Quebec Charter of Secularism: A Rabbit Hole of Grief

When  I first crafted this fictional sign, it was a humorous jibe, but given recent events, it is more chilling than funny.

"The Parti Québécois's proposed charter of Quebec values, would see religious symbols such as turbans, kippas, hijabs and visible crucifixes banned for public employees. Doctors, teachers and public daycare workers would be covered by the legislation." Link

Like a food fight in the cafeteria or a riot after a hockey game, a lot of good people can get caught up in the moment and just because everyone around you is doing something foolish, doesn't make it right for you to follow.

So the PQ's proposed Charter of Secularism and the seemingly strong public support is understandable, when a government appeals to the dark side of human nature.
I can best sum up my take on all this with a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet;

"A countenance more in sorrow than in anger"

For those without a familiarity with Shakespearean English, a 'countenance' is a facial expression, and the phrase is a very descriptive way of saying that one views a situation more in sadness than anger.

To my mind, the draconian measures floated by the PQ government is but a trial balloon and when the government finally tables the legislation it will be considerably watered down.
But sadly, it seems that the CAQ and Liberals, looking at the polls, will cave in and the law will pass in a limited form. An Editor prediction.

An interesting aspect to the law is its application to the Jews, who have been wearing kippahs in Quebec for over two centuries, which somehow never presented a problem before. Considering the fact that the number of Jews in Quebec is shrinking fast, there can be no question of the 'kippah problem' exploding.

The reality is that the proposed law is clearly an anti-Muslim reaction and kippahs and even turbans were thrown into the mix in order to seem fair.
Islamophobia is the one and only reason for this law, the fear that Quebec is facing a Muslim invasion complete with Sharia law and religious fundamentalism and so turbans and kippahs are  just collateral damage.

In France, only face coverings are banned, but the leader of France’s far-right nationalist party, Marine Le Pen, is promoting a ban on Jewish kippahs as well as Muslim headscarves.

"However, by equating the need for a ban on the Jewish kippa (skullcap) to a ban on the Muslim veil in public Le Pen showed that in order to circumscribe the Muslim population she would be prepared to sacrifice the interest of Jews, even though the record of Jewish integration in France is totally at variance with what has happened with Islam.

Le Pen herself admitted this when she sought to clarify her remarks in an interview with Le Monde, where she first proposed suppressing the kippa in the public space. Speaking on TF1 television, the National Front leader said “the kippa does not pose a problem in our country” However, she called upon French Jewry to make “this little effort, the small sacrifice” to put everybody on an equal footing and rebut the charge that a ban on the veil represented Islamophobia." Link

 Ha! at least she is honest!

I recently took my mom to the emergency room where she was treated, among others, by a doctor wearing a small kippah. Was I offended?
What do you think?
My reaction...Ooooh, lucky us, a Jewish doctor!
There is an old French Canadian saying that says goes like this;
"He was so sick, he had to go to a Jewish doctor" I kid you not....

Actually few Jews in Quebec wear a kippah, other than in synagogue. I would venture to guess the number at under 5% (Hasids excluded.) I tried to get an accurate figure but nobody seems to know for sure and there is no information to be had.
At any rate, if the number is 5%, that means that 5% of Jewish doctors in Quebec would be targeted by the law and one thing I do know for sure, is that there are a lot of Jewish doctors in Quebec, Montreal in particular.

Could you imagine the disastrous effect if just one kippa, turban or hijab wearing family doctor packs and moves, stranding thousands of patients, telling them that it's just tough noogies that there is nobody to replace him or her?
Then imagine a dozen or a hundred!!

Quebec is used to passing stupid laws and imposing ridiculous taxes because the vast majority are stuck here because of language or economics.
Those doctors wearing religious symbols are not likely to give up on their faith based on a government edict, considering they have options, like the 401 or the I-95.

