This week in corruption
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| Bernard Trepannier.... |
Trepannier's testimony was anxiously awaited as commission lawyers were prepared to rip him apart, convinced they would lay bare his shenanigans.
Unfortunately for them, the slippery 74 year-old Trepannier was more than a match.
He was extremely deferential and charming, especially to the Commissioner Charbonneau as he defended himself superbly.
"Madame la presidente, I did not have sex with that women!"
Trepannier told the commission he was a simple fundraiser who just sold tables to political fundraising events and as for being the mastermind of a huge kickback scheme that traded contracts for cash, nothing could be farther from the truth!
His testimony looked credible and unrehearsed, as he conceded little misdeeds, but when accused of accepting $100,000 in brown envelops, he was adamant ...:"Never happened!"
And so Trepannier lays bare the reality that notwithstanding testimony to the contrary, there is no hard evidence to support those claims and Trepannier knows it, such is the anonymous nature of cash.
He practically dared the commission to prove he received such monies, knowing full well they couldn't.
Brilliant!
His charm, wit, lapses in memory and gripping story-telling, charmed the pants off Madame Charbonneau and even the usually gruff commission inquisitor-lawyer, Denis Gallant, who was reduced to asking the witness if he really believed the stuff he was saying, shaking his head in amazement and disbelief at the consummate skills of a bullshitter extraordinaire.
Great fun!
Mr. Trepannier is awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in a land scandal whereby a developer was sold a City of Montreal property for a fraction of its value.
If the crown doesn't have wiretap or documentary evidence and is depending on cross-examination of Mr. Trepannier to expose his alleged misdeeds, they are indeed in deep trouble!
Gilles Duceppe recycled -one more time
Mindful of the Don Corleone's maxim of 'keeping friends close and enemies closer,' she has co-opted Gilles Duceppe with a job, this after knifing him last year when he tried to go after her leadership post. I can't say who is snakier, but no matter, the retired Bloc leader will add a per diem of between $750-$1500 a day to his $140,000 Ottawa pension while he cruises the province holding audiences with mooches complaining about the unfairness of Harper's new Employment Insurance rules.
The whole thing is a partisan whine-a-thon designed to boost support for sovereignty by having EI done-me-wrong stories of hardship play out endlessly each news cycle.
"Our way of life is being destroyed"...blah...blah...
"The regions will be de-populated" ...blah...blah
"A federalist plot to destabilize Quebec"...blah...blah
At least CAQ leader Francois Legault called it for what it is, a cynical attempt by Pauline to solidify her position and mend PQ fences on the taxpayers dime. Read a story about the appointment.
In other Gilles Duceppe New;
"Gilles Duceppe is the gift that keeps on taking. During 20 years in Ottawa he worked selflessly to destroy the country that made him, to undermine the system that paid him, and to break up the society that gave him the opportunity to enjoy a lifetime of security by complaining endlessly about how unappreciated he was.
Now he has been recognized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for a lifetime achievement award at its 14th annual recognition of wasteful government spending." National Post
Language hurting Montreal Tourism
"The head of Tourism Montreal says language uproars like Pastagate are hurting the city’s international image. With the start of tourist season, local merchants are worried about what the impact will be on business. “We use to be overrun by people from Toronto and southern Ontario and now we don't see that much of them anymore,” said Jack Kowalsky, from Saute Moutons Jet Boating.Kowalsky has owned a jet-boat operation in the Old Port for 30 years—he says he can already feel a shift this early in the season.
He's not alone in his concern.
In a speech given to the Board of Trade yesterday, the head of Tourism Montreal said: “This ridiculous bickering looks troubling abroad, can we put aside the silly linguistic quarrels and work together in the interests of developing our city?” Link
Quebec finance minister predicts more equalization money from Ottawa
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| Balanced Budget?...Missed it by that much! |
..... AN INCREASE OF $275 MILLION IN EQUALIZATION PAYMENTS FROM OTTAWA!
Good to know! Link{fr}
In commenting over the new federal budget, a furious Marceau claimed that the budget takes Quebec back 15 years.
Hmm....is that really such a bad thing?
Fifteen years ago Quebec was $100 billion less in debt, so I guess they really were the good old days!
In a television interview, the Minister also fumed over the new policy whereby Ottawa removed the special tax deduction for union based RRSP funds. The move affected Quebec's two largest unions whose funds represent 88% of the total invested in such funds across Canada.
The minister hissed that it was a plot by Ottawa to hurt Quebec because these funds helped build up Quebec industry.
But when the interviewer pointed out that only about 11% of the funds assets were invested in small or medium Quebec companies, with the bulk invested in blue chip stocks across North America, the minister quickly changed the subject. Ha!!
Incidentally, Maxime Bernier of the Conservatives explained that the added tax benefit was removed exactly for this reason and that the deduction represented an unfair advantage to these Quebec unions, which let's face it, the feds have not much use for.
Anglo doesn't mince words in presentation as he savages government committee studying Bill 14.
Take the time to view this video, you'll definitely be rewarded. Although the intro is in French the important part is in English.Irwin Rapoport doesn't mince words as he tells a Quebec government committee studying Bill 14, exactly what he thinks about Quebec's language policy.
All I can say is...WTF!
Here's two signs shown on the documentary 24CH, a Bell Media puff piece being shown on cable.
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Pasta-Chasers remain the butt of a world-wide joke......
Pastagate is still reverberating around the world, here's a story from Italy, published just yesterday that makes reference to the above video and savages Quebec over linguistic intolerance.
It isn't flattering. Link{IT}
You can use Google translate to get the gist of the story, just paste the text into the box on the left and click on translate (Choose Italian to English) GoogleTranslate,
Same thing for this story from Hungary which also shames Quebec over the video. Link{Hngr}
Odds'n ends
I don't know if the writer of this La Presse story sees the irony in a glowing report about how the town of Burlingtion, Vermont is trying to attract Quebec tourists by hiring summer part-time employees who can speak French.Probably not...Link{fr}
******************
On Monday I wrote about vigile.net's resident xenophobe Rejean Labrie's posts wherein he describes his view of what characteristics makes up a good Quebeceker.
He must have been extremely pleased with that work as he has added more to the list in another post; Link{fr}
******************
When Pasta-chasers collideGilles Proulx and Jean-Paul Perreault, two of the ten most important Pasta-chasers according to my blog piece Monday, got into an argument after the latter's French defense lobby group Impératif Français, named Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the militant ex-student leader, as some sort of award winner.
Mr. Proulx denounced the award, telling Perreault that if the Nadeau-Dubois has called on the students to march in defense of the French language, there wouldn't be more than 300 who showed up.
Hilariously, Perreault admitted that it was probably true, but that the movement is desperate to attract young people Link{fr}
******************
The “pastagate”-based benefit will take place in front of Restaurant Buonanotte on St. Laurent Boulevard, where the infamous “pastagate” story began, throwing Quebec’s language police into hot water and making headlines around the world.
The event will take place between 6:00 and 10:00 pm. Information is available online at www.pastagate.com. Tickets for the show start at $100 and the public is asked to bring boxes of pasta. Link
ATTENTION PASTA-CHASERS......REPEAT AFTER ME...
"Mul-ti-Cul-tur-a-lism!"
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HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
BONNE FIN DE SEMAINE!...
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As a Brit it always baffles me that Quebec supreses the English language so much. As many government's around the world are investing huge amounts in ensuring their populations have a decent grasp of the English language, Quebec tries its best to keep its people unilingual. Montreal is a fantastic city and without petty nationalism and language politics could be one of the truly great cities of the world and economic powerhouse with a highly educated bilingual population. A true bridge between the Anglosphere and Francophone world. Oh well, maybe in a parallel universe. Great video by the way, that guy truly savaged the committee, loved how they tried their best to avoid giving proper answers to his questions.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Limey: Prior to the Quiet Revolution (circa 1960) Montreal WAS that "fantastic city" as you referred to it above. While the Franco Catholics deservedly kicked the Church to the curb, they took their two centuries of anger finally having realized they were duped for all their worth and made English the scapegoats for all their ignorance.
DeleteIn the meantime, the minorities (mostly Protestants, Jews and East Orthodox) were hard-working risk takers and entrepreneurs. Is that bad? Even today, with the mass exodus of about ¼ million non-Franco-Catholics, the remaining minorities make up about 20% of the population and about 40% of the tax base.
After a century of corruption, the infrastructure is crumbling fast, a couple of overpasses have collapsed in the last dozen years with more to come, and the focus is on hiring more language police to imtimidate and run roughshod over the people responsible for bringing in twice the percentage of the taxes that their population represents.
Does that explain why Quebec is deteriorating? Does this explain why I no longer care if Quebec separates? In fact, I'd prefer it separates and stops dragging on the rest of us. I'm ready and willing to put Québécois (the ones defined by Irwin Rappoport in the YouTube cut above) at a moment's notice. I think the time has come to see if Quebec will sink or swim.
@sauga
Delete"the remaining minorities make up about 20% of the population and about 40% of the tax base."
these it appears are your favorite numbers. please provide source.
it's your chance to strenghten your argument. take it, mate.
"the focus is on hiring more language police..."
it is your focus, mate. i think it's far from being the focus of the pq government.
and stop the smearing; the only harm you do is to yourself.
Anyone who double-spaces every, single, sentence, and abhors the use of upper case cannot be taken seriously. The only harm you do is to yourself.
DeletePlease elaborate Dudent. What do you see as the focus of the current PQ government. It couldn't possibly be Bill 14, so maybe it's job creation? Sound fiscal management? Ridding the province of corruption? Please tell us what it is and of course, we know you'll provide sources to back it up.
Delete@diogenes
Deleteit's got many foci. securing the next election for sure is important. and the ones you mention are surely top priorities too (you are a better analyst than sauga, mate).
student: My source is Beryl Wajsman, Editor, The Suburban.
Delete@sauga
Deleteah! i found this http://tinyurl.com/cardgav .
he just blurts the numbers out like you do at some point of the interview. did he ever write down details about this?
i you are going to repeat a number again and again, you'd better double check it. more generally, i think you should stop naively gulping militant propaganda, mate. it's not healthy for you.
Dudent, you're copying the answers from me again. You won't pass if you can't do your own work. I want to see your proof and your sources. I just threw those out there as examples of what they should be working on instead of wasting time on destructive crap like Bill 14. You can't get on in life by saying, "Yeah, what Diogenes said." It's easy to guess that winning the next election is their biggest priority because it's like that for every governing party, whether they have a minority or majority government. Come on, rise to the occasion. Start doing the research that you're always demanding of others.
Delete@diogenes
Deletedude i alreaydy responded. i don't like to repeat. sorry. you asked for my opinion and i indulged you. now you whine because you gave me tips. well next time don't give any.
Dudent, yet another dismal effort. Responding is not necessarily answering. I didn't ask for your opinion, I asked you to elaborate on something you had already said. I expect you to supply the evidence to support those opinions. You know, the way you always do to everyone else on this blog? I threw those out as possibilities of what they should be doing but I see no evidence that they are doing that. That's for you to provide, since you embraced them. Now turn off the cartoons and go and provide some corroborating evidence to support your views. It's time to put up or shut up, you slack hypocrite.
Deletestudent: I have neither the time nor inclination to substantiate the numbers for you. The Editor of this blog has caught Mario Beaulieu et al with fudging the numbers and how they do it. I don't perceive Beryl Wajsman as some politician with an agenda. May I suggest you address Mr. Wajsman and ask HIM to substantiate his numbers.
DeleteMr. Wajsman is a private citizen who is in charge of a community paper. I don't think it's in the English speaking communities best interests to be lied to by one of our own. That's reserved for separatists who have reached the pinnacle of desperation and will say and do anything to get their followers riled up to bring them to the other side.
