The Rehabilitation of Paul Rose

It's always tempting, especially with the passage of time to rehabilitate those who acted barbarously in a cause that we otherwise support.

And so on the pages of vigile.net and  l'Autrejournal the memory of Paul Rose is being raised to that of a romantic patriotic warrior, whose involvement in a murder is mostly beside the point.

There is little doubt that the FLQ would be branded a terrorist organization would it exist in present-day Quebec, but there is a reluctance in Quebec's media to use the term, because many in the media share the ideals of the FLQ, if not the methods.

Look at the headlines in Quebec francophone media including Radio-Canada and the reluctance to use the " T " word.

Le felquiste Paul Rose est mort

Exit le felquiste Paul Rose, complice malgré lui de Trudeau et de ...

La mort de Paul Rose, celle d'un doux guerrier

Le militant nationaliste québecois Paul Rose est mort

L'ancien felquiste Paul Rose est mort

I didn't cull the above headlines, they were the first that appeared in a search on Google News in French .

Now look on the English side;
FLQ terrorist Paul Rose, key player in 1970 October Crisis, dies at 69

A convicted murderer and an unrepentant terrorist, pockets of ...

It seems that in Quebec, as in many, many parts of the world, one man's terrorist is another man's liberator.

And so the death of  Paul Rose has awoken all those purs et durs who view Rose as a hero, including Quebec solidaire's Amir Khadir who proposed honoring Rose with a motion in the National Assembly.

"Amir Khadir, one of two members of the pro-sovereignty Quebec solidaire, promises to table a motion for him in the national assembly next week.
“This is someone who is significant to the independence movement,” Khadir told The Canadian Press when asked about Rose’s passing.
“You can share the reservations he had about his past in the FLQ, but no one can question his sincerity, his devotion, his integrity, his intellectual honesty.”" Link

It's too bad that after some reflection and a sea of bad Press, Khadir backed off the idea.  It would have been delicious to see such a motion presented and defeated with but one vote in favour and perhaps a few members, Rose sympathizers, fleeing the Assembly in face of the vote!

To Khadir, like many other hard-line separatists, Rose's contribution to the independence movement far outweighs the insignificant and pesky murder of Pierre Laporte and like Quebec's most revered writer, Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, the Laporte murder was just a bit of collateral damage;

VLB.... Laporte responsible for his own kidnapping

"In kidnapping Minister Pierre Laporte, the Chénier cell which included Paul Rose, highlighted something we forget all too easily today: Pierre Laporte was in bed with organized crime, as was the Liberal Party in which he was a minister, and that the members of the Chenier cell wanted him to confess to that fact." -Victor-Lévy Beaulieu Link{fr}

It seems that Mr. Beaulieu is one of the more literate and erudite proponents of violence in favour of Quebec independence.

"I've always thought that Quebec independence could be achieved much more easily by adopting the methods of Gandhi....
But in the late 1960s and early 1970s  we witnessed "liberators" favouring terrorism over civil disobedience. Quebec, acting similarly, had only to participate in the liberation struggle as practiced in the West."-Victor-Lévy Beaulieu Link{fr}

Like Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, there remains a dedicated cadre of separatists to whom Rose will always remain a hero and labeling him a terrorist or murderer is nothing more than a question of perspective.

"We note that the term "terrorist" is relative.
Paul Rose, committed terrorist acts, he was tried and convicted. He served his sentence and history has judged. But to call him a  "terrorist" within the bloody meaning of the term without considering the historical, political and philosophical context of October '70, it is intellectually dishonest. -Serge Charbonneau" Link{fr}

Defenders of Paul Rose put great stock in the fact that he wasn't actually present when the murderous deed was done, something that Rose himself refused to acknowledge, preferring to accept the collective guilt for the murder as an act of solidarity with his co-conspirators. Others proclaim that Laporte was killed by 'accident' a sad and convenient attempt to avoid culpability. Link
To Paul Rose, those defenders needn't have bothered massaging his reputation, he was never remorseful in the least and went to his death at ease with his actions.

At any rate, it makes no nevermind in the eyes of the law. The rule of felony murder which is upheld in Canada makes no distinction as to who is the actual murderer when a group participates in an organized crime.

"The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the commission of a felony, the offender can be charged with murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies." Wikipedia

To put it simply, a gang robs a bank during which one of the robbers shoots and kills a bank guard. The other members committing the crime, including the driver of the getaway car sitting outside the bank, are guilty of murder as well as the shooter and so in the case of Paul Rose, the argument of whether he was present or not is actually moot.

The other argument that Laporte was killed by accident, equally moot.

It's always romantic to view these murders as something other than what they are. To the families of those killed and injured by the likes of FLQ members, the differentiation is quite irrelevant.

