Marc Gendron Joins Grassroots Youtubing Movement against Tory Ads

All I will say is ROFL

Does anybody else notice Marc's voice cracking at the end there?

(mhmm, im only laughing on the inside Marc)

Jokes aside, this is the best response yet, that Gendron dude surely knows what he is doing.

BRAVO YVES BOISVERT - HÉROUXVILLE

J'ai absolument adoré la chronique d'Yves Boisvert sur le nouveau "code de vie" du petit village monoculturel d'Hérouxville. Je me permets donc de la reproduire ici.

Il a fallu que ça vienne de Hérouxville. Enfin des élus qui ont le courage de se tenir debout face aux hordes de talibans qui débarquent sur nos rivages avec leurs grosses valises pleines de traditions obscurantistes.

Il n'y a pas que des traditions, d'ailleurs, dans leurs bagages. Il y a des cailloux, mesdames et messieurs. Plein de cailloux. Pour quoi faire, vous pensez, hein?

Ben oui. Ils s'en viennent lapider nos femmes. Déjà, c'est une tradition barbare. Mais à part ça, qu'est-ce qu'ils ont nos cailloux, ils ne sont corrects?

Hey, ça va faire, les talibans, OK, là!

Bon.

Allez faire ça ailleurs si vous voulez, mais à Hérouxville, ils ont adopté des Normes de vie. Pas de lapidations sur la place publique. Ni dans la cour.

Il était temps. Parce qu'avant la semaine dernière, il faut bien le dire, tu arrivais à Hérouxville, et tu ne savais pas trop. On aurait dit qu'on y jouait un peu sur tous les tableaux. Les femmes ont-elles le droit de conduire des voitures à Hérouxville? Oui, bien sûr mais tu voyais que certains se demandaient si c'était vraiment une bonne idée.

Ce n'est pas pour me vanter, mais ma grand-mère Blandine est née tout juste à côté, à Sainte-Thècle. Inutile de préciser qu'à Sainte-Thècle, la burqa n'a plus cours depuis, oh ma foi, je ne saurais vous dire, moi qui vous parle, je ne me souviens même pas d'avoir vu ma grand-mère avec ça.

Une de ses cousines, surnommée «soeur puce», vu sa taille lilliputienne, portait bien la cornette des soeurs de la Miséricorde, ce qui la rapetissait encore davantage. Mais de burqa? Point. On avait beau supplier, avec les cousins, allez grand-m'man, mets ta burqa! Pas question. Ces choses-là étaient interdites à Saint-Thècle, comme à Shawinigan-Sud, d'ailleurs, si je ne m'abuse. Sans compter que ça prend un temps fou à repasser.

Mais à Hérouxville, comment dire? Il y avait depuis toujours un je-ne-sais-quoi de pas net. Des gens te regardaient drôlement quand tu mangeais ton sandwich au jambon. Si tu prenais un verre. Tu conduisais ta moissonneuse-batteuse le jour du sabbat, et tu filais mal. Oh, n'exagérons rien, on n'arrêtait personne pour ça. Mais il y avait ce malaise. Un non-dit. Eh ben voilà, grâce au conseiller municipal André Drouin, tout ça, c'est terminé. Il y a maintenant des «normes de vie» claires et précises. Fini les passe-droits pour les fous de Dieu!

Pas d'affaires de séparer les filles et les garçons à l'école. Après tout, qui nous dit que le décrochage scolaire des garçons n'a pas un fondement religieux, hein? Désormais, plus de malaise, tout le monde peut étudier ensemble.

L'autre chose qu'il y a de vraiment bien dans ces normes de vie, c'est qu'on dit maintenant à tous les sikhs qu'ils n'ont pas le droit d'apporter un couteau, même symbolique, à l'école.

Quoi, il n'y a pas de sikh à Hérouxville? Et alors? Vous croyez que c'est une norme discriminatoire? Le règlement s'applique à tous, et en ce sens il est exemplaire d'universalité. Que Julius Grey ne vienne pas faire des chicanes ici!