Per Mr. Rappoport's address to the Committee, 99% of Francophones favour language legislation, but less than 50% (about 25-35%) favour outright separation. Sadly, Mr. Rappoport's proposal of a language-free zone will never come to fruition unless by some act of God separation takes place and then the war on partition starts. No separation, no language-free zone.
@diogenes
Deleteok here are details about what i think the pq priorities are:
http://tinyurl.com/d4htstv
of course this was not written today, but it will give you a better understanding of this government's priorities. hiring more oqlf inspectors is not one of them.
@sauga
Deletefair enough. you just trust beryl wajsman and believe what he says and writes whatever it is.
thing is in the same speech he lies a lot:
1. csn is a "radical" organisation, when in reality it's just a big syndicate.
2. the september election was between a free society, the liberals, and a centralized command society, the pq. when in reality there was many other parties, and when in reality both the pq and the liberals are not no far from the center, on the left right axis.
3. csn wants taxes raised when in reality csn never made such a statement in the election run-up.
4. then he goes on saying the choice is between the liberals who provide services and the pq who wants to social engineer the people. when in reality this is comparing apples to oranges and both liberals and pq are also similar on services they propose to provide and on social engineering, whatever he meant.
5. then he says he's a fan of charest?!? wtf?
6. then he says the caq doesn't have a clear message when in reality it was the only party that was crystal clear: no separation talk for ten years, and let's put back quebec on tracks by supporting businesses, cutting the fat and taking on unions.
7. then he goes on again linking the student and just normal people marches to "csn marches". wtf?
8. then he says people on the streets in august are "radical left" when in reality it was left-leaning people. not radical.
so sauga yes this guy has an agenda. and based all these points i am tempted to think his 40 to 20 number there could be interpreted in a more honest way if we knew where it comes from.
See Dudent? You can do it if you try. I liked the cartoon by Ygreck. I suspect it apply as well when Marois is leaving office as it does when she starting her mandate.
Delete@ Student
DeleteI'm not interfering in the comments section but just want to pass on something amusing;
"1. csn is a "radical" organization, when in reality it's just a big syndicate."
In English "Syndicate" is code for any criminal organization like the Mafia.
@editor
Deleteyou're right. the word syndicate has bad press. i should have used union.
FROM ED
DeleteI've been trying to find a place to interject this fact but with so many reply spaces taken up by Student;s bullshit it's not easy.
The fact that 20@ of Anglos pay 40% of the tax base was mentioned by Andrew Coyne. One of Canada's foremost economic
analysists. No PQ pol has ever denied this and it has been repeated by columnists like McDonald and Mc Pherson.
The following is from official quebec records:-
In the 1990s, the annual revenues of the province of Québec were around $35 billion, of which 40% came from income and corporate taxes, english speaking companies were the majority 18% from various taxes on consumer goods (tobacco, retail sales, fuel), 5% from copyrights, permits and fines, and around 2% from transfers from Crown corporations. The annual transfer payments from the federal government roughly totalled $6 billion. Annual expenditures by the provincial state of Québec in the 1990s averaged approximately $42 billion, with roughly half going to health, social services and education, and almost $10 billion to culture. Ed
I
Editor, thank you so much for the video of Irwin Rapoport in action.
ReplyDeleteGotta love how both the PQ and Libs dodged on him in their best efforts.
The video makes me believe that Anglos and Allos should push of voluntary segregation.
We really should entertain the option of tiered citizen participation in the management of this province.
Mr. Rappaport (I think that's how it's spelled) did a great job and I found it very heart wrenching to listen to him. Makes me know I'm not alone in just asking that we have basic rights and freedoms reinstated in this stinking province. Why can't they just leave us alone? What is wrong with these people that they can't live and let live? It's no wonder we want a partition of this place - I hope we can get our act together to get rid of these people out of our lives and the sooner the better. Municipal referendums and let them go!
DeleteSeparation will do fine. Quebec is dragging down Canada's ability to move forward at full steam.
DeleteIrwin R gets my vote. It's good to see pople taking the fight to their faces and forcing them to be confronted with uncomfortable facts and situations.
DeleteUnfortunately speaking out like this is only possible if you can survive the official government harrasment on the other side.
Rappaport doesn;t know it yet but he's about to get audited by the Quebec Tax department. The official civil service machine is going to get going on harassing him.
He's going to find his drivers license a little harder to renew. He'll get a fire inspection a little more often etc.
FROM ED
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how much time we have before bill 14 is up to be passed? Ed
Ed:
DeleteGo to the following link and then click on "Detailed Hearing Schedule" which will at least give you an idea how long the committee hearings will last (although it is subject to change, so you would have to check back periodically to see if they extended them). Once the committee hearing schedule is finished and the committee then meets to thrash out amendments, it will then return the bill to the Blue Room for final reading. The schedule has hearings listed until April 17th as it stands now, so at least until then and then maybe a few more weeks until to goes up for a vote on "passage". So around the end of April, middle of May? But this is a guesstimate on my part:
click on detailed hearing schedule
You have no time left ED.
DeleteBe very affraid.
The bad frenchies will eat you alive.
Tremble and fear any french speaking frog; they're all out to get you!
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WTF only in quebekistan?
Here in Alberta we are all harmonously happy.
Ed - please don't respond to the separatist troll! Ignore him as you do with the others! He will go away if he receives no feedback from any of us!
DeleteFROM ED
DeleteRight on Cutie. he does not exist in my mind. Ed
The Rapoport video is excellent.
ReplyDeleteI saw Mr. Rapoport's presentation live and I was in awe! Noone covered it and I could not find his testimony on the assnat website! Thank you for having it here! He challened them head on with the same 'fanaticism" ?? Not sure what to call it but in reality thinking about it..makes logical sense. This is not a war on language only it is a war on seperation, which is the ultimate goal. To put laws in place that will suppress whatever English influence is within the province because there is one fact I beleive very stronly and this is that most immigrants that come to Quebec, will learn English regardless if they are placed in French school without free will & choice. They come to Canada, and they know as survivors English is an asset. That's my take.
ReplyDeleteFrom: The Rationalist
ReplyDeleteWhen you give it some thought, there really is nothing at all "flaky" about what Mr. Rapoport is suggesting. As French Canadian ethnic nationalism rises, so too will rise the desire of those who are not French Canadian to seek shelter from the effects of that ethnic nationalism. Ethnic cleansing is a war crime French Canadians are not prepared to commit and in any case, the vast majority of us who are not French Canadian are staying put. Hence, in one form or another the solution is the PARTITION of Quebec.
One part where the credo is multiculturalism and linguistic freedom (the federal counties bordering on Ontario, the U.S. and New Brunswick, Montreal and the First Nations' lands) The other part, where French Canadians form the overwhelming majority, where French language protection is the prevailing ideology. Places like Quebec City, the only metropolitan area in the Western world where over the past 100 years, without war of ethnic cleansing, the population has become more, not less, homogeneous.
PARTITION. The sooner the better for us all.
You should not refer to Quebec nationalists as French Canadians in this context.
DeleteIt is insulting to francophones who choose to live in other regions of Canada.
They are open minded, often fully bilingual, and proud to be Canadian.
Bring on a partition movement - we gave to put a stop to these endless attacks on our heritage and rights and freedoms. Those areas of Quebec that want to leave be allowed to go and the rest of us will be just great without them.
Delete@Two Cents Worth
DeleteAgreed.
I took offense to that and that's one thing I can't stand is when Anglos or citizens of the ROC paint separatists and French Canadians with the same brush.
While he was right that a lot of non-separatists support bill 101 on the grounds that they're unaffected by the consequences (or at least indirectly), to refer to all French Canadians as "tyrannical" will not score the points he needs to validate his argument.
Still, the video made for a resounding statement and I hope Ed took a good hard look at how his precious Liberals reacted.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHear, hear! Many French-Canadians, both within and without Quebec, including all of my francophone relatives, are perfectly happy to be completely self-respecting French-Canadians, thank you very much, and have no desire whatsoever to participate in any franco-supremacist experiment.
DeleteSubstituting one term for the other is incorrect, erroneous, inaccurate, wrong, faulty, untrue, mistaken, false, and improper.
I'll agree to go along with this thread. I don't think all French speakers in Canada should be lumped into the Quebec fabric. I actually clinched my teeth when Mr. Rappoport lumped all French speakers as French Canadians in his brief, but I shan't grouse over it.
DeleteI learned one lesson when I temporarily moved to Ottawa in 1982 for a job. I learned very quickly that there is no love loss between Acadians and Mr. Rappoport's tongue-in-cheek definition of Québécois. Mr. R's interpretation of Québécois is in reality Québécois «pur laine». Similarly, I didn't see Franco Ontarians as agreeing with Quebec either. I speculate this is because when it's all said and done, French speakers outside Quebec would be thrown under the bus and left on their own to deal with the inevitable backlash that would follow separation. This was how I hypothesized Francophone dynamics until about a dozen years ago.
My hypotheses changed when I decided to put up, shut up, take the plunge and buy a $5 liquidation copy of Michel Gratton's book. Very splendidly written, and I've mentioned it many, many times before. Read this brief splendid review that I could not word better myself. What Gratton himself went through as a Franco Ontarian going to a French school in Quebec confirmed clearly and unequivocally once and for all why there is no love loss between French speakers in Quebec versus elsewhere.
From the Rationalist:
ReplyDeleteWithout question, what drives Quebec separatism is French Canadian ethnic nationalism. The abandonment of the words "French Canadian" in Quebec and their replacement with the word, "Québécois" is, if anything, a land grab - the appropriation by one community, albeit a majority community, of the entirety of Quebec's land mass.
But we live in an era where the principles of individual rights and the protection of minority communities are intrinsic to a democracy. When a "majority" adopts an ideology which tramples those principles, the only rational approach is shelter. And since no one would suggest ethnic cleansing in the 21st century, what must be carved out from the area under the control of the "Québécois" ethnic nationalists is a territory where, once again, individual rights and the protection of minority communities are cardinal principles. PARTITION. The freedom, at least in part of the former territory of Quebec, from the tyranny of the majority.
If PARTITION has too harsh a ring to it, well, fine, let's adopt the word that French Canadian ethnic nationalists have appropriated. SOVEREIGNTY. It amounts to the same. The DIVISION of Quebec. The sooner the better.
Much has been made of the "problem" Montreal poses. Yet deafening silence about the city where our laws are passed, Quebec City. A place where, without war or ethnic cleansing, has become more, not less, homogenous over the past century. That is supposed to be the model for the rest of Quebec?
No. Increasingly, the only answer to the threat of the Quebec City model is PARTITION. And the closer French Canadian ethnic nationalists move towards their goal, the more likely the result of PARTITION will become a reality. I just don't see any other way out. Unless of course, in North America, the first Apartheid State emerges. But that just ain't gonna happen.
Rash: You brought up a VERY important point that should be put under the microscope, so allow me.
DeleteYou wrote above "...we live in an era where the principles of individual rights and the protection of minority communities are intrinsic to a democracy." Guess what, Rash: The PLQ, in its Third Millennium Manifesto (for lack of a better title) a.k.a. Liberal Values in Contemporary Quebec, written by the late Claude Ryan (and translated by Quisling Geoffrey Kelley), please especially examine Chapters 2 & 3, esp. the later part of p. 26, the bottom of p. 29 and upper p. 30.
These are the areas that I believe best point out where, on the one hand, the Quebec government realizes there are individual rights, but the collectivity must prevail. There are other examples of this through Ryan's exposé, but difficult to pinpoint in one sentence or paragraph. It is scattered throughout.
Despite being an infomercial for the PLQ, the PLQ would at times conveniently forget to practice what the exposé preached. The latest example that blatantly proves this was when former Premier John James Charest took a $700 million cheque from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that was earmarked for specific Quebec government programs and administrative compensation and instead turned it into a $700 million tax break solely for Quebeckers at the expense of the rest of us.