To blowhards like those who defend Rose and other FLQ members, I wonder if their tune would change had a member of their own family been killed or crippled in the crossfire.

And so it's hard to accept that the murder of innocents in the name of a 'great cause' is acceptable and thankfully the vast majority of Quebecers are reviled by the characterization of Paul Rose as a hero.

How about Richard Bain's evil murder of an innocent bystander in his attempt at political assassination in favour of Anglo rights in Quebec?

Could anybody imagine a public figure, an esteemed writer or politician defending his actions as just some insignificant collateral damage in the heroic defense of Anglo rights?

Defend Paul Rose and you are justifying Richard Bain's action, it is that simple and there's no getting around it.

...After all, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Sunday Housekeeping - Volume 12

I don't like to criticize readers, they are the lifeblood of this blog, but there are a few who forget that this is not a professional blog.
There is no staff to correct spelling mistakes other than my wife.
There are no fact-checkers and there is no editor and writing coach.

I not only research my pieces fastidiously, I try to write interesting and provocative pieces that the mainstream media cannot or will not touch.
In this respect, I believe I have a small measure of success considering the number of people from all over the world who drop by each day.

 I put the final piece through a bunch of proofreaders available online, but we all know the reliability of Google translate and most other software do about as good as a job.

In my last piece I presented a clause from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which all three proofreaders tagged as badly written.
I'm not really prepared to pay a professional proofreader/editor $50-$100 per blog piece, so readers will have to accept my missives as they are. I do my best.

Like you I have good days and bad days, some pieces get finished right up to the deadline which I try to adhere to because many of you accustomed to a fixed schedule.

I cannot monitor the comments section on an hourly basis, I too have a life outside this blog. PLEASE remember that when you are about to click up that flaming mouse.

Last year I opened up the comments section without prior moderation and I know from feedback most of you like to see your comment up ASAP.

I've asked for trust and have been largely rewarded, but listening to readers of late complain of the one-liners and insults, I again will tighten what is allowed.

These are general modifications which I'd like to share with you.

No inane or insulting one-liners. You all know what that is.
Vicious personal attacks will no longer be tolerated, even if attached to an acceptable comment.
No mention of any reader's real name as long as they are using an alias, outing people is forbidden.
Any comment that references a reader's name other than their screen alias will be redacted, regardless of the quality of the comment.

Sometime I allow an Anonymous comment when it is clear that the reader hasn't read the rules. It is rare and if that same person continues, I'll remind him/her of the rule under their comment.

There is no more wiggle room based on the overall quality of the comment. Break any of the above rule and the comment will redacted without a trace.

No multiple screen names and no more foreign screen names. The comments just won't be printed and you will not even see "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator'  The comment will just disappear.


Argue with other readers over issues or opinions but leave out the insults. Again, a good comment with a personal insult will no longer be tolerated.

Let me reiterate that rage is part of our Anglo/Ethnic experience and this blog won't censor legitimate grievances peppered with fiery language.
All public figures however remain fair game as for insults.

Remember that I am not monitoring the board 24/7 and will delete stuff when I get to it, so please try not to take advantage to sneak stuff in. We don't want to return to moderating.

Sometimes this blog gets more comments than important stories in mainstream newspapers, so I know many feel that they can say here what is not tolerated there.
But that doesn't mean anything goes.
If you see a troll message, just let it go or add this underneath;  "TROLL ALERT"
I'll look at these comments carefully and apply the rules firmly.
And remember the rules apply to all equally.
French comments continue to be allowed for those without English. For bilinguals, I'd ask that you write in English because much more people will understand your comment.

As for traffic, I happy to report that Google Analytics tracking software shows that we have crossed a million pageviews per year, but that number is seriously understated because the blog loads five pages at a time and people who just scroll down and read post after post, but who don't click on the actual title are not counted.

Thank you for making this blog a part of your day, I appreciate your time and effort because I would never have soldiered on without your support.

French versus English Volume 77

This week in corruption

Arthur Porter within months of dying 

At first I thought  that Arthur Porter was feigning cancer in order to avoid returning to Canada in order to face justice in consideration of the arrest warrant issued by police in Quebec.
But the truth is that Porter granted interviews with various media outlets where it was manifestly clear he was undergoing chemotherapy by his loss of weight and baldness. (Think of Jack Layton's last press conference)

Porter made an offer to Quebec investigators to come down and interview him in the Bahamas as he continues his futile battle with late stage lung cancer that has metastized to his liver.
They should take him up on the offer, he'll be dead within a couple of months, the survival rate for his type of cancer is incredibly low.

