(Once again, my real job kept me from my self-appointed Journal-monitoring rounds, this time for a full week. Here’s what we missed)
A view of the Journal de Montréal building, from the offices of the STIJM
The big news, sadly, is no news. One month into the Journal de Montréal lockout, there are no negotiations scheduled, no sign that any end is near.
But there’s plenty of other stuff going on. Here’s what I’ve found:
Habs stories top all others
Shortly before that big La Presse thing, when everyone was still talking about Alex Kovalev and how much the Habs sucked, Rue Frontenac posted an article from Marc de Foy about what Kovy supposedly said to his peeps back home, namely blaming other players for the team’s misfortune.
Pretty standard fare for the Journal, because it sells papers to bring up stuff like this that has about a half-and-half chance of being true. De Foy was interviewed on CKAC, reports circulated on RDS and other Habs-crazy places, and that was enough to bring down RueFrontenac.com for a few hours on Wednesday evening.
That was enough to worry some hard-core followers. But don’t worry, the site is still there.
Mongrain is the new Martineau
Jean-Luc Mongrain, formerly of TQS, has returned from a relaxing vacation and will begin giving blowjobs to all three of Quebecor’s penises on March 2 when he starts a show on LCN. He’ll also have a column in the Journal de Montréal (lockout shmockout) and a blog on Canoë (even though he says he’s never seen a blog before).
You’ll recall Richard Martineau already has an LCN show, a Journal column, and a Canoë blog, but Mongrain still thinks his will be new somehow (I think he means new to him).
He sees himself being a doorway to “citizen journalism” because people can email him ideas. I’m not sure he understands what “citizen journalism” means, but it involves a bit more than that.
Canoe has a video interview with Mongrain about his new multiplatform initiative.
Meanwhile
- Le Collectif, the student paper at Université de Sherbrooke, explores a day in the life of a locked-out Journal worker.
- The World Socialist Website blames the STIJM union for … uhh… well, it’s not clear, actually. It goes into detail about concessions made at other unions, and the “bureaucracy” of unions in general, but I don’t see what the STIJM has done wrong here, besides letting the capitalist system survive.
- Rue Frontenac gets nitpicky about headlines
- More protests at Journal-sponsored events
- More support from C-list celebrities and other people I’ve never heard of
- Locked-out Journal workers visited locked out Casino workers
- You’ll be happy to know that the Defense Association of Anglophone Quebec is calling for a boycott of the Journal. Not because of the lockout, but because it (and the Devoir) support the ethnic cleansing of Quebec. (Patrick Lagacé makes a funny about this)
Ethnic cleansing? You’re joking, right?
There is a difference, IMHO, between affirmation of the french speaking community and repression of minorities.
Quebec is the most bilingual province ever (maybe New Brunswick beats us at it, but that’s it).
Just because you’ve never heard of somebody doesn’t mean he’s not important. Guy Bedos is a big celebrity in France and has his fans here too (true, mostly francos aged 50+).
You made a comment several days ago about typos in the Journal since the strike. I noticed a couple of big ones in Monday’s coverage of the Oscars.
OK, Frank Langella may not be all that well known in Québec, but is that any excuse for spelling his name “Langel?”
And…you could certainly not make the “not well known” excuse about, as the Journal called her, Sophia “Lorren.”
Ethnic cleansing?!? bit heavy handed, don’t you think?
Now that I think about it… no, I don’t think it is. The UN says ethnic cleansing is by genocide or forced migration. In black and white I guess Bill 101 fits pretty well. C’mon, we’re Canadian! We don’t do it with guns… we do it with paper, pen and a smile. With a few “Anglo go Home” and “maudit anglais” for good measure. Oui?
If you mean “bilingual” in the sense of French only signs. French only civil service. French only immigration. French only accommodation. French only health services. French only school (unless you can get a permit for your kid… kind of like a dog)… then yes, we are the most bilingual province… hell place!… on the planet! Ha-ha!
I read some of that DAAQ stuff (I just googled them, they’re stuff pops up everywhere). Interesting. Not 100% in agreement. But sounds like Anglos are starting to get a little PO’d. Uh-oh, better wake up Pauline so she can announce she has evidence that Anglo are indeed, in league with the devil or they are solely at fault for global warming. Whatever works for her sheep.
Perhaps replacing the old “God Save the Queen”, stuffy shirts from Westmount might be a plan for them.
@ Wheresmyneighbours
I meant bilingual in the sense that a lot of people here speaks both languages (mostly the french-canadians). It is not the case in the other provinces, except maybe New Brunswick.
Given that in the ROC all the signs are in english and everything is done in that language, your rant about bill 101 and its effects here is pointless. If you cannot understand that francophones worry about the survival of their culture, I guess DAAQ is a nice group for you.
“The Anglos are starting to get a little PO’d”. Ha ha ha this is a good one! I’ve been hearring rants such as these for decades!
You know, with your simplisitic way to see things around here, you’re not helping.
You’re hysterical Enkidu. Protection? From what? Are the red coats preparing to round up Quebec’s Francophones and ship them off to Louisiana? Get a new war cry. That one is collecting dust.
As for your bilingual-ness comments, yes statistics show Anglos are very bilingual in Quebec. Quebec Francophones, yeah well, not so much. Isolationism, and protectionism. Francophone Quebec’s proverbial “nose Vs. Face” debacle.
