Tuesday, June 3, 2014

UQAM's Nutty Professor

UQAM's finest

Last week, the francophone media was doing cartwheels trying to convince readers and viewers that Quebec isn't really a beggar province, a welfare bum living large on the Canadian dime.
It was all in response to Quebec billionaire depanneur king, Alain Bouchard saying exactly that in a speech before the Montreal Board of Trade.
Bouchard didn't mince words and told the audience that Quebecers should be ashamed of themselves for being so needy, something that didn't go down well with Quebec nationalists, as you can imagine.

And so certain journalists like Josée Legault were doing contortions, an editorial version of the TWISTER game, trying to find the right statistics that would counter what they believe is the myth that Quebec is indeed a beggar province. Link{fr}

I won't dissect their arguments, because it doesn't really matter, Quebecers have come to believe that they are indeed beholding to Canada and a few commentators saying it ain't so, just doesn't matter.
Whether true or not, it is said that perception is more important than reality and even if it were true that Quebec doesn't live off Canadian largess, the notion that Quebec is a province living in part on ROC wealth is as well entrenched here in Quebec as the rest of Canada.

As I said before I'm not going to engage in a exercise of counterarguments to these articles, it's like pointing out the flaws in the arguments of the Flat Earth Society, but I am going to offer a translation of an article written by a UQAM (where else) professor, Jean Denis-Garon, one that few Anglophones would ever be aware of, because it was published in the Journal de Montreal and tucked safely behind a pay wall.

Le Québec est-il le BS fédéral ?

Is Quebec a stowaway in the great Canadian ship of prosperity? This has been recently suggested, as we receive more than $ 9 billion in equalization payments, this year. According to some, we should carry the stigma of a beneficiary province supported by the wealth created elsewhere. It is argued that an economically inert Quebec should create more wealth as quickly as possible.

Seven out of ten provinces receive equalization. Even the manufacturing heart of the country, including Ontario, now seems helpless against the provinces teeming with hydrocarbons. To free ourselves, we are generally suggested to maximize exploitation of our natural resources.

These resources are actually the heart of the problem of the Canadian imbalance. Let's take a specific example : Alberta. It has significant oil reserves, which are nothing more than a bank account filled to the brim, but buried underground. Exploiting its oil, the Alberta government gradually depletes its treasury.

Alberta creates little wealth by exploiting its oil: it extracts. To an economist, this distinction is crucial.

With this extraction, Alberta has it both ways. Its government can both deliver better public services and lower taxes ... the dream of Mr. Leitao! Left to itself, Alberta would have a vampire effect on the Canadian federation. Providing its citizens with tax benefits incommensurate with their actual productivity, it would attract the youth, families and a qualified workforce from other provinces. It would take away everything those provinces need to thrive and become richer.

A big problem put in perspective..

Fortunately, equalization helps to correct this inefficiency. Helping Quebec to provide good public services at acceptable rates of taxation while making it less attractive to move to Alberta.

Equalization has the effect of discouraging profiteers from profiteering ... It is clearly light-years away from being a social welfare program. Moreover, the provinces can spend the money transferred by Ottawa as they see fit. Some use it to reduce taxes for the rich, while others prefer to pay for public childcare.

It is also true that equalization can have the effect of a tax on our economic development, a failure in the program that can be corrected. Otherwise, it compensates us for the economic damage caused by the overheated exploitation of oil in other provinces: it is not a gift. It also encourages them to moderate their resources to better protect the environment and better accommodate future generations.

If Quebec wants to "get out of Equalization," let's hope it will create actual wealth. It should focus on education, try to attract more investment, in order to increase our productivity. It's an interesting paradox because without equalization which allows us to retain talent in Quebec, it would be more difficult to accomplish.

I'm not going to go into a big deconstruction of this piece, I'd like to point out a few facts and then let readers run with the discussion.

I guess things start off badly when the author, editor and fact-checker get the facts wrong right off the bat. Mr Garon claims that seven out of ten provinces receive equalization payments, which is wrong because it is six. Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland do not presently collect. Which provinces get equalization fluctuates over the years, but right now it is six, not seven. It's hard to take the rest of the article seriously, when such basic error is presented so early in the article.

But six out of ten provinces still sounds like Quebec is in good company and so no standout, so this is the first line of attack for defenders of Quebec's good reputation

But it all boils down to these simple truths...
All Canadians contribute to the equalization fund through federal taxes and levies. But these contributions are not equal. Quebec, with 23% of the population pays in about 19%, we all know why.

But Quebec takes out $9 billion of the $16 billion dollar fund, or 56% against a contribution of about 19%.

PEI, the province that Quebec defenders love to hold up as an example as a bigger beneficiary of the fund per captia, takes out only about 2% of the fund.
Quebec defenders always talk about the per capita benefit to provinces, or how much each citizen benefits from the fund, because then Quebec doesn't seem like the biggest loser.
But like it or not, Canada sends $9 billion to Quebec and $340 million to PEI. To those who pay into the fund and receive nothing, that is all that counts.
Quebec defenders also point out that Ontario now gets equalization payments too, but never use the per capita argument here, because each Ontarian receives only about one-eighth of what each Quebecer receives. (QC- $1,130 per citizen, Ont.- $146 per citizen.) Link{fr}
Ontario takes out about 18% of the fund, while contributing over 40%.