Newspapers are reporting that the Canada has an extradition treaty with the Bahamas but it isn't true and the likelihood of getting Porter  back against his will, even if he were healthy are slim to none.
It would require the federal justice department making a special appeal to Bahamas on behalf of Quebec and that would be unlikely as Porter is a huge embarrassment to the Feds over the fact that he was named to sit on a CSIS oversight board by Stephen Harper. Link

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

A Montreal borough city manager committed suicide over the weekend after being questioned at length by Quebec’s anti-corruption unit. LINK

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

Mayor Michael Applebaum fended off fresh allegations of wrong-doing on Friday, with evidence surfacing of a troubled snow removal contract during his time at the head of the Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough. Link

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

The Charbonneau Commission heard testimony once again that just about every single engineering firm dealing with the city of Montreal made illegal campaign contributions to the then mayor's political party.These same people also donated money to Pauline Marois' war chest in preparation for a potential leadership fight with Gilles Duceppe, one that never materialized. Link{fr}

Wrapping  up Pastagate

Here's some reaction from around the world in regards to Quebec's famous Pastagate.
Interestingly, the only place where I found a copy of the original complaint written by the OQLF about the affair was in a French website which also referred to the OQLF as the 'language police,' a term that seems to have stuck around the world.
Read the article here in French

Language wars: Quebec unions share 'horror stories of civil servants who used bilingualism to help citizens

"MONTREAL — As hearings began Tuesday into Quebec’s proposed tightening of its language law, the main union representing provincial civil servants had some horror stories to share about life on the frontlines.
The details were so shocking that employees’ names and workplaces were withheld to protect them from possible repercussions, the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ) wrote in a brief tabled at the National Assembly.
There was the perfectly bilingual clerk at Revenue Quebec who frequently meets people who are more at ease discussing their tax questions in English. The clerk prefers to go along rather than turn “a tax problem into a language debate” and possibly spark a complaint.
There was a technician dealing in benefits who was asked to submit an English version of a form to a Quebec-based company because its payroll department was in Winnipeg, and staff there did not understand French.
Then there was the clerk at the rental board who frequently deals with people unable to understand decisions in their files because they are written in French. He takes it upon himself to translate important passages into English on the spot.
If these sound like examples of civil servants serving the taxpayers who pay their salaries, the SFPQ wants you to think again."   Read the rest of story

Once they start laughing at you, you're through- The Economist

"It has not been a good couple of weeks for the Office québécois de la langue française, the Quebec government body charged with ensuring that French remains the dominant language in the largely French-speaking Canadian province. Over-zealous application of the law by its inspectors, known in English as the language police, subjected the office to so much international ridicule that on March 8th its head was forced to step down.
It began, as do many things these days, with a tweet. On February 19th, Massimo Lecas, co-owner of an Italian restaurant, Buonanotte, in Montreal, wrote that he had received a letter from the office warning him that there were too many Italian words (such as "pasta") on his menu. This was a violation of Quebec’s language charter, he was told, and if they were not changed to the French equivalents (pâtes in the case of pasta) he would face a fine.
Journalists with a sense of the ridiculous quickly piled on. An analysis of international media coverage of Quebec showed the story, quickly dubbed #pastagate on twitter, received 60 times the coverage of a trip by Pauline Marois, the premier, that had been meant to drum up investor interest in the province. Other restaurant owners who had received similar letters—a fish-and-chip-shop owner who was instructed to call his main offering poisson frits et frites, a brasserie owner who was asked to cover the “redial” button on his telephone and the “on/off” button on his microwave—came forward, an indication this was not an isolated incident." Read more in the Economist 

When the Quebec government goes overboard

"It is not forcing restaurants to Frenchify their menus by replacing pasta, "shish-taouk, sake, tzatziki and teriyaki" that we will return to the city of Montreal French panache. These absurd bureaucratic practices rather give the image of a narrow-minded government and unsuited to globalization. They discourage the integration of immigrants rather than facilitate it."  Le nouvel observatuer-France

Pasta-Not in Montreal say the language police ...Germany

"After Lecas had published the letter from the OQLF, others came forward. One said he had  to glue the buttons on his microwave, because they were written in English. And he had to cancel the word 'steak' on the shopping list in the kitchen - "steak frites" is indeed found in every Parisian bistro, but not in Quebec. Here you eat "frites Biftek" exclusively." Read the original story in German

Quebec language police try to ban 'pasta' from Italian restaurant menu.... 

"They are known as the language police, a unit within the regional Quebec government that seeks to protect French from the rising tide of English. It deploys inspectors to rein in recidivist anglophones, take on big corporate transgressors such as Guess, the Gap and Costco and conduct spot checks to follow up thousands of public complaints.

