Tag Archives: Bloc Quebecois

Orange Crush Becomes NDP Crushed: David Krayden

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By David Krayden

Members of the decidedly withering Bloc Quebecois caucus would probably be the first to acknowledge, with exuberant pride, their Gaullist ancestry, meaning a family tree with its roots in present-day France.  But what the BQ has never lacked – and what really has fuelled its political history – is just plain gall.  The report this week from La Presse, that former BQ leader and defeated Member of Parliament Gilles Duceppe paid his party’s general manager with House of Commons funds – up to $100,000 annually for seven years – is just another example of how this traitorous party has no business conducting the nation’s business; no reason to occupy seats in the House of Commons except to advance a separatist agenda while collecting a pay cheque and furnishing a pension that are provided by the very country that they are so desperately trying to destroy.

It is difficult to imagine another country where a separatist party can not only sit in the federal legislature but has the mind boggling nerve to spend public money on its private agenda.

There are still four of these misplaced Quebec MPPs taking up space in the House of Commons – one less member than required for official party status – so they will not be paying anyone 100 grand a year with public funds but we will be better off when the last of Bloc head is retired.

Writing the cheerless history of the Bloc is a journey through outrageous entitlement.  Let this latest installment in the BQ Story be the final chapter.

At least there was unanimous party condemnation of the arrangement, with the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP agreeing that this was not public money well spent.  When it comes to criticizing the Bloc, it has been difficult in the past to rouse any sort of emotion approaching outrage, disgust or disapproval from the NDP.  For left-thinking socialists, the trough of tolerance for “progressive,” language-embattled Quebec is deep.  The NDP reserves its contempt for anything or anybody standing in the way of its social reengineering project; it could never quite accept the existence of the Reform Party for instance, as if Preston Manning and his fellow MPs should never have shaken up the ideological status quo in Ottawa.

Perhaps the NDP has discovered a growing antagonism towards the BQ because the effervescence of the “Orange Crush” that seemed so perky in Quebec in the last election has gone flat.  According to a CROP poll this week, this post-election burp has reduced the NDP from 53 per cent support last June to just 29 per cent today.  Though the Conservatives are in second place with 24 per cent, the Bloc is not far behind with 22.  Thus the fight for the hard left vote in Quebec has been defined and, if these numbers remain relatively constant, the next election contest should prove to be a tightly contested four-way fight.

Surely, the NDP did not really believe that it could reelect the entirety of its Quebec caucus, this curious assortment of MPs, many of whom never dreamed of sitting in the House of Commons, and at least one of whom never even bothered to campaign. But it will certainly aspire to repeat this electoral phenomenon and it will strive to outdo the separatists in promising Quebec all manner of special status in Confederation and increased protection of its language, culture and way of life – one that includes massive government spending, higher unemployment than the rest of Canada, low productivity and the highest percentage of part-time workers and absentee employees on the continent.

Whether Quebec votes for soft or hard separatism, it is time that the province joined the rest of the country in the economic realities of the twenty-first century.  Many in Quebec are cognizant of this reality and some of the best conservative thinking resides in that province.  Listen to the economic thinking of Quebec MP  (and former foreign affairs minister) Maxime Bernier and you might be listening to one vying for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.  Hopefully, in the next election, instead of sending 59 MPs to warm the seats in Parliament, they will choose free-enterprise alternatives who have come to Ottawa to get on with the nation’s business and work for a Quebec that is free, prosperous and equal with every other province.

David Krayden is the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies, an independent, not-for-profit institution dedicated to the advancement of freedom and prosperity through the development and promotion of good public policy.

Thinking the Unthinkable: David Krayden

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David Krayden

By David Krayden

With the Conservative Party still removed from majority government territory, it looks like another election of close but no cigar. No matter what you think the reason is for the Conservative stall in the polls – voter apathy, distrust of Stephen Harper or just the most boring election campaign in Canadian history – it will be profoundly and historically unfortunate if Canadians hand the Tories their third straight minority government – given what increasingly seems to be the stark alternative: a Liberal/socialist/separatist coalition from hell. That sometime U.S. scholar, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, has finally decided to level with us quaint Canadians regarding his post-election plans in the event that he manages to snatch electoral victory away from the Conservatives. Hence it is time to begin to think the unthinkable in the hopes that this disaster might still be averted. It is a bit like envisioning the Titanic sailing towards New York, but with the prescience to know the catastrophic outcome of that awful maiden voyage.