Well THAT is blatant theft and the thief's name is John James Charest. Abuse like that is the reason I'm for the end of equalization payments for Quebec. As pointed out by Irwin Rappoport, this contravenes the objectives of democracy as defined by the Magna Charta and the evolution of democracy that we outside of Quebec enjoy, and have developed for the last 798 years.
OK Yannick, you stay in Quebec then, and get the guillotines ready to roll English heads the day after separation...if you live to see that day, that is.
DeleteIf nothing else constant discussions about partition of Quebec drives the seppies nuts.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can;t achieve partition but we can piss off a lot of PQ people by constantly bringing it up. Kinda like how they poke us with Bill 101 and 14 sharp sticks all the time.
The other thing of course is that eventually insecurity about partition being possible slips into the PQ mindset. They will see partition as a possibilty they need to mobilize to fight.
It's good of course since it brings up the issues of why Quebec means "meeting of the waters" in Cree and not "my homeland in French".
If anybody has a right to lands in Quebec it's the native people the PQ scammed the province from.
We should be supporting all the movements to tear Quebec apart. Only through this mechanism will the PQ and seppies truly understand this province isn;t only "theirs for themselves".
The movement isnt; likely to succeed (imagine montreal as a city state, I've vote YES IN A MINUTE) but it will keep many important "settled" issues on the table.
In Quebec's mind their territory is "settled". We need to make sure as many things as possible that Quebec and the PQ think are settled are actually not settled. Quebec's borders are not fixed forever. Cree needs to be the #1 language. Been here before French etc. English can be #2.
I don;t give a shit that the Liberals don;t support partition. I've watched the Liberals tell us for 30 years that if we make concessions we will have language peace and social peace.
I'm not voting for them again until they understand that appeasement of seppies has no end.
I'm not interested in voting for the Liberals to buy another 5 years of peace until the seppies can come back. Quebec is going down the tubes. Better to hit rock bottom faster and start the rebuild then hold off the inevitable.
Quebec is like an alcoholic or drug addict. Until they really hit bottom nothing can be done. Until then the Liberals are just "enablers" in the language of addiction..
I hate to agree with you but I do - nothing is going to stop these power hungry militants from ruining us entirely as they hit bottom and I for one, want to walk away with at least the land and home I reside and pay taxes on. The liberals are enablers and I too will not vote for them ever again unless they make commitments to the anglophone and allophone communities before next election. Bring on the Equality Party 2.0 - we need a choice in this damned province.
DeleteFrom the Rationalist:
ReplyDeleteNo need "to hit rock bottom". PARTITION is a very viable alternative. Once upon a time there was a Czechoslovakia - and then there were the Czech and the Slovak republics. Relative peace and mutual respect. Once upon a time there were the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. There, bloodshed occurred in response to the inevitable. Armed resistance by a militarized majority to thwart the right of distinct communities to venture onto separate paths. But in the end, peace prevailed as as geographical borders were readjusted.
Now, with ethnic nationalism having been embraced by a majority of French Canadians in Quebec, the time has come to for distinct communities to part ways. Hence, the overwhelming logic of a peaceful PARTITION. Of Quebec.
FROM ED
DeleteResident Evil,
I'm not sure I know what you mean by "How Liberals reacted" I might have missed something but I didn't see anything but him
speaking. Fill me in, would ya. The one thing I wonder about is that he spoke all in English. I wonder if all the people at that table understood him. I'd love to see the same message conveyed to them in French so they could have no excuse to say he should have spoken in French. Ed
What pissed me off is that most of responses were in french even though he gave his whole talk in english. Shows how much respect they have for the english rights to be heard in their own language! Bigoted, racist bastards.
Delete@cutie003
Deleteor maybe he understood french better than they could speak english? therefore french was the best language to use on that occasion?
if that is the case, your violent insults are even less relevant, cutie003.
"if that is the case, your violent insults are even less relevant, cutie003."
DeleteThere you go Cutie. Dudent, God of Relevance has decreed. Tremble with fear knowing that you have been judged by him and found wanting.
@diogenes
Delete?!?
do you also think that a francophone who answers an anglophone in french, when the latter understands french better than the former speaks english, is a "racist bastard"?!?
i thought only cutie003 was that wild.
The surest way to make it happen is to pretend it's already happening. Reference the PQ and soverignty agenda for this tactic.
ReplyDeleteThe narrative is it's full province status for Kebec in 2020.
Is there a web site where we can see the new flag and a map of the territory? Need a name even if a working title for the lands.
Best to use historical names. Helps achieve a basis for the arguments that follow.
Optics are always a big part of the game.
It's important not to ever use the word partition from now on. We will be separating our historical lands into Kebec and the PQ can keep Quebec.
"Kebec separation movement"
In Kebec all languages are welcome of course. We arn;t bigots.
There is no reason this has to wait for separation of Quebec to happen. Kebec should be able to separate from Quebec right now.
Really it's hard not to see this as a win-win. The PQ will have a pure ethnic base on which to rule. They will be able to enact all kinds of fantasy language laws. Sure it won;t be as much fun if you don;t have people to kick around. But PQ types won;t have to put up with Bonjour/Hello and the other insults of living in rampant multi-lingual society. PQ can start it's boyscout youth league, build a few statues, control the media. It's all ok at that point tho. They will have a percentage of the population that will go along with whatever.
More importantly there won;t be any ethnics, immigrants or money people around to restrict their politics. Finally Quebec will be able to strive for innovative progressive legislation unrestricted.
Shit I'm even willing to have transfer payments go from Kebec to Quebec. I'm not even expecting them to work or start companies or other insults to progressive PQ Quebec values.
Remember Quebec is where the PQ and QS will live.
Kebec is where all the Liberals and CAQ will live in.
We already vote along these geographic lines.
We're already called "Western Quebec" so perhaps we can change it to "First to Leave" - lol - I never did understand why people always say that we have to wait for quebec to separate before we can start a partition movement. Why? Why are we all waiting for our votes to leave the province? We should be taking action now to separate from quebec and no one can disagree with that point. We are no worse than the militant francophone separatists; that's for sure. We need our own separatist movement to remain a part of our own country of Canada.
DeleteIn 1997, Denzil Spence, the mayor of Allumette Island, a small west Quebec municipality on the Ontario border, approached the county councils in several nearby Ontario counties with the following pro-partition resolution which had previously been endorsed by Quebec's Equality Party:
Delete"Resolved: Regardless of the outcome of any referendum on the independence of Quebec conducted by the government of the province of Quebec, the Government of Canada guarantee forthwith the rights of loyal citizens of Canada, where they form the majority in any provincial riding in Quebec, to remain citizens of Canada, territorially part of the Canadian nation and people, one and indivisible."[13]
Between March and August 1997, the resolution was endorsed by county councils in Renfrew County, Frontenac County, Lanark County, and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry United Counties,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Quebec
Claude Lanthier strikes again :
ReplyDelete"@ClaudeLanthier
Camion est bien meilleur que Rebel, mais aux yeux de notre élite culturelle, il commet le sacrilège suprême, il traite des Qcois de souches."
Translation : Camion is a much better movie than Rebelle but according to our cultural elite, he commits a major crime, he tells the story of Québécois pure laine.
Once again he sees plots against Québec everywhere.
Rebelle (War Witch) is a 2012 Canadian drama film written and directed by Kim Nguyen. It was primarily filmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During a civil war in sub-saharan Africa, a 12 year old girl named Komona is abducted by rebel forces to become a child soldier. She is given a gun and told to choose between shooting her parents, who huddle in front of her, or watching them come to a much more painful end via machete.
Lanthier is bitter because Rebelle won against Camion (a "normal" movie made in Quebec) at the last Gémeaux Awards (the French-language equivalent to the Gemini Awards). By the way, Rebelle was nominated for an Oscar as the Best Foreign Language Film.
@gauillaume légaré
Delete"Once again he sees plots against Québec everywhere."
wouldn't it be more fair to say "he sees a plot" in this particular event?
and i don't think it was the gémeaux, mate.
Other plots he sees :
Delete"(Télé-Québec TV shows) Elles ont comme mission inavouée de promouvoir l'anglicisation, la multiculturalisation ou la québécophobie
If you are not sure of something just fucking google it (Gémeaux Awards)
and i don't think it's guauillaume.
@guillaume légaré
Deleteand? did he propose any argument or is this quote all the meat he served on the budget?
and i'm quite convinced that movies rebelle or camion didn't win any tv award.
on the subject, not budget. sorry.
DeletePauvre mister Rapoport,on dirait qu'il a frappé un mur de briques :(
ReplyDeleteYes, Mr. Rapoport most certain did hit a wall...but it was a wall of intolerance and facism rather than bricks.
ReplyDeletePeu importe,les effets sur l'expression de son visage restent les mêmes :(
DeleteIt’s very telling that Pasta-chaser #1, Diane De Courcy, had “No Comment” to make to an earnest brief from a concerned citizen, whereas the Liberal and the CAQ ministers at least gave thoughtful replies, and only the Liberal bothered to show any respect to an anglophone Quebecer, who spoke in English about government attacks on English, by speaking partly in English.
DeleteDe Courcy is a Montrealer who can’t speak English and I suspect she didn’t even understand any of the sounds that Rapoport was making. Today’s dumbed-down PQ elite is a far cry from the days of fluently-bilingual ministers like René Lévesque, Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard, none of whom would have embarrassed Quebec in Scotland, for example.
@r.s
Deleteor, de courcy didn't have any questions because ropoport's speech was crystal clear.
the caq and liberal dudes, less comfortable with english, had to ask for clarifications on the bits that they missed.
Nonsense.
Delete@r.s
Deletewhy? you think ropoport wasn't clear?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you’re simply being your usual deliberately provocative self or whether, in your heart of hearts, you sincerely believe the utter nonsense that you spout.
DeleteNot in this case, however. Your bad faith is perfectly obvious.
@r.s
Deleteyou're quick to draw an ad hominem tirade, mate. you sure you have already exhausted all good arguments on this matter? hum. yeah. maybe you did.
A word to the wise, student. Based on your mistaken usage of both terms, you have demonstrated your misunderstanding of what is an ad hominem as well as what is a tirade.
DeleteYour near-constant vituperation indeed demonstrates your mala fides, as does your persistent hectoring of other commenters.
By now, we have long witnessed your deceitful participation on this board and are aware that your main purpose in coming here is both to scold people with persistent invective and to ask endless, pointless questions without any genuine interest in the answers. Moreover, you have never denied that you are being paid to play this role.
For these reasons, I hope you understand why your participation here is not being taken seriously. Just FYI.
That is all.
@the cat
Deletean ad hominem attack, mate, is when someone steers away from the subject being debated to focus on its antagonist's traits. which is exactly what r.s does at 5:00:00.
and here's the definition of tirade i use:
tirade: long single-themed wordstream.
it also applies to r.s comment, in my humble opinion. do you think it wasn't long enough to be a tirade? if you propose it should be considered a normal rant i'll agree.
"your main purpose in coming here is both to scold people with persistent invective and to ask endless, pointless questions without any genuine interest in the answers."
that's super false. my intent is to neutralize bad arguments and learn about the anglophone's point of view. i do have interest in the answers.
"Moreover, you have never denied that you are being paid to play this role."
ok here's a denial: i deny that i am paid to play this role. now you deny that you are paid to write stuff here, please.
"...we have long witnessed your deceitful participation on this board and are aware..."
"...your participation here is not being taken seriously."
how do you know what everybody thinks, mate? you a wizard?
Wow. Maybe The Cat is indeed a wizard. He sure read my mind on this subject. I'll have to start watching more closely to see if it happens on other topics.