“Dr. Sanjeet Singh Saluja wears a turban as part of his faith and he said Wednesday that the PQ’s controversial “Charter of Quebec Values” would drive people from the Sikh, Jewish and Muslim communities away.
“The sad thing is I don’t know if I’d be able to stay here in Quebec,” said Saluja, an emergency-room doctor with the McGill University Health Centre.“Even though I love my practice here in Quebec, my faith is something that’s important to me and I don’t feel comfortable giving up that part of my persona and I don’t think a lot of people would be willing to, either.” Read: Doctor warns Quebec: You’ll lose us with headwear ban

So readers, before I go on, let me make another Editor's prediction that the law will not apply to doctors EVER, because whenever faced with the reality of hard pushback in reaction to one of their restrictive laws, the government caves. (Think of the language exemptions afforded multinationals in regards to Bill 101.)

Now to the hysteria...
Just because a majority of citizens want something, doesn't make it right, the ban is wrong for one specific reason...the consequences.
When governments legislate they must always look at the ramifications and sometimes good ideas (I'm not saying the proposed law is one) lead to bad outcomes.
Let me give you a small example, the movement by some granolas to ban water bottles from being sold in public buildings because it is wasteful and bad for the environment.
To these do-gooders everybody would be lining up at the water fountain, when in reality it would lead to a spike in Coke and Pepsi sales.
There are always unintended consequences to legislation, even well-intentioned and meaningful.

While the religious regalia ban law would apply only to specific areas, there's no doubt it would spill over everywhere.
Before long  bus drivers will refuse to board a person wearing a hijab or sari, or a metro agent will refuse to speak with anyone wearing a turban or kippah, that's the way things escalate.
It is inevitable.
Just today, the town of Huntington refused Muslims permission to open a cemetery, with one councillor stating that the town didn't want 'these people' around town. The mayor, controversial Stéphane Gendron, disgusted by the council's decision, said he will  not seek re-election;

"This is the result of gross ignorance and institutionalized racism, which the current PQ in power fuel an idiotic debate on values​​," Link{fr}   Link

Yup, that's where we're going.
But politicians don't understand or worse care and opening a Pandora's Box, where the evil of intolerance will be unleashed, is a trifling affair in comparison to vote-getting.

The bad thing about a food fight or riot, is that there are no innocent bystanders, if you're in the middle of one or the other, you're going to get an egg salad sandwich in the face or trampled by the mob.
Consequences...

Immigration...Between a Rock and a French Place

It's a little sad watching the predicament that Quebec has gotten itself into over immigration, a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation, where making French the number one criterion for eligibility, leaves a less than stellar pool of entrants, considering that 95% of the world doesn't speak any French.

 Aside from France, (for some reason, few immigrate to Quebec from Belgium or Switzerland) those countries where citizens speak enough French to qualify for consideration, are either basket cases (e.g Haiti, Congo) or banana republics, with a pedigree of eighth century religious fundamentalism and matching skills set (e.g. Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon) where the potential immigrants despite speaking some French, have so little in common with western civilization that integrating them into society is a daunting task.

By the way, with all the problems going on in France, you'd think that potential candidates would be flooding the Quebec immigration office in Paris, but in truth, more immigrants arrive annually from Morocco and Algeria, than France.
Part of the problem is the supposed discrimination the French face in Quebec, seen by locals as haughty and snooty. Read this scathing critique of Quebec, warning Frenchman to avoid immigrating to this province in no uncertain terms.

French Immigrants to Quebec are scammed

"Wanting to leave France is understandable. The trick is knowing where to put down one's luggage in order not to end up in a worse place, and avoid making the same mistake that so many others have already made"...
...Anti-French racism exists in Quebec, but not in the other provinces. Why? Because Quebecers often consider French as arrogant, conceited, and lecturing, which is not always true. That said, the French who have settled in Quebec usually consider Quebecers ignorant, shallow and ultra-materialist, which isn't wrong either.

