Terrorist Inspires RRQ Intimidation Campaign

Today the word 'terrorist' is bandied about flippantly to describe just about anybody who uses force of arms in any context at all and ranges from the extreme to the benign.

Recently in Quebec, Marc Lepine the serial killer in the École Polytechnique massacre, was described as a terrorist instead of the deranged and disturbed killer that he was. Un acte terroriste antiféministe, 

Colonel James Angus, at the opposite end of the scale of violence was described as a terrorist for his decidedly angry rants against Francophones.  
Canada is often described by nationalists as a 'terrorist' state.Canada - un État terroriste.

In Quebec, everyone seems to fit the label of terrorist, except the actual few who fit the definition, like FLQ members who actually perpetrated over 300 acts terrorism, including over two hundred bombings.

One such a man  is  Rhéal Mathieu, a FLQ member who in 1967 was sentenced to nine years in prison for terrorist activities including murder. Because of his unrepentant attitude, he served the whole sentence before being released.
After seemingly having been rehabilitated, he was given a pardon for his 'youthful indiscretions' but in the year 2001 he was again convicted and served time for being involved in the terrorist fire-bombing of the three Second Cup coffee shops over language issues, this time under the guise of another terrorist group, the Brigade d'auto-défense du français (BAF)  Read an interesting article describing Mr. Mathieu

Mr. Mathieu is also a prolific contributor to vigile.net where he continues to spout his radical agenda.

In light of the recent letter campaign, aimed to intimidate large Quebec Liberal Party donors, Mr. Mathieu proudly recounts how in 1998 he undertook another letter campaign, eerily similar to the one waged by the RRQ. Link fr


The 1998 letter-bombing campaign consisted of a group of militants hand delivering letters to Westmount addresses.
In Mr. Mathieus own words on vigile.net;

"In support of the letter campaign that the RRQ sent to Liberal party donors, I am reminded of a similar gesture made by the MLNQ (Mouvement de Liberation National du Quebec) on 17 May 1998. This date was the 35th anniversary of 'Operation Mailbox' in Westmount, led by the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) ,on  May 17, 1963: 10 bombs, 5 blasts, a Canadian army officer severely wounded."

And so this letter campaign conducted by the MNLQ was to commemorate and honour the 1963 terrorist attack.  Hmm...

"The MLNQ therefore decided to use this anniversary, to place in the mailbox of virtually every citizen of Westmount, a circular which you will find the text in the attached file ."

Click to Download the letter (French

 The letter, written in French, also sported the familiar 'Patriote" bearing arms, as you can clearly see in the attached copy .
The letter chastised the city of  Westmount and particularly Mayor Peter Trent for passing a resolution in favour of partition in the event of Quebec sovereignty.

"Indeed, you must think  about what you do when Quebec becomes a sovereign state. You should think carefully before acting, because if your city tries to partition, it is likely that your life will become hell. Your situation could be similar to that of American hostages in the embassy in Tehran, or at best, that of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip ."

It's pretty clear that today's RRQ letter bombing campaign aimed at Liberal donors is nothing more than a repeat of the 1998 action in Westmount.

If you don't remember the 1998 incident, don't worry, time has proven how event-changing the action really was- zero.
The same can be said for the current letter-bombing campaign, its no big deal.

Like the 1998 action, it is essentially a masturbatory effort meant to titillate and thrill those in the radical separatist movement. As for changing minds either in Westmount or among Liberal donors, the effect will be almost negligible.

If you are worried that the RRQ, an organization that has devilishly hinted at violence, but cleverly  never taken that step, now boasts a real terrorist among its ranks, don't be concerned.

The organization remains under strict watch by security services especially the Surete du Quebec who has no doubt placed many agents within its membership. I dare say that when Patrick Bourgeois orders take-out, the Surete listeners are commenting among themselves over his choice.

There's little doubt that there's nothing the RRQ can plan, or do, that the forces of order don't know about. The first whiff of real violence will trigger an arrest wave unseen since the October Crisis.

The RRQ is painfully aware of this fact and limits itself to bellicose roaring that can be safely ignored.

In his article Mr. Mathieu proclaims his letter-bombing campaign a stunning success. Why, I don't know, Westmount never did reverse its partition resolution.