Funny, I was reading a post on another blog by a Francophone-Ontarian who states he/she lives in a small town in SW Ontario called Pain Court. Seems signage there is in French and English. His family’s first language is French, and his children all attend French schools. He/she states they has very little problem receiving service in French. MTO, hospitals, all aspects of government. So I ask? If this little town in the middle of the “Evil Ontario Empire” has survived 200+ years. It’s language, culture and way of life, why can Quebec’s Francophone culture not? I would almost have to say it make the protectionism point look, well, kind of stupid really if you asked me. Which you didn’t, but I said it anyway.
I eagerly await your regurgitated, text book, circa 1977, devoid of logic, PQ-esque retort. Ha-ha!
@ Wheresmyneighbours
It must be nice in your simplistic, black and white world.
Studies show a decrease in the use of french as main language in the province. It’s not about “red coats” forcing us to assimilate, of course, but still, some french-canadians are worried about the survival of their culture, that’s it. If you can’t understand that, there’s nothing you’ll understand about us.
Of course, there are some places in Canada where french-canadians have services in their language, but IMHO, it’s the exception, not the rule. And I’m not complaining about that either, I’m just telling you that in Quebec, where there is a majority of french-speaking canadians, it’s normal to expect services in french only.
As for the bilingualism of quebeckers, let me point out that I am a french-canadian, coming from Quebec City, and what language are we using? Mmmmmm, yeah, that’s right, english! And BTW, anglos in montreal are much less bilingual than french-canadians, that’s a fact.
You can whine all you want, but we’re still using YOUR language, aren’t we?
In your simplistic way of seeing the world, you see me as a PQ voting, separatist french-canadian. Well, you’re wrong, I am a canadian and I have excellent rapport with my fellow english canadians. But not with blind simplistic morons like you.
I stand utterly and humbly corrected. I sincerely apologize for doing exactly what I accuse others of doing. In my own defense however, it has become a knee jerk reaction to 30 years of anti-anglophone law. That again is just my opinion.
Encore, je m’excuse profusment.
101 in my opinion is not pro-francophone. It is anti-anglophone. I have watched my family and neighbours leave, and I’m fed up with it. I’m tired of the fringe groups reverting to utilizing the threat of violence to be heard. I am becoming/become a reactionary to the reactionaries. Quebec as a province, like Canada as a whole has many cultures. And as an Anglophone all I see is my culture being written out of the history of mine, my family’s and my ancestor’s home. Quebec. Cast away by the majority of Quebec, and people that have been sacraficed by Ottawa. We’re stuck in the proverbial-political no man’s land.
So, as a fellow Canadian, would you not agree… (Which on a personal level, although it won’t change the colour of your day, was nice to hear a Francophone brother say)… Whether we agree with them or not. These DAQ folks have as much of a right to be speak as their polar opposites. Provided they do not utilize violence as a tool, or preach it via any medium. In as much as we have a right to agree or disagree with either, correct?
@ Wheresmyneighbours
Let me start by apologizing, for my use of strong words in my last comment.
I agree with you, of course, that groups like DAAQ have the right to exist and express themselves. And as you well know, we’ve got groups like that on the french side. I recently had a rather heated debate with one separatist who was hurling insults at me because I told him it was time to bury the “hache de guerre” (to him I was a traitor and a “colonisé”), so I know there are extremists on my side too.
I just wish we could resolve our differences in a peaceful and reasonable manner. I think most people are reasonable, except politicians and other a**holes who would rather see us fight with one another. For that, though, we have to build bridges between the “two solitudes”, learn to know one another.
If I tend to agree with bill 101, I can relate to your plight, and somehow, I always thought that forbidding english instead of promoting french was not the better way. I don’t know how to solve this, but I do think we should find better ways to live together, in a way where everyone can live fully.
And it starting to get really important. With what’s happening in the world right now, Canadian will have to work together.
Regards
Well said. Across the board. Very well said.
Ethnic Cleansing ? You must be joking–you must be very young and did not live through the days from 1979 to 1995, When yes the PQ’s did destroy the excellent public anglo school system and really did remove over 1/2 million anglos from Quebec, in what can only be described as criminal, crimes against humanity are still rampant in quebec, with immigration quebec selling asylum status to 3rd world people who sign servatude agreements and work out their miserable lives in the high rise sweat shops, only in montreal who can almost overnight react in response to clothing fashion demands, where the main suppliers take a lot longer and sell for a lot less ( slavery ) under other names is still slavery. You my young friend have a world ahead of you, filled with discovery, I wish you luck, in your studies and travels and in finding true meaning and understanding. Don’t believe things you read see and hear in the newsmedia, and academia as well. Discover it for yourself and become all that you can in this, our evil world
I’m not that young (42), but being a french-canadian from Quebec City (now in Montreal), I guess my experience of what happened to the english-speaking community is not very strong.
This being said, I think you’re exaggerating a lot. I can understand you did not like Quebec language laws, but the government did not kill anybody, nor did they exiled anyone. You’re using words that are too strong.
As for the slavery accusation, this is ludicrous: the clothing sweatshop industry is not even in french-canadian hands, and most of the time, english is still the spoken language over there (as you well know, they don’t do much of the things according to law over there). Yes, there remains much to be improved there, but this has nothing to do with Quebec’s linguistic debate.
You know, we’ll have to go beyond all this bitterness. As a french-canadian, I’ve decided it was time to forgive what was done in the past to my people by the English. If we want to make this country work, everybody will have to calm down and let go of the past. This country should be more about where we want to go than where we came from.