Election campaign items inevitable
Given that the election’s on Tuesday and all we have between now and then is a long weekend, there’s no avoiding campaign-related items this Saturday.
Spacing’s Devin Alfaro summarizes and criticizes the mostly lame campaign promises concerning Montreal, the single most important topic for this blog too.
Radio-Canada says there’s supposed to be a demo march Saturday afternoon against Pauline Marois’ promised strengthening of Bill 101, although it refrains from giving any details and only makes a vague mention of a Facebook page. A bit of prodding at Facebook has not produced any information.
François Legault announced on Friday that he’d be willing to work with the PQ to wrest more federal powers from Ottawa. (Do we think the CAQ will eventually melt back into the PQ?)
La Presse surveys attitudes expressed in Canadian media about a potential PQ win. Le Devoir talked to local anglos about their concerns.
A CBC writer gives five reasons why Canada should pay attention to the Quebec election; OpenFile also talks about why the election matters to Canada; another CBC piece says the real estate market has stalled in advance of the election as people wait to know the outcome before making big decisions. In the Globe & Mail, Jeffrey Simpson tries to explain Quebec.
OpenFile’s op-ed type piece about Quebec xenophobia, already linked on this blog, deserves a second look because of a thoughtful, very long comment in French, a must-read on this pre-election weekend.
Ephraim 12:34 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
Can’t see the PQ and CAQ together ever again. The end goal of separation might be the same, but the economics and view on how to achieve it are VERY far apart. Reminds me of Isiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty but instead Two Concepts of Separation. One built on Xenophobia and Hate and the other built on Logic and Rationalism. And only one of the two even has a hope in hell of getting my vote.
Ian 15:52 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
I like the QS version of sovereignty, an independent Quebec based on our shared culture as opposed to ethnic identification. I also like the QS idea of Francisation through education and inclusiveness as opposed to the cultural steamrolling the PQ seems to support. I also don’t think Marois is competent to perform such a tricky political transition if a referendum vote goes in favour of sovereignty.
jeather 16:04 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
That comment was really fascinating, Kate; thank you so much for pointing it out.
ant6n 16:21 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
@Ian
But didn’t QS propose extending that small/medium business (11-49 employees) be French, just like the PQ did just recently?
Ian 16:23 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
I don’t have a problem with the OLF in offices – if you look at teh rules closely there are exceptions for businesses whose clients are exclusively out-of-province English, there are exclusions for specific industries – and employees within a company can still opt-in for English software 7 keyboards and all that. I work at a company with over 500 employees in our main Montreal offices, and our daily business language is English.
Kate 17:28 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
I’m pretty sure I recall from working at the Gazette in the 1990s that there was a francisation certificate posted as you went in from the St-Antoine side. I guess it’s possible the printers mostly spoke French together but I never heard it elsewhere in the building.
Jack 19:09 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
Like anyone I decry the lack of good copy editing at our three major newspapers , here is Le Devoirs Freudian whopper and possible profound hope.
“Châteauguay — Pauline Marois n’entend pas céder aux pressions des opposants à un élément majeur du renforcement de la Loi 101 qu’elle propose: l’interdiction faite aux francophones et aux anglophones de fréquenter le cégep anglais.”
Yes ladies and gentleman page one of their website.
Kate 19:54 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
No kidding, Jack.
Ephraim 20:07 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
Kate, I would assume that the Gazette, just like the school board would be exempt based on the cultural rule.
Kate 21:16 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
Maybe, Ephraim, but I’m still pretty sure I recall seeing it on the way in to the Gazette via the escalator up from St-Antoine. It’s possible they either just wanted to be extra good citizens, or maybe it’s that their production dept. didn’t count as cultural.
Marc 22:06 on 2012/09/01 Permalink
I think the funniest case of the francisation cert. was when Le Devoir and La Presse were informed by the OLF that they had to get them.
Ephraim 06:12 on 2012/09/02 Permalink
@Marc – The law should be blind, if one company in the industry is required, they should all be required.
@Kate – Likely. Chapters and Indigo have bilingual signs and they are both exempt from the law. Knew someone who worked at a used bookstore and the OLF walked in. They acted like they had authority, but bookstores are exempt and essentially visiting officially is essentially harassment.
Jack 08:57 on 2012/09/02 Permalink
Le Devoir corrected its flub this morning.One other interesting pull was the academic history of two of her candidates who were supporting the extension of Law 101 to CEGEPS.
“La chef péquiste était flanquée de Véronique Hivon, qui est diplômée de l’Université McGill et de la London School of Economics and Political Sciences, et de Bernard Drainville, diplômé de la même prestigieuses école londonienne et d’une université bilingue, l’Université d’Ottawa.”
Kate 21:33 on 2012/09/02 Permalink
They corrected it, but silently. I tend to think the media need to note when they’ve made an error and correction that important.