57 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. I am willing to bet that Telaban Jack Layton and his ilk are proud today of Calgary’s Liberal Mayor and 11 of the city councilors. In there infinate wisdom they decided that Suport Our Troops ribons wil NOT be put on city vehicels. I belive they figured they would be able to get more photo opps if the “donated” ribons were sold in city outlets. The fellow that made the 5000 ribons ended up giving them “Free of Charge” to the group that helps the families of soldiers.He was going to donate them for city vehicles.

  2. Find out if you’re implicitly prejudiced here. The “Race IAT” is especially though-provoking. And it’s free!

  3. Blogging Tories operator Stephen Taylor boots fourth consecutive straight white male from Blogging Tories for trying to get away with a tenth of the crap that the female and gay Blogging Tories get away with; everyone pretends not to notice, continue to ask disingenuously why male Blogging Tories are so boring:

    “It wasn’t long before I got a response which confirmed my growing suspicions. He had been turfed from the blogroll and the aggregator in a unilateral decision by it’s administrator, Stephen Taylor, in response to something he posted which Stephen had taken exception to. I had suspected this very thing, only because I had been witness to a similar incident a little over a year ago, with Richard.

    Without getting into the ugly details of the various breakups I will say that by all accounts and appearances, I am left with the impression that Stephen aims to excise the more incendiary figures from his blogroll in order to shape a more unified, politically palatable, genericized face for the Canadian Conservative blogosphere. A prudent measure, if your goal is to present the Blogging Tories as a virtual extension of the Conservative party — a sort of echo chamber information mill, if you will. Unfortunately, that is not what I signed up for because that is not what I was lead to believe the Blogging Tories was meant for.
    …
    I did not have a dog in this most recent fight, but I have been witness to this disturbing act of random censure not once or twice, but 4 times.”
    http://www.lassooftruth.com/the_lasso_of_truth/2007/07/just-dont-call-.html

  4. They’re Nazis I tell you…genocidal b**stards deserved to die….
    Ward Churchill fired….
    BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado’s governing board on Tuesday fired a professor whose essay likening some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi leader provoked national outrage and led to an investigation of research misconduct.
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290642,00.html
    About frikkin time!!

  6. Canadians for Language Fairness Inc.P.O. Box 40111Bank & Hunt Club Postal Outlet2515 Bank Street.Ottawa, ON, K1V 0W8Tel (613) 321-7333 Fax (613) 524-3247Website: http://WWW.LANGUAGEFAIRNESS.CA Email: CLF1@SYMPATICO.CA
    July 25, 2007Canada’s language policies does not unite – on the contrary, it divides. Don Martin exposes the fiasco in Afghanistan and a nurse in Ontario said the same in an account of her experience. Trudeau forced Official Bilingualism on the Federal government & the Courts of Canada. He did so with the argument that this would serve to unite the country as it will discourage Quebec from wanting to separate. He knew that this would not stop Quebec from declaring itself unilingual French but he also knew that it would cause problems for English-speaking Canadians. He wrote:• “Unilingual Anglophones will be sentenced to a lifetime of job immobility” – Pierre Trudeau. • ” ….Given these facts, should French-speaking people concentrate their efforts on Quebec or take the whole of Canada as their base? In my opinion, they should do both; and for the purpose they could find no better instrument than federalism”. Pierre Trudeau, Page 31 “Federalism” (1968). • “Language legislation is utterly insane and is designed to encourage bigotry. There is no precedence anywhere for unity being enhanced through a policy of two official languages”. Peter Worthington, Financial Post, July 1988. After nearly 40 years, we see only too clearly how divisive this policy is. It amazes me that the level of denial in ordinary Canadians is still so high as shown in yesterday’s Toronto Sun poll which recorded that Trudeau was voted the PM most likely to be remembered with fondness. His Socialistic policies must be finding favour with most Canadians and they are willing to sacrifice their integrity to support them.

  7. The islamification of the left, and the Liberals (esp in Ontario) appears to be nearly complete. Michael Bryant, on CBC in the last day or so was quoted as saying “there are over 250,000 registered handguns in Ontario, all waiting to be stolen”.
    Hmm. That’s like saying “there are 250,000 young women in Toronto, all waiting to be raped”. A self-assumed justification for the ideology and the process. Nicely explains the muslim propensity for the objectification of women as property and the creation of the burka to hide them, and implicitly condones the practices, both for women and guns, as a means to an end.

