French vs. English Volume 90

Crime Commission back in session

After a summer recess, it was back to public hearings where more revelation were made, this time concerning fixed contracts in Gatineau.

 "An employee of AECOM (which bought out smaller firm Tecsult in the late 2000s) based in the Outaouais region, Gélinas told the inquiry that between 2003 and 2008, a system of collusion involving four major engineering firms was in place in Gatineau." Read more

"Earlier in the day, the inquiry heard how collusion among engineering firms in Quebec City was rampant in the latter half of the 2000s, with eight companies forming a cartel in 2004 and sharing in the profits when the federal government began pumping millions into infrastructure projects in the provincial capital.
According to former AECOM (Tecsult) executive Patrice Mathieu, getting the cartel up and running proved trickier than expected, and the firms were caught red-handed the first time they attempted to fix their bids.
In 2004, the city had launched a call for tender on a major project to install retention basins in the St-Charles river, Mathieu said, and a handful of companies held discussions in advance in an effort to avoid “a price war.” Read more

It seems that there is so much corruption to expose, that the commission has admitted that it cannot do it all in time allotted.

“We have said it before and it bears repeating: our mandate is vast, the period we must cover is long, and despite an extension of 18 months, the inquiry has a limited period of time to examine all of the things that are part of our mandate,” LeBel said.  Read more

Perhaps the commission should change tacks and assume everybody in the industry is crooked and invite the few honest ones to testify...that list would be short and sweet!

Hate Message

I've translated the hate message sent to the media by the perpetrators of pig's blood attack on a mosque in Chicoutimi.

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

MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS

You've settled here in our country in order to flee dictatorship, war, violence, hate and death, in order to live happily, in good health, sheltered from all you left behind. 

Why have you come to our country, if not to change from the type country you left behind?

- Leave behind your Hijab, Niqab, Burqa, Charia, etc.!
- Forget your primitive beliefs!
- Stop believing that you are permanently humiliated!
- Assimilate or go home!

STOP! IT'S ENOUGH 

THIS MOSQUE IS HEREBY BAPTIZED WITH FRESH QUEBEC PIG'S BLOOD! 

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

That was a pretty cogent message and some fine word processing skills that included four different fonts and three colours.
PLUS, no spelling mistakes, proper use of bullets,  excellent grammar and syntax. How many Quebecers could pull that off??
Clearly the writer has spent time researching the immigration situation in France, which the map included as background attests to.
The writer is definitely university-educated, familiar with writing papers and probably a woman.
I can't wait for the Power Point version!

But most of the lines in the message were lifted from other posts that I found online. 
Both the first and second paragraph can be found here HERE
But there is an even earlier version from Belgium  HERE

Now one of the interesting aspects to the story is the complete rejection in the French press, that the vandalizing of the Chicoutimi mosque was anything but the act of a deranged and troubled mind.

Richard Martineau takes up the defenses of the good name of Quebecers, providing statistics that backs up his claim that there are more incidents in Ontario, than Quebec. Link{fr}
But in another article in Le Devoir, the author points out that hate incidents are going up in Quebec, while down in the rest of Canada. Link{fr}

"This is not the mentality of the people of the region. This is an isolated and stupid act. I can not believe there are people who think like that. It only takes one or two stupid people perpetrate acts like this."- Jean Tremblay , Mayor of Saguenay

"Informed by the press that some members of the Muslim community are worried about the reaction to the proposed bill , Minister Stéphane Bédard Bédard explained that he considered it unlikely that violence stems  from the debates. "

But let us remember that in the case of Richard Bain, various public separatists, including Mario Beaulieu are holding the Anglo media responsible for Bain's radicalization because of the proliferation of so-called Quebec-bashing stories.
So the Anglo media is responsible in part for Bain, but the French media innocent of inspiring the hate-monger in Chicoutimi.
A case of arguing Black one day, white the other.

Here's  something from our comment section;

Dave SantiTuesday, September 3, 2013 at 1:23:00 AM EDT

According to some, the vandalism on Chicoutimi's Mosque was done by anti-charter advocates

@S_EFortin 17 h
Many signs lead us to believe that this vandalism is in fact anti-charter activism. Don't be fooled!