Parce que, on sait comment sont les gens, tu commences l'année scolaire par un couteau symbolique, après c'est un couteau pas symbolique et t'es pas rendu à l'Action de grâce que les gars viennent à l'école avec leur bombe atomique, comme dans certains pays qu'on ne nommera pas. Lesquels? J'ai dit qu'on ne les nommerait pas. Mais c'est ça qui nous guette, mesdames et messieurs.

Hein? Quoi? Y a pas de religion qui prévoit ça? Ah! Facile à dire, ça. Y en a peut-être pas en ce moment, mais ça s'invente toutes sortes de religions bizarres, ce monde-là, attendez ça sera pas long, vous allez voir ça.

Mais là les moumounes accommodantes vont nous dire : c'est juste une bombe atomique symbolique, elle est tout p'tite, tout p'tite, tout p'tite, elle est bien emballée, on va faire attention, c'est pas dangereux! C'est ça qu'on va nous dire, mesdames et messieurs. Alors à Hérouxville, on dit NON aux bombes atomiques dans nos écoles!

Compris, les fanatiques extrémistes maniaques?

Bon.

De qui on parle? Ils se reconnaissent, n'ayez crainte!

Faudra-t-il des parkings à soucoupes volantes pour accommoder les raéliens, hein?

C'est là qu'on est rendu, mesdames et messieurs, parfaitement, aux parkings à soucoupes! Essaye de mettre un sabot de Denver là-dessus, Chose!

Au fait, les affaires vertes pointues avec des boules dessus, c'est des sapins de Noël, compris, les ayatollahs?

Eh que ça fait du bien de s'affirmer. Non mais, ça va faire, la langue de bois! Est-ce qu'on va enfin laisser les gens de Hérouxville vivre leur vie tranquille?

Que dites-vous? Sur les 1300 habitants, il n'y a pas le moindre immigrant au village? Jamais personne ne les a embêtés avec la moindre demande d'accommodement? Et tout ceci est la preuve de la plus grande confusion intellectuelle, mêlée de panique identitaire, qui entoure le sujet? Sans compter que c'est totalement inutile et illégal?

Tant que vous voulez, mais que les talibans se le tiennent pour dit. Le conseiller Drouin les attend avec ses (é)normes.

EXTRAORDINAIRE. DU YVES BOISVERT À SON MEILLEUR.

Alex

p.s. : J'ai entendu le conseiller municipal d'Hérouxville à la radio ce matin et j'ai compris pourquoi il avait décidé d'interdire la lapidation des femmes dans son village. Ouf, si je venais d'Hérouxville, j'aurais hâte aux prochaines élections municipales.

I Still Support Segolene Royal

I Still Support Segolene Royal

My dear friend Chris is getting raked over the coals in the comments section of Alex’s letter because he says he prefers Segolene Royal to Nicolas Sarkozy despite Mme. Royal’s unfortunate comments.

At the end of the day, this issue really matters little. France would always recognize the Quebec state if there was a clear will of the people to want that. That has been the French position since Parizeau got them involved in the 90s. Nothing Mme. Royal has said will affect Canada in any way shape or form. She simply re-iterated the French position.

She will be bound to the fact that in EU secession referendums 55% is a clear majority. She will be bound to the fact that in EU secession referendums, questions must be clear and approved by a court. Under these conditions Quebec will never achieve the requirements, so all Mme. Royal said was “if they vote that way, then France will support them.”

Last time I checked, was that not everybody’s position?

If we stopped supporting someone after they said something in the wrong way, we would never support anyone for anything.

I am a gauchist what do you want from me? I would take Royal over a right-wing-Paul-Martin-take-over-the-party-redux Sarkozy any day of the week.

Allez Sego!