  9. Taliban Jack Layton-NDP/Socialist-Liberal Citoyen Dion, et al, are silent on the “treatment” of the “detainees” held by the Taliban blackmailers/murderers.
    …-
    Taliban Threatens to Kill Hostages Immediately
    A purported Taliban spokesman is warning militants plan to kill a few of the South Korean hostages immediately.
    Qari Yousef Ahmadi says negotiations between the militants and the Afghan government for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages have stalled. …-
    cfra.com

  10. Canadians for Language Fairness Inc.
    P.O. Box 40111
    Bank & Hunt Club Postal Outlet
    2515 Bank Street.
    Ottawa, ON, K1V 0W8
    Tel (613) 321-7333 Fax (613) 524-3247
    Website: http://www.languagefairness.ca Email: clf1@sympatico.ca
    ——————————————————————————–
    July 25, 2007
    Canada’s language policies does not unite – on the contrary, it divides. Don Martin exposes the fiasco in Afghanistan and a nurse in Ontario said the same in an account of her experience. Trudeau forced Official Bilingualism on the Federal government & the Courts of Canada. He did so with the argument that this would serve to unite the country as it will discourage Quebec from wanting to separate. He knew that this would not stop Quebec from declaring itself unilingual French but he also knew that it would cause problems for English-speaking Canadians. He wrote:
    • “Unilingual Anglophones will be sentenced to a lifetime of job immobility” – Pierre Trudeau.
    • ” ….Given these facts, should French-speaking people concentrate their efforts on Quebec or take the whole of Canada as their base? In my opinion, they should do both; and for the purpose they could find no better instrument than federalism”. Pierre Trudeau, Page 31 “Federalism”
    (1968).
    • “Language legislation is utterly insane and is designed to encourage bigotry. There is no precedence anywhere for unity being enhanced through a policy of two official languages”. Peter Worthington, Financial Post, July 1988.
    After nearly 40 years, we see only too clearly how divisive this policy is. It amazes me that the level of denial in ordinary Canadians is still so high as shown in yesterday’s Toronto Sun poll which recorded that Trudeau was voted the PM most likely to be remembered with fondness. His Socialistic policies must be finding favour with most Canadians and they are willing to sacrifice their integrity to support them.
    Next item – PEI’s French licence plates. The article talks about the French-speaking population being 25% of the population. The 2001 census says that PEI’s French-speakers are only 4.3% of the population. Can a PEI reader explain how Edmond Richard came up with the 25% figure?
    Kim
    ——————————————————————————–
    http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=4c04e657-9ec2-404f-818f-7e781926c18f
    CanWest News Service
    Published: Monday, July 23, 2007
    Canadian solitudes alive and isolated
    Van Doos’ Arrival In Kandahar Cause For Concern
    Don Martin
    A mirror reflection of Canadian society has beamed all the way to Kandahar, but it’s probably not a slice of life we should import into an Afghan society already divided tribally, politically and militarily.
    The two Canadian solitudes are alive and isolated here in Kandahar, even though anglophone and francophone soldiers are fighting for the same cause, running the same convoys and guarding each others’ backs outside the fence.
    But inside the camps and forward bases, they live, eat and socialize separately, while occasionally taking derisive swipes at each other.
    Matters could worsen with the arrival of the first waves of the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment. The “Van Doos” regiment, a corruption of the French “vingt-deux,” or 22, will deploy 2,000 mostly French-speaking troops to take over operations of the Canadian base.
    That will generate a unique logistical problem because translators able to switch easily between French and Pashtu are said to be impossible to find. That means the primary interaction between the Canadian military and Afghan people will have to be bilingual brass, whose English may lose linguistic subtleties during translation in a war environment where precision of meaning is critical.
    This is not to suggest the mission is in any way compromised or that there’s overt antagonism between the two cultures. Still, an undercurrent of disdain and derision between the soldiers of Canada’s founding nations is a reality here.
    For example, I watched some anglophone soldiers in the field trying to teach new Afghan police officers that the traditional greeting in French for the new arrivals is “f—you, Van Doos.”
    It’s may be all for a laugh as the young recruits tongue-trip over those unfamiliar words, which come out sounding more like “phu voodoo,” but the consequences might not be so funny if they perfect the phrase and that’s the first contact between the Van Doos and local law enforcement.
    Yet, on the other side, Major Richard Collin of the Van Doos now guarding provincial reconstruction teams openly said he expects francophone troops will do a better job than their anglophone counterparts in negotiating local improvements with villagers.
    That suggestion didn’t sit well with anglophone officers, who privately counter that the Van Doos would rather work on their tans than suit up and head out to reconnect with Afghan tribal leaders.
    This could all be typical military bluster and meaningless banter, but there are optics to back up the twin solitudes concept.
    In the mess tents of Camp Nathan Smith, for example, there’s a clear linguistic wall. French-language television beams into one wing, English into the other.
    Out closer to the front lines at Patrol Base Wilson last week, I watched British and American forces mingle freely under a tent with anglophone Canadian soldiers, while the Van Doos huddled off in their own section, cooking their own meals and watching their own French-language shows on portable DVD players.
    When this patrol camp was hit by a freak rainstorm and part of the outer fence washed away, an opportunity for soldier bonding was shrugged off when the Van Doos gathered by themselves to pound in their own fence posts.
    So maybe all this doesn’t have a bearing on military effectiveness or operational integrity. When it comes to fighting the Taliban, these guys are united in single-minded purpose.
    But watching soldiers relax with their preferred peer group makes you realize that language, as the great Canadian divide, stretches from Parliament Hill all the way to dusty outposts in Afghanistan.
