French versus English Volume 18

CSST -no longer providing English service to business

Many readers contacted me concerning the new policy of the Quebec's workman's compensation board, known as the CSST, which announced it will no longer offer service in English to business owners who are English. LINK

Ironically the commission will provide English assistance to business' which have head offices outside Quebec. The commission is funded 100% by employers , many of them English.

It seems that the CSST is being strong armed by the government's OQLF, the French language police, to drop the service.

The CSST was quite clear on it's website  that the decision to drop English was based on a requirement to obey the OQLF.

 Thanks to Anglo Montrealer, Mitch and others for the tip....

Councillors Give up on Richler Street

It seems that Marvin Rotrand and Michael Applebaum have thrown in the towel with respect to naming a Montreal city street after controversial author Mordechai Richler.
A firestorm of criticism was raised against the idea by those who saw Richler as an anti-Quebecois racist.
Ironically a Facebook group entitled "Non à une rue Mordecai-Richler ! Non au racisme anti-québécois"  (No to Mordecai-Richler Street! No to anti-Quebecois Racism) is full of racism itself.

"Marvin Rotrand is the same person that I wrote to almost  twenty years ago because he wanted to remove the crucifix from the city hall ... I told him that in that case it would be necessary to remove all the Stars of David from in front of Jewish places of worship, or companies and kosher restaurants" Denise Groulx

Listen

Read phonetically

Laval University bilingual football program

On November 13th 2010 at the PEPS stadium in Quebec, in front of 16,635 fans, Laval’s Rouge et Or football team won it’s record eighth straight Dunsmore Cup. But the game was interesting for another reason, at least to me.
The referee made his announcements to the crowd, bilingually. (Even the  Alouettes or Canadiens can't muster that.) The music that blared in the stadium during breaks was decidedly English and perhaps La Presse columnist Rejean Tremblay will take on a new cause celebre. I overheard the team's coach Glen Constantine shouting instructions  to a player in English and at the end of the game, the team took a victorious photo shouting "ALL THE WAY!  ALL THE WAY!"

On top of it, rumour has it that the university is exploring switching its football program to an American football conference in the Northeast United States. Ouch!

I'm sure that French language purists were wincing in pain.

Luc Plamondon Trashes English to hawk his album

Like a movie star who makes an appearance on Leno or Letterman to shill for a recently released film, Luc Plamondon chose to seek publicity by slagging English music, in order to promote his newly released album. See my Post
Complaining sanctimoniously about creeping Anglicisms in French music, his new album includes the word 'Star' front and center! The album, according to him, is divided into four sections, 'rock', 'pop,' 'groove' and ballades, more Anglicisms!  In a newspaper interview he deplored the fact that radio stations play 'crossover' music. Ha! Ha!  LINK 
Mr. Plamondon has now taken up the cause of opposing the federal governments Bill C-32. Quebec artists are demanding payment for illegal downloading and want, among other thing, a tax to be placed on IPod devices to compensate them.
Mr. Plamondon certainly doesn't need the money, publicity is more his thing. As for fairness towards artists, he's not the best example of virtue. Mr. Plamondon moved to Ireland, where artists were exempted from paying taxes. When Ireland amended that law, he fled to another tax haven, Switzerland!

Tim Hortons removes Maple Leaf in Quebec

"Tim Hortons has released its festive holiday mugs, but there's something missing in the Quebec version -- the Maple Leaf.

It's been replaced by a snowflake, in the latest example of Canadian companies specializing their products for Quebec culture....

Tim Hortons may have gone a step further. All pan-Canadian images, from the Rocky Mountains to the CN Tower, are removed from its holiday mugs on sale in la belle province.

The coffee chain says it has nothing to do with politics." LINK 

Sure......

