Habs Hit Panic Button

Randy Cunneyworth - Sacrifical lamb?

You probably have to live in hockey mad Quebec to understand the enormity of something so mundane as the firing of a coach of a local sports team.
The newspapers, radio and television are talking of nothing else and for once, reflect accurately what Quebecers want to talk about.

As is always the case, language rules and the first topic of discussion is new coach Randy Cunneyworth's lack of French.
Lost in the discussion is the fact that he wasn't given a real mandate, just the opportunity to finish out the year with the elusive promise of 'we'll see what happens.'

The decision to replace Jacques Martin was perhaps no surprise, but the promotion of Cunneyworth was. It signals a certain level of panic by general manager Pierre Gauthier who now appears to be working to save his own job.

Gauthier admitted that he's been mulling over the change for a couple of weeks, so he had plenty of time to look around for a French-speaking coach, something even he, in the Ivory Tower of the executive offices of the Bell Centre understands is necessary.

But as I mentioned in a post last week, when it comes to francophone coaches, at the moment, the pickings are slim, the most talented already having been used up and spewed out by the impatient Habs or otherwise gainfully employed and under contract by other teams.

A bunch of former francophone coaches are working for the RDS network (the French version of TSN) and on a post-game show on Saturday night, recounted the circumstances of their firings and the residual bitterness that they still harbour.

Since 1985 the Habs have had twelve coaches averaging just two years, a shameful display of panic and immaturity that reflects not on the coaches, but management. The average amount of games coached by these gentlemen is less than 200 each.

Having grown up watching the legendary Toe Blake and Scotty Bowman coach for a combined 23 years behind the bench, it's a bit depressing to watch the panic and fear that rules upper management's decisions vis-a-vis coaches this last quarter century.

In the 39 years between 1940 to 1979, the Canadiens had but four coaches and won sixteen Stanley Cups and by the way, of the 23 Stanley Cups won by the Canadiens, 19 were teams led by Anglophone coaches.

And so it seems that the Canadiens have given up on the year, a shame because the fans haven't quite been ready to throw in the towel just yet.
No doubt Cunneyworth understands his position as caretaker, holding the fort until a francophone can be found.

It appears that last year's wonder boy, Tampa Bay Lightening coach Guy Boucher has gone from hero to zero with the team wallowing in last place and might be available sooner than later.
The same goes for Bob Hartley who is having a dreadful time over in Switzerland and is likely to be canned soon.

These two, in my mind, are the most likely candidates to take over in the off season.

By the way, the Canadiens never considered Patrick Roy, who admitted that his phone hasn't rung.

As for  Cunneyworth's lack of French, the reaction was mostly subdued with most commentators warning that if he turns around the team, he might be tolerated, but if things remain the same or deteriorate, he will be mercilessly hounded out of the job.

Perhaps he can turn the season around, the 2011 version of the Canadiens have been hopeless under-performers, with player after player turning in sub-par performances, so far.

Was that Martin's fault?.... It remains to be seen.

Of course injuries haven't helped, but blaming the Markov fiasco, wherein the 5 million dollar plus man hasn't played a single game this year, is no excuse. Other teams such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have shown how good they can be despite injuries that make the Canadiens look healthy.

But  the long term looks grim for the team, francophone or anglophone coach aside. The team has tied up millions of dollars on long-term contracts for players who are notorious for their lack of production or absence through injury.

Perhaps the saddest of all player moves was the acquisition of ex-Maple Leaf castoff, the overpaid Thomas Kaberle.
There was a time that the Leafs were manned by Montreal Canadiens rejects and sadly, that seems to have reversed.

As for language, get ready for some interesting times as the Press spoils to crucify the Habs new Anglophone coach.
After the 5-3 loss to the Devils in Cunnyworth's first game, he was already criticized for running the same old game plan as Martin.
After one game!

For that matter, there will be no honeymoon with the fans either. In the third period with the hometown Habs trailing the Devils, the new coach was serenaded by the boo-birds, something not heard in the Bell Centre for quite a while.

As the Habs melt down, one of the last vestiges of Quebec pride is fading to black.
At least the fans and the Press can content themselves with blaming the fiasco on an Anglo coach.

Pipe Dreams & Fantasies..French in Multinationals

 French in Multinationals -Fantasy Island?

