UQAM To Offer English Courses

Unable to attract enough foreign students for courses in French ( Why? One may ask) the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) is trying a novel approach. This fall the university's l'École des sciences de la gestion (ESG) will be offering six science courses in English.

Get ready for a new skirmish in the eternal Quebec war to defend the French language.

Already Mario Beaulieu of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste (SSJB) has said that 'the bilinguisation of UQAM is unacceptable.'

Michel Laporte, first vice-president of the Syndicat des professeurs de l'Université du Québec à Montréal (SPUQ), the union that represents the school's professors, says that the move contradicts the mission of integrating immigrants to francophone culture.

Look for fireworks before this one is over, it's happened before.

When John Abbott College decided to abandon courses in aeronatics, CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit in Longueuil decided to offer English language courses in aircraft maintenance as well as French at it's affiliated school based at St. Hubert airport.
l'École nationale d'aéronautique de Saint-Hubert will offer English courses to English students only, those coming out of the English school system.

It seems like a sweet arrangement, the school could use the extra students at the underused airport. The whole arrangement makes eminently good sense. But for language crusaders it was a dastardly attempt to pry the door open to bilingualism.

Back to the UQAM offering classes in English;

Is it an admission that foreign students just don't see French as useful in the business world?

It is a sad commentary that the school can't even attract foreign French students to the business program, considering that they benefit from reduced tution, because they are francophones.

Michelle Obama - This Empress Has no Clothes!

It's bad enough to see the American media write fawning and flattering articles about Michell Obama's supposed good looks and fashion sense, all of which is patently ridiculous, but when Canada's own Globe and Mail runs a front page photo spread (last Friday), it's time for bloggers to say what the mainstream press won't.

Michell Obama is not pretty.
Michelle Obama is not fashionable.

Pretending that she is what she is not, is a dis-service to the public who look to the media for honest reporting.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really care about her looks or lack thereof, but when the Globe presents her as a fashion plate, someone has to call them out. Why on earth did this monstrously ugly photo end up on page 1 of the Globe and Mail and why is the newspaper giving so much free publicity to J.CREW.



I had to scan this image from my morning newspaper because the online version of the Globe and Mail had the good sense not to include the picture with the story, a wise aesthetic choice but a bit strange considering that it is key to the story.

Globe retailing reporter Marina Strauss has written one of the worst puff pieces I have ever seen and the newspaper should be ashamed to foist this garbage upon us.

I'm no fashion maven, but any red-blooded male can tell what is pretty and who looks good in their clothes.
Take a look at France's first lady Carla Bruni;

That's more like it. How about a photo spread on her? By the way, I bet she doesn't wear J.Crew

How does this picture of Spanish Princess Letizia and Carla Bruni walking up the stairs of Zarzuela Palace outside Madrid strike you?



Ummmm! Talk about poetry in motion. Now go back to the picture of Michelle Obama at the top of the page.

I rest my case....

Still don't believe me?
Show the above picture of Michelle Obama to any 10 random men and I bet not one of them will tell you that the package is the least bit sexy, flattering or appealing. Not a chance....

If anything the photo convinced me to dissuade my wife from ever donning anything offered by J. Crew. argh.......

At any rate, why the Globe would write a fashion story about the US First Lady is beyond me. They'd be better off writing a story on the keen fashion sense of Stephen Harper's wife, who's name is.....?

I make no apologies to Michelle Obama for the insult, she has portrayed herself as something she clearly isn't. The doting US press reminds me of the famous fable of The Emperor's New Clothes. Why on earth is the Canadian press complicit in the illusion?

If the Globe and Mail is keen on writing these stories, may I humbly suggest their next subject, a woman who is already inspiring others to copy her keen fashion sense.


 
See:

Michelle Obama Needs First Lady Lessons

Michelle Obama is a Plain Jane

Separatists to Gather at Plains of Abraham

As you recall, the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which was to take place next week was cancelled due to pressure from nationalist groups and the threat of violence.

In it's place, a group called Le Moulin à paroles is staging a 24 hour read-a-thon to commerate the battle in a less 'violent' and 'respectful' manner .

The public is invited to listen to famous Quebec personalities give various readings from books, speeches and letters that have some historical context.

Notwithstanding that a few anglos were invited to read, the whole event has morphed into a sombre sovereignist gathering, where a wake-like atmosphere will mark the 250th anniversary of "LA CONQUETE" Quebec nationalists very own version of the Palestinians "NAQBA"

The regular cast of nationalist characters will be front and center, including Patrick Bourgeois, the leader of the Réseau de Résistance du Québec, the group that led the successful attack against the re-enactment. Other stalwarts include ex-PQ Premier Bernard Landry, Louise Beaudoin, MP from Rosemount and longtime anglo foil and of course the chief blockhead himself, Gilles Duceppe.