The reality:
"Medical errors kill more than 2,000 people each year in Quebec, the equivalent of five Boeing 747 crashes"
"In Quebec, 14% of children aged 12 have already thought about committing suicide and 6% had previously attempted suicide '
"Quebec has crossed last year's mark of 80,000 births, but nearly 70,000 children each year are found in serious trouble"
"Patients die for lack of space in the ICU"
"Every day in Quebec, five people commit suicide and 250 others try
"Young men in Quebec recorded the highest suicide rate in the world" (31 suicides per 100,000 people)
"The results of a Santé Québec survey shows that for each 100,000 Quebecers , 850 said they had attempted suicide during the year. This corresponds to more than 40,000 individuals "
"Mental disorders such as phobias, anxiety and depression are on the increase in Montreal and nearly one in five suffers daily"
"Dr. Pierre Audet-Lapointe and Nicole Magnan, asked the Quebec government to hold a public debate in parliamentary commission of inquiry on the alarming state of the fight against cancer in Quebec"
"In Quebec, the percentage of gambling addicts is 5%. This is the highest rate in Canada and probably the highest rate in all the Western world "
"42% of Quebecers believe that suicide is an acceptable gesture"
The Canadian Suicide Average: 9 suicides per 100 000 inhabitants. Quebec, 20 suicides per 100,000"
Ratio of physicians per 100,000 people: Montreal = 120, = 144 Toronto, Vancouver = 172" 

Read the original article which includes citations Link{fr}

Not exactly a ringing endorsement!

Paradoxically, the more successful immigrants that have arrived to Quebec recently are those who have aligned themselves with the English community including the Tamils from Sri Lanka, the Chinese and the Filipinos, just to name a few.

On immigration, the PQ government finds itself decidedly between a rock and a French place.
Simply put, the better immigrants, those who find work and adapt, are doing so on the English side of the language equation, an outrageous and intolerable situation if you are a member of the PQ.

And so the PQ  proposes to fix this language 'problem' by bringing in more immigrants from the first pool of French speakers and cutting down on those ''other' immigrants who are more likely to succeed.

It's a plan
.................for idiots.

First let's look at the immigration disaster that we are enduring today, even before speculating on the impact of the new PQ policy  increasing immigrants from Pool "F" and reducing Pool "E"

I don't want to bore you with too many facts and figures, suffice to say that across Canada (except in Quebec) immigrants are being integrated into the workforce at a commendable rate.
In the Maritimes, they actually outperform locals in the job market!
But in Quebec, the unemployment rate for immigrants is about 77% higher than for locals, a shocking and bewildering percentage.

I cannot remember where I got these figures, probably antagnoiste.net and so I wish to give credit where credit is do...

So to all those detractors who will jump on me for bringing up these uncomfortable facts, my question to them is this....Why?
Why does Quebec do such a horrific job in getting immigrants into the work force?
There can be but a few reasons.
Either the immigrants are of an inferior quality compared to those selected by other Canadian provinces, or the province of Quebec doesn't do as good a job in integrating them into the workforce. Or perhaps Quebec immigrants face a level of employer discrimination, superior to that of other provinces.
So which is it.....Door number One, Two or Three, or in fact some combination of all three?
I think you'd agree that none of these reasons are particularly flattering to Quebec.

Delving into the figures further, its important to understand who exactly is unemployed among the immigrants and like I said, it's not the immigrants aligned on the English side of the language equation.
For immigrants from the Maghreb, (Muslims from North Africa,) the unemployment  rate is an astonishing 30%, followed by those from French Black Africa at 20% and the Haitians at 17%.

As for the unemployment rate for those immigrants aligned on the English side, no figures are provided, so I put on my fancy ciphering cap (As Jed Clampett would call it) and did a few calculations on a spreadsheet.
It isn't that complicated.
If you know the unemployment rate and number of a subset of the immigrant population, as well as the total number and unemployment rate of the whole group, you can easily calculate the unemployment rate of the other.

Simply put, I calculated the unemployment rate of immigrants excluding those from Morocco, Algeria, Haiti, Lebanon, Cameroon and Egypt, who collectively have an unemployment rate of about 25%.
The data comes from Immigration Quebec and the unemployment rate from various news sources.

According to my calculations, the unemployment rate for immigrants not from the above countries, works out to around 6 percent, an astounding number.
Now that number may not be entirely accurate, but even with a margin of error set at 25%, the figure would not be  higher than 7.5%.
But it can actually be lower as well. The data set I used was incomplete and this other 6% group could further be broken down if more data was provided.

Again to be clear, removing from the calculation, immigrants from those countries listed above, the unemployment rate for the rest of the immigrant population is around 6%. Wow!

