A CLASSE Struggle catechism

Why are the people demonstrating?
 - They think they can influence the citizens and/or the govt.

Why are demonstrators being arrested?
- They are in illegal marches. And for illegal acts (vandalism, weapons, etc.)

How are the police reacting?
- Great restraint, but some repression after provocation.

Are the marchers read the riot act?
- After claiming announcements can't be heard, the police started using sirens as a warning.

Why are the marches illegal?
- Because of the Special Law Bill 78 (e.g. mandatory to provide itinerary)

Why was Bill 78 passed?
- Because of the student revolt (e.g., blockades of classes)

Why were the students revolting?
- They were "on strike"against a rise in tuition.

Do students have a right to "strike"or boycott?
- Maybe so, if they have a free and fair vote.  (N.B.: The student associations are not recognized as bargaining units by law.)

Did the students have free and fair votes?
- Not usually (small rooms, short notice, show of hands, intimidation). Even those who did vote ``yes` are only 1/3 of the total student population.

Otherwise, are students legally allowed to boycott?
- Surely. But not to force others to miss classes because of blockades (injunctions granted or access thereof).

Is the general population in favour of the students? 
- Since the strike began, the students have never received more than half of the populace's support.

Who does have legitimacy here?
- The majority government, after an election where a majority of voters cast ballots.

So why did the govt negotiate with the student representatives?
- For optics. And to influence the insurgents.

What can I do about it?
- You should support the students gaining injunctions to get to class. Also, to counteract the deeply flawed Bill 78.

What should I not do about it?
- Don't bang pots and pans. That noise is literally painful.
 

Quebec, Ink: At least the PQ isn’t pandering | Cult MTL

Quebec, Ink: At least the PQ isn’t pandering | Cult MTL

Yolande James, the Liberal incumbent in the Nelligan riding, had tens of thousands of campaign postcards distributed door to door this week. The English on it, as my francophone friends would say, “stunk of translation.”
In a list of her accomplishments, the glossy cardboard boasts “an urban boulevard in the grip of the future Highway 440.” Some grip. And then there’s “6,8M$ for the technological program of the pharmaceutical production at Gerald-Godin College.”
Admittedly, this is the kind of crappy translation anglophones have gotten accustomed to in Quebec. I used to get invitations to attend art exhibit “varnishings” where artists would “expose themselves” at public functions, so the above garble barely elicited a giggle. But it was truly shocking to see that an anglophone candidate in the heart of the West Island didn’t care whether a document she was sending to all of her constituents used proper, comprehensible English.

From the archives: Liberals retain big majority in Quebec PQ's strength, Equality's wins temper victory - The Globe and Mail

From the archives: Liberals retain big majority in Quebec PQ's strength, Equality's wins temper victory - The Globe and Mail

Peter Blaikie, chairman of the anglophone rights group Alliance Quebec, said the votes for the Equality Party were votes against the Meech Lake accord. "Meech Lake is not good for Quebec and it is not good for Canada," he said.

Quinze étudiants arrêtés à l'Université de Montréal | David Santerre | Conflit étudiant

Quinze étudiants arrêtés à l'Université de Montréal | David Santerre | Conflit étudiant

Mathieu Filion, porte-parole de l'Université de Montréal, insiste sur le fait que seuls 2000 étudiants sur les 45 000 ont voté pour le non-retour en classe.

Terence McKenna: Quebec's winds of change - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

Terence McKenna: Quebec's winds of change - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

As for the future, it is far from clear that even a PQ majority would mean another sovereignty referendum for Quebec, and another national unity crisis for Canada.
Former PQ premier Lucien Bouchard was very unhappy on the night of his majority victory in 1998 because he did not get over 50 per cent of the popular vote.
“How am I supposed to get over 50 per cent in a sovereignty referendum when I can’t get it now with far less at stake,” he asked his advisors. He never did call that referendum.