Over a year ago I wrote a piece about Rejean Tremblay, the dean of Quebec sportscasters who demanded in a published piece that the Montreal Canadiens francize the team by hiring more francophones to better reflect its fan base. Le CH abuse des Québécois {Fr}

In that article, he suggested that the Habs General manager implement the so-called 'Savard doctrine'(if ever it really existed,) whereby given a choice between two equal players, the team always hired the francophone.
Ironically, in another article, Mr. Tremblay complains that English NHL teams are guilty of discriminating against francophones by hiring English players before francophones. Hmm..... 

At any rate, it's a neat concept that sounds attractive if you're ready to suspend your belief in statistical probability. Unfortunately, among Mr. Tremblay's readers, there's plenty of those.

Only a dreamer or an idiot could conceive of a unique situation that repeats itself often enough, wherein two equally talented players are made available at the same time, both the same age, playing the same position and making the same salary, one being French, the other speaking English or Globish.
In the real world, that situation presents itself less often than a Henri Richard birthday. 

But the idea is a narrative that sells rather neatly to those who dream of Christmas past and the reincarnation of the Flying Frenchman. Ah, perchance to dream!

Alas for Mr. Tremblay, it is a pipe dream, and I suspect he knows it. His missive was actually a call to choose French players first, regardless of talent, but in the modern era of globalization, the only way to francize a team, is to take a qualitative hit.
Considering that the Canadiens aren't a very good team and haven't been for a decade, perhaps it doesn't matter and for Mr. Tremblay, if your going to stink, you may as well stink in French!

While on the subject of French or the Canadiens, is there any coach in the NHL who more deserves to be fired this year then the hapless Jacques Martin, for his ceaseless ability to get the worst out of his players?
It is very likely that his job remains safe only as long as there isn't a viable francophone out there ready to replace him, as the case appears to be, right now.
If Pierre Gauthier, the general manager (another horrible underachiever,) dared hire an anglophone to replace Martin, he'd be ridden out of town on a rail.
And so Mr. Tremblay seems to have gotten his way....underachieving francophones kept on because more talented anglophones are not an option. Bon Chance!

What does any of this have to do with French in the Head offices of Montreal's leading multinational companies?
A lot.

This week, in a televised debate on the subject of French in head offices, I heard another fanciful suggestion of the same sort, described by the insufferable Jean-François Lisée.Watch the debate in French

Mr. Lisee admitted that companies who operate on a world-wide basis must deal with their branch offices and customers in English, but demanded that once the telephone is hung up, the employees revert to French among themselves. Any employee or executive promoted to the head office from the field would be forced to go to the Sagenauy for six months to learn French. Bon voyage!
And so everything coming into the office would have to be translated into French and then everything leaving the office would have to be translated into English.

Sounds like a plan....for idiots.
I don't know if Mr. Lisée knows how ridiculous he sounds, but it's a good story for language militants, always willing and able to jump through hoops to make an argument for French.

Looking at the suggestion dispassionately, even Mr. Lisée would have to admit that in a situation like this, French is completely superfluous, an unnecessary layer of expense and bother.
If that's the price of locating in Quebec, what company president could justify staying?

Unfortunately for Mr. Lisée and French language supremacists, most CEOs don't give a tinker's cuss about French or English, the only language that counts, is money.

A few days ago I described how the exodus of English head-offices started soon after Sun Life made a very public exit from Montreal, much to the consternation of the then PQ government.
Hundreds of other companies followed suit, but they did so without a splash and as the old saying goes- 'Out of sight, out of mind.'

The problem of head offices leaving or choosing not to locate in Quebec was largely swept under the carpet, the companies involved relieved not to discuss the matter and the government conveniently forgetting to own up to the economic impact of French language restrictions.


To Mr. Lisée and other French language supremacists, the loss of head offices unwilling to put up with this nonsense is a reasonable price to pay for the preservation of French in the workplace.
But no politician or French language hardliner will admit as such in public and Quebecers have been largely shielded from the truth, but not the economic impact.

I came across this devastating article in the Montreal Gazette's business section, which lays bare the economic reality of these policies;

"The small city of Cornwall, Ont., 120 kilometres southwest of Montreal, has been on a growth spurt for more than a decade as retailers open new distribution centres there.

The facilities are being built to serve the Quebec market yet they're located just beyond the border rather than in Quebec itself.....

....The unsaid thing in the industry is that people just don't want unions in their distribution centres," Wulfraat said. "When you talk to the leaders of these companies, that's their foremost concern."

Added to that is the extra cost and effort required to operate in French, which can be avoided in a place like Cornwall.