But all of this is small potatoes to the PQ, of no matter or import.
Closing the French/English gap trumps all and so, the PQ government is willing to sacrifice the economic and social well-being of the province by increasing the number of unproductive French-speaking immigrants accepted from those countries with low success rates, just to increase the French demographics.

It's a familiar PQ strategy, that when a plan or a program falls apart, the response is to increase the government's commitment, as if more money will make it better, just like the decision to increase funding for wind-generated energy, a proven loser and money pit.

OK  readers,.....it's a Einstein quote filled post....I could do worse!

And so here we are, the PQ government repeating and actually accelerating the error of a foolish immigration policy, a desperate attempt to change the language equation at the expense of social and economic cohesion.

Now before I sign off, I want readers to understand that this isn't an anti-Muslim screed. If 30% of the Maghrebians are unemployed, it means that 70% are and doing their best.
The problem is that there are just too many admitted from these countries without real skills, their acceptance based only on language.
According to statistics from the Quebec immigration department, about half of immigrants have no discernible skills.
Don't blame those who are accepted, it isn't really their fault for their failure to adapt and as for assimilation, no law, Charter of Whatever is going to change their faith.
That experiment in France hasn't exactly been a booming success.

Quebecers have a right to question and fear the policy of bringing in so many ill-suited immigrants, the European experiment is frightening and bodes poorly for the future.

But what else can the PQ do to make sure that immigrants assimilate to the French side of the language equation?
Actually they can do a lot.
The government can succeed in bringing in a more productive pool of immigrants and they can have them assimilate into the majority language and culture, if they change course.

It's time to think outside the box and I'll tell you in my next post how they can change the disastrous immigration dynamic, in other words, have their cake and eat it too.

Brooklyn versus Montreal

Readers, I'm going to take the weekend to get into this whole issue of religion, immigration and the proposed Charter of Quebec values.
Hopefully I'll have a post Monday or Tuesday. It a weighty subject so I'll take my time.

In the meantime, something light for the weekend.  I hope you will indulge me.

A couple of years  back I wrote a subjective post comparing Montreal to Toronto and it remains a popular piece, receiving dozens of visits per week.
I wrote it based on livability and as to which city was a better place to raise a family.

It was of course highly subjective, but I remain convinced that Montreal remains a better city to live in than Toronto, with a couple of caveats, the first and most important, that you already have a good job, because Toronto, if nothing else, is the city of opportunity.

But for those well-established in Montreal, I stand by my analysis even though it is already starting to be a bit dated, written almost four years ago.
Read  Why Montreal is Better than Toronto

There is of course no doubt that my opinion is tinged with a home-team advantage, but I do try to be as fair as I can.

As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time in Brooklyn, New York, for family reasons and have come to appreciate the borough as a pseudo second home.
Although I spend less than thirty days a year there, the time is busily spent, as my wife and I cram in as much living as we can in the time we are there, walking the streets of mid-town Manhattan, exploring our neighbourhood Downtown Brooklyn, where our hotel is located and spending time in Park Slope, (that's where my grandchildren live) supposedly one of Americas best urban neighbourhoods and one of the most obscenely expensive.

In Montreal, I rarely go downtown, living in my west-end cottage with a backyard swimming pool. My wife and I are decidedly homebodies, living the suburban life even though we are in the city.

But when we go to New York, it is a travelling adventure, each day crammed with miles of walking.

I haven't been on the Metro in Montreal in years, but use the subway system in New York on every trip even though I arrive by car.
The same goes for taking advantage of Mount-Royal park, where embarrassingly, I haven't visited in many years as well. On the flip side, I've taken my four-year old grandchild to Prospect Park on too many occasions to  remember.

It occurs to me that  Brooklyn, (one of the five New York boroughs) is just about the same size and same population of Montreal, so it's interesting to compare the two.
Now the first thing to understand is that Brooklyn is a bedroom community, with many citizens working or studying in Manhattan.
There is really no 'downtown' and there are but a handful of tall office buildings. In fact the tallest buildings are condos, and I counted three going up around my hotel, all over 50 stories.

But Brooklyn does resemble Montreal somewhat, at least the Plateau Mont-Royal district, giving off the same trendy, young vibe that can best be described as urban chic.