DeleteFROM ED
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of seeing references on this blog to "Ed;s Liberals or Ed's precious Liberals" I guess I see things with an open mind which a lot of you don't seem to.
Let's try and accept some reality here. The Liberals are NOT the party of the English. They are not now or ever were owned by the English majority in Quebec. The English have never elected the Liberals, Liberal governments have been elected by voters that are mostly Francophone. What you call pandering is actually democracy, a government standing for the majority of voters that elected it. Perhaps if you all stop bitching and show Dr.Couillard and the Federalist francophones that you are ready to move ahead as soon as you are informed of an agenda that suits you we
will get what we're hoping for. Put the past behind you and think forward. Ed
Ed,
DeleteThe Liberals are not the party of the English in the sense that they did sweet eff all for the English.
But it would be wrong to discount the influence of the English and allophone vote because without it the Liberals are toast.
Anglophones and allophones represent 20% of the population of Quebec. They vote 90% or more for the Liberals. When the Liberals win a general election, they usually do it with about 40% of the vote. Thus, mathematically, the English (and allophones who, by choice, identify with the English) are responsible for about half of all votes for the Liberals. So while your statement "Lieral governments have been elected by voters that are mostly Francophone" may be true, it is only true by the slightest of margins.
FROM ED
DeleteTony, I'm glad to see that you agree with me, the Libs ARE our best hope for ridding us of the PQ. Yes, we need a statement of what they plan to do before the election but fighting against both PQ and CAQ they will need more seats than they have. It angers me when I see people on this blog saying the Liberals are corrupt. This is mainly what cost them the election. Their popularity went down to 31% from from 43% in 2008. The protesting students had little to do with it. They were mostly French who vote PQ anyway...
In 2008 Libs had 48 seats with 42%. In 2012 they rose to 51 seats with 31% while the PQ went down from 36% to 32% and still managed to rise from36 to 54 seats. I don't understand it but it tells me that Dr. Couillard has a lot of work to do. He must convince Federalist Franophones that the party they stood for is not corrupt and will not abandon them for the English. he has to convince them that giving English rights are taking nothing from them. He could probably do it by coming up with an economics plan that will take attention away from the language issue on voting day. When he gets it put together we will know what we have to do. In the meantime there is not much that can go wrong. Even bill 14 would be only a bump in the road for a shot time.
"...Dr. Couillard has a lot of work to do. He must convince Federalist Franophones that the party they stood for is not corrupt..."
Deletetotally agree. that will be a lot of work. big challenge for a guy who changed laws to suit his personnal business interests.
Ed:
DeleteLet's be clear.
I am all for Couillard and the Liberals getting anglo votes provided that they make us some very specific promises before the next Quebec general election. And if I understood you right, you agree with this strategy.
So, Couillard can, if he wants, do all that other stuff that you mentioned -- like trying to win over francophones by giving reasons for why it is good for Quebec's economy not to violate the rights of the anglo minority -- but he absolutely must make very specific promises to us.
That is what you are on board with.
FROM ED
ReplyDeleteAbove should read English minority in Quebec.
From the Rationalist:
ReplyDeleteMr. Rapoport and the cold shoulder he received in ethnically Pure Laine Quebec City has little to do with "hitting" or with "walls". It was merely a vivid demonstration that an immutable rift has now formed within the territory presently known as the Province of Quebec.
On one side, you have behaviour governed by the principles of the protection of individual and minority rights and on the other, behaviour governed by a French Canadian ethnic nationalist agenda. Much as these ethnic nationalists may protest or deny, these paths cannot converge. Ultimately, the promotion of the interests of only one distinct majority community, French Canadians, must clash with the principles of individual and minority rights.
The exemplar of the absurdity of trying to reconcile these opposites can be found in the changes proposed in Bill 14 to the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. With the a wave of the ethnic nationalist wand:(i)the designation of "minority" communities is erased and replaced with the amorphous meaningless designation of "cultural" communities (btw, are we to understand that the majority French Canadians have no culture?) thus removing non-French Canadians from the protections commonly afforded minority communities under international treaties and international law; and (ii) the insertion in a Charter intended to protect individual and minority rights of the now "human right" of the majority, of French Canadians, to fully live their lives using only French as their language of work and communication.
In the territory currently known as the Province of Quebec, like so much else, the concept of "human rights" has being turned on its head.
All this to say that we had better get used to the inevitable: the PARTITION of the territory currently known as the Province of Quebec. Again, the sooner the better for us all.
It's not partition. It's the 11th province project.
DeleteOK by me - or as I've said before, we could join Ontario and/or NB - NB is already bilingual so that would be one problem taken off the table before we start. Our francophone federalist friends, I'm sure, would want to be in a bilingual province.
DeleteSupport for an 11th province would really only come from the Quebec minorities and Ontario Francophones. There would be some Quebec francophones that might support it for example, if they had links with Franco Ontarians or francophones in the rest of Canada and would see the net benefit of a bilingual province if it had parts of Ontario that have a large Franco Ontarian population(french speaking or english speaking of Francophone ethnicity) were in a bilingual province. The second group of Francophones I could see supporting an 11th province are those that live in for example in Riguad, Vaudreuil, St Clet, Pointe Fortune etc... in the Soulanges. They would mostly be farmers that own a land that would be worth a fortune should it be located in a new bilingual province.
DeleteI don't think we would have the support of the majority of Federalist Francophones. Just enough of a minority of the self interested ones to get that slight majority needed to get that new province. Assuming the vast majority of Anglos and allos would support a new province to rid themselves of linguistic and ethnic shackles, at least 85%. With the minority of Francophone federalists in Quebec, I could see the a successful case for a new province. The important thing would be to get the largest possible amounts of Non Francophones into the new province.
I think new territory would need at least the Northern part of the Soulanges(high 40 corridor from Montreal Island) to the Ontario border, city of Vaudreuil Dorion, Ile Perrot, 66 to 75% of Montreal Island, 33% to 50% of Laval, parts of the south shore municipalities of Chateauguay, Brossard, St Lambert, Longueil, US border areas of the Chateauguay Valley and Southern eastern Townships. In the east of Quebec you got parts of the Magdalen Islands and the Lower North Shore, that are closer to New Brunswick then Montreal, which maybe better of as part of New Brunswick. Northern Quebec would probably have to be jointly administered and the Revenue of hydro Quebec divided up by % of Quebec population living in either Quebec or the new bilingual province.
I think it would benefit all of Canada, including the Pur Laine nationalists. For the Pur Laine nationalists, what stays Quebec is guaranteed 75 seats in the Canadian parliament, increased equalization (loss of economic engine of Montreal means more equalization), full control of immigrants to Quebec(family class immigration accounts for most English integrated immigrants), they would be able to cut most bilingual services, what remains of Quebec would be almost 90% pur laine.
For the rest of Canada their would be relief as without Northern Quebec, Quebec wouldn't try to secede. Especially if their revenues from hydro power and resources could be completely cut off, also equalization would be an even bigger component of revenue. Furthermore the new province would probably a have province or revenue neutral.
For the Quebec minorities its obvious what the benefits are. For the Ontario Francophones it would mean having greater access to French services and greater change for usage of French in everyday life.
That being said their would still be need for a large amount of negotiation needed between, Ontario
I fail to understand, every time we talk about partition or creation of a new province, everyone leaves out the Outaouais, the Pontiac and Gatineau! These areas would be devastated without being partitioned and becoming part of Ontario = at least 3/4 of this region depend on the revenue from employment in the Federal Public Service and would never survive without their employers. If push came to shove, I'd be willing to bet that the vote would be at least 80% in favour of remaining Canadian vs losing their homes and the reality of no job. I'm sure that the Ontario Francophones would welcome us but they have no problem receiving services, as it now stands, in Ontario. Ontario has come a long way and is very bilingual in the Ottawa and surrounding areas.
DeleteFrom the Rationalist:
DeleteIt's about time we get moving on the 11th province idea. Petitions, city council resolutions, a viable political party that takes up the cause. Believe me, the next time a Mr. Rapoport volunteers to make his opinion known in Pur laine Quebec City, politicians will have to pay attention and show a good portion of the population of the territory currently known as the Province of Quebec the respect it deserves.
Cutie, the link that Liam provided regarding the partition of Quebec didn't leave out the Pontiac and the Outaouais. There’s even a map showing the potential rump state of Quebec that might result following partition and those regions are taken into account.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_and_partitioned_Quebec_(preferences).png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Quebec
@Jarret street
DeleteEt les voyages de groupes pour la planète mars arrivent quand dans votre scénario? :D
I forgot parts of the Outouais and SouthWest Laurentians.
DeleteWhat about the Ontario government? I'm not sure that they would be willing to part with the francophone regions of Eastern Ontario for the creation of a new bilingual province. They would probably have in mind the dilution of franco-Ontarians, especially the heavily francophone areas of Northwestern Ontario around Hearst and Sudbury.
DeleteIf this area left quebec and joined Ontario I'm sure we would be welcomed. It has always been considered part of the National Capital Region so I think it would rather be expected. And I was talking about Jarry Street's comments and he thereafter stated that he had forgotten our areas of quebec.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_provinces_and_territories_of_Canada
Delete"Since 1982, the current Constitution of Canada requires an amendment ratified by seven provincial legislatures representing at least half of the national population for the creation of a new province[1] while the creation of a new territory requires only an act of Parliament."
A new province would require the approval of 7 out of 10 provinces approval and half the Canadian population. Not sure if a territory can be created and then become a province without a the same requirement.
Yes, RS without Ontarios' approval there is no possibility of a new province. Ontario would have to get something in return for agreeing to part with around 8% of its population and approximately 1/8 of the province. Perhaps a proposal to assume lets say 15% of Ontarios debt.
Also not all of the cities like Sudbury or Ottawa need to be in a new province. For example, lets say just the northern parts of Sudbury and not even all of Ottawa. For example Kanata and Nepean stay part of Ontario.
The federal govt isn;t going to help. Harper doesn;t want to get tied up in endless discussions with Quebec. J Trudeau, yea right. Sure it might save some anglo's but you can;t ever get away from that crap after you start it. As much as it doesn;t help us as Quebecers it's good to see Ottawa isn;t letting Quebec hold hostage the entire agenda as usual.
DeleteIgnoring Quebec is good. The shrill cries from Marois and "Chicken lady" De Courcey. Anyone else remember "Kids in the hall"? Apologies to seppies. I watched english TV in Quebec. The insult still stings I'm sure.
The other provinces sound like a much better approach for the 11th province.
Weak progressives like BC can't be counted on. Alberta, Newfoundland, Sask etc these are provinces that can be counted on.
The provincial govt in each province is much more antagonistic towards Quebec. Think of all the provincial meetings where Quebec leave with all the goodies and the narrative is about Quebec over and over. Finally the provinces if they help start an 11th province can be rid of Quebec annoyances. Payback as it were!
If canada stops giving endless supply of $ to Quebec finally there will be more to share amongst the rest of our deserving population.
That's something that the other provinces can get behind.
We need a proper map and a name.
Act like it's already happening.
remember it's not partition, 11 th province. We are correcting a historical mistake. Quebec distinct people should have resulted in 2 provinces. Crazies PQ/QC, language hawks, some liberals ;-).
Then there is everybody else in Western Quebec where the normal people live.
We probably should split the province into 3 groups tho.
Native North, Quebec West and Quebec East.
The natives will end up with all the hydro and have the first dib;s on any land claims since they were here first.
The seppies won;tbe left with any resources except some "maple trees". They will need to change the name. The insult! that's ok tho. All resources are bad. Mining bad, oil bad, natural gas bad. Anything that makes money so Quebec can;t keep fleecing Canada is bad.