"Quebec, in my opinion, has some fundamental disadvantages working against it," he said.

Read the rest of the story and then come back....Montreal Gazette  Alternate Link

To be sure, language is not the only reason that these distribution centres are placed outside Quebec, perhaps the biggest concern, unmentioned in the article, is Quebec's anti-scab law that forbids replacement workers.
In Quebec, in the event of a strike, the company cannot hire workers to replace strikers, while in Ontario such is not the case.
It's a massive concern to management, because a striking distribution centre can bring down the entire retail operation, leaving the union with unprecedented power to cripple the company.

But language as an issue, remains a huge concern, though company officials don't like to talk about it. A Quebec based distribution centre would be obligated to operate in French, an anomaly in a company that operated dozens of similar facilities throughout North America.
Let's face it, Target or Wal-Mart isn't that interested in sending a transferee to Chicoutimi for six months to learn French and they aren't interested in the added expense and bother of operating in French, not if they don't have to.
Unfortunately for Mr. Lisée and his supporters, they don't have to.

I know these facts are unpleasant to those wishing to see Quebec thrive as a French society, but as they say, 'Them's the breaks.'

Recently it was revealed that the OQLF gave Bombardier dispensation from the requirement to operate in French at its head office, a tacit admission that the company could not or would not comply with the law.
Of course the agreement wasn't widely publicized and for good reason. It demonstrated an admission that in some cases, the rules of Bill 101 and French in the head office, leaves companies with no choice but to exit the province.
Secondly, the publication of the special dispensation might very well trigger an avalanche of requests by other companies for the same treatment, undermining the holy tenet of French in the workplace.
For the OQLF it's a lose/lose situation.

Where to go and what to do to preserve and promote French in the workplace is a sticky wicket. For language militants, the solution is cut and dried, French at all times and damn the jobs.

For a responsible government, preserving French in the workplace must be tempered with another obligation, the obligation to create a society where companies can flourish and prosper and where decent paying jobs are preserved.

By opening up the debate about language Mr. Lisée and friends do Quebecers a service, although they may come to rue their decision to open Pandora's box.

Preserving French in the office can no longer be characterized as zero-sum or free, that much is now clear.
What will happen when a company like Bombardier says no to the OQLF and threatens to leave?
Will we have a repeat Sun Life and will some Quebecers have to confront the reality of working in English or collecting unemployment in French?

French militants like Mr. Lisée have  opened a debate that should have been held three decades ago -
French at what cost?

Mr. Lisée and friends, can weave their pipe dreams and fantasies which make good print and television, but in the real world, the cold hard reality of English is a fact of life that Quebecers must confront and unfortunately, not on their own terms.

Defending Quebec Values?

Jean-Marc Fournier...begging Conservatives for changes.

Recently the Quebec justice minister, Jean-Marc Fournier went to Ottawa on no less than two occasions to demand beg that Ottawa soften the Conservatives new crime bill, C-10, to reflect the values of Quebec society.

Mr. Fournier has the backing of the Quebec corrections industry, the experts and the media, who almost all universally opposes the government's plan to get tougher on crime.

But despite the almost blanket condemnation of the crime bill in the Quebec Press, the question whether Mr. Fournier's position actually reflects "Quebec Values" remains open.
Do the majority of Quebecers really support Quebec's kid glove approach to criminals or does the public support the get tough on crime proposals of the Conservatives?

While Mr. Fournier has a brief to speak for the Quebec government, he is also telling all who'd listen, that the Quebec government's position, vis-a-vis crime and punishment is backed by most Quebecers. Hmm....

Quebec’s Justice Minister left a meeting in disappointment and anger after his federal counterpart again rejected his demands for changes to Ottawa’s crime bill on Tuesday, saying: “I don’t recognize myself in this Canada.”

Jean-Marc Fournier said his province and the federal government have two visions of justice after Rob Nicholson refused during a meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday to change provisions of Bill C-10 that deal with young offenders....Mr. Fournier said Quebec’s values of leniency and rehabilitation for young offenders were being shunted aside in favour of tougher sentences. Link

Of course the following reaction from separatists was to be expected;  

In Quebec's national assembly Tuesday, the Parti Quebecois argued that the province's pro-Canada premier, Jean Charest and his justice minister get no respect from Ottawa.

"It's clear: the values of Quebec and of Canada are different," said PQ Leader Pauline Marois.

