French versus English Volume 100

Quebec’s getting more equalization money from Ottawa next year.

Attention Mario Beaulieu !... Add this to your Quebec-bashing report!

"According to federal finance ministry numbers posted online Tuesday, Ontario will receive just under $2 billion from the feds in 2014-15, down from $3.2 billion this year.
Quebec will see its piece of the equalization pie rise to $9.3 billion next year from $7.8 billion in 2013-14.
Equalization payments go to so-called "have not" provinces to ensure that Canadians get access to comparable level of services regardless of where they live in the country.
The Stephen Harper government was not pleased when Ontario, the most populous province in the country, became eligible for equalization payments for the first time in 2009-10.
Quebec's equalization payment next year will be larger than its Canada Health Transfer or its Canada Social Transfer.
Other provinces in line for the payouts are P.E.I. at $360 million, Nova Scotia at $1.6 billion, New Brunswick at $1.7 billion and Manitoba at $1.8 billion.
The remaining provinces are not eligible for equalization." Read more at Sun News

Here are two predictions  cocerning this piece of news;
The Quebec government will not say 'Thank-you, Canada' and
defenders of the Quebec model will remind Canadians that per capita, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI, get more equalization money than Quebec.

Now I'd like to make a point about these transfers from the federal government and Quebec's hypocritical position.

Last Spring, Nicolas Marceau, Quebec's finance minister dredged up the old complaint of the so-called 'fiscal imbalance,' whereby it is claimed that Ottawa takes out too high a proportion of taxes and leaves the provinces (read;Quebec) scrambling to pick up the crumbs.

 "Quebec fears Ottawa is trying to balance its budget on its back and plunge both levels of government in fiscal imbalance....." 
....Mr. Marceau believes that there is a disproportion between the tax revenue of each level of government and services to the population for which it is responsible. "The unilateral decisions taken by the federal government lead us to believe that Ottawa wants to clean up its finances on the backs of the provinces," mentioned the Quebec minister. Link

A decade ago, Quebec was so concerned about the 'problem' that it created a commission to study the so-called 'fiscal imbalance."
Its conclusion was not surprising;

"This situation can be summed up fairly easily: the federal government occupies too must tax room compared to its responsibilities." Link

But what everyone fails to understand is that the fiscal imbalance (if it exists) FAVOURS QUEBEC!!!
Let me explain;
Every time Ottawa takes taxes out of the provinces, it returns the money disproportionately, with Quebec the largest benificiary.

Let's take the equalization program as an example.
The federal government collects $17 billion in taxes across Canada to fund the program. Quebec contributes around 18% of that total, or $3 billion, but takes out 55% or $9.3 billion.
The same goes for programs like Employment Insurance, where Quebec also gets back more than it pays in, by about $1 billion as well.
By the way, Quebec then stupidly complains that the feds are unfairly skimming the surplus from the EI fund, when in fact, any amounts of money they do skim, is returned to Quebec disproportionatly!

It's simple, the more Ottawa taxes all of Canada, the better Quebec makes out, it isn't rocket science.
Quebec contributes about 18% of federal taxes, but receives back about 25% of the benefits.
If Ottawa taxed an extra $10 billion from across Canada, Quebec would contribute  about $1.8 billion, yet would receive about $2.5 billion back.
Complaining about the fiscal imbalance is the very embodiment of  looking a gift horse in the mouth. (à cheval donné, on ne regarde pas la denture)
If Ottawa was to tax less, Quebec would be the biggest loser.

Quebec’s credit rating downgraded to negative from stable  

And the outlook is....."Minable!"

"Fitch Ratings has downgraded its outlook on Quebec’s credit rating to negative from stable.
The agency said on Friday the revision to the long-term rating reflects the decision of the Quebec government to push back its zero-deficit target to fiscal 2016 from 2014.
“The delay is based on slower economic and revenue performance since the fiscal 2014 budget was tabled and the consequent reduction in forecast economic and revenue growth thereafter,” the agency said in a news release.
In reaction to the downgraded outlook, Despicable She pooh-poohed the whole affair as not a big deal.
Journalists reported that Fitch was actually on the verge of downgrading its rating of Quebec, instead of just the outlook and it took an intervention by the PQ with Fitch to avoid that calamity.
Nothing is known about what the PQ promised behind closed doors.

In a further interview Pauline then said that the downgrade was the fault of the previous Liberal government.
Hmmm, wonder what she will say next year, when she blows the budget again?