Breastfeeding group rejects transgender dad's leadership bid - Canada - CBC News

Breastfeeding group rejects transgender dad's leadership bid - Canada - CBC News

Transgender father Trevor MacDonald, who breastfeeds his son with the help of a supplemental feeding tube, is reeling after a rejection from the motherhood support group that helped him overcome his challenges.
La Leche League Canada (LLLC) told the Winnipeg man that he cannot become a group leader because he identifies as a father, quelling his ambitions to guide other transgender members and mothers who do not produce enough milk.
MacDonald, who has undergone chest reduction surgery, initially struggled to breastfeed his child. He credits the LLLC with providing him the support and resources he needed to nurse.

NDP returned $344,468 in advertising income after Conservatives complained to Elections Canada - thestar.com

NDP returned $344,468 in advertising income after Conservatives complained to Elections Canada - thestar.com

Courting ethnic votes is a delicate game for Quebec's leaders - The Globe and Mail

Courting ethnic votes is a delicate game for Quebec's leaders - The Globe and Mail

It is rarely seen in Quebec election campaigns, but a staple of every federal party’s tour: The leader visits Chinatown, a Sikh temple or some other ethnic community institution, sometimes even donning a piece of traditional garb in a gesture of respect.
They are politicians courting ethnic votes, to be sure, but even in the days when minority voters in federal elections were overwhelmingly and steadfastly Liberal, Conservative and NDP leaders alike made such stops to demonstrate openness ...

While Mr. Charest has criticized Ms. Marois’ Charte de la laicité, targeting religious symbols, his own government has picked targets, drawing up legislation meant to discourage the wearing of veils in public institutions.

Les solutions miracles | Vincent Marissal | Vincent Marissal

Les solutions miracles | Vincent Marissal | Vincent Marissal

Le PQ veut également interdire les écoles passerelles, quitte à utiliser la clause dérogatoire.
«Impossible», dit pourtant Louis Bernard, une éminence grise au PQ depuis René Lévesque.
«Il ne s'agit pas d'être pour ou contre le recours à la clause nonobstant, puisque cette clause ne peut être appliquée dans ce cas, dit-il. Plusieurs croient que la clause s'applique à toute la Charte canadienne, mais c'est faux, c'est de l'ignorance de la réalité juridique.»

No Dogs or Anglophones: Marois' 'Quebec Citizenship'........ Poutine, Maple Syrup & Koolaid

No Dogs or Anglophones: Marois' 'Quebec Citizenship'........ Poutine, Maple Syrup & Koolaid

Two Days- Two flip flops

It took just 24 hours for Pauline Marois' Quebec Citizenship plan to blow up in her face as the Parti Quebecois was forced to reverse positions on her pronouncement that all those who did not speak French would be barred from holding any public office.  Link

After week of backtracking, PQ’s Marois clarifies conservative gaffe - The Globe and Mail

After week of backtracking, PQ’s Marois clarifies conservative gaffe - The Globe and Mail

After telling conservative sovereigntists they should vote elsewhere if they can’t accept the Parti Québécois’s progressive platform, party Leader Pauline Marois moved quickly to defuse a potentially explosive situation.
The PQ has always been an alliance of social-democratic and right-wing sovereigntists. Ms. Marois’s comment suggested that for the first time, a PQ party leader was telling part of that coalition to get lost.

Five examples of civil disobedience to remember | Richard Seymour

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Quebec NDProvincial

Parti Québécois eyes beefed up Bill 101

Parti Québécois eyes beefed up Bill 101

The [federation of CEGEPS] argued last year the numbers don’t justify extending Bill 101 to CEGEPs because the proportion of francophones and allophones who attend English CEGEPs represents only 7.3 per cent of college students. It also noted 62 per cent of youths age 18-to-24 opposed the idea in a poll it commissioned in March 2011.
The Conseil supérieur de la langue française recommended to the Quebec government last year that freedom of choice for the language of instruction at CEGEPs be maintained.
The PQ’s platform calls for adopting a new French-language charter that would effectively mean English CEGEPs would be off limits to most francophone students and many allophones, as is the case at elementary and high schools.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Parti+Qu%c3%a9b%c3%a9cois+eyes+beefed+Bill/7060725/story.html#ixzz24aHkyfBI

August 21, 1967:

Following a three-week exhibition in Toronto at four different venues, Canada's Confederation Train departs at the end of the final day of display at Downsview. The train was exhibited at Kingston for four days and then moved on to Montreal, where a mob of demonstrating separatists stormed the train, vandalizing the exterior with paint while Montreal police passively observed from the sidelines.

