I have pictures of the storm up at the cottage. In my camera. At home. Thus my post of today is sort of screwed up.
I'll try to do it this week.
Suffice it to say, if this keeps up, I'm going to have to kill myself. But I'll have to get creative because thowing myself off the balcony won't cut it. I'd fall on too much snow.
So, instead of a picture post, how about lets talk politics, mmmkay?Pauline Marois, head of the Parti Québecois*, or at any rate her "people-who-think-up-the-bright-ideas", has come up with a new and different concept.
OK, first off, Pauline isn't too big on the separation thing right now. She wants to be premier and thus does
not want to go into an election campaign preaching sovereinty and another referendum. At any one time there are probably about 40% of people in Quebec who want to separate. Not 40% die-hard separatists, but people who would be willing to go for it if it came up. That's simply not enough.
Life is good in Quebec right now so a lot of people figure what's the point.
So, new concept? Pauline is plugging a
"National Conversation" where we can all sit down and talk about our feelings about separation, about our identity as Quebecers about how wonderful being a country would be, I suppose. A National Conversation to reach some sort of consensus I imagine.
I like Pauline, but this has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas in recent political history. It sounds like Mommy sitting the kids down for a time out. Gimme a break. You can nationally conversate me to death, personally I don't see the point to separating.
One thing's for sure, I wouldn't like to be in her shoes, what with the Parti Québecois' nasty little habit of washing its dirty laundry in public and ex party leaders bitching in the media about what the current boss is doing. It's actually quite cringe inducing. Though it makes for good copy in the papers, no doubt. C'mon people, you're all adults, professors, lawyers and the like, stop acting like adolescents in a schoolyard.
I have to admit it has been good for a laugh, at any rate. The media have been having a field day. Well, at least until this weekend's storm. Since then they've been talking snow...
Then you have the other buffoon, Mario Dumont. He's the boss of the Action Démocratique, the Quebec "Right". Though really, in Quebec, whether you're to the right or left there really isn't much of a difference.
So yeah, Mario. As an aside, honestly, the guy creeps me out. Look at him and tell me he's not a creepy sonofabitch. Looks like some sort of pod person... But I digress.
A big thing these days in Quebec is how French is spoken less and less. Well, in Montreal at least. I'm not sure if you go to Rouyn-Noranda, Chicoutimi or even Quebec city, you'll be hearing much of the dreaded evil English.
Montreal, of course, attracts most of the immigrants so obviously French will be spoken less here. Is that so hard to understand?
Now Mario, he thinks we're letting waaaaaaaay too many immigrants into Quebec. Thing is you see, Quebecers have stopped churning out dozens of babies per family; immigration fills the gap and makes for some damn fine cuisine besides.
Mario's solution to cutting immigration
and saving French in one fell swoop?
A natality policy. So Quebecers start making babies and shit.
'Cause everyone knows that people have babies for political reasons, to save the language. C'mon, admit it, all of you who had children did so to save your language eh?
Someone needs to sit down with Mario and have a national conversation with him.
French will survive in Quebec if Quebecers want it to survive. I think they do.
And I also think that not speaking English in Quebec, when you're surrounded by millions of anglos is economic suicide. And that Quebec becoming a country would change nothing at all to that fact. There are 7 million of us. There are 300+ million of you. Do the math. And if French has survived until now, I'm thinking chances are it will continue to survive.
But what the hell do I know, I'm not a politician...
*the separatist party in Quebec