...meanwhile  Canadian Business reported;

"Looking for work? You're in luck; employers seem to be in a hiring mood. There were more than half a million-job openings in Canada in November, a 22% jump over the same period last year, according to new data from Workopolis.
The online job site is reporting year-over-year increases in job postings in every employment category and every region of the country, except Quebec where the number of job postings declined 4%."   Link

Pauline in Paris

It was a meeting of the like-minded in Paris as Pauline Marois met with French president Francois

Hollande.
La Pauline can take comfort that she is twice as popular in Quebec as Hollande is in France, although that isn't saying much.
Pauline has an approval rating of 32%, a number Hollande can only dream of. The sad sack French president stands at an approval rating of just 15%, which has to be the lowest approval rating for any  leader in the developed world.

Hollande and Marois struck it off so well that La Pauline actually referred to the French president by his first name in public, a diplomatic gaffe that he seemed to forgive.

Mr. Hollande gave open support for Quebec's Charter of Values, secure in the knowledge that it was inspired to a great extent by French legislation limiting religious freedoms in France.

Perhaps in private he told Marois that after the Quebec legislation is passed, the province could expect to enjoy the same wonderful race relations as exist in France.

Feeling particularly chummy, Marois took advantage of their mutual admiration, by asking for a favour.
She asked the French president to give Quebec its own seat at the climate conference to be held in Paris in 2015.
She told Hollande that it would be greatly appreciated because Quebec has a different position on climate change as compared to Canada.

Maria Mourani stabs sovereignty movement in the back

Maria Mourani accepts separatist award from smiling Mario Beaulieu....this photo from her personal website pulled today!  I've got two words for Ms. Mourani......"STATUS UPDATE"

It's a long road from being named Patriot of the Year by the separatist Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 2012, to becoming a declared federalist, one who publicly denounces the sovereignty movement and vaunts the advantages of Canada.

"Maria Mourani, former Bloc Québécois MP who quit the party after a disagreement over Quebec’s proposed secularism charter says she’s no longer a sovereigntist.

Maria Mourani made the announcement in an open letter, where she writes that she’s leaving the “independentist” movement because it has changed for the worse.

She writes that she now believes federalism is the best way to defend minority rights.

Mourani says she’s remaining as an independent MP and won’t join a new political party for now." Link

Mouraini was particularly stinging in an open letter in which she embraced Canadian federalism and trashed the PQ and Quebec's Charter of Rights.

She dumped sovereignty after a long career as a useful idiot, a rare ethnic who supported Quebec indenedance.
Here's a small translation of part of  the open letter she penned.;

"Canada, the best defense for our Quebec identity
"The ease with which the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Quebec may be modified or terminated, convinced me of the relevance of the Canadian federal system. I came to the conclusion that my membership in Canada, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, better protects the Quebec identity of all citizens and all citizens of Quebec. I'm no longer an independantist. "

The pill is particularly bitter for the PQ and hard line sovereigntists like Mario Beaulieu, head of the SSJB who couldn't hide his disappointment in saying;

"She won the prize for her past actions, but to claim that the Canadian Charter protects the Quebec identity, we would like to know where and how," said Beaulieu.

"The Charter was used to defeat Bill 101, promoting multiculturalism an attempt to drown the Quebec identity. It's really disappointing from Maria Mourani, "said he added Link{fr}

Her about face on sovereignty is a real disaster for the PQ and separatist insiders must be fretting mightily. Her defection to the federalist cause is a clear signal to ethnics that they have no role to play in the sovereignty movement and if she chooses to become a militant spokesperson, she will no doubt remain a festering open sore that threatens to become a gangrenous infection.

Emotional  denunciations from separatists are pouring in at the moment, but after some time for considered reflection, sovereigntists against the charter (yes, there are many) will be emboldened and openly question the Marois' and the PQ's policy of alienation.

One last note on the subject.
The whole Mourani affair is a lesson in political amateurism.
I don't want to overly dump on Daniel Paillé, the ex-leader of the Bloc who resigned over health issues, but truth be told, it was he who brought on all this misery to the sovereignty movement by kicking  Mouraini out of the PQ caucus in a fit of pique.
At the time, the Bloc hadn't even pronounced or taken a position on the Charter and how much better would it have been to allow a little dissent.
Compare Paillé's handling of Mouraini with that of Philippe Couillard's handling of Fatima Houda-Pepin, who like Mourani broke ranks with the Quebec Liberal party over the Charter. Instead of kicking her out of the caucus, the Liberal leader met her half way and kept the disagreement from causing extensive damage.
You may want to call Couillard a flip-flopper on the issue of the Charter, but he's doing the best he can to take away the PQ's only election issue.
It isn't pretty, but that is politics. Those who say Couillard isn't leadership material are either his enemies or just don't understand the art of politics, like Daniel Paillé, who by the way, at his press conference announcing his decision to resign, looked about as healthy as did Jack Layton did at his last press conference.