Lettre à Ségolène Royal en réponse à son intervention en faveur de l'indépendance du Québec

Madame Ségolène Royal
Candidate socialiste à la présidence de la République française
38-40, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin
75010 Paris
France

Mme Royal,

Jusqu’à maintenant, j’ai suivi votre candidature avec intérêt. J’ai récemment travaillé à la course à l’investiture du Parti Libéral du Canada pour M. Michael Ignatieff. J’ai vraiment apprécié votre mouvement « Désirs d’avenir ». Votre retour à la base militante du parti afin de définir votre programme politique m’a bien inspiré. Nous avons eu une approche similaire dans l’élaboration des politiques de M. Ignatieff.

Par contre, aujourd’hui, vous m’avez profondément déçu. Vous vous êtes prononcé en faveur de l’indépendance du Québec. Je crois que vous avez pris position sur un sujet que vous ne maîtrisez pas et vous n’avez pas votre place dans ce débat. Il s’agit d’un débat qui ne concerne que les gens du Canada.

S’immiscer d’une telle façon dans un débat aussi sensible n’est pas raisonnable de la part de quelqu’un qui aspire à devenir chef d’État. Je ne crois pas que vous apprécieriez si le Premier Ministre du Canada prenait part en faveur de l’indépendance de la Corse. Vous jugeriez son intervention déplacée et ça risquerait de compromettre la relation privilégiée entretenue entre nos deux pays.

Votre intervention a démontré votre manque de sagesse et d’expérience. Pour cette raison, je dois vous demander de retirer vos propos et de clarifier votre position sur la question. À défaut de cela, je devrai retirer mon appui à votre candidature. Je ne suis pas citoyen français mais je m’assurerai de convaincre mes relations qui ont la double citoyenneté, française et canadienne, de ne pas appuyer votre candidature car vous ne semblez pas avoir une compréhension des enjeux internationaux et que vos récentes prises de position ont démontré que vous n’avez pas la sagesse pour représenter la France sur la scène internationale.

Je vous prie, Madame Royal, de recevoir mes cordiales salutations.

Alexandre Plante

Hey Steve, It’s Not Enough

1.5 billion dollars to Quebec…sounds like a bribe, but in fact it’s not.

Many of my detractors have always told me to look at the numbers so I took the time and actually did for this equalization deal. Here is why.

1 billion dollars of this 1.5 is old money set aside by the Martin government. This is Harper delivering on a commitment signed by the previous government.

The 800 million dollar net loss from the cancellation of the day care program, the 300 million dollar loss of the environment programs and the 250 million lost in revenue due to the GST cut means Stephen Harper has actually taken money away from Quebec since he took office. If you add the fact that 2/3 of it is old money, Harper is actually 850 million short.

If Charest calls THIS the deal he’s been waiting for, the PQ and the Bloc will have a point, as will Liberals who think Charest and Harper are in cahoots.

I will say this. Most of the money that Yves Seguin said was missing has already been returned through previous commitments of the Liberal government. Our unwillingness to admit the problem has only amplified the negative effect it had on our electoral results.

If Harper truly wants to fix this thing, he’s gonna have to commit new money, that is what was previously cut by the Liberals and the PCs in the 90s, adjusted to inflation. Quebec says no strings, I say let Quebec make strings with the rest of the provinces.

The federal government is more than just a cow. The PQ isn’t in power. Jean Charest should know better.

Fiscal Imbalance to be Solved!

Well oh my, who didn’t predict this?

Oh Gilles, time for Plan C

(there is no Plan C)

In the mean time, the Liberals have a responsibility here. They have to ensure that we don’t give up on national minimum standards. It is one thing to make sure provinces have the means to deliver services, but making them accountable is the role of the federal government, especially if it’s footing 25% of the bill.

My blogging colleague Sebastien Jodoin has written another gem on how this must be done. This guy is way, way, way smarter than I am…and it shows.

Take a look

We must also be reminded that the person who gave up many of the national minimum standards throughout the 1990s was none other than Liberal leader Stephane Dion.

Time for a change tune Stephane…it’s not too late.

