26 April 2012

Quebec Stock'ome Syndrome

where you believe Quebec is a progressive nation, nothwithstanding all evidence to the contrary.

22 April 2012

Eugene Forsey: Defender of the Canadian nation (book excerpt)

Defender of the Canadian nation

In June of 1990, the options for a stronger, united country were on the verge of extinction. The Meech Lake Accord, a package of constitutional amendments based on demands from Quebec and tradeoffs with the other provinces, was in the final stages of its approval process. Under the amendment formulas in the repatriated Constitution, the Accord needed the endorsement of Parliament and all ten provincial legislatures within three years. If it made it through, Canadians would awake to find massive decentralization embedded in constitutional concrete, together with an attendant host of extremely serious problems.

21 April 2012

Painted into a corner by the red square

Painted into a corner by the red square


For Pauline Marois, it was easy to put on the red square symbolizing the student "strikes" and have her Parti Québécois members of the National Assembly put it on as well. Maybe too easy.
Marois and the PQ know that even students who haven't joined the walkouts are understandably unhappy about having to pay more for their education. She hopes that their anger at the Charest government will rouse them from their usual electoral apathy to support the PQ.
Apparently she calculated that merely promising to cancel the Charest government's tuition-fee increases wasn't enough. In a show-don't-tell age, when more than ever a screen shot is worth a thousand words, she wanted the PQ to show its solidarity with students.

18 April 2012

On constitutional questions, it’s still Quebec vs. the rest of Canada - The Globe and Mail

On constitutional questions, it’s still Quebec vs. the rest of Canada - The Globe and Mail

Thirty years after the patriation of the Constitution, Quebec and the rest of Canada remain as divided as ever over the need to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold, according to a recent poll.
Quebec and the rest of Canada are at an impasse on a number of issues – more powers for Quebec, collective rights versus individual rights and the consequences of failing to reopen the constitutional debate – the survey shows.

Collectivities have no will, only individuals

Can my neighbourhood speak? No, but my neighbour can.

Louise Arbour: How the Charter helped define Canada

How the Charter helped define Canada - The Globe and Mail

From a global perspective, Canada now stands in an envious position in terms of quality of institutional governance. As democracy spreads over the world, it doesn’t always reach far beyond the setting of relatively free and fair elections. This often leads to stronger executive power and, at times, to a reasonably efficient legislative branch. Rarely is any attention given to the role of a professional, independent judiciary. It takes decades to construct, but in the resolution of conflicts, inevitable in any country, the rule of law is the best investment.

17 April 2012

Editorial: Charter is a success story

Editorial: Charter is a success story

Lévesque was never more wrong than when he snarled at Trudeau at the conference where the constitutional deal went down that he’d never get away with this, that the people would stop it. As it was, Canadians embraced the patriation and the charter, including Quebecers by a big majority. Thirty years later, Canadians can reflect with pride on that day when Queen Elizabeth II signed the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982.

Henry Aubin: Students may have gone...

Henry Aubin: Students may have gone...


MONTREAL - Hats off to the louts whose antics repeatedly stopped métro service Monday. By causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters, they've helped to alienate the public from the student boycott and to undermine the cause.

Don Macpherson: Everyone has their price – now we know Normandeau’s

Don Macpherson: Everyone has their price – now we know Normandeau’s

Even though it’s only April, we already have a strong nominee for quote of the year in Quebec politics:
“It was Céline Dion, after all.”
That was the excuse that Nathalie Normandeau gave Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête for accepting concert tickets from a municipal contractor while she was minister of municipal affairs in the Charest government.
Enquête disclosed last Thursday that Normandeau received nine tickets to a luxury suite at the Bell Centre in Montreal for a concert by the Québécoise pop diva in February 2009 from contractor Lino Zambito.

