.”
Not every story can have a “happy ending” I guess...-Diogenes
One last last thing, a brainteaser.......
You have 3 seconds to respond....
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 together
The bat costs a dollar more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost.
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Did you answer 10 cents? ...sorry, incorrect.
It's no trick, just do your math..
If you can't get it, go here....Youtube