Separatists Make Environment a Unity Issue

So Gilles Duceppe and Andre Boisclair have decided that Quebec must separate because we don’t have to worry about meeting Kyoto targets and there would be no fiscal imbalance because those problems would go away with a sovereigntist win.

Wow, where do I start with that?

Firstly, the fiscal imbalance accounts for about 1 billion dollars for Quebec (and that is assuming we take Gilles’ own numbers)

Quebec receives 5.5 billion dollars from equalization alone, which would vanish under a sovereign regime. That puts us 4.5 billion in the hole. Quebec City would have to raise taxes to makeup that gap.

The environment…a unity issue?

Technically, if we didn’t have an oilpatch, we would be in line with Kyoto targets. But if we didn’t have an oilpatch, we wouldn’t have 5.5 billion dollars in equalization payments from Ottawa either.

The Bloc is fishing for reasons to vote for them…the pond is drying up quick.

Does the Bloc have nothing left in the arsenal?

Just as I suspected, desperation is in the air…come on Jean…Drop the Writ!

Caley WINS YLCBC Presidency

Congrats Braeden

I knew you could do it

I would also like to say that I heart Denise Brunsdon

More to come later

Classic Jean Lapierre

"Justin inherited his mother's artistic talents but not his father's cerebral abilities."

In my books, that is a ZING!

I'll watch that show every week on TVA Jean

And I’m the Pope

"He (Lapierre) said at the time, insisting his decision had nothing to do with Stephane Dion's election as Liberal leader."

Take that one with a grain of salt folks.

The irony is that the Jean Pelletier re-instatement appeal was thrown out of court this morning.

More fun you ask…

Lapierre was right about one thing…

"But Lapierre denied that his absence will have any political consequences for the Liberals.

"It doesn't change anything -- the dynamics in the House won't change because of me," he said."

No they won’t Jean, the podiums you beat up will certainly not miss you at all…

More irony…

For all those who are taking the opportunity to slam Lapierre (Martin’s Quebec “guy”) on the way out, remember his British Columbian counterpart Mark Marrissen is our party’s national election co-chair.

I’ll miss you Jean, if anything, you certainly were entertaining!

Who said the Liberal Party isn’t full of surprises?

Right, and I’m the pope.

Jean Lapierre Hitting the Road Early

Conveniently, after a firestorm is caused over the candidacy of Justin Trudeau in Outremont, Jean Lapierre has announced he is leaving Parliament as of the end of this month to host his own TV show on the TVA network.

The Quebec media did have a field day with the Justin candidacy, one radio station prank calling his residence and pretending to be Lucien Bouchard on the toilet with the gastro bug that is ravaging Montreal these days. To Justin’s credit, he knew it was a joke, but kept the prankster on the phone for a while. I wouldn’t know why. Maybe he thought it was as funny as everybody else did.

Will Harper call a by-election early and force a quick nomination? As far as I know, only one candidate is selling membership cards and her dad wasn’t ever Prime Minister. This will be Harper’s first by-election in Quebec since “solving the fiscal imbalance.” This will be the barometer which will see if we go early or not in the next election.

How much separatist vote will move to the Tories with the Bloc’s two major issues resolved?

How much of that vote is too left-wing to ever vote Conservative, and head our way?

How much of Leo-Paul Lauzon’s NDP vote (20%) last time, will leave the NDP and where will it go?

In other gossip news, Lucienne Robillard has pondered retirement and has decided to give it another go and run again. Westmount is now off the table.

Liza Frulla has told Le Devoir she will not run in the upcoming election. I’ve never heard her say she is still running but was kept being told I was wrong on that subject. There is more indication my original information was right...

Trudeaumania is Back…More Nomination Rumors Fly

Front Page of La Presse this morning has Justin Trudeau setting his sights on the riding of Outremont. Of course this is old news. The reaction has been quite interesting: an outright rejection of the young Trudeau everywhere from Quebec talk shows to Cyberpresse Forums.