@ClaudeLanthier 16 h
@danielthibault The better question would be, are secularism opponents using this mosque incident?

@GrosseBite
Maybe it's frustrated Muslims who wanted to play the victim's card

@Zigzag
There is evidently no link between the charter and this incident

@Coupete450
It's only an isolated case and it shouldn't be made into a political story

@Drouin
Maybe they (the Muslims) did it (to?) themselves

self-de·lu·sion

[self-di-loo-zhuhn, self-]

the act or fact of deluding oneself

Maybe Richard Bain is secretly a separatist and committed his act as a pretend federalist to boost support for sovereignty.
Or maybe he's just deranged, considering Occam's razor.
At any rate......

"Three days after somebody poured pig blood on a mosque in the Saguenay -Lac -Saint- Jean, several members of the Muslim community attribute this event to the debate on the Charter of Quebec values, which would lead to a rise intolerance........

"A woman in our association was looking for a job recently and  met a director of day care which posted a position. When she showed up to the meeting with her headscarf  she was told that the job was no longer available.: "says Ahlem Belkheir , Vice President of Association of Algerian women.

She says Montreal is full of these kind of stories ever since the government of Pauline Marois made ​​the identity issue a priority.. Link{fr}

PQ solution to public daycare shortage - create a better waiting list.

The PQ minister of families was beaming with the news that she had a solution for parents unable to place their children in public $7 a day programs.

She is creating a spanking new universal waiting list so that parents don't have to place their bambino's name on the various individual waiting list held by each daycare. Link

PROGRESS!!!!

Now for the kicker, it will take up to a year for the creation of the list, which is about as complicated to create as writing an app.
If Apple Computer worked at the speed of this government in applying innovation, we'd still be using floppy disks.

Actually, I can't wait for the list to come out. We may find that there is a five-year wait for pre-kindergarten daycare!
The only question that will remain is when exactly you can place your name on the list, because if you have to wait until your child is born, it's too late!

Gaspé leading Canada in dependence.

There's fine article over Republique de bananes about Employment Insurance.

For every $100 of income revenue, the chart indicates how much came from the Ottawa's Employment Insurance program.
For every $100 earned by the citizens of the Gaspé Peninsula (which includes that paragon of gainful employment, Îles-de-la-Madeleine) $15.50 came from the unemployment program, while in all of Alberta that number is $1.50

If you read French, do the author the courtesy of reading the story HERE because it is deliciously biting and sarcastic.

Student suing Montreal police for harassment

Awhile back I told you that a student harassed by the Montreal police should sue the police over the unwarranted ticketing. It has come to pass!

"A university student facing $6,500 in fines for her actions during last year's student protest movement is filing a lawsuit against a Montreal police officer and the city of Montreal.
Katie Nelson, 21, claims she was subjected to repeated harassment by police officers while taking part in protests, singled out for fines and tickets even if in a crowd of people who were left alone.
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey has taken up her case on a pro-bono basis and will be asking for $24,000 in damages.

Katie Nelson says she has been subjected to harassment by Montreal police because she opposes tuition hikes (Aug. 9, 2013)

The suit reads, in part, "The high frequency and the systematic nature of these events make it statistically impossible for the source of these sanctions to be anything but political profiling or a personal vendetta." Read more

If this thing ever gets to court, it will be a slam dunk, because no judge will buy the police malarkey that they were justified in the targeted ticketing.
Courts defend their own territory and aren't particular fans of extra-judicial justice. Mr. Grey made it exceeding easy for the police to cave and settle out of court, I would have asked for a lot more. But he is taking on the case for free, so a trial would be a nuisance.
Since I've been on a hot streak with my predictions, let me tell you that this will be settled out of court in her favour with a gag order thrown in to avoid humiliation. The only thing the SPCUM lawyer will ask Miss Ms. Nelson is how she spells her name as they prepare her cheque, or if she'd like it in hundreds or fifties!

