Quebec's French Delusion

"Meantime, a Quebec City company testified that Bill 14 is just one more barrier in the global economy.
Workers at G.E. Leblanc don't speak much English, the company makes precision metal parts for the pork industry, and all but a handful of the 150 on staff are completely Francophone
But the software to manage the inventory is mainly in English—an industry standard—Quebec’s language office has already instructed the company to translate it

“We tried to be conform with the law but unfortunately they didn't understand what we are doing,” said Marie-Pier Cloutier, speaking for G.E. Leblanc.

The company's English software links it with global partners, colleagues around the world will be able to get real-time updates—in English only

“With the Chinese and the Danish and everybody working for the company, we will have to work with the same words,” explained Cloutier.

Whether they need a bolt for a belly opener or a shaft adapter, employees at the company ask for the parts by name in English because that's the way they were taught in school.
Knowing the English names of parts is where most employees' English ends. However they want to learn more and the company is providing English lessons at lunchtime.

“If we cannot find any people speaking in English, then we may as well shut down,” said company executive Marcel Couture."  Link

The story above can be straight out of a Monty Python sketch, the utter foolishness reminds me of the inspirational story of King Canute commanding the sea to hold back the tide.

Such is the surreality of the efforts of successive Quebec governments to make Quebec as French as Alberta is English, all the while telling Quebecers that it is not only possible, but possible without affecting prosperity.

Instead of seeking a reasonable accommodation with English, the PQ is trying to control what is in effect uncontrollable.
Like all governments that impose rules and measures that run counter to the marketplace, there is a mighty price to be paid, in Quebec's case that price is prosperity.

The question remains; Can Quebec become exclusively French and if so, can it maintain its prosperity?

Unfortunately for hardliners, the answer to each question is a resounding NO.

There is a lie being perpetrated by the PQ and its coterie of language hawks, that tells Quebecers that they can and should expect to live in a world exclusively in French.
It is a lofty ideal, one that plays well to the faithful, sold by ideologues who are as unrealistic as those members of King Canute's court that told him that he could stop the incoming tide.

While the OQLF fan out across Montreal terrorizing small businesses and restaurants over signs and menus, the underlying reality is that when push comes to shove, the Quebec government caves when it comes to the big companies.
Any major employer can ask for and receive a waiver to operate in English (as long as they do it behind closed doors) and while the OQLF makes a great hoopla over this 'authorization' it is an open secret that the government would never dare lose a major employer over language, it would be suicidal.

The only suckers who don't get exemptions are the small fry or those (like the company described above) which the OQLF determines won't leave the province under any circumstances.

The OQLF plays a masterful game of political gamesmanship by giving exemptions to companies they deem at risk. For the rest, it's tough noogies.
But many companies that don't hold waivers operate in English with impunity because the OQLF chooses to turn a blind eye, like Quebec's vaunted video game industry which was lured to Montreal with massive tax subsidies.
If push came to shove over language, these companies could relocate in five minutes flat and the OQLF knows it.
It is a testament to the cunning calculation of the OQLF that no company has up and left noisily over language like Sun Life.

Here's a list of companies granted official waivers that allows them to operate in English;

Name	Agreement Type	Since
Air Liquide Canada inc.	Head Office	2011-09-15
Anachemia Canada Co.	Head Office	2012-06-26
Anachemia Canada Co.	Research Centre	2012-06-26
Autodesk Canada Cie	Research Centre	2009-12-11
Avon Canada inc.	Head Office	2011-10-28
Bauer Hockey Corp.	Research Centre	2011-09-15
Bombardier inc.	Head Office	2012-06-26
Bombardier inc.	Research Centre	2012-06-26
Bombardier Transport Canada inc.	Head Office	2008-09-12
CAE inc.	Head Office	2012-06-26
CAE inc.	Research Centre	2012-06-26
CMC Électronique inc.	Head Office	2012-05-11
CMC Électronique inc.	Research Centre	2012-05-11
CMP Solutions mécaniques avancées ltée	Head Office	2011-05-27
Compagnie Beaulieu Canada	Head Office	2011-12-09
Compagnie Canadian Technical Tape ltée	Head Office	2012-06-26
Compagnie minière IOC inc.	Head Office	2011-09-15
State Street Global ltée	Head Office	2011-03-25
Corporation Gatx Rail Canada	Head Office	2011-12-09
Corp. MacDonald, Dettwiler et Associés	Research Centre	2012-02-03
Domtar inc.	Head Office	2012-06-26
Éricsson Canada inc.	Research Centre	2012-05-11
FPInnovations	Research Centre	2012-05-11
General Dynamics	Head Office	2011-09-15
General Dynamics	Research Centre	2011-09-15
Kaba Ilco Inc.	Research Centre	2011-03-25
La Corporation McKesson Canada	Head Office	2011-10-28
Laboratoires Abbott limitée	Head Office	2011-09-15
Laboratoires Charles River services	Research Centre	2011-12-09
Lafarge Canada inc.	Research Centre	2010-12-10
Gildan inc.	Head Office	2009-01-23
Lockheed Martin Canada inc.	Research Centre	2013-04-26
Manufacture Leviton du Canada ltée	Head Office	2012-10-26
Medisca pharmaceutique inc.	Head Office	2010-05-06
Medtronic CryoCath,	Research Centre	2012-10-26
Mega Brands inc.	Head Office	2009-09-11
Mega Brands inc.	Research Centre	2009-09-11
Minet inc.	Head Office	2013-03-22
Montship inc.	Head Office	2011-10-28
Novartis Pharma Canada inc.	Head Office	2011-06-10
Oracle Canada ULC	Head Office	2012-09-14
Pfizer Canada inc.	Head Office	2011-10-28
Presagis Canada inc	Head Office	2011-10-28
Presagis Canada inc	Research Centre	2011-10-28
Recherche BCA	Head Office	2013-03-22
Recherche BCA	Research Centre	2013-03-22
Reitmans (Canada) ltée	Head Office	2013-01-25
Retraites luxueuses International	Head Office	2013-03-22
Rio Tinto Alcan inc.	Head Office	2012-03-23
SAP Canada inc.	Research Centre	2012-12-14
Reader’s Digest (Canada)	Head Office	2012-05-11
SNC-Lavalin inc.	Head Office	2011-09-15
Solutions Airwide	Research Centre	2009-10-23
Peerless Clothing inc.	Head Office	2012-10-26