    © National Post 2007
    ——————————————————————————–
    Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 3:04 PM
    To: clf1@sympatico.ca
    Subject: Bilingualism in health care
    Hello:
    As a registered nurse in Canada whose origins are from UK, I have worked in Canadian Hospitals for 8 years now, 6 of those years in Ottawa. Initially when I started I found that because of the nursing shortage I was welcomed into the profession, I had originally qualified as an RN in UK some years previously. As I became a working member of that profession things changed subtly over time. Forms that I worked with changed from having English as the larger prominent print to having French as the larger prominent print and English in small writing underneath. I am no spring chicken as most of the nursing force these days are. I require glasses to read now and when I say the print was small I meant it.
    Follow that with the new students coming into the hospital from some of the Aylmer/Gatineau region nursing schools being allowed to chart their patients days’ progress in French and you will understand how I found nursing in the Capital region to become dangerous, and my ability to work in that environment a risk to my Registered Nurse Licence. I moved to Kingston.
    Many doctors in Ottawa are of a minority race. They speak and write English as a manner of communication. Their second language can be anything from Chinese to Farsi. Documenting in French rather than English, which is the International language of communication, is a dangerous precedence but people are too afraid to complain about it.
    I once nursed a child at CHEO, whose grandfather came in to visit. He was obviously Francophone and well up in the government, judging from his attitude and language. He actually spent his visiting time with his grandchild complaining that the toilets on the unit did not have French on them. They had the international signs of a man and a woman on them…no language at all.
    I have heard numerous stories of mother tongue English Canadians who have been denied positions in government due to the fact that their level of French is not good enough, despite intensive training in that language and good abilities with it. My neighbor in Orleans is one of them. A female Colonel in the Military Police. It seems that only mother tongue French is good enough and that a slight English Canadian accent is unacceptable. I have seen over the last 19 years of living in Canada that English speaking Canadians are being suppressed and not given equal rights and opportunities.
    I feared for the future of my sons who were raised in Orleans, Ottawa and speak only English. One of my sons has a language processing disability and can only function in one language. Teaching him English has been challenging, but successfully done as he has recently graduated from university with a degree in Economics. He will not be able to make a career in Ottawa without French and he is physically unable to process any other language. This is an invisible discrimination against a disability. Both my sons now work in the U.S.
    While one of the greatest assets of this country is its ability to allow all nations of the world to live in peace together, I wonder about its future with a predominantly French-speaking public service. What will happen to the quality of life and the lack of equality of power for the majority of Canadians?
    These are the reasons that I have signed your petition.
    D. T.
    ——————————————————————————–
    French plates fuel P.E.I. war of words
    Language ‘rammed down throats’. Heated debate greets ‘inclusive’ gesture
    KEN MEANEY
    CanWest News Service
    Saturday, July 21, 2007
    The aim was to be inclusive, but the province’s new French-language licence plates are making some anglophones see red in “La province verte du Canada.”
    The new plates share the same design as new English-language plates, except the words “Prince Edward Island” are replaced by “Ole-du-Prince-Edouard” and “Canada’s Green Province” by the French equivalent.
    Transportation Minister Ron MacKinley said yesterday the plates reflect the desire to improve French-language services and recognize an important part of the Island’s culture.
    “This new plate is a welcome addition to the French-language services we offer,” MacKinley said. “Together with Acadian and Francophone Affairs, our department is always working to find ways to improve our French-language services and to recognize the Island’s rich culture.”
    But comments on the Charlottetown Guardian’s website show some readers – both French and English speakers – are divided on the issue.
    “Just another way the taxpayer has to pay to get French rammed down our throats,” said one poster.
    But another reader bristled at that suggestion.
    “I guess the next step would be to question the value of educating children in French,” said Jean Paul Poirier, who said he was from Baltic, in eastern P.E.I.
    “And while we are at it, why don’t we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the deportation (of the Acadians) by organizing another one, as some bigoted Islanders have suggested. … Open your eyes,” he added.
    Edmond Richard, president of the Societé Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin, which represents Acadian and French-speaking people on the Island, said the comments don’t reflect widespread discord on P.E.I. between French and English speakers.
    French is an important aspect of life in Prince Edward Island, he said, noting about one-quarter of its population can claim French or Acadian descent, and about 6,000 speak French daily.
    He said the Island has a long history of providing services in both languages, and the licence plates are precedent-setting in Canada. “The new government and the preceding government have always over the years identified the French language as a major component of the Island’s history and culture and identity,” Richard said.
    “So I don’t know where negative comments would come from, because it’s nothing new to recognize the Acadian culture.”
    Not all the comments to the newspaper were negative. One reader dismissed the hoopla and applauded the province.
    “Not a big deal. They only changed a few words, no changes regarding the design. Canada is a bilingual country and P.E.I. leads by example. Kudos!”
    The new plates are available at all Access P.E.I. locations at an additional cost of $5.

