Family Faces Language Persecution

As you all must know by now, a family living in a south shore suburb of Montreal is being split up so that one of their children can attend school in English in the United States.
The Le Blanc family faced the agonizing decision because, as they say, they have no choice, their youngest son seems to have a learning disability and is being refused entry into an English school by the government, where he will likely do better, according to his doctors.

The family presents some very special circumstance. Read a detailed article and watch the news report here. LINK

The story is one of the saddest cases of hardship that highlights a policy of government intolerance. Unfortunately it is not unique.
Other families have also been whipped into compliance by the government. Those who are able, send their children private schools, others flee and sadly some cave in and send their children to French schools against their will.

Government bureaucrats gone wild, wielding power over people's personal lives that none of our forefathers who created the British Parliamentary system would imagine.

Somewhere along the line, the idea that government is meant to control our lives became entrenched in the mindset of Quebeckers. Years ago the government decided which language we may speak. Today they are in the process of doing the same with religion, teaching our children a very special course in religious indoctrination that impacts a family's choice on how to practice their own faith.

I shall be following and reporting on the media reaction, I cannot believe that the government is happy about being caught with their intolerant pants done. I'm  sure the nationalists will circle the wagons and support the decision and I will report on their apologist responses. It will be interesting.

In the meantime I put up the picture of the young boy involved because he is essentially the story. Education has always been about helping our children be the best that they can be.

Not here, not in Quebec. Language trumps everything.

Random Friday

 Tories cave in on census

My post Wednesday about the census long form may have been somewhat prescient, but unfortunately events have proved my conclusion faulty. LINK. 

As you remember, I pointed out that the questions on the 2006 census long form may have been subject to manipulation by an Internet campaign mounted by some francophone groups (outside Quebec) meant to inflate the number of unilingual francophones.

Then I made the completely wrong observation that perhaps the manipulation that I described was perhaps one of the reasons that the Tories got rid of the form.
As events have unfolded, Tony Clement has now given in to mounting pressure from these very same francophone lobby groups and announced that he's adding three of those exact same questions on language, back onto the short census form. LINK 

Oh well.....

The questions that Mr. Clement is adding to the mandatory 2011 short-form census are:

1. Can this person speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?
2. What language does this person speak most often at home?
3. Does this person speak any other languages on a regular basis at home?

Mr. Clement caved in on exactly what it is that the francophone groups wanted to preserve on the long form, questions about language that can be manipulated.

And so, these lobby groups have gotten exactly what they wanted, an opportunity to fiddle the books.
I guarantee you that another not-so-underground campaign will be launched to instruct francophones how to answer these questions in a manner that will show that there are more unilingual francophones than in reality. 

And so without further ado, here's what the answers will look like, regardless of the truth.

1. Can this person speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation?   Answer: FRENCH
2. What language does this person speak most often at home?  Answer: FRENCH
3. Does this person speak any other languages on a regular basis at home? answer: Answer: NO

Anglos take Cabinet hit

While nobody in the English press is saying it, Quebec Anglos took it on the chin in the re-shuffled Quebec cabinet of Jean Charest. I've already told you that both Kathleen Weil and Yolande James,  were essentially beards for Jean Charest in cabinet. It was he who basically ran their portfolios.

But Weil looked particularly ill at ease in public and many francophones openly questioned whether she had the right stuff to fight the Supreme Court decision overturning the legality of Bill 104. Many questioned whether an Anglo should ever be given the sensitive post of Justice Minister. With Tony Tomassi out and Lawrence Bergman in a do nothing job, the two woman have now split James' previous portfolio and have been moved into what would be described as junior ministerial positions in the federal government.
The Journal de Montreal described Weil as the only Anglophone in the Cabinet, erroneously concluding that James is a francophone. Not true....her family is from St.Lucia. Perhaps her wonderful French is deceiving.
At any rate it's not looking so good for we Anglos in cabinet....

Bellemare circling the drain

Marc Bellemare got a rude comeuppance in a Quebec City court where he went to petition the court that the Bastarache Commission (investigating the charges that he made concerning the alleged purchase of judgeships) be struck down. Justice Alicia Soldevila, gave him a stern tongue lashing for embellishing and making false accusations about the law firm that Mr. Bastarache hails from. When Bellemare's lawyer demanded to know how much Bastarache earned at Heenan Blaikie, the judge asked how the question would help her decide on the question at hand.  Bellemare's allegations that the law firm receives a lot of un-tendered work from the Charest government were also shot down.  The judge reserved judgment until next week, but it's likely that Bellemare is going to get his wrists slapped. His strategy of tainting the commission as biased, before it has even commenced hearings, raises the spectre that Bellemare is preparing the public for his inevitable humiliation. Mr. Bellemare is looking more and more like another whistle-blower,  Myriam Bedard, who turned out to be a fruit cake. LINK

Another Oka Shakedown

In a rare twist of events, it's a Quebec developer rather than the natives, who seems to be in the process of shaking down the town of Oka in relation to a parcel of land that he obtained adjacent to the OKA reserve( and which is valued at $100,000.)
Normand Ducharme's announcement, made with great fanfare that he'd be building three luxury homes on the parcel of land, got the required reaction from natives and the spectre of another Oka Crisis was raised.
But let me ask you this-
What idiot would build on land that is subject to a land dispute and which could engender a violent reaction from natives?
What bank would lend money to develop such a project and what financial institution would provide mortgage money for any house built on the disputed land?