Defenders of Quebec use both ends of the argument at different times, depending on circumstances, something Quebecers are famous for arguing, the idea that they are both a Francophone majority sometimes and a minority when it suits their purpose.

But what is most galling about this article is the nonsensical idea that pumping out oil from the ground is not real productivity, when indeed it is the very definition.
The idea that creating wealth by exploiting oil, or timber, or gold or zinc or uranium deposits or indeed creating electricity is not real productivity, is an argument that is beyond the pale for an economics professor.

The article smacks of an infantile jealousy and sour grapes and seems to desperately reach for any straw, no matter how unlikely.
I think my favourite part is when the good professor tells us that Albertans should pay higher taxes so to diminish its attractiveness.
It reminds me of the old Pantene Shampoo commercial.
"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!"

The idea that a Quebec professor deems to be concerned about future generations of Albertans is just plain laughable.
Alternately, could you imagine an Albertan saying that the Montreal Canadians should be penalized and perhaps receive a lower draft pick as a penalty, because they've won too many Stanley Cups?
It is almost as insulting as Desmond Tutu coming from that cesspool of a country of South Africa to give us life lessons. Beneath contempt!

At any rate, I can't imagine ever letting my child go to a university with such professors.
That is why so many highly qualified francophone students fight to get into McGill, because it says a lot about them.
UQAM versus McGill, the very definition of 'antithesis.'

Friday, May 30, 2014

French versus English Volume 107

Khadirs' Sad Parental Legacy

Yalda Machouf- Khadir...never had a chance..

Last Tuesday Amir Khadir's daughter Yalda, finally faced justice in a Montreal court for the many charges she was looking at in relation to rioting and destruction of property during the student uprising.
Yalda Machouf-Khadir quite literally had her fingerprints lifted at one crime scene as well as having her face caught on tape at another. She was in modern parlance, caught dead to rights and had little choice but to admit to her crimes.
Looking for leniency, she pleaded guilty, but prosecutors refused to agree to a slap on the wrist as they did with the majority of those charged along side her.
It seems that prosecutors definitely wanted her blood.

"Yalda Machouf-Khadir, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of mischief in relation to a protest at the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal on Feb. 16, 2012 during which she and two other people pushed over a soft drink machine to try to block an entrance with it. She also admitted to conspiring to commit mischief, wearing a disguise while committing a criminal act and break and entry when students forcibly occupied and damaged the main pavilion of the Université de Montréal on April 12 and the office of then-education minister Line Beauchamp on April 13.

“We feel these are serious crimes, and there was a certain continuity,” said Crown prosecutor Martin Chalifour. “A lot of students accused of crimes during the student protests had participated in only one event. Those were isolated actions. For Mr. Marotte and Mme. Khadir there were several events, so that has an impact on the sentencing arguments.” Link

Parents of the year......

In addition to the many charges against her, she is being sued for $100,000 in relation to her participation in a destructive rampage that destroyed university property.

Now this post is not meant to single out, castigate or dump on Yalda for her extreme activism, she is a product of her upbringing and for that I am sad for her, being brought up in the Khadir family, she never had a chance.
Here's what I wrote a while back in a post on Amir Khadir entitled: Amir Khadir Has a Lot to Hide

"Amir learned dissent early, his parents being radicals themselves. He first met his future wife Nima Machouf as a child at the various radical demonstrations that both their parents dragged them to, on a regular basis.

His father is an aging communist, who reminds me of the over the hill stoner comedian 'Cheech," living in a 1970's fantasy and regurgitating dogma, woefully out of date. Jafar Khadir is a sad character living in the past, who parrots ideas that have long since been discredited, even in Russia and China. He was a long-time member of the executive council of the Quebec Communist Party and still keeps actively involved.
Jafar has militated on a variety of radical causes and back in 2002 was stopped at the US border, where he was held for eight hours and ultimately refused entry with the warning not to come back.

I'm one of those who cringe at parents who radicalize their children at an early age as did Amir Khadir and his wife Nina Machouf, shlepping their children to communist demonstrations at an early age and turning them against the very country that welcomed them with open arms and gave them safe haven from the madness of their homeland in Iran.

Amir himself is also the product of parental radicalization, his father a died in the wool communist named Jafar, a millionaire communist, who for many years helped finance the Communist Party of Quebec.
Read my previous posts'
Khadirs-Three Generations of Nutters
Communists Frolic at Khadir Chalet
Amir Khadir Has a Lot to Hide

And so ~~poor~~ Yalda will likely get some sort of jail sentence, while not long, devastating just the same. While most student radicals grow out of their activism with maturity, I'm not sure that Yalda will, to judge by her parents.
At any rate, her criminal record will follow her around pretty much the rest of her life, condemning her to a life in Quebec, where these things aren't held against you, as compared to the rest of the world.