OQLF Creole-gate affair proves that a leopard can't change its spots.

As you've no doubt heard the OQLF has once again made fools of themselves by intervening in  affairs that they by law and regulation have no right to do.
Another infamous anonymous complaint led to the OQLF demanding that two Creole-speaking Haitins at work in a hospital address each other in French , even when speaking in private.
Listen to a sad interview  by Barry Morgan of Montreal radio station CJAD with an OQLF spokesperson

The hospital wasn't amused with the complaint and went public with the issue to humiliate the OQLF.
Mission accomplished.
Once again the OQLF displays its uncontrollable obsession with eliminating English from the workplace, legally or illegally.
While the spokesman claimed innocently that the OQLF was just investigating and that there was no disposition of the affair, the truth is that in sending a letter warning the hospital that it faces a $20,000 fine was just a plain old-fashioned case of extra-judicial intimidation.

At any rate, the hospital over-reacted. They could have safely told the OQLF to stuff it, because unless the OQLF was willing to reveal the identity of the anonymous complainer, there  is no case.

Let me explain....
The OQLF can follow-up on an anonymous complaint when it is about a sign, website or advertising material. They just need to verify the actual material themselves and the complainer's name is of no import.
But when the anonymous person complains about a scene that he witnessed and one that the OQLF cannot verify in any way, shape, or form, no reasonable investigation can take place if the alleged guilt institution is deprived of the abilty to make an independent determination by confronting the accuser and the veracity of the complaint.
The OQLF would be laughed out of court if they pursued a case based on a complaint by an anonymous witness, who they will not identify or present in court.
In order to be more politic, the hospital should have  just have written to the OQLF demanding to know when and where the incident happened and in front of whom. Otherwise, they could not make any determination.
The OQLF, refusing to reveal its source would abandon its case quickly.


Let me add a contrasting footnote to the story .
In Toronto a restaurant, the Papillon on the Park, (which incidentally is Quebec-owned) was held liable  by the Ontario Human Rights Commission to pay three employees $100,000 in damages for abusive practices;
The allegations;

• A cook  was forced to taste a dish containing pork, contrary to his religious beliefs
• An employee was forced to work on the day of Eid al-Fitr
• A Complainant was treated as "crazy" because he refused to eat a meat pie during the Ramadan fast
• An Employee was forced to speak English rather than Bengali in the kitchen
• A complainant was threatened to be replaced by white employees

In Quebec, the Charter of Secularism would deem refusing to taste pork an unreasonable accommodation because it is part of the job and asking for a day off for a religious, but non provincial holiday, also an unreasonable accommodation.

And of course the Pièce de résistance, being fined for forcing employees to speak a common language.

Which side of the Quebec/Ontario border is the Twilight Zone?

Read the story in English or en français

Between a rock and a French place

In light of the Supreme Court's rejection of the Harper paln to install a single national regulatory agency to regulate all of Canada's stock market, the feds have thrown the language issue back into Quebec's court as it pertains to the issue of French translations of prospecti (the formal legal document, which provides details about an investment offering for sale.) 
In the past many companies provided brief summaires in French based on the more complete English version, something that the organization that does the translations objects to. They appealed to the PQ government to make complete translations mandatory, but the PQ government is stalling.

The reason  that  the PQ is balking on supporting the translators is because it is faced with a bitter dose of reality.
Over the last three years over 1200 issues weren't translated into French at all, with companies telling unilingual francophone investors to lump it or leave it.
But banning these issues from being sold in Quebec is not the same as banning English toys like Buzz Lightyear. Telling brokers that they can't sell issues that don't provide a French language prospectus would penalize Quebec investors adversely. It would also lead to Quebec investors moving their brokerage account to Toronto or Ottawa, after all it's all done online anyway.

So the Quebec government is in a fine language pickle.
Imposing the language law on Quebec brokers will do more harm than good and so in the spirit of cooperation the Finance Minister's department is talking 'compromise'.
Read a detailed story in French

Really?.....

France is actually looking to Quebec for advice in how to combat its high-school drop-out rate; Link{fr}

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The Quebec government is advertising for university students in France in order to fill empty classrooms.
One of the benefits, according to the government is "an interactive Anglo-Saxon experience" Link{fr}

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After the PQ came to power a very good friend of Pauline Marois and hubby Claude Blanchet, Jean-Yves Duthel, was given a $90,000 for a one-year contract to represent Investissement Québec, in Germany, a kissoff job from the boss.

But before he took up the position the office of the  Directeur général des élections announced that it
was going to charge Duthel over an alleged illegal $500 campaign contribution.