Anyway all of this to say if the seppies won;t use any of the resources, then they don;t need them under their flag.
"cebeuq citizen of West Quebec"
No Federal politician will get involved. That is why its up to grassroots groups and municipalities, boroughs and even wards to have their own referendums and motions to get he movement going.
DeleteIn the East of Quebec there is a few villages and native reserves in the Gaspe bay, some of the Magdalen Islands and the Lower North Shore that have minorities in the majority. Probably better if they were merged with New Brunswick.
AGREED - of course I've been saying this forever - no other way out of this mess that the separatists have created.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/07/north-korea-vows-nuclear-attack-on-us-ahead-un-sanctions-vote/
ReplyDeleteWe have decided it is in our favor, and that of the human race, to target the republic of QUEBEC first. In respect of the Francaphone Quebecois, Quebec will receive a 100 MegaTon device--twice the size of English speaking countries.
Thank you, Pin Hoj Nie Sop!
Strange as it may be, I actually sat next to Mr. Kowalsky on my flight from Ottawa to Philadelphia a few weeks ago and we talked about his business suffering because of these language wars and at that time he confirmed exactly what we've been saying all along. He notices a drop just about every year from the Americans and it is hurting his business. I was telling him about this blog and if you're following along Jack "hi" to you and hope you had a good spring break with the kids. I hope things also improve for your business and that we can get out of this mess somehow before you have to retire - lol. Just goes to show that everyone is feeling the effects of these on-going attacks against our right to speak what language we see fit. How we look to the world outside of quebec hurts everyone that resides here. I used to be proud to say "I'm Canadian and I live in Quebec" - now I just say "I'm Canadian" and leave it at that because whenever I mention quebec, people react with things like "don't you have a bunch of language police there?" as they smile and laugh. Ashamed of this place now.
ReplyDelete"...on-going attacks against our right to speak what language we see fit."
Deleteright to speak?!? who attacked your right to speak english cutie003?!?!?
"I used to be proud to say "I'm Canadian and I live in Quebec"
when was that cutie003?
Thank you for suggesting that we provide the opportunity to remind our readers about language discrimination in Quebec.
DeleteHere is a round-up of just some of the recent events concerning franco-Quebecers who don’t want to hear any English in their lives, ever. Believe it or not, there are actually people in Quebec who still don’t understand that English is a right, not a privilege.
Let’s see… well, for starters, there’s always this famous example that went viral around the world:
Angry Quebecer goes CRAZY over Asian people speaking English in public in Montreal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCK04SzPvUs
Then, there are always these people, whose jobs supposedly involved serving the public:
Metro workers allegedly refuse to help English-speaking customer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Megq8d08QG4
Then, there was also this public transportation employee who put up a French-only sign in a majority-anglo neighbourhood, implying that he wouldn’t serve customers if they are English-speakers:
Sign in ticket booth 'insulting,' metro user says
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Sign+ticket+booth+insulting+m%C3%A9tro+user+says/7345088/story.html
And then, there’s this intolerant woman in a hospital:
Criminal Charges Justified After Man's Allergen Thrown In His Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkABRRcVyQU
And then, there there’s this paramedic who was willing to put a little girl’s life in danger in order to argue about his political opinions:
Quebec paramedic argues about language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYjMjw-cF-0
And then, there was also this woman who was actually physically assaulted for having dared to speak English in public in Quebec:
Woman Assaulted by STM worker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0oaEqKagxU
And then, there’s this nutbar, of course, who I don’t believe is a unique case in Quebec:
Quebec language debate in the metro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJLQ2DjEQM
And then, there are these people who don’t want to have a good coach for the Habs if he speaks English only:
Protest Against Habs Anglo Coach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMynKQL-7XM
And then there are these people who are against an immigrant depanneur owner who was tricked by a radio station, illegally recorded and broadcast:
Language protest in Montreal's Verdun district
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMnANYKT2lo
Naturally, it’s to be expected that separatists will split hairs over “speaking” English vs. “using” English. Be that as it may, there are also these people attacking small business owners who are serving their community:
DeleteQuebec Language Complaints over fruit store flyers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8WWwfTnmPE
And then, there are even people who complain about fake English:
Quebec Language Police Hit Wakefield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOvtla7SGk
And then, there’s also these francophones complaining about people who dare to use any English in Laval:
More English Bashing by TVA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIm654Zb1kI
All of this prompted Global TV to broadcast this series, following the xenophobic tone of the PQ during the election campaign:
Anglo reality check: Part 1 - Us and them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SweR-64z6vs
Anglo reality check: Part 2 - What's in a name?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VGrWJ-WIiU
Anglo Reality Check Part 3: Families divided
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVTWUp6odNI
Anglo Reality Check Part 4: Why we stay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XjdFj1d5k
Finally, you may be interested in this video by a bilingual woman, recounting how English was banned from being spoken around her office water cooler by the OQLF, which also told them to take down their motivational posters because they were in English. “Maybe if the PQ spent their time and money on FOSTERING the Québécois culture instead of discriminating against EVERYONE ELSE, their approach would work a tad better”, she says.
ENGLISH SPEAKING BANNED AROUND WATER COOLER @ OFFICE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAi9lp2w1Hs
Pourriez-vous faire la liste des "anecdotes" de ce genre concernant les francophones au canada anglais?
DeleteSi vous avez le temps bien entendu :)
@ S.R,
DeleteWhy don't you provide examples of language discrimination elsewhere in Canada? You certainly have the time. You haven't done so because occurrences of this nature are very rare in the ROC.
@r.s
Deletei watched your last video there. the water cooler incident.
i would be very surprised if a oqlf inspector "banned" speaking english around the watercooler as it's not against the law, and it's impossible to enforce.
i doubt her whole story is true because she says that the company got "in trouble" because they spoke english with a unilingual american customer. i can admit that not all oqlf inspectors are mensa stars but i will need more than a youtube video that reeks of bad faith to believe this anecdote is more than a urban legend.
@yannick
Delete"So when you say, "The law is fair and not being applied arbitrarily"..."
dude don't invent quotes. that is super bad blog ethics.
"You miss the point that the complaints are precisely about the fact that the OQLF is not applying the law as is worded already."
i'm open to this possibility, mate, but i need proof, and this video of the girl claiming the oqlf banned english around the watercooler is not a proof. first because, as a "victim", she is obviously biased, second because she makes something up around the visit of an american customer, and third because since we rely on testimonies here, i also require the inspector's version before taking a stance. or the document that confirms the ban. or anything serious, really.
"you would have seen countless examples of the OQLF trying to pull a fast one with demands that have nothing to do with the wording of bill 101."
countless? go on, mate, bring up a few.
"Small businesses don't have the money or time to fight this in court, so in most cases are forced to abide to the arbitrary demands of an office which is demanding things that are nowhere in law."
if they are accused of things that are nowhere in the law, it will cost them 0$ to fight it in court. now if they don't have the time to go fight for their "fundamental right" not to translate their things in french for the business they conduct in quebec, well it might be that it's not so fundamental after all.
about the french descriptors to be added to store names, well let's see what happens. what is oqlf's defense?
@yannick
Delete"...why don't you do your own research?"
after you claimed oqlf's case was "egregious" i (wrongly) assumed you had looked into its details.
and one of the nice things about blogs is sharing info, mate.
that's why i asked. sorry about that.
@yannick
Delete"I have looked into the details. Why don't you?"
because you already did. don't you agree a blog is a nice support to share information? i don't see the point of coming here and bragging about info you have and not sharing it. others could also benefit, you know?
"I'll only accept your apology..."
what should i apologize for, mate?
The situation is so incredible that even S.R needs our help to come up with one single example of a francophone being mistreated like this; and student even refuses to believe his eyes even when provided with his cherished evidence. At least they are beginning to learn something.
DeleteThe situation is so incredible that even S.R needs our help to come up with one single example of a francophone being mistreated like this; and even student refuses to believe his eyes even when provided with his cherished evidence. At least they are beginning to learn something.
DeleteJust imagine the hue and cry that would result if anglophones behaved this way towards francophones, even if our pair ever managed to dig a similar example up. Not even they would ever claim that anglophones complain about being mistreated for speaking English in Matane or Sept-Îles but in the areas where they comprise hundreds of thousands of Quebecers, which is the case in very few areas in the rest of the country.
Essayez de commander une boisson rafraîchissante en français sur les ailes d'air canada.
Delete@true montrealer
Delete"even student refuses to believe his eyes even when provided with his cherished evidence."
do you consider the youtube girl claiming the oqlf banned english around her watercooler an evidence true montrealer? if yes an evidence of what?
Yannink = I've heard this on this blog before but have never seen evidence of it. Do you happen to have any evidence? I find it hard to believe (not you) but would like to see this in print somewhere like a newspaper or something. Thank you.
DeleteThank you.
Delete"Le député conservateur Peter Shurman trouve également que la situation est inacceptable."
DeleteWell considering the PC passed regulation 17 effectively banning french after second grade, and wanted to close Montford Hospital, such defense of francophone is laughable. No but seriously, if they believe francophone will stop voting Liberal, Hudak and Shurman have no understanding how much support the Liberal have for the francophones in Ontario. The Liberal have a real francophone as Minister represteting Francophone Affairs, Madeleine Mailleur. Harris named John Baird, I don't even know if Baird speaks french.
I also read about the story about the supervised visits forcing parents to speak in english. It was picked up by other Ontario newspapers and the Ontario government immediately took steps to remedy the situation.
Deletequebekistan infrastructure falling apart:
ReplyDeleteSinkhole at Trudeau Airport:
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/justice/faits-divers/201303/29/01-4636043-une-partie-dun-stationnement-seffondre-a-laeroport-de-montreal.php
Maybe quebec can blame Ottawa again for its own shortfall?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAlberta: Un trou de 6,000,000,000 $
Deletehttp://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/02/19/alberta-licenciement-fonctionnaires_n_2720007.html
If that's the case then hopefully Alberta will be sending much less equalization money to Quebec. :)
Deletequebekistan: un gros trou de $255,000,000,000
Deletesuivant une victoire separatiss, sa part de la dette du Canada ajoute: total de $377,000,000,000
Pourquoi tu fais un connard de toi S.R.?
Pourquoi rire de l'Alberta ainsi alors que la dette du quebec est de 63 plus grande????
Beau cave, mon sr
--------------------
la dette du bien petit quebekistan fera que cette republique populaire minable deviendra Haiti-nord, le seul pays du teir-monde en Amerique du nord.
quebec = HAITI
Votre emploi est précaire ugBSdc :)
DeleteWhich natural resources do you think more important? Oil and gas or maple syrup?
ReplyDeleteQuelle est la moins catastrophique pour l'environnement?
DeleteSyrup is actually worth more, so syrup.
Delete"Quelle est la moins catastrophique pour l'environnement?"
DeleteLe BS et le chomage. Boire du Chardonnay au quebec, c'est le fun!!!!
Un gars bien sympathique de Calgary,
ReplyDeleteMay I contact you privately?
No you cannot but try up troll cutie.
DeleteTroy = the guy is an abusive separatist = just ignore him. He makes the usual "move", "quite whining", "you're all racists" to all the contributors on the blog but especially Ed and I. You know, the usual comments that all the seppie trolls make. Enjoy yourself in Toronto and just move on past him.
DeleteTroll cutie wrote:
Delete"Troy = the guy is an abusive separatist = just ignore him."
Separatists usually reside in the "country" of their wet dreams.
As a quebecker living outside of quebec, I am not a separatist.
If you, cutie, are not separatist... well you are similar to the french collaborators under WW2 German occupation and keep happy.
This from a guy Troy that keeps telling us to separate so Alberta and Canada can stop with the equalization payments - that's a separatist as I said. Just because he does not live here does not prove anything.
