Banning Street Hockey Dimishes Us All.

This week's news story that a predominantly Anglo suburb ticketed a resident for playing street hockey with his son and a group of kids has really ticked me off. It's an example of the over-regulation that should not exist in our society, especially in Quebec.

It's something we expect outside our province, in Ottawa or other some-such stuffed shirt community that expounds a tight-assed, white bread mentality, where fun is a four lettered word.

But it happened here in Quebec, the land of laissez-faire, where jaywalking, running red lights and ignoring crosswalks are all accepted practices. It's truly disappointing. It tarnishes our hitherto well-deserved reputation for enjoying a certain joie-de-vivre.

For those of you who haven't heard, a resident of the staid Anglophone community of Dollard-des Ormeaux, was ticketed when he defied a community cop by telling him that he would not stop the game of street hockey.

The city explained that a neighbour had complained about the noise emanating from the group of kids playing in the street and so they had to act.

Every neighbourhood has that same idiot neighbour that makes life difficult for kids. My foil as a child was old man Mr. Brown, who lived at the corner of the street and who tormented us at every opportunity.

"DON"T RIDE YOUR BICYCLE ON THE SIDEWALK!"

"DON"T MAKE SO MUCH NOISE!"

"GET THE HELL OFF MY LAWN!"  BLAH! BLAH!

Things, haven't changed in all these years, there will always be a Mr. Brown in some form or another. The cops should actually ticket these idiots for being such Grinches. At least Mr. Brown taught me a valuable lesson which I have always lived by - Don't hassle little kids, even if they're annoying. This is the time of their lives, so grin and bear it!

And so the $75 ticket is a testament to the over-regulated society that we have created, one that values Grandma's desire to watch Oprah, in peace and quiet, over the rights of kids to have fun in the street.

Noise is part of the city. Sirens, airplanes, dogs barking, tires screeching, church bells and kids playing are all part of the urban landscape. Those who seek solitude can escape to the country, but the city belongs to the people.

When I was a kid, way back in the day, street hockey was the great equalizer. I grew up in that infamous St. Urbain neighborhood in Montreal, of Moredchai Richler fame, where hockey was one of the first indoctrinations into Canadian life for immigrant children.
Back then, it was was the Anglos, Immigrants, and the 'Yids' versus the 'Frenchies.' (Yes we talked like that, and nobody cared) More often than not, there weren't enough 'Frenchies' to go around and so we had to trade a few players.
No matter, after counting out ten paces to measure the space for the goals, we deposited scrunched up jackets or a lost galosh to denote goalposts (no we didn't have nets) and the two players who owned  baseball mitts were obliged to be the goalies.
We played and we played, using that famous red, white and blue rubber ball that everyone, over forty remembers. When cars came by, they slowed down to a crawl respectfully and those who dared to honk were booed unmercifully. The police drove by all the time and smiled and joked with us. One time a police sergeant parked his car and borrowed a stick to take a few 'shootout' shots at our goalie. We went home when it got dark and our parents never worried.
Nobody ever got hit by a car and none of the neighbours complained about the noise.

Nobody wore any type of defensive equipment and masks and helmets were unheard of. But in all the years, I only saw one injury and that was a broken leg.
We learned to curse in French,Yiddish and assorted European languages.  'Idiotsky'! 'Putsch'! 'Tabarnac!' 'Pootsa!', but more importantly, we also learned to live together.
Street hockey was our first opportunity as kids to organize something for ourselves without adult supervision.

Great memories, it was the best of times....

Too bad that we have become a nation of sissies, all of us, Francophone and Anglophones combined.
We live in a world where street hockey is no longer acceptable because it annoys neighbours and violates the never-proved theory that even the safest suburban street is too 'dangerous' for play.

Today, we over-supervise our children and take exaggerated precautions, we consider everything too dirty, too unsafe and too dangerous for our precious little ones. Yet we over medicate and over treat our children with antibiotics and tranquilizers and think we are doing a bang up job raising our kids because we keep them 'safe.'
When I grew up nobody had 'Epipens', inhalers, nor was anybody lactose intolerant. Asthma was as rare as could be and nobody gave their kids Ritalin. We didn't eat junk food because it didn't exist and at any rate nobody could afford it. Drinking a Pepsi or an Orange Crush was a rare and delicious treat.