Every time I see a demonstration that includes little children, whether it be Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, or pro or con anything whatever, I'm sad to think that parents believe that children are to be used as tools.
Canada's most famous radicalized child-soldier, Omar Khadar has spent most of his life in jail having been convicted by an American military court for murdering a US soldier at age fifteen. He was radicalized by his proud terrorist father.
"A 2008 biography written by al Qaeda praises the elder Khadr for "tossing his little child in the furnace of the battle" Wikipedia

It's hard to be sympathetic, but then again, its hard not to be sympathetic.

School Board Taxes...How soon we forget.

Liberal Education minister Yves Bolduc "You see, it's like this..."

In Quebec, public schools up to college, are run by 72 different school boards, some English, but mostly French. They are funded in part by the government and in addition by money raised by school boards themselves, through taxes levied directly on homeowners.
Last year, in a desperate attempt to cut expenses the PQ government cut the subsidy to the school boards by some $200 million, arrogantly telling the school boards to cut expenses, as if it were that easy.

Instead the school boards raised the tax rate on homeowners to make up the difference and lo and behold, some taxpayers saw their school tax bill rise by over 30%!
The then PQ education minister Marie Malavoy supported those tax increases, calling them within the bounds of the law, but when the public rose in a furious protest, the PQ government reacted by scolding the school boards for their greed and actually ordered them to pay back the money via rebates over the next few years. Malavoy was made the scapegoat and asked not to run again in the last election.
But the PQ was defeated and the school boards soon forgot about their obligation to return the money, it was never officially memorialized.

Enter the new Liberal government which announced that not only wouldn't the money be returned, but that school taxes would be going up again this year, but modestly to reflect inflation.

Hilariously, the PQ is hammering the Liberals for not forcing the school boards to return the $200 million to taxpayers, with the PQ leader Stéphane Bédard saying that because the Liberals are in a majority, they could force the school to refund the money, something the PQ couldn't do because it was in a minority government.
I wonder if these politicians listen to themselves talk?

And that readers, is how governments operate in Quebec. It isn't what is right, it isn't what is fair...it's what you can get away with.
And so taxpayers aren't beefing about the small increase that the Liberals imposed, because the whopping increase by the PQ is already digested.
I guess it's like the price of gas that jumps by 12 cents a litre one day, only to fall back by two or three cents in the coming days, giving us the sense of a bargain.

My my, what suckers we are!

Is Mulroney just a Péladeau beard?

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Brian Mulroney will take over as chairman of Quebecor as the company looks to soften its association with separatist owner Pierre-Karl Péladeau.
The newspaper is reporting that PKP, contrary to his pledge, has been involved in the management of the company of which he is majority shareholder, but in which he holds no position.
This while he sits as a provincial MP with leadership aspirations.

His alleged behind the scene string-pulling at Quebecor is said to have irked Robert Dépatie, the ex-chairman of Quebecor who resigned last month.

"A source close to the company said Mr. Péladeau remained actively involved in the operations despite no longer holding an executive position. This “blurred the lines of authority” within Quebecor and contributed to Mr. Dépatie’s recent departure." Link

And so Brian lives up to his own famous dictum that reminds us that 'there's no whore, like an old whore' and suffers no ethical dilemma in serving and doing the bidding of his separatist master.

"Quebec's most influential separatist doesn't seem like a betrayal of Canada or federalism.
It’s unclear whether Pierre Karl Péladeau realized how big of an impact his move into sovereigntist politics would have on Quebecor’s future business prospects. But Brian Mulroney sure did. The former prime minister’s move into the chairman’s seat at the media conglomerate is implicitly aimed at repairing the damage Mr. Péladeau’s infamous fist pump did to the company’s brand. Link

No doubt Mulroney, who is 75, is but a figurehead, a beard, called forward to keep up appearances in order to convince Canadians, more importantly federal regulators that Quebecor is just a good ole' boy, not a separatist driven media conglomerate.

I wonder how the rest of Canada is reacting to Mulroney's duplicitous pussyfooting with separatists.

Incredibly, new Liberal government backs wasteful wind and mini-electricity generation projects

It was Yogi Berra, the venerable manger of the new York Yankees who coined the memorable phrase "It's deja vu, all over again!"
It was like listening to a recording of the old PQ government when the Liberals rose in defence of the wind and co-generation projects that produce un-needed electricity at three times the price of idled power plants.

"Premier Philippe Couillard agreed that these mini-centrales electricity purchases would have a "minimal impact of 0.2%" on Hydro-Québec's rates charged to consumers. "We will resume the mini-plant program. We will realize the benefit of communities, "promised Mr. Couillard.

For his part, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Pierre Arcand argued that wind power generates 5,000 jobs in Quebec. "We must make the choice to keep these jobs," said Arcand. As for the surplus energy that continues to accumulate in the Hydro-Québec reservoirs, Pierre Arcand argues that this is then a comparative advantage which may be of interest to investors to settle in Quebec."

All this in response to CAQ questions in the National Assembly claiming that each of the jobs created by these programs actually costs the government $200,000. Link{fr}

Never mind Yogi Berra, the French have a saying all their own.
"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (The more it changes, the more it stays the same)

King of the depanneur blasts Quebec welfare

It's too bad that the English media didn't cover a speech given by depanneur king Alan Bouchard, CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard, who had some choice words for Quebecers and their government in a speech before the Montreal Board of Trade.