And so the government decided that Mr. Dutel wasn't apt to take the job, to which Duthel took exception and threatened to sue.
And so, the government paid him $50,000 to end the contract.
Mr. Duthel never worked a day.   Not kidding. Link{fr}

By the way, Mr. Duthel is Pauline Marois' biographer.

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 I've written before on how Quebecers are Canada's cheapskates when it comes to donations.

A new study confirms that this year once again, for the 15th year in a row, Quebec has maintained its miserly position.

Quebecers give on average  about $615 to charity as compared to Canada which gives more than double that amount. Link{fr}

I daresay that the average would plummet if the donations from the very engaged Quebec Anglophones and particularly the Quebec Jewish community, were removed from the calculations.

The Quebec Jewish community raises almost as much money for Jewish charities as does all of Centraide and Jews generously contribute outside their community as well.

At any rate, a TV panel led by the esteemed Richard Martineau explained away the anomaly by claiming that Quebecers are certainly as generous as other Canadians, its just that they are taxed heavily and have mandated the government to donate for them. Ha!!!

What a load of crap.

Put aside the donation question and I'd like the panel to explain why Quebecers are also in last place in donating their time to charitable organizations.

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Mario Beaulieu Unleashes the Dogs

Back in 1969, the then vice-president of the United States, Spiro Agnew,  undertook a fierce anti-press campaign, believing that the media was left-leaning, anti-war and anti-Nixon.
Agnew had the gift of gab, or at least the benefit of a heck of a speech writer in one Pat Buchanan, making a famous jibe, in which he called his opponents,
"an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."

The phrase is just about all that remains of the man, things went downhill from there, with the press eagerly feeding and reporting on his misery as he fell from grace and the vice-presidency, charged with corruption and tax evasion.

Mr. Agnew contended that the Press didn't fairly represent the conservative body of Americans that he believed were in the majority.
Perhaps he was right, but picking on the media is never a winning strategy.

As for our Press, I don't believe that the corps accurately represents how annoyed Canadians actually are with the petulant enfant terrible that they perceive Quebec to be. Notwithstanding what Mr. Beaulieu says, if our media actually reflected the anger of English Canada towards Quebec.....Mr. Beaulieu's Quebec bashing report would be 1000 pages long.

If Mario Beaulieu, like Agnew before him, thinks he can browbeat the Press into submission, he couldn't be more miserably mistaken.

In fact, I'd venture to say that Beaulieu's campaign to vilify the media over perceived Quebec-bashing has the unintended consequence of unleashing the press dogs, ready, willing and able to rip into the hapless buffoon.
I am reminded of the Shakespearean line in Coriolanus;

"Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt with modest warrant." 

In other words......do not provoke, that which should best be left alone.

Yup. Beaulieu has declared open season on himself, poking the eye of the media beast, giving it a fair excuse to rip him a new one, where telling journalists what and how to report is tantamount to challenging them to do the opposite.
Some of those Beaulieu held responsible were absolutely giddy, relishing the chance to take on the buffoon directly, instead of just reporting on his actions.
One of his favorite targets is Don Macpherson of the Montreal Gazette who took particular enjoyment in penning a scornful rebuke, words palpably steeped in sarcasm, that virtually dripped off the page.

"My name is mentioned twice in the text and four more times in footnotes. That’s more than anybody else who is named in the report, so I guess that makes me Francophobe Public Enemy Number One.
I was delighted to learn that what I write in The Gazette has so often got under the skin of the likes of Beaulieu, notorious minority-baiting commentator Gilles Proulx, and the kind of people who would associate with them." Link

So maladroit was Beaulieu's action in baiting the Press, I was left wondering if he devilishly prescribed to the principle that any publicity even bad publicity, is good publicity .

But nope, Mario is no brain surgeon, he's someone who makes it up as he goes along, like the interpreter at Nelson Mandela's funeral.
Check out this video I made a while back, exploring Beaulieu's creative interpretation of the facts.

And check out the video that proves once and for all that Beaulieu is a racist, calling on his minions to boycott stores named after their English founders (Reitmans, Birks etc.) Youtube

Beaulieu's an enthusiastic keener, like the kid in grade school with her hand permanently in the air, beseeching the teacher to "Oooh,Ooh! Ask me Ask me!"
He makes the rounds of the TV news channels, never flinching, always grinning like the Cheshire Cat, a polished whinger, who bounces off all criticism with aplomb.

Give him credit for getting on TV despite being roundly considered by the public to be an amusing imbecile.
Although he pretends to speak for a great many Quebecers, he doesn't really speak for anyone except a small coterie of haters.
Of the dozen or so videos of himself on Youtube, most have less than 100 views, and ironically, the most popular of all, is the one posted above, created by myself.

The insulting part in all of this, is that the Quebec government keeps him on as  Président du Comité de la Fête nationale à Montréal essentially running the St. Jean Baptiste Day. Fête nationale celebration.

