Posted on 10/25/2017 10:12:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
PARIS -- Last week, the francophone-majority Canadian province of Quebec passed into law North America's first ban on face coverings. The right says that the law is too statist; the left claims that it's discriminatory. The bottom line is that it's exactly the kind of thing you get when systemic cultural insecurity becomes unbearable as a result of leftist social engineering.
Bill 62, intended to promote Canada's religious neutrality, prohibits face coverings from being worn by providers and recipients of public services, including those using public transportation. Critics say that it will ban balaclavas and ski masks on buses. If you're more focused on some guy in a ski mask on a Montreal bus in sub-freezing weather getting a fine rather than on the spirit of cultural preservation that the bill attempts to enshrine, you're missing the point.
The law may be legally flawed and doesn't cover everything, but neither did Trump's infamous "travel ban." Both do, however, counter the open-borders mentality that has contributed to the erosion of Western society. These measures move the ball down the field and change the dynamics of a debate that often frames rational, reasonable people as bad guys.
For example, Canadians are among the least bigoted people on earth, yet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party-majority government passed a motion earlier this year to enshrine Canadians as such. The so-called anti-Islamophobia motion is intended to "recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear" and "develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia, in Canada."
Canada doesn't have such a problem, but leftists are trying to create one.
Quebec is unique in North America and has long fought to preserve its francophone culture and history as an island in an anglophone sea. It's not anglophones Quebec has to worry about now, but rather massive waves of unassimilated foreigners, some of whom may share a language but not a culture. Such has also been the case here in France, whose media Quebeckers follow closely.
So when Trudeau reacts to waves of migrants entering Canada illegally by simply asking if they'd stop, pretty please with a cherry on top, Quebeckers' minds start reeling. They see the similarities to the open-borders policy that has transformed France for the worse, and they fear being subjected to the same.
My French friends who have never set foot in Canada hear about what's happening in Quebec and think that Canada must look like France, which looks increasingly less French by the day. I have to explain to them that Canada has a lot of space and that it feels nothing like France in terms of compromised national security -- yet.
A Somali refugee in the western Canadian city of Edmonton is facing five counts of attempted murder after using a vehicle to run down civilians and a police officer (who was also stabbed during the attack) outside a Canadian Football League game. The suspect, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif, had reportedly been placed on a police watch list after a tipster said Sharif was "espousing extremist ideology." An Islamic State flag was found in a vehicle used in the attack.
On cultural matters, Quebec is often a canary in a coal mine. As painful as it is for Quebec to bear the brunt of federal government inaction on illegal immigration, the willingness of Quebec citizens to fight for their culture and heritage will ultimately draw attention to the problem on a national level.
Quebec is bearing a disproportionately heavy share of the migrant onrush in Canada. If other provinces had to bear the consequences of the federal government's open-borders laxity, perhaps the rest of the country would be more concerned about the immigration crisis. Some migrants are reportedly traveling to the United States with the ultimate objective of crossing illegally into Canada. The Canadian public safety minister recently asked U.S. officials to trace back travel visas that are being used by immigrants who jump the border.
Trudeau's nice-guy act on immigration runs counter to one of the basic functions of the state famously espoused by limited-government proponent Adam Smith: the duty to protect. Trump isn't a nightclub bouncer for Canada; he's busy doing his job and protecting his own country's people. If Trudeau fails to do the same, Quebec, with its 78 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons, has the capacity to secure his defeat in the next federal election.
Your pretty premier put out the Welcome Mat, so don’t blame the U.S.A.
bonne journée Quebec
However,it's my understanding that the US and Canada have treaties in place making it easier for citizens of the two countries to cross the border than it is for just about any other citizens.I recall my first visit to Canada...early 1970s.We showed up at the border,showed our driver's licenses (which at the time didn't have photos) and we were waved through...took about 15 seconds.
But if Canada gives citizenship to large numbers of Third World knuckledraggers I believe we should rethink our "easy entry" policy for Canadian citizens.
I'm saddened to say that but I've visited "Ground Zero" many,*many* times (I visit the site every time I go to NYC).
Too late for Vancouver. There’s a running joke since the 90’s about it being called Hongcouver. I was there twice this year and the surrounding cities you barely see whites.
I’ve been across that border many times (married a Canadian). One special case aside, crossing has been little more than “here’s the passports, we’re going to/from Montreal, no alcohol/tobacco/firearms, thank you.”
(BTW she’s far more irritated about illegal immigration than I am, and I’m inclined to send troops to the border.)
First of all,a personal question...are you Canadian? I ask because if you are your post would represent "native comment" as opposed to something from a Yank.
Yes,I've read that lots of Chinese and Hong Kong money is flowing into places like Vancouver,California and Sydney.It kinda makes sense,actually.All three are stable countries that have firm and fair property laws in place.It's easy for me to imagine Quebec,particularly,being unsettled by an influx of "foreigners".During my visits to Canada I feel pretty much at home in most provinces (except road signs being in two languages and in kilometers) but in Quebec I feel like I'm in a very foreign country.
Years later another couple and we took a trip to Quebec. We saw mail boxes vandalized with "Yankees suck c**k" and people who refused to talk to us because we were Americans. Another reason never to go there again.
I can believe this. I met a woman this year who lives in a small town in Quebec not far from the New York border. One of her sons is RCMP.
They both really like Trump and are both appalled at the influx of illegals coming in over the U.S. border.
They are not at all happy with Trudeau.
Might get the Quebec Independence movement going again.
It would be nice for Trump to get flippant when the he gets irritated at them. Just use the word in conjunction with Puerto Rican independence. Most of Canada would get absorbed by whom?
Pretty-face has let them in. They will be allowed to have 4 “wives.” They will receive welfare. Canadians will be thrown in jail for complaining.
By bye, Canada!
“the willingness of Quebec citizens to fight for their culture and heritage will ultimately draw attention to the problem on a national level. “
So sorry, that’s not allowed for you white people.
Yeah, Montreal does that to you. Where in North America do you even ask the waitress at Denny’s if she speaks English, instead of French? That’s the time you tell them you’re American, and they speak English as a courtesy.
get out of Montreal city limits, it’s all French and they turn into jerks if you ask questions or directions in English.
I’ve noticed the same thing. They are much more polite and courteous to you if they know you’re an American than they are if they think you’re an English-speaking Canadian.
Brilliant line.
“For example, Canadians are among the least bigoted people on earth, “
They’re pretty bigoted against Americans and American culture.
We have a remodel we are planning. I am taking out the full flush and keeping them for myself, since we don’t live there.
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