Now, however, zealots in the Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Board of the French Language) may have gone a step too far in picking a fight with an Italian restaurant known for its celebrity clientele including Bono, Rihanna, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jerry Seinfeld and Robert De Niro.
After a five-month investigation into an anonymous complaint, Massimo Lecas received a letter from the board telling him that his establishment, Buonanotte, had broken the law by including the words "pasta" on the menu and "bottiglia", the Italian word for bottle, instead of the French word bouteille." The Guardian U.K

U.K's Mailonline skewers Quebec over Pastagate

• A British themed restaurant being ordered to rename fish and chips as poisson frit et frites
• Another restaurant being ordered to mask the word 'redial' on its telephones with tape
• A third restaurant being ordered to remove the letters WC from the lavatory doors - despite the abbreviation's popular use in France, and
• A distribution company taken to court because it only provided English instructions for its Super Stretch Sleeve sex toy.

For the real fun, dig into the hundreds of comments. Link

But here is the most interesting comment which I culled from all these stories..ouch!

"That is the sad French heritage. If France instead of England had been the one who had conquered the Americas, the U.S. and Canada would have been as poor as Africa and Haiti."  Link from Spain    ( Esa es la triste herencia francesa. Si Francia en vez de Inglaterra hubiese sido la que hubiera conquistado las Americas, EEUU y Canada hubieran sido como Africa y tan pobres como Haiti.- ElpidioPosada)

And on it goes.
Thre OQLF continues its reign of terror over the dreaded English word .

"MONTREAL — Liquid Nutrition is missing a vowel in its local signage, according to the Office Québécois de la langue française.
In yet another instance of what appears to be an OLF crackdown against Montreal businesses, a local franchisee of the smoothie-and-supplements chain has been served with notices advising him his signs are in violation of provincial language laws and must be changed." Read more in the Montreal Gazette

In other OQLF news, inspectors are at odds with a FRENCH school commission which uses an English software product for training purposes.
The school board has cooperated with all the other demands made by the OQLF, including putting stickers on ON/OFF buttons on school projectors, but has so far refused to go along with the software change because it would cost a staggering $278,000, money the school commission just can't afford. Link{fr}

One of our loyal commenters who goes by the screen name "White African Canadian" came up with this neat term to describe the those obsessed with removing non-French words from public purview;

"Pasta chaser"  A overzealous French language militant or government employee obsessed with removing  non-French words and signs  from public display.

Fantastic!
I hope you use the term to describe such extremists and hopefully it will pass into the common lexicon.

As for the language inspectors, they are beginning to feel the heat;

"Richard Perron, President of the Syndicat des professionnels du gouvernement du Québec, claims that for its part,  the 155 employees it represents have asked the OQLF for many years for an accurate interpretation of rules. "The guidelines are too vague, there are too many gray areas."

According to him, "it's Hell." Sarcasm is on the upswing and inspectors fear a growing threat. "Some members are afraid to go on the road. They fear they might  encounter a  'Richard Bain.' Link{fr}

In the meantime, the SAQ, the government booze monopoly, has sent a not so subtle message about where it stands on Pastagate, publishing this ad in the middle of the whole affair.

The SAQ has always been an English friendly agency, with bilingual and in fact many English and Ethnic employees.
Employees always answer in English when addressed and do so with a smile. The advertising material is all available in English and prepared in a first rate manner. Kudos to them!

Separatists to re-write history

“History is written by the winners,” Napoleon is supposed to have said. But in Quebec, it’s going to be written by the losers.
The losers in two referendums on sovereignty, that is.
And they’re going to write the history taught in Quebec schools so that next time, they’ll be the winners.
Nationalists have been clamouring for “improved” (wink, wink) teaching of Quebec history in the schools for some time, not even bothering to conceal a connection with sovereignty. Read the rest of the story

Montreal Hospital defines patient as "IMMIGRANT" on user card

Here's as bizarre a story as you're likely to hear this week. A Montreal hospital is designating patients as "IMMIGRANT" on user cards, those even who are Canadian citizens and who have lived here for decades.

The bizarre story doesn't end there, when a local reporter went to check it out and applied for his own card, he was asked his religion and when he inquired as to why, he was told that the hospital was 'Catholic"
Watch the video story at CTV Montreal

CRITIQ event a success

"In what many have called the largest gathering against discriminatory Quebec acts that curtail civil rights since Premier Bourassa used the notwithstanding clause in 1989,some 800 people crowded into the downtown Delta Hotel in order to attend a conference staged by CRITIQ ( Canadian Rights in Quebec.) CRITIQ is a broad alliance of anglophones, allophones and francophones dedicated to ensuring that constitutionally enshrined Canadian civil rights - particularly with respect to language - are respected in Quebec." Link

You can hear some of the speeches here

Barbara Kay  

Beryl Wajsman

Brent Tyler

Michel David

Robert Libman

More animal cruelty

A couple of weeks ago Leo Romain  posted a picture of a half-starved dog from one of Quebec's notorious puppy mills onto my Facebook page and I've waited for the opportunity to work it into a post.
Here's an attached story about Quebec's dismal record concerning animal welfare.