"But the Canadian Constitution — which we never signed — is clear: criminal law is federal, and is created by a Parliament in which Quebec will become an ever-smaller minority." LINK

Réjean Pelletier, a professor of political science at Laval University in Quebec City, said that Quebec and Ottawa are likely to continue disagreeing on crime matters, especially the treatment of young offenders.

“Ottawa’s strategy on justice issues just doesn’t fly in Quebec,”  Link

Running point for Ottawa's attempt to get tough on crime is Quebec Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu who was appointed to the Senate almost two years ago by Harper with a mandate to spearhead efforts to get tougher on criminals.
The mild mannered senator is an-ex Quebec civil servant whose comfortable and ordered life was shattered by the brutal murder of his daughter Julie, who was kidnapped and murdered after being held captive for a 12-hour session of brutality and rape.
Hugo Bernier, who murdered Julie had been convicted of rape two years earlier, but was paroled just three months into his sentence and murdered Julie while on probation.

One of the key spokesmen for the Conservatives’ tough-justice agenda is Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, a retired senior Quebec civil servant. Named to the Senate last January, the 62-year-old Boisvenu founded the Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association after the 2002 kidnap/rape/murder of his daughter Julie. In 2005, after he and his wife Diane lost their only other daughter in a traffic accident, Boisvenu wrote Survivre la innommable (Surviving the unnameable). In it, he wrote of the lack of support for the families of victims of crime. The book has become a touchstone for thousands of Quebeckers facing similar losses. He has been relentless in his criticism of lax police work and the judicial system’s lack of consideration for victims of crime and their families. Since becoming a senator, Boisvenu has been touring Canada to explain why the system punishes victims and their families — and how the Harper government is proposing to change it with a series of bills that end early parole and further limit judicial discretion. Link

Mr. Boisvenu represents the other side of the argument, the opinion that doesn't get much play or support on television or in the Press in Quebec. It's the opinion that believes that coddling criminals is the wrong thing to do and it actually reflects the attitude of most Quebecers who fall into line with what most ordinary Canadians also believe.

From his website;

“The problem isn’t crime, but recidivism. I’ve toured federal penitentiaries and provincial jails across the country...60 percent of the inmates are serving a second or subsequent term — that’s what’s costing us. As in education, it’s not success that costs us, but dropouts. Criminals returning a second, third, fourth time — they cost us because we’ve failed.

I have three terms in my vocabulary when I talk about the Canadian prison system:

Tough justice -Let’s not confuse laxity with tolerance.
Responsibility - The criminal is responsible for his rehabilitation, not the state. All the privileges the prison system currently offers — television, the trailer (conjugal visits), retraining programs — must be earned. The criminal must merit these privileges as a function of his rehabilitation.
Imputability - No payroll without participation, without effort. No unmerited automatic parole. Everything must be earned. We have a prison system more or less managed by committees of criminals. We’re buying the peace. That’s what’s costing us.
We must re-establish a set of conditions in our prison system so that these individuals have no desire to return. The first priority of the prison system should be the protection of the population, followed by the rehabilitation of the criminal. We’ve got it backwards!

To counter Mr. Boisvenu's position, his opponent's have made some pretty bizarre claims and stooped pretty low with some nasty personal attacks.
He has been berated publicly by some in the Press as having no legitimacy in the debate because he is unelected. This ironically from an unelected Press who usually complain that senators are lazy and do nothing to earn their salary.
He has also been cruelly accused of being vengeful because of his personal tragedy, and overly biased as a result.

But almost 80% of Quebecers say that they want a tougher approach on crime. Link{Fr}
So it appears that when it comes to values pertaining to crime and punishment, Quebecers fall neatly in line with other Canadians who also want harsher treatment of criminals by the same wide margin.
It seems that the only people out of line with these 'values' are those in the Quebec government and in the press who mislead the public by falsely claiming that Quebecers back their soft on crime approach.

Finally there's been some pushback. Marc-Bellemare, the ex-Liberal justice minister who accused the Charest government of political interference in the selction of judges, came out sharply in favour of the crime bill.