  11. Mr. McDougall is the “Chief”. It’s tribalism, stupid. The Indians are stuck on tribalism. These Indians are stuck in history in a situation similar to Islam; both groups cannot break their chains of slavery to tribalism. The “turmoil” is the result of tribalism clashing with modernity.
    Q: How/why did an Indian chief come to have a non-Indian surname like McDougall? A: Miscegenation. Grand Chief Fontaine would know, too. The history of the fur trade in Canada has the answer.
    …-
    […]
    Leaderships is another issue. One community member told me this: “The chief is always travelling and away from our community ? We feel abandoned by our leaders, who never tell where they go and why they go. We lack good leadership.”
    Arriving at the council chambers, I was greeted by the Chief and a few council members. Mr. McDougall started off by telling me: “You did not follow proper protocol in entering our reserve. You must inform us beforehand, stating your business. I have read some of your articles in the past. I don’t agree with most of them.”
    “Protocol,” I knew, is a catch-all term invoked to keep out people who don’t play by the chief’s rules –people like me.
    He discussed my visit with the council for an hour before ordering me off the reserve. The week prior, the council kicked out a member of the clergy. It was painfully obvious Mr. McDougall was the hamlet’s mayor, police chief, judge and jury all wrapped in one. …-
    A native reserve in turmoil
    St. Theresa Point First Nation Is A Microcosm Of All That’s Wrong With Canada’s Aboriginal Policy
    Don Sandberg, National Post
    http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/story.html?id=28ec6571-1eb3-4637-9829-c9055e4662ae

  12. The CHRC attack on Free Dominion website makes the Washington Times:
    http://tinyurl.com/2qp2kf
    Lefty’s attack on conservative web sites will go beyond the confines of the cloistered CHRC star chamber.

  15. Update on Calgary’s “Support our Troops” decal debacle here and here
    “The mayor’s voice dripped with disdain when he said putting the decals on “garbage trucks” and “backhoes” was not the best way to show support for the troops. … Some city council members might be under the impression they’ve won this pitched battle over what should have been a simple, symbolic gesture, but they should be aware there will be plenty of collateral damage politically.”
    The Calgary Sun’s online poll has 72 % disagreeing with City Council.
    BTW, for those who don’t remember, Mayor Bronconnier ran as a Liberal in Calgary West in 1997 (then an alderman), and got his ass kicked by Reformer Rob Anders by 9,600 votes.