The Front Steps of Two Cities

"Having just put my feet down in Montreal, one major element that stands out everywhere are the stairs. Walking down many residential streets, the open metal stairs leading to the front doors tell you you're in Montreal for sure. But they also, quite unexpectedly, remind me of another place...

The front steps of Brooklyn brownstones aren't open and sinewy like the metal steps of many Montreal residences. They're big and beefy, made of heavy masonry. But look at the repetition, the bays in between, and that inviting feeling emanating from both cities' steps. When it comes to the stairs, I feel like these two great cities are kind of like cousins."

 Credit: Go to; Apartment Therapy

Statistically, Brooklyn and Montreal line up closely, Brooklyn measuring 183 square kilometres versus Montreal's 192. As for population Brooklyn is bigger, boasting 2.5 million citizens, versus Montreal Island's 1.8 million.
But during the day commuters leave Brooklyn for Manhattan while the opposite effect occurs in Montreal where commuters from the surrounding suburbs, enter Montreal by day to work.
In fact one Montreal bridge, The Victoria, runs in one direction into Montreal in the morning and vice-versa at night.
The Champlain bridge uses a reserved bus lane with the same criteria.

So even on the population front, things are actually comparable.
Now you won't find many large cottages and bungalows on large lots as seen in West Island towns in Montreal, they just don't exist in any number.
It's brownstones, row houses, apartments and condos that are the order of the day and neighbourhoods are usually teeming with a wide collection of each.

Typically, housing costs are at least double the price in Montreal and in better neighbourhoods prices are even higher.
Certain parts of Brooklyn are gentrifying rapidly and there, housing prices are skyrocketing, like in the Plateau, multiplied by an nth factor.

But Brooklyn is also is home to some pretty crappy and dangerous neighbourhoods, so it is a case of choosing where to live.
Like Montreal where living in Montreal North is no thrill, it is a question of economics and where you live depends on how much you can spend.

Brooklyn and Montreal share some other interesting similarities, some nothing to be proud about.
25% of Brooklynites and Montrealers do not have a primary care physician and while 25% of Brooklynites live below the poverty line, so too, do 29% of Montrealers.
As for health care, it is rationed in both cities, in Brooklyn based on the ability to pay and in Montreal based on restricted access.
Purely a subjective observation, Brooklynites outweigh Montrealers (and Manhattanites,) considerably,  I guess its all that pizza that Brooklyn is famous for!

Weather
No doubt about it, Brooklyn weather (and just about any American City except those in Alaska) have Montreal's beat hands down.
The big difference is in the winter where even in January the average Brooklyn temperature is above freezing. 

 There's a huge average 6 degree Celsius  difference between Brooklyn and Montreal and it means that summer is about a month and a half longer and that winter, unlike in Montreal is a passing fancy.
Summer is still blazing on in Brooklyn in September and that's not hard to take!

So on the weather scale Brooklyn wins hands down...

Public Transportation.
Again Brooklyn wins.
The New York City subway system is the largest in the world. More importantly, it serves urban neighbourhoods, so transfers to buses are usually not needed. On my last trip, I walked four blocks from my grand children's home and took one train all the way to Coney Island in about half an hour.

Another advantage is express trains. From my hotel in downtown Brooklyn, an express train (stopping about every five stops) whisked me to midtown, Lexington and 59th (Can anybody guess what's there?) in under half an hour.
Another advantage is that the trains are air-conditioned, but alas it makes the underground platform stifling hot, as the transformed hot air from the trains is pumped out into the stations. Last time I waited for the 4 train in midtown Manhattan, it must have been over 40 degrees on the platform.
By the way, the New York subway system pumps so much heat into the ground, that  flowers and trees bloom earlier in Spring and lose their foliage later in the Fall.