"The Conservatives' Bill C-10 will enhance the credibility of the judiciary in Quebec, where the fight against crime is the last priority of the Charest government." Link

He went on to counter the arguments made by opponents of the Bill;

Minimum sentences- "Is there one Quebecer who is against a minimum sentence of a year for a coach or a summer camp instructor who sexually abuses a minor? I would like to meet him" 

Publically identifying a teenaged criminal "The court has to approve  this. I have five children and I'd like to know if there's a 17 year old bum who killed two people, at risk of recidivism, living three blocks from my home. " 

Adult sentences to minors -"It's not automatic, as Minister Fournier suggests. It's for cases of extreme violence. The Crown must apply and the judge must agree... " 

Reduced discretion for judges- "For 30 years, Ottawa has increased the maximum penalties for a host of offences, but it isn't reflected in the severity of sentences. In reality, judges can choose between one and 14 years in prison. That's overly discretionary. " 

Quebec values- "Minister Fournier did not speak on behalf of all Quebecers in Ottawa. I think Quebec values ​​are consistent with this bill." 

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu- "I agree with him when he said that Quebec is soft on criminals." 

The 'defense lobby'- "Where was the lobby when I heard Guy Cloutier tell the parole board that he never was attracted to children and then released after serving 29 of the 42-month prison for which he was convicted? " LINK{Fr} .

Finally on Mario Dumont's nightly conservative talk show, Eric Duhaime did a nice job debunking the theory that Quebec's soft approach on crime and punishment is somehow more successful than elsewhere in Canada.
It isn't..

The idea that Quebec 'values' as pertaining to crime are different from Canadians is another great lie being shopped by a media that tries to sell their opinion as fact.

The Press and the politicians would have us believe that Quebecers are happy with revolving door prisons, just like they try to convince us that we should be afraid of bilingualism and that English store names should offend us.

As the old song goes; 'Tain't so, Honey, 'Tain't So!

Anglophobia a Cautionary Tale for Head Offices

Bank of Montreal, Head office in Toronto

Way back when I was a high school student, I remember a particularly brutal food fight in the cafeteria that ended up causing several thousands of dollars in damage.  As food whizzed around the room, it didn't take long for the mayhem to degenerate and soon trays and chairs were being tossed around with reckless abandon.
I recall thinking at the time that everyone had simply lost their mind.
Caught up in the hysteria, we see normally rational people doing the stupidest of things just because everyone else is doing it.

We saw this mob mentality take over during the Vancouver hockey riots after the Canucks were eliminated last year and here in Montreal....well, we've had too many similar mindless riots to single any one out.

Watching the language debate spiral up to dizzying heights over the fact that just two highly placed employees of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, are unilingually English, I cannot help being overcome with the same feeling.
....Has everyone lost their mind?

Last year I thought the government insane for proposing a law to ban niqabs, considering that less than two dozen women actually wear them in public, but now a law is being proposed, triggered by just two language 'offenders' and calls into question the rationality of language supremacists, begging the question as to whether the language debate has spun dangerously and ridiculously out of control.

The recent witch hunt aimed at rooting out English in Head offices and government agencies reached new heights of folly with the Parti Quebecois actually proposing a law to eradicate the scourge of English in crown government corporations. Link{Fr}

All this over two employees!

Adding to the charged climate, a PQ loudmouth,  François Rebello, a sitting member of the National Assembly, has demanded that the government boycott the National Bank, all because the bank president decided to keep a unilingual English IT department in Montreal, rather than ship the jobs off to Toronto! Link{Fr}

I wonder if the 80% of the bank's employees, who work in Quebec(some 14,000 people,) appreciate a Quebec politician calling on the public to boycott the bank and put their jobs at risk!  
Could you imagine the outrage if a federal MP asked Canadians to boycott Quebec dairy products because there are too many separatists in Quebec!

Truly we have lost all sense of proportion and like during that food fight forty years ago I feel inclined to jump up on a chair and shout "STOP THE INSANITY!"

Hysteria... there's really no other way to describe the language pogrom that is sweeping the offices of Quebec's largest and most successful companies, where disaffected and passed over employees get to denounce their company like Nazi collaborators. They do so, encouraged by an eager Press, ready, willing and able to whip up a frenzy of controversy that will no doubt have the effect of killing the golden goose.

While the Caisse de dépôt has no choice but to knuckle under, other companies are able to exercise free will and the chilling damper on reason will no doubt affect decisions whether to locate in Quebec or elsewhere.
A couple of years ago the city of London, Ontario tried to convince Montreal's Shriner's Hospital to relocate to Ontario, with an incredibly generous financial offer, which Quebec was forced to better. Had the offer come from Toronto, the hospital would likely have moved, London being too out of the way, travel-wise, for the Shriners' clients.

While that tug-of-war played out favourably for Quebec, it was a rare and costly win, hundreds of other competitions for head offices, factories and companies occurs each day, with Quebec losing out, most of the time.