Bouchard is truly a self-made success, building a chain of convenience stores into a $3 billion company that includes over 9,000 convenience stores across North America and Europe.

He didn't mince words, talking about Quebecers he asked;

"Do you like being on Canadian welfare, it makes no godamn sense to accept that we Quebecers, who are so creative and able to build, tolerate being on welfare. I find it completely ridiculous.

His words didn't go down well with the new Liberal finance minister Carlos Leitao and CAQ veteran Amir Khadir both of whom disparaged the comments, without offering any real rebuttal.

Montreal Transit Authority admits Drainville type of deception on legal opinion on English.

"The transit authority has long flip-flopped on whether it had a legal opinion and interpretation on the French language charter, which would require some employees to speak English.

But days ahead of an access request hearing involving lawyers from The Gazette and the STM, the transit authority reportedly provided a signed affidavit that said “no legal opinion from internal or external lawyers could be identified related to Article 46 of the Charter of the French Language.”

Anglo community's very own Kapo, Marvin Rotrand

The Gazette reported it was looking for clarification on the STM’s position on employees speaking both English and French.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, the AMT, requires all employees who have contact with the public be able to speak both languages.
STM Vice President Marvin Rotrand has told CJAD News in past interviews it has a legal opinion. Link

I wrote about this over a year and a half ago;

" Montreal bus company spokesman, Marvin Rotrand, the token anglo fart-catcher, has once again defended the company from offering English services, claiming that the company's hands are tied by the law, a misrepresentation according to constitutional lawyer Julius Grey..
Rotrand said the corporation consulted with its legal department and agreed that the language laws apply directly to the transit authority.
"We have a huge volume of jurisprudence as to what our obligations are under Bill 101," he said.
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey says Quebec's language laws do not prevent the STM from serving customers in English Read the post

Mr. Rotrand wins this weeks DRAINVILLE AWARD FOR MISREPRESENTATION

'Chuck E. Cheese' solution to child abduction threat.

As you may have heard, some nutty woman kidnapped a new born baby in Trois-Rivières, walking out of the hospital disguised as a nurse.
The baby was safely returned hours later thanks to social media and a group of kids who recognized the woman and went to her home calling the police in the meantime.

All's well that ends well.

These things happen occasionally, that's what Amber Alerts are all about and there's always going to be a nutter around who wants a baby of her own and thinks it's a good idea to kidnap one from a hospital.

The day after the incident I heard Quebec's new Health Minister on the radio demanding that hospitals beef up security and he told the interviewer that he asked health authorities to think up a solution.

Really?
For a one in a million shot problem?

So let me offer the low-cost Chuck E. Cheese, anti-kidnapping solution.
For those who don't know, Chuck E. Cheese is an American chain that is a giant video game and play center for the under six crowd. Parents and (mostly single parents) bring their kids for some indoor fun and food in a highly safe and secure facility.
Secure I say, you betcha, pay attention Mr. Health Minister, they have a foolproof way of making sure nobody walks out with the wrong kid. It is a big concern in the world of parental abduction.

By the way readers, if you've never been to Chuck E.Cheese, you've missed nothing, trust me.

Picture of the Week

Here's a picture snapped by a surprised passerby of a Montreal police officer doing the nasty in a back alley in downtown Montreal. Link
It seems his partner was likewise engaged in the back seat.

An embarrassed department first claimed that the picture was Photoshopped but it turns out not only is it real, but his partner was in the back seat with another girl.

Now the department has said that the officers may find themselves with a stiff suspension of a couple of days, but I would rather see them outed as is the case with Johns.

At any rate, can you caption the picture?
Here's the best one I've heard so far.
"Put your hands up where I can feel them!"

Impératif français is at it again, complaining about this advertisement from a Quebec fast food chain.


*"As good in French as it is in English"*

I can't really say I get the advertisement, I wouldn't call smoked meat a particularly English style dish, but rather having roots in Jewish Deli.

I know there's a running battle with language purists wanting the ~~greasy and unhealthy~~ tasty dish to be referred to as 'VIANDE FUMÉ, but just like that other tasty Quebec guilty pleasure, the irresistible "OT CHIKEN", most francophones prefer to use the term 'SMOKE MEAT'.
Things are what things are, would you really want to call a 'POUTINE' by any other name?

Have a great weekend

Bonne fin de semaine.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

French versus English Volume 106

Brent Tyler Challenges Bill 101 in Court

By Joel Goldenberg, May 21st, 2014

French is not vulnerable in Quebec in general and in Montreal, sociologist and demographer Calvin Veltman said in Quebec Court last Thursday via video hookup from Amsterdam.
Veltman, who used to work at the Université du Québec à Montréal, was providing expert testimony in rights lawyer Brent Tyler’s case challenging the constitutionality of Quebec’s sign laws and those regarding commercial websites. Tyler’s seven-day court case, involving 27 clients, is expected to be completed today. Judge Salvatore Mascia is presiding.
Veltman, along with the Association of Quebec demographers, strongly supported the “main elements” of Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) regarding the language of work and language of education based on past fears of vulnerability of the French language, coming from the reduced francophone birth rate and the “anglicization” of third language groups by the early 1970s.
But in 2014, with immigrants forced to send their children to French schools and most immigrants speaking French, the fear of vulnerability is no longer valid, Veltman added.
“Obviously, for a community that has added 336,000 people since 1971, it’s difficult to imagine that they’re more vulnerable now than in 1971,” he said. “It would be difficult to make that case... We need to understand that if there’s competition between languages in Montreal, it’s between English and French. It’s not between French and other languages. Read more at The Suburban

