French versus English Volume 80

This week in Corruption

Francois Legault, head of the opposition CAQ party held a news conference to demand that the PQ government take legal action against companies whose senior members admitted to collusion and price-fixing at the Charbonneau Construction/Crime commission.

Lamenting that only a few engineers were forced to resign and that nothing has been done against the companies themselves, Legault demanded that the province take legal action to punish and recover the ill-gotten gains.

It occurs to me that if the government pursues all the executives that were involved and moved to recover the funds, the provinces consulting/engineering firms would collapse, even the mighty SNC-Lavalin who is as wrapped up in all this corruption as any other.

Last week the city of Montreal faced a difficult conundrum;
How to fix the city's many potholes when all the companies that do the work have been named at the commission as crooked.
The city council told the mayor that he could not hire any of them and so the frustrated mayor asked citizens to voice their opinions, in fact asking them to choose the lesser of the two evils.

The reality is, that if all the bosses, the politicians and civil employees who are guilty of corruption were to be fired tomorrow and the crooked companies made to pay for their crimes, the province would grind to a halt, our very own Quebec version of "Too Big to Fail"

"My battle with the language police as an anglo professional in Quebec"

"At first things went well. I made some francophone friends, and the shopkeepers in our part of town did not switch to English. I understood my francophone patients, and they politely corrected language mistakes to help the new doctor learn.
I watched Tout le monde en parle on TV, took French classes and read L’actualité magazine, whose subscription department was so flummoxed by a common anglophone name in a doctor’s handwriting that my issues arrived addressed to “Jamos Rosi.”
I thought I had found my French groove. Near the end of my residency, a temporary staff position in Quebec’s Kafkaesque health system appeared possible.
People warned me about the exam administered by l’Office Québécois de la langue français. Doctors must pass it within four years to keep their licence in Quebec. Many of my “Rest of Canada” colleagues had failed it several times. Anglophones from Quebec, some of whom do not speak French well, are not subjected to the exam...". Read the rest of the story in the Globe & Mail

Thanks to the many readers who sent a link to this story.

Equality Party 2.0 membership drive.

It's finally happening.
After organizing itself, it's time to get up and running for the Equality Party 2.0.
On Monday the party will be holding a meet and greet in NDG, with an eye to signing up members, the lifeblood of a party.

If you have questions about the program, issues like vote-splitting, or positions on anything that concerns you, here's an opportunity to scratch that itch.

In the comments section of this blog, we hear "What can I do?" quite a lot.
Here is an opportunity to show up and be counted.

 Make an effort to  be there if you can!

CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE

By the way, Equality Party 2.0 Leader Mark S. Bergeron will appear on the Barry Morgan Show today, Friday April 5, at 7pm on CJAD Radio 800 in Montreal. You can also listen on the web at cjad.com.
READ: 5 REASONS TO RE-LAUNCH THE EQUALITY PARTY

Followup on Chinese signs in BC.

A little while back I wrote about complaints about Chinese only signs in Richmond BC. Apparently two women were offended and took up a campaign against them.
Here's some of what I wrote;

"I was asked for my opinion about this story in an email by a reader and can answer with a phrase that I recall using as a kid.
You can like it or lump it, which sums up my feelings rather succinctly and my advice to the women offended by the Chinese only signs with another phrase from my childhood...tough noogies." Link

It doesn't surprise me that the whole thing was a tempest in a teapot.
Here is an excerpt from a followup article;

"Out of 869 businesses, they found a total of 12 (one of which appeared to have recently gone bankrupt) with Chinese-only signs. That comes to 1.4 per cent of the shops in Richmond's business core.
Is that what "many residents are upset" about? Is that why Ms. Starchuk (whom I've never met but is no doubt a lovely person in her own right) has been "writing letters to the editor and buttonholing politicians?" according to the Sun story.
Eleven businesses with Chinese-only signs?
The gentlemen asked the shopkeepers with no English on their signs why that was the case. One was a bookstore that sold books only in Chinese.
What would his sign say, one wonders - Chinese Books. Not for You." Read a great story

Quebec planning sovereigntist assault on Canada

"It seems that Pauline is putting her foot down, the next time she sends ministers to Ottawa begging for money, they will do it in French only.
And if the feds don't like it they can lump it!

"The Quebec government has introduced a new initiative that encourages cabinet ministers to speak only French to their counterparts from other provinces and Ottawa.
The strategy is part of the Parti Quebecois’ plan to push its sovereigntist agenda and prevent what it sees as intrusions by Ottawa in Quebec’s jurisdictions.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Alexandre Cloutier told a news conference Wednesday that Quebec’s initiative to limit English usage by its ministers is only a guideline, not a restriction.
“The official language in Quebec is French and all the papers being prepared are in French, all documentation is in French, and we think it’s necessary to use the same language that it is written (in),” Cloutier said in Quebec City." Link

Kim-Jong-Pol to Canada... "We are in a STATE OF WAR!!"

"The small-mindedness of Pauline Marois’ policy of “sovereigntist governance” is most recently shown in a directive that Quebec cabinet ministers should speak only French in federal-provincial discussions and meetings – to the accompaniment of simultaneous translation. The idea seems to be that Quebec cabinet ministers have to play a kind of children’s game in which they pretend not to be able to speak English, in order to also pretend that Canada is a foreign country." Link

Yves Michaud's long march to oblivion

For those of you who need to be reminded, Yves Michaud was a militant Peequist who was in December 2000 unanimously condemned in the National Assembly for making some injudicious remarks about ethnics and particularly Jewish Quebecers, railing against the fact that none voted for sovereignty.
Mr. Michaud was deeply stung by the motion which basically branded him a racist, this in the highest legislative body in Quebec.
Since then he has worked tirelessly and obsessively to get the motion reversed and failing that, an apology from every member who voted for the motion.
His story reminds me of the painful journey embarked upon by Jesus on the Way of the Cross, a long and painful ordeal leading to his ultimate crucifixion.
During last September's provincial election he ran a newspaper advertisement asking electors not to vote for the surviving thirteen members who were running, who still hadn't apologized. See the advertisement

But according to election law, it's illegal for individuals to spend money to influence voters in an election campaign outside of a controlled political party.