With Mario on board as president of the annual Quebec day celebrations, a note to all those with non-francophone names, like Reitmans, Birks or Tony Hillfinger..... you are not welcome!

Quebec Bashing....You're Welcome!

Beaulieu and his out of touch silver-haired followers

When I was in the 8th grade, the schoolyard bully terrorized a bunch of weaklings and finally, fed up, a couple of the victims chipped in and paid an Eleventh grader to put a hurt on him.

After the thrashing, the bully complained to the school principal about the beating and was told in no uncertain terms that he basically got what he deserved.

And so, as Quebec's most prolific Anglo and Ethnic basher Mario Beaulieu is complaining that Quebec is getting rough treatment at the hands of the dastardly English press, I don't know whether to  laugh or .....wait....laugh.

For once I actually agree with him, Quebec is certainly getting bashed in the English media, but deservedly so, like the schoolyard bully who can't understand the concept of payback, complaining about it only makes the revenge that much sweeter.

I don't know what type of fantasy world he and the hundred and one idiots who signed the manifesto live in, but it must be a place where you can enter the boxing ring, throw punch after punch and expect no retort.

To those of you who believe that Quebec is being unfairly vilified, you're only half right, Quebec is being vilified, but not unfairly. For forty years Quebec nationalists have savagely bashed Canada, while Canadians have patiently indulged their bad manners.
As the old joke goes, a divorce court judge asks a man why he wants a divorce after forty years of marriage...
'Enough is enough.'

Perhaps I should have titled this piece "When bashers get bashed" which is essentially what is happening after years upon years of merciless Canada and Anglo bashing across Quebec.

See more examples of anglo-bashing HERE

You can't turn on a French television news show without enduring diatribe after diatribe, denigrating Canada, the evil English language and the colonialist Anglos who have exploited Quebec for 250 years.

This incessant bashing is so omnipresent in Quebec that most people don't notice.

On Sunday Pauline Marois gave a speech in Monaco to a room of businesspeople and trashed Canada over the environment, telling the room that Ottawa is out of step with the world, while Quebec is on board with climate change. She took particular joy in Canada-bashing and her manner was just about as nasty as nasty could be. Link{fr}

Could you imagine the stink if Prime Minister Harper gave a speech in Europe describing Quebec as a financial drag on Canada, a province which cannot control spending and which remains dependent on the rich provinces for charity?
It's funny how things look from the opposite perspective.

Those who complain about Quebec-bashing by Canada, are extraordinary hypocrites.
Mario Beaulieu complaining about Quebec-bashing, is like Hitler complaining that the Jews never supported him.
And yes, I'll make plenty of Nazi references here so that in the next edition of Beaulieu's Quebec-bashers, I too can proudly make the list.

Mario Beaulieu is a man who complains that Jewish, English and other foreign proper names shouldn't be allowed on stores in Quebec and encourages his followers to boycott them.
He is a man who has complained that English Churches should post their announcements in French and that French students be barred from English cegep, à la apartheid.

He is a  man who calls for the boycott of stores like "TONY HILL FINGER" and "BELL CANADA."
Who but an idiot doesn't know that the name is Tommy Hilfiger  and who but a deceiver pretends not to know that Bell got rid of the 'Canada' in its name in Quebec, ages ago?

Watch a video of Beaulieu asking a parade of like minded racists to boycott stores like Birks because they are English-named, just like 'Tony Hill Finger.'
He magnanimously tells marchers that it's okay to shop at LEVI'S, as long as it is pronounced LEE-VEE.
I'm not making this up.  Watch the video  or read my post about the parade

It's becoming clearer and clearer that except for a handful of hardcore xenophobic ethnocentrics, Mario Beaulieu is becoming an embarrassment to the mainstream sovereignty movement which apparently wants nothing to do with the hate that he and his minion spew on a daily basis.

I promised a critique of his campaign to indict English Canada for so-called Quebec bashing, but a cursory examination of the 101 signatories on his manifesto had me scratching my head at the utter banality of the list. 
Almost all are unrecognizable to this author, and I am someone who aced a perfect score in the Gazette quiz on recognizing French 'stars.'

Of those I did recognize, a few names popped, including Gilles Proulx, Quebec's most recognizable Anglo and Native-basher, as well as Tania Longpré, the failed PQ candidate who called for the Jewish General Hospital to change its name.
As they say, people in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones.
The rest of the list is two-thirds filled with zartistes and writers, the rest separatist stalwarts, has-beens and never-weres.

If the 101 names on the list proved anything, it is that nobody of importance wants to touch Beaulieu with a ten foot pole. He is toxic.