And so the OQLF pretends that the rules apply equally to all but enforces the rules selectively according to a cockamamie formula whereby only those who are likely to obey are targeted.

It reminds me of the time where one of the locations in the chainstore that I helped manage was the subject of a fire department inspection.
Of course there was some minor infraction that resulted in a letter and a warning which peeved me because the store was brand new, in a brand new shopping mall.
I called the inspector and asked him why he was inspecting the stores anyways, considering that the downtown shopping core of the city was a ramshackle collection of old buildings, not one of which could ever pass the most minor of inspections.
He candidly told me that the stores downtown were too poor to live up to the fire code and if forced to do so, would close! So the fire department chose to visit the mall.
...Ha! Enforcement à la Bill 101!
Impose the rules on those who can and will obey. The rest...fu-ge-da-boud-it !

That is why the OQLF decided to push large retailers like Costco and Walmart to add descriptors to their names, calculating that the companies would comply because of the economic stake they had in their properties.
Their only miscalculation is the lawsuit launched by those affected.

So it's easy to understand why the OQLF is attacking American giants and not attacking Canadian giants like Canadian Tire or Tim Hortons.
The OQLF chooses its fights judiciously and the firestorm of bad publicity that would reverberate around Canada related to such an attack is a prime consideration, not to mention the fact that there isn't a court in the land  that would side with the agency in telling a company that has operated under the 'Canadian Tire' banner for over seventy years that it must now change its name.

The OQLF continues to play a mug's game in enforcing the law where it can while turning a blind eye where it can't.
That is why toy cars must be labelled in French, while real cars continue to have English only dashboards.

Lately the OQLF is making noise about forcing appliance and electronic manufacturers to add French labeling, another costly waste-of-money that will never come to pass.
Most of the offending English words are molded into the product itself and changing it would cost a fortune, something that the appliance manufacturers won't do no matter what.
It is the same problem as car dashboards.

In light of this selective enforcement policy it is easy to understand why the OQLF requires first run Hollywood movies to be dubbed into French.
The same goes for video games where the government is also pushing for French translations while mysteriously exempting books and magazines.
Obviously books and magazines are not as important to Quebec culture as movies and video games.
As I said, the OQLF chooses its fights.

I recently visited a store in New York City and came across a product that intrigued me in relation to the issue of language in Quebec.
It was a book that was hollowed out to create a compartment meant to hide valuables.
Would this product be legal in Quebec?
The English-only book itself would be legal in Quebec, because books are exempt, but since it was no longer a book, but rather a fake book, the English-only made it illegal.
Are you following me?

There is a whole host of niche and specialty products that cannot be brought into Quebec because of language and the OQLF's response that no product can be sold without a French label is final and just means that Quebec consumers are short changed from anything like sex toys that are banned because of language to hollowed out book safes.
Did I say 'final'?
Well not always, the OQLF is nothing if not practical. After banning Jewish specialty food products imported from the USA because of the lack of French labels, the agency relented and opened up a window during certain holidays where the foods could be brought in without translation.
And so you can see, the agency can display a pragmatic side, notwithstanding that it's never a good idea to start up with the Jews.

By the way, a lot of this forced French is paid for largely by English Canadians. When a movie chain pays to dub a Hollywood movie into French, the cost is divided among ticket goers across the whole country, with ticket prices remaining the same for English and French versions.

