Irrational Accommodation

The Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation is not the only sideshow in town here in je me souviens la belle province.

Not to be outdone, the commission has coincided with recent anti-democratic rhetoric coming from the political classes.

-The leader of the nationalist Parti Quebecois party Pauline Marois suggested that immigrants should pass a French test as a prerequisite to get Quebec citizenship. This proposition is akin to the state of California asking Mexicans to pass an “English” test to become official Californians - not that Californians have this kind of power like Quebec does given it has control of its immigration policy.

Tell you what. She should first take an IQ test. Better yet, given the state of French among Quebecers themselves maybe she should give the test to Quebecers first?

-Someone suggested that the Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms be amended to not include religious rights. If not, he opined that the provinces should separate from Canada. Nice one.

-The province’s immigration minister is said to have tabled a proposition that would “force” new immigrants to live in francophone communities so as to make the assimilation process quicker – and painless no doubt. The first two we can understand, they come from elements of the political class that is noted for such talk. The third one comes by way of a black female representing the Liberal party. Jean Charest and his aimless stiffs should be proud.

Weirdos.

Call it what it is: justified racial and linguistic politics. Quebocracy is alive! Look, I'm no fan of what's going on but a little common sense please. Tyranny of the minority does seem to prevail but surely there are other options to consider? Doesn't anyone think things to their logical end anymore? Forget the political baggage that defends these comments. On their own merits, these are acts that run against the principles of pluralism, progressiveness and the type of democracy we want.

Think about where all this can lead. They say Bill 101 was a smashing success. No it wasn't. It was a civil liberties disaster. On the surface it achieved its stated objectives. On a more profound level it destroyed our democratic sensibilities. It dulled our senses of what freedom is. Bill after bill set to protect one culture at the expense of others. This is not democracy but cultural totalitarianism.

This province has officially lost its mind.

With accommodations like these who wants to live among these people and this type of rhetoric?

It's interesting. Never mind immigrants, last night over dinner we discussed how unwelcome even those of us born here feel. We have lost our fight.

More on this in the next post.