And so the hapless Michaud has been slapped with a $6,000 fine by the Director General of Elections, something that set him off once again.
Mr Michaud is once again tilting at windmills, telling reporters that he will sue the DGEQ for $100,000 as well as militate for his removal. Link{fr}
When I think of Michaud, I'm reminded of Brian Mulroney's most famous remark that "there's no whore like an old whore"

Lobby group says Bill 14 too weak

"The official advisors for Quebec on linguistic matters say the province is not doing enough to promote the French language, even if every measure in Bill 14 is passed.

Winston Chan & Robert Vezina of the Conseil superieur de la langue francaise

In a report released Wednesday,  The Conseil superieur de la langue francaise, the official advisory body for the Minister of Language, said it has no doubt that the use of French is declining in Quebec. In fact, it said everyone in the province, including native francophones, would do well to brush up on their French language skills.
"The level of literacy in Quebec is pretty low in general," said Winston Chan.

"The bureaucrats say the quality of French spoken by anglophones is of particular concern, and generally not good enough to let them work in Quebec.
"One of the challenges for English students... is the immersion skills are lower and we see that difficulty in the workplace later on," said Chan.
Bill 101 badly needs updating, said the CSLF.
“Now there are new challenges. New immigrants, and allophones taking their place in our society. We have to make sure that French is the language of social cohesion,” he said. Link

...but Bill 14 appears doomed to defeat

"The Parti Quebecois’s plan to toughen Bill 101 could be in trouble.
The Coalition Avenir Quebec confirmed Wednesday the existence of a draft of a letter stating it will oppose the most controversial aspects of Bill 14, the proposed legislation to beef up Quebec's French language law.
In the letter, the CAQ stated it is opposed to the following provisions of Bill 14:

• The right to remove a municipality's existing bilingual status
• Removal of the right of children of francophone military parents to attend English school
• New measures forcing companies with 26 to 50 employees to conduct their internal communications in French
• Measures to restrict francophone and allophone students from attending Anglophone CEGEPS." Read more

Duceppe to lead Employment Insurance Commission

"Quebec Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Alexandre Cloutier unveiled the Parti Quebecois government’s long-awaited sovereignist governance plan Wednesday in Quebec City, and it involves relying on a familiar face.
Former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe will lead a four-person commission into changes the federal government is making to Employment Insurance.
The commission is just one aspect of a multi-part plan which involves being more assertive with the federal government -- a necessity, Cloutier explains, because the federal government has made unilateral decisions that harm Quebecers, with the EI changes being a perfect example." Link

Controversial mayor gives BBC interview

"Huntingdon’s mayor, Stéphane Gendron oversees a mixed community of French and English speakers. “When we have our meetings, we usually switch from French to English in the same sentence,” said Gendron. “It’s like breathing air, we don’t care.”
Sounds reasonable, but that linguistic back-and-forth in Huntingdon is technically against Quebec’s law.
Gendron recalled receiving an email last year from the Office québécois de la langue française. He said the email informed him that he and his administration are “not authorized to communicate in English with our citizens.” Read the story

Listen to the  interview he gave to the BBC;

Language and the Habs

Last week, I highlighted this picture of a unilingual sign in the Montreal Canadiens dressing room in their practice facility in south shore Brossard.

I'm not sure if complaints about language influenced the team to change the sign in the Bell Centre dressing room or if it was there before;

But then again it's a different story when the Canadiens go on the road. Apparently the sign is a fixture in their dressing room and part of the team culture and so the Canadiens paste up the sign in all the dressings rooms they visit while on the road

Hmmmmm.... Repeat after me....."Lip Service"

Here's a message that some fan held up in Pittsburgh to make fun of Michel Therrien's inability to pronounce the hard 'T.'
He was a coach there for some time and I guess fans remember....ouch!

Read a story about it in French HERE

And for no other reason than it's Friday and we are on the subject of hockey, I include this animated GIF of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask reacting to an improbable and infuriating loss to the Habs. Sweet!

 

It's the weekend, so how about enjoying the best gin in the world. From Quebec!

Have a good weekend!
Bonne Fin de Semaine!

The Slippery Slope of Language Intolerance

Back in 1977 when the PQ first introduced Bill 101, the justification by René Lévesque and company was that without enshrined French language rights, the French fact in North America, was destined to disappear, the loquiturs assimilated in a sea of English.

But unlike the hard-line wing of the party led by the author's bill, Camille Laurin, Levesque was troubled and somewhat embarrassed by the need for a such a restrictive law and battled royally to tone its more radical elements before ultimately acquiescing to the majority in his government who saw the law as not only necessary for the preservation of French, but as fair payback to the English who had in their eyes exploited and dominated the French majority for centuries.

Watch a fascinating video on Rene Levesque's unease over Bill 101 in French({fr}

Many clauses that were included in the original Bill 101 were so clearly unconstitutional that even a collegiate freshman would conclude that they were included purely for political reasons, since there was no question of those clauses surviving a constitutional challenge.