Andrew Coyne: Marois outdoes her predecessors with the most discriminatory platform Canada’s seen in years | Full Comment | National Post

Andrew Coyne: Marois outdoes her predecessors with the most discriminatory platform Canada’s seen in years | Full Comment | National Post

At the height of her now famous confrontation with François Legault near the end of Wednesday’s televised tête-à-tête, Pauline Marois attempted to play down the fears he was doing his best to raise over her party’s proposed référendums d’initiative populaire. As adopted at the Parti Québécois’s last convention, the appealingly named RIPs would allow a petition of 15% of Quebec’s voters to trigger a referendum on separation — well, a referendum on anything, but separation was the issue that most exercised Legault.
The measure, he said, would “send us into the ravine with the caribou” — a tangy reference to PQ hardliners, of which Legault was once one of the most ardent — allowing the militants to pitch the province into a referendum: a referendum, he added, the PQ would surely lose. Pish-posh, Marois retorted (I’m paraphrasing). “I’m not afraid of the people. I won’t stop them from initiating a call for a referendum.”

Citizen referendums were PQ's 'time bomb' - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

Citizen referendums were PQ's 'time bomb' - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

he idea of citizen-driven referendums has inspired grassroots chatter within the Parti Québécois for years. It was a crisis of Pauline Marois's leadership, several months ago, that finally made it party policy.
Now the ticking "time bomb," in the words of one longtime party insider, has gone off just as Marois was strolling through a trouble-free election campaign.
The possible premier-in-waiting has performed a sudden about-face on the policy and now says that, no, a PQ government would not be forced to hold a vote on independence whenever people gathered a few hundred thousand names on a petition.

Don Macpherson: Anglos are losing out

Don Macpherson: Anglos are losing out

he Liberal Party is offering nothing to English-speaking voters in the Sept. 4 Quebec election. And the other parties with a realistic chance of forming the next government are offering less.
That sums up the parties’ platform planks on issues that might be of particular interest to English-speaking voters.
As I mentioned in my column Friday, the Liberal platform contains no commitments specific to the English-speaking community. Not only does it not promise anything to improve the community’s situation, it doesn’t promise to defend its present rights or interests, either.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Macpherson+Anglos+losing/7141947/story.html#ixzz24VeD8cM9

Projecting Montreal: The Party

Blames loss of MTL (island) population on last few decades on economics, not separatism

Quiet Revolution referred to as solely liberatory, not refractory also

Be it resolved ...

that anyone who cannot read the Quebec French press without translation, not be allowed to have an opinion on Quebec society.

How Marois' PQ inherited a political 'time-bomb', and is now working to disarm it

How Marois' PQ inherited a political 'time-bomb', and is now working to disarm it

MONTREAL - The idea of citizen-driven referendums has inspired grassroots chatter within the Parti Quebecois for years. It was a crisis of Pauline Marois' leadership, several months ago, that finally made it party policy.
Now the ticking "time-bomb," in the words of one longtime party insider, has gone off just as Marois was strolling through a trouble-free election campaign.
The possible premier-in-waiting has performed a sudden about-face on the policy and now says that, no, a PQ government would not be forced to hold a vote on independence whenever people gathered a few hundred thousand names on a petition.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Marois+inherited+political+timebomb+working+disarm/7138046/story.html#ixzz24yZyq6EF

Citizen referendums were PQ's 'time bomb' - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

Citizen referendums were PQ's 'time bomb' - Quebec Votes 2012 - CBC News

The idea of citizen-driven referendums has inspired grassroots chatter within the Parti Québécois for years. It was a crisis of Pauline Marois's leadership, several months ago, that finally made it party policy.
Now the ticking "time bomb," in the words of one longtime party insider, has gone off just as Marois was strolling through a trouble-free election campaign.
The possible premier-in-waiting has performed a sudden about-face on the policy and now says that, no, a PQ government would not be forced to hold a vote on independence whenever people gathered a few hundred thousand names on a petition.