Other companies are just as guilty. It seems that Molson-Coors is hiding the Molson Canadian brand in Quebec. Some say the beer can be found if you try hard enough, but if that's the case and it is available in the province, the company is in violation of the Quebec language law by offering an English-only website.
All Molson-Coors brands have their own bilingual website except CANADIAN, which can perhaps be explained by it's marketing plan which plays up Canadian patriotism. Molson Canadian website

All you can eat in French
 The Association des restaurateurs
du Québec (ARQ) has come up with another moronic poster campaign to encourage restaurants to serve people in French.

I'm sure restaurants will fall over themselves to display the sign that encourages a French only eating experience, especially in the downtown core of Montreal and parts west.

I'm also sure that English and minority restaurateurs that contribute financially to the industry group are thrilled to see their money wasted on the project.

Don't look for too many restaurants in Montreal to display the sign, risking offending its anglo and ethnic clientèle.

The campaign is based on a similarly unsuccessful effort by the government to encourage stores to post signs stating that in this establishment "HERE, We Shop In French"

Quebec teachers complain about religion

When I was a kid, like most anglos (and francophones) who were not Catholic, I attended a public school run by the Protestant School board of Greater Montreal.
Although the school taught a fair amount of religion, (we sang hymns each morning,)  not all the students were Christian including a fair amount of Jews.
To celebrate their holidays, Jews were allowed a couple of days off from school each year and I remember a fair bit of jealously on behalf of the rest of the class who claimed it an unfair advantage. Hey, we were kids.

It seems that several Montreal teachers working at the école secondaire Saint-Luc in Montreal aren't more mature, complaining that Muslim, and Jewish teachers are being unfairly rewarded with a couple of days off;

"The problem we want to raise is one of justice and fairness. Indeed, the number of working days per year for teachers is 200 days. Therefore, staff members wishing to be absent to observe a religious ritual are working fewer days than most other teachers, that is to say 197 days." LINK fr

The teachers seem very concerned that the government is wasting money.

Perhaps they are missing the simplest of solutions- eliminate all holidays including Christmas and Easter!

Anglo-basher wants to run for mayor of Montreal

The thoroughly detestable Michel Brûlé who wrote "ANGLAID" a book that childishly attacks the English language now wants to run for mayor of Montreal. Read my post about the book.
Claiming that he needs support only from francophone Montrealers to win, perhaps he should ask Louise Harel how that worked out for her.
In an interview, he told La Presse that he wants to get rid of the English influence in Montreal and make Montreal open to the world. Link fr
Huh?
His best idea for the city, is that as mayor, he would encourage beer-drinking in public.
He's presently writing another book 25 mesures pour améliorer le Québec (25 ideas to improve Quebec) 

I can't wait!
(Thanks to Frank P. for the tip)

Late Breaking...Anglos refused Xmas baskets

Anglophones seeking a Christmas basket were turned away from a Montreal suburban Church in St. Lambert and were told they were not eligible because they were English. They were told to go to an English church. The policy as explained, was to eliminate double-dipping.
The local Anglican church said that this was hogwash and nobody is turned away because of language.

For more;

French versus English Volume 17      

French versus English Volume 16 

French versus English Volume 15

It's Official... Marc Bellemare is Off His Rocker!

Months ago, when Marc Bellemare made his allegations that Liberal party fundraisers used their position to influence the selection of Quebec judges and that the Liberal party was taking scads of money from construction industry types, I told you what insider after insider was telling me, that essentially, Bellemare was nuts.

Why Bellemare set out on a campaign of vengeance is not clear.  Perhaps it was his frustration over the cabinet's decision not to support changes to Quebec's no-fault automobile insurance plan, his pet project, or the situation in relation to his stripper daughter. As I recounted in a previous post she was overheard by police in wiretaps associating with Hell's Angels members at a time when the provincial police were preparing a mega strike against the bikers.  Bellemare, as Justice Minister was privy to details and somebody (likely the police) leaked details of his daughter to the Press, in order to sink the minister.