A year after more than 500 dogs were seized from Paws-R-Us, a puppy mill near Shawville, Que., some advocates say Quebec's animal cruelty laws don't go far enough to close the remaining 2,000 estimated puppy mills in the province.
The seizure was the largest of its kind in Quebec history. Today, 30 of the rescued dogs and their caregivers are meeting for a reunion.
In 2011, Quebec tightened its animal protection laws and boosted its efforts to control the province's increasing problem with puppy mills.
The province was given the power to close kennels where abuse was happening, increase fines and set new standards for animal euthanasia.

No jail time means puppy mills won't stop, some say

But people lobbying for tougher laws claim that without jail sentences for repeat offenders, mills will keep operating.
France Turcotte is caring for Lucy, a bulldog rescued from Paws-R-Us. At first, Turcotte said the dog wouldn't walk at all. Link

I dredged all this up in relation to another horrific story of animal cruelly that came to light recently;

Orville the Australian shepherd is shown at an animal shelter in Cowansville, Que. in a handout photo from the SPA des Cantons Facebook page. Police are investigating the case of a dog that has somehow survived after being shot in the head and left in a ditch in Quebec  Photograph by: HO-SPA des Cantons , The Canada

The Sûreté du Québec in Estrie has opened a file for a case of cruelty to animals after a dog was found shot in Lac Brome. The dog survived.
“It’s a miracle, the dog didn’t move, or eat or drink for three days, all it moved was its eyes,” said Carl Girard, president of the Société protectrice des animaux (SPA) for the Eastern Townships.
The dog is now walking, running, eating and drinking after it was given shots of anti-inflammatory drugs. Link

Read Puppy Hell: The Horrors of Puppy Mills 

Thanks for inspiration for the story to Leo Romain
 

Briefly

• Quebec's Education Minister Marie Malavoy announced Thursday that she is scrapping a Liberal plan for universal English immersion across the province’s French schools by 2015-2016. Link
   
• Pauline Marois' daughter belts out a song at a charity event, in English. Link  ... and  I'm not going to touch this story about her with a ten foot pole. If you're a mean sort, DON'T CLICK ON THIS LINK!

• PQ backtracks...again. The Lachine Hospital will remain under the umbrella of the McGill University Health Centre, Quebec’s health minister said Thursday night.“It seems to us that the MUHC guarantees the respect of the community character of Lachine Hospital,” Réjean Hébert said in his prepared remarks.  Less than three months ago, Hébert stunned physicians and staff at the MUHC and the Lachine institution by saying he would transfer it from the world-class teaching hospital to the local public health authority to preserve its francophone “vocation.” Link

•  Humiliated ex-boss of the OQLF Louise Marchand has already been shuffled off to another government agency to await retirement in obscurity. Link{fr}  

• The Harper government says there is no need to legislate the use of French in Quebec's federally-regulated private businesses.Both the Parti Québécois and the federal New Democratic Party have called for Quebec's language laws to be applied to federally-regulated businesses such as banks. Today the federal Minister responsible for Quebec, Christian Paradis, said the results of a study that looked at those workplaces suggested there is no need for legislation to regulate their use of French. Link

Tributes pouring in for dead convicted terrorist murderer Paul Rose.

Pierre Dubuc of the separatist l'Autrejournal website said this about the death of FLQ terrorist Paul Rose;

"His many friends and all militant unionists and nationalists cry over the loss of a great patriotic Quebecer." Link{fr}

Here's a statement from Quebec solidaire website praising the terrorist murderer;

"Québec solidaire offers its condolences to the family and friends of Paul Rose, who  died this morning after a stroke.

Our thoughts are also with progressive independents and who had the pleasure of working with him and militate with him for many years.

Throughout his life, Paul Rose remained convinced of the need to fight for national liberation and social emancipation of the people of Quebec. He chose, after the tragic events of October 1970, that fight on the field of democracy and citizen involvement.

Paul Rose was the leader of the Party for Social Democracy (PDS) one of the parties that formed the Union of progressive forces, which is subsequently became Québec solidaire. Link{fr}

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

Amir Khadir, one of two members of the pro-sovereignty Quebec solidaire, promises to table a motion in the national assembly to that effect next week.
"This is someone who is significant to the independence movement," Khadir told The Canadian Press when asked about Rose's passing.
"You can share the reservations he had about his past in the FLQ, but no one can question his sincerity, his devotion, his integrity, his intellectual honesty." Link

Readers, a final note....