That is why dashboards remain an English only affair, because car companies have repeatedly told Quebec that if French is mandated on the dashboard then Quebec consumers alone would have to pay for it. And so for the OQLF, an appropriate time to mettre de l'eau dans son vin.

It isn't strange that Quebec's economic decline is neatly paralleled by the rise in language extremism.
It's sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees, but there can be no mistake that ever since the PQ's rise to power in 1976, it's been a precipitous downhill economic tumble worthy of Jack and Jill.

Separatists will find all sorts of reasons for Quebec's stagnation, from the St. Lawrence Seaway to the discovery of oil in Alberta and Newfoundland. Anything but language, which can never be fingered as the culprit because well, they just don't want it to.

Those of us old enough to remember Quebec as a powerhouse, the center of the Canadian universe can only be saddened to see how far we've fallen.

Last week I listened to separatist wunderkind Mathieu Bock-Coté complaining one more time that Montreal is anglicizing at an alarming rate, (which in separatist talk means that a sign went up in English somewhere in the downtown core,) and all I can do is shake my head at the utter brainlessness of the contention, a hallmark of the whiny French language movement.

If Mr. Bock-Coté took a 'Twilight Zone" trip to Montreal circa 1960, he'd probably have a heart attack at what an utterly bilingual city it was back then. Perhaps he would be so flabbergasted by the assault of English that he'd fail to see what a powerful success the city really was back then.

The PQ's proposed Bill 14, meant to stiffen Quebec's already burdensome language laws will further drive Quebec down the path of economic ruin by making language demands that cannot be met.

As English resistance to language intolerance stiffens, the horrendous publicity engendered by the  likes of 'pastagate' convince more and more investors and employers to stay away.

One of the hidden realities of Quebec economics is that in order to attract new investment, the Quebec government must cough up an ever spiraling host of subsidies, which now stands at four times the rate of Ontario.

All this is hidden from view, as are the investments that never came or never will.

Montreal is fading fast as a business centre, it's airport soon to become the fourth busiest in Canada and it's head offices fleeing or fled to Calgary and Toronto. It's no wonder that there hasn't been a decent office skyscraper built in over twenty years, with none in the works.
By comparison Toronto has fifteen skyscrapers under construction today.

This is what happens when Quebec's language law butts up against reality of business and no matter what French language hardliners tell us, the more French Quebec becomes less English Quebec becomes, the poorer it will be.

The cost of Frenchifying Quebec has been staggering and for language militants remaining delusional about it won't change reality.

Is Justin Trudeau the Real McCoy?

Has Justin got the right stuff?

A confession readers, I've been out of the country these last few days and haven't been able to devote the necessary time to create a post worthy of your valued time.

That being said, I really don't want to leave a blank until Friday so will endeavour to spark a little debate in the comments section as to the bone fides of the recently elected leader of the Federal Liberals, Justin Trudeau.

Fair disclosure, I've never voted Liberal, but do believe that a renewed and competitive Liberal party can keep Harper honest in the short term and perhaps actually challenge for the Holy Grail in the not-to-distant future.

One of the biggest knocks against Justin (funny how we've already become accustomed to calling him by his first name) is that he purportedly lacks the necessary intellectual prowess and that he's a lightweight, a dilettante who doesn't really have the right stuff to lead our great country.

I'll take issue with both these assertions, not the fact that he isn't a genius, but rather the point that it is not necessarily necessary.

A high IQ is not always the mark of a great leader, far from it and many with pedestrian brains have done quite well at the top job, thank you very much.

In Canada, few would claim that Jean Chretien was a towering intellect,  but there's no argument that he was far more successful than Paul Martin.
Those traits that mark political success, scrappiness, savvy, ruthlessness and instinct are not products of high or low intellect,

Here's a list of the IQs of a selection of American presidents and it makes my point rather convincingly that the highly intelligent don't necessarily make better presidents than those with average brains. There are good and bad among the two categories.
A key comparison is the highly intelligent presidents, Jimmy Carter who was an utter failure, compared to the highly successful Bill Clinton.
On the low end of the presidential intelligence scale, Ronald  Reagan is considered a winner, while Dubya, a failure.

IQ	PRESIDENT	PARTY
182	William Jefferson Clinton	[D]
175	James Earle Carter	[D]
174	John Fitzgerald Kennedy	[D]
155	Richard Milhous Nixon	[R]
147	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	[D]
132	Harry S Truman	[D]
126	Lyndon Baines Johnson	[D]
122	Dwight David Eisenhower	[R]
121	Gerald R. Ford	[R]
105	Ronald Wilson Reagan	[R]
098	George Herbert Walker Bush	[R]
091	George Walker Bush	[R]

The Conservatives haven't taken any chances on a new wave of Trudeaumania  taking hold and have aired a number of nasty attack ads on television calling into question Justin's ability to lead.

I'm reminded of similar ads run by the Conservatives against Jean Chretien telling Canadians that he wasn't Prime Ministerial material because of a speech impediment (due to a childhood illness.) The public was furious over the ads and it may very well have contributed to the Liberal Party's convincing victory.