Perhaps he measures success in the ability to deliver a letter. If that's the case, he could have been just as successful using the post office, just like the RRQ.

He categorized  the Westmount Anglos as 'paper tigers' but the reality is that the term more appropriately describes the RRQ, an organization full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

They are without a doubt a bunch of modern chikenshit pseudo-revolutionaries, nothing like militants of the past. They haven't got the stones.

The RRQ today is nothing more than weekend revolutionaries, who discuss independence over $5 lattes in coffee shops and Internet forums.
The sad part is that they are given so much play by the press, they are nothing.

Ignore them and they will talk only to themselves.

In fact, the next time they make a threat of violence, its time to face them down, the promise of confrontation more frightening to them than to the police.

To them I say;

Come on down, let's rumble!

More Cries of Francophone Discrimination In The NHL

Last year Bob Sirois, an ex-NHLer wrote a book entitled Le Québec mis en échec (Quebec Body-checked) that put forward the theory that Francophone Quebeckers are systematically discriminated against by NHL teams that prefer Anglophone Canadians over all others.
Using a variety of statistics he showed that this discrimination works against Francophones and players from Europe.
That book has now been translated into English under the title Discrimination in the NHL, although I can't imagine who'd read it, certainly not NHLers, who are, to say the least, not particularly scholarly.
Read my post about that book.. NHL Francophone Conspiracy Theory

For regular readers, you'll understand that I don't put much stock in statistics, they can be made to support just about any crackpot theory one can imagine.
I've read blog pieces wherein the author has claimed with statistical certainty that francophones dominate the NHL beyond their demographic numbers and I've even seen lists that include Roberto Luongo designated as a francophone...Argh....

I'm not conceding that francophones are under-represented in the NHL, but even if they were, so what?

The NHL is a business and the players chosen to represent teams are picked not only for their ability to contribute on ice, but also on their attraction to fans and ability to generate fan interest. Let us remember that 29 out of the 30 franchises are in North American English markets and must satisfy that fan base.

Let me ask readers who are hockey fans a legitimate question;
If you were a general manager and had the choice of acquiring Sydney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin, who would you pick?
Forget for a moment that Crosby is having a career year and Ovi an off year, historically both players have been neck and neck.
I'm sure that you, as well as the thirty general managers in the NHL, would all choose Crosby. While the on-ice talent may be similar, Crosby is light years ahead of Ovechkin in marketability and the  all-Canadian kid is a natural franchise builder. Not only is Ovechkin slightly challenged in the looks department, his command of English is off-putting and so it's natural that fan interest does not rise to the same level as for Crosby.
I would venture to say that even if this year's numbers were reversed and Ovi was blazing out ahead of Crosby, Sydney would still be a more valuable commodity to any NHL team.
That's just reality.

Before I get into the argument between francophones and anglophones, I'd like to say that this discrimination business just doesn't hold up.

Sports and entertainment are the two fields where talent wins out. When Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in baseball, it wasn't because of altruism on behalf of the Brooklyn Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey, it was because he believed Robinson could help his team win and it was worth the effort to suffer the consequences of racism.
Today times have certainly evolved, Blacks are over-represented in all the major sports of football, baseball and basketball. Does that mean that Whites are being discriminated against?

Today's NHL has an over representation of francophone goaltenders, likely because Quebec junior hockey is the best breeding grounds for their development in the world. On the other hand the Western Hockey leagues consistently produces the NHL's best defenceman. Why?..... dunno.
Francophones are well represented in the coaching and management ranks of the NHL. If there was discrimination wouldn't it start at the top?

There has been talk that the Quebec junior league, the QMJHL, is just not as good as the two other leagues in Canada, the Western Hockey League and the Ontario Hockey League. This opinion is hotly denied by francophone apologists but consider that in the annual tournament between these three major junior hockey leagues held annually to determine the best junior team in Canada,  the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has the worst record amongst the three leagues.  Ever since the Memorial Cup expanded to four teams, here are the winning number of championships per league.

WHL -    15 Memorial Cup championships
OHL -      9 Memorial Cup championships
QMJHL - 4 Memorial Cup championships

It’s pretty difficult to dispute those numbers, but of course somebody will.