I found this illustration on the Antagoniste website (check it out) and I must say it lifted my spirits.
Many days I have trouble believing that this website is at all relevant and that changing people's minds is well nigh impossible.

 

Along that line I would like to thank those who do stop by.
This week we crossed the 40,000 comments barrier and the marker at the right of the page counting monthly pageviews hit an all time high,

 

On a pro-rated basis, it means that we are seeing over one million pageviews a year!!!

Thank you for your participation and...

Have a great weekend!
Bonne fin de semaine!

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Harper's Delivers PQ a Bitter Lesson in Realpolitik

More decades ago than I'd like to remember, I played garage league hockey in Montreal's Bonaventure arena, where a motley crew of hockey aficionados got together to partake in Canada's greatest pastime.
The ice sheet was the great equalizer, where it didn't matter whether you were rich or poor, English, French or ethnic, young or old, professional or blue collar, or even talented or not, in garage league the only entrance requirement is showing up.

On the ice, I learned many life lessons about hard work, coöperation, respect and yes, even confrontation.
The most enduring lesson I was taught was the one I received after being manhandled in the corner. I told the offending adversary who had roughed me up and who was now skating away that I'd catch up to him later. To my utter surprise, he screeched to a halt, dropped his gloves and popped me a right hook across the mouth.
As I stared up at him from the ice, bewildered and in shock, I remember his words to this day;
"Don't ever threaten!"

I never forgot that lesson and have heeded his advice all my life...."Don't ever threaten!"

I was reminded of that lesson during the Quebec provincial election when Pauline announced rather injudiciously, on more than one occasion, that a potential PQ government would seek confrontation with Ottawa in an effort to create a 'chicane' which would hopefully serve to enrage Quebecers and perhaps boost support for sovereignty.

It was a singularly stupid statement to make for two reasons, first because it revealed that Quebec would be bargaining in bad faith and second it warned Harper of the potential trap being set.

What Pauline didn't bargain for, was that like the fellow on the ice who slugged me preemptively, Harper wasn't waiting around for the shoe to drop.

After Pauline's victory, we didn't hear anything from Harper except platitudes and a magnanimous affirmation that he'd be happy to work with whatever government was elected in Quebec.
He acted as if he never heard Pauline's threats or perhaps graciously chose to ignore them.
But trust me readers, he did hear the threats and most certainly did not ignore them. Our Prime Minister is not that generous, he's a politician who lives in a Nixonian world of friends who are to be rewarded and enemies to be punished.

No, there would be no verbal riposte to Pauline's nasty invitation to squabble, no argument or complaint, just feigned indifference, and for Pauline, the most self-absorbed, deluded and inept Premier Quebec has ever seen, her interpretation that Stephen hadn't got the message was perhaps the greatest misjudgment of all.

And so Pauline continues to bait Stephen Harper and the Conservative government repeating once more the nonsense of seeking a squabble. Just last week, a Quebec City newspaper reported this;

"The Quebec government is preparing to initiate hostilities with the federal government in order to obtain new powers and combat the  interference of Ottawa in its areas of jurisdiction.

the Marois government in the coming days will reveal its game plan in relation to  sovereignist governance,  Le Journal de Québec learned from reliable sources not wishing to be identified.

"The government will not hesitate to force the game and push the limits of its sovereignty on all fronts," We have been entrusted. New powers will be claimed for culture, training and labour on the power of the federal government to spend." Link{fr}

What our politically-challenged Premier fails to acknowledge or understand is that Harper has already opened the war with Quebec, but on his own terms and that he has been waging the battle long before Pauline was even elected.

For years Harper tried in vain to seek a majority government through Quebec, at one point dumping almost a billion dollars in the lap of Jean Charest to help bolster the Conservative's image.
We all know how that turned out and the successive wave of Bloc Quebecois members of Parliament sent to Ottawa convinced Harper to pick up his marbles and move on to friendlier environs.

The decision by Quebec voters to snub Harper electorally after the billion dollar gift, may have been smugly self-satisfying, but like calling your professor an idiot in front of the whole class, it ultimately has devastating consequences and as we all know, payback can sometimes be a nasty bitch.

When Jean Charest betrayed Harper a second time, this time with his humiliating, back-stabbing position at a Copenhagen environmental conference, it was as if Charest sealed Quebec's fate.

And so Harper initiated his plan to cut Quebec out of the national conversation, a plan whereby Harper would find his majority outside Quebec, something pundits agreed couldn't be done.

But did it he did, pulling off a stunning political feat in achieving a majority government with no help from Quebec.
To the victor goes the spoils, in this case utter political power without any obligation to cater to Quebec. For Harper it was the sweetest political victory which provided him, in his winners and losers world, the golden opportunity to exact his pound of flesh.