Parks and Recreation

Both cities have a magnificent urban oasis smack dab in the middle of the city.
Mont-Royal (692 acres) and  Prospect Park in Brooklyn (585-acre) are both treasures where city-dwellers can escape the concrete jungle.
Mont-Royal is the prettier of the two because it lies on a mountain and is used more for nature walks, hiking, bird-watching, biking and picnicking. Both have an artificial lake
Prospect Park is more heavily used and is perhaps more accessible, jutting up against urban neighborhoods on all sides. Unlike pristine Mont-Royal, Prospect includes a kiddies zoo, many baseball fields, a tennis centre and running track.
In the summer, concerts are held at a band shell, some free, some for pay. I strolled through the park to catch a few minutes of one show, which while gratis, was actually not worth the price of admission.
But what the heck, the beer, wine and fast food under the stars clouds, makes for a wonderful summer evening.


Sports

Brooklyn has two of it's very own sports teams, the Brooklyn Nets and the soon to be moved New York Islanders.
But it's only a half an hour subway ride to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan and about 50 minutes to Citi Field or Yankee Stadium for major league baseball..

I attended a Basketball game at Brooklyn's brand new ultra-modern Barclays Centre and was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere.
Management has made it a priority to make it a family venue, patrons are warned through a series of ongoing announcements via the big screen that inappropriate dress, loud swearing and boisterous behaviour is not tolerated.
There are no national fast food concessions in the building, food kiosks are all local Brooklyn favourites, a step above and yes, there is even a Kosher Deli.
A great experience.

Shopping

You wouldn't have guessed it but Brooklynites are the epitome of shop local, as most don't have cars and hauling groceries from afar on the subway, an onerous task.
Each neighbourhood is teeming with local stores, including small food stores that serve local needs.
There are no big shopping malls as we find in Montreal, the one centre that I visited, taking my grandchild to Chuckie Cheese (an amusement centre for kids)  was the Atlantic Terminal which boasted a Target and a Pathmark supermarket, one of the few large grocery stores.
By the way, my great uncle actually founded the parent company of Pathmark, but this was my first time visiting one. It was nothing special.
The rest of the mall was pretty crappy and that's being generous.

Interestingly, there is a movement to keep Walmart out of Brooklyn because of it's poor reputation as an employer. Yup, believe it or not,  there are no Walmarts in New York City!
At the other end of the scale is Costco, a company that is renowned for good wages and benefits. I am a Costcoholic and found one in Brooklyn that boasts two floors.
How does it compare to the Costco in Montreal? ....Much more selection, but the prices are just about the same.
There's talk of Whole Foods putting up a large store, complete with a rooftop greenhouse, meant to satisfy Brooklyn locavores.
It may sound exotic but I also heard that the same type rooftop greenhouse project is going up in Laval, probably more to do with winter than anything else.
At any rate, Brooklyn shopping cannot compare to Montreal, with our massive malls and impressive downtown corps of shops.

Neighbourhoods

Like all cities, Brooklyn has the good the bad and the ugly and I can't say I'm familiar with all. Brooklyn, like Montreal is big and there are no generalizations to be made.

There are some very expensive neighbourhoods including Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, DUMBO and the one neighbourhood that I am most familiar with, Park Slope.
You know you are in Park Slope by the thousand dollar baby strollers being pushed by thirty-something dads in rumpled khaki cargo shorts wearing pastel Polo shirts.
Its a neighbourhood where a nice brownstone can fetch two million dollars plus and where the average income is over $100,000.
It's a Yuppie type of place where organic depanneurs boast 'hormone free chicken wings' and 'biomass charcoals' (whatever that is)

"Park Slope is considered one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods. In 2010, it was ranked number 1 in New York by New York magazine citing its quality public schools, dining, nightlife, shopping, access to public transit, green space, safety, and creative capital, among other aspects.

It was named one of the "Greatest Neighborhoods in America" by the American Planning Association in 2007, "for its architectural and historical features and its diverse mix of residents and businesses, all of which are supported and preserved by its active and involved citizenry" Wikipedia

But Park slope is so trendy, that it's the neighbourhood everyone else loves to hate.
Read this hilarious send-up. Park Slope: Where Is the Love?

But there's one thing that bothers me about Brooklyn, the endless graffiti that seems to infect all but a few neighbourhoods.
And the endless line of dingy shwarma or Hot dog carts that line the major streets, where you couldn't pay me to eat a morsel.  How New Yorkers eat that crap is beyond me.