Bill 101: "French is the language of the legislation and of the justice system in Quebec"

Nothing but nothing demonstrates the bad faith of the drafter of Bill 101 than Article 7 of Chapter III, which completely contravenes the BNA Act, the founding document that created Canada and which represents the highest law of the land, which incidentally, to this day, defines the limits of federal and provincial jurisdiction.
It couldn't be simpler, Article 133 of the BNA act says;

133. Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec.

The only reasonable conclusion to draw is that Dr. Laurin included these clauses knowing full well they'd be overturned in the Supreme Court, thus creating a 'humiliating setback' for French language rights, resulting in a heightened linguistic tension, a cynical attempt to stir up emotions of betrayal and persecution in Quebec through shameful deception and manipulation.

Today language militants still whine that their sacrosanct law has been unfairly sliced and diced by the Supremos, an attempt in their eyes, to limit Quebec's right to determine its own linguistic policy.

But for most Quebecers, Bill 101 was never about punishing Anglos, rather a reasonable effort to advance and protect the French language and culture.
Let us remember that in accepting Bill 101, the francophone majority willingly embraced restrictions on their own community in regards to sending their children to English schools.

And so we should understand that like Certs breath mint, Bill 101 is really two laws in one, a law to protect French and a law to punish the English.
Some see it as one, some see it as the other and some see it as both.

The effect of the Bill 101 is also a question of perspective, hardline separatists seeing the 35 year old law as ineffective, middle of the road francophones seeing it as effective and necessary while most anglos see the law as devastatingly punitive and coercive.

All this has been debated since the inception of the law and opinions abound in both the French and English press as well as the blogosphere.
There's not much I can add to bring much perspective to the debate, smarter and more erudite writers have covered the territory ad nauseum, but I would like to tackle an aspect that remains largely unexplored, that is the cumulative psychological effect that Bill 101 has had on the mainstream francophone opinion, vis-a-vis linguistic relations in Quebec.

Let us put aside for the moment the positions of French hardliners or Anglos and consider the Francophone majority, those who never saw Bill 101 as a weapon, but rather a cure.
The attitudinal shift of this group towards language intolerance over the 35 years reign of Bill 101 is nothing less than remarkable.
I think that if Rene Levesque were alive today, he'd be stunned and humiliated at witch hunt being waged against Anglos and the deliberate marginalization and exclusion of English in Quebec.
But this shift in attitude was inevitable, Bill 101 set in motion by accident or design, an inexorable shift towards linguistic intolerance.

I am reminded of the famous Stanford Prison Experiment back in 1971 wherein Philip Zimbard ran social experiment which laid bare the perils of allowing one group of seemingly well-adjusted citizens to hold dominion over another.
Simply explained, the experiment explored the;

 "...psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard."
 "The participants adapted to their roles well beyond Zimbardo's expectations, as the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of the prisoners to psychological torture." 
The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his role as the superintendent, permitted the abuse to continue. Two of the prisoners quit the experiment early and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days.

Bill 101 cast ordinary francophone Quebecers as the prison guards and Anglos as prisoners and painful as it is to say, we are seeing abusive and racist attitudes creeping into the mainstream society, all courtesy Bill 101, Quebec's very own real-life Stanford experiment.

How far have attitudes changed?
In a recent article in the decidedly middle-of-the-road La Presse, an article discussing the 'painful' preponderance of English store names, the author Louise Leduc, wrote this;

"Important to note: In Carrefour Laval, if a quarter of the stores have English names , the others don't exactly reinforce the French face of Quebec (Browns, Reitmans, Terra Nostra, Zaxe, Clarks, Briks, Rudsak, Aveda, La Senza, Michael Kors, etc.)."
(" Fait à noter, au Carrefour Laval, si le quart des magasins a un nom anglais, les autres ne renforcent pas nécessairement le visage français du Québec (Browns, Reitmans, Terra Nostra, Zaxe, Clarks, Briks, Rudsak, Aveda, La Senza, Michael Kors, etc.)." Link{fr}

 I don't think I've ever seen such a patently racist thing written in La Presse, yet it passed without a whimper of protest.
To those of you who are apt to defend the above words as something quite innocent, well all I can say is that you are part of the problem.

The author intimates that proper names that are not French, somehow disturb societal karma. Stores named after their Jewish founders (Browns, Reitmans, Michael Kors) or stores named after their English founders (Clarks, Briks,(sic) Birks) or even made up names that have no linguistic definition, are all unacceptable in post Bill 101 Quebec.

I don't know how the author can defend her characterization of Jewish or English family names as unhelpful without sounding racist. Clearly she is telling us Quebec would be better off without them, otherwise why bring them up?
I'm sure Madame Leduc will be furious at my characterization of her and therein lies the problem. To her, complaining about proper names not being French enough is not a sign of intolerance.

How about another mainstream commentator loosing this observation on television;

Have people lost their marbles?.......Yup, there it is, the Stanford Experiment in all its splendor. 

I bet Mr. Pelletier does not even realize how low he has sunk.
Perhaps he would also like impose a $4,000 fine on any person who publicly says "God Bless You" after a sneeze, $2,000 for speaking English and $2,000 for violating the secular nature of Quebec society.

Are these examples an aberration and a misrepresentation of what is going on in mainstream Quebec?
I don't think so, that is why we see stories of extreme language intolerance more and more often.

One of our valued contributors, R.S. put together this recap of language intolerance, ordinary Quebecers acting out their rage;

"Here is a round-up of just some of the recent events concerning franco-Quebecers who don’t want to hear any English in their lives, ever. Believe it or not, there are actually people in Quebec who still don’t understand that English is a right, not a privilege.

