doreyme

Wow. News flash. God only speaks French.

it saddens me that priests in Quebec aren't above this stuff. Geez.

 

today I found myself wondering, what ever happened to Lucien Bouchard?

Where is he?  What is he doing?  He led a coalition which begat the Bloc Québécois a federal party devoted to the dissolution of Canada.  It was to be a temporary party but it has been around now since 1991.  Canada, for some years has been governed by a minority government due in not some small part by the presence of the BQ.  It's ironic, duh-uh.    Lately, I listen too much to American news, specifically CNN and follow Obama's actions. He seems so alert and involved with the lives of Americans everywhere.  And I wonder, where are our Canadian leaders? Why aren't they leading? What are they doing? Sigh.

PQ leader, Pauline Marois is selling her villa for 8 million dollars, it appears

The details here in Ms Marois fave newspaper.

It includes, apparently, an indoor swimming pool, a Jacuzzi bathtub,  8 bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a dining room that can seat 50 (these details heard on CBC this morning, as reported by a real estate agent in the region.) 

Pauline Marois  will keep an apartment or condo or something in Montreal it has been reported in various papers plus her residence in Quebec City as well as a new house to be built on their riverfront residence in the popular tourist area of Charlevoix where her riding is.  Apparently Pauline Marois didn't give many public tours of her villa.  

 Sotheby Canada. "La Closerie" ,on Ile Bizard Island,etc.  Wow. Wow. 

more of these little guys are cropping up suddenly

this is their website.check it out .  They're all about "Tous pour une langue, une langue pour tous!" Ironic symbol (the ubiquitous fleur-de-lis ) for a movement bent on "decolonization". 

Les Hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin, filming in the Plateau

It's hard to see, but the step says "Watch You Step".  The step is in a production vehicle parked on Duluth Street.  The production is filming an episode of "Les Hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin", presumably somewhere on this street.

Wow. Sore Winners...the separatists "win" and then still gripe

The battle re-enactment has been called off.  (A battle re-enactment that took place, once already, incidentally, under a PQ gov't, ten years ago...)  So are the

folks behind the no-battle battle happy? don't hold your breath  Why can't people be more like kittens +fauns?  I mean, fawns.

do Quebec separatists ever get tired?

 of being Debbie Downers?  This week alone, they are mad at the President of the French Republic for expressing his views about Quebec separatism.   (He's agin' it.)  Also, they are pissed off about  his choice of friends. Apparently the President of the Republic of France has to ask the good separatists of Quebec who he should be friends with.  Then there's the big whoopdeedoo about the proposed battle re-enactment on the Plains of Abraham this summer, in Quebec City.   Also this week  a huge fuss about a new Canadian international art award of some kind they are included in.   Huh?  Where is the big gallic joie de vivre spirit we hear so much about?   Come on guys, lighten up. I know it's February, but it's February for everyone.   

The giant cat of Westmount...

...superbly captured by brother-in-law, J.

shortest day, longest night, cup full, cup half full, dec 21/08

creepy, what? saw this today in a remote area, was too chicken to look in the box

canadian flag evolution, 1577-1965

Burning books is serious business

"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." (German: "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.")—Heinrich Heine, from his play Almansor (1821) see for yourself. Except here in Quebec, where disgruntled writers, okay, one more than disgruntled separatist writer, a bit of a drama queen, Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, who happens to have a new book out, publicity stunt, what? decides to burn his own book -- one now, the many others later, maybe, because well, the leader of the opposition, Pauline Marois suggested that it wouldn't be the worst thing for Quebecers to be bilingual. Sheesh. see for yourself

Family Motel, a film by Helene Klodawsky

a friend, + talented, innovative Montreal filmmaker Saturday, Feb 16, 3pm at Cinema du Parc, 3575 Park + Prince Authur...an "alternative drama"..."Family Motel is part of a worldwide revival of alternative drama. From Belgium to Iran, directors are looking to a genre pioneered twenty years ago at the National Film Board of Canada with a view to adapting it to current realities.

Mount Royal Trees, 20 x41, oil on wood 2007,

not a new painting...painted this last year, but was at friend's house + it was on the wall + I saw it with stone cold eyes...it's not in my memory bank at all...so saw it fresh...very interesting experience...alas, it's much longer than the pic shows.

cup 85% full

..typical debby downer separatists -- they send out a young journalist (whose English must be pretty good) during the busy Christmas holidays when stores desperately need help + pretended she couldn't speak French (practically a capital punishment offense in some circles here). 85% of the businesses wouldn't hire her. 15% would + so it's back to hair pulling oh poor us the sky is falling down on the talk shows/scare mongering circuit . Perhaps, next the Journal will send a bilingual journalist with an anglo name to a government agency to apply for a job? ( Anglos occupy less than 1% of all Quebec government jobs.)

eyekeerumba, green leaves in the snow

interestingly enough...

inspite of Pauline Marois bleatings about the sorry state of Quebec immigrants (of which I am a twice guilty double dipper immigrant. My family + I immigrated from Switzerland to Canada in the 50's, when Canada welcomed immigrants -- then as now, particularily blonde blue eyed Christians -- + settled in Vancouver, (Quebec deemed as too scary dour + Catholic by Catholic parents). Later I "immigrated" to Quebec after "immigrating" to Nova Scotia before hand...) but that's not my point. My point is the Quebec gov't is the only provincial gov't in Canada that selects its own independent immigrants and refugees abroad who are destined for Quebec.