DeleteTo Student, S.R, Michel Patrice and all other separatists haunting these boards.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I had the pleasure of coming across the following piece by Peter Blaikie:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Opinion+about+sovereignty+language/8165045/story.html
The reactions to this piece will once again reinforce the fact that separatists are completely
out to lunch in terms of facing up to reality.
I can already see the posts that will come from this piece...meaning that Michel will give thoughtful insights to it, but the rest will refuse to comment on the big points Blaikie points through half-way through his piece.
I think I'll post this in Vigile.Net to see if any of those knuckle-dragging assholes can actually
counter any of the points with valid argumentation.
Excellent and very accurate analysts of the situation by Peter Blaikie. We should never forget what the PQ is all about, their dogma knows no limits and they will destroy Quebec in order, or trying, to achieve their goal of Quebec independance
DeleteIt's too bad the Liberals are too busy with their corrupt scams and construction company meetings at club 357 to read the newspaper and see what normal people see.
DeleteThis isn;t to say the PQ don;t do the same of course. Imagine how upsetting it is for the PQ to realize they won;t be in power when the Charbonneau commission ends that the major scams start right back up again.
The Liberals on the other hand NEED to be back in power for that point. All of Liberal Quebec Inc depends on the largesse and contracts the Liberals will hand out.
FROM ED
DeleteCebeuq, It's people like you that elect the PQ and take away the chance of a party that can relieve the English suffering. Be truthful or don't say it. You imagine that there are scandals where there are none and post as though it were true. There are no Liberal scams and you know it. The Charbonneau commission has found nothing against any Provincial politician. people like you and Complicated who imagine there must be wrongs because you want to believe there must be wrongs
do so much undeserved damage to a party. It was talk like that that got the PQ elected last time. Do you want them in again.
Just so you know I am not writing this to protect the Liberals, I am doing it to give everyone a chance at the truth. When the Liberals did hire firms they used companies like Dominion Engineering that were 100% straight. What they built is still standing. That's what we need again. Ed
I'm ok with the PQ being elected. They will destroy the province faster and we can start rebuilding.
DeleteI dont; expect you to agree with me. As I've said before. Quebec is like an alcoholic and the Liberals are enablers.
I'm really not interested in arguing abotu the Liberals with you. You won;t like what I have to say and will complain about being attacked for being a Liberal supporter.
A few points tho
You are seriously deluded if you think the Liberals are honest.
I'm not voting for the Liberals. At least the PQ are honest about hating anglo's and treating them like shit and say it out load. I'll give then some marks for that. The Liberals you can;t quite figure out where they stand. It's more about where the latest opinion poll shows them.
I'm going CAQ or Equality 2 etc.
The CAQ are more business oriented. I could handle a separate Quebec if it wasn;t a socialist fantasy land with language laws. I tiotally support breaking up Quebec or Montreal as a city state. I consider this the BEST alternative to what we have now regardless if Quebec seperates. Western Quebec is going to separate from Loony Quebec.
The issue isn;t language. It's politics.
Both the CAQ and the Liberals are going to be wishy washy on lauguage for the fear of upsetting Francaphone PQ types.
I'd rather go with a party with better economic principles and honesty then the Liberals and their nonsense. Also the CAQ havnt; been letting me down for 40 years like the Liberals.
Neither group respects or represents us. I'm not expecting that to change.
"cebeuq citizen of West Quebec"
@cebeuq
Delete"I'm ok with the PQ being elected. They will destroy the province faster and we can start rebuilding."
Watch your comments cebeuq.
Both trolls ED & cutie will begin to unleash their biased, hateful rants at you and also accuse you of being causing them undue harm when quebec sinks.
They both went apeshit on me when I was merely stating the obvious.
FROM ED
DeleteCebeuq, I'm on board with everything you say. I'm only asking that you wait until there's some proof of corruption before you accuse someone of it. Ed
"There is a dangerous tendency to react by saying “How can they be so stupid?” Would that they were simply stupid. In fact, everything the Parti Québécois does is strategic: it is all aimed at winning a referendum on sovereignty. We should not let the wool be pulled over our eyes."
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope that everyone is aware of that by now! If not, there is something drastically wrong with them.
DeleteCan anybody who has visited France recently comment on how that country is treating English-speaking tourists not yet fluent in French with what is happening in Quebec?
ReplyDeletePosez plutôt votre question aux british :)
DeleteI visited the south of France and was amazed at the amount of English spoken.
DeleteA taxi driver told me that if you want to make money, you have to know English.
In some of the cafes, welcoming signs were in English and some even announced that English language commentary was provided on sports events on TV shown in the bars.
Years ago speaking English would get you a dirty look by waiters or clerks...today speaking English is a source of pride.
In Burlington Vermont, the city is looking to hire French-speaking summer employees to encourage tourism from Quebec.
I stopped at gas station near Plattsburgh and the pump had added French instructions.
The language of tourism is MONEY and business do what they have to do....except in Quebec.
I wasn't thinking so much "Does everybody speak English?" I was wondering if anybody heard any stories of Parisians treating tourists badly simply for speaking English instead of French as has happened recently in Montreal. In all due fairness, I actually visited your city in May of 2011 and was treated well, both in the city as well as the bus and Metro. Of course, I did try to use a little French so I would not be accused of being one of those people who can't say "bonjour" and maybe that helped.
DeleteAre what has happened recently isolated incidents, or has Montreal changed that much in two years?
"and was treated well, both in the city as well as the bus and Metro."...."has Montreal changed that much in two years?"
DeleteBeing badly treated for speaking the wrong language has been going on for a long time in this city. I once had the phone hung up on me by an STM employee for speaking English, yes he told me I should speak French and hung up the phone. Unfortunately, I was much too young to understand how to make a formal complaint. This incident happened over 30 years ago.
I was in Paris last automn.
DeleteIf you speak english in Paris (or any other language...), you will not stand out of the crowd. Paris is a truely and incredibly international city and foreign languages are ubiquitous in the streets of Paris.
" I actually visited [Montréal] in May of 2011 and was treated well, both in the city as well as the bus and Metro."
Of course you were treated well. What did you expect? : ) How stunnig it is to see that the situation is not as bad as it is depicted on this blog.
What a brave thing to do, confronting the Québec Nazis(anyone that violates The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS) on there territory, WOW is right, Although he mentioned the drop of the French Canadian population. He should have asked the two females and the male too, “what is there contribution to increase the French Canadian population, “where are your 10 to 15 children?”.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know more about Irwin Rapoport ,there is very little about him on the net.
When you hear the stories of the elderly women who were terrorised into having so many children and the men who had to support these large families. It just makes you want to (you can fill in the blank).
@Two Cents WorthFriday, March 29, 2013 at 4:43:00 AM EDT
“You should not refer to Quebec nationalists as French Canadians in this context.
It is insulting to francophones who choose to live in other regions of Canada.
They are open minded, often fully bilingual, and proud to be Canadian.”
You are right and not all White French Canadians Roman Catholics Quebecers should be put in the same basket as these violators.
The Quebec Nazis should concentrate on the school drop out rate.
“Quebec may have the lowest tuition fees in the country, but it is also the province whose students are among the least likely to attend university”.
“The highest dropout rate in Canada is among French-speaking Quebec males, at 19.3 per cent, a full NINE percentage points higher than the Canadian average of 10.3 per cent. French-speaking Quebec females also have a higher dropout rate than the national average for young women, at 11.5 per cent, compared to 6.6 per cent”.
http://www.vigile.net/Low-tuition-more-university
@Mr. SaugaFriday, March 29, 2013 at 8:35:00 PM EDT
In your rant (mostly Protestants, Jews and East Orthodox). You forgot me and my friends, Catholic High School of Montreal, Loyola High School, D'Arcy McGee High School, Cardinal Newman High School. English speaking Catholic high schools, I hope this doesn’t hurt your creditability . I am sure there are more but like you at this stage of the game, you know the “MIND” it is a going.
@yannick
Deleteyou're asking for more details? you want to verify the worth of a claim?!? how dare you? you know it's considered a heretic behavior here... only trolls like me do this.
CEGEP was created to give seppies the appearance of going to university.
DeleteThe govt see's it as a "confidence booster" for a population that is constantly insecure.
+100 - cebeuq
DeleteFROM ED My second manifesto:-.
ReplyDeleteTony, I put up some figures from the last two elections that I picked up from Wikipedia. I have no idea what they mean but somehow don't seem right to me. Perhaps you could tell us.
As I said previously, Dr.Couillard has a lot of work to do but so do we.
First we should catch wrongs on this blog; when people say the Libs are corrupt point out that it is a rumour and ask for proof. There is none.
Second, we must watch the press. They will not say it them selves but they will quote, "John Jellyjar says it is because the Libs are a corrupt party. " When they do things like this we must pick them up on it." Keep after the Gazette and the TV news shows. They are the ones being dishonest and with enough emails pointing out their unfairness we can get our message across.
Between our work and Dr. Couillards we should make the PQ's life a lot shorter.
The fall of the Libs came from the press and blogs like this with posters like 'Complicated" writing pages saying there must be corruption because every one is saying it. He couldn't see that everyone was him. I think the CAQ are no threat as most realize that they are basically a separatist party. Ed.
I think the only reason some people are anti-Liberals is because they haven't seen any drastic changes to the language climate being made by the party. That is the past, though. We have a new leader, and Dr Couillard seems to have a progressive plan for the province. The language laws could be minimalised or even done away with under his leadership for all we know. Let's give him a chance.
Delete@edm
Delete"The language laws could be minimalised or even done away with under his leadership for all we know."
delusional.
prior to couillard's election, the liberal party said it rejected bill 14 at once. the day after his election couillard said well let's look at it.
what remains to be seen is if you are as fervent a liberal groupie as ed.
Ed,
DeleteI will never vote Liberal myself. Ever again.
However, I am more than happy to see a strategy where the Liberals and Couillard make specific promises to the anglo community in exchange for our votes. You have stated, if I understand you correctly, that you are on board with such a strategy.
Otherwise, I don't give a rat's ass whether it is the PQ or the Liberals who are in power. There is ZERO difference between them as far as I'm concerned.
FROM ED
DeleteTony If you can't see a difference between a Liberal government and a PQ government you need your head read. One thing that may be of help for you to see the difference is this blog. The press, TV news and everyone else that's complaining about this government's tyranny. You must have your ears blocked and your eyes closed to not know about it. I don't believe you mean it when you say you'd accept the PQ for another four years. Ed
@ed
Delete"If you can't see a difference between a Liberal government and a PQ government you need your head read."
you've got this one right ed. corruption level was much worse under the liberals. it was so bad that 80% of the population wanted a public enquiry into it. and the dude, what a surprise, did all he can to avoid it. imagine, all his ministers had to gather 100k each a year to the party treasure chest. that's asking for trouble. seems there's none of that anymore. big difference.
"you've got this one right ed. corruption level was much worse under the liberals. it was so bad that 80% of the population wanted a public enquiry into it."
DeleteWow. I love people like you who are unable to think for themselves.
"Beee Liberal Corruption" said the PQ sheep, am I right?
Poor, poor idiots... You must live such a simple life.
FROM ED
DeleteCan no one here see what the trolls are doing. They are getting you to repeat useless points that are dishonest or open lies.
Student twisted my words to say "you've got this one right ed. corruption level was much worse under the liberals" which is the opposite to what I said. He gets Tree Stump to repeat it. So the untrue statement that I never made is posted three times
still totally untrue. He is using you like pawns, please ignore the trolls. Ed
Student writes:
Delete"all his ministers had to gather 100k each a year to the party treasure chest. that's asking for trouble. seems there's none of that anymore. big difference."
Corruption there may have been with Charest's Liberals but I don't think that includes him giving a mandate to his ministers to raise $100,000.