Let’s see… well, for starters, there’s always this famous example that went viral around the world:Angry Quebecer goes CRAZY over Asian people speaking English in public in Montreal

Then, there are always these people, whose jobs supposedly involved serving the public:Metro workers allegedly refuse to help English-speaking customer

Then, there was also this public transportation employee who put up a French-only sign in a majority-anglo neighbourhood, implying that he wouldn’t serve customers if they are English-speakers:Sign in ticket booth 'insulting,' metro user says

And then, there’s this intolerant woman in a hospital:Criminal Charges Justified After Man's Allergen Thrown In His Face

And then, there there’s this paramedic who was willing to put a little girl’s life in danger in order to argue about his political opinions:Quebec paramedic argues about language

And then, there was also this woman who was actually physically assaulted for having dared to speak English in public in Quebec:Woman Assaulted by STM worker

And then, there’s this nutbar, of course, who I don’t believe is a unique case in Quebec:Quebec language debate in the metro

And then, there are these people who don’t want to have a good coach for the Habs if he speaks English only:Protest Against Habs Anglo Coach

And then there are these people who are against an immigrant depanneur owner who was tricked by a radio station, illegally recorded and broadcast:Language protest in Montreal's Verdun district"

I've been watching the Bill 14 committee hearings, which is in the process of listening to the opinion of ordinary citizens as well as lobby groups, school commission, unions and even public servants over proposed amendments.
It's a bit sad, the level of disdain among those francophone groups which choose to appear  to fulminate and rage at the English 'enemy.'
There's but one tiresome and pernicious refrain....
"Crack down on the Anglos!"
"More enforcement!"
"More rules and restrictions!"
"Punish all who refuse to knuckle under and steamroll minority rights!"

I defy anyone to tell me that this characterization is not true.

We have come to expect certain behavior from Franco-supremacists like Mario Beaulieu and company, but make no mistake, linguistic intolerance has crept into mainstream society courtesy Bill 101.
Allow for official state-sanctioned discrimination on any level and the unintended consequence is that over time, we get what we have today, a society that breathes nastiness, xenophobia and intolerance.

Bill 101 has sent us down a slippery slope of language intolerance.

Bill 14, the current draft law being debated as a language upgrade, is the logical extension of the "Bill 101 Experiment," it is a law not meant to protect French, it is a law meant to codify the dominance of one societal group over another.

It is a story as old as organized society and as author George Orwell described in his allegorical masterpiece, Animal Farm;

The essence of Bill 101;
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

...and this, the essence of Bill 14;
“Four legs good, two legs bad.”   

I don't know if Bill 101 saved French in Quebec, but I do know that it has made Quebec a nastier and more intolerant society and it's more than a little sad to see what the province has become.

French versus English Volume 79

This week in corruption

Bernard Trepannier....  Monseuir 3% ...Mr. Charm!

The Charbonneau Crime Commission finally got to hear from  Bernard Trepannier,  the man known as 'Monsieur 3%,' (because he allegedly demanded a 3% kickback on each contract.)  He along with Frank Zampino have been named by other witnesses as the kingpins in the corruption scandal that envelops Montreal city hall.
Trepannier's testimony was anxiously awaited as commission lawyers were prepared to rip him apart, convinced they would lay bare his shenanigans.
Unfortunately for them, the slippery 74 year-old Trepannier was more than a match.
He was extremely deferential  and charming, especially to the Commissioner Charbonneau as he defended himself superbly.
"Madame la presidente,  I did not have sex with that women!"

Trepannier told the commission he was a simple fundraiser who just sold tables to political fundraising events and as for being the mastermind of a huge kickback scheme that traded contracts for cash, nothing could be farther from the truth!

His testimony looked credible and unrehearsed, as he conceded little misdeeds, but when accused of accepting $100,000 in brown envelops, he was adamant ...:"Never happened!"

And so Trepannier lays bare the reality that notwithstanding testimony to the contrary, there is no hard evidence to support those claims and Trepannier knows it, such is the anonymous nature of cash.
He practically dared the commission to prove he received such monies, knowing full well they couldn't.
Brilliant!

His charm, wit, lapses in memory and gripping story-telling, charmed the pants off Madame Charbonneau and even the usually gruff commission inquisitor-lawyer, Denis Gallant, who was reduced to asking the witness if he really believed the stuff he was saying, shaking his head in amazement and disbelief at the consummate skills of a bullshitter extraordinaire.
Great fun!
Mr. Trepannier is awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in a land scandal whereby a developer was sold a City of Montreal property for a fraction of its value.
If the crown doesn't have wiretap or documentary evidence and is depending on cross-examination of Mr. Trepannier to expose his alleged misdeeds, they are indeed in deep trouble!

Gilles Duceppe recycled -one more time

Pauline Marois may be a bust as a Premier, but as a political animal and survivalist she ranks up there with the best.
Mindful of the Don Corleone's maxim of 'keeping friends close and enemies closer,' she has co-opted Gilles Duceppe with a job, this after knifing him last year when he tried to go after her leadership post. I can't say who is snakier, but no matter, the retired Bloc leader will add a per diem of between $750-$1500 a day to his $140,000 Ottawa pension while he cruises the province holding audiences with mooches complaining about the unfairness of Harper's new Employment Insurance rules.
The whole thing is a partisan whine-a-thon designed to boost support for sovereignty by having EI done-me-wrong stories of hardship play out endlessly each news cycle.

"Our way of life  is being destroyed"...blah...blah...
"The regions will be de-populated" ...blah...blah
"A federalist plot to destabilize Quebec"...blah...blah

At least CAQ leader Francois Legault called it for what it is, a cynical attempt by Pauline to solidify her position and mend PQ fences on the taxpayers dime. Read a story about the appointment.

