We know how much Stephen Harper hates the CBC. We know how he has slashed its budget, until it's swimming in its own blood. We know what he recently said about it:"First we’re going to get them on their knees and then we’re going to restructure them.”But now he has
Continue readingTag: My Beautiful Quebec
Montreal Simon: Why the Scottish Referendum Is NOT the Quebec Referendum
I've been seeing a lot of stories in the Canadian and British media, comparing the Scottish independence referendum campaign to the one in Quebec in 1995.And I've resigned myself to seeing a lot more of them after this latest development. Because it is so familiar.But here's the thing eh? I've seen
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Losing Battle for Quebec
Well as you know, and as I mentioned the other day, Stephen Harper has set out to try to woo the province of Quebec. Or at least the people in the relatively small region in and around Quebec City, where he is planning to hold a special cabinet meeting. The rare cabinet meeting
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Winter from Hell and the National Unity Hysteria
In his well known song Mon Pays, the Quebec poet and singer Gilles Vigneault famously sings: "My country is not a country, it's the winter."And in this seemingly never ending one, this Winter from Hell, I think we can all relate to that. But since just a few weeks ago during the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why Stephen Harper is the Real Separatist-in-Chief
I see Pierre-Karl Péladeau's decision to run for the Parti Quebecois in the Quebec election has sent shockwaves rolling across the country.With some in the media predicting trouble for Stephen Harper and his ghastly Con regime.Pierre Karl Péladeau’s emergence as a superstar Parti Québécois candidate represents a seismic shock for
Continue readingMontreal Simon: My Kind of Way to Fight the Quebec Charter of Values
I really like this photo. And I'm glad some Quebecers took to the streets today to protest against the PQ's exclusionary so-called Charter of Quebec Values. And although I am an atheist if I had been in Montreal today I might have marched with them. Because I will not let
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Long-Gun Registry Lives !!!!!
At least in Québec. The federal government’s plan to destroy all data from its long-gun registry is unconstitutional, a judge has ruled, giving Ottawa 30 days to hand to Quebec records collected from the province’s gun owners. “Quebec didn’t embark in the project of setting up a registry knowing that
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Confessions of a Quebec Anglophone
The other night I wrote about how shocked I was by the senseless act of cowardly violence that stole the life of poor Denis Blanchette. And how stunned I was to see his deranged killer scream "The English are rising!!!" As if he was acting in our name, as if
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Shooting and the Hatred that Kills
For a Montrealer like me, who lives and plays happily in both solitudes, and is always trying to bring Quebecers and Canadians together, it was the ultimate nightmare. An old Anglo, in a balaclava …. and a bathrobe … screaming "The English are rising up!!! There's going to be fucking
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Absurd Attempt to Woo Quebec
OMG. Mothers hide your children. It appears that Stephen Harper has set out to try to woo Quebec. Stephen Harper and more than a dozen of his cabinet ministers chose Quebec to kick off the Tories’ political “summer of love,” wooing support with their economic plan and a pledge to
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Casserole Protest and the Two Solitudes
As a guy who has one foot in each solitude, I know that the Québécois tend to be a little more exuberant than Canadians in the rest of the country. Especially when it comes to sex, or standing up for their rights. Or beating casseroles in the street in the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day They Turned Montreal Red
And so it came to pass. On the 100th day of their amazing struggle, they refused to be intimidated by a totalitarian bill, and turned Montreal RED. A sea of students, their numbers swollen by trade unionists, teachers and other supporters, flooded through the streets of Montreal in a massive
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec to Harper: Take Your Crime Bill…
…and shove it. The debate isn’t over yet for the Harper’s government’s criminal justice legislation – at least not in Quebec. The provincial government announced Tuesday that it would do everything in its power to limit the clout of the legislation that passed a day earlier. And why wouldn’t they?
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