Justin has taken the high road and it seems to have struck a chord with Canadians, tired of the nasty and partisan politics practiced by the Conservatives.

"One thing Justin Trudeau has done right is to appeal to Canadians sense of common decency.
While Harperites are convinced they can destroy him by going negative, Trudeau has come out on top by taking the high road.
I recall the negative Conservative campaign against Jean Chretien and a television commercial making fun of his crooked face and impaired speech (due to a childhood illness) which not only backfired, but contributed to a Liberal rout as Canadians were roundly offended by such a cheap shot.

Despite what the Conservatives are saying, I get the sense that Canadians want Trudeau to succeed, at least as an opposition leader where his mettle can be tested for a few years affording us a chance to evaluate his potential.

"It worked for Barack Obama. Now, Justin Trudeau is aiming to capitalize by being a hopey-changey kind of guy.
A message on the federal Liberal party website, promoting an ad that defends the new leader against recent Conservative attacks, reads: "Hope and Hard Work. Be Part of the Change."
Catch those two words in there? Hope. Change.
Obama's "Yes, We Can" could be coming next." Link

As for pluck, Justin is no namby-pamby, he demonstrated his prowess and guts by taking on a highly favored Conservative senator in a charity boxing match, which he won, much to everyone's surprise.

Justin showed what he's really made of by running for Parliament in a Montreal working class district in the decidedly separatist riding of Papineau where he won and held his seat, even after the Orange wave of the last election that swept Quebec.

I haven't made up my mind as to his fitness for the job, I suppose time will tell.

Even though I still won't vote Liberal, I'm hoping for the party's resurgence, if for nothing else, than to chop down the insufferable 'Uncle' Thom Mulcair and the infuriating Ndp.

By the way, off topic, but regarding Mulcair's support of the Quebec's government's attack on the Supreme Court for breaking some rule in 1982 by allegedly discussing the court's position with the federal politicians of the day, while deliberating over the issue of repatriation of the constitution, an apparent no-no.

What good can come by dredging up the issue and who really cares.

Cui prodest scelus is fecit?

Even if it is true, something which I have no idea, rehashing this old news can only serve the PQ government in Quebec, nobody else.

Is pandering to the separatists, so important to Mulcair that he would rip off this painful national unity bandage, just to pander to the radical separatists?

One more reason why I detest him and the NDP.

Back to the knitting...
So readers, what is your take on Justin?

Canadians Caught In Quebec's Cruel Lobster Trap

Fishing for lobster...er..Employment Insurance!

This week sees the opening of the nine-week long lobster season in Quebec which is heralded locally as a great social and economic event that rouses and reanimates the moribund towns in the Magdalen Islands, the Gaspe peninsula and the Lower North Shore of Quebec. This after a long, nine-month period of hibernation, during which many lobster industry participants have been either hunkered down, working on the sly or vacationing in Florida, all the while, living on the dime provided by the generosity of Canadian taxpayers.

To the locals, the onset of the lobster season is the enduring symbol of the resilience and perseverance of the hardy locals, who see the lobster fishery as a proud measure of their collective industry.
To the rest of us in Canada and the other regions of Quebec, where work, careers and taxes are a 12-month a year affair, the lobster industry should be seen for what it is, a cruel con on taxpayers, played out each and every year wherein nine weeks of work are exchanged for forty weeks of unemployment benefits.....yup, each and every year.

As you know the Harper government has threatened the very essence of this model of dependance, telling participants that they really need to seek alternate employment and that the model whereby nine weeks of work translating into 40 weeks of benefits is just no longer sustainable, nor acceptable.

This of course led to a massive reaction by those implicated with the largest demonstration against the reform happening this last weekend with thousands and thousands marching in the streets to save their benefits. While demonstrations organized by militants and sovereigntists over independence or language usually produce less than 500 demonstrators, nothing gets Quebecers into the streets as quickly as a threat to their entitlements.

So don't vote for Harper next time! (joke)

"Thousands of Montrealers snaked through the city's downtown core on Saturday afternoon to protest against the Conservative government's changes to employment insurance.
The changes to EI, which came into effect in January, have spurred several protests this year across Eastern Canada — home to many seasonal workers affected by the new rules.
The reforms require workers to travel up to 100 kilometres and to accept jobs that pay as little as 70 per cent of their previous hourly wage — providing that is not below the province's minimum wage rate.
Saturday's protesters left early in the afternoon from three different points in the city and met at Montreal's Quartier des Spectacles, where they wrapped up their demonstration with several speeches.
Those participating included farmers, seasonal workers, human rights activists, labour unions, representatives from the Bloc Québécois youth wing, and members of organizations for people who are unemployed.

Many said the changes make it more difficult to collect benefits.

