Is Quebec A Racist Province?

In my experience, yes - they have a problem.

The very statement that Quebec is a racist province could be termed racist itself. However, the recent ejection of a female Muslim soccer player for wearing the hijab is merely one incident in a long line of incidents that just reinforce the belief that Quebecers, despite crying foul for being discriminated against by English Canada, themselves have a problem with racism.

Consider:

A Toronto Sun report last month found that Quebec was the province where a majority of the people saw themselves as racist (59%). A day later, a private Muslim girls' school in Montreal was vandalized, with hooligans shattering 15 windows and damaging a school bus. [Canoe]

In a diverse society, "religious symbols have no place in public space," Parti Quebecois Leader Boisclair said.

Mario Dumont, leader of the Action democratique du Quebec, said Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities.

"We must make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us," Dumont wrote in a letter to be sent to Quebecers.

Unpopular with his political opponents, Dumont's position seemed to strike a chord with some Quebecers.

A Montreal elementary school had to hire guards last April after a Filipino mother alleged that her son was chided by a lunch hall monitor for the way he ate. The school's excuse - "Oh it had nothing to do with the traditional Filipino manner of eating, but bad manners."

Two Orthodox Jewish schools have been firebombed in the past couple of years.

Hérouxville, a small town in Quebec, published a new code of conduct for immigrants, stereotyping Muslims and Sikhs amongst others. It banned kirpans and head scarves except on Halloween, and said women can drive and write cheques but cannot be stoned to death.[CBC]

It was Quebec that had a problem with a kirpan.

My own experiences in Quebec has not made a favourable impression on me. As a rule, many Quebecers of French descent has behaved rudely with me when they found out I did not speak French. Why is it that when the rest of Canada has no problem with reasonable accommodation for diverse cultural and religious practices, it is Quebec that must make a fuss, all the time?

Neo-Con Logic: How To Stop A War

Will their be a war this summer?

I think it is 85% a sure thing and their is nothing less than a massive strike on Iran that can stop the war from happening. - Yoni

Yes, that's right. To stop a war that hasn't started yet, we must strike first which will definitely not start a war.

Right. Got ya.

How's that "will be greeted with flowers as liberators" plan coming along?

Stephen Harper - Shame On You

Today Stephen Harper has proved himself to be a man without class. I am ashamed to have such a man as Prime Minister.

Despite all the politics that politicians play - there were unwritten laws that you do not harm the family of parliamentarians, you do not drag them into the fray.

Harper has consistently proved that he will sink to any low if he thinks it will help him. During the election three years ago he called Paul Martin a child pornography supporter (or something like it). Today, he was engaged in a drive-by smear on the family of a Sikh Member of Parliament, based on an unproven story of a tabloid newspaper, with neither the accused present to defend himself, nor the allegations proven in any court of law.

As such, Harper has shown himself to be below the dignity of the chair he now occupies. When the next election comes, I want this moment to be played again and again in all the immigrant communities that Harper will no doubt try to court. No wonder we immigrants see the Conservatives as a party of racists, bigots and old farts.

Gloves Come Off - The Star

Iraq - What A Mess

This picture sums up my mood on Iraq perfectly. It's time for Conservatives to admit - Iraq was better off under Saddam Hussein. Every day I open the paper or read the news I hear about people being killed in Iraq - and it's in double digits.

People are dying there. Every day. By the dozens. Others, hundreds of them, now lie injured or permanently disabled. Under Saddam, people had security. As long as you didn't say anything against him, you were fine.

I lived through a dictatorship (UAE). It's not as bad as people think. It's stupid to hear people who have never been outside of their city telling me what's good for a place thousands of miles away.

It's also time to remember that Stephen Harper was in favor of the Iraq war. If it was up to him, Canadian soldiers would now be dying in Iraq.