Posted on 10/21/2005 10:15:41 PM PDT by goldstategop
There came two declarations last week, from very different and utterly unrelated sources, but containing by implication the same message – namely that the assumptions behind our new society and new lifestyles are not true and therefore do not work.
The first came from Lucien Bouchard, who abandoned a federal Conservative government to become a Quebec separatist and now appears to be abandoning separatism to return to conservatism – not to the party, but the philosophy.
Bouchard headed a panel of 12 Quebec economists, business leaders, politicians and journalists who issued what they described as "a wake-up call" to Quebec. Unless Quebec gives up some of its most cherished ideals, said their manifesto, "in a few short years, our dreams – or rather, not ours but our children's – will be brutally interrupted by a knock on the door when the bailiff comes calling."
Quebeckers work less than other North Americans, retire earlier, have the most generous social programs, enjoy by far the lowest university fees, and run the highest credit card debts in Canada. Interest on the provincial debt, at 16 percent of revenues, is also highest in Canada. And however distasteful, Quebec must improve the teaching of English, because university graduates who speak only French are "unacceptable" in North American society.
Worst of all, because of its birth rate, lowest in North America, Quebec is about to suffer the "demographic shock" of a chronically aging population. This means "more elderly people to care for and fewer people to pay taxes," said economist Pierre Fortin. "More money going out and less coming in."
Bouchard resigned from the Conservative government led by fellow Quebecker Brian Mulroney in 1990. As separatist premier of Quebec from 1996 to 2001, he routinely blamed Quebec's economic problems on its being part of Canada. This view, too, has radically changed. As panelist Joseph Facal put it: "Whether Quebec remains a province or whether it becomes a country we will still be saddled with a massive public debt." Quebec's universities and health-care system will still be under-funded, and its hydro-electric system still problem-riddled. Neither staying in Canada nor getting out will solve these problems. "There is no miracle cure."
Since these warnings apply almost as much to Canada as they do to Quebec, they gained much national attention. Quebec, however, has led the country in its embrace of the new and rejection of the old. In 1950, the province was a virtual theocracy, its government and the Catholic church imposing a heavy puritanism on all aspects of life. Families were huge and church attendance massive.
All this vanished in little more than a decade, and today Quebec has the highest divorce rate, highest illegitimacy rate, highest abortion rate and lowest church attendance rate in Canada. The new attitudes and assumptions, all endowed by the '60s, have produced the crisis the panel describes, simply because the assumptions don't work.
Oddly, on the same day in Toronto, another celebrated citizen came out with much the same distressing message. He is Neil French, worldwide creative director of WPP Group PLC, the world's second-largest marketing company, overseeing huge agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, IWT, Young & Rubicam and Grey Worldwide. French's skill as an ad man, said one news report, "is legendary."
He was addressing an advertising conference in Toronto, and a woman asked why there were so few female creative directors.
"You can't be a great creative director and have a baby, and keep spending time off every time your kids are ill," replied French. "You can't do the job."
"Somebody has to do it, and the guy has to do it in the same way that I've had to spend months and months flying around the world and not seeing my kid. You think that's not a sacrifice? Of course it's a sacrifice. But that's the job, and that's what I do to keep my family fed."
The following day, amidst the vast brouhaha raised by the teeming feminists in the ad industry, French quit WPP, neither apologizing nor retracting, because what he had said was true and pretty well everybody in the business knew it. Furthermore, that the same reality exists in a great many other industries is also true, however unmentionable.
Some unamendable sociological principle seems to be at work here. If mothers aren't wholly committed to their job, the job suffers. If they are, the children suffer. It may be politically incorrect, but that's the way the world is, and maybe we can't change it.
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
What's amazing to me is the hold that Catholic Church used to have on Quebec until the 1960s. Then they revolutionized and fell flat on their face.
In every possible way.
I'm curious to see if they can turn the corner, and I have my doubts. I've never experienced such rampant anti-American sentiment as I did in my trips to Montreal, and frankly, they're going to have to "Americanize" themselves if they're going to make it.