Some demonstrators were concerned about the effects on eastern Canada's small fishing villages. They said the communities could be destroyed by the reforms, which would force residents to leave in order to find work." Read more

Let's be clear about Quebec's lobster industry, it is a Quebec government ruse maintained to 'stamp up'  the locals, a practice whereby a seasonal industry is used to qualify participants for long term unemployment benefits paid for by the federal government.
The practice was fine tuned and elevated to an art form by the Newfoundland government, where fish plants, sometimes working at a loss, were built for no other purpose but to provide workers the minimum hours of employment required to qualify for federal benefits, thus shifting the onus to Canadian taxpayers of supporting the Newfoundland indolent.

Here's a 2002 article describing the scheme;

"In Newfoundland each summer fish plant workers race to put in the 420 hours needed to qualify for Employment Insurance.
Some plants are lucky and have no trouble, but for many smaller plants it is a cause for celebration when all hands are stamped up for the winter. For getting all hands to qualify is no mean feat.
Newfoundland has almost 140 fish plants, and up to 20,000 fish plant workers. Although some of the plants are highly automated, highly efficient operations that produce year-round. (National Sea's Arnold's Cove plant and Beothuck Fisheries’ Valleyfield plant are examples of a modern year round fish processing industry.) Many of the rest were put there for political reasons, often paid for by tax dollars, and often barely able to give their workers the 420 hours needed to qualify for 34 weeks of employment insurance.
Most are known as "stamp factories", a place one qualifies for EI. (Historically weeks worked for unemployment insurance purposes were recorded by pasting stamps in a record book.)                                                       Read this fascinating account: "Fishing for UI"

 In fact, in rural Newfoundland, the 'stamping up' phenomenon was so highly refined, that in towns where there weren't enough fish plant jobs to go around, once a somebody had worked enough hours  to be 'stamped up' and eligible for unemployment benefits, he or she was expected to step aside and let another take his or her job!

In the Magdalen Islands, about one-third of the non-governmental jobs are related to the lobster fishery and so you can imagine the impact on the local economy should the federal government change in any significant manner, the rules of qualification for employment benefits.

And so it isn't surprising  that we are subjected to the shrill protestation of those potentially affected with agonized cries that if the Prime Minister goes forward with his reforms, he will be directly killing the Magdalen Islands, forcing families off the island in order to seek more permanent employment.

To those who receive benefits, it is the ultimate threat.... Stop paying us and you'll drive us out of our homes and destroy our community!

Here's a funny story told to me that supposedly happened at an Employment Insurance protest which was blocking a Montreal street.
A  protester was haranguing a passerby in a stopped car describing the cruel fate that was to befall him and his co-protesters should the Harper reforms be rigorously applied.
Annoyed by the inconvenience of being delayed, the frustrated passerby lifted his leg and farted rather loudly, telling the complainer that; "this the closest you're going to come to me giving a shit!"
Oh-boy...

So I wonder how much taxpayers in Fort McMurray, Timmins, Weyburn or Kitimat really care about paying these people out of their hard earned taxes to sit on their asses for nine months a year in order to preserve a way of life.

If the Quebec government wants to preserve these uneconomic regions, should Canadian taxpayers across the country be obliged pay to for it, or should it be the responsibility of Quebecers to do so alone?
The Parti Quebecois, the unions, the separatist lobby all believe that it is Canada's responsibility, while Harper and his cronies believe that paying people to do nothing for nine months a year is not insurance, but rather welfare, strictly a provincial affair.

Let us remember that Quebec takes out 40% of the benefits of the total unemployment fund, while contributing just 23%.

At any rate, the kicker to the story is that before the Harper reform, the lobster industry in Quebec was complaining that the employment insurance program was unfair because the nine weeks of fishing plus the forty weeks of insurance money, left the participants with three weeks of no income, a situation which they referred to as a 'Black Hole," a stressful and unconscionable situation where no money was coming in.....something according to them, that the government 'had to address!'.

It's a good lesson about complaining, a perfect example that things can always get worse, much worse!

French versus English Volume 82

Corruption This Week

Just to keep readers from out-of-town apprised, this week saw a member of the Board of directors of the Quebec Construction Commission suspended because, what else, alleged corruption. The commission is ironically charged with keeping Quebec construction industry honest. Donald Fortin was outed by the Journal de Montreal which alleged that he built his home with free labour and materials provided by contractors buying labour peace on their job-sites. Link  Link{fr}

Meanwhile, the Charbonneau Construction Commission (looking into corruption in Quebec's construction industry) hit a brick wall when the two key witnesses, the alleged ringleaders of the collusion ring at Montreal city hall, stonewalled commission lawyers who tried valiantly but unsuccessfully to break them down.

Ex-mayor Gerald Tremblay--"I see Nutink"

Both Frank Zampino and  Bernard Trépanier (known as Mr. 3%) both gave the commission absolutely nothing, admitting to no wrongdoing before a frustrated Judge Charbonneau.
Unlike the other previous witnesses who rushed to admit guilt because it meant receiving immunity, both these men are already indicted and to admit guilt here would destroy their chances at acquittal at trial. 