Here's some other selective comparisons;

• Both cities have excellent restaurants and prices are comparable.
• Roads conditions and traffic also comparable, but both generally stink.
• Both cities enjoy a different but equal joie de vivre.
• Drivers suck in both towns, but Brooklyn drivers are worse.
• I would rate the general rudeness and helpfulness scale as equal. Nothing to boast about neither here nor there.

Which is a better city to live in? I'd have to say that the liveabilty index is equal, except for the outragous cost of housing in Brooklyn.

So as for my final assessment of which city is better, I'll use an old gambling term.... pick em.

By the way, my biggest fear is that my grandson will learn the Brooklynese of Vinne Barbarino, he has already asked my wife why she talks funny.
How about the Welcome Back Kotter  theme song

All I can respond to that is with that great Brooklynese phrase,...... 'fugheddaboudit! '

Quebec's Proposed Charter of Hate

Bernard Drainville -Religious intolerance personified

It isn't a new manoeuvre, governments in trouble have for centuries used the strategy of targeting minority groups as a scapegoat to deflect attention and responsibility for running an incompetent or racist state.

"QMI Agency has learned the Parti Quebecois government plans to amend the Quebec charter of rights and freedoms and ban most religious signs and symbols from public institutions such as daycare centres, public schools, hospitals, clinics, and other government buildings.
Visible crosses, yarmulkes, hijabs, niqabs, burkas and turbans would all be banned.
According to sources close to the government, all health workers, public school teachers and public daycare workers would have to leave their religious symbols at home when they go to work." Read the rest of the story

And so the PQ is going down that very same road, hoping to save themselves at the expense of some of its most vulnerable citizens.
The first part of the plan has already borne fruit, that is convincing the public that there is a problem, one that needs fixing.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.-  H.L. Mencken

 Sadly, when governments promote fear and hate, they find a receptive audience, such is the frailty of our human nature to blame others for our personal or societal problems, real or imagined.

Mr. Drainville, the chief PQ architect of the Charter, tells us proudly that he is exercising the will of the people.
It isn't surprising that a majority of Quebecers actually support this new Charter of Hate, they have given in to the ignorance and fear, egged on by selfish, manipulative fools who don't understand the evil they will unleash.

This has always been the PQ's specialty, frightening the public with horror stories and claims of impending doom. But in targeting minorities, Drainville has channelled the xenophobic nature of Quebec's insular and exclusive society, where the only immigrants that are to be tolerated are ones that don't speak English, act too foreign or religious.

The real problem with the Charter of Hate is that it serves as a blueprint for all of society, not just the interaction in hospitals, schools and government.

The PQ government's message is clear, it opposes all things religious, and the logical result is that this attitude will spill over into the private sector where religious intolerance will become acceptable.

Long ago I recounted an incident that I witnessed in Canadian Tire in St. Laurent, where a seventy-something francophone woman decided to browbeat a teenage cashier for wearing the Hijab.
She told the young lady in no uncertain terms, who was actually quite stylishly dressed, that she was a disgrace, a religious slave and a fool, unable to think for herself.
The poor girl was brought to tears and the manager had to come out and replace her.

This readers, is our future, that type of incident will multiply and spread as the people are encouraged by the government to hate.

Yet on an interestingly note, the law is already designed with enough loopholes to sail a crucifix through, all in a cynical effort to protect Christian signs, symbols and patrimony.
As for the Jewish General Hospital, the PQ has promised an exemption. The question is, why?

The answer is simple, the Charter of Hate is aimed at but one group, Muslims, a minority group that is roundly feared and despised by xenophobic Quebecers, who are collectively afraid that they will be over-run in the long term..
Including all religions in the Charter of Hate, is just window dressing, that is why there will be exemptions for Jews and Christians..

It's all too transparent, a faltering government targeting its least popular element, to deflect attention and somehow win a reprieve.
It remains to be seen who in the National Assembly will actually stand up and salute this monstrous assault on personal freedom.
I'm not confident.

And so gentle readers, whether you are for or against the principle of removing religious symbols from 'public' life in Quebec, understand that the consequences goes far beyond that of removing a hijab at the license bureau or a kippah in the hospital.

We've seen it with Bill 101 where citizens are assaulted by other citizens for speaking English, why should this be different?


