Yesterday, Quebec premier Francois Legault came to Toronto to try to convince Doug Ford to reverse his decisions to cut the position of French Language Commissioner and to kill a new French language university. Ford refused Legault's request, triumphantly marching backward. Andre Pratt writes:
Not only will eliminating the position of the French Language Services Commissioner and killing the project of a French language university in Toronto have little impact on the provincial government’s balance sheet; they demonstrate a profound indifference, if not worse, toward the French minority’s rights and needs.
And standing to defend Ford's decision was Caroline Mulroney. Thirty five hears ago, her father rose in the House of Commons to defend French language rights in Canada:
“We are all children of our environments. We bring to given problems the judgment that has been shaped by the realities to which we have been exposed in our lives. In Canada, particularly in the area of language, these differ widely according to individuals and according to regions because of our sense of history. We must seek to understand these differences and consider them not as obstacles but as guides to the elaboration of sensible and realistic policies which will enhance rather than lessen the attractiveness of such policies in the minds of all Canadians.”
“The issue before us today is also one of simple justice. There is no painless way to proceed. There is no blame to be apportioned. There are no motives to be impugned. There is only the sanctity of minority rights. There is no obligation more compelling and no duty more irresistible in Canada than to ensure that our minorities, linguistic and otherwise, live at all times in conditions of fairness and justice.”
In the Ford government's recent throne speech there was not one word of French. Minority rights? Who's kidding whom? Caroline Mulroney is a profile in cowardice. Andrew Scheer says the issue is a provincial matter. He simply confirms that his party is populated by dinosaurs -- and that the premier of Ontario is an idiot.
Image: National Observer
15 comments:
But our hydro bills were too high.
Doug doesn't speak French, so why should anyone else? Doug didn't get into university, so why should anyone else? This is the mentality of today's conservative. Sad.
Cap
That tunnel vision illustrates what goes on inside Ford's head, Willy. The larger picture eludes him.
With each action he takes, Cap, Ford confirms that he's all about revenge -- whether it's getting even with Toronto's City Council or kneecapping those who can do what he can't.
Cancelling the proposed French University was a bad idea on all fronts. The biggest mistake was not taking into account the economics of a university and the jobs it creates. Most universities French or otherwise can usual count on foreign students bringing in cash for education, living expenses and benefits too many to list. The installation of a French university appeals to a larger untapped resource globally of people speaking a different language. Doug Ford is truly an idiot and I don't know about Caroline Mulroney but she is not the sharpest tool in shed.MJW
Your man grows more odious by the day. I worry that the glue of social cohesion that binds us as citizens, whether left or right, to a common purpose is dissolving at the instance of those who see tribalism the better option for themselves. Give Trudeau his due. He has sought to bring us together despite his many failings. That, however, seems to have little purchase among the right. I suppose we'll know the left/centre-left has reached the breaking point when we reject the right entirely and become hyper-partisan just like Simon. I no longer see that as implausible.
Universities -- of whatever language -- become hubs of innovation and excellence, zoombats. But Ford is simply ignorant of that fact.
We have survived as a country, Mound, because we have learned to tolerate our differences -- not stamp them out.
.. Mound's comment knocks on the door.. of that intangible Canadian thang.. yes a 'thang'.. something twitched or tickled me while reading it. Doug Ford accomplishes the complete opposite.. sends me a dead signal, some sort of feedback or deadbeat loop. Not everyone samples 'the Canadian experience' provinces and regions like I have. Yet many far far exceed my adventures across most of Canada. Thug Doug is stuck in the suburb of his youth.. dealing.. anything he can sell, mainly hot air
One can scarecly expect such a stumblebum Toronto councilman.. to somehow shine just because blind luck handed him the Premiership of Ontario. He was a lesser light, a 'not even a contender, inconsequential & far behind Patrick Brown. His enablers, base, political partners are also truly dull, uninspiring, glib, parochial.. never had n never will have 'the right stuff' .. sure, they got 'glib' .. the wordage & verbage, slogans, dogma, nice clothes.. plus they got the baggage train, the sly shrill losers & riders like Faith Goldy or fakers like Stephen Lecce, the dregs or conservatory transfer politicos like Jenni Byrne who flit from election to election.. the carpet baggers.
Those are the people who 'don't get Quebec' or British Columbia or child advocacy or Environment. The First Nations frighten them.. or bother their thin veneered inbred ultra shallow evangelism. They're the flat earth partisano preeners and posturers who can't comprehend Spaceship Earth, nor can they comprehend the glow in an immigrant child's eye. Its all about the polls, the base, the political donors, the lobbyists.. the partisan jockeying..
What Doug Ford et al just trashed.. how was that 'Public Service' ? For whom? For what? It was meaningless yet mean circle jerking. The favorite sport of over-amped partisan political animals across Canada.. radiant in their self deluded 'importance' and position & pablum ideology.. or better said.. radioactive particles somehow assembled & shuffling themselves.. and us.. toward their fabulous promised land in nowhereville or nothingland.. We must move to our own drumbeat.. and we outnumber them - by far. This is not brain surgery or rocket science.. its that rare attribute - common sense
Caroline Mulroney also provides a profile of a huge political problem.
If we want to stop going in circles over important issues we need to stop electing the spouses, siblings, and children of people we’ve previously elected. As long as we’re keeping the same old in-bred ideas and prejudices in place, we’re gonna be going downhill.
k.h.
Caroline Mulroney is also a profile of a huge political problem.
If we want to stop going in circles over important issues we need to stop electing the spouses, siblings, and children of people we’ve previously elected. As long as we’re keeping the same old in-bred ideas, prejudices, and power networks in place, we’ll continue heading downhill.
k.h.
The irony, sal, is that these folks believe they are the arbiters of common sense. And they sleep comfortably in their ignorance.
Your last sentence, k.h, is particularly insightful. Inbreeding results in idiocy.
When Ford cancelled proposed expansions at three university/college campuses, (non francophone ones BTW) York/ Seneca, Ryerson/Sheridan and Laurier/ Conestoga, you had to figure the French university project would also get axed. Not politically possible to do otherwise. I am a bit surprised by the rather different public reactions to each of these events, though. Mac
The French University was axed at the same time the French Language Commissioner's office was nixed, Mac. It was a double hit. But the argument about universities being centres of innovation an excleelence still holds. And it's pretty clear that neither innovation or excellence are on Ford's agenda.
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