The Commission knew this, the witnesses were non-cooperative and hostile, even refusing to be pre-interviewed. Alas the Commission proceeded anyways on the chance that the witnesses would crack.

Unfortunately, commission lawyers were badly outplayed and looked downright amateurish and desperate, reduced to asking the men to admit that they were crooks.
Questions as to whether anything more can be gained by prolonging the inquiry are starting to circulate.
It's time for the commission to get down to the question of political corruption at the provincial level and clearly, if they don't have squealers willing to spill the beans, then it's time to call it a day.

On Thursday, the former mayor of Montreal, Gerald Tremblay gave testimony before the commission, claiming that he 'knew nothing' and 'saw nothing' in regards to corruption at city hall, in fine tradition of Hogan's Heros- Sgt. Schultz!
Opposition leader Louise Harel denounced the mayor for not taking responsibility and remarked that he had to be aware about what was going on.
Harel's charge is a bit ironic, like the pot calling the kettle black, considering that she and her party were CONVICTED of election fraud in 2009!  Link{fr}

In the meantime, a subsidiary of the pride of "Quebec INC,' SNC-Lavalin has been barred from bidding on World Bank projects for ten years, because of its alleged corrupt use of bribes to secure contracts. Link
The humiliating story has been roundly downplayed in the Quebec media, where an alleged corrupt official makes front page news, but where the SNC-Lavalin corruption story is relegated to secondary coverage.
But the scandal is starting to have wider repercussions, as the Canadian International Development Agency (a federal government aid agency) has joined the World Bank in banning SNC-Lavalin from bidding on any of its contracts over the company's alleged penchant for bribery. Link

By the way, a sixth arrest, Yohann Elbaz, has been made in the alleged MUHC fraud case that surrounds the ex-boss of the Montreal English super-hospital, Arthur Porter and the alleged briber, who else but SNC-Lavalin, of course. Link

CAQ will vote to send Bill 14 for further study

"Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault says his party will vote to send Bill 14 — the PQ government's contentious proposed legislation to toughen the French language charter — for further study.

Flanked by the CAQ's critic responsible for the French language charter, Montarville MNA Nathalie Roy, Legault told reporters his party is giving the minority government a "last chance" to make changes to the bill."  Read More

Read my editorial post -  CAQ Drops Political Bomb on PQ and Its Language Law

Quebec Human Rights Commission tells govt that living in French isn’t a human right.

"Is living and working in French a human right?

No, according to Quebec's Human Rights Commission.
On Wednesday, the commission appeared before a National Assembly committee tasked with the Parti Quebecois’ update to Quebec’s language law: Bill 14. The new law attempts to make French equal to other fundamental rights such as free speech and gender equality.
“The words they use are ‘Common values,’ actually les ‘Valeurs Quebecoises,’ but there's danger in trying to put these things as add-ons,” said Gaetan Cousineau, speaking for the commission.

The independent commission believes Bill 14 puts new rights and new obligations in the wrong places. It says it's fine to make French a right, but that right belongs in the French language charter, not the human rights charter.  Watch a news report and read the rest of the story

Bill 14 would strip Anglos of rights: Quebec Bar

"The Quebec bar association says parts of bill 14 can not be justified in a free and democratic society.
At a National Asembly hearing today, the bar's legal experts calmly listed a dozen possible ways the bill could break human rights protections, both in Quebec and Canada, and under international law.
Parts of bill 14 "threaten to unduly affect the anglophones and allophone communities," the bar association said in its written brief. Read more

Quebec Retail Council objects to Bill 14

"You might say the familiar “Bonjour-Hi” expression used in Montreal shops and malls was on trial.
And it was the retailers association that took up the defence.
Arguing that offering service in the language of their customers is not only a matter for the Charter of the French Language but also a question of respect for the customer, the Retail Council of Canada presented dramatic testimony Tuesday to the commission examining Bill 14.
And it concluded there may not be as big a language problem in Montreal as some believe.
While the retail council says there is always room for improvement in French-language services in Montreal’s shops, the government would be wiser to find better ways to help new arrivals learn French and train language inspectors to apply the charter more intelligently and fairly.
Coming down on small retailers — studies show 96 per cent of retailers on the island are able to serve clients in French — with Bill 14 is not the way to proceed despite pressure from language hawks, the retail council says." Read more

"Couillard: Our opposition to Bill 14 – a question of principal"

Here is an opinion piece by the new leader of the Quebec Liberal Party Philippe Couillard outlining the party's position on Bill 14;

"Quebecers, deeply attached to French, our common language, want to ensure that it continues to thrive in this corner of North America we have called home for some 400 years. A number of successive laws, leading up to the Charter of the French Language, have maintained the delicate balance between individual and collective rights. These initiatives have produced considerable, quantifiable results: French has become both the symbol and the reality of a prosperous, modern and confident Quebec that is open to the world. Read the rest of the opinion piece

"Quebec undergoing a Liberal revival, new poll finds, as PQ slump drags on"

"In an ever-expanding forest of positive polls for the Liberals, the latest CROP snapshot of Quebec public opinion stands out but not necessarily for the usual Justin Trudeau-related reasons.