Sometimes less is more.

Today instead of letting kids organize and play amongst themselves, we organize sanitized  'play dates."
I much prefer my mother's attitude when she admonished me to; "Get away from that television set and go outside and play in the street.  Don't come back 'til six....."

Yeeess!!!.............

Unreasonable Reaction Over Reasonable Accommodations

I told you last week that the secularist 'victory' over the niqab clad women would open the floodgates of intolerance towards minority religions in Quebec and unfortunately it has already begun to manifest itself. The press is on a frenzied mission to root out any sort of accommodation towards minority religions and common citizens are already taking pot shots at these minorities in public with open season having already been declared on women wearing any sort of a head covering.

A couple of weeks ago the Minister of Education made a deal with a couple of Hasidic schools whereby they could stay open on the weekend to allow enough time to teach religion as well as the full  course load as provided by the Ministry. To accommodate this, she was forced to change the law that banned school from teaching on the weekend. Instead of designating the days on which school must be taught, she changed the formula to that of a prescribed amount of hours and left the schedule to the discretion of the schools.

It seemed like a good idea at the time and the only ones affected were those schools who wanted to benefit from increased instruction time. The Minister unfortunately explained her decision as a step to battle the drop-out rate, when in reality, it was just a cover story used to hide the accommodation she made for these nine Hassidic schools.
When the opposition found out about it, all Hell broke lose, although I still can't understand what it is exactly those opposed are complaining about.
The change to the law affects nobody except those schools and school boards who want to benefit from the new flexibility. Those who aren't interested need not make any changes at all.
The provincial teachers union quickly gathered a 25,000 name petition against the idea and has complained that the whole provincial structure is being changed to accommodate just nine schools, although they don't explain how and what the effect is. 

Pauline Marois of the PQ, added fuel to the fire by making the outrageously false statement in Parliament that the law would render Christmas and Easter as ordinary as any other day of the year, a statement designed to raise the hackles of Quebec Francophone Christians (most of whom ironically don't practice their faith.)
Either she is extremely stupid and uninformed or she intentionally is attempting to make political hay by hitching her star to the intolerance movement. You'd think she'd know that Christmas and Easter are statutory holidays, days when schools may not be open, regardless of the Education act.

And so the example of intolerance is being set by those who should know better and this mood has spilled over into the public.

Now a row has broken out in an Anglo minor hockey league over the scheduling of a playoff game on the first night of Passover, a holiday that almost all Jews, practising or not, celebrate at the family Seder table.
A team representing a west island community that is predominantly Jewish and whose hockey team consists of 10 Jews out of the 15 players, has requested that the playoff game be postponed by one day. The team was told by the league that no accommodation could be made, a spokesman claiming that it's an impossible task to schedule 700 games and take into consideration every community's holidays.  Therefore no exceptions would be allowed (except Christmas, of course.)

The truth, however is somewhat different. There are only a couple of games left as the league winds down its season and there are only a few teams left in the playoffs. Two other teams still competing offered to switch their scheduled game day with the Jewish team and its opponent. Everybody cooperated in the spirit of sportsmanship and tolerance. There would be no adverse effect on the schedule and the Jewish team could continue their playoff run.
Still the league said no to the arrangement. Play on the original date or forfeit. Nice....

These are the small accommodations that are disappearing with this new wave of political animosity towards minorities, encouraged by those who preach secularism, as long as it doesn't apply to Christians.

The media storm surrounding the debate is unprecedented with the mood of the public shifting rather quickly against any accommodation at all. Yesterday, Premier Charest, usually a firm supporter of accommodations announced that he'd be drafting a law that would effectively bar any woman from wearing the veil in any public or para-public building. This includes hospitals and schools as well as government offices.

A spokesman for the Montreal Muslim Council complained that the measure is a bit of an overkill and reminded reporters that the law would apply to less than two dozen Quebec Muslims who wear the veil. He openly questioned where this would all takes us.

We have just learned that an Outremont Hassidic synagogue was broken into over the weekend and ransacked. The moronic perpetrators, likely boosted by the public clamour,  painted Swastikas on the pulpit. They couldn't even get their hate message quite right and failed to accurately depict a proper Swastika. It's strange that not one newspaper article about the incident mentioned that fact.