In other Gilles Duceppe New;

"Gilles Duceppe is the gift that keeps on taking. During 20 years in Ottawa he worked selflessly to destroy the country that made him, to undermine the system that paid him, and to break up the society that gave him the opportunity to enjoy a lifetime of security by complaining endlessly about how unappreciated he was.
Now he has been recognized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for a lifetime achievement award at its 14th annual recognition of wasteful government spending." National Post

Language hurting Montreal Tourism

"The head of Tourism Montreal says language uproars like Pastagate are hurting the city’s international image. With the start of tourist season, local merchants are worried about what the impact will be on business. “We use to be overrun by people from Toronto and southern Ontario and now we don't see that much of them anymore,” said Jack Kowalsky, from Saute Moutons Jet Boating.
Kowalsky has owned a jet-boat operation in the Old Port for 30 years—he says he can already feel a shift this early in the season.

“We're at the front lines of tourism and we talk to people from all over the world, and I just see a drop of Americans,” he continued. “If nobody’s going to speak English to them or be polite to them, this is definitely going to have a negative effect.”
He's not alone in his concern.
In a speech given to the Board of Trade yesterday, the head of Tourism Montreal said: “This ridiculous bickering looks troubling abroad, can we put aside the silly linguistic quarrels and work together in the interests of developing our city?” Link

Quebec finance minister predicts more equalization money from Ottawa

Balanced Budget?...Missed it by that much!

Quebec's finance Minister Nicolas Marceau admitted with the slowdown in the Quebec economy, government revenues will be down $250 million this year and over $500 million next year. But he still anticipates a balanced budget because of lower interests and because he anticipates, get this;
..... AN INCREASE OF $275 MILLION IN EQUALIZATION PAYMENTS FROM OTTAWA!
Good to know! Link{fr}

In commenting over the new federal budget, a furious Marceau claimed that the budget takes Quebec back 15 years.
Hmm....is that really such a bad thing?
Fifteen years ago Quebec was $100 billion less in debt, so I guess they really were the good old days!

In a television interview, the Minister also fumed over the new policy whereby Ottawa removed the special tax deduction for union based RRSP funds. The move affected Quebec's two largest unions whose funds represent 88% of the total invested in such funds across Canada.

The minister hissed that it was a plot by Ottawa to hurt Quebec because these funds helped build up Quebec industry.
But when the interviewer pointed out that only about 11% of the funds assets were invested in small or medium Quebec companies, with the bulk invested in blue chip stocks across North America, the minister quickly changed the subject. Ha!!

Incidentally, Maxime Bernier of the Conservatives explained that the added tax benefit was removed exactly for this reason and that the deduction represented an unfair advantage to these Quebec unions, which let's face it, the feds have not much use for.

Anglo doesn't mince words in presentation as he savages government committee studying Bill 14. 

Take the time to view this video, you'll definitely be rewarded. Although the intro is in French the important part is in English.
Irwin Rapoport doesn't mince words as he tells a Quebec government committee studying Bill 14, exactly what he thinks about Quebec's language policy.

All I can say is...WTF!

More harassment  from OQLF  

"Jean-François Lisée wants to do a little more than just talk about reaching out to Quebec’s Anglophones, he could do far worse than having a quiet word with NDG’s Sudipta Chakraborty after eating a meal in her west end Sherbrooke Street restaurant. While language and culture has a lot to do with NDG’s La Maison India, it’s an Indian restaurant, not a French restaurant, and aside from the usual polyglot mix of south-Asian languages that define more than a few of the city’s Indian restaurants, French has very little to do with an established and popular restaurant which is already known as a local taste sensation.
 “We could easily move to Toronto because we have family in Ontario, but I love Montreal and I love my restaurant,” said Chakraborty. “Of course, it’s my business, but now this restaurant has become a very big and important part of our lives.”
According to Chakraborty, trouble started when an OQLF (Office Québecoise de la Langue Française) agent visited her restaurant after someone complained about the size of the English letters on a sign that advertised her Sunday lunch “special.”  When the agent noticed that neither of the restaurant’s two waiters greeted her in French, further questions determined that although all of the restaurant’s six employees (including the two cooks who work in the restaurant’s basement kitchen) are bilingual, if not trilingual, none of them spoke French as a first or even a second language. A file was opened after which Chakraborty was forced to juggle all of her employees’ work schedules to accommodate the OQLF demands for a French presence within her restaurant." Read the rest of the story                                                                                                                                                    

Why is it the Montreal Canadiens are not subject to the same language harassment as the businesses above, in relation to English signage in their facilities?
Here's two signs shown on the documentary 24CH, a Bell Media puff piece being shown on cable.

Pasta-Chasers remain the butt of a world-wide joke......

Read a story about the video
Pastagate is still reverberating around the world, here's a story from Italy, published just yesterday that makes reference to the above video and savages Quebec over linguistic intolerance.
It isn't flattering.  Link{IT}
You can use Google translate to get the gist of the story, just paste the text into the box on the left and click on translate (Choose Italian to English)  GoogleTranslate,
Same thing for this story from Hungary which also shames Quebec over the video. Link{Hngr}

Odds'n ends

I don't know if the writer of this La Presse story sees the irony in a glowing report about how the town of Burlingtion, Vermont is trying to attract Quebec tourists by hiring summer part-time employees who can speak French.
Probably not...Link{fr}

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On Monday I wrote about vigile.net's resident xenophobe Rejean Labrie's posts wherein he describes his view of what characteristics makes up a good Quebeceker.
He must have been extremely pleased with that work as he has added more to the list  in another post; Link{fr}

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When Pasta-chasers collide
Gilles Proulx and Jean-Paul Perreault, two of the ten most important Pasta-chasers according to my blog piece Monday, got into an argument after the latter's French defense lobby group Impératif Français, named Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the militant ex-student leader, as some sort of award winner.
Mr. Proulx denounced the award, telling Perreault that if the Nadeau-Dubois has called on the students to march in defense of the French language, there wouldn't be more than 300 who showed up.
Hilariously, Perreault admitted that it was probably true, but that the movement is desperate to attract young people Link{fr}

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

"It’s no joke! On April Fool’s Day, the Special Committee for Canadian Unity and PutBackTheFlag.com are hosting a comedy event to draw awareness to linguine…er…linguistic bullying.
The “pastagate”-based benefit will take place in front of Restaurant Buonanotte on St. Laurent Boulevard, where the infamous “pastagate” story began, throwing Quebec’s language police into hot water and making headlines around the world.