  17. The greenest of the green,Ms. May,is being threatened with a lawsuit from an enviromental consulting company. The company,Cantox,accuses May of basically lying about thier work. I picked this story off of the cbc website,so it may not last long. There are not many details,but I would guess that she was being hysterical about thier work in the Gagetown area. The company said that sites they checked were safe,which does not jibe with May’s chicken little act.

  19. Gaia: In the name of all compassion, tolerance, diversity, human rights, and more; we beseech You to stir Taliban Jack Layton-NDP, socialist Liiberal Citoyen Dion, and their congregation to exhort the Taliban to stop, cease, and desist their killing of infidels.
    Give Jack/Stephane courage, wisdom, and shame them into stopping this barbarism.
    Over to you, Gaia.
    …-
    Taliban executes one Korean prisoner; Threatening to kill more
    Islamic News Agency ^
    ..”Koreans prisoner detained by the movement in Afghanistan were treated according to the teachings of Islam.” …-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1871303/posts

  20. May is courting Casey? Does Mrs. Casey know? What will Mrs. Casey say/do when Casey is no longer at bat with her?
    The soap opera continues.
    …-
    Green leader says she wants former Tory MP Casey to join the fold
    Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is openly courting former Nova Scotia Conservative MP Bill Casey. (national newswatch)

  21. Lorrie Goldstein is one journalist that can think clearly and sees it as it is.
    Most other jurnos, most media and a lot of politicians just do not, or will not, see the folly of their warped violent crime argument.
    Do they have some kind of vested interest in allowing crime to continue on our streets ??
    Missing the target on gun crime
    By Lorrie Goldstein
    http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2007/07/25/4366146.html

  22. I completely agree with the criticism of bilingualism. It has effectively, cut off 80% of the Canadian population from governmental work.
    The Charter, by the way, is not about freedoms and rights – which we had already via common law, but is essentially about establishing bilingualism in Canada.
    Canada is not bilingual and forcing bilingualism on us, denying this reality, has resulted in a government civil service that is elitist and exclusionary of the majority of Canadians. The only people who are readily bilingual are those who grow up in such a household and city. The rest of the population – who never hear or use French – are excluded from government roles.
    The fact that our military in Afghanistan sets up two isolate domains, French and English, reveals that after a generation of ‘bilingualism’, we are not and never will be. The isolation is deeper, for francophones tend to align themselves only with francophones in the world (eg, France, Lebanon etc) and consider anglophones, whether in the ROC or the US or the UK as ‘all similar’ and all ‘Other’.
    What should have been done? Acknowledge Quebec’s unilingualism and the ROC’s unilingualism and set up a gov’t that dealt with both in that manner. But, to instead insist that everyone has to be bilingual – is insane. The result is that our public corporations have been excluded, as domains of employment, to the majority of the population (heads of CBC, Air Canada, RCMP, research domains, etc).
    It’s an evil doctrine because it disempowers the majority of the population, barring them from effective gov’t roles and reducing them to gov’t participation only within the vote. And we can see the results – fewer people vote – and, Ottawa has moved into an isolate enclave, with its civil service ideologically and intellectually isolated from the rest of the country.
    A positive thing now, is that more and more people are starting to criticize this bilingual policy – complaining about its massive costs to the taxpayer, its ineffectiveness after a full generation, and its enormous disempowering of the population.

  23. ET says: “more and more people are starting to criticize this bilingual policy” How I wish that this were true. I live in Ottawa and I don’t see it. Official Bilingualism is still a sacred cow. Perhaps the worst of it is that it is ruthlessly used as a political tool. Question bilingualism and the opposition is down your throat — not because they view bilingualism as a good policy, only because they think they will score some political points. Scott Reid (not the notorious one, but a local Ottawa Valley Conservative) was Official Languages critic when Conservatives were in opposition. He was pilloried for daring to suggest that the policy of official bilingualism should be reviewed. In other words, to question ANYTHING about official bilingualism is political suicide. Don’t look for change any time soon — if anything, it’s getting worse as bilingualism creeps into other areas such as municipal politics.

  24. “For example, I watched some anglophone soldiers in the field trying to teach new Afghan police officers that the traditional greeting in French for the new arrivals is “f—you, Van Doos.”
    That is disgusting. It shows a complete lack of respect for the Afghanis (francophones aside). It gives the lie to claims that the holy troops are over there to help the Afghans. I don’t support them.