I'm afraid we are experiencing a fateful tipping point.

It's going to get worse and its going to get lot uglier.

Para Olympic Closing Cermonies a Humiliating Failure

Every now and then, I like to go off on a tangent and discuss something that has nothing to do with Anglos in Quebec, but something that piques my interest.  It's a benefit that the independent blogger movement enjoys and one that mainstream journalists are not afforded and so, I don't care if I get a million negative comments,  I'm going to bitch about  the closing ceremony of the Para Olympic Games in Whistler.
Everyone in the mainstream press is too goody-two-shoes to pan an event celebrating para Olympians.

The closing ceremonies of the Para Olympics were so bad and so cheaply put together that it was nothing short of an unmitigated embarrassment for Vancouver and Canadians in general.

From beginning to end, there was a distinct lack of effort, talent and budget and the show was so hard to sit through that without the benefit of the TiVo fast forward function, I would have never made it.
I think Quebeckers should be happy that there wasn't any French to speak of, other than official announcements, because to be associated with this travesty would demean our province.

I have only one word to describe the mess.
HORRIBLE!!!!

The national anthem, uninspiring with the 'novel' idea of a giant Canadian flag being passed through the crowd must have truly wowed the world-wide audience. The speeches were long and boring and the singing talent consisted of a couple of unknowns, except for Chantal Kreviazuk, a C-Lister, who while somewhat known in Canada, is hardly a marquee name. Also the song that she sung, sucked quite badly.

The only passably entertaining act, was a wheelchair dance number performed by the Russians, who were pushing their games in Sochi, in 2014. Notwithstanding that the routine was plucked right out of an episode from the television show "GLEE," it was at least watchable. But alas, the follow-up act consisting of a blind Ukrainian singer, was also a painful assault on the ear.

I sat through the presentation of two Canadian native performers with my jaw wide open. I can only  describe both acts excruciatingly painful.
 
 I understand that VANOC (the organizing committee) foisted a Native fantasy theme upon us all, in order to buy social peace for their games, but putting on these dubious acts as representative of Canadian culture is nothing less than humiliating.

If you think I'm exaggerating, watch these two videos, which I defy you to sit through the clips to the end.

The first act consisted of an Indian doing a jig with a bunch of yellow Hula hoops, which truthfully, I never really associated with traditional native culture. At any rate, a twelve year old girl would have manipulated the hoops better. The headache inducing screaming and banging on the accompanying drum reminds me of a classic scene of toddlers torturing their grandparents with a tom-tom.

 That the Prime Minister and the Premier of BC smiled through the performances, is a testament in their ability to lie.

Now watch this. It is by far the worst performance I have ever seen in my life. A combination of orgasmic screams coupled with dog-like noises, it defies logic that nobody stood up and screamed that the "Emperor hath no clothes."

How much would you pay to see them perform locally?
How much would you pay to get out of seeing them perform?

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Bloc Quebecois' Masturbation Party

Resistance Leader Gilles Duceppe

Last weekend  the Bloc Quebecois held its annual meeting in Quebec City where they continued to promote the charade that they are in any way relevant to Canadian politics.
The sad truth is that almost all Bloc members hate their jobs, including Gilles Duceppe, who not so secretly aspires to the job of Premier of Quebec.
He caused somewhat of a stir by comparing his separatist movement to the famous "Resistance," which battled the Nazi occupation of France during World War Two.
Hearing of the comparison, Federal Minister Lawrence Cannon  blew a gasket and complained that Duceppe had insulted Canada, when in fact, the real crime was to compare the Bloc pantywaists with those that bravely fought and died battling a murderous enemy.

The convention was highlighted by the keynote speaker, oddball ex-mayor of small town Huntington, Stephane Gendron, who told the audience that while he liked the Bloc, he didn't think he'd vote for sovereignty. Hmm..
Then it was the turn of ex-MP Suzanne Tremblay to wow the crowd by telling them that the Bloc was making an important contribution in Ottawa because by speaking only French  in Parliament, it forced the government to hire more interpreters. Wow!