Finally what moron would buy such a house? Would you?

Perhaps it was all an elaborate ruse to get the city to buy his land at an inflated price, say $400,000.
And presto! It seems that a confidential deal has been reached with the city to avert a potential 'disaster,' including just such a payment!  LINK

Well done, Mr. Ducharme!

To the the natives and to the city of Oka.  Congratulations, you've been played!

Friday Funnies

For all those who accused me of resorting to McCarthyism in my piece on Amir Khadir, I kindly offer this light-hearted commentary.

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!!!
BONNE FIN DE SEMAINE À TOUS!!!

Francophones Welcome On This Blog

First of all I'm happy to report that the trolls have vanished. I hope they stick around and participate on some meaningful level. I haven't had to delete any comments and although there are much fewer of them, at least what is said is interesting.

Ironically, on the same day that I introduced my new comments policy, banning trolls,  BLOGGER.COM added a new feature to the Comment Moderation module  that now includes a SPAM filter, much like on an email client. It seems that if you swear, your comment ends up in the SPAM box automatically, where I have to fish it out manually. Everything seems to get more complicated.........

There seems to be a bit of confusion related to my post yesterday announcing an end to trolling on this blog. Some have asked if posting in French is still allowed and if contrary opinions are allowed.

The answer is an empathic YES and YES.

The object of this blog is not just to create a site where Anglos can rant, (although they may.) Without the input of Francophones, the blog is diminished. It's important to hear ALL opinions, for and against, English and French, otherwise it would be a colossal bore.
Respect for others opinions is all that I ask.

I'd like to hear people disagree with me. Let the readers decide for themselves and let them hear all arguments and most importantly, let them participate.

By the way, as regular readers can attest, I have a thick skin and unlike many nationalist blogs, I promise never to sit on a legitimate comment that offers a contrary view.

I shall continue to offer links explaining those English idioms that are sometimes hard to comprehend for a non-native English speakers, as in the example included above.

Now I know that having French posts presents some hardships to those out of province readers who aren't bilingual, but if someone is only comfortable writing in French, it's important that his or her opinion be heard.

Usually Google translate is good enough to get a sense of what is being said. If you still have trouble understanding a certain post and want a clarification, just leave a polite comment asking for a translation. I will endeavour to provide one.

To those francophones who write in English, I applaud the effort. Obviously there will be a number of orthographic errors included, but that's okay. Comments complaining about spelling and sentence construction will not be printed. They add nothing to the debate other than to denigrate.

Many people have wondered why we anglos stay in Quebec and fight for language rights instead of just pulling up roots (as many of us have.)

It's easy to answer.
We stay here because we want to. We don't hate francophones or anyone else for that matter. We complain because we want to make Quebec a better place to live, for everyone.

What makes Montreal (where most of us live) so fascinating is hard to describe.
Perhaps it is because Montreal has an edginess not found anywhere in Canada, where life can best be described as neat. That's not meant to be an insult, we're just different. Some people flock here because of that fact and some people flee.

This morning I read that Montreal indie band ARCADE FIRE  debuted their album "The Suburbs" at number one on the Billboard chart. Interestingly, not one of the band members are native Quebeckers, they all chose those to live here and make Montreal their home. Let's face it, in chaos there is creativity.

Montreal is home to the worst drivers and the most disrespectful pedestrians in Canada, yet it is the birthplace of BIXI and has started a North American revolution in urban cycling.  Our Olympic disaster of 1976 gave birth to the North American lottery system, back them named by, Mayor Jean Drapeau as a 'voluntary tax.' Yes, Montreal is a paradox. For every language incident there are thousands and thousand of stories of people getting along just fine.
Of all of Canada's major cities, Montreal may be the most imperfect, but it's what makes it interesting to live here. If you don't get it, then you shouldn't stay.

One Saturday night, after a Habs/Leafs game at the Bell Centre, I was cut off by a taxi making a right turn, while I was crossing a downtown street on a green light. The cab ground to an immediate halt because of traffic and the passenger in the back seat, wearing a Maple Leafs jersey rolled down his window and offered an apology for the driver's recklessness.    

"Hey" I answered, "This is Montreal. Don't apologize!"

Welcome to Private Healthcare-Quebec Style!

It was good to see a business associate of mine who was in from Toronto for the first time since having heart bypass surgery last year. He had a difficult recovery and as he recounted his ordeal, he mentioned rather conspiratorially, that he had paid for an MRI in a private clinic rather than wait for the inevitable delays in the public sector.

"So what?" I answered. "That's no big deal, it's business as usual here in Quebec!"

Well, apparently it isn't so par for the course outside of Quebec, where private health care doesn't seem to have taken hold to the same degree as here.

In fact, of the 35 Canadian MRI clinics listed on a referring web site, FindPrivateClinics.ca, seventeen are located in Quebec!