  25. Lighten up exile. This shows that our soldiers are capable of humour even while under extreme stress. The Afghani’s will probably laugh also,laughter relieves stress,and cements relationships.The soldiers are supporting your rights,it’s too bad you are too morally superior to support them.

  27. wallyj:”Lighten up exile. This shows that our soldiers are capable of humour even while under extreme stress. The Afghani’s will probably laugh also,laughter relieves stress,and cements relationships.The soldiers are supporting your rights,it’s too bad you are too morally superior to support them.”
    The “morally superior” critique would invalidate any kind of ethical stance. Is that the kind of world you want to live in? I wouldn’t be surprised.
    This is mean, demeaning humour. The Afghanis don’t know what they’re saying. That’s why it’s demeaning. So, no, they won’t laugh.

  28. Why is that old Tull song “thick as a brick” going through my head right now?

  29. wallyj: Why is that old Tull song “thick as a brick” going through my head right now?”
    Because you don’t have any rational response so you’re resorting to insults.

  30. Rational response…
    Exile, go watch a Laurel & Hardy rerun – you’re humour-impaired. Members of my own family have been playing varients of this joke on each other for over 50 years.
    Mean and demeaning? Oh my poor damaged ego…

  32. The Afghani’s who are our allies would be let in on the joke,the van doo’s would laugh,the other soldiers would laugh,and our allies ,the Afghsns themselves would laugh.They would become closer. They would work and play together,bonding through these shared experiences. I would venture that the only people who would find this disgusting and demeaning are those who would never be caught within a thousand miles of any real danger or stress. And BTW,stress is not when you are served a cappucino that has sprinkles of cinnamon on it,when you know that you specifically ordered NUTMEG.

  33. Reading the Globe today, and guess what…
    Warren Kinsella is a troglodyte.
    Page A4 has a story about Kinsella making sexist comments about PC MPP Lisa MacLeod on his website. The Globe picked up the story, and it looks like Kinsella has been bombarded with emails.
    Best line in the Globe, from Ms. MacLeod herself,”What he did was sexist. It was wrong and it belongs in another era of politics, not 2007″.
    I agree, it probably belongs in the era of dinosaurs… 6000 years ago.
    Kinsella is now eating a shitload of humble pie. Fun stuff. I think he should be sued.

  34. LindaL – I agree that in Ottawa-Montreal, the isolate fiefdom of political power of the civil service in Canada – questioning bilingualism is heresy. You are immediately defined as a bigot, as essentially ‘racist’ (! ?) etc.
    I meant that it’s being questioned in the hinterland, among we peasants – and our noble lords stuck in their ivory tower had better pay attention.
    When it began, we all, more or less, succumbed to the romanticism of bilingualism – how ‘cultured’, how ‘European’, how blah blah. But reality, after one generation, has snuck in the back door. We aren’t bilingual; we never use the ‘other language’ – and bilingualism has become confined to either the wealthy who can afford to send their children to private schools (eg Toronto French School) or, that Montreal-Ottawa clique.
    The rest of us – out in Newfoundland, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC etc….we’re out in the cold. We don’t count; we are boorish peasants because we don’t speak The Correct Language. But, more and more, we are starting to say something – and this wouldn’t have happened five years ago.
    Again, it’s not merely the enormous cost of funding bilingual training for civil servants, who readily take the lessons and then retire with a higher pension, or take the lessons and never really attain any fluency. Besides, they are not ‘really French – and there is no-one more snobbish than a francophone as far as language goes. But there’s the cost of having someone bilingual on all Air Canada flights, which is really, really, really necessary on the route from Calgary to Edmonton. And in all the post offices. And the cost of translation. And yes – what about the fact that more, and more, we see French put first on the brochure – and in larger type!!
    The enormous waste of time, money and above all, talent – is a drain on our country. I find it utterly despicable that this language law effectively prevents 80% of the Canadian population from working in the gov’t at any but the most trivial jobs. That’s Canadian democracy?
    It sounds like an elitist oligarchy to me.
    Harper’s decentralization is a major strategy, not in demoting bilingualism, for its function is far broader than that – aiming to give decision making power back to the people. But, it will have the effect of demoting bilingualism, when policy decisions are being made, not by the francophones in Ottawa, but by the local people in the provinces and cities.