For the majority of the 1,379,628 voters in Quebec who voted for the Bloc Quebecois in the last Federal election, sending separatists to Ottawa is an infantile exercise in tweaking the collective nose of English Canada. Pissing in the soup of federal politics is just about the only thing left for the frustrated sovereignist to do, taking advantage of a split federalist vote to garner 66% of the Quebec seats with about a third of the votes.

I'm mindful of the movie line in FATAL ATTRACTION wherein the jilted lover character played by Glen Close threatens the Michael Douglas character (who is desperately trying to dump her) "I mean, I'm not gonna be ignored"

And ignored they are. A Bloc Member rising in Parliament to speak is a wonderful opportunity for government members to unplug their simultaneous translation earpieces and take a few moments to zone out.

While those who voted for the Bloc rejoice in their collective thumbing of their nose at Canadians and their federal Parliament, few Quebeckers understand how desperately sad and humiliating the presence of these separatists in Ottawa really is.

Short of bringing down the government, which they are fearful of doing,  they have no power and no influence. In fact, their presence has the complete opposite effect of what they claim they are doing, defending the interests of Quebec voters and so they sit in Parliament like an unwelcome, nasty and crotchety old grandfather who is roundly ignored at the family dinner table, even when he speaks. 

One of the principle reasons that the Bloc has such a high turnover rate is that it is a nasty avocation to go to work each day with co-workers who hate your guts, in a city full of people who loathe your presence.

When opposition parties flirted with the idea of a coalition government that included the Bloc last year, the very concept, so shocked the sensibilities of Canadians that the only other person with a legitimate shot at forming a government on his own, Michael Ignatief of the Liberals, was forced to back down.
It was a good thing for Jack Layton too, because had the coalition gone through, it would have destroyed the political careers of the two leaders.

I have eaten in  the Parliamentary cafeteria and have seen the Bloc members sitting alone amongst themselves, like the nerds that populate the loser corner of any high school in Canada.

Big shots in Quebec, Bloc members are nobodies in Ottawa and the reality is difficult for them to digest.

When asked about their accomplishments in Ottawa, the Bloc always answer that they are defending Quebec's interest. But how?

There is nary a piece of legislation that they can lay claim to have been a moving force behind. The amendments that they offer are only on the rarest of occasions incorporated in government policy.

Last week they proposed an amendment to the crime bill which would reverse the policy of letting non-violent first time offenders out on parole after serving only one-sixth of their sentence.  A good idea that makes eminently good sense and one with which I'm sure the vast majority of Canadians would agree with.
But because the amendment came from the Bloc, the government didn't even bother considering it for a moment. Had the Liberals or the NDP proposed the same amendment, it would have been surely put on the table for debate.

So all that is left is the pitiful exercise in collective masturbation, the bane of those who cannot do anything in the real world and so are consigned to the world of imagination.

Relieved, re-assured and recharged after their stroke-a-thon convention, the Bloc members return to Parliament to continue with he charade that they are something other than a sad collection of failed separatists advancing a tired and rejected platform.

For me, instead of feeling anger at their insulting presence in Ottawa, I take solace and grim pleasure that everyday is another painful and frustrating day that they must endure in a united and strong Canada, another day taking them farther and farther away from their dream.
It has been twenty long years of a misery and frustration. I wish them many more decades of the same. Suffer on.

It's plain to everyone else that their dream of sovereignty is enduring a slow and lingering death in Quebec and one might ask if the destiny of Bloc members is to live out their retirement back home, in a Quebec firmly rooted in Canada, living out their sunshine years on the avails of their Canadian parliamentary pension.

Think any of them will refuse that pension out of principle?

.....No I don't think so either.

Law & Disorder Volume 1

Alleged murderer might benefit from indemnity

The Society of the Quebec Automobile Insurance may by law, be obliged to indemnify the father of the three daughters found dead in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston. In an interview, former Justice Minister, Marc Bellemare, has confirmed that Mohammad Shafia, accused of murdering his three daughters may be eligible to receive $49, 000 for each of the three deaths, even if he is convicted of the murders! LINK(fr)


Sixty days in jail for $3.37 theft
"A young man will spend the next 60 days in jail after stealing a beer from a convenience store in Quebec. He stole the $3.37 beer to celebrate having just gotten out of jail." LINK