Because Bellemare had been on the job for less than a week, it would have looked bad to fire him so soon. Instead, Premier Charest asked somebody in the Justice Ministry to spy on Bellemare and report back to the Premiers' office, something I can imagine didn't sit well with the Justice Minister.

Way back in April, I told you about these details and I warned that Bellemare was on a campaign of 'salisage,' as they say in French. Read The Curious Case Of Marc Bellemare.

When the Bastarache Commission  was called in reaction to his charges, Bellemare proved unable to come up with an ounce of backup, his only evidence, a piece of paper with some chicken scrawl, which he claimed were his notes. Read  Marc Bellemare Going Down in Flames

The Chief  Election Officer demanded that Bellemare meet with him to explain his allegations that the Liberals were accepting bags of illegal cash contributions, but Bellemare went to court to avoid the obligation to appear. He promptly lost that appeal.

He finally met with election officials last April and last week Marcel Blanchet filed his report and told reporters that;

"there's nothing to support what he says....(he) could not testify or recall any concrete act leading one to believe that infractions of this law were committed."

Not only did Bellemare fail to provide a shred of evidence, he even admitted that he never saw any illegal cash transactions. In consequence, the investigation was dropped like a lead balloon. Link

Readers should be reminded that in a March 15 media interview, Bellemare affirmed that construction companies financed the Quebec Liberal Party.

Bellemare's reaction to the condemnation is typical, he attacked the messenger.

"The institution has a serious credibility problem," argued the former minister yesterday. "Because it's always been the way they conduct their investigations, it's understandable that in Quebec there is much skepticism surrounding the financing of political parties." LINK fr

Bellemare's performance at the Bastarache Commission was particularly underwhelming and it is likely that the final report will not be kind to the ex-Justice minister.

While Judge Bastarache is supposed to make his report based only on what he heard at the inquiry, it is unlikely that the report from the Chief  Election Officer won't have an effect.

For Bellemare, the next phase in the unfolding tragedy, is the lawsuit that the Premier launched against him.
In the civil trial for defamation, the onus is clearly on Bellemare to prove that what he alleged is true, something he has failed miserably to do already.  Based on what we heard at the Commission and the devastating report from the Chief  Election Officer, perhaps it's time for Bellemare to throw in the towel, apologize and plead for mercy. If this goes to trial, it will be another unmitigated disaster for the ex-Justice Minister. While awards for defamation in Canada are traditionally low, nothing like those in the USA, it might still be quite hefty.  Proving the damage part has always been the difficult part in cases like this, but even a raving separatist would have to admit that Charest was badly hurt by the allegations.

The unravelling of Bellemare is reminiscent of ex-Olympian Myriam Bédard who went off the deep end, but not before costing Jean Pelletier his job at Via Rail. Bédard charged publicly that Via Rail was involved in all sorts of corruption and in reaction Pelltier denigrated Bédard saying "Deep down, I think she is pitiful."

Turns out he was right, as Bédard then made more outlandish and ridiculous claims, that finally had people realizing that she was nuts. From then on, her life went decidedly downhill. LINK.

The complete rejection of Bellemare by the Chief  Election Officer is little comfort to the Premier, the damage has already been dome.

Like someone found innocent of pedophilia, after a lengthy trial, the stink is hard to wash off.

As the looming defamation trial looms, watch for Bellemare to crack.


You hear it here first...

Separtists Begin Campaign of Organized Intimidation

Campaign financing rules in Quebec provide for a maximum $3000 per taxpayer (recently lowered) and for the publication of the names of those who make political contributions to provincial parties.

While the law is designed for maximum transparency, like many good ideas, there remains a distinct possibility of abuse and the recent actions of the militant Reseau de resistance du Quebecois, (RRQ) has used the list of names to undertake a campaign of intimidation and harassment.

The radical separatist group has published the names of donors to the Liberal party who have made the maximum $3000 donation over the last two years. In addition they have published their home addresses and identified their business affiliation in some cases.