  35. Provincial Election on! Just heard Calvert got new teeth…..can anyone provide photos?

  36. Mao Stlong say: Come fry with me.
    …-
    Chinese astronaut food to hit supermarkets
    BEIJING (AP)
    […]
    The Scientific Research and Training Center for Chinese Astronauts and a Shanghai-based food company have developed more than 60 space dishes …- canoe news

  37. Supporters turn out to back senior on notice for language
    Globe and Mail – 10 hours ago
    HALIFAX — They came out with their walkers, wheelchairs and homemade signs, chanting “seniors, united, will never be defeated. …-
    google news

  38. Maz, cut out the racist stuff. Post the link, but spare us the 50’s-era ethnic humour.

  39. Good article in today’s National Post by Christopher Hitchens “The Disgrace of George Galloway” — seems the little leftist darling was basically taking the food out of the mouths of the poorest and most helpless Iraqis under the UN’s “Oil for Palaces” (or was that Oil for Food? — oh well, we know the result) program. Seems he’s now under scrutiny by US federal prosecutors for possible perjury charges, and by Scotland Yard. I’m sure he’ll become an icon of the left a la Mugabe, Castro, Kim Jong Il . . .(pick savage dictator du jour).

  40. After 7 years as a reservist and 10 years in the regular army and after having lived in Ottawa and worked at National defence headquarters in Ottawa I must agree with all the negative things about bilingualism that have been posted here. They are all correct. Don Martin’s comments about anglo and franco soldiers never mixing is accurate. Bilingualism was the single most important attribute in getting promoted. Every year we had our evaluations and a “merit list” was made up. Every officer was rated with a score out of ten. a difference of about .3 would separate the top from the bottom of the merit list and If I recall correctly your second language skills were worth .5 of that score. Speak french get promoted, you don’t and your career is over before it starts.

  41. Jack: Elected politicians and stupid games
    In a day or so Toronto will bury another innocent child killed by unrestricted gunfire. […]
    Fact: There is no excuse for shooting another human being simply because you want to prove a point and that is what’s happening.
    Jamaican crooks have brought their violence to Canada and so, nobody is safe.
    The same holds true in Winnipeg with their large North American Indian population. It’s all about gangs and drugs.
    Same in Vancouver as the East Indian and Chinese gangs wage war totally oblivious to our law and knowing that, even if caught, not much will happen. In that process our law is becoming a joke and citizens everywhere are alarmed. They leave their homes in fear when one of these fools run rampant when all they really need is a gun (for home protection).
    Another truth — our population is aging and because they are they can no longer fight off a home invasion using “empty hand” techniques something more is needed to protect all we love and have worked for. That “something more” is a tool — “sorta like a skill saw” — but much more valuable.
    It’s called a gun (loaded at that) and when your front door is “booted” in the middle of the night you have a response ready and waiting. If you blow that stupid person out of his shoes nothing should happen to you. It may be appropriate to send a few flowers to his (or her) funeral….-
    http://www.jacksnewswatch.info/

  42. mbaron apparently you forgot alot. A second language profile is worth 2 out of 100 points. If being bilingual is so absolutely vital to promotion, then how did I manage to get promoted four times in 11 years as an Anglo only? Oh, yeah, the same the Francos in my units did. By doing the job and proving that we were capable of working at the next rank level.
    If the Army has issues then it is the Army. I guess my fellow sailors and the Air Force were smarter than that.

  43. Jim, I think you are incorrect. Maybe you were in a long time ago, not sure. I’ve been out over 10 years, but know that mbaron’s assessment is closer to yours. It is a significant determinant, all other things being equal, which I grant rarely are.
    The policy when I released was (and likely has gotten worse) that you could not be promoted past Lieutenant Colonel unless you were at least functionally bilingual. That’s a pretty onerous requirement, and in no way is a bona fida operational requirement.