Stop the Deportation of Dany Villanueva !
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) began the process of trying to deport Dany Villanueva from Canada, by attempting to remove his permanent residency status. You'll recall that he was at the center of a Montreal police arrest attempt that led to a confrontation wherein his brother Fredy was shot and killed. The career criminal is a member of a Montreal North street gang and is currently facing more criminal charges. He is being supported in his efforts to stave off deportation by an anti-police organization known as the "Coalition contre la Répression et les Abus Policiers" (Coalition against Police repression and abuse.) The group is better known by its acronym - "C.R.A.P." Yup, no joke! LINK(fr)

Swift justice for some, but not all!
A 31-year-old man became involved in a mid-air altercation with a fellow passenger aboard an Air Canada flight which resulted in a forced landing at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport.
The very next day he appeared in court and was sentenced to a 30-day jail term for disturbing the peace. That was quick! LINK

Meanwhile, a former Rwandan ambassador to Canada lost a court case in a 12-year attempt to avoid deportation. The Canadian government has been trying to kick him out since 1998, alleging that he was a senior member of a regime that engaged in "systematic or gross human rights violations or war crimes or crimes against humanity." The judge noted that Segasayo has not exhausted all legal avenues to remain in Canada, and that he still had the right to make a case to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Another 12 years, perhaps?

$500,000 embezzlement doesn't bother company
An employee of a Montreal packaging company embezzled close to half a million dollars from his union over a period of a couple of years. His union reported the theft to the police and the employee was charged with fraud.
As for the company, it said that the incident was none of their business, as it was a 'union' affair and told the man that he could keep his job. Unfortunately for the company he''ll have to serve a three year jail term before going back to work...


Murderer kills parents and then collects inheritance.

Despite having murdered his parents by decapitation with an axe in 2007, Alain Piche will still get his inheritance after the Quebec's Court of Appeal overturned a 2008 Superior Court. The appellate court decided that the murderer cannot be held responsible for the deaths because his mental condition robbed him of the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. LINK

Novel defences offered in court.
Valère Audy writes in La Voix de l'Est about three defendants who offered some creative arguments in their various trials.
Scott Chase of Waterloo is appealing his life sentence because he objected to the judge's instruction to the jury that neither jealousy nor intoxication can be used as a defence for the brutal murder of a woman.
André-Louis Lemaire of Tropicana was convicted of abusing children who were aged between two and ten years old. The paedophile told the court that he shouldn't be blamed because it was the victims fault for 'enticing and provoking' him...
Alexandre Fournier of Dunham was convicted in the death of a passenger when he crashed his car at 174 kilometres an hour. The young man  blamed the accident on the fact that cars shouldn't be designed to go that fast.


Career Criminal asks for bail
When you read about crooks like this, it makes you wish that Canada would employ the three strike law.
Mario Moreau, a 40 year old man from Shawinigan, has 44 robberies and break-ins to his credit, as well as several stints in prison.
In his most recent trial, Patrick Masson, an investigator for the provincial police, reported to the judge that the career criminal left his fingerprints in a residence in Grand-Mere where a TV and other  valuables were stolen.
On April 19, 2009, according to information obtained by the investigator,  Moreau stole a wallet in a vehicle and allegedly used the credit cards in amounts totalling $347.
In August 16, 2009, Mario Moreau allegedly tried to sell some dresses stolen at a shop where a sizable amount of money was stolen as well as a computer.

In September 2009, his fingerprints were found at the scene of another break-in.
On the night of October 12, 2009,  the owner of a carpet store, which was closed at the time, came face to face with Moreau who explained that he was just looking for bottles because he needed money, before fleeing.
He broke into a home in Lac a la Tortue in January and  stole an amplifier, a violin and jewelry valued at approximately $3,500. His fingerprints were found on a mirror.

Finally,  police caught up with him at a motel, but he escaped by removing an air conditioner from the wall and scampering away, leaving his girlfriend behind.

After the lengthy summary by the police investigator in court describing Moreau's recent criminal exploits, the defendant's lawyer asked the Judge to release the defendant on bail into his mother's care.

The crown attorney almost fell off her chair at the chutzpah and objected, stating that the evidence against Moreau was rock solid and that in addition to his many previous crimes and convictions, he had breached bail conditions 17 times before!  

Do you think he got bail?
No..... not even in Quebec.