Unlike Pauline, Harper never announced his intentions. His subsequent anti-Quebec policies were enacted slowly and without much fanfare as if he didn't want attention to be called to his machinations.
And so Harper has;
Added thirty seats to Parliament, only three of which are in Quebec, further reducing Quebec's ability to act as kingmaker in a federal election.

While Quebec is making noises about making French the official, official, official language of Quebec, Harper has reminded the province exactly what country they live in and has sent a powerful signal by re-instating the "ROYAL" moniker to the armed forces as well as hoisting the portrait of the Queen in foreign embassies. Let us not forget his plan to share embassy space with the British, a cost saving plan bound to outrage Quebec nationalist.

Then there are those unilingual Parliamentary officers as well as those highly placed employees working in his office with nary a word of French.
But the two most devastating anti-Quebec measures are the continued immigration stampede and the changes to Employment Insurance, both absolutely crushing anti-Quebec measures.

Let us recognize that Canada has the highest immigration level of any important western democracy, double, triple or even four times as high as those in our economic position.
In 2010, for every 100,000 citizens, the United States took in 28 immigrants, while Canada took in a whopping 80, almost three times as much.

Why?
Of the over one million immigrants that come to Canada every four years, less than 8-9% are assimilated into the French side of the linguistic equation.
Nobody in Quebec seems to understand or care that French Canada is being eroded, steadily but surly through immigration and with the continued trend, Francophones will be reduced to under 20% of Canada's population within a few short decades.
Although this massive immigration policy was started by the Liberals, surely it's cumulative effect has been gauged by the present government who's only rationale to continue the stampede is to dilute francophone numbers.

Then there's the latest blast from Harper, the changes to the Employment Insurance program that will devastate the outer reaches of Quebec, where seasonal workers abound and who depend on the largess of the program as an income supplement program.

When a furious and desperate PQ minister Agnes Maltais went to Ottawa, cap in hand to beg for relief, her counterpart, Diane Finley, gave her an eight minute meeting, then politely showed Maltais the door.

On and on it goes, a cruel and vindictive lesson in realpolitik, dished out by the Harper government to  a hapless Quebec, which is unable to fight back and unwilling to acknowledge the hurt being put on it for fear of being shown up as powerless.

Pauline's bravado in the face of such a deadly and over-matched assault is sadly reminiscent of a famous Monty Python skit, where the hapless Black knight defends his turf while being ripped apart by a more powerful opponent. As the black knight is hacked to pieces, he continues to bait and challenge the superior force.
It is devastatingly appropos;

If Pauline doesn't realize that she is already in the fight of her life to preserve Quebec power, she is indeed the most deluded and naïve politician I know.

Instead of seeking new powers from Ottawa that she will never get,  she should perhaps, as they say in French, concentrate on 'saving the furniture,' that is, preserving what little powers Quebec already has.

PQ Language Dog Finally Put Down

Minister to OQLF "Woah! Les moteurs"

Diane de Courcy, the PQ minister in charge of the language dossier, made no bones about it, the disastrous public relations nightmare concerning Pastagate had to be addressed one way or another.

The OQLF position that the pasta incident at the Buonanote restaurant was just an isolated case of an over-zealous inspector didn't quite fly and after a few days of trying to ride out the storm, during which time more and more incidents of language intolerance became public, it became clear that some action was required to restore public confidence.

The indefensible attack on Pasta and the subsequent public humiliation of Quebec in the international press so infuriated the general public that without a major reaction by the government , the OQLF and the PQ itself risked becoming the butt of a permanent joke.

And so De Courcy did what all politicians who find themselves in such a pickle do .....throw a scapegoat under the bus, in this case the head of the OQLF, Louise Marchand.

Now the media portrayed her removal as a resignation, but nothing could be farther from the truth, the announcement of Marchand's departure came from the minister herself in a press conference devoted to shoring up confidence in the PQ government.
When politicians or highly placed civil servants actually resign on their own, it is usual for them to call a press conference and give the reasons why, thank their co-workers and employees and otherwise wind up things professionally.
In this case, Marchand was shown the door like a fired employee frog marched out of the company premises with a box of personal effects under her arm, escorted by a trailing security agent.

"Ba-bye, don't talk to anybody and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!"

Anyways, I'm not sad to see her go, quite the opposite.
Marchand was the embodiment of everything evil about the OQLF, which under her reign became even more repressive, turning the agency into a dogmatic and cruel organization that reminds me of religious police in Islamic fundementalist countries where inspectors roam the streets, verifying the modesty of women's clothing.
Madame Marchand is your classic anglophobe, somone who let her true feelings surface once in a while as exemplified in this statement.