While the country debates the ethics of private health care, the Quebec government has quietly thrown the doors open to private care that is normally covered by the RAMQ (Quebec's medicare agency.)

The tiny Westmount Square shopping mall in downtown Montreal is home to one of the largest private health care clinics in the country, offering practically any diagnostic service for pay. For that matter, it offers just about any other treatment you can think of!
Aside from its diagnostic division, it is home to a bunch of private doctors who moonlight for pay by seeing 'private' patients 'on the side,' a practice that I thought is illegal. Check out their web site.

I recently met a friend going into the clinic with a large bandage covering an eye. I asked what happened and he told me that a metal shard had hit him in the eye and after ten hours in the emergency room of a local hospital he had secured an appointment in the Westmount Square clinic. An hour after arriving, he left, after seeing a doctor who took care of his problem ASAP.
WOW! I don't know how much he paid, but it certainly was worth it.

There seems to be a flourishing business wherein doctors who are on the books with Medicare, operate outside the system quite openly. Not so kosher!!!!

Incredibly the government avails itself of private medicine too. The (CSST) (Workman's Compensation Board) uses the private system to bypass the public system in order to speed up evaluations and treatments so that cases can be disposed of more quickly, thus saving extended benefits that are paid to claimants while they spend time on a medical waiting lists. In fact the CSST is the largest user of private health care services in the province! LINK (French)

The other day the Journal de Montreal ran a story about a man who was told that in order to circumvent an eighteen month long waiting list he could see a certain doctor within two weeks by joining a sports club who would then pay the doctor directly as a third party. Obviously the patient would reimburse the club. Supposedly this is legal. Sounds like a real racket.  Link(French)
The government seems to be turning a blind eye to all this. It seems that they've figured out that each MRI treatment done privately, means one less treatment that they have to pay for, something the defenders of the exclusive public option fail to accept.

I myself recently had a rather strange experience with my very own colorectal specialist who told me  that an appointment for a colonoscopy would take two and a half years and then without blinking an eye, informed me that he could do the procedure privately in two weeks! Here's my card, Ka-Ching!

Now I don't have any problem with private health care, it's a wonderful addition to the public option for those who can afford and don't care about the expense. Every dollar spent privately is a dollar less spent publicly. Personally I'd buy insurance if it was available and I'm sure a large percentage of Canadians would do so as well.

But I have a big problem with doctors floating between public and private systems, essentially trolling for patients. The same goes for private diagnostic tests that propel patients faster up the line for public treatments.

It isn't fair for someone to pay for a private MRI and then jump back into public line to secure a procedure faster than someone who is still waiting for a public MRI.

That is the essential conflict with mixing a private and public health system.
A good number of Quebec surgeons will jump you past the waiting line if you pay them.  I know someone who paid $8,000 to have a painful shoulder repaired within two weeks after having been told by her doctor that the operation would require an eight month wait on the public rolls.

Some doctors even rent out idle hospital operating rooms and hire hospital nurses to moonlight to do private procedures, all of this going on with everyone in the health industry turning a blind eye.

The ethics of the whole thing are disgraceful.

Doctors who choose to go private, shouldn't be allowed to practice in the public system, there's too much temptation for abuse.
Let them open up their own facilities and charge what they want. People should be able to buy private insurance if they want or pay for medical services a la carte.

Let us have private doctors, private hospitals and private diagnostic clinics.  Those who want to use them will pay.
Those who can't will stay in the public system, which should technically run better because of the private option.

Bit mixing systems makes for abuse.

And so while one in three Quebeckers don't have a family doctor, it isn't hard to find one for pay. Here's a list where you can hire one today. LIST

Here is web-site where you can find virtually any medical speciality, all for pay HERE

By the way, here's a list of the cost of a variety of private medical procedures.

- Average cost for an MRI in Montreal is $750.
- Average cost for a PET/CT scan in Montreal is $2500.00
- Average cost for a Mammogram in Montreal is $350.00
- Average cost for an Ultrasound in Montreal is $150.00

Does anybody out there have any experience with private health care? Have you paid for a private test or procedure?

Fess up!

Trolling- Purposefully antagonizing other people on the Internet,

I've sat back this entire week dumbfounded that certain people can occupy such a large portion of their time writing a bunch of drivel, for the sole reason that they can get it published.

For myself,  a believer in free speech it's a hard decison to limit their access to this blog but I'm afraid it has come to that.

Purposefully antagonizing other people on the Internet, is known as TROLLING and I am reluctantly informing everyone that as of midnight tonight it will no longer be tolerated.

I would much rather have five or ten interesting and thoughtful comments from people with real ideas and the ability to put them into print than a hundred stupid and hurtful comments.

I encourage everyone of all opinion ranges to continue making their views known. You don't have to agree with myself or other posters. You can post in French as well.

BUT NO MORE STUPID PERSONAL ATTACKS.

I believe that some of this trolling has been done to get people off this blog and I notice that some of the regular posters are shying away.

So for all you trollers out there, take advantage of the next few hours to launch your best zingers, because as of midnight -HASTA LA VISTA!