Nobody in the PQ signed his manifesto, nobody in the Bloc Quebecois. Not even Thomas Mulcair, who hardly ever misses an opportunity to curry favour with nationalists.
Beaulieu has been writing letters since September soliciting signatures for his list and has little to show for it. His ragamuffin crew of signatories says more about his irrelevance than anything else.

His invitation to the general public to sign his petition seems to have fallen on deaf ears, with less than 2,500 signatures so far,  in a province of eight million.
I do recall that an online petition calling on Kijiji to ban the advertisement of animals for sale as pets, in Quebec, garnered over fifty thousand signatures in a few short days.

In short, Quebec does get bashed in the English media, deservedly so.

For Beaulieu and his brownshirts (Yes! another Nazi reference) his campaign to vilify the English media has largely fallen on deaf ears.
Most Quebecers don't really give a rat's ass what is being said about them in English Canada and don't give Mario Beaulieu the time of day.
Beaulieu is a self-defeating nincompoop, launching his campaign just two weeks before Christmas.

Really.....who can get worked up over language at this time of year?

Mario Beaulieu-Separatist Idiot-Child Strikes Again

I wasn't going to write a piece for today, but dashed this off in the interest of spurring a weekend debate.

I wonder how sovereigntists of good faith, people who aren't racist, people who don't hate Canada and who believe in the sovereignty movement as a progressive and inclusive ideology, feel about having a blithering idiot like Mario Beaulieu represent them as the public face of the sovereignty and language movement.

Mario Beaulieu isn't very bright, he can't add subtract or make any real sense of statistics. He appeals to the uneducated, the rabidly paranoid English haters who lap up any nonsense he puts forward as long as it's trashing Canada, Anglophones or Ethnics.

Back in January, he and his various organizations championed a movement to force stores to add English descriptors to their names (that case is now before the courts) telling us that it is only normal because all over the world, local languages take precedence over trade names and trade marks.

At a news conference held by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de la Mauricie (SSJB), Guy Rousseau, told us;

 "The OQLF requires merchants whose image is English, to add a generic term or slogan in French.
For example, "Toys 'R' Us" could become '"Toys 'R' Us Magasin pour enfants'
"If you're in Norway, it is normal to display in Norwegian, likewise in Japan. Why would it be different here? Link{fr}

It took this blogger just one afternoon visiting stores all around the world (via Google Street View) to test the veracity of the assertion.

Low and behold, nothing could be further from the truth. Toys R Us, is Toys R Us all around the world, in Norway, Japan and even in France.

Bullshitting comes easy to the SSJB, because few in the media call them out on their distortions, fantasy and outright lies, but one commenter under that story did. 

"Before commenting, Mr. Rousseau would do well to check the facts... It's funny, we spent 17 days last summer in the Scandinavian countries, including Norway. One thing that struck us was the number of Burger King, Subway, McDonalds we saw, all displaying the name in English. In Copenhagen we even saw the prestigious Royal Copenhagen - more English than that ... Also, I'm sure that Mr. Rousseau would be disappointed to learn that in all the shops we visited, staff were happy to serve us In English." Link{fr}

What a bunch of dopes.
I published a blog piece debunking the myth that the world uses local descriptions of internationally known stores, and readers, after that humble blog piece was published, the SSJB never made ridiculous argument again.
Read the blog piece for yourself, especially if you are inclined to accept the SSJB as any sort of authority. OQLF Demands Descriptors, the World Laughs

Mr Beaulieu and his ilk are so rabidly anti-English, that even store names composed of proper names, (which the law allows for) gets his goat.
And so he demands that Reitmans change its name or add a descriptor, perhaps morphing into Reithomme.
As for Simon, the clothing retailer named after its Scottish founder, Mr. Beaulieu would probably deem the name acceptable as long as everybody used the French pronunciation of Cee-Mo.
Such is the pettiness of the man and the movement.

Beaulieu showed his worldliness while conducting a march in downtown Montreal demanding that all non-French sounding names be changed and encouraging people not to shop in the like of Tony Hillfinger (sic) or Inside Exchange.(sic) He also implores shoppers to boycott MEXX , Bell, Birks, and Levis, to name just a few.
Why?...   Read : Language Militants Fiddle While Quebec Burns

Now Beaulieu is undertaking another fantasy campaign that posits that Canada is undertaking a vicious campaign of Quebec-bashing that has gone so far, that it very well may have contributed to Richard Bain's attack at the Metropolis night club.
Hmm.

Mr. Beaulieu held a splashy news conference denouncing this insipid Quebec-Bashing to much media attention as is always the case.
The campaign is centered around 101 signatories to the manifesto, a symbolic number alluding to Bill 101, but the truth is that precious few public figures were willing to sign on.