Birthrates are going to really smash the Western world pretty hard soon enough. Outside of the US and Ireland, there isn't anything but bad news on that front.
This is hard truth that too many reject. For women to
to "balance" career and family is virtually impossible.
The "sick" days that women accumulate hurt their workplaces.
I can see it even at the level I work at as a custodian in
a school. And as for Canada's future, unless the Liberal
party is removed and replaced by a real Conservative party,
its going down the tubes. Stephen Harper should stop trying
to isolate and ostracize himself from pro-life and pro-family Canadians including some of his own MP's. He can't
build a winning coalition with this attitude.
For the record, I was born in Montreal. "Je me souviens" to me means remembering my history now that both of my parents are no longer living, may their memory be for a blessing. I visited the city of my birth last year. It has a charm all its own being defined by its character as an island set in the Saint Lawrence River. But I'd never live in Canada again. I am too American to ever change.
Your average liberal. Insist that everything be given to you, paid for by someone else, and run your credit cards to their max. Why be responsible for yourself?!?!
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
Montreal is a beautiful city in rapid decline because it fell for the seductive lure of socialism and the "something for nothing" crowd. Once the headquarters of numerous multi-national corporations, Montreal now has miles of glass-fronted million-dollar buildings, all empty and all sporting huge "For Lease" signs across the front. Those companies left Montreal because continuous repressive, anti-business policies drove them out. Stupid.
"I've never experienced such rampant anti-American sentiment as I did in my trips to Montreal, and frankly, they're going to have to "Americanize" themselves if they're going to make it."
I came back from an 11 day motorcycle tour of Gaspe' about 2-1/2 months ago. I did not detect one hint of Anti-Americanism. I was treated very nicely by all the locals.
I've made several trips to Montreal and Quebec and never ran into any anti-Americanism or even general rudeness on a personal level. I suspect that anti-American sentiment is of the abstract kind, and is not at all reflected in day-to-day interaction. For that matter, I've never had any problems in France or anywhere else in the world. The only genuine anti-Americanism I ever see abroad comes from the same people who feel that way in the US -- academics, press, assorted intellectual misfits. The overwhelming majority of people in the world couldn't care less about international politics, although they can be led around by propagandists with political agendas.
Quebec, outside of Montreal, is still fairly conservative culturally, especially in the smaller towns. It's just that as it is in the other provinces or in the Northeastern states, so much of the population is concentrated in two or three big cities, that it skews the ideological balance. It should be noted that Quebec City, while still relatively liberal, is considered conservative in comparison to Montreal.
I also love Quebec, and the Irish influence there is rarely aknowleged. Brian Mulroney is probably the famous "Hibercois", but my favorite is probably Larkin Kerwin, a world-class physicist who helped to make Canada a leader in the sciences. And there's the Jewish community of Westmount, which produced Mordechai Richler, Leonard Cohen, and William Shatner.
My mother was from the Gaspe. Still have relatives that live on the Baie des Chaleurs side of the peninsula. Beautiful countryside where the people are very hospitable and tourism is greatly appreciated.
My father's people come from a pocket of Anglos in the Matapedia region, not far from the Gaspe. There isn't a prettier place or finer people on this planet.
Familiar with the area, the town of Matapedia is at the confluence of the Matapedia and the Ristigouche Rivers. Great salmon fishing area. There are pockets of Anglos sprinkled from Matapedia all along the south coast of the Gaspe Peninsula to the town of Gaspe on the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the far eastern end. As I said in my earlier post, this area is one of the most picturesque in eastern Canada.
I was born in the hospital in Westmount, according to my Quebec birth certificate. Its the Anglo part of Montreal. And as you mentioned, the Jewish Community there has produced many notable luminaries.
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
Martin was born in Quebec, but grew up in my hometown, Windsor Ontario. In fact, my parent's house used to be the Martin family house.
Alberta is the only province in Canada with a birthrate above 2.1 per couple. Highest birthrate, lowest taxes, highest marriage rate, lowest abortion rate, lowest government involvement in life. Coincidence? I think not.
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