P.S.
If religious regalia is to be banned in public institutions, how about political messages?

Or union messages, here the Montreal police union have added a  message on the backs of their vests complaining about their three day week  being taken away.

Should people be banned from wearing a Rainbow, Lady Gaga, or Justin Beiber T-shirts to cegep?

Just what is offensive... that is the question.

I imagine the day that this t-shirt will also become illegal in Quebec, promoting unhealthy attitudes.... IT CAN HAPPEN!

For those who have French, here's an interesting take written by Charles Taylor in the Journal de Montreal  absolutely  pillorying the potential law, entitled :  Charles Taylor fait un parallèle avec la Russie de Vladimir Poutine 
Mr Taylor savages the PQ government, comparing it to that of Vladimir Putin, who recently enacted anti-gay legislation in Russia.

Of particular interest are the comment s under the story.

Couillard Too Smart to Fall for Pauline's Infantile Trap

"QUEBEC — Pauline Marois opened the door Sunday to Philippe Couillard entering the National Assembly.
During the Gay Pride Parade in Montreal, the premier invited the Liberal leader to run in a by-election in Viau riding, which became vacant with the recent departure of Liberal MNA Emmanuel Dubourg.
Marois said that she would not present a PQ candidate against Couillard in the by-election.
Couillard has already indicated that he is not interested in running in Viau, which covers the Saint-Michel district of Montreal. The Liberal leader instead is looking to run in Roberval, in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, in the next general election. Link

I usually agree with much of what Robert Libman has to say when it comes to politics, but not when he suggested in an interview that Liberal leader Philippe Couillard should jump at the chance to run in a by-election, made necessary by the departure of the Liberal MNA Emmanuel Dubourg, who is making the jump to federal politics for Justin Trudeau's Liberals, in the vacant and very safe seat that Denis Coderre vacated in Montreal, in order to seek the mayoralty of Montreal.

And so when Pauline offered to let Couillard run unopposed, it wasn't much of a gift considering that Viau is a Liberal party stronghold, one which has sent a Liberal to Quebec for as long as I can remember.

Actually Couillard is doing just fine on the sidelines and that is what is bothering Pauline so much, she'd like to get him into the National Assembly and rough him up a bit, perhaps taking the shine off the apple.

Coullard scoffed at the infantile offer, because when he does get into the National Assembly it will come at a cost of a sitting PQ MNA, one Denis Trottier, a backbencher whose only claim to fame is that he serves as a fart-catcher for the dumbass Minister of Natural Resources, Martine Ouellet.

As it stands now, Pauline and the PQ are imploding and sometimes doing nothing and letting your opponent self-district is the smartest thing to do.

But Couillard is doing a lot more than just watching.

He is charting a new course, betting on the fact that there are enough Quebecers tired of the separatist debate and tired of hearing that the French language is about to disappear, confident that a new debate, one based on prosperity is one that will resonate with voters.

And so he is unequivocal and very presidential.
He isn't vacillating like his predecessors nor is he spouting the  rhetoric of oppressed. He told us that the Liberals will oppose Bill 14 on principle and are not interested in compromise. He has told Quebecers that they shouldn't be frightened by the scare tactics of the PQ that lie that French is going down the drain and his message from the sidelines has resonated with enough voters and scared the crap out of the PQ,

This Fall, the disastrous decision to support more wind power generation will hit the PQ like a ton of bricks.
Notwithstanding that it was the Liberals that introduced the disastrous policy, Pauline has embraced the idea at a time when Quebecers are waking up to the expensive white elephant that will be paid for by a large Hydro-Quebec rate increase.

Pauline will find herself firmly ensconced between the proverbial rock and a hard place (entre l'arbre et l'écorce) where she dare not backpedal on the issue once more.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't... Even the skillful Pauline can't wiggle  out of this predicament.

For Phillippe Couillard it must be like those running against Anthony Weiner in the mayoralty race in New York City.
Best to stand back and watch the meltdown..

Pauline's offer to let Couillard run unopposed in Viau is a desperate and transparent attempt to change the political dynamic, but for Couillard, handing Marois a life jacket while her ship is sinking, is just not in the plan.