Mr. Sirois predicted that the QMJHL would be humiliated again in the selection of Canada's Junior Team, set to compete against the world starting on Boxing Day. It didn't happen, with four players being selected to the team yesterday, not a shabby outcome.

At any rate, let's get back to the notion of Anglophone teams preferring Anglophones over Francophones or European talent. I've never heard an anglo sportswriter or hockey official enunciate that position, but I have heard francophone sportswriters making the case that the Montreal Canadians should hire more francophone players.

By far the most vociferous proponent of this concept is blowhard sports writer  Réjean Tremblay of La Presse, who has been screaming for more francophones on the Canadiens.

"À talent égal, on prend un francophone. Et en corollaire, on s'arrange pour ne pas échapper un seul bon franco au repêchage." 
 (Faced with equal talent, take the francophone. Never let a good francophone draft choice go) LINK 

Makes sense to me.
Quebec fans want to see more local talent that they can identify with. It makes for a better fan experience and will help increase fan loyalty.

Why is it okay for the Montreal Canadians to want to hire more francophones as opposed to the Toronto Maple Leafs wanting to hire more anglophones?

I suppose there will be someone in the comments section who will make the argument that it isn't the same thing at all and Quebec is a special case.

Yup, poor Quebec is always a special case.

No Problemo For English at Loto-Quebec Gaming Site ...................... but Hospitals.... Not so Fast!

Leave it to the insufferable Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste president, Mario Beaulieu to attack a re-habilitation hospital for offering services bilingually. 

The latest outrage concerns an institute that is the result of the 2008 merger of the Institut de readaption de Montreal and the Lindsay Rehabilitation Hospital.

Before the merger, the English hospital, was recognized as a bilingual institution under the rules of the Charter of the French Language. See the Montreal Gazette story.

The management, acting in extremely good faith, petitioned the government to be accorded bilingual status for the merged institution, so that they could continue to service English patients in their own language, as they pursued their various treatments.

This, of course is some sort of an outrage for French language militants who see it as another English plot.

Standing in front of the institution in Montreal, Mr. Beaulieu held a news conference where he recycled the hackneyed 'Sky is Falling' argument to bolster his position that Montreal is on the road to becoming an English city. 

Embarrassed management were none to pleased with the grandstand antics held in front of their institution.

"It's an emotional issue. It's a pity the SSJB is exaggerating things a bit." said  rehab centre spokesperson Pascal Mailho. 

Instead of attacking a hospital, why doesn't Mr. Beaulieu and his gang of merry men attack more visible government institutions?

The newly launched gaming site at Loto-Quebec. has no problem serving Anglos in the language of Shakespeare!
How very considerate!

Click to view catalogue

Also, I'd like to mention that the SAQ (Liquor Commission) is quite English friendly as well.

It publishes extremely well-conceived circulars that are included in English newspapers. The various publications instore are all available in English as well. Aside from that, these aren't cheapo translations à la Google Translate, it's clear that the advertising agency given the job used Anglophones to work the advertising campaign.

I also was pleasantly surprised to see a Happy Channuka sign, pasted on the window of the Cavendish Mall location, remarkable since Christmas seems to be verbotten!

As well, clerks in stores in anglo districts are all friendly and very bilingual. In fact anglos make up a reasonable proportion of employees in these stores, unlike other government departments.

Unlike the CSST, who has announced cancellation of English service , REVENUE QUEBEC has no problem speaking English even to business', when it takes your $$$$!

I guess when it comes to taking your money, language accommodation is not a problem.

Quebec's Most Popular Politician- Ugh!......

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, according to a survey conducted by the Leger Marketing company, Amir Khadir is Quebec's most popular politician. LINK

With a 45% approval rating, he scored the highest number of any noted politician in Quebec.

Now before I go on, it would be remiss not to comment on the sad state of affairs wherein not one politician received even the lowest of passing grades.
If this was high school, every single politician in the survey would have to be left behind.