Original judgment correct in English trademark case: Tyler

By Joel Goldenberg, May 14th, 2014

The Superior Court judge who ruled in favour of stores like Best Buy and Old Navy was correct in stating they do not have to add French descriptors to their names in Quebec, lawyer Brent Tyler said Friday.
According to media reports, the judge ruled that names like Best Buy are trademarks, as opposed to business names, and are not subject to Quebec’s language laws.The Office Québécois de la Langue Française had demanded that the French descriptors be added.
“Trademarks are an exclusively federal jurisdiction,” Tyler said. “What the government is saying is that the obligation to add a French descriptor applies to business names, and they’re saying because trademarks are also business names, it applies to trademarks, ignoring completely that trademarks have special protection, and this goes back to 1977,” when bill 101 was first passed.
“Without any legislative change, the OQLF, under the Charest Liberals, changed their interpretation of the law requiring a French descriptor to trademarks. As the judge in the Superior Court case rightly pointed out, in a French expression, ‘you can’t change the gun from the shoulder you normally have it on.’ And that’s what the government did here with its interpretation of the statute itself.”
Tyler explained that a business name is a name that is incorporated provincially or federally, registered in Quebec, and the “official name that counts is the French version, but you can have an English version.” A trademark is the name of a store that involves specific artwork and a visual image, he explained.
“The law is very clear, the right to use the trademark includes the right to use it alone,” the lawyer said. “I have an idea that the reason the government is appealing is that this case touches on the visage linguistique of Quebec. The central issue is the vulnerability of the French language — It all comes down to that — and on what basis can it be considered vulnerable.
In Tyler’s own language cases, “we maintain it’s not vulnerable by any meaningful definition of the word.” Read more at The Suburban

Harper travels with US style security

Rushing home from New York to catch Game two in the Rangers Canadiens series turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, to say the least.

Half way during the first period my wife looked up and back and pointed out that Jacques Demers, the ex-Habs coach and now Conservative senator was in the house.

"Are you kidding me I answered, Jacques Demers? Look who he is sitting with, non other than Stephan Harper and not so recognizable cabinet minister Denis Lebel."

At any rate, Harper made the whole thing into a media event, taking pictures with fans between periods, even bringing along his own photographer for the occasion.

Now here's a picture of him doing the honours, which I snapped between periods, where I couldn't help but notice the massive security surrounding him that included to my eye, at least two different teams.
The last time I saw a PM at a sporting event was Paul Martin at a tennis match in Jarry Park and he had but three security agents placed at least fifty feet from him during the action.

I thought about adding some arrows to the above picture indicating just how many security guards were protecting our PM but thought better of it, I don't need any calls from the Prime Minister Protection Detail service, but suffice to say that there's been a big increase since Harper took office.
The budget for protecting our PM has shot up from 6 million in 2006 to about $20 million today.
Link
If you are a curious type, click on the above picture to enlarge it and see how many agents you can spot. Here's a hint, not all are wearing ties, but all are wearing jackets.

Pettiness surrounds extreme French language movement

It borders on the absurd, the obtuse pettiness of the extreme French language movement in Quebec where the basic truth that Quebec is a province in a country called Canada that is majorly English speaking is roundly ignored by language militants who fantasize that Quebec is an independent state.
First is the myth, oft repeated that French is the only official language of Quebec, which of course it is not, where not even the infamous Bill 101 dares say that it is exclusively so.

And so nut bar groups like Impératif français act as guardians of the faith, sniffing out offending English whether it be legal or not with the evangelical zeal of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The latest nonsense is the organization's outrage over the proposed name of the new hockey arena in the Montreal suburb of Laval.....
The offensive name......"Place Bell"
Yup, according to IF, the name is an insult to all Quebecers, because it isn't proper French.

Now this story is hilarious for a couple of reasons, first and foremost because of the OQLF's decision not to react to the silly complaint made by "ASSOCIATION POUR LE SOUTIEN ET L’USAGE DE LA LANGUE FRANÇAISE".

If you read French, read the delicious account of the whole affair through the eyes of the complainer.

My favourite part of the saga is the association's whinging that the OQLF responded anonymously to the complaint, not signing the letter of reply. Isn't that just deliciously ironic since the whole OQLF complaint system is based on anonymous complaints! Link{fr}

Moving along, LE DEVOIR published a letter from a disgruntled fan who complains that O Canada should not be sung in any part in English because French is the only official language in Quebec and because French is omitted in other arenas. Link{fr}

First of all, the letter writer is wrong that French is never sung elsewhere, it is in Ottawa, every game and in many places when the Canadiens are the guests.
Here is Alanis Morissette singing a bilingual version before a Senators game Link

In fact, many cities do offer O Canada in French, the problem is that RDS, the French broadcaster has a policy not to broadcast national anthems (unless it is Ginette Reno.)