PQ leader Pauline Marois reiterates that a call for referendum would come from the National Assembly

PQ leader Pauline Marois reiterates that a call for referendum would come from the National Assembly

Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois papered over cracks in party unity Friday morning after a prominent MNA charged that a PQ government would be conning the population by not holding a referendum on sovereignty if 15 per cent of voters demanded it.
On Thursday, Bernard Drainville, the PQ member of the National Assembly for Marie-Victorin, told the Radio-Canada current affairs show 24 heures en 60 minutes that a future PQ government would pay a high political price for refusing to follow through on its commitment to hold a “popular initiative referendum” on sovereignty.
“If the government decided to say we won’t hold one for X, Y, or Z reason, can you imagine the flak? Imagine the reaction among the population that had been conned in a certain way,” Drainville said ...

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/leader+Pauline+Marois+reiterates+that+call+referendum+would+come+from+National+Assembly/7140618/story.html#ixzz24UffEQka

PQ backs away from referendum proposal - The Globe and Mail

PQ backs away from referendum proposal - The Globe and Mail

The Parti Québécois continued to fuel the sense it is improvising its way through the election campaign, retreating from its proposal to allow citizens to initiate a third referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
The climb-down on the issue at the heart of the PQ platform followed a similar flip-flop on the rights of non-French speakers to run for municipal office, and confusion surrounding the release of its fiscal framework ...

Globe And Mail: Invited to Quebec legislature, Sikhs then barred for carrying kirpans

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/invited-to-quebec-legislature-sikhs-then-barred-for-carrying-kirpans/article562406/

They came to the National Assembly to support a woman's religious right to wear a niqab in Quebec but four members of the World Sikh Organization of Canada were turned away because of another religious flashpoint - the kirpans they were carrying.
The four Sikhs had been invited to appear before a legislative committee debating a bill that deals with the reasonable accommodation of religious minorities. But the group never got through the metal detectors at the entrance of the National Assembly building as security agents ruled the kirpans, or ceremonial daggers, they carried were a potential weapon ...
But head of security [SQ officer] Pierre Duchesne said he doesn't believe the rules should be changed. "In my opinion it [the kirpan] is a knife … It isn't because it's worn by a Sikh and that it's a religious symbol that at some point it won't be used by a crackpot. Sikhs can also have mental problems," he said.

Meet the man with a plan to make Quebec a country, quickly | Montreal

Meet the man with a plan to make Quebec a country, quickly | Montreal

He calls Parizeau the greatest politician in Quebec's history -- even greater than Levesque.
"Mr. Parizeau never doubted, always had a clear message and a clear way of getting to the objective," Aussant said. "He never softened."
Aussant doesn't, however, expect Parizeau to follow Lapointe's lead and join the party.
"The Parti Quebecois is his baby -- I don't expect him to go out and say, 'Vive Option nationale,' " Aussant said.
"In the last few years in Quebec, (the sovereignty movement) was a bit stalled because the parties that were supposed to take care of it did not.
"So, I hope he agrees that what we're doing now is good for the cause."

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/meet-the-man-with-a-plan-to-make-quebec-a-country-quickly-1.918570#ixzz242NW3zJf

Can Quebec really separate?

Can Quebec really separate?

With respect to what constitutes a clear expression of will (i.e., what percentage of a Yes vote would be acceptable), the Clarity Act remains deliberately silent. For ultimate flexibility, of course, this determination would be left to the House of Commons, with the assistance of provincial governments, the Senate and Canadians themselves, if need be. Any referendum question, then, would have to first have the endorsement of Parliament.
What it does say in bold type is that the Canadian government will refuse to negotiate the dismantling of this country unless the House of Commons determines “that there has been a clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population of that province that the province cease to be part of Canada.”
Whatever the election result is on Sept. 4, Canada now has in place very clear guidelines setting parameters around which the next referendum — if it does come — will have to be fought. Indeed, Ottawa sees the Clarity Act as tantamount to game, set, and match. By securing a veritable constitutional checkmate, the law has effectively boxed the separatists in and placed the referendum issue in a semi-permanent deep freeze.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+really+separate/7079997/story.html#ixzz23fKRGB3g