Mario Beaulieu started soliciting big names to sign his manifesto back in September, writing hundreds of letters, with little success.
In fact, most 'names' are staying away with a ten foot pole.
Here Sophie Durocher, of Le Journal de Montreal, explains why she won't sign the manifesto. Link{FR}

You can consult the names of those who signed on, where you'll find the usual suspects of artists,  writers, failed politicians and journalists, none but a handful known outside the borders of Quebec . Link

I'm going to take the weekend to study the manifesto and those who signed on and will provide a new blog in the spirit of that which debunked the French descriptor initiative.

Just in passing the first name that caught my eye on the list was no other than Gilles Proulx, Quebec's most virulent and hateful Anglophobe, who should know that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
The second name that caught my eye was failed PQ candidate Tania Longpré who became famous when her Facebook conversation attacking the Jewish General Hospital made headlines.

All this hoopla over manufactured and phony slights serves only to cloud Quebec's financial meltdown, especially on a day where Quebec's credit rating was downgraded.

But hey... let's not talk about that.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded its outlook on Quebec’s credit rating to negative from stable. Link

PQ Faces Disastrous 2014

When the PQ was first elected last year, I wrote a couple of pieces describing how grossly under-qualified I believed the Marois cabinet was. I'm sure some wrote off my missives as the rantings of a disgruntled angryphone, strumming on the harp of discord and finding fault, no matter what.

But it's not really the case.
In the past we've had PQ governments that were largely competent or at least as competent as any Liberal government (which isn't saying much.) The fact that they were sovereigntist was largely beside the point.

It's hard to compare the likes of René Levesque, Pierre-Marc Johnson, Lucien Bouchard and even Bernard Landry and Jacques Parizeau and their governments, to that of Pauline Marois and her merry band of incompetents.
It's not a case of comparing apples to oranges, but rather a case of comparing dollars to donuts.

I know I'll catch a lot of crap for saying that in my estimation the above-mentioned gentlemen towered over Despicable She in so many ways that to compare her intelligence, political savvyiness and sense of public duty with them, an exercise in futility.

All these ex-Premiers were ardent separatists, but never forgot that they were the Premier of ALL Quebecers and always strived to be as inclusive as they could and never singled out the Anglos or Ethnics in order to practice the wedge politics of division.
When Parizeau slipped up and in the heat of the moment whilst in the cups and made some injudicious statements after the referendum, he did the honourable thing and resigned.
Could you imagine under which circumstances la Pauline would resign over an ethical question? NEVER!
I remain convinced that Parizeau wasn't a racist or language supremacist nor any of the other Premiers, who all shared the common trait of being highly intelligent and socially and politically responsible.

But Pauline is different.
A racist, supremacist, ethno-centrist, or a virulent and uncompromising separatist?

Nope, she is none of the above...she is worse.

Pauline has no idea and no ideology other than the preservation and advancement of herself as Premier.
Power for power's sake and damn the consequences (and there are plenty of negative consequences!)

She reminds me of those current world leaders who would rather see their country go down the tube, rather than give up power. There's at least half a dozen idiots, running their respective countries into the ground that I think can of, off the top of my head.
I won't mention those leaders here, I'll leave that up to the readers to do so in the comments section, because  if I compare her mentality to that of those destructive megalomaniacs, it will be misconstrued as the ranting of a angryphone à la Galganov.

The other day I caught a show with one of my favourite political commentators, Jean Lapierre, a straight shooter, who has the political experience as an ex-Liberal party cabinet minister and Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant, to back up his observations with authority.
He told his interviewer that its time to dump the sad sack minister of the Environment, Martine Ouellet who has as he claimed demonstrated herself to be incredibly inept.

Now I've told you way back when that despite her education, she seems to be completely lost in the real world, someone who may be book smart, but woefully asea..

For those who haven't seen this clip of her floundering badly in an interview with a Radio-Canada reporter, who is visibly stunned at the minister's lack of comprehension, give a look.
In this clip, the minister fails to understand what a loan guarantee is, as the polite, but incredulous reporter, gently tries to explain exactly what it is, to Quebec's very own version of James Hacker.

Let me make it simple for our idiot minister.

Imagine your brother going to the bank for a car loan and being told that if he could get you to guarantee the loan, (because he hasn't got good credit and you do,) he'd be eligible for a reduced interest rate, saving him $900 in interest over the term of the loan.
And so you, being a good sister, sign the loan guarantee, understanding that you'll only be liable to pay, in the case of default.
If your brother makes good on all the payments in a timely manner, it costs you nothing.......

Somehow, Madame Ouellet figures that the $900 in interest that your brother saved, is coming out of your pocket. She repeats that notion several times! I'm surprised the interviewer didn't break out laughing.
And this is the idiot charged with developing policy for the future of Quebec's resource industry. 