Nothing and nobody beats the Chicago Blackhawks Jim Cornelison for pure talent and performance. Listen to a bit to his version of O Canada in French . Magnifique!

By the way, I've heard O Canada sung in French in other NHL cities, New Jersey coming to mind, off the bat.
I hate when newspapers publish nonsense because they are too lazy to check the facts. Shame on LE DEVOIR.

Speaking of hockey, Impératif français is also demanding that NHL referees announce their on ice decisions in French. Link{fr}
I'm surprised that they haven't demanded that English artists like Justin Bieber or Beyoncé sing in French when performing in Montreal.
Not everyone is prepared to indulge the nonsense that the IF spouts and the government of Quebec knows it, treading very lightly where it knows it cannot impose its will.

I remain surprised how out of touch unilingual francophones really are about the rest of Canada or the United States, with so many misconceptions based on a language handicap. It's the same misconception most have about Canadian culture, believing that there is none, just a pale imitation of America.
Even the editors of the French press have a poor understanding of English, with those purporting to be bilingual, nothing of the sort.

Here is something from La Presse that caught my eye a while back, Patrick Lagacé trying to be cute in English with disastrous results.
How on Earth did editors ever let the horrific English go to Press and embarrass the reporter and the newspaper as well?
One thing I learned in business is that it takes a native speaker to vet translations, a fact that the French media are oblivious to, with humiliating results.

This is by no means atypical.

Which brings us to another separatist pipe dream;

"An organization called the Fondation Équipe-Québec is advocating for separate teams to represent the province at athletic competitions. But critics are saying this is a divisive move that would politicize sports" Link

The organization behind all this was funded by the late PQ government which asked Quebec sports advocate Bob Sirois to do a feasibility study, which I imagine is now being filed directly into the trash can along with the Ménard report on the student rebellion, by the new Liberal government.

At any rate, I pulled this quote off the CBC story and can't for the life of me figure it out.
Can anyone help?

Order of Engineers ripped apart by dishonesty

So many Quebec engineers are being investigated in relation to the Charbonneau Commission, that the professional order was forced to increase member fees to pay for the over 180 investigations into misdeeds by its own members.
This isn't sitting well with some members who are in open revolt, with one member so incensed that he made some incendiary remarks on Linkedin, leading to a $700,000 defamation suit brought against him by the order.

Of all the guilty parties in the sad fiasco that is corruption in the construction industry, it is the engineering firms that perhaps are the most to blame, creating, coordinating and corrupting officials and politicians without a whiff of regret.
This includes just about every major engineering consulting firm in the province, with the level of dishonest practices utterly stunning.

When you think of Quebec corruption, think of the engineers and the engineering firms that put most of the criminal conspiracies together.

As yet nobody has gone to jail, and in the great tradition of Canadian justice it may be ten years before anyone sees the inside of a jail cell.
So boo-hoo for the professional organization which failed so miserably to police its own members who made a mockery of the concept of professional conduct. Link

French newspaper falls for practical joke

It's a little out of the ordinary to have a ~~obese~~ corpulent health minister, but such is the case in Quebec with Dr. Gaetan Barrette who was until his election, the head of the specialist doctor's order. He was the person who negotiated a big increase in their salary scale with the government, something that as minister he'll have to try to undo.
Strange enough?

Well a mean-spirited petition has been launched online asking him to lose weight, with the French title roughly entitled "For a Health minister in good Health"

Le Journaldemourreal is a satirical website that takes on the appearance of the Journal de Montreal, but publishes absurd articles in the style of The Onion.

Here is a bit of the satirical article translated;

"It is time to open our eyes: Quebec has become obese, "says the former president of the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec. "We must now, for the future of the province, find a drastic way to combat this scourge. We cannot continue to let our children become fat without doing anything. It is essential to put Quebec on a diet! "

When confronted by our reporter on the fact that he himself suffers from being slight overweight, the radiologist made a surprising promise where he formally committed himself to set an example, promising to lose more than 100 kilograms during his first term, if he was elected. Link{fr}

The funny part wasn't so much the article, but the fact that it was picked up as legitimate by LE FIGARO in France which thought the story was somehow real. Link{fr}

I wonder if it's OK to refer to Barrette as a barrel of laughs, or is that a fat joke?

Incidentally, another great Quebec satire website is Le Navet.
Here's one of my favourite pieces entitled;
PQ Defeated: Millions of radical Islamists set to come to Quebec to impose their beliefs (translation)
This website is particularly clever.