Published on Wednesday in La Presse, the poll suggests that Quebec is undergoing a Liberal revival, with both the federal and provincial parties in first place in voting intentions at 38 per cent." Read more

"Écoeurer les Anglais" (Annoying the English)

Here is a translation of an excellent opinion piece written by Alain Dubuc for La Presse.
Full credit to reader 'R.S.' for a crackerjack translation. 

"The most amazing element of Bill 14, which proposes multiple changes to "strengthen" Bill 101, is the provision that would permit the removal of the status of bilingual municipalities where the proportion of English-speaking [sic; in fact it’s “English mother tongue”] residents dips below 50%.

This is not a big element of the bill, as are changes to the Charter of Rights or the idea of imposing the Bill 101 straightjacket to SMEs. But on the symbolic level, this measure, which is absolutely unnecessary and vexatious for anglophones, reflects a framework that is found throughout this bill that, directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly, attacking the legitimacy of living in English in Quebec.

Right from the beginning, we could have guessed that this bill is more political than it is linguistic; that it is meant to serve the Marois government in terms of identity politics rather than to find practical and effective solutions for specific problems that the French language may encounter. This downward spiral is fed by two specific lacks of understanding in the government's approach.

The first thing is the very analysis that would justify such urgent action, that which we foolishly call the decline of French in Montreal. What is this really all about? It’s about French-speaking Montrealers who move to the suburbs and the increasing number of immigrants, who speak their native language at home. These are not phenomena that indicate the strengthening of English but we mistakenly treat them as if it affected the balance of power between English and French.

The second is applying in the context of 2013 reflexes that we may have had in the 1960s, when the assertion of French-Quebecers meant fighting the privileges of an English-speaking minority, and where the battle for the French language had in part to do with battle against the English language.

But in 2013, the two major challenges, namely, the assertion of English as a lingua franca - the global language of commerce, tourism, mass culture, science - and the attraction that English has in an English-speaking continent, are not imposed by English Canada or by Quebec anglophones. And yet we continue to thump upon our anglophones who have nothing to do with this.

Removing the bilingual status from a few municipalities will not help the French language to progress whatsoever. However, it will affect the community life of anglophones and will reduce their collective living space. This measure has no purpose other than to annoy anglos. Along with a side message: in our efforts to strengthen the role of the French in the public space, we also wish to reduce that of anglophones. Behind which, let us not forget, are the ever present anglophobic and vengeful currents which, in the end, would prefer that anglos simply leave.

We have duties toward our linguistic minority. We too must preserve the quality of relationships with anglophones who have accepted the new rules of the game, who had sincerely believed that we had achieved a linguistic balance and who now wonder whether we really want them.

This risk of damaging our relationships with anglophones also affects our collective interests. Shattering linguistic peace is but another way of killing Montreal slowly. Montreal’s strength, what makes the city unique, it is not that it is multicultural - all major cities are - but that it is bilingual, the meeting place of two major linguistic communities. This meeting, with its difficulties and its creative tensions, also gives us an economic advantage and contributes to its soul and its cultural richness.

In order to avoid moving backward together, it is not simply a matter of eliminating some questionable items from Bill 14. It is the spirit and the overall logic of the project that must be challenged." Read the original article in French 

"Private investment in Quebec has dropped 90% under PQ, says CAQ"

"Private investment in Quebec has plummeted by 90 percent since the Parti Quebecois has come to power, says François Legault's Coalition.
"Programs that have been put in place by the Parti Quebecois, they don't give results," says Legault.
The CAQ says it's tallied up the value of all the announcements made by the finance ministry and Investment Quebec for the past seven months.  Then, it compared it to announcements made over the same time period the year before." Read more

 You've got to be a shameless media hound to make reference to an insulting cartoon of yourself on your own website, but nobody ever accused Jean-Paul Perreault, of Imperatif-francais, of modesty. Link{fr}

Weekend reading....

French EU elite abandons ‘defensive’ stance on language

"With the decline of French language in EU institutions now accepted by most as irreversible, French lawmakers and officials have started pushing a more assertive approach, based on the promotion of multilingualism and influence rather than language issues only."  Read More

Should English be the official language of the EU?

"In a keynote speech on the future of European integration in February, Joachim Gauck suggested English should become the EU's official language: "It is true to say that young people are growing up with English as the lingua franca. However, I feel that we should not simply let things take their course when it comes to linguistic integration." It was music to the ears of federalists and fiscal hawks: with English spoken in the corridors of Brussels, the EU would become more streamlined and more efficient." Read more

Former CTV anchor Lloyd Robertson appalled by Quebec language debate

"Former CTV chief anchor Lloyd Robertson reacted strongly to the latest outburst of language debate nonsense during a visit at Kuper Academy in Kirkland on April 10. Robertson said a French-language lobby group's proposal to rid the province of English hospitals hearings was unbelievable."Read more

"Merchant resists OQLF inspector: Strudelgate?"