The event will take place between 6:00 and 10:00 pm.  Information is available online at www.pastagate.com. Tickets for the show start at $100 and the public is asked to bring boxes of pasta. Link


ATTENTION PASTA-CHASERS......REPEAT AFTER ME...

"Mul-ti-Cul-tur-a-lism!" 

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

BONNE FIN DE SEMAINE!...

Quebec Pasta-Chasers Hall of Shame

Pasta-Chaser
 pästə-ˈCHāsər     Noun
A humorous yet derogatory term borne out of the infamous Pastagate affair describing;
1. A Quebec politician obsessed with curbing minority language rights.
2. A public servant working in the OQLF charged with enforcing language laws.
3. A member of a French language lobby group or media personality obsessed with curbing minority language rights.
Synonyms
Language police, language cop, 

10- Benoît Dutrizac -radio personality

Unlike the other nine personalities that follow, Benoît Dutrizac is actually highly intelligent, lucid and remarkably talented. He differs from them in that he probably doesn't really believe half the bullshit he spouts on the radio, but rather is obsessed with the accrued ratings that language conflict produces.
And so, Dutrizac knowingly panders to language hotheads encouraging them to take direct action in defense of the true Quebec nation.

He once urged listeners to invade the tiny Anglo/Jewish enclave of Hampstead, in order to disturb the peace by loudly honking horns and making all manner of noise, protesting a town bylaw that forbids noise (gardeners mowing the lawn..e.g) on two of the Jewish religions holiest days.
Protesters took him up on the challenge and did exactly that, parading through the town in a provocative show of force, supported by an escort of police who made sure that the demonstrators had free passage.
What Dutrizac failed to tell listeners is that the town, which is about 80% Jewish, also forbids noise on Sunday (not the Jewish sabbath) and on Christian holidays as well. This willful misrepresentation  and his willingness to never let the facts get in the way of a good story speaks to his cynicism and contempt.

"In August, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found that another 98.5 FM host – Benoît Dutrizac – breached its code of ethics when he called on listeners passing through the predominantly Jewish neighbourhood of Hampstead to honk and make as much noise as possible to protest a bylaw against noisy outdoor activity on Rosh Hashanah.
On another occasion Dutrizac also railed against an African depanneur owner who made some injudicious remarks after being accosted for not speaking French." Link

As to that second reference, Dutrizac took aim at a hapless African depanneur owner, who made some injudicious remarks after being goaded by a Dutrizac producer for not speaking French in a secretly recorded conversation.

"Williams is the dépanneur owner in Verdun who found himself at the centre of a Bill 101 debate after a producer from 98.5 FM’s Dutrizac called him anonymously, speaking to him only in French. When asked why he was not speaking French and citing Bill 101, Williams erupted into a tirade.
“You claim you are Quebecois but what do you contribute to Quebec? You stay at home, you drink beer, you smoke cigarettes, you take welfare. I am an immigrant, yes… I take care of your people… you have no right to question my language background.”
The comments caused a fury. The Jeunes patriotes nationalist group held a protest at the store on Saturday. About 30 protesters stood outside the store, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes; a reply to the store owner’s comments." Link

 Incidentally the tirade by the convenience store depanneur owner is enshrined in the annals of the French language debate, fitting in somewhere between the fictional  story of the parrot who was not allowed to speak English and the Mordechai Richler interview on 60 Minutes. 


9- Rejean Tremblay -sportscaster and journalist

Rejean Tremblay may be one of Quebec's most respected sportscasters, but he's a man who holds a lifelong grudge against Anglos and Canada, one who wears his utter disdain like a badge of honour.

Whether it is the Canadian Olympic Committee or the NHL, Tremblay sees plots against francophone athletes everywhere.
Last year, he raged publicly over the Canadiens hiring of unilingual Randy Cunneyworth and was instrumental in putting the language debate into the sports pages.

Tremblay has in the past conducted a long and virulent public campaign against ex-Habs captain Saku Koivu because he never learned to speak French and so sought every opportunity to denigrate his hockey and leadership skills.

His most famous assertion is that the Montreal Canadiens have a sacred duty to hire more French-speaking players, so that the team can better represent the city and province for which they play for.
Mr. Tremblay actually believes the romantic notion that French Canadian hockey players try harder than Anglos or Eurpoeans because they are playing at 'home'

"The less French-Canadian players there are," he argued, "the less problems (the owners) will have with the media, the more (the owners) will be able to control information and the team's image."

"The Canadiens are the blood and oxygen of an entire part of Quebec society," Tremblay continued. "In normal times, from what I have observed in the last 40 years, is that the Canadiens precede what happens in Quebec society." Link

Mr. Tremblay also believes that the rest of the NHL discriminates against Francophone players, preferring to hire Anglos instead.
It's hard to jive the two theories, on one hand holding that the Canadians should discriminate in favour of French players, but that English teams should not discriminate in favour of Anglos.