Maxime Bernier speech rocks Quebec separatists

This is the text of the speech I delivered this morning in Montreal before an audience of the Regroupement des jeunes chambres de commerce du Québec.- Maxime Lapierrre

How to reclaim our place within Canada

Maxime Bernier, MP for Beauce
As was probably the case for many of you, when I reflected on the results of Quebec’s April 7 election, I got the sense that Quebec had reached a turning point in its history. Following a campaign haunted by the spectre of another referendum, the Parti québécois suffered its worst defeat since 1970 and the two federalist parties took home two thirds of the vote. Once again, Quebecers clearly rejected separation and embraced a stable future within the Canadian confederation.
Since the election, the media has devoted a lot of space to the uncertain future of the Parti québécois, and how it might bring young people back into the fold. But given the election results, there is a much more pressing and relevant matter to address, one that has received hardly any attention: How are we, as Quebecers, going to reclaim our place in Canada?
Obviously, this question matters deeply to me, as a federal politician from Quebec. But I am here today, not as a member of the Canadian government, but as a Quebecer wondering what we can do to move our society forward.
The sovereignty issue has monopolized political debate in Quebec for decades. It’s a legitimate debate, but it’s one that just keeps going around in circles.
In the meantime, Quebec must continue to develop. We have serious problems that need fixing. Our public finances are in a sorry state. Ours is one of the most heavily taxed regions in North America, and one of the least wealthy. We need to make massive investments in our crumbling infrastructure. And as our population is aging quickly, we have particular challenges to face when it comes to integrating immigrants and keeping our social programs solvent.
If we are to meet these challenges, we need governments, both in Quebec City and in Ottawa, that are focused on the real issues at hand, not on identity crises, referendum dilemmas and constitutional debates that create uncertainty. What we needs is stability, and not just for the next four years, but for the long term.
As I see it, that stability hinges on three major changes in attitude, all of which are related to Quebec reclaiming its place in Canada.
First of all, we must come to terms with who and what we are, we Quebecers.
Throughout the election campaign, Parti québécois politicians kept repeating that we need to defend our identity and values. And they did this by playing on the fear of the other: fear of immigrants, fear of anglophones, and fear of the rest of Canada.
The truth is, they refuse to accept what Quebec is today. They have always been obsessed with changing it. They aren’t interested in defending OUR identity and OUR values. They want to defend THEIR very narrow view of what our identity and values SHOULD be. Read the rest of the speech

BC: Students immersed in French language, culture at Pitt Meadows Elementary

French need subtitles for Quebec film at Cannes Film Festival

London: Enrolment hike in public French-language board creates need for school

Selfie, hashtag and troll are now officially in French dictionary

What are the most popular languages in your province?

Friday, May 23, 2014

Time to Blow up the PQ !

Out with the old....

Now don't get excited, the headline isn't any sort of a terrorist threat, sports fans understand what the term 'blowing up' a team indicates in relation to a disastrous and bitterly disappointing season.

It means to completely destroy and rebuild the team, in an effort to start over from scratch, with the Vancouver Canucks being the latest prime example, where right after the regular season, one where the Canucks missed the playoffs, the coach and general manager were unceremoniously dumped, with the new management team given the mandate to clean house, that is, to trade players, even the stars, in order to reset the dynamic and build for the future.

"The Vancouver Canucks are a mess right now. An absolute mess. .... .....If you’re going to blow up a team, then blow up a team. Don’t just partially tear it down and call it good. Link

I actually can't think of a better metaphor to describe the Parti Quebecois, which is pretty much the political version of the Canucks, once high and mighty, now a mere shadow of things past, an embarrassment to loyal fans.

While the mainstream press concentrates over the possible replacement for Pauline Marois, the defunct PQ leader, the media fails to understand that the desperate situation in the PQ goes far beyond a leader, and just like changing the coach in Vancouver alone, it won't change the fortunes of the PQ team, which is rotten to the core.

Pauline has left the party in shambles, there's no other way to put it. She put her personal ambition to remain Premier above the public good and would it be possible, I've no doubt she'd have sold her soul to the devil , à la Dorian Grey, to remain in power.
As leader she led the way to the most divisive and harmful government this province has ever endured.
In my lifetime I cannot remember a government so thoroughly reviled by opponents and this all on the PQ for promoting the politics of hate in a nakedly partisan attempt to win power by dividing citizens into us/them camps.

I can go back to the first René Levesque government and trace all the subsequent leaders of PQ leaders up to Lucien Bouchard and say that I never as an anglo felt so disrespected by my own government.
René Lévesque, Pierre-Marc Johnson, Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and even Bernard Landry all had a certain gravitas and while all promoted sovereignty, none went out of the way to purposely antagonize Anglos and Ethnics or make us feel unwelcome.
Yes, I know that many of you are thinking of Parizeau's remarks on the night of the referendum loss, but clearly he was frustrated and disappointed and probably in the cups when he made the unfortunate utterance that has now become famous.
But Parizeau was humiliated by his own actions and did the honourable thing in resigning over the incident, I still maintain that it was never representative of the man, who was actually quite urbane, open and actually inclusive.

But what Pauline Marois and the PQ did was despicable, rolling the dice on a wedge issue that was sure to rip Quebec apart, something that was actually the underlining intention, a strategy to make Quebecers choose sides based on language and religion.

Over and over again, François Legault and the CAQ told the PQ during the last Parliamentary session that a compromise was available, if only the PQ removed the most contentious parts of the Charter of Values.
In fact both Parizeau and Landry publicly implored Marois to back down on the Charter, all to no avail. They tried to convince Marois that to slam minorities so hard was a recipe for disaster, a course that in the end proved to be exactly that. But the PQ team believed that forcing francophones to choose sides would ultimately bring electoral success, which was all that mattered at the time and governing for themselves and not the people became the PQ's raison d'etre.