Today Montreal enjoys a booming video game industry, cultivated by long years of government subsidies and tax breaks.
This industry utilizes the highest level of information technology as well as the creative talent of superstar programmers and game conceptors, drawn from all over the world. It runs in English.
The video games produced, although translated into French and many other languages, are the creation of an English culture.
Conduct a language witch hunt and order this industry to operate in French and we can anticipate a lineup of cities begging to relocate the industry with a package of incentives that will more than make up the cost of moving.
It would be devastating.

Quebec would be well advised to recognize the unseen hand that renders legislation subservient to market forces. Losing a head office that never came because of language issues is just as painful as having one snatched away.

In our last French vs. English piece I told you that Air Canada was moving 160 jobs to Toronto, all without publicity, so as not to create another controversy.
Last Thursday, the union head, representing head office employees hit the panic button and fretted publicly that this move may just be the beginning of a total migration of Air Canada's head office to Toronto. Between language laws and market realities, it's probably just a matter of time.

So how important is it for Quebec to nurture those companies that do choose to keep their head offices in Montreal?
If one cares about economic prosperity I imagine it's of paramount importance.

By refusing to allow companies that operate internationally or in industries where English is de rigueur, the right to have run even the smallest of departments in English, the government has cleared the way for them to either pack up and move and worse still never even consider Montreal in the first place.

Well done!

On Thursday, as the witch hunt proceeded, La Presse revealed that Bombardier was given a special dispensation to operate part of its aviation business in English in Montreal.  Link{Fr}
A francophone employee complained to the newspaper that;

"These are people of exceptional talent, but who have no interest in learning our language. Never a 'Bonjour' or a 'Merci.' "

I guess 13,000 jobs makes a difference, even to the OQLF. (if not language supremacists)
But the question remains....what is the threshold.

Over at CGI, another technology giant based in Montreal, no such dispensation exists. Some employees are calling reporters to complain about English usage in the Head office. The company has 31,000 employees and 125 offices in 20 countries. Link{Fr}
Hellooooo Toronto?

Of course language militants don't care and in the name of linguistic purity are willing to forgo the benefits of tens of thousand of well-paying jobs.
I daresay that if an international company approached the government about locating a thousand employees in a new Montreal office with the proviso that 100 of the jobs would be English only, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Impératif français and all the other language supremicists would scream at the top of their lungs to reject the offer.

Sometimes I get the feeling that the separatists are trying to blow up the province economically, so that people suffer financially and unemployment rises, more will be attracted to the separatist pipe dream.
This is Quebec..

I remain in favour of Quebecers maintaining the right to work in French. Gone are the days of the master and slave.
But a law making French the language of work universal in all cases is counter-productive.

In an inter-connected world, the glue that binds is English. It's a realty that Quebec must face realistically and come to terms with the problem of jobs versus pride.

The answer to reasonable people is clear, it isn't exactly Sophie's Choice.

French versus English Volume 41

More English schools to close
At the same time that French-language militants ratchet up the hysterics, proclaiming that the sky is falling in on the French language, the English Montreal School Board started hearings on Monday at its head office to determine which schools it will close or merge in the coming years. Because of the effects of Bill101 and Bill 103 enrolment is down 20% in the last ten years.

"Starting Monday night, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) will hear from school communities as it decides whether to close, relocate, or merge them.
Seven schools are facing closure or merger and a handful more could be relocated.
The EMSB has said it must close several schools because of declining enrolment, which has dropped by 20 per cent in the last decade. "
 Read the rest of the story

Here's the sad list of prospective closure and relocations.

Monday, Dec. 5
Nesbitt School (closure)
Perspectives II High School (relocation)
St. Brendan School (closure)
St. Pius X Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Vincent Massey Collegiate (relocation)

Tuesday, Dec. 6
Carlyle School (closure)
Marymount Adult Education Centre (relocation)
Royal Vale School (relocation)
St. Raphaël School (relocation)

Wednesday, Dec. 7
James Lyng High School (closure)
Programme Mile-End High School (relocation)
St. Gabriel/St. John Bosco School (closure)
Vezina High School (relocation)

Thursday, Dec. 8
Advisory Committee on Special Education Services
Central Parents' Committee
Fraser Academy (closure)
Westmount Park district boundary

All this week, the scene at the EMSB headquarters was incredibly sad, with parent and teachers making presentations as to why their school shouldn't close, competing with other parents from other schools trying to do the same..