We have had Liberal/socialist coalitions in the past: Pierre Trudeau managed one from 1972-74 with NDP leader David Lewis. Of course with Trudeau at the helm, it was always difficult to uncover any differences between the Liberals and the New Democrats. What we have never experienced before, at least in Canada, is a coalition government in which the balance of power is held by a separatist party with a massive axe to grind – against English Canada in general and Western Canada in particular.

The Bloc’s participation in federal politics is tragically ludicrous to begin with. What other country would tolerate a host of separatists coming to its federal legislature to openly campaign for the separation of a province? Where else would these same secessionists receive a generous taxpayer funded salary and retirement pension (after only six years in office) from the federal government that they despise and from which they are pledged to remove their province? It is enough to make any patriot wince that this charade has continued now for 18 years – since this political monster was first spawned out of the chaos of the latter Mulroney years. It was silly enough when the Bloc was most inappropriately named “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition” in 1993. It will be beyond reason if the Bloc becomes part of the Government of Canada, as must surely transpire if the Liberals and NDP are to find enough seats in the House of Commons on May 3.

Neither Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe, nor any of his collected caucus, has ever pretended to have the best interests of Canada at heart when debating policy. These people are determined to destroy Canada. So how can a separatist speak, act or legislate for anything but a separatist agenda? How could any federal party – Liberal and NDP included – even imagine such an unholy alliance?

When the Southern states declared their independence from the American Union in 1860-61, their Congressmen and Senators resigned from their high offices and left Washington to return to their states. They renounced their positions and forgot about the financial compensation. Our separatists stay in Ottawa, offer advice about how federal tax dollars should be spent, collect their salaries, salivate about their pensions and would be quite prepared to dictate national policy as part of a coalition of the losers. This is quite simply a disgusting state of affairs, and Canadians need to think more than twice about the consequences of punishing Stephen Harper once again with a minority government.

They need also to remember that the Bloc is not only a separatist party but a left-wing one that will insist on brutal cap and trade policies designed to bankrupt Alberta and a host of spending proposals designed to bankrupt Canada and satisfy Quebec.

Thinking the unthinkable yet? Do so before it becomes yesterday’s news.

See David’s full bio here.

BQ’s terrorist/Islam sympathies contrasted with Christian politics

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The Edmonton Sun – February 17, 2011
Why right-wingers aren’t the scary ones
By Eric Duhaime

Enquete is a great French CBC-TV show that has an unbelievable team of researchers and usually offers an informative perspective on public affairs. Unfortunately, as often happens with the Crown corporation, it betrays a leftist bias and demonizes the political right. Last week, Enquete journalist Brigitte Bureau tried to scare us with her report about the privileged access some evangelical Christians might have to Ottawa’s inner circle of power. Opposition to abortion and gay marriage are presented as proof of the progress made by some obscure religious leaders. The report implies a Conservative majority would recriminalize the first and abolish the second, but it does not mention that a strong contingent of Conservative MPs are clearly opposed to going back to both issues. …

Given his participation in a rally under the Hezbollah flag in August 2006, it is not surprising to see Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe come back to that Radio-Canada story during his General Council last weekend while his party was officially reopening the door to a coalition with the Liberals and the NDP. Duceppe attacked the alleged association of Conservatives and evangelists by saying, “This ideological bias of religious fundamentalists is dangerous in a society.”

Where was Duceppe when his own MP, Meili Faille, had to reimburse the Muslim Association of Canada $6,000 for one of her trips to the United Arab Emirates. Very embarrassing for Faille, who at the same time supported the help this association gave the Muslim Brothers to build a mosque in Montreal. He probably does not remember, either, that in October 2008 former Bloc MP Marcel Lussier argued in favour of the abolition of the anti-terrorism law and the recognition of Hamas, another Islamic organization classified as terrorist. …

It flabbergasts me to see how ready Bloc MPs – and to an even greater extent federal Liberals – are to denounce people of Christian faith in the Conservative party and use them to scare those of us who do not believe in God by telling us how they do not share our values and have a social conservative agenda, while at the same time they are caving in to the most radical elements of the Islamists in the name of political correctness, Trudeau’s multiculturalism or – less openly – a few thousand Muslim votes. …

Read the complete article here.