The one pocket of support Justin enjoys is from the separatists, who believe they will do well should he be the candidate. (In all fairness, the Bloc said the same thing about Dion and their poll numbers still flounder in the mid 30s)

When asked for comment. Stephane Dion predictably and wisely dodged. Dion is no Trudeau federalist and has his own ideas for the riding, potentially offering it to Louise Arbour, who reportedly turned it down, and now the big rumor is Stephane Guilbault, president of Greenpeace Canada, will run in the riding.

We all know I support Brigitte Legault to run for the seat. A young, qualified woman who has actually earned her stripes in the party. I think Stephane Dion is left with no choice but to have an open nomination race for the seat, a coveted Montreal fortress riding made vulnerable by the Gomery Commission’s report.

Liza Frulla, it seems, will stay in the Liberal Party, contrary to the rumors I had written about earlier, potentially replacing Paul Martin in Lasalle, where Mme. Frulla sat as a provincial MNA.

An interesting race is also shaping up in Westmount as Mme. Robillard is pondering retirement after over two decades as a prominent Liberal voice in Quebec. The favorite there is riding president Brigitte Garceau, who is quite charming and a great person. Other contenders are astronaut Marc Garneau, local riding organizer and lawyer Carolina Gallo Richer Lafleche.

Back to the prophet’s son, if Trudeau Mania is still so popular here, prove it. You don’t get a seat just because of who your daddy is.

Justin, run in a nomination and let the grassroots in Quebec show you who your daddy is.

La Nation Quebecoise Votera Tentativement le 2 Avril

Well this was expected but several sources from Montreal are speculating to me that Quebecers will head to the polls on April 2nd 2007, almost 4 years to the day of Jean Charest’s first election win.

With 35 days expected for the campaign, the writ would be dropped the last week of February, a mere week after a Conservative budget will be tabled in the House of Commons. This budget is widely expected to resolve the fiscal imbalance that has hindered provincial governments (some much more than others) since the mid-90s.

With the Quebec nation recognized and the fiscal imbalance resolved, Jean Charest can confidently head to the polls with momentum and claim to have delivered results.

His first election promised major tax cuts but were not delivered as the government had found a hidden PQ deficit (don’t they all?)

Either way, this all seems a little rigged to me but effectively, the setup is in place.

Budget around February 15th.

Photo-op with Ambrose (Quebec’s New Darling!), Harper and Charest around that time.

Writ dropped within 2 weeks of budget.

Quebecers vote April 2nd.

Stephen Harper refuses to “kow-tow to changes from the socialist NDP that would irreversibly damage the Canadian economy.”

Budget fails.

We have an election in late June, our 3rd in 3 years.

Some more fun facts and wild speculation

Charest has already stated he would seek to bring Quebec back into the Constitutional fold if he received a second mandate. With more progress on this issue in the last 4 months than in the previous 10 years, it certainly seems plausible Charest will make the "dreaded" Constitution an issue.

As for Harper, he cannot possibly get away with trying to sell constitutional change to Canadians in an election. However, it is an issue that will divide the opposition quite clearly, as the NDP always supported bringing Quebec in, and there are certain areas of the Liberal Party that see this as necessary, especially with a willing premier, recently elected.

The Bloc will be in a bit of a pickle, as they have no real reason to oppose the plan, other than "Canada is bad", which is hardly an election issue. They will need to come up with something better than that.

Stephen Harper has disarmed them (assist Ignatieff), and will have Charest’s organization and fund raising team at his disposal for the election to come.

As for the Liberals, well. Go Francis Scarpaleggia!

We have 6 weeks until this chain of events is set into motion, otherwise Hurricane Harper and his purchased PLQ organization are going to poll much higher than 14% in the polls.

6 weeks to go! Let the fun begin!

We Thought Lapierre Was Bad...

Stephane, Say it isn’t So!

Francis Scarpaleggia

Quebec Lieutenant?

While the word going around is that 3 will be chosen, the MP is really the most important of the three, as organizers don’t talk to the press and the president of the party has other duties.

So would you support a lieutenant against same-sex marriage?

Would you support a lieutenant with no profile in the province?