The RRQ has sent a letter to each of the 780 people, chastising them and holding them responsible for the Premier's decision not to hold an inquiry into alleged corruption. In addition, the RRQ invited it's members, to letter bomb these donors to add pressure.   Link

"We have launched a website (donsliberaux.resistancequebecoise.org) that identifies you as large donor to the Liberal Party of Quebec. Your name is there as is your home address, public information that the Chief Electoral Officer provides. On this site, we denounce corruption and Jean Charest who refuses to shed light on the scandals afflicting his administration. We invite people to copy us and put pressure on you and demand that you listen at last to the people. Because your leader speaks only the language of money, perhaps you the financiers 0f the Liberal party, can convince him.
I hope this letter has provided you an understanding that in becoming a generous donor to the Liberal party, you have become a target."

"...The day major donors will be able to convince Jean Charest to obey the people, we will close the site. And then you can find peace."

"I hope you understood that it is likely that many other people will follow suit and will also write to you"

As you can see the letter highlights the image of the infamous 'patriot' brandishing a rifle that was used in the various FLQ terrorist manifestos. Very subtle, indeed. CBC STORY

Sending, a letter emblazoned with a terrorist symbol, to somebody's home is a threat and beyond mere protest. It is intimidation, no different than a Mafia type warning you on the phone not to bid on a certain contract.
Of course, this is Quebec and nothing will likely come of it. The police will run away from the file as fast as they can.

Of course the RRQ will claim that it isn't intimidation, because they cleverly make no threats. It reminds me of the Mafia enforcer who walks up to your home and shows you a picture of your children, asking how they are, then asks if you are still interested in supporting a certain candidate.

It is thuggery, plain and simple. Patrick Bourgeois et als, are thugs of the lowest order.

Intimidation is a two way street, it wouldn't be that hard to create a website with the names and addresses of RRQ members, so that others may respond to the intimidation in kind.

It wouldn't be that difficult to make life and careers hell for RRQ members.

It's an idea......

Montreal Going in Opposite Direction of Toronto

A while back I wrote a blog piece advancing the notion that Montreal is a better place to live than Toronto. Read Why Montreal is Better than Toronto.

A lot of that was based on geography and Montreal's advantage of having a huge park in the center of the city à la Central Park and it's proximity to cottage country, chock full of lakes and mountains. Another fact that influenced my piece was the cheaper price housing and the more 'progressive' thinking of Montreal, making it a more livable city.

But there's always the danger of too much of a good thing and sadly Montreal has clearly gone off the deep end in undertaking feel-good lifestyle projects that are ill-conceived and unaffordable.

So while Montreal is headed in a direction whereby it is orienting itself to serve one sector of it's population, the bicyclists, the granolas, the students and the poor, Toronto, through the election of its new mayor, is reasserting its policy of supporting wealth creation and it's related benefits.

While Montrealers crow about their bicycle lanes as the be-all and end-all, the inconvenience to drivers and the damage done to the economic well-being  of the city is largely ignored.

The massive elimination of lanes and parking spots continues to have a large, yet unmeasured impact that few elected officials dare to acknowledge. The cost of the massive construction project that created these bike lanes is borne by motorists and homeowners as taxes spiral up, ending in an assault of the wallets of the minority that pays. Of course cyclists pay nothing, either for the maintenance or construction of these paths as if it is their God-given right to have others pay their freight.

And so Mayor Tremblay announced that come January, a new tax will be levied on every car registered in Montreal. He also advised homeowners that taxes would rise between 4% and 8%

In Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's first act as mayor was to announce that the city's car tax would be eliminated and that taxes would be frozen for the coming year.

If ever there were two cities going in opposite directions, it is Montreal and Toronto.

While Montreal extols the social benefits of bike lines and public transit, Toronto has decided to back the automobile and halt any thought of bike lanes on busy streets.