New assault on Christmas
The province of Quebec continues its assault on religion across the board and despite the Conservative government in Ottawa ordering SERVICE CANADA  to rescind an order to ban Christmas decorations, the writing seems to be on the wall. A senior member of Montreal's ruling party, proclaimed that decorations would be limited to 'generic' types of displays and so while the Christmas tree is out, the identical 'Holiday' tree is permissible Ugh!
The Montreal suburb of Town of Mont-Royal decided to pull it's Christmas and Hanukkah decorations in front of city hall after it received a complaint by a Muslim. The town should have called his bluff and offered to display a likeness of Mohamed (which actually is strictly verboten under Islamic law.) In fact, the Islamic faith has a ban on all physical representations of faith and so actually nothing can be displayed! Ha!

"The tree in front of City Hall will remain decorated. "We make a distinction between religious symbols and Christmas decorations, says Philippe Roy(the mayor). Christmas is religious for some, but for others it's cultural. There are non-Christians who have a Christmas tree. "  Really, is he kidding?    Link{FR}

Decor ban reversed for Service Canada in Quebec

TMR latest to refrain from religious decorations

Too much English at Urgences Santé
The union is complaining that  too much English is being used in the transmission of information between paramedics and dispatchers. A new protocol insists that if a patient calls the ambulance service and complains of 'chest pains,' that the paramedic be informed by the dispatcher that the condition is 'Chest pains' and not "douleur thoracique," a French translation. The rationale is to avoid translation errors.
Anybody see a problem here?

The l'Office québécois de la langue française, is looking to put and end to this practice.

Interestingly the article denotes that over one third of calls received by the ambulance service in Montreal and Laval are made IN ENGLISH. Link{Fr}
The head of the union of ambulance attendants  told a CTV reporter that almost HALF the calls made in this region are in ENGLISH! 

Strangely, this may be the most definitive proof that  the percentage of English speakers in Montreal and Laval is really much, much higher than we are led to believe! 

It backs up what I've always maintained, that if you count the territory west of Saint Lawrence Boulevard in Montreal, English is the majority language and this includes the downtown core! 

Short stuff

A mob of language militants demonstrated in front of a government office complaining that too many services were being offered in English to companies, contrary to Bill 101.
As most government agencies are withdrawing English services and removing their bilingual websites, one agency stubbornly refuses.... the Tax department.
Readers, can anyone venture a reason why?

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In a story interestingly similar to that of KIF KIF IMPORT, a new Sherbrooke junior hockey team has been named the "PHOENIX " which immediately brought down the wrath French language supremacists who demanded the team be called the "PHENIX"
While the word "Phoenix" does appear in the French dictionary, according to the militants, it doesn't refer to the mythical bird and so they accused the team of choosing an English name.

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Franz Schuller, artistic director of the record company and a member of Indica Grimskunk, rock legend independent Quebec, is launching a division, whose mandate is to promote young French rock bands with a young audience. In conducting an informal survey of the musical tastes of high school students he became aware of the gap between them and the French-speaking artists.
When asked to list their favourite 10 francophone artists, they often mentioned only one name, the popular singer Marie-Mai. Sometimes the name 'Les Trois Accords'  made the list, but most of the time, eight or nine of the ten boxes remained empty. Ouch!
Readers....do I hear government subsidy?

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At a forum discussing the financing of this year's annual Fête nationale celebrations in Quebec city, the president of the organization that is in charge of putting on the show, Chantale Trottier of the Mouvement national des Québécois, reminded everyone that Anglophone artists would be welcome.....as long as they sang in French and addressed the audience in French. Link{Fr}

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Here's some insightful reporting from the Montreal Gazette's Pat Hickey;
Headline  December 2- Montreal Canadiens' Markov's comeback imminent
Headline  December 3-  Markov's return delayed

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I don't know if Jean-Marc Fournier, the Quebec justice minister, is reacting to his not so successful visit to Ottawa to plead for changes in the Conservatives new crime bill, but his chief of staff, Helene Menard, confirmed yesterday that he will cease to give bilingual press conferences and answer questions only in French from here on in. Link

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"Two prominent Montreal politicians are defending their French language skills after a popular radio host said their level of French is insulting.

On his radio show and on Twitter, Benoît Dutrizac took aim at Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce mayor Michael Applebaum and city councillor Marvin Rotrund.    Link    

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New Brunswick drunk aquitted because cop didn't speak French

"The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has ruled that police officers must follow the province's Official Languages Act when they arrest people.   The three-judge panel unanimously upheld a decision by a Court of Queen's Bench judge confirming the acquittal of Serge Alain Losier on two drunk driving charges because the arresting officer did not speak French.