  44. Why have gangs been allowed to run rampart on our streets ??
    Why is the knee ‘jerk’ reaction to shootings a ‘gun-ban’ ?? (If it would be criminal to have a gun, only the criminals would have guns.)
    Why are so many afraid to be firm on crime ??
    I think this article sums it up best;
    [I think the reason is they know that seriously tackling gun crime is hard.
    It means taking on the judiciary for lax sentencing, the National Parole Board, which is essentially a holdover from the 12-year soft-on-crime Liberal regime in Ottawa that ended in early 2006, the various criminal lawyers associations across the country who scream “this is fascism” at the drop of a hat and prisoners’ rights groups like the John Howard Society, etc.
    It means being accused of racism by countless special interest groups who claim to represent both aboriginals and blacks, who are disproportionately represented in the criminal just system, as felons, for a host of complex reasons.
    It means having to tell the public some bad news – that more money (read tax hikes) needs to be spent to build more prisons, hire more police, set up more courts, as well as to fund genuine educational and employment opportunities for people living in what are for all intents and purposes urban ghettoes in places like Jane-Finch in Toronto. Money also needs to be spent on genuine programs to strengthen and support families in these communities, such as providing affordable daycare to low-income people who are willing to work.
    Plus, it means taking on the immigration establishment in this country (and again being accused of racism) in trying to get the refugee claimant process cleaned up.
    Faced with all that, it’s hardly surprising that too many gutless politicians find it easier to pretend we can “ban” guns by passing a law, as if that will solve anything.
    It’s sad, because innocent people, of all races, including children, are now dying from the random gunfire. It’s not just the gangbangers killing each other anymore, which was bad enough.]
    In other words, we have dug ourselves a hole — and the criminal element knows it.
    Perhaps the University Criminology departments wre taken over by fanatics at the same time the Environmental departments were.

  45. Having lost track of the number of PERs I have written and read and will continue to read and write, I know for a fact that being bilingual is worth 2 out of 100 possible points at the merit board. The merit system has not been based on a 10 total point score for years. I got my last PER of that type in the late 90’s. Since then I have been writing and signing the new performance/potential evaluations.

  46. When I was at Gagetown in the late 1990s (Combat Engineer Reservist, but also did some time with the Regs) we liked most of the Quebecois soldiers (especially our fellow “Genies”), but HATED the vandoos. They were significantly less disciplined than other troops – in the shacks (barracks) they were a threat to good hygene. They were rude, destructive and had an attitude a mile wide. I guess the attitude was justified, because somehow sh*t never stuck to them. Remember, it was vandoos on secondment to the Airborne Regiment that were at the centre of a lot of the trouble (including the usless CO and the more useless RSM) in Somalia and prior to the deployment (eating sh*t as an initiation was NOT and Airborne thing, it was a vandoos thing). When I was working with 3 PPCLI out west I met a number of Quebec soldiers in that battalion – good soldiers all, who just wanted to BE good soldiers in a good regiment (ie out of the vandoos).

  47. Citoyen Dion of the Librano$ say: Ziss is nod fair. Merde. Moi knows nutting. C’est ca.
    …-
    Tory candidate fires opening salvo at Liberals over sponsorship scandal
    MONTREAL (CP) – It didn’t take lifelong bureaucrat Gilles Duguay long to get his political feet wet.
    Inside a cramped classroom where he was formally introduced as the Conservatives’ candidate in an upcoming byelection, Duguay’s target was Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and what he might have known about the federal sponsorship scandal.
    “I’m telling you, if you read his CV, the man has been in cabinet since 1995, and if this university professor, descendant of a famous university professor, didn’t know anything about the sponsorship scandal, I suggest you ask him whether he knew anything or not,” Duguay said Wednesday….-
    http://www.680news.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n072595A

  48. Jim, there you go. I’ve been out since 94, so I bow to your experience. My point about not getting promoted past LCol (or even Major) still holds as significant – no matter how good you are, if you aren’t bilingual, forget about promotions, regardless of your PER score.
    BTW, 2 out of 100 is the same as .2 out of 10 – that 2% of total score can make big difference in tight promotion market. Easy for me to say, I was bilingual.

  49. I got out in ’98. I did manage to make it to Captain!! Maybe that now the army is busier than it was during the days of the FRP’s they take important things more seriously. It was definitely a ten point system when I got out, and I have also written a few of them in the past.

  50. Hey Ron in Kelowna
    Yer rite prisons do cost as lot ,my suggestion,which I think could also help the north.
    We ship em up to (say way north of Tunder bay),hell walk em in ,set em down and say go to er boys,..Now we give em plans and what not ,of what we think they will need,but let their imaginations ,run wild,let their organizational skills come to the forefront..check up on them in a year or so …see hows they all doin an such,…mayhaps …offer a thot er two on gittin along in society.
    I think this will cut back on the revolving door we have now ,in our prison system.
    Just a thot

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