Toronto's new populist mayor Rob Ford

To Montrealers Rob Ford may as well be the devil incarnate, his pronouncements so shockingly at odds with what the current thinking is in Montreal. It's clear that  both cities are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Like Montreal, Toronto has chosen to represent the interest of a sector of the population, this time the taxpayers, those who actually pay the bills.
These people have a different agenda, seeking lower taxes, efficient city management and a desire for Toronto to be a place where wealth creation remains a priority.

The Toronto mayor was unequivocal, cyclists and motorists will always be at war. Backing cyclists who return no money to the city, and tramways that choke the streets, means that the economic well-being will be adversely affected.

Here are some  Rob Ford  more interesting remarks; Link

"My campaign was based on a simple idea, that city hall should respect the taxpayer," Ford said


"...we're not going to take away parking spaces for bike lanes!" Link


"Cyclists are a pain in the ass to the motorists. Let's be quite frank.... There's this huge animosity between the motorists and the cyclists.... and it's never going to go away. Link


"Toronto taxpayers expect the wasteful spending and the annual tax increases to come to an end. Toronto taxpayers do not want a larger budget and more spending," 


"I'm going to put money back in the hands of taxpayers."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the war on the car stops today, we will not build any more rail tracks down the middle of our streets."

"Expect the wasteful spending and the annual tax increses to come to an end. There will be no tax increase next year and there will be no cut in service."

If you are a Quebecker who finds these pronouncements frightening, consider that 30% of Montrealers live under the poverty line.
Since homeowner taxes or debt is what pays for grand projects, it's hard to understand how we can afford all these designer projects.

Currently Montreal's debt is almost 40% higher than that of Toronto and this not even considering that the latter is much bigger and richer. It remains to be seen, twenty years down the road, which city made the right decision.

I'm betting on Toronto.

Is Yves Michaud a Racist?

Imagine a government that legislates that right-handedness shall be the official policy of the state and that while left-handers will be tolerated, it's up to them to adapt to a province that is officially right handed.
The government's rationale is that since over 80% of the population is already right-handed, it makes for a more cohesive society if we were all the same.

And so the government requires that everybody who works in public must be able to use the right hand. Machinery should be built for right-handers alone and lefties are told that they must become ambidextrous, if they want to succeed in this province.

Most lefties sadly acquiesce, they use their right hand in public but switch back in the privacy of their home. Every time they rise up and argue for left-handed rights, the extremists come out to defend the government's policy.
These extremists are so radical that they believe that left-handedness should be driven out of children from the time they enter school. They tell lefties who complain that they should consider moving out of the province.

Now imagine a referendum, where this policy will be enshrined, the province will become even more radically right-handed.

The referendum fails by the narrowest of margins. The Premier, the sponsor of the failed referendum,  rails that it's those nasty left-handers that voted NO in the referendum, that they are to blame. If one would count only the votes of right-handers, the referendum would have been successful!

Years later,  a certain politician gives a radio interview where he expresses shock and dismay, that 95% of left-handers voted 'NO' in the referendum.
'How can it be that left-handers so massively rejected the right-hand manifesto?' He wonders aloud.

He meets a leader of the left-handed rights movement in the barbershop and chastises him for his community's rejection of the will of the majority.
"We are left-handers. Why on Earth would we vote against our own interests?" answers the leader"

"To show solidarity and respect for the majority, that's why!" snorts the politician.

And so meet Yves Michaud, a man who believes ethnics and anglos have an obligation to vote as francophones do, because...well....errr..... that's what he wants!

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Michaud, he is a longtime separatist of the old school. A good buddy  of René Lévesque, it was he who provided an alibi when the then Premier ran down and killed an unfortunate vagrant in the middle of the night, backing up Lésveque's story that he wasn't drinking that night. Hmmmm.....
Of course the police conveniently forgot to administer a Breathalyzer test on Levesque and the whole affair was hushed up rather conveniently. Hey, it's Quebec....