Alleged tomato sandwich attacker a no-show at Montreal court

Evelyn Samantha Donis facing charges in connection with a near-fatal tomato attack last fall was a no-show in court on Monday. Forty-eight-year-old Alex Montreuil was at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal for a CT scan, the day after the Quebec election-night shooting, when he alleges he was attacked with a tuna and tomato sandwich..... Link

The victim, complains that officials are not taking the case seriously. The crown took six months to lay charges and when it came to her court date, she didn't show up. The police said they wouldn't actively pursue her, which standard operating procedure.

It's not that the case isn't being taken seriously, it's just that EVERY case in Quebec is handled...badly and slowly.

Why aren't the police actively pursuing her? Because they don't pursue anybody over a relatively minor crime.
The police are just waiting for her to turn up and when they find her, she'll be arrested... maybe.
If she's caught in another province, Quebec police will have to send someone to collect her and when the case is relatively minor, they usually don't bother. After 10 years.......it's over.
But  Mr. Montreuil is doing the right thing by making a clamor, the police do react to bad publicity and this will clamor definitely bump up the file on the priority list.

Now let me tell you what an assistant director of the Montreal police told me concerning those who break out of jail.
The police stake out the escapees mother's house for a few days, (they always want to see mom.) The same for the girlfriend and last known associates.
After a few scant days, they give up unless the escapee is very dangerous or infamous. Odds are a snitch will rat him out or he'll be arrested in the commission of another crime before too long. Wonderful police work!

When I commented to my friend that it didn't sound like much of an effort, he retorted that it was unfair to say so, since the police put almost all the criminals in jail.
Whaaat?
How can that be? I reminded him that police only solve about 15% of crime and only about 2% on their own, the rest is snitches and confessions.
And so he explained that even though what I said true, almost all criminals commit lots of crimes and eventually even the low solve rate catches up with them.

Police logic.....

Weekend reading;

Bill 14: PQ government may allow language law to die
Judge slams City of Montreal for racist promoting practices, gives man $30 k

Have a great weekend!

Bonne fin de Semaine!

Quebec's Charter of Values Highlights Quebec Divide between Winners and Losers

PQ to citizens: Be afraid... be very afraid!

I often stand back and gape in wonder at the nonsense and stupidity that we witness each day in Quebec, but the bizarre situation where the unsuccessful and dull of this province are imposing their will upon the productive and talented, is perhaps the most galling.
It is not hard to understand, just a bit hard to swallow.

The PQ, in all its wisdom, has placed its selfish electoral interest ahead of the common good, launching a fear campaign, targeting their gullible base, mostly country rubes in the hinterland who can be easily frightened by the invented bogeyman that is ethnic Montreal.

It's a political manoeuvre used historically by evil and or incompetent governments to deflect attention from real world problems, problems that the offending government cannot overcome.
I'll let readers draw the comparisons.

By the way, if you think I'm exaggerating about the bogeyman (or as we say in French, Bonhomme Sept Heures)  let me tell you a story about a co-worker, an executive, who although based in Montreal, traveled the province supervising company locations. As it happens, he met a lady in Trois-Rivieres and swept her back to Montreal, where it turns out she was deathly afraid of going out, not because she was agoraphobic, but rather xenophobic.
The first time she saw a Hasid up close, she almost peed herself and so retreated to the Repentigny home they made, determined to avoid contact with the foreigners, at all costs.
My confrere was a bilingual Franco-Montrealer, someone who had lived his whole life amongst the ethnics and Anglos of Montreal and although true to his French culture, adopted bagels, sushi and middle Eastern and Asian food, just as we all do in the rest of the country.
I think you'll agree that his attitude is not a betrayal of his roots.

And so, when he related the story to me, I thought it an amusing anomaly, but alas as he explained, his wife's sentiment is the prevailing attitude in the boonies. It is of course, the classic fear of the unknown and trust me, Hasids, Muslims, Blacks, Sikhs, Oriental, etc. are truly unknown in Quebec's boonies, where some ridings are more than 95% White, Catholic francophones.
But ethnic Greater Montreal is the economic engine of the province, the Chinese of Brossard, the Greeks of Laval, the Jews of Hampstead and CSL, the Italians of St. Leonard and the multitude of diverse ethnic identities all contribute in concert with anglophones and francophones of the GMR (Greater Montreal Region)  to finance the caprice of the hayseeds in the ROQ.