Yes, it's revving up for a fine weekend of teary lamentations and sovereignist dissertations. The tenor of the whole affair has started to scare scheduled federalists from attending, not however Premier Charest who refused the invitation from the start, knowing full well where the event has headed.

Mayor Regis Lebaume of Quebec City, decided to cancel his appearance, calling the whole affair "too partisan.".Instead, he's off to Colombus, Ohio, to give a speech (in English!).

An unnamed Liberal MP has also cancelled, calling the text he was to read by Robert Bourassa, "too nationalistic"

I'm sure that the event won't attract the same crowd that Paul McCartney drew last summer when he gave a free concert on the "Plains," even for sovereignists, the event sounds like a crashing bore.

Ontario Lottery Board Example Shames Quebec

This week chairman Michael Gough and the entire board of directors of the Ontario's Lottery Gaming Board were asked to resign in the wake of some disturbing expense claims.

Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced that CEO Kelly McDougald was "dismissed with cause," and therefore will not receive a severance package.

"Over the last two years, senior staff at the OLG billed taxpayers for, among other things: expensive bottles of wine, a Weight Watchers membership, babysitters, luggage replacement, credit card fees, and a cloth grocery bag, according to documents released by the province of Ontario." Ottawa Citizen

"Today we are taking another step to protect taxpayer's money. New leadership at the OLG will work under a mandate to instill increased accountability and a culture of respect for the public interest and taxpayer dollars." – Dwight Duncan, Minister of Finance

Wow could this ever happen in Quebec? Never!

"Dismissed with cause" is a foreign concept in Quebec government circles. When civil servants are caught abusing the public purse, they are quietly reprimanded or outright excused as in the case of Hydro-Quebec's Thierry Vandal.

Remember Jean-Guy Chaput the Quebec boss of SODEC (Société de développement des entreprises culturelles) who's lavish expenses led to him being relieved of his position.
When told that because of his unacceptable spending spree, his services were no longer required, he threatened to sue.
In order to end the bad publicity and the embarrassment as soon as possible, the government decided to pay out his contract, which cost taxpayers a further $100,000.

In Quebec it's always better to sweep these things under the rug.
Everybody agrees.
Nobody cares.

La Presse Editiorialist Annoys Sovereignists Again

I've taken the liberty to translate an editorial written this week by Andre Pratte, La Presse's resident federalist and foil of every true sovereignist. Read the original text here.

"One of the great mysteries in my life is that it (Quebec independence) has not happened yet," said Bernard Landry at the opening of the documentary 'National Issues', which premiered last night at the Festival des Films du Monde.

But there is nothing really so mysterious about it. The key is actually found in two excerpts from the film.

First, from this speech by René Lévesque in 1970:
"We want to stop being a caricature of poor people in a wealthy society that are manipulated by others."

Then today, about Mr. Landry:
"When I say to foreigners that we are the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, they hardly believe it. When I tell them that of the several multinationals that dominate the planet in their area ... the Caisse de depot is the third or fourth largest real estate investor in the world!"

Between these two statements, are four decades of dazzling economic, social and cultural development within the Canadian federation.

Independence? What for?

"For 50 years, 111 countries gained their independence, why not Quebec?" Ask the authors of the documentary.

Because the vast majority of them were imprisoned in colonial regimes that blocked their development and bullied their culture. Independence has appeared in such nations as the only solution. Quebeckers have had time to take another path.

In an interview he gave to National issues, the Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, made a surprising prediction: "What happened to the Franco-Canadians and Acadians, their rapid assimilation, this is what will happen in Quebec. We can not wait 50 years. "


More than six million Francophones assimilated, really?
We've already survived the 'Conquest' and "cultural genocide" which, according to Pierre Bourgault, has beset Quebec since 1867.

There are similarities between the situation in Quebec and two other minority nations, the Catalans and Scots. The parallel between them and us is particularly fascinating. The regional government in Scotland is now run by a separatist party. The Scottish National Party was elected in 2007 after a campaign in which they spoke little about independence. However, the SNP promised a referendum on the subject in 2010, a referendum in which they had chosen a "soft" issue. Does that ring a bell?

In Scotland, independence gets only 28% support, according to the latest survey. The reason for this indifference is simple: Scotland has managed to preserve its culture and thrive in the United Kingdom. However, the Scots, as Quebeckers simply do not see any need to venture into independence.

There is no mystery. -André Pratte La Presse