"Greeting a client in two languages isn't against the Charter, but it's an irritant.... Link

And so it's not hard to understand in what direction the anglophobic Marchand led the OQLF.
As we say in English...."Good riddance to bad rubbish."

Of course Louise Marchand will preserve a high-paying government job, we would expect no less, after all this is Quebec.
But she will end her career as damaged goods, like a pilot who crashes her airplane, killing the passengers, but who herself survives.
She will always be looked upon as a pariah, a bureaucrat who brought shame and humiliation to her province, because that is what the public demands, an individual scapegoat to carry the burden of what should be a collective shame.
The fiasco can't be laid at the PQ's knee exclusively, let's remember that Madame Marchand was a Liberal government appointee and that her particular reign of terror was tolerated by the party that was supposedly the defender of minority rights.

At any rate, De Courcy was surprisingly honest about the whole affair, telling reporters that it wasn't in fact a case of one or two over-zealous inspectors, but rather an institutional problem, where strict application of the law across the board, damn the consequences, was the order of the day.

The minister promises changes and a gentler approach. In fact de Courcy is just getting ahead of the prevailing wind, like a pompous ass standing at the sea shore at the beginning of low tide, ordering the waters to recede.
In light of Pastagate, the OQLF could never continue in its previous iteration.

The unfortunate inspector who triggered Pastagate may not be officially sanctioned, but I don't think she should hold her breath waiting for much in the way of career advancement.
Inspectors don't need De Courcy telling them to be gentler, the message has been made loud and clear.
If anything, government workers are resilient and these inspectors will shrug their shoulders and carry on according to the new rules.
As for over-zealousness, it is a thing of the past, no inspector or supervisor in the OQLF is going to risk getting their ass waxed over an English or Italian word or two.
For the OQLF, an agency hitherto obsessed with the elimination of English and now Italian from public purview, I can sum it all up with this simple remark from the dreaded Italiano.... '“Finita la commedia” (the farce is over..)

Also to consider is the fact that potential business targets have been emboldened and in many cases are spoiling for a fight with the sad-sack OQLF.
Make no mistake about it, the restaurants involved in the latest fiasco reaped invaluable publicity, so much so that others, like the shameless self-promoter David McMillan of Joe Beef restaurant, jumped on the bandwagon claiming that his restaurant was also a victim, hoping for a similar public relations windfall!
And guess what? He was justly rewarded by an obliging press, with OQLF language horror stories generating gads of media interest. You've got to admit it's a little comical. Link

Political cartoonist  Marc Beaudot elegantly captures the spirit of Pastagate

As I said in a previous post, we've crossed a critical tipping point, where the OQLF will never again spread fear and reap havoc to the extent it did so for these last years.

By the way, the insufferable Minister De Courcy gave another speech in which she proposed giving the Commission de Normes de Travail, the government agency mandated to protect workers rights, the new task of protecting workers right to work in French. I can only imagine the boondoggle as anyone pissed off with his or her boss can sic the dogs of the agency renowned for its unmitigated hatred of bosses.

At any rate I digress, the only reason I bring up the above is because of another statement she made during that presentation;

"I believe it is time that we in Quebec adapt to the reality of the twenty-first century, and we encourage the learning of a third language, or even a fourth, a fifth, in schools and colleges, "said the minister." Link 

That's a pretty bold statement, especially from the indefatigable Madame De Courcy who speaks nothing but French and warns reporters before her press conferences that she will take no questions in English. It actually would be funny if not so sad.

But let's go on.....I'd like to offer the OQLF an olive branch, a project where they can actually help promote French with the blessing of this blog and the entire English and Ethnic community.

The subject concerns the bad French that some consumer products bear because the company used Google or some other free Internet service to translate the French on the packaging.

The results are sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad and always disrespectful.

While small companies in China can be forgiven, I'll start the photo roll with a picture of a truck from that Canadian furniture institution LEONS.
The company translated the phrase, "Serving Canada",  painted on its familiar yellow truck into the French "Canada de portion,"  a moronic mistake that invokes the other meaning of portion (like a meal portion)
I'm not even mentioning the other dog's breakfast of a translation, on the bottom of the truck.
Laziness, stupidity, disrespect?
All of the above.

Picture credits Fail.Qc.com

For those who don't speak French, I'm reserving the explanations to the comments section so that readers can have some fun describing the gaffes.

Now wouldn't it be neat if the OQLF opened a website where small companies could get some help with French used on packaging.
They could  submit some French text and the OQLF could verify and offer appropriate changes quickly and without much fanfare.

The whole project could be funded with two or three employees and a webmaster at a cost of a two- hundred thousand dollars, tops. This in an agency with a budget of over $25 million.

It's a positive project that can make a meaningful difference, at a relatively low cost and one which we can all support.

But this is Quebec where no-brainers don't often make sense......