BQ’s militant hatred of Christians on display again in Parliament

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It’s fascinating that these French-Canadian MPs think that contempt for Christians is a tool they can use for political advantage. Two days in a row: see the transcript below. They are not simply criticizing Christians; they are condemning conservative Christian participation in politics. How pervasive is this anti-democratic, fascistic spirit in Quebec? In Canada we believe that voters determine who enters public office, not fascist gatekeepers. If anybody should be banned from public office in Canada, it should be those who conjure up the spirit of Hitler or Stalin. When the Bloc Quebecois first appeared on the scene, many patriotic Canadians wanted them banned as a party because of the irrationality of allowing a separatist party to participate in the Parliament of Canada. This didn’t happen. These arrogant brutes want to thank Canadians for tolerating them by throwing sand in our faces and transforming our democratic nation into a fascist regime – “reproducing” after their kind…

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House of Commons Hansard – February 11, 2011
Oral Questions
Conservative Party of Canada

Mr. Mario Laframboise (Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel, BQ): Mr. Speaker, yesterday on the show Enquête some disturbing issues were raised. We learned that Faytene Kryskow, the representative of MY Canada, a powerful evangelical group that lobbies members of the Conservative government, has received privileged access to Parliament thanks to an exclusive security card, a sort of VIP pass. Can the government explain how many of these cards exist, what criteria need to be met before such a card is issued and how Ms. Kryskow managed to get one?

Hon. John Baird (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I understand this group, MY Canada, had a reception on the Hill, and there were a few Bloc Québécois members at it.

Mr. Mario Laframboise: Mr. Speaker, the piece on Enquête identified a number of MPs, including the member for Winnipeg South and the member for Kildonan-St. Paul, who are members of the religious group MY Canada. Does the government not find it disturbing that so many fundamentalists gravitate to the Conservative Party to stack the government and impose their religious values?

Hon. John Baird: Mr. Speaker, this government meets with literally thousands of people every year to hear their ideas and suggestions on how we can build a better and stronger Canada. Just in the last few months, I have had the great privilege to meet with Jewish groups, Sikh groups, Muslim groups, Hindu groups and, I want to say something remarkable, I have even met with a few Christian groups myself.

Click here to read the transcript of a similar attack on Thursday.

BQ’s flaming hatred of Christians

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Quebec increasingly appears to be an intellectual backwater for bigots and barbarians. A Bloc Quebecois MP Thursday launched into a hate tirade against Christians who want to participate in Canada’s public square. The transcript is below. Quebec’s politicians love to exploit hate and division to destroy the religion that is Canada’s only hope. Quebec’s secularist/atheist politicians are weak and cowardly thugs who want to criminalize and suppress all dissent – Jewish taxi drivers, Sikhs with kirpans, English-speakers, Christians who want to teach civilized morality to their children, etc. Can you believe the sub-infantile whining of provincial politicians when libertarian MP Maxime Bernier said that Quebec didn’t need its nursery school calibre language bill – 101? The linear narrow-mindedness of Quebec’s secularist politicians is the kind of mentality you’d expect from a fascist, and of course fascists/atheists love to hate Christians. And they are turning Canada’s House of Commons into a sewer with their hate. Secularists are trying to destroy families in their pursuit of a totalitarian gulag-state. Christians want to serve notice on these humanists that they need to stand down because their views are not welcome in Canada’s public square. Canadians want liberty and justice, equality before the law and the rule of law. Not tyranny. Mugabe might have some openings in his government for these guys…

House of Commons Hansard – February 10, 2011
Oral Questions
Conservative Party of Canada

Mr. Pierre Paquette (Joliette, BQ): Mr. Speaker, a report from the show Enquête uncovered the close ties between the Conservative Party and fundamentalist ministers, some of whom—as we saw in the program — are verging on hysteria. We learned that a number of evangelical leaders have privileged access to Conservative members and senators, and use that access to influence federal politics. Is it not worrisome to see all these fundamentalist groups circling around the Conservative government, trying to change legislation to impose their religious values?

Hon. John Baird (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, every Canadian is entitled to be heard by our government. That is why our government is very proud to hold literally thousands of meetings with Canadians from coast to coast to coast. In the last few months, I have had the pleasure to meet with Jewish groups, Muslim groups, Hindu groups and Sikh groups. I have had the pleasure to meet with Buddhist groups. And I want to tell you something remarkable: I have even met with a few Christian groups.