The Canada-Quebec Accord, the most comprehensive agreement to date, gives Quebec sole responsibility for selecting independent immigrants and refugees abroad who are destined for Quebec. It also allows Quebec to provide its own reception and integration services-linguistic, cultural and economic for permanent residents of the province.

Due to Quebec's responsibilities in immigration, as defined in the Canada-Quebec Accord, persons destined for this province may have to meet different requirements. Quebec has the exclusive selection responsibility for all independent immigrants and refugees abroad who are destined for Quebec. Those selected by the province receive a document called "Certificat de selection du Quebec (CSQ)". The federal government ensures that statuary admission requirements, such as medical and criminal checks, are met before it issues a visa.

But to cut to the chase. On the Immigration et Communautes culturelles site... There's a Free Online Eligibility Assessment Form for would be immigrants to check out. See if you'd be eligible to immigrate to quebec.

(The Preliminary Evaluation for Immigration enables you to obtain directly online a free summary evaluation of your chances of being selected by Québec. Note that this does not , however, lead to a formal decision under An Act Respecting Immigration to Québec, but rather provides you with a positive or negative opinion from the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles(MICC) regarding your candidacy.)

FINALLY, here is the interestingly enuf thing. It's not until page 3 of the online form that the question of language comes up...first there's stuff about education, how many day care kids, sickly hanger-on relatives, net worth sort of thing, etc. I put that my oral + expression of french was NONE. Zero. Zilch. (Choices are None, Minimal. Beginner. Intermediate. Intermediate advanced + Advanced. ) And I put my oral + expression of English was ADVANCED. So on page 8 you get your free evaluation. My unilingual Anglo response got... " Your result -- It seems that you meet the Québec selection criteria. You may now submit an official immigration application. If you apply as a worker, consult the section Application for Selection Certificate and appendices - Permanent workers. If you are applying as a self-employed worker, etc.etc. etc. Processing fees are charged when you submit an official immigration application."

So there you go. From the horse's mouth...So if Quebec politicians are so damned disgusted with their immigrants they have only themselves to blame. They picked 'em. Other than the-out-of-province riff raff such as myself, of course. But I'm sure the PQ brainiacs are trying to figure out a way to curtail pesky interprovincial "immigration" as I speak.

"More Teeth", 8x8", italia acquerello, 2007

"We can't take away their right to vote (ostensibly, people who can't speak French up to the PQ's standards) ) because that is a right we cannot control because we are still a province within the federation. Obviously, the day when the country is there, we will control citizenship, which will have more teeth, if I can dare to say so..." (renowned actor + PQ MNA, Pierre Curzis on a Montreal talk show yesterday)

all the fuss about "public displays of religion"

in the air these days (yarmulkes, burquas, turbans, etc) ...Meanwhile, in the heart of the city, on top of Mount Royal....

have these people nothing better to do?

Burma. Darfur. Cancer care wait times. Homelessness. Crazy suicide rates. Crumbling roads, bridges. Hello? Global warming? Domestic violence. Highest high school drop out rates. Doctor shortages. Poverty. Do the PQ ever sit around trying to solve real problems? What planet are they on? Ever since Marois was voted leader of the PQ, it's back to the mind numbing obsession about...well, here's today's obsession..."The Parti Quebecois has tabled a bill in the legislature which would prevent immigrants who can't speak sufficient French from running in elections." Oh, lord save us, what a burning issue. After having lived in other parts of Canada over the course of my lifetime, eg. Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, a stint in the Yukon, after visiting other parts of Canada this year, eg. Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver I'm not sure if I can hack another mega dose of xenophobic narcissism in la belle province.

Today I am a person (Happy Persons' Day) women of Canada

In Oct 18/1929, five Canadian women won a ruling by the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council that women were persons in law. The five women, known as the Famous 5, had sought in the 1920s to have women appointed to the Canadian Senate, but were denied by the Supreme Court of Canada on the grounds that women did not qualify as ‘persons’ under Section 24 of the British North America Act 1867. The Famous 5 appealed to the Privy Council in London, who ruled that the word ‘persons’ in Section 24 included members both of the male and female sex, and that women were eligible to be summoned to and become members of the Senate of Canada. The Privy Council ruling overturned arguments dating
back to Roman times that were still being used by lawyers and legislators in the 20thcentury to keep women out of public life.