At any rate, it makes sense to Tremblay because Quebec and Francophones are in his opinion, 'special' and have inalienable rights to affirmative treatment.
The whole thing is paranoid nonsense, typical of the persecution complex that typifies Quebec's legion of Pasta-chasers.

8- Denis Trudel -failed artist
The hapless Denis Trudel makes the list not for any of his achievements, nor his impact in the language debate.
He is like Robin to Batman, the hapless sidekick, to the heavyweight president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the Mouvement Québec français, Mario Beaulieu.

But he is the representative of crappy and failed arteests who seek to revive or extend their careers by hitching their stars to the language movement.
The list is long including Luck Merville, the dreary Loco Locass and super-actor Maka Kotto, for example.


7- Louise Marchand -ex-chief of the OQLF

Had Louise Marchand remained in place as the head of the OQLF she would have surely made the list in first place.
Now that she's gone, we can safely ignore her, but must recognize the profound impact this anglo-hater had during her reign of terror at Quebec's language agency.
As the most powerful Pasta-chaser in the province, she led her agency to an unprecedented mean-spirited application of the language laws, setting policy that encouraged language inspectors to lay the most trivial of complaints like English on/off switches which ultimately led to Pastagate and her Humpty-Dumpty fall from grace.
While the French media tried to portray Pastagate as an unfortunate result of the act of an over-zealous inspector, it was nothing of the sort.
The OQLF, under Madame Marchand became a shrill, dogmatic and vengeful agency of repression. Like religious police in radically Islamized countries, the minion of OQLF inspectors roamed the streets, measuring English on shop signs instead of the length of women's skirts.
Madame Marchand once remarked that clerks who spoke English weren't doing anything illegal, but annoying because its effect was to anglicize Quebec.
While it is a case of good riddance to bad rubbish, Marchand remains the poster girl of a government bureaucrat filled with hate towards Anglos and Ethnics, who sadly was given the power to wreak havoc.


6- Louis Prefontaine -French language militant
Louis Prefontaine stands head and shoulders above the other self-appointed  pompous defenders of the faith, a blowhard pseudo-intellectual who uses the fire and brimstone of televangelists to preach the gospel of fear, hate and oppression.
Never failing to remind francophones that they are the colonized victims of Anglo repression, his victimization spiel is as tired as is his persecution complex.

When not writing hilariously childish anti-English screeds, Mr. Prefontaine occupies his time filling out endless complaints over English signs, a preoccupation that borders on the obsessive-compulsive.

His statistical razzle-dazzle, using such inventive terms like 'historical English community' can only be inspired by the equally insipid Claude Castonguay, another pasta-chaser that sees the francophone world collapsing under the interminable steamroller of English.


He actually took the time to photograph and complain about this sign in the back of a car.
Does the term Get a life mean anything?

If this sign offends him, there is no shortage of material in Montreal and poor Louis is doomed to a life of eternal disappointment. I can't say that I feel bad for him.

I enjoy his essays because they are filled with so much ennui, outrage and angst that it actually brightens my day to know that we anglos and Ethnics can inflict so much pain by the simple fact of our existence.


5- Gilles Proulx-longtime radio shock-jock and Media personality

Gilles Proulx reminds me of that stereotypical southern cracker, an old-timer who sits on his hillbilly porch, whittling away on a stick of wood like Jed Clampett, occasionally pulling on a jug of 'shine, whilst railing against 'dem niggers.'
When it comes to pasta-chasing, there's no whore like an old whore.
Proulx is an expert communicator, the consummate francophone victim, blending humorous righteous outrage with annoying whinging.

Proulx's dislike of anglos and Canada is absolute, but actually pales in comparison with his enmity towards natives. Listen to a radio screed {fr}
In regards to Quebec's Oka crisis, he inflamed listeners who were already fuming over the closure of the Mercier bridge in a radio tirade laced with derogatory descriptions of the natives, including the fact that they didn't speak French. It may very well have led to the shameful rock-throwing attack on a native convoy including women and children. Youtube

Mr Proulx continues his decades long battle against the English, getting away with using pejoratives on television while making fantastical complaints about Anglos. Youtube {fr}

One of the more humorous battles he has waged concerns a local auto repair shop located close to his home.
For years he has hissed and moaned against his nemesis, "BT AUTO REPAIR LTD." in Greenfield Park. He's ranted about the sign on so many occasions, I truly lost count.




4-  Jean-Paul Perreault.-president of Impératif français

Jean-Paul Perreault is the indomitable leader of the Gatineau based Impératif français, an organization dedicated to the defense and preservation of the French language.

Based across the river from Ottawa, trapped in the midst of a the only real Anglo bastion in Quebec outside of Montreal, Perreault has no shortage of battles to fight.

A dedicated uber-separatist, he has a visceral hatred of all things English and while making all sorts of French demands on the Ottawa side of the river, seeks to remove every last word of English from Quebec.

He is so militant that he objects to Gatineau being included in the National Capital region.

Mr. Perreault reminds me of the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going and going and going, year after a year.
Like all true pasta-chasers he is a dedicated perseverer, going from one battle on to the next, never losing his zeal or religion.

His organization's website is a humorous collection of screeds and rants, written by whinging pasta chasers, bathed in self-pity and paranoia.
My favorite photo from the gallery of language offenses on the website is this one which serves as sad indictment of the ideological rigidity of the organization.
Instead of lamenting over one more casualty of the Quebec economic reality, a bankrupt store is chastised for its bilingual sign.

3- Réjean Labrie- frequent contributor vigile.net.

If anyone stands as a shining example of the mentality of those who contribute to the separatist website, it is the prolific writer (240 texts) named Réjean Labrie.