There is a palpable Red/Blue divide in Quebec, much bigger than we could ever imagine.

It's hard to accept that the indolent hicks of the hinterland, like those of the Îles de la Madeleine, who work three months a year and spend nine months on federal government handouts, year after year, have five times the political influence than a citizen who lives in the Chomedy riding, who works and pays taxes, year after year.
In Chomedy it takes 50,000 electors to send one MNA to Quebec, while the professional chomeurs of the "Iles"  elect their very own MNA with just 10,000 registered voters, all the while whining that they want the Chomedians to send them more free money.
(By the way, if you don't know what a 'Hick' is, think of a HOME HARDWARE commercial)

It remains a truth that it is we in the Montreal area that produce the wealth that pays for their very survival, so pardon me if I'm not attuned to having their 'values' thrust upon me.

Too harsh?
Well frankly I'm tired of seeing English treated as a four-letter word on Quebec television, as if it is acceptable and normal to bash our language as dirty and threatening, where the goal of such attacks are a Chicken Little attempt to frighten francophones and engender hate.

I'm tired of being told that Anglophones aren't real Quebecers because French is the majority culture and that's all that counts.
I'm tired of hard working immigrants being told that they must embrace poutine and maple syrup and that speaking their native language in their own home is somehow disloyal to their generous host, who like to believe that they do the immigrants a big favour in affording them an opportunity to live here, conveniently forgetting that without immigrants Quebec would implode over time.
I'm tired of being called a colonizer instead of someone that builds a business, employs other Quebecers, creates wealth and pays taxes so that losers can sit on the rear ends, spending my tax money, bitching, complaining and telling me how to live.

It reminds me of the Bizzaro world of my comic book youth, where up is down and down is up.
In Quebec, the losers hold dominion over the successful.

"In the Bizarro world of "Htrae" ("Earth" spelled backwards), society is ruled by the Bizarro Code which states "Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!" In one episode, for example, a salesman is doing a brisk trade selling Bizarro bonds: "Guaranteed to lose money for you". Later, the mayor appoints Bizarro No. 1 to investigate a crime, "Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together". This is intended and taken as a great compliment.
Originally a normal planet, Htrae is now cube-shaped. This is due to the intervention of Superman, who - after being convicted of doing something perfect on Htrae, which would normally be a capital offense - pointed out that the planet was shaped like a normal spheroid and agreed to cube it if his sentence were commuted." -Wikipedia

The Quebec Charter of Values is nothing more than a Bizzaro world of upside down gobbledygook, representing the values and mindset of the losers of this province.

The reality is, that even progressive separatists of Montreal are uncomfortable with targeting people and are starting to take a stand against the very concept.

A sad consequence of this proposed law is that many Muslim women who have embraced French and gone to work at the license bureau, public daycare or in the hospital  will be forced to pick between their faith and their job.
These are the immigrants who have followed all the rules and done what was asked of them.
Many will choose their faith and perhaps end up on welfare or UI.
Is that progress, and is that the answer to Quebec's 'immigration' problem?

Less integration instead of more. More unemployment instead of less.
But for the hardline hicks who promote the Charter of Values, it may seem a fair price to pay for preserving the French culture and if there is a financial consequence, well..... there's always the Chomedians to pay for it.

Less than a last week after I predicted that the impact of a Charter of Values will be the legitimization of discrimination which will lead to violence and confrontation, it has begun.

"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."
Read: Quebec Charter of Secularism: A Rabbit Hole of Grief

I like when my predictions come true, but not in this case, the unintended but very predictable consequence of stupidity.