She is but an example of the team of lightweights in the Marois cabinet, all punching above their weight.
From the Minister of Revenue who can't do addition and subtraction and resorts to a number of 'oopsys' to explain his miscalculations,  to the the Family Minister who would rather create new daycare slots when empty ones already exist within the system, to Pauline herself who insists on investing in costly new wind power electricity projects when Quebec is sitting on a surplus of electricity and perfectly good  power plants, mothballed because of over-capacity.

But aside from this crisis in leadership and competence, the PQ government is also facing deteriorating market and employment conditions, an aging population as well as an approaching debt ceiling and a finite tax base, the confluence of negative conditions, the harbinger of  an economic Perfect Storm.

Now in a rare moment of lucidity, the finance minister, Nicholas Marceau has told us that he cannot raise taxes any higher, admitting that there is just no more room to gouge Quebecers further without affecting Quebec's competitive position.
There is already a 10 cent difference in the price of gas between Montreal and Toronto, and so how much higher can the gap be raised before the rules of economics kick in?
Provincial sales tax just jumped to almost 10% and the health tax brought in by Charest hasn't been repealed, a promise made by Pauline during the last provincial election campaign.

Aside from that, homeowners were targeted by massive increases in school taxes, a result of Marois cutting the educational budgets and telling the school boards to tax the difference back directly.
After that fiasco and the public outrage that ensued over the increases, Marois demanded that the school boards give the money back, but never explained how to make up the shortfall.
How's that for improvisation!

In fact, since 2010, the government has added over 5 billion in new taxes, yet still cannot balance the budget.
Quebec's  $2.5 billion deficit this year would have almost doubled if not for an extraordinary $2.2 billion payment made by Ottawa in relation to the harmonization of sales tax, but that won't happen again next year.

To make matters worse, the bottom has fallen out of the electricity market, ironically because of the Americans fully embracing shale gas development, an energy source that undercuts production costs of standard hydro-electric generation, Quebec's bailiwick.

While Quebec soldiers on with wasteful wind-farms and the unneeded development of the massive La Romaine power project, the message hasn't sunk in that the hydro-electric ship has sailed.

Quite simply Quebec is out of financial options. At least Jean Charest realized that natural resource development was the last chance towards prosperity and so created the 'Plan Nord,' which the PQ and environmentalists fought tooth and nail.

After three failed attempts to pass a mining Bill, one that started out with the goal of gouging developers out of existence, our enlightened Natural Resource Minister (who doesn't understand what a loan guarantee is)  was finally forced on her fourth attempt into a humiliating compromise, which at any rate, may be too little and too late.

"The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based think tank, ranked Quebec as the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for mining activity between 2007 and 2010 but the province has since slipped to 11th place." Link

Under the PQ, business is wary to invest and who can honestly blame them?
Between long regulatory delays, endless BAPE hearings, shifting regulations and high taxes and labour costs, investing in banana republics and war-torn countries, actually becomes a more attractive alternative!

And so going into next year, we have already been promised another deficit, as well as the year after. The finance minister, crossing his fingers, predicts that in 2017 perhaps the budget will be balanced but really, who can believe that.

The truth is that the province can no longer generate enough revenues to cover the budget, this even after massive transfers from Ottawa and the future looks bleaker as health costs (our biggest expense
continues) to rise with our aging population,
While the PQ is talking about putting a cap on expenses, it hasn't really worked out with spending increasing beyond revenue growth.

There is no solution but deep cuts to existing programs, but what PQ government is going to do that, an admission that the Quebec social model has failed?

So what will 2014 bring?...............More of the same I'm afraid.

Political expediency being what it is, the CAQ is deathly afraid of being voted out of existence,and so will support any nonsense put forward by the Marois government, as long as they are allowed to save face and given the opportunity to 'contribute' to the proposed legislation, something La Pauline will certainly allow.
After all, remaining in power is the be all and end all.

As the economy deteriorates, and the financial situation sinks further, look to the PQ to ramp up  the rhetoric against Ottawa, blaming the financial problems on the  mythical 'fiscal imbalance' ( a concept where Ottawa takes too large a slice of the available national tax pie.)
The narrative to be woven is that the evil ROC is stealing the hard-earned tax money of Quebecers to support a military-industrial complex which Quebec eschews, the Oil Sands which drives up the value of the dollar, expensive ship-building projects in other provinces and financial support of the hated Queen, the effect, short-changing Quebecers on every level.

This is going to be the debate of the future, because frankly, Quebec is unsustainable and when all else fails...Blame Canada.

Laughable?.......wait for it...it's coming.