Politicians in both Canada and the U.S. have to raise money for campaigns. I think that as a requirement for being a minister, Charest gave them this amount each to raise under the existing laws of Quebec. And that's a pretty hard thing to do seeing as there are very strict limits as to how much each individual can give. Now, whether there are any "favours" proferred by the ministers in exchange for those donations is another matter.
I remember reading an article about Al Franken, the comedian from Saturday Night Live and now a U.S. senator from Minnesota. When he was interviewed about his introduction to politics, he stated that what surprised him was how much of his day was devoted to just raising money. Now, Franken is a man of means; probably a millionaire many times over. However, like Quebec, there are donation rules about the maximum one can give to a political party or campaign in the U.S. So a lot of time is spent on this.
As I’ve said before, both the PQ and Liberal Quebec governments have been corrupt since well before the Maurice Duplessis era (1930s/40s/50s), in fact far longer than that. Anybody who thinks the Liberals invented corruption must be a snot-nosed twentysomething who thinks they know it all.
DeleteBy now, we are all well-acquainted with El Studento’s tiresome refrain about corruption being a newly-invented phenomenon that suddenly flourished under the Liberals. This is, of course, due to the separatist blinkers that he wears and no facts will ever change his mind. For the rest of us, however, this recent feature piece about corruption inquiries in Montreal through the ages may prove to be a reality check:
1909 Royal Commission: Montreal “Saturated with Corruption”
MARCH 25, 2013 | BY ALANAH HEFFEZ
Please go to this link to see the original article with its accompanying images:
http://spacing.ca/montreal/2013/03/25/1909-montreal-saturated-with-corruption/
Montreal Corruption Retrospectives are all the rage these days, and for the spring 2013 edition of Spacing Magazine, which was released last Saturday, I put together a feature piece on corruption inquiries through the ages. Check Spacing Montreal each day this week for the latest “episode” in this century-long soap opera.
“Il semble que le déroulement d’une enquête soit un processus cyclique où l’on passe du scandale à l’indifférence.”
“It seems that inquiry proceedings are a cyclical process in which we pass from scandal to indifference”, writes Jean-Paul Brodeur in his book La délinquence de l’ordre, published in 1984 (which was the source of much of the info here).
The “Royal Commission” of 1909 may have been the first to invoke the monarchy, but it was not the first probe into corruption in Montreal, nor even the first of the century. Inquiries in 1864, 1877, 1894, 1902 and 1905 had been attempted, ignored, abandoned, aborted, and hushed up, respectively. So it is little surprise that by 1909 citizens were clamouring for a general and complete scrutiny of all seven departments of city hall (police, fire, roads, hygiene and statistics, finances, water, and lighting).
Judge Lawrence Cannon, who headed the inquiry, concluded that city hall was “saturated with corruption,” with no less than 25% of the city’s revenues making their way into the pockets of elected aldermen’s friends and family.
For instance, construction contracts were sub-divided to bypass calls for tender, then handed over to firms in the aldermen’s inner circles. Furthermore, dozens of liquor-license infractions had been ignored when business owners contributed to election coffers, and a position in the police, detective or fire department could be negotiated for about $25.
Cannon’s scathing report, which convicted 23 of the city’s 40 aldermen, was published in La Presse shortly before the 1910 municipal election. Anticipating the political consequences of his revelations, Cannon specified that the next elected city council would be responsible for implementing his recommendations.
The inquiry had far-reaching implications: the provincial government reduced the number of elected aldermen by half, a board of commissioners – which later became the executive committee – was created to oversee municipal services including the police force, and the police were endowed with a “morality squad.”
The citizens’ committee that had launched the inquiry ran their own candidates and won the 1910 election by a landslide. But with new faces in office, the inquiry was quickly forgotten: none of those convicted in the report faced civil or criminal prosecution.
For those (he) who forever require further “facts and sources” and need to see the Cannon Report with their very own eyes in order to believe it, I refer them to:
DeleteThe Cannon Report :
http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/archives/democratie/democratie_en/expo/reformistes-populistes/bureau-commissaires/piece9/index.shtm
UN SIÈCLE DE CORRUPTION:
http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/02/23/un-siecle-de-corruption
Regards sur la corruption - Montréal, ville viciée :
19 janvier 2013 | Stéphane Baillargeon
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/montreal/368818/regards-sur-la-corruption-montreal-ville-viciee
Portrait des abus et des irrégularités existant dans l’administration civique de Montréal [1909]
http://tolkien2008.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/portrait-des-abus-et-des-irregularites-existant-dans-ladministration-civique-de-montreal-1909/
So yeah… obviously, all of this was Jean Charest’s fault. Obviously.
And just to keep things in perspective, according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, Canada ranked as the 9th least corrupt country in the world, with a score of 84/100. The top three countries, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, tied with a score of 90.
DeleteThis is neither here nor there, but it places Canada ahead of Iceland, Luxembourg, Germany, Hong Kong, Barbados, Belgium, Japan, the UK, the US, Chile, Uruguay, the Bahamas, France, Austria, Ireland and Qatar in terms of being free from corruption.
Delete@r.s
Deletedude of course montreal as been corrupted for a while, but we were discussing about the provincial level. and of course this level too has been corrupted for a while. charest was the captain when the thing drifted to un untolerable levels, that's it.
next time if you want to defend charest try to come up with documents that are relevant to the provincial governance.
also, the index that ranks canada 9th is a perception index. perception. do you know what perception is and how it can differ from reality? don't rely on this if you want to discuss actual corruption, mate.
"it places Canada ahead of Iceland, (...) in terms of being free from corruption."
false. it places it there in terms of perception of corruption. you don't like nuances right?
@tony
Delete"Corruption there may have been with Charest's Liberals but I don't think that includes him giving a mandate to his ministers to raise $100,000."
of course this is not corruption per se. but i can't imagine the minsters stay will stay clean when they are imposed such a burden.
"However, like Quebec, there are donation rules about the maximum one can give to a political party or campaign in the U.S. So a lot of time is spent on this."
a lot of time would be spent on this, in reality in quebec bernard trépanier and franco fava took care of the money laundering for the liberals. so the ministers could focus on looking good and setting up their next carreer.
FROM ED
ReplyDeleteHERE'S SOMETHING SOLID FROM LEGER
Léger Marketing (Québec Provincial - March 25-28, 2013 - +/-3.1%)
Parti libéral: 33% (+3%) - 59 seats
Parti Québécois: 29% (-2%) - 55 seats
Coalition avenir: 20% (=) - 7 seats
Québec solidaire: 9% (=) - 3 seats
Option nationale: 3% (-1%) - 1 seat
Parti vert: 4% (-1%)
Compared to that last poll, this is definitely a positive for the Liberals, who now have their first lead in polling since the December 2012 election. Couillard's honeymoon is in full effect, it seems.
Regionally, the Liberals lead in the Montréal RMR with 37% to 27% for the péquistes, with François Legault's CAQ far behind at 16%. The Liberals also lead in the Québec RMR, 33% to 28% for the caquistes and 25% for the péquistes. Only in the rest of Québec do the péquistes lead, 33% to 28% for les libéraux and 23% for the caquistes. Jean-Martin Aussant's Option nationale earned 3% in the region, which is where their one seat comes from (Nicolet-Bécancour, of course).
Its about time this happened, given that the péquiste government of Pauline Marois continues to be wholly unpopular. Only 28% approve to 69% who disapprove, continuing a big negative trend, as there's never been a point when Marois' government has been "popular." Not even francophones approve of this government. The only ones enamoured with the job they're doing are péquiste supports themselves - a whopping 94% of Liberal and 90% of CAQ supporters disapprove of the government. Wow.
Right from the start, Couillard is seen by 25% of respondents as the person who would make the best "premier ministré," compared to just 17% each for Marois and Legault.
here is the report in ledevoir: http://tinyurl.com/cbde5hf
Delete"Couillard's honeymoon is in full effect, it seems."
of course it's in full effect. and it gave a 3% boost to the party. a 10-12% boost is not uncommon, leger also notes, when a new leader is elected at the helm. full effect, yes, but small effect. don't you agree ed?
another telling bit is that quebeckers think marois is better than couillard to handle economy, job creation, state administration, integrity and quebec's interests.
what do you think about my observations, ed?
FROM ED
DeleteThere is a reason why CAQ is losing voters, people realize that at heart they are a separatist party. If Legault won't declare the party 100% federalist the loss is his own fault. However, at least it shows that people are moving toward Federalism. This s good.
"However, at least it shows that people are moving toward Federalism."
DeleteIn quebec? Highly unlikely.
If anything the Harper majority has alienated quebec... at least it's quebec's view.
At this point the next Quebec provincial election is going to be a Quebec Liberal landslide. I mean despite Charests' unpopularity Liberals still managed to win 50 seats. The PQ has done most of the work for the reelection for the Quebec Liberals. The Quebec Liberals don't even need a platform. They just have to say that they are not he PQ and will get elected. The Quebec Solidaire is also going to eat up more of the PQ votebank. The CAQ might lose many of the seats they poached from the Liberals but are probably going to poach more seats from an imploding PQ.
DeleteWho knows maybe a 3rd place finish for the PQ?
The problem with the Liberals winning in such numbers is they see this as a repudiation of their strategy to placate seppies.
DeleteIt also tells the Liberals we don;t care about corruption, we forgive you. NOT!
The upside is the PQ are back into the corner.
The pathetic thing is even in this situation the Liberals will be wringing their hands over killing bill 14.
The biggest problem in Quebec politics is that all parties feel them must support borderline racist strategies to appeal to seppies and get enough of a base to be in power.
The moment any party comes out with a proper vision on the other side of the election and support disappears.
Repeat forever for Quebec.
Western Quebec supports bilingualism and multiculturalism and won;t go down this road.
"cebeuq, citizen of Western Quebec"
@UN GARS BIEN SYMPATHIQUE DE CALGARY
DeleteAlienating Quebec is almost impossible to avoid. First of all PQ Quebec and even Liberal Quebec use every opportunity to play the victim card. The victim is the way Quebec like it. Quebec only knows the victim. Success is crass anglo strategy to force Quebers to work 24x7 as slaves for anglo masters! No rhetoric is enough!
Second of all with the bizarre policies that the PQ want to enact it's impossible for a normal logical person to endorse any of it.
If quebec is "alienated" then the rest of Canada need to "make up" to quebec. Bring it back into the fold. IE $$$$$$$$$$$$ for Quebec is what they need to fix the "alienation".
@cebeuq.
Delete"The victim is the way Quebec like it."
I agree. I would even go as far as to suggest that quebec sees it as a trait of character for them. Part of the culture thingy if I may;)
Having lived all my life as a franco in quebec until I was 23 made me "one of them", a quebecois with blind folds and an unassuming bias, which all quebecois have.
Then I drove west to Calgary, and met all nice, normal "english" folks that were all pretty, plain just nice to others. I smelled a plot (almost) as this was all contrary to what I was told, how I was supposed to perceived "les maudits anglais" and it was all lies?
Only once did anyone call me a frog in Alberta. They're just glad (I guess) that some folks move west to ease off economic and inflationary pressures and that many different people bring many different things to the table.
"I smelled a plot..."!?!
DeleteVraiment?
"Only once did anyone call me a frog in Alberta."
Vous avez osé communiquer en français?Vous l'avez cherché.
FROM ED
DeleteTony, if Charest's ministers had to raise 100, 000 it was probably for themselves. Every politician needs money to run his own campaign.
@Yannick Good question. I plead ignorance to how they got these numbers. So you are saying, the Quebec students are less knowledgeable because they have to do 1 extra year of school before entering university.
ReplyDelete“so why not just stick it out?” If I knew the answer to that, I would have a solution to my grandson’s problem.