Would you support a lieutenant who campaigned only for 2 days in the last election?

The OLO has yet to confirm this report but for the sake of the party, I hope it is false.

We thought Lapierre was the worst of it…but like the Dionistas always tell me, never underestimate Stephane Dion.

Where was Jason Cherniak’s Petition Asking Stronach or Brison to Resign?

Are we all taking the Mark Holland crash course in Mock Outrage?

Am I outraged over the Khan defection? Not really. This is politics. The governing party has a tendency to pick off opposition members. Jean Chretien was uncanny for doing this. For that, we call him smart. Now Stephen Harper gets the closest MP he will ever get to Toronto, and for this we call him evil?

Riiiiiiight!

The only petition to get Khan to resign that I will sign will have to be from someone who also had one asking Belinda Stronach or Scott Brison. In the mean time, can somebody start a petition asking Harper to poach Tom Wappel? That I would support whole-heartedly.

Dion Adopts Winning Strategy…Promises Campaign on the Economy

The Liberal reaction to the cabinet shuffle was quite predictable. The Bloc called it cosmetic. I am sure Jack Layton will be outraged too.

Stephane Dion defended the Liberal record on the environment saying that in 1993, the Liberals had other priorities like fixing the mess the Tories left behind. While we’ve heard John Baird say something similar about the Liberals, the Tories cannot dispute the fact that the Liberals handled the economy very well.

If Canadians agree that the shift in the economy to a sustainable economy is a priority for our future, Liberals can honestly be trusted to move forward on that, where the Tories cannot. The NDP can do nothing but bitch. The Bloc…will block!

We still need to move forward on other issues but this major shift in campaign policy is a very welcome gesture.

Baird’s Role Will Be Simple: Blame the Liberals

Stephen Harper made two very good moves today...

For a year, John Baird was the poster boy for attacking the Liberals and their corruption and tiredness and ineptness and blah blah blah. Anyway, with the Accountability Act now in effect, Baird needs another issue to blame the Liberals for screwing up.

When it comes to the environment, the Liberals’ cupboard is pretty bare. In fact, I think we had a better record on ethics than we did on the environment. This issue is really a huge trap for us. With all 4 opposition parties beating us over the head with our own record, things will certainly not be very easy. When it comes to the environment, voters will have two choices for government, the ones who will do nothing versus the ones who had over a decade and did nothing. (Don’t worry, it will be in EVERY NDP attack ad) Methinks Elizabeth May will do VERY well.

In the meantime, Rona Ambrose gets to move to the fiscal imbalance portfolio of intergovernmental affairs, one which will be of paramount importance this year. If she redeems herself, she will be the star of 2007, and will be Quebec's new darling...

On some more comical notes…

The new secretary of state for Tourism is from Canada’s Tourism capital, Lloydminister Saskatchewan.

The new face of multiculturalism is Jason “Mock Outrage” Kenney.

If Vic Toews didn’t do enough harm to those of the homosexual nature in Justice, he is now in control of the MONEY…

Poor Little Neglected Quebec

There seems to be a little shock on the part of some bloggers that Stephen Harper is paying special attention to Quebec in the upcoming election. The West is being “neglected” once again.

Gimme a break!

Nobody is receiving special treatment. Quebec is not one province, just like the others. However, it deserves to be treated like one province, just like the others.

The nation question resolved that nuance. It was supported by all parties and of the 16 dissenters, the vast majority of them came from Ontario, not the West.

The fiscal imbalance affects all provinces. It is about how money is distributed between the levels of government. It has nothing to do with satisfying Quebec, although Quebecers are much more attuned to the issue at it has been in the headlines for a number of years.

As for the poll that has the Tories in Quebec at 14%, the outlook for Liberals is good…

However, adjust the numbers to reflect the Tory’s Quebec numbers in the last election and you have Conservatives 37, Liberals 29. Now I know why Harper is paying so much attention to the province…nobody ever called him stupid….neglect Quebec at your own risk!