Michaud bounced around a bunch of government jobs, courtesy of Lésveque, for the next decade, but after losing a pile of dough in an investment scheme, which he blamed the banks for, he became a crusader, known as Robin des banques, insisting that bank directors become more accountable.

In 2000, Michaud, furious about how the vast majority of Jews (and other ethnics) voted in the referendum, made some injudicious comments on a radio show, complaining that Jews acted as if they were the only people to suffer a holocaust.
 He complained that in Jewish areas of Montreal, absolutely nobody voted in favour of the referendum, nobody at all. According to Michaud the reason for this phenomenon;

"There are three reasons for this: the first is a rejection phenomenon. They reject us completely. The second is that there is a feeling of hatred. The third is that they have understood nothing of what they said."  

A couple of days later he re-iterated these remarks in an ad hoc submission before the Estates General on Language. He nastily accused the B'nai Brith of being extremist and anti-Quebec and his tone as well as the content of his remarks enraged politicians of all stripes. Many in the Parti Quebecois were sensitive to opening themselves up to charges of racism.

This was the trigger of the so-called Michaud Affair

Lucien Bouchard, the new sovereignist Premier, had enough of the radical Michaud and looked to dump him from the party as well nixing the possibility of him running as PQ candidate in Mercier riding.

The next day, in the National Assembly, Bouchard ordered his caucus to support a motion of censure put forward by Lawrence Bergman, a Jewish Liberal member of the Assembly. 

"That the National Assembly condemns, without nuances, clearly and unanimously, the unacceptable remarks made with regard to ethnic communities, particularly in respect of the Jewish community maintained by Yves Michaud at hearings of the Estates General on French in Montreal, December 13, 2000" LINK

And ever since, Michaud has been wearing been the goat horns of a denounced racist. It hasn't been easy for him, he's remained heart-broken and bitter over the label of a racist.

Michaud soldiers on, trying to have that resolution overturned with the aide of a large group of supporters which has been mobilized to help rehabilitate his 'good' name and force the National Assembly to reverse the condemnation.

The rehabilitation of Michaud has become a cause celebre, with supporters painting him as modern day Alfred Dreyfus, the wrongly convicted and betrayed French military officer.
In the finest tradition of Emile Zola's J'accuse!, letters and books have been written in his defence.

But is Michaud guiltless?

The essential question remains... Were Michaud's statements racist?

I think I have to quote Robert Libman, ex mayor of the predominantly Jewish Montreal suburb of City of Côte Saint-Luc, who called Michaud "a sovereignist dinosaur".

While none of Michaud's statements can be construed as antisemitic, per se, his tone was certainly nasty.

He puts forward the disturbing notion that ethnics and anglophones 'owe' a certain measure of respect to the francophone majority and as such have an obligation to act as the francophone majority, especially when it comes to voting.

At best this attitude is paternalistic and at worst, racist.

While Michaud is shocked and dismayed at the massive rejection of sovereignty by anglos and ethnics, I remain surprised that even one person from these communities voted YES.

What sane left-hander, would vote for a right-handed agenda that discriminated against them

There is a certain rage that exists in the sovereignty camp against anglos and ethnics who are blamed for the failure of the last referendum. Jacques Parizeau summed it up rather succinctly in his referendum night speech when he blamed the loss on "money and the ethnic vote"(with 'money' a clear euphemism for Anglophones.)

That rage is based on the concept that minorities shouldn't have the right to confound the will of the majority. Minorities should vote in the best interest of the majority, and unlike francophones, forgo their own selfish interests.

That being said, I must say that I do feel some sympathy for Mr. Michaud.
He seems genuinely hurt and humiliated by the charge of racism and true racists aren't particularly troubled by such condemnations.

But until he understands why left-handers will never vote for a right-handed agenda, he is doomed to arrive at his faulty conclusions.
Espousing his opinion that we are somehow wrong and unfair by voting in our own best interest, is patently foolish and supposes that only francophones have that right.

That may not be racism, but it certainly is wrong.