Here is the future;

"Police in Quebec’s Saguenay region have been called in after a local mosque was vandalized over the weekend — splattered with what could be pig blood.
Representatives of the area’s small Muslim community say they believe it to be an isolated incident, and Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay agrees.
Contacted by The Canadian Press Sunday, Tremblay said he was shocked by what he termed an “isolated and stupid” act of intolerance against a place of worship.
The mayor insisted that most local residents would also be appalled by the attack.
“That’s not the mentality people in the region have… All it takes is one or two stupid people for something like this to happen,” he said in an interview." Link

The story has already gone international; picked up by UPI. Link

Now before I get comments saying that these incidents happen everywhere, what the story doesn't mention is that a letter was left at the Mosque warning the Muslims to assimilate or go home.

This is our future.
When the government sends overt or even subtle signals that some citizens are not okay, it sets off in motion events that cannot be controlled.

Another prediction, the good people of Chicoutimi will be shocked, outraged and humiliated by the act of one racist.
They will make amends to the Muslim congregation, of that I am sure, but make no mistake, the vast majority of Saguenéens support the Charter of Values.
By the way, I'm pretty that the Muslim community isn't much of a threat in Chicoutimi, where over 98% of the 60,000 citizens are francophone de souche.

Tomorrow is the Jewish New Year, called Rosh Hashona.

I'm wondering if next year Mr. Drainville will forbid government MNAs and ministers from publishing ethnic New Years greetings in community newspapers because his new law will forbid the practice, while of course, preserving the patrimonial right to say Merry Christmas!

Ridiculous?...... Not in Bizzaro Quebec.

Charter of Quebec Values- Manufacturing Dissent

With all the sound and fury in the Press over the proposed Quebec Charter of Values, one might be led to believe that the issue is of paramount importance to Quebecers.
It isn't...
In a Leger poll conducted before the grand debate was launched by the Parti Quebecois, this is what preoccupied Quebecers;

Quebec Priorities

1. Control Government Spending........51%
2. Lower taxes and tariffs.....................44%
3. Fight Corruption................................43%
4. Job creation.......................................38%
5. Supply cheaper oil and gas..............24%
6. Supply end-of-life assistance...........22%
7. Fight social inequality.......................18%
8. Fight greenhouse emissions..............9%
9. Strengthen Bill 101..............................9%
10. Adopt a Quebec Charter of Values....7%
11. Sovereigntist governance..................3%
12. Non of the above................................ 1%

It's a bit sad to see the Parti Quebecois use this Charter of Secularism as a wedge issue manufactured to reap political rewards, by basically appealing to the lower nature of people.

Here is a translation of an article "Statistiques laïques" written by Jérôme Lussier 
for L'actualité  magazine.
If you read French, please do the author the courtesy of reading the original article by clicking on the link.

Some Interesting statistics on the Issue of the Day in Québec…

• Number of circumcisions performed for cultural or religious grounds in Quebec hospitals in the last five years : 0.

• Number of excisions and stonings in Hérouxville practiced during the century prior to the publishing of the Code of Conduct" in 2007, which prohibited stoning and female circumcision: 0. 

• Number of Canadian and Quebec laws currently in violation of the principles of neutrality and secularism of the state : 0.
   
• Number of Canadian and Quebec laws that currently allow attacks against men, women and children for cultural and religious reasons : 0.
   
• Item number of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982 ), which explicitly affirms and protects the equality of men and women in Canada : 15.
   
• Item number of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Quebec (1975), which explicitly affirms and protects the equality of men and women in Quebec: 10.
   
• Homicide and/or assaults forgiven by the courts of Quebec and Canada last year in deference to religious or cultural beliefs of the accused : 0.
   
• Number of judicial or administrative decisions made ​​under Sharia , the Talmud or the New Testament, in Quebec, in the past five years: 0 .
   
• Number of Bills of Islamic inspiration currently debated in the House of Commons or the National Assembly : 0.
   
• Number of Canadian and Quebec laws that currently discriminate against men, women and children, by applying religious principles : 0.

• Number of Quebec officials reprimanded in the past five years for having used their jobs and their religious symbols for the purpose of proselytizing : 0.  

• Number of users of public services in Quebec who have demonstrated over the past 10 years, that they had been under-served because of religious symbols worn by government officials : 0.