10 April 2012

Cuts will mean a 'very different public broadcaster': CBC boss

Cuts will mean a 'very different public broadcaster': CBC boss

The austerity axe chopped deep into the CBC's budget Wednesday, and will result in "a very different public broadcaster," CBC president Hubert Lacroix said.
Viewers can expect less original programming, more reruns and - for the first time - ads on CBC radio as the broadcaster copes with a $115-million cut in federal funding. The agency will also sell buildings, tinker with employee pensions and cut 650 jobs in the coming three years as it adjusts to a smaller budget.
"It's not a fun day," Lacroix said. Across Canada, 650 full-time CBC jobs will be eliminated. This includes 475 this fiscal year, a further 150 jobs in 2013-2014 and the rest in 2014-2015. Those 650 jobs - split equally between French and English services - amounts to about nine per cent of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s total workforce. That includes 150 management jobs.

09 April 2012

Broadbent poll uncovers public desire to close inequality gap - thestar.com

Broadbent poll uncovers public desire to close inequality gap - thestar.com

The good news is that, unlike their governments, Canadians, whatever their political stripe, want action. New national public opinion research conducted for the Broadbent Institute by Environics Research and released today makes this clear.

06 April 2012

Don Macpherson: When health becomes a language issue

Don Macpherson: When health becomes a language issue

Health care used as an instrument of language policy in Quebec?
Your medicare card used as a language-identification card?
Restrictions on access to English health care similar to those on access to English schools?
Denying immigrants the help of interpreters in the health system to describe their symptoms – or those of their children, their parents or other loved ones – so that they have to learn French?
All these ideas have been raised recently, not by cellar pamphleteers, but by members of mainstream French Quebec society.
And before you laugh them off, remember that some language proposals originally dismissed as ridiculous, such as banning English from commercial signs, went on to become law in this province.

Landry attempts to breathe life into ailing Quebec sovereignty movement - The Globe and Mail

Landry attempts to breathe life into ailing Quebec sovereignty movement - The Globe and Mail

With the help of PQ members, including party MNA Bernard Drainville who signed the declaration, the voices of dissidence within the sovereignty movement towards Ms. Marois’ strategy continue to be heard even though she has successfully climbed back into the lead in public opinion polls after overcoming a divisive internal party debate.

05 April 2012

Federal budget poses threat to CBC, Stursberg argues - The Globe and Mail

Federal budget poses threat to CBC, Stursberg argues - The Globe and Mail

The French Conquest ... of England


http://www.montrealgazette.com/News/Helping+people+discover+their+past/1761584/story.html#Comments
I wish these vulgarizers would take a step back in history and tell, in French, the story of the Norman / French conquest of England. It was a brutal, military occupation in which virtually all Anglo-Saxon speakers were dispossessed of their lands and positions. It was not considered illegal for a Norman / French to kill an Anglo-Saxon, or rape his wife. The Normans imposed their system of government - all power vested in the king - flooded the towns with their own people - so that 25% of the population was French - drained the country of its wealth to pay for their wars and starved untold thousands in the process - and caused the disappearance of the Anglo-Saxon language- to be replaced by English which is at least 50% derived from French. I think a lot of Quebecois and Quebecoise would like to know that story, particularly as the majority are descended from Normans.

04 April 2012

Macpherson: With 'friends' like Jean-François Lisée, who needs enemies?

With 'friends' like Jean-François Lisée, who needs enemies?

We've got the wrong idea about Jean-François Lisée, the sovereignist strategist behind the hatchet job on us English-speaking Quebecers in the issue of L'actualité magazine still on newsstands.
He's really our friend. He said so in an article published on the Opinion page ("Poll result surprised L'actualité," March 29), and on his blog on the L'actualité website. I would not be surprised if some of his best friends are anglos.
Jean-François - friends should be on a first-name basis - also wants to be our teacher. In our ignorance, we thought we had satisfied what Bill 101 required of us. We thought we had done so by learning French and speaking it outside our homes, thereby doing our part to meet Bill 101's objective of making French the common language of Quebec.

Parti Quebecois promises guidelines for its proposed citizen-led referendums - Winnipeg Free Press

Parti Quebecois promises guidelines for its proposed citizen-led referendums - Winnipeg Free Press