Wednesday September 11, 2013

September 12, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 11, 2013

Charter of Quebec values would ban religious symbols for public workers

Public employees would not be allowed to wear overt religious symbols at work under the proposed charter of Quebec values, released by the Parti Québécois today.

The minister in charge of the charter, Bernard Drainville, announced at the national assembly that, if adopted by the legislature, the wearing of kippas, turbans, burkas, hijabs and “large” crosses would be banned for civil servants while they are on the job.

The plan would apply to judges, police, prosecutors, public daycare workers, teachers, school employees, hospital workers and municipal personnel.

Drainville said some institutions and public organizations might be able to opt out of the ban for a five-year period.

However, he said, daycare workers, elementary school teachers and early-care providers would not be eligible for the opt-out.

The charter would also require that anyone who received or administers services from the state would have to uncover their face.

“People have to be identifiable, mainly for security purposes,” said Drainville.

The charter would include five proposals:

Amend the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Establish a duty of neutrality and reserve for all state personnel.

Limit the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols.

Make it mandatory to have one’s face uncovered when providing or receiving a state service.

Establish an implementation policy for state organizations. (Source: CBC News)

Friday, February 22, 2013

February 22, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 22, 2013

For Quebec’s language police, even “pasta” is a problem

Mamma mia! The mangacakes in Quebec have got their voyageur sashes all in a knot over a little Italian on the dinner menu. After targeting the language of Shakespeare, the province’s language police –aka “tongue troopers”— decided to set their sights on Dante, of all people.

They wanted to come down hard on Buonanotte, the trendy Italian ristorante in Montreal frequented by the likes of Céline Dion and Leonardo DiCaprio. It features a menu that prominently advertises such classic dishes as pasta, pesce, antipasti, calamari, and insalata caprese, with explanations in French underneath. “My menu is fully French,” says owner Massimo Lecas. “It’s not even bilingual.” Even so, the prominent Italian offerings proved to be a little too piccante for the tongue troopers’ taste.

They were prepared to turn a blind eye to pizza, but not to polpette. They ordered the meatballs rebranded as boulettes de viande. And no more uncorking a bottiglia of wine, s’il vous plaît. It’s to be bouteille from now on. And pasta? That would be pâtes alimentaires.

All this cretineria, courtesy of the Office québécois de la langue française, the province’s language watchdog, makes the Parti Québécois government look like a bunch of peevish country hicks. And not for the first time. Remember Mendy Berson, the Jewish gravestone maker who got into trouble for having the Hebrew word for “monument” on his otherwise French/English sign? Or the campaign to stamp out the wall menus in Chinese restaurants because they were written in, well, Chinese? (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday September 19, 2012

September 19, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday September 19, 2012

Flag back in storage as Parti Québécois era begin

Before premier-designate Pauline Marois was again sworn in as an MNA Monday, the Parti Québécois stripped the Canadian flag from the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

And the sovereigntist party removed the Maple Leaf that adorned outgoing premier Jean Charest’s office for the past nine years. This is not the first time a PQ government has put the flag in storage. While the move may inflame passions among Quebec federalists and across the country, this time the symbolic gesture may be a particularly hollow one.

Ms. Marois led the PQ to a minority victory earlier this month with barely a third of the popular vote. She made no mention of sovereignty in her brief swearing-in speech. Nor did her election campaign place great emphasis on sovereignty, desire for which is at historic lows among Quebeckers.

Ms. Marois, who will be sworn in as premier Wednesday, said nothing about the flag removal in her remarks after the swearing-in ceremony. “Quebeckers chose change and they chose to do it with a Parti Québécois government,” Ms. Marois said.

“One of the changes is to put an end to the politics of division. What I wish is for Quebec to get back on course and reclaim its pride and confidence. When a people reclaims its pride and confidence, nothing, absolutely nothing, becomes impossible.”

Asked to respond to the removal of the Maple Leaf by the PQ government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office responded with a blunt “no comment.”

The swearing-in ceremony has always been an awkward affair for PQ members. They must pledge allegiance to the Queen as part of the mandatory official ritual of taking office. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Wednesday September 5, 2012

September 5, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday September 5, 2012

Harper must walk political tightrope in PQ’s Quebec

Blamed by some in his own party for adopting policies that helped reawaken the Quebec independence movement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper now finds himself walking a political tightrope as he prepares to face the demands of a fresh Parti Quebecois government.

“He’s in charge and he’s got to figure it out. So we’re in for great fun and games,” said veteran Quebec Conservative organizer Peter White. “But it isn’t the end of Canada.”

For months, White has argued that Harper and his small team of Quebec MPs were angering a large majority in the province by adopting unpopular policies and decisions in areas such as language, law and order, and the environment.

But despite the fact there are only five Quebec Tory MPs in Ottawa, White has also said Harper could tackle the problem by raising his public profile in Quebec and explaining his policies more.

“Quebecers came very close to saying ‘Yes’ last time (in the 1995 referendum on sovereignty) and things were not nearly as bad then as they are today in terms of the emotion of the thing,” White said Tuesday. (Source: Postmedia)

Friday August 24, 2012

August 24, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday August 24, 2012

Corporate Quebec braces for the worst

The hangover from the 1995 sovereignty referendum was not pretty for Montreal. Half a year after a vote that brought Canada to within a sliver of possible breakup, Quebec’s biggest city was left badly shredded.

Its 11% unemployment rate was the highest in urban North America. Residential real estate prices were falling. The vacancy rate for downtown office towers topped 20%. Companies like Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. continued their slow head-office exodus. One Toronto property broker trying to drum up business ran ads in Montreal newspapers that read: “When the road leads you away from Montreal to Toronto, we’ll be at the other end to make you feel right at home.”

There were larger pan-Canadian consequences too, of course. Amid the constitutional crisis, lenders demanded higher interest rates to hold Canada’s debt. That November the dollar fell a cent and a half as post-referendum optimism vanished amid a realization that Canada’s unity problem remained unsolved.

Today, nine years of Liberal Party rule have restored a certain level of stability to the city and to the province as the federalist party wooed private enterprise and buried unity disagreements with Ottawa. But as Quebecers get set to vote again Sept. 4, the corporate world is bracing for change.

“It’s the first time in my life that I sense from the business community a concern this large about the result of an election and the aftermath,” said Yves-Thomas Dorval, head of the Conseil du Patronat, Quebec’s largest business lobby. “There is a lot of worry that the climate for reinvestment won’t be the same.” (Source: Financial Post)