• Number of persons injured by a turban, a veil or a yarmulke at a sporting or cultural event held in Canada during the last 10 years : 0.
   
• Number of persons injured by a religious symbol worn in public in Quebec last year : 0.
   
• Number of people whose human rights were violated last year in response to requests for religious or cultural groups in Quebec : 0.
   
• Number of provinces that have seen fit to adopt a 'charter of secularism' to implant a secular government, or any "Charter values ​​" to implant their provincial values ​​: 0.
   
• Number of religions for which a beard is a religious symbol : 1 (minimum).
   
• Number of religions for which a wig is a religious symbol : 1 (minimum).
   
• Number of religions for which long hair is a religious symbol : 2 (minimum).
   
• Parti Québécois proposals on the procedure that will determine which employees may (or may not ) have a beard , wig and long hair ( in particular,)  why , and in what context : none.
   
• Rationale of the Parti Quebecois in linking the wearing of some religious symbols and incompetence or bias in the performance of official work : none.
   
• Percentage chance that the PQ Bill  on 'Quebec values'  is unconstitutional because it violates the fundamental freedoms protected by the Canadian Charter and/or the Quebec Charter : 100% .
   
• Nationality of Bachir Lazhar , aka 'Monsieur Lazhar' the last teacher character to have entertained us: Quebec Algerian. (Percentage of Muslims in Algeria : 99%. )
   
• Number of reasonable accommodations crises identified by commissioners Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor in 2008 , compared to a " media frenzy " and " erroneous or partial perception of practices found on the ground" : 0.
   
• Probability that the PQ without viable economic success or to assert its political project, has decided to conduct the next election on the backs of immigrants : high.

Manufacturing dissent..... that's what its all about.

It's hard to read the above and not laugh at the rank stupidity and naked manipulation of a government intent on creating division in order to survive.

The 'need' for a so-called Charter of Values is directly related to the immigration disaster that is also directly related to the government's ill-suited plan to bring in French speaking immigrants at all costs.

Doesn't anybody see the irony of each year, bringing in scads of orthodox Muslim immigrants with few skills and then complaining about orthodox Muslims immigrants with few skills.

It's like ordering takeout food, complaining about the poor quality and taste and then ordering the same meal from the same restaurant again and again, all the while chastising the restaurant owner.
DON'T COMPLAIN.....YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING.

The self-self-delusion is maddening and worse, shameful.

How can the PQ  tell us, and how can we accept with a straight face, that a crucifix is not a religious symbol if it is in the National Assembly or on top of Mount Royal, because it is actually a patrimonial item?

Under this rationale, perhaps the Jews can argue that a kippah isn't a religious symbol but merely a patrimonial heritage.
After all, Jews have been wearing kippahs in this province for over two hundred years, a lot longer than the crucifix in the National Assembly which was installed in 1936 and the Cross on Mount Royal which was installed in 1924.
The idiotic rationale of the crucifix not being a crucifix made by Bernard Drainville , actually makes me think of the game Twister.
Read: National Assembly’s crucifix is a Duplessis-era bond between politics and religion


Mr. Drainville and former PQ Premier Bernard Landry are both on a campaign to salvage Quebec's sinking reputation, demanding that politicians and journalists who oppose the potential law  'raise the debate' and refrain from calling the law and Quebecers themselves xenophobes and racists.
Good luck with that...
Read: PQ to Trudeau: don't compare us to American racists
Read; Bernard Landry blasts 'Quebec bashing' over secularism charter

These gentlemen should understand that the hackneyed theme of 'Quebec-bashing' plays only in paranoid Quebec.
At any rate, I must say I'm impressed with Mr. Landry's chutzpah in assuming that anyone in the federal government or in fact anyone at all in the ROC gives a rat's ass what he thinks or in any way will be influenced by his demand.

Both Drainville and Landry should practice defending Quebec's good name, because frankly, you ain't seen nothing yet.

The story of the kippah ban will be of particular interest to the American media, controlled influenced populated by many Jews.
The first time a big American newspaper or television or news magazine runs this story, it will be epic.....I promise.
Remember 60 Minutes?

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.