I guess the survey is no surprise, Khadir is an earnest looking fellow whose calm and rationale demeanour, coupled with a simplistic message, and most importantly, no track record to defend, appeals to those dreaming of a Shangri-la Quebec, where everyone is honest, well-fed and where a five-day work week means one day paid as overtime.
A world where rich people and other Canadians pay for everything and where the meek dictate how the money is collected and spent. A world where the provincial deficit disappears over time instead of being passed down to future generations and where the Montreal Canadiens compete each year in the Stanley Cup finals against the mythical Quebec Nordiques, both teams boasting twenty francophones on each team. A place where Quebeckers celebrate their uniqueness by driving around in electric cars on potholed, yet billboard free streets.
A province where every home is heated with environmentally clean electricity, provided free to all but the rich, who will bear the responsibility for the entire bill.

This is Amir Khadir.
Salesman extraordinaire, one who makes the salesmanship talents  of the Music Man or Bernie Madoff seem amateurish, by comparison.

I give him his due, no politician is better at pedalling bullshit and distorting reality than Khadir. So well has he hidden his true self, that the majority of supporters are either unaware or pooh-pooh charges that he is an unrepentant pinko of the first order.
Protected by a fawning press, otherwise known as 'La Clique de Plateau,' he easily tosses aside legitimate questions about his true beliefs and agenda for a socialist worker's paradise.

Nobody ever questions the good doctor, save a precious few like Eric Duhaime, who like the legendary Emile Zola's shouts of J'ACCUSE goes largely unnoticed.

The real Amir Khadir is far from his public personna, a 9/11 Truther who believes (along with his communist family, including the lovely Nima Machouf) that Israel and the United States bombed the World Trade Center, he now however prefers to keep these opinions to himself, lest he open himself up to ridicule. Link

A testament to his slickness is his recent non-condemnation of the Reseau de Resistance's intimidation campaign against large Liberal Party donors. See my post.

When asked to react, Khadir smoothly replied that he wouldn't support a National Assembly motion to condemn the RRQ for it's actions, because it wouldn't be fair, given that the RRQ wouldn't be given a chance to defend itself in the National Assembly and that the august body shouldn't be a court of law.
He then reminded all of the Michaud Affair,  to underscore the unfairness of these types of condemnations and even submitted his own motion asking the Parliament to revoke that censure, passed over a decade ago, in regard to Mr Michaud's supposed antisemitic utterings.

Very smooth...

But his high principles of fairness hasn't stopped Khadir from proposing his own motions of censure, when it served his purpose;

 "....We proposed a motion condemning unequivocally the action of the Israeli government's deadly raid against a flotilla of peace. We then asked Quebec to suspend the agreement, signed in 2007, which provides Israel with considerable commercial benefits."- Amir Khadir  LINK

And so Mr. Khadir's principles are more flexible than he'd have us believe.

I didn't expect Mr. Khadir to reject the RRQ's campaign of intimidation, such acts are right up his alley, but he should have been called out on his phony excuse.

What could we expect if Mr. Khadir ever achieved power?

Just look to the current situation in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a district in Montreal where Mr. Khadir's pinko friends have taken over.

The potty-mouthed Borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez has taken to hurling expletives at dissenting citizens in Council meetings, those who have the audacity to question the dubious decisions taken by social experimenters, bent on destroying the lives of merchants, shoppers and seniors in search of  a socialist/granola Garden of Eden. LINK

While the borough apparatchiks debate grander projects of socialist import, the concept of fixing giant holes in the street with exposed broken pipes for weeks on end is beyond the scope of the current council. LINK  

Watching these clowns operate in just one district of Montreal should sends chills down the spine of taxpayers, who alone bear the burden of the socialist folly.

Should Mr. Khadir and the Communist Quebec Solidaire ever win a measure of power, one could only imagine the meltdown. No doubt their first order of business would be to nationalize Westmount mansions à la Doctor Zhivago, in order to turn the palaces over to the proletariat.

Perhaps we should draft an outsider as a counter-foil, perhaps someone like Tony Accurso, who could form a new political party.
He's a man who has proven he can get things done and his savoir-faire and iron fist would keep those pesky unions and lazy bureaucrats on their toes.
No doubt that his party would be corrupt, but it would still be a lot cheaper than a clownish communist regime.

To all the buffoons (yes there are a lot of them) who support Amir Khadir and his Communist band of merry comrades, all I can say is, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.....