Mr. Pierre Paquette: Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the evangelical churches are the fringe of the Conservative Party. We have seen it a number of times in the Conservatives’ many attempts to reopen the abortion debate here and on the international stage. Each time a bill is deemed to go against their religious doctrine, the Conservatives bustle about to get it rejected. We need only think of our bill on the right to die with dignity. Even the Conservative government’s science policy is directed by a creationist minister. When will the Conservatives understand that there needs to be a separation between church and state?

Hon. John Baird: Mr. Speaker, I really do not know where to start with that question, but let me say this. As Canadians, people of faith, certainly have every right to be heard by their government. We respect their positions and their views. We think it is tremendously important in a pluralistic society like Canada to always reach out to people of different backgrounds, and we make no apologies for it.

A BQ bill that conservatives can support

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Private Member’s Bill C-507 was introduced in Parliament by Bloc Québécois MP Josée Beaudin (Saint-Lambert). The Bill is titled, “An Act to amend the Financial Administration Act (federal spending power).” The purpose of the Bill is explained as follows: “This enactment amends the Financial Administration Act in order to end federal spending in an area of provincial jurisdiction in the absence of a delegation of power or responsibility in that area.”

Bigot Quebecois slap-down over Duceppe’s Christian hating

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Read the complete article here.

National Post – June 1, 2010
Why is it OK to pick on Christians?
By Ezra Levant

I have never told him this, but I was tremendously disappointed when I first met Monsignor Fred Dolan, the Canadian vicar of Opus Dei. It was about six or seven years ago, around the time The Da Vinci Code was published, and frankly I was hoping that he would be a dark and conspiratorial figure – someone who would fit the words “ultraconservative” and “shadowy.” I didn’t quite want him to be an assassin, like the Opus Dei priest was in the book and film, but I surely wanted someone who was mysterious and secretive and powerful. Like if the Pope had a CIA agent. I admit it: I wanted an Opus Dei friend so I could shock the liberals in my life, and perhaps seem like I had a few exotic secrets of my own. And I thought it would be nice to have a friend who was more right wing than me.

To my regret, Msgr. Dolan is just a mild-mannered priest and worse, Opus Dei doesn’t have any secret handshakes or midnight meetings. I don’t want to sound lazy or selfish, but joining Opus Dei sure looks like a lot of do-goodery and just plain work (I asked Msgr. Dolan for a brochure and I read it carefully, even looking for hidden clues). I already had enough pro bono commitments and I didn’t need any more. (As a Jew, I could join Opus Dei as an associate member).

I’ve stayed in touch with Msgr. Dolan since then and we’re friendly. I admire his charity and his ecumenicalism. He sends me notes from time to time, about Passover or Holocaust remembrance, and he always asks when I’ll be in Montreal again. In seven years, he’s never tried to put the shadowy moves on me, and I’m starting to worry that he never will.

Pat Martin worries, too. Oh, does he worry. Mr. Martin is the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. And his secret sources told him that Msgr. Dolan met with a dozen or so MPs in the Parliamentary dining room last week. (Actually, every MP received an invitation, and not even in invisible ink.) Mr. Martin didn’t attend. But he sought out reporters to tell them that Opus Dei members “give me the creeps.” That’s fine, if rude. Though someone ought to tell Martin that The Da Vinci Code is not a documentary. But then Mr. Martin went further: he criticized MPs for even meeting with Msgr. Dolan. “I can’t imagine why a member of parliament would invite [Opus Dei] for a meeting on Parliament Hill,” he said. “I certainly wouldn’t attend anything associated with them.”

Mr. Martin wasn’t the only one worried that Msgr. Dolan might wave a wand and turn him into a newt. Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, actually asked about it in Question Period. Duceppe named two Conservative party volunteers who apparently are members of Opus Dei, noted that “a Conservative” invited Msgr. Dolan to the dining room and demanded that the Prime Minister “admit that his policy is influenced” by such people. Neither of the women named by Mr. Duceppe works for the government in any way, and neither was known for their religious views – until Mr. Duceppe took it upon himself to discuss their private lives in Parliament.

Read the complete article here.