The basic problem is you are giving equal weight to "physics" and "modern dance theater".
DeleteCEGEPS should be teaching "small engine repair", "HVAC" etc if people want real skills that pay real money if it's not a real university.
Once the PQ givt can;t finance all the theater troupes these are the first people to lose jobs. Meanwhile of course the plumbers, electricians and auto mechanics have jobs from the start to the end.
ReplyDelete.
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These are some comments on Peter Blaikie's Op- Ed in the Gazette.
Kurt Normandin
"The French language is beautiful and rich" makes me laugh.. What are the other languages of this world ? Ugly?..Please, language is a tool of communication. Let us not embellish it anymore. I do buy into his argument that it's about sovereignty, however, it is very much about language too. The time has come for Canada to grasp the simple concept that most Quebecers already subscribe to and accept, that a language defines a nation...also defines a people. Bilingualism is a fail for Canada and Quebec has proven this. Canada should take note of the strategies used by Quebec politics in creating a solidarity amidst its French speaking citizens, the likes of which any other country should envy. Both sides would do best to go their separate ways and focus the tax payers money on the business of creating a better place for their citizens to live in.
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Anne Dunn · Top Commenter · Rodborough Technology College
Why is "Bilingualism is a fail for Canada ?? How so ? That is not how i see it. Why are you so hostile ? And why do you think that Quebec is or should be "the envy of the world"? Have you done much travelling ? Ever been to Europe, England , Australia, New Zealand, Japan? These Countries have a powerfull history which is not really talked about in Quebec. That is unfortunate. Be proud if you must , but , your history in Quebec is still unfolding and so far it is prooving very uncomfortable for many folks who are just trying to get by in these uncertain times. Quebec needs to be more tolerant and kind. It seems to me to be rather "self absorbed" .
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Kurt Normandin
Dear Ann you're much too judgemental (and quite daring considering you've never met me) - hostile and untraveled I am not. Like the article itself, this is my opinion. I'm a bilingual Quebecer with an English mother tongue. I grew up in a mixed neighbourhood and have lived here all my life. My 45 years in Quebec have pushed me to no longer believe in two official languages for a country. What started off in my childhood years as discrimination has now become a fully matured policy by a government I pay taxes to. I've witnessed English résumés being tossed into waste bins while French ones were not, been called white nigger, was once interrupted during a private conversation to be told that we speak French in Quebec, for the seven years I worked delivery as a student for a major American firm my name was Bloke, was recently told because of my Franco roots that I'm "un des vendus", had my english computer removed from my desk at work due to policy, was questioned by HR if I'm proficient enough in french to keep my job (even though it's an english company & all my reports are to be written in English) and I can go on and on with plenty more examples. What's scary is how the rate of this type of discrimination changes with the party in power. The bullies come out when they believe they have the backing of the government...but the fact that they do tells me that something's not quite right here. What's worse are the very effective language laws (and I don't care what flak I take for saying it) that aim to eliminate the English presence in Quebec in the name of protecting the French language in North America. There is, in my mind, no way or future for the English community to thrive under the design of the French language charter, even less so under bill 14. So as a citizen of Canada..the question thus begs to be asked - Where's the equality?..even more bewildering, why the Canadian government legislates a costly program of bilingualism across the country while Quebec (and many quebecers..don't kid yourself) sees such a program as a threat and actively legislates the opposite- If this isn't a fail then maybe someone should enlighten me.
FROM ED
DeleteEven though what peter Blaikie said is true, that the real aim of the PQ is to force Anglos out of the province, language is the tool they are using to do it.. Therefore language is the tool we must fight back with. The best way to do it is to use English everywhere until they get the idea that we are not going away.. Don't start fights, just ignore their comments and go on with English. Ed.
You're right. They deserve a taste of their own medicine.
DeleteIf by that you believe that Anglos/Allos counter bill 101 with a bill 102, I disagree.
DeleteI believe we should let these troglodytes fulfill their prophecy.
Just look at the PQ's present run...just six months in and it's been nothing short of disastrous.
Here a pitfall, there a pitfall and nothing but mistake after mistake.
We don't have to do anything to spite them...they're doing a wonderful job of destroying themselves.
All we have to do is make sure they're out of our proximity once the movement inevitably detonates.
Student's comment earlier on about small business and the money & time cost of fighting in court is a perfect summary of the collective mindset/viewpoint of separatists...
...which is one of childish dogma that destructively overlooks reality in light of their obsession.
I can't wait to see Pauline Marois eaten alive by her cohorts in the Parti Quebecois after their party is devastated in the next election. It will be sweet Karma.
DeleteYou and me both Durham! Up next? Mr Legault?
DeleteI'm about 6 weeks to two months away from quitting my job and working for myself full time, so I had to set it aside, but it won't be long until I have the time to put more effort into it.
ReplyDeleteConcentrez-vous sur un projet à la fois Diablotin,vous obtiendrez de meilleurs résultats :)
ReplyDeleteGatineau separatist mayor Marc "I can't run the city" Bureau has found the real problem plaguing the city.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/actualites-regionales/201303/29/01-4636124-gatineau-une-manne-pour-les-taxis-dottawa.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_vous_suggere_4636240_article_POS1
Another stupid rule passed by our mayor: "Il lui est cependant interdit de transporter quelqu'un qu'il a spontanément cueilli au bord de la rue." Seriously, Bureau are cops paid to take a cab? Bureau find real violation like speeding, burning red lights, etc. Even Ottawa doesn't consider that a problem "À Ottawa, où l'industrie est chapeautée par la Ville, le maraudage interprovincial ne semble pas poser problème." How about respect for the environment Mayor Bureau, is two taxi going back to Ottawa better than one? Use your brain? Seriously, how would our mayor react if Ottawa would ban trucks along King Edward Avenue? Get real Mr. Bureau.
Geez Liam - our area pays our cops to watch for these crooks! Do we not have anything else to worry about? That someone should take the time and trouble to write a whole article about these shows way too much time on their hands. Anything to show we are more "socially responsible" than other areas of Canada - BS.
DeleteI know fiscal responsibility has no meaning in this city. And our mayor can't pay to clean up the street, repair roads and bridges, remove snow. City Hall is incompetent.
DeleteElections in November - we'll have to wait to see if we can do better I guess. He doesn't seem to get much done with all the money we pay in taxes. His first priority always seems to be to pretty the place up (superficial things) rather than tackle the problems with access to Ottawa and other areas that we need so badly.
DeleteOne comment from the article in the Gazette about the real purpose behind the language debate. Ed will be glad to see that the selection of Dr. Couillard is deliberately part of a plot by the feds to put an end to the whole thing! (Although I hope he's right)!
ReplyDeleteYour words are razors to my wounded heart, .. If you are a victim of bigotry and injustice, call the police or your paid representatives, stop whining. Bring in the UN to hold a big trial against the PQ, oh please. We need an objective third party to restore some sense in this debate, methinks. As for Mr. Harper, obviously he is provoking the Québec nationalist movement, challenging it and us to settle this issue once and for all. His courage and vision deserves our admiration. Justin Trudeau? He says Québec is being bought off, and he's right, and you know it. I hope he doesn't make a fool of himself, of his father's memory or of us all, don't you? And the Fed. Gov. is not standing by idle, don't worry. Canada's governing establishment already put Phillipe Couillard in place (after grooming him for years), and now the unbeknownst unity plan (a constitutional reform on which Mr Couillard will have infintesimal imput) will gradually be unfolded to our attention through media campaigns and timely political investments during the following months and years, just like the Plan Nord was. This sequence of events has been set in motion nationally, and that is the short and the long of it. At last, let us stick our heads out of our own navels and enjoy the ride togheter. Keep the peace.
Quebec will never sign the Constitution. Sorry, but the province would have partitioned before then. Quebec is going to dissolve in the next 50 years. The population of Pontiac dropped from 23 000 in 1911 to 14 000 in 2011. This compared to it's neighbour in Ontario, Renfrew County with 101,326 (3.9% from 2006). When the population dips to below 10 000, they will no longer be able to recruit doctor and pay for new roads given it's isolation. Already, they can't hire new doctor and they have too few doctor. The population will petition to join Ontario. If the Quebec government refuses, they will get violent and this will lead to a fight. In Ontario, Pontiac will pay lower taxes and create jobs. With Pontiac gone, many other regions would petition to leave.
DeleteYou could be right Liam but I wouldn't bet on it - many, many people would like to get this whole debate over and done with and get on with their lives - not just us. As you know, I'm all for partition and if the Pontiac is the first to go, I would support it all the way.
Deletecutie
DeleteBe happy with your life in quebec. You live there, you love it there.
Embrace the french cutie...
1,000's of folks, English speaking folks, live in the Gatineau area and LOVE their lives there, speaking and living english.
What else do you need, cutie?
Why do you always complain?
Why dont you get a better cause in life to fight for? Why do you always attempt to subvert quebec into what your conception about a uber-english quebec world should be?
Their is a difference at complaining at politician than at life. Listen many people complain about Redford. Does that mean they hate Alberta? No.
DeleteThanks Liam but the troll seems to like to pick at me for some reason - anyway, do as I do and don't bother with him - he just adds to the problems we already have and contributes nothing to the conversations about the province. He does not even pretend to understand what the discussion is all about.
DeleteMerci pour le conseil, S.R.
ReplyDeleteChose certaine, je te promets des résultats en maudit.
Separatist Marceau plays down using equalization funds to balance budget
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pq-plays-down-impact-of-federal-funds-in-balancing-budget/article10484307/
“On a budget of $90-billion we are talking about a small amount,”
"The increase in equalization payments stems mainly from improvements in the Ontario economy."
What an incompetent idiot.
what should marceau do with equalization liam, if not balance his budget? would you prefer if he spent it on more social programs?
DeleteStudent, do you plan your monthly budget based on the amount of BS you'll receive in 2 months from now?
DeleteI suppose you do.
Maybe you should try to get a job instead, to make your own money instead of counting on hand outs from others.
I know it seems like an alien concept to you, others not paying for everything you do. But believe me, you'll feel better about yourself afterwards. You might even learn a thing or two about life, and so there will be less need for you to come here to ask everyone stupid questions.
I don’t know how many other people remember the “Voice of Montreal” magazine (later “Voice”) back in the mid-90s that was based out of Old Montreal, but eventually they got big enough to move down to New York City. There, NYC’s “The Village Voice” magazine got upset at their name so they changed it to “Vice” and have since become a very popular magazine available in 28 countries, as well as a popular website and YouTube channel. Now, 19 years later, they are starting their own show on HBO in Canada and the US, exploring weirdo things all around the world:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/watch-our-show-next-friday-night-on-hbo
I’m so glad for them, but I have a feeling that they wouldn’t have been so successful had they remained in Montreal. Not only that but they would have been slammed had they been so successful in English. Isn’t that a pity? Is it just my imagination or what?
@the cat
Delete"they would have been slammed had they been so successful in English. Isn’t that a pity?"
of course it would. but if we are going to make a list of all the things that would be a pity if they ever happen the blog will become irrelevant in no time, mate.
Shut up Student - you once again really are opening your tireless bullshit-filled mouth and piping up about what you don't know about.
DeleteCat, I'm a big fan of the magazine and was very happy to see the three lads grow from a punk rock b/w street rag to glossy mag with worldwide distribution.
I personally believe it couldn't have happened if they stayed in Montreal. The whole magazine is based on a multinational slant and Quebec simply can't provide that.
Thanks Yannick, I appreciate it. And I will admit what you say is true...it is nerve-wracking, but also exciting at the same time.
ReplyDeleteFROM ED
ReplyDeleteCutie, Where did you get the bit about Dr. Couillard being a Federalist plant/? I've not seen anything like that and I don't think it's reality. Ed