In Quebec, Hypocrisy is Spelt "A-S-B-E-S-T-O-S"

To listen to the various interviews of old time residents of Asbestos, Quebec, the asbestos capital of the world,  one might be pardoned for thinking that the much maligned mineral is as harmless as Play-doh.

Interviewee after interviewee explain on television news programs how they've been working around asbestos their whole lives with no ill effects and that the campaign against the product is ill-founded. Yessir!

I'm not going to insult readers by presenting the opposite view, the scientifically accepted fact that asbestos is a dangerous product that well deserves it's placement as a banned substance in the industrialized world.
If you'd really need convincing about the life-threatening consequences of living with asbestos, READ THIS

The current debate about the opening of the defunct JEFFREY MINE, to re-start production is one of the saddest and clearest cases of the politics of hypocrisy that I can recall. LINK

At stake are 450 direct jobs and 1200 indirect jobs in a decidedly depressed area of the province. The town of Asbestos grew up around the mine and the mineral's downfall led to  a similar downward spiral in the fortunes of the residents.

It is just amazing to see the tap dancing occurring by politicians trying to justify the project, based on the idea that the product can be handled and used safely under the right conditions.
But those conditions don't exist where the product will be exported to, third world countries like

India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where "little or no protection exist for workers or exposed populations. LINK

The minister in charge is hemming and hawing, claiming a decision on the required 58 million loan guarantee hasn't been made, but the pressure is on.  

Before giving a green light to the project, he demanded that local politicians take responsibility for the decision, in a sad effort to spread around the inevitable blame and somehow shirk responsibility.

"This is not a prerequisite, but it is a desirable condition that there is community support for the operation of chrysotile. I think it's a major consultation that will come in weighing the government's decision."- Clement Gignac, Minister of Economic Development.

What is hard to stomach is the media lobbying campaign that is being waged by forces in favour of the return of the mine.
The Quebec government has for years provided the major funding for a propaganda website that promotes asbestos.
The Chrysotile Institute 'strives for;'

"THE SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE USE OF CHYRSOTILE"

While medical journals like The Lancet condemn asbestos production as immoral, the Quebec government, the asbestos industry and all it's beneficiaries, stick their collective fingers in their ears, shouting the familiar child's chant of; 
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" 

"Although Canada will not expose its own citizens to asbestos, its plans to continue exporting the deadly substance to developing countries has drawn widespread condemnation."  Read the Lancet Article

Of course internationally, it is Canada that is suffering the black eye, not Quebec.

A demonstration was held on Thursday outside the Canadian embassy in London, England protesting the project. LINK 

 The story is reverberating around the world, as far away as Australia;

"A high-income country like Canada dumping their asbestos on countries where there are no health and safety regulations, the population is completely exposed to any sorts of hazardous exposure - it's pretty reprehensible," she said.
Ms Kazan-Allen says Canada has also blocked attempts by the World Health Organization to include white asbestos on a list that alerts nations if they are about to import hazardous substances.
Protests against the new Canadian mine have been held in Seoul and Tokyo and more are planned for Quebec, Paris and London". ABC News

Anti-asbestos activists from Asia came to Quebec to get  their message across;

"Millions of workers in the developing countries are going to be exposed to the asbestos which is being exported from Canada," said union activist Anup Srivastava from India.

It is utter hypocrisy for Quebec to complain about the Alberta Tar Sands at international conferences , while pedaling asbestos innocently on the world market, like a drug dealer, who maintains that the product can be used safely.
 
And so Quebec is somehow seen as Canada's green Garden of Eden, something that would be laughable if not so patently untrue.

"If Quebecers  felt pride seeing an Australian forest named  after Premier Jean Charest for his actions on climate change, would they be just as happy if one day we baptized a cemetery in the name of their first Minister to commemorate the victims of the Quebec asbestos in the world? " Link fr

What is more galling, is that this asbestos mess is being blamed on Canada internationally. The reputation of all Canadians is being sullied by a policy that wouldn't fly in any other province but Quebec.

I'd expect the Premier of Alberta to point out the irony and step up and condemn Quebec at some international conference himself, but perhaps he's too much of a gentleman.

We all know what would be if the shoe were on the other foot....