Category: La Belle Province

Quebec politics actually can be more interesting than a critical review of the Encyclopeadia of Proctology. Who’d’a thunk it, eh? Most people who read here regularly already know that I find Quebec politics in general — and the current provincial election in particular — to be someplace between belly button lint and spinach on my scale of interestingness (yes, that’s a word).

So you can probably imagine how surprised I was when I stumbled across a story about a Quebec politician saying something that wasn’t just interesting, it was damn smart, too! 😯 It seems that the ADQ‘s leader, Mario Dumont, is taking a page from the “enough of this bullshit, already” book and is talking about making criminals actually do some time for their crimes:

Dumont says an ADQ government would not allow repeat offenders to get probation and that temporary passes would be given to prisoners only for humanitarian reasons. Dumont unveiled his public security program while campaigning Thursday in Trois-Rivieres.

The ADQ leader also says too many prisoners who belong behind bars are being released for overcrowding and financial reasons.

Dumont cited a report saying that a third of inmates in Quebec’s prisons are repeat offenders who have been jailed at least 10 times.

Ten times, huh?  Well, obviously the hug-a-thug method is only accomplishing two things: Jack and shit.  And Jack didn’t show up.

I’ll admit right off the hop that I don’t really know much about the ADQ’s policies or ideology but if they keep coming up with stuff like this, they might be just what Quebec needs to pull their heads out of their collective derrières and get them on track to being productive partners in confederation.  I can’t believe that I’m actually saying this but… I just might start paying attention to this little horse race.

Sometimes you find things in the darnedest places. Anybody with eyes and ears is aware of the numerous culture clashes that have been biting at our collective backsides across the country — and most others in the free Western world — for years now. From veils on drivers licenses to kirpans in schools to friggin’ Sharia law in Ontario, the traditions and values that form the foundations of our very way of life are being slowly, relentlessly chipped away at, one by one. I’ve known for decades (and flung it from my piehole at just about every opportunity) that it’s only a matter of time before Western societies start to say, “NO MORE. We gave you an inch, you took a mile. Now you will either live by the rules we set or live someplace else. You have no say in this and neither does anyone else. We tried that and it failed; now we do it the hard way.”

Don’t fool yourself, either; it will happen. Despite what those who would turn our civilization inside out say, there are too many of us who simply don’t have it in them to go quietly into the night. Horrors from the fields of Sharpsburg, to the meatgrinder that was the Somme, to the leveling of Dresden and Hiroshima bear witness to just what we’re capable of when some threat to our way of life awakens the dark things that slumber beneath our civilized veneer.

Fortunately, our inner demons are slow to rouse, and rarely fully awaken. But it really only was just a matter of time before heels began to dig in; even here in nice, tolerant Canada. The only question was, where? Ironically, the answer came from what some consider to be pretty much the un-ballsiest region of the country:

HEROUXVILLE, QUE. — A sign at the entrance of this rural Quebec town says: Herouxville welcomes you.

Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.

The town council of Herouxville, a sleepy town dominated by a towering Roman Catholic church, has adopted a declaration of “norms” that it says would-be immigrants should be aware of before they settle in this town. Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.

Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers such as kirpans, even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.

However, children can swim in a pool with other children — boys and girls alike — because they can’t be segregated.

And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is that women can drive, dance and make decisions on their own.

You’d think that most of those things would go without saying, wouldn’t you? But many people would be surprised to learn just how many people come here from Outer Backwardsistan or wherever-the-hell and think that the only rules that matter are the ones that they bring with them (not to mention how far backwards some are willing to bend over to accommodate that mindset)…

Honour killings in Calgary:
What Mukesh and the Dulays didn’t know was Kulvinder’s brother Daljit, furious over the marriage that went against the family’s wishes, hired a private investigator to track down the couple so he could carry out a so-called honour killing.

Female cops in Montreal second-class:
The article, published in the October issue of the internal newsletter L’Heure Juste, is part of a series of features on different religions and cultures, and aims to assist officers who find themselves in potentially awkward situations, said a police spokeswoman.

“That’s the reality,” said Insp. Joanne Paquin. “If we don’t understand the differences of all those cultures, maybe we won’t respond the right way.”

But the Montreal Police Brotherhood insists the force has gone too far, accusing it of denigrating its female officers by suggesting they can’t do the job alone.

Husbands banned from prenatal classes:
Pendant plusieurs mois, le CLSC de Parc-Extension a refusé systématiquement que les hommes assistent à ses cours prénataux pour accommoder des femmes musulmanes, hindoues ou sikhs.

Si des femmes souhaitaient quand même suivre un cours prénatal avec leur conjoint, elles étaient obligées de se rendre au CLSC Côte-des-Neiges ou au CLSC Métro.

Gender-restricted times at public swimming pools, weapons in schools, blocking out gym windows if there’s women in them, a pic of a veil on your driver’s license (or passport, even), the list gets exhausting if you think about it too much. Each and every one another chip out of the foundation that props up all the freedoms that we have so cavalierly come to take for granted.

And — golly gumbucks, who’da thunk it? — the usual suspects over at the Ministry Of What You Should Think and all the others in the standard list of malcontents are, naturally, hollering their pointy little heads off with all the tired, old, predictable accusations…

But some Muslim leaders have called the code a thinly-veiled example of xenophobia.

“Racism is coming out of the woodwork now, and it’s not being obscure or subtle,” said Salaam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.

Of course it is. 🙄 Anything that isn’t complete capitulation to somebody else’s way of life that they trundled over here from wherever must be racism.