Losier was arrested Sept. 4, 2008, by a Fredericton police officer after being stopped at a checkpoint. The arresting officer did not speak French, and Losier's English skills were poor." Read the rest of the story

vigile.net supports Syrian repression

It's always useful to hear opinions differing from what mainstream society generally accepts, it's an essential elementary that makes democracy work. 

Good to see that vigile.net is upholding this principle and is promoting the murdering Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad 

Here are a bunch of stories appearing om vigile.net in the past month, all are written in French.

Readers, I haven't cherry-picked just stories supporting the Assad regime, you can see a Google search of all stories concerning Syria on vigile.net Here..

...or view vigile.net's own collection of mostly pro-Syrian regime stories Here including these pearls;

Syrie : le génocide de l’OTAN approche (NATO genocide approaching)

Mensonges et vérités sur la Syrie   (Lies and truth about Syria )

Les disciples de Goebbels à l’œuvre contre la Syrie   (Disciples of Goebbels at work against Syria)

Menacer l’Iran et préparer l’invasion de la Syrie   (Threaten Iran and prepare to invade Syria)
La Syrie, Terre d’asile et de culture (Syria, land of asylum and culture)

Well Done!!

How about some support for Kim Jong-il? 
Quote of the Week

"....But when I saw and heard the commercial for Les Habits  St-Eustache on the V televison network, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. (because of English background music-ed.) This shop is located opposite the church, where our patriots were brutally killed by the English, now part of global conspiracy by Canadians and others whose mission is to make us disappear. I will never buy clothes in this store. -Daniel Roy C.A.

Weekend Viewing & Reading

For those who speak French here are three special treats.
Read a fantastic piece that is causing a stir; Doléances pour un Québec dépassé
Read a fantastic rant inspired by the first; J’aimerais être fier de ma nation

Here's an interview of Mario Beaulieu getting pulverized on a French language television show, Face a Face, by hosts Caroline Proulx and Stéphane Gendron. It's a jewel!
I found the link to the interview on the separtist website Mouvement Québec français, but can't for the life of me understand why they would link to such a humiliation.

Click to watch video

Here's a wonderful documentary in three parts on Anglos who left Montreal, which I found cruising the website of    Michel Patrice. 
Check it out, it's worth the visit.

"This first part is seen through the eyes of 6 friends who left Montreal in the 70's, after the separatist Parti Quebecois first came to power in the province, and the threat of separation for them became very real. They talk about the October crisis, feeling alienated and as they saw it, the limited opportunities for English speakers in Montreal." Phil Carpenter

Moving On; A Documentary in 3 Parts. Pt1: The First Wave from Phil Carpenter on Vimeo.

"This second part is seen through the eyes of 3 professionals including well-know radio personality Terry DiMonte, who left Montreal in the 90's, and later after the second provincial referendum on Quebec's place in Canada. They talk about feeling alienated and as they saw it, the limited opportunities for English speakers in Montreal."  Phil Carpenter

Moving On; A Documentary in 3 Parts. Pt2: The Second Wave from Phil Carpenter on Vimeo.

"This final part tells how people who left, feel about Montreal and Quebec since the last provincial referendum on Quebec's place in Canada. They talk about how the politics has changed, and how the desire for separation among young people in 2008 might not be as strong as it was in previous years."- Phil Carpenter

Moving On; A Documentary in 3 Parts: Montreal Reborn from Phil Carpenter on Vimeo.

Some Goood News!

Listen to the perfect voice of the very talented Marc Martel a bilingual Anglo, who hit the jackpot, scoring a gig as the "Freddy Mercury" lead in the Queen tribute band tour next year!

"Montreal-born vocalist Marc Martel, Quebec City bass player François Olivier Doyon and Toronto guitarist Tristan Avakian are among the winners announced Thursday in the Queen Extravaganza contest.
They auditioned via video before flying to Los Angeles earlier this week for a live audition in front of Queen drummer/songwriter Roger Taylor. The winners will tour next year in a Queen tribute band, recreating the Queen arena experience with songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody and We are the Champions."

Watch and enjoy!

 

BRAVO!!!!      Want more: Marc Martel does Bohemian Rhapsody

Monday's post;

Quebec Anglophobia, a Cautionary Tale for Head Offices...