"The Pointe Claire merchant who famously started selling "Pasta Salad Marois" in the days following "Pastagate" is again rebelling.
An OQLF inspector visited Swiss Vienna Pastry and Delicatessen and owner Harry Schick asked the man to leave.
The inspector pointed to several violations to Quebec's language law, Bill 101, and asked to take pictures. Schick refused. The inspector left and, according to Schick, said that he will be back. Read more

I snapped this picture of a woman walking in NDG! - Filed under -"I do what I want!"

Following the  Habs on the road.....

There's nothing funny about last week's investigation into the Boston bombing...er....

Finally, some words of wisdom for the weekend;

 

"Have a great weekend!

Bonne Fin de Semaine!

SPECIAL POST: CAQ Drops Political Bomb on PQ and Its Language Law

Many were wondering what Francois Legault was up to when he refused to take Diane De Courcy's telephone call this week, in her effort to win the CAQ support for her language law, Bill 14.

Madame DeCourcy was hoping to compromise just a little, in order to get CAQ support, but instead was badly out-maneuvered by Legault who delivered instead, nothing short of a world of hurt.

Madame De Courcy needed the CAQ support to get the bill to the floor of the National Assembly and complained publicly that the CAQ was thwarting that effort. De Courcy foolishly followed a plan where Step 1 was to get the Bill to the floor and Step 2 was to get the Bill passed.

Had Legault refused his party's consent to debate the Bill, he and his party would have been cast as the bad guys, opposed to protecting the French language.

So Mr Legault's statement that the CAQ would support Bill 14 under certain circumstances was more of a case of the proverbial 'Greek bearing gifts' 
The hapless De Courcy had planned on fobbing off the CAQ with a couple of minor changes, but instead got socked in the face with a plethora of drop-dead demands that essentially guts the essence of Bill 14.
Well-played, Mr. Legault!

Nathalie Roy, the CAQ spokeswomen told a news conference that the CAQ now has more demands in addition to the three previous objections listed below;

1. Opposition to the clause that took away the right of those in the military and posted in Quebec from choosing the language of instruction for their children.
2. Opposition to the clause that would allow the government to remove the bilingual status of cities.
3. Opposition to coercive measures against small and medium businesses in regards to French.

Madame De Courcy must have been cringing as she listened to Roy slowly and painfully deliver the price that the PQ would have to pay for the CAQ's support. A cost so dear that clearly it is out of Madame De Courcy's price-range.

And so Madame Roy noted that the CAQ's

De Courcy badly out-played

demands had expanded after considering the objections put forward at the public hearings held by a National Assembly committee reviewing the proposed bill, over the last six weeks.

The first 'new' objection is the backdoor approach that Bill 14 provides to limit access for Francophones to English cegep.
English students would be given priority over Francophones with the latter only accepted after all the qualified anglophones were admitted, leading to the  incredible situation where Francophones having superior grades would be denied entrance.
In practice it would effectively bar all francophones from elite and popular programs. If the rule applied to universities, the McGill medical school would see the 50% francophone component completely eliminated in favour of Anglophones, a step forward according to hardliners!

The second objection is the aspect of the law that would allow the OQLF to proceed with charges against businesses without notice (mise-en-demeure) which according to Madame Roy makes no sense since 98% of cases are settled to the OQLF's satisfaction after a demand letter. Instituting legal procedures immediately is, according to her, unnecessary and draconian.
Then there is the CAQ's objection to OQLF officers having the power of seizure, that is the right to remove anything from the premises of a business establishment that inspectors find objectionable, language-wise, another measure considered by the CAQ as overly coercive.

The CAQ also objects to the change in terminology in Bill 14 that replaces "Ethnic Minorities" with the term "Cultural Communities"  because the second term has no legal definition while the first has clearly defined historic connotations.

Finally is the objection to the amendment of the Quebec Charter of Rights and Liberties to include the right to work and live in French, with the CAQ preferring to see such a clause included in an amended Bill 101.

MADAME ROY INDICATED WITHOUT MOVEMENT ON ALL THESE POINTS THE CAQ WOULD VOTE AGAINST THE LAW.

But the demands are more than the PQ can accept, that much is clear to Mr. Legault, Madame De Courcy and everyone else concerned.
The PQ has the unenviable choice of either withdrawing the Bill or have it go down to defeat in Parliament. They've been badly outplayed and must now make the proverbial choice between dying of strangulation or by the bullet.

The smart thing for them to do is to withdraw Bill 14 in a huff, telling supporters that in light of the position of the CAQ and the Liberals, only an independent Quebec or a majority PQ government can save the French language.

That would be the smart thing to do, but hey, who ever said the PQ was smart.