Well, guess what, smartasses? That bullshit doesn’t seem to be packing as much of a punch as it used to. More and more people — whether they be in Canada, France, the Netherlands or elsewhere — are beginning to demand a real debate on the issue of what has come to be known as “reasonable accommodation” that doesn’t involve hysterics and accusations of bigotry. You’ll note that I said DEMAND, not ASK FOR.

And the more you look, the more you realize that the loopy Left and its cadre of multicultists just isn’t up to that task. After all, hysteria and slurs are all they have to work with…

Okay, I’ve kept my trap shut on this one for a bit because, to be blunt about it, I never saw this one coming in a million years. For both of you that haven’t heard yet, Stephane Dion is the new Grand Grit, crowned in Montreal yesterday.

Now, you might be forgiven for sitting there going, “Stephane who??” Don’t feel bad; I sure as heck didn’t pay a lot of attention to this guy during the race. Me, I was hoping the Librano$ would drop the Rae bomb and nuke themselves in the next general election.

But never in my life would I have guessed that the Fiberals would have gone with Dion like they did. To be completely honest, even I didn’t think that the Liberals were that dumb. Let me see if I’ve got this straight or not. The federal Fiberals — driven from office by the stench of sleaze and corruption emanating mostly from the party’s Quebec wing — think they have a plan for getting back in the saddle:

1. Elect a leader from Quebec who is virtually unknown in the ROC and speaks the worst English since Jonny Cretin
2. ???
3. Form another majority and get back to robbing the national till again

Who’s running this outfit, anyway; the Underpants Gnomes???

Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder if poor Stephane just might end up being the dog that caught the bus: okay, he’s got the damned thing… now what the hell does he do with it?

E minus one day.

Okay, this one is actually going to be quick. It’s getting late and I have to be up REAL early tomorrow. Between scrutineering, taking Bishop to the vet, voting myself, and too damn many other things to list here right now, I’m gonna be busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

That said, we’re just going to go straight to the links today:

The Freeps
Trudeau mobbed at Liberal rally
Outcomes won’t alter political landscape
Undecided voters target of final day of campaign

CTV
Outsiders hope byelections send them to Ottawa

CBC
May aims for Greens’ first seat in byelection

Canada.com
Two outsiders hope to join the opposition benches after Monday’s byelections

Canada East
Battle wide open in London, Ont., byelection as voting day draws near

Vancouver Sun
Tory candidate raises same-sex issue in byelection

E minus 2 days and counting.

I’ve said it before and I’m gonna say it again: Damn, but it’s gettin’ crowded around here! The front page of the Freeps pretty much summed it all up today with the headline (or should I say punchline), “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the London-North-Centre celebrity political run-off . . . We mean byelection . . .”

It’s starting to seem like everybody — yes, every-damn-body — has popped in lately. Don’t believe me?  Check this checklist:

1. Belinda “I’m smarter now, I’m a brunette” Stronach
2. Grit bench-warming honcho Bill Graham
3. Ralph Goodale
4. Kenny “oh my God, they killed daycare; YOU BASTARDS!” Dryden
5. Highway Rob Rae
6. Gerard Kennedy
7. Stephane “no, she’s not related” Dion
8. Martha Hall Findlay
9. Scott Brison
10. Igggy
11. Smirkin’ Jack
12. Howard Hampton
13. Alexa McDonough
14. Jim Flaherty
15. Stockwell “does this wetsuit make my butt look big?” Day
16. Diane Finley
17. Jane “where the hell did they dig me up?” Bigelow
18. Garth Nader

This is getting out of control. 🙄 Trudeau 2.0’s supposed to be putting in an appearance too, before it’s done.  You’ll have to just read the rest for yourselves; all this celebrity strafing is giving me a headache…

The Freeps
What are all these people doing here?
Why we didn’t endorse candidates
May offers up economic strategy

E minus 3 days and counting.

This weekend is going to be absolutely nuts, I can just feel it. As if politics a’ la Grit wasn’t enough to leave most people with and “eeeeewww… I need a shower” feeling, the Librano$ seem to have taken up bushwhacking as their latest little vote-getting dog & pony show:

Amanda Nielsen was just going out for a walk with her dog and her month-old baby.

The next thing she knew, a Liberal handler was taking her dog away, London-North-Centre Liberal candidate Glen Pearson was looking into her stroller and half a dozen photographers were taking pictures of former Ontario premier and federal Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae.

If that’s not an argument for legalizing mace, I don’t know what is. Meanwhile, Megan Walker, the Dipper Dumbass that she is, came in as the hands-down winner of my WTF!? Of The Day award with her loopy assertion that only the NDP are addressing the war in Afghanistan:

“The NDP is the only party talking about the situation in Afghanistan in this byelection,” Walker said at the London Peace Gardens.

“It’s astonishing to me when there has been 42 deaths of Canadian soldiers, we’re at war and not hearing a word from the other candidates.”

Hey, Maggie; I don’t know about anybody else, but I know what Haskett’s position on the war is and I think most other people do too. By the way, calling over and over again for our Armed Forces to tuck tail and run is NOT “addressing the war!” Twit. 🙄

Tory Dianne Haskett continued to toot the law-and-order horn, following PM Harpers lead in pointing to the Amazing Vanishing Ahmed Moalin-Mohamed as a perfect example of why changes are needed to the justice system, PDQ.

And here’s the links:

The Freeps
‘Wiser’ Grit Pearson says he’s ready for tough slog
Walker says only NDP tackling Afghan war issue
Haskett highlights tougher bail
Candidates debate world poverty
This hour — or less — has three candidates