I have read his work over the years and remain stunned at how backward, racist and downright xenophobic Quebecers like him remain.

 "The culture of Quebec is  firstly language, but also a way of thinking, reasoning, expressing,  creating, building and seeing the world, in short, a way of life that depends ... part in language and part  in history. Link{fr}

My favorite pieces are two contributions that define his vision of which traits  make up a 'good' Quebecer.

And so, according to this pasta-chaser, Good Quebecers; 

• ...Clap when the pilot lands the airplane
• ...Have an above-ground pool in the backyard and a BBQ on the balcony
• ...Celebrate Christmas in a camper
• ...Eat at least one poutine a year.
• ..Venerate Frere Andre
• ...Baptize their children, even if they believe less than their parents
• ...Use all-terrain vehicles in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter
• ...Attend midnight mass
• ...Wait for the French version of an English film to come out before attending
• ...Go to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion and the Cirque de Soleil
• ...Read nationalist articles in the newspapers
• ...Copy American music but pay for Quebec music
• ...Take the children to eat at the Roi du Patate on Sunday.
• ...Dream of a cabin by the lake.
• ...Know the names of the contestants on Star Académie
• ...Voted YES in the referendums... There's more Here{fr} and Here{fr}

......and no, he wasn't being tongue in cheek. 

After defining how a Quebecer must live he reminds us that;
"In Quebec we live this way, not differently."

Some of his other musings are less humorous.

"Indeed, in radio, commercials, we present too high a percentage of visible minorities who do not correspond to the reality of Quebec. The world of television has become a propaganda tool for the minority status of the Quebec nation...
....Even a television program as innocuous as "Just for Laughs" projects a distorted image of Québec to the world. .... the majority of people in the Montreal based show are visible minorities, and in doing so, we give the false impression that the entire province is composed of people of the third world..."   Link{Fr}

(On immigrants)   
A minority prevents a majority from achieving its legitimate objectives, that is to say, the recognition of it's aspirations to become a nation recognized as such internationally.
More than ever, it is a priority to not let people into Quebec who don't want to assist us in our business of making a country freed from the dominance of Canada. Link{fr}

In another piece he complains that francophones shouldn't marry or partner with Anglophones.   Link{fr} 

"After decades of having our head in the sand, our wonderful PQ will finally talk about demographics and immigration at the end of next week. So let's talk about it because it is finally permitted ...

Kirpan, turban, Sharia, Ramadan, circumcision, polygamy, honour killings, gangs, Jamaican posses, Chinese triads, Russian and Italian mafia. Since the beginning of the 21st century Quebecers find this on the corner of their street, the limits of Canadian multiculturalism and the Trudeau Charter ."

Living in Quebec doesn't make you a Quebecer Link{fr}

2- Mario Beaulieu- president of the SSJB and Mouvement Quebec Francais

Mario Beaulieu is the hardest working pasta-chaser in Quebec and it makes sense since he is just about the only one paid a full-time salary to wage a never-ending war against the forces of English and Anglicization.
Of the entire group, he may be enterprising, but he is probably the dumbest, spouting off nonsense after foolishness, using misinterpreted statistics and bad sums, while passing off facts that are not facts.
Mr. Beaulieu doesn't like to be called a Franco-supremacist but that's what he is and when he asks for a respectful debate about language, he means that the Anglo media should shut up.

 Mr. Beaulieu wants us to believe that he isn't radical, but his pronouncements tell another story.
In the past he has actually demanded that English Churches add French to the bulletin boards on the front lawn, in order to show 'respect' to the majority, even while the law provides an exemption for religious establishments.
He continues to maintain that not only should stores that use English trademarks be required to use French descriptors, but also those stores that use proper names that don't sound French enough, like REITMANS or BENTLEY.

He also demanded in the past that English artists be barred from the annual Quebec Day celebration if they were to present their work in English.

Everyday he wakes up looking for another language battle where he can in the best tradition of pasta-chasers, let loose a torrent of righteous indignation, followed by dire Chicken Little warnings of impending gloom and doom.

Beaulieu is an ignorant blowhard who gets all too much airtime, incommensurate with his support. The demonstrations he and his groups mount, rarely draw more than a hundred or two of the faithful, usually silver-haired separatist veterans,  manning the barricades in thinning numbers as they die off.
All this with hundreds of thousands of dollars in free publicity, courtesy of an accommodating press.

1- Diane de Courcy- PQ minister of Education

Diane de Courcy gets first place, not for a history of anti-English/ethnic activism, but rather because of her unique political position which allows her to actually effect legislative change, something that none of the above-mentioned pasta-chasers can do.

Her latest legislative foray, the egregious Bill 14, is an attack on everything not French in Quebec, a mean-spirited law meant to discriminate and marginalize everybody but the French majority.

The proposed law is a frontal attack on Anglos, an attempt to apply a coup de grace to the community, taking away any notion that English and Anglos are valued members of the Quebec mosaic.
Actually the law is intended to dash any concept of a mosaic at all, making French the only official language and culture of Quebec.

De Courcy is more than a pasta-chaser, she is nothing less than a devoted ethnic cleanser, bound and determined to  inflict the most pain she can with the resources she has. Such is the case with her determination to remove the exemption for military families who wish to choose English for their children's education while posted in Quebec.

She is the reincarnation of Camille Laurin, Quebec's most revered ethnic cleanser and has inherited his mean-spiritedness as well.
De Courcy is a committed pasta-chaser extraordinaire, full of hate and contempt on the prowl looking to skin the English cat and exact a measure of revenge for all manner of imagined slights.

There it is, Quebec's greatest pasta-chasers, any comments?