I shall never forget the supremely arrogant Bernard Drainville telling reporters that a compromise was indeed available, but if only the opposition compromised its position and embraced the Charter as presented. What unmitigated chutzpah.
After the election debacle Drainville completely reversed himself, telling reporters that a compromise was indeed in the works, but that the election got in the way.
It is that type of lie that sent the fortunes of the PQ plummeting after the election, when the truth came out about the other big PQ lie, that of the non-existent legal opinions over the Charter.

And so if the PQ thought the election rout was its low point, it was a rude awakening for the party to find that just a few short weeks after the election, it has sunk in popularity, losing about 25% of its election support, down below the 20% level, a historical low if I am not mistaken.

Now electors are not swift, but somehow get to the truth in the long run, bringing to mind the old Abraham Lincoln adage that tells us that;

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin110340.html#MF7r6f3mySUk3rMB.99

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

What conclusions did Quebec voters come to before the election?

Firstly, on the question of integrity, the public rightly concluded that the PQ had nothing to teach the Liberals over honesty and that the only reason the Liberals had a worse record was because they were in power much longer.
Pauline's hubby, the oily Claude Blanchet may have been the most unpopular person in the election and although not running for office and actually hiding from public view, his disreputable shadow cast a heavy pall over the PQ campaign.
While the integrity issue should have been a slam/dunk for the PQ, the public rightly concluded that when it came to honesty, all Quebec politicians and political parties are as guilty as the next.
And so the issue, while of paramount importance, was deemed to be a wash, something the PQ never counted on..

As for the Charter, the PQ outright miscalculated its impact.
While many non-traditional PQ voters embraced its precepts, it wasn't enough to move them to vote for the PQ with other issues far more important.

But the real issue that haunts the PQ election campaign is sovereignty, for which the PQ has Pierre-Karl Pelédeau to thank.
Quebecers voters took one sniff at his separatistagenda and ran for the hills, there's no other way to put it politely. This is the shocking lesson of the election.

For the PQ it was a shock as profound as that of a child who finds out there really isn't any Santa Claus. The rejection of the PQ's holiest of tenets, turning the sovereigntist world upside down.

With the rejection of sovereignty, the rejection of the politics of division, coupled with the revelation of duplicitous manipulation and lying, as well as the dubious ethics of Marois and her husband, it is no wonder that the PQ now is engulfed by the proverbial Perfect Storm.

Changing the leader won't alter the fact that the PQ is in the voter doghouse. Only time can possibly heal the rift between the party and the voters and even that remains to be seen.
Like Moses who sinned while wandering the desert and was refused entrance to the promised land, so too will the PQ leadership be sacrificed, it is the only thing that can save the party, if it is at all savable.
Shortly after the election, Sylvain Tanguay was removed as PQ party boss and Marois supporters, both Harold Lebel and Nicole Léger were removed from the PQ executive in a caucus vote, signalling that the old guard was no longer trusted.
It seems that those on the bottom are convinced that they've got to remove those on top.

So don't look to Drainville, Lisée or PKP to win the leadership, an outsider is needed to re-generate the party, somebody who had nothing to do with the planning and staging of the last election.

For those who think that PKP may be the answer it doesn't look good. The young turks in the party always resented the interloper and held their nose in the interest of winning.
But PKP is a liability, who brings nothing to the table except a reputation as a union buster and rich kid, two characterisitcs that hardly are enduring to Quebecers.

His less than average magnetism and poor speaking skills don't auger well for a potential leader. Also the fact that he has no constituency within the party make him a prime political target, and the baby wildebeest that is lagging dangerously behind the herd, he is ripe for the picking by th more experienced and deadly PQ carnivores. Even with that, I'm not sure he has what it takes to battle in the dirty, dirty cesspool of politics, where backstabbing and double-crossing are par for the course and this within one's own party! The political pitch on which PKP will battle the Liberals is slanted decided in the other guys favour and all of PKP's money can't help.

And does PKP really have what it takes to carry on over four long years on the cold hard benches of opposition, where one must passively watch the guys in power on the other side of the house, doing what you are denied.
Somehow I don't see it, PKP will become bored, his aristocratic style under supreme duress. I can't see him doing the rubber chicken circuit rubbing shoulders with the ho-polloi after a lifetime of privilege, where his word was regally obeyed, working in a committee, is just not his style.

At any rate, I see him as a Rodney Dangerfield character, the one in the movie 'Back to School' where a wealthy, but uneducated hard-nosed businessman returns to college and imposes his lifestyle on all around with hilarious results.
He cannot resist using his money and the hilarous moral is that he is able to change the school, instead of the school changing him. Somehow I don't see PKP having that type of impact.

So for PKP, it is only a matter of time before he gives up , he is either too smart, too dumb, or just to arrogant for the job.
As for Drainville and Lisée they are just plane burned, their reputation in tatters, deemed responsible for the election drubbing.
The new leader will come from deep within the caucus, likely somebody untainted by the past, with a decent shot at putting the dirty linen behind, somewhat like Couillard did.

But it remains to be seen if that even blowing up the PQ will even work, because it all comes down to sovereignty and for the PQ it is a Catch-22 situation, where giving up sovereignty is unthinkable and keeping it around, toxic for its health.

No Dogs or Anglophones

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