Is the PQ Canada's Taliban?

I love being a Canadian. I love the fact that we are a diverse country that welcomes newcomers and celebrates diversity. Toronto has the most diverse culture than any other city world-wide. I am Jewish and grew up, and continue to reside, in Oshawa (a small city by Toronto standards). Oshawa doesn’t have quite the diversity other places have but I faced little Anti-Semitism. In fact when I was a kid the teachers would have me stand in front of the class to teach about Jewish holidays such as Hanukkah. Everyone seemed to enjoy learning about a new culture. This is what makes Canada great.

When I heard about Quebec’s proposed Charter of Values and what it entails it made me sick. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois of the Parti Quebecois (a separatist party) has come up with this new charter. The charter would:

·         Ban “overt and conspicuous” religious symbols by public employees (including yarmulkes, turbans, head-coverings and hi-jabs).

·         Make it mandatory to have one’s face uncovered while providing or receiving a state service.

·         Entrench the concept of religious neutrality in the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It’s the first part that I have a problem with. It’s bad enough that Quebec and it’s language police already dictate what types of language private enterprise can have on its signs and the size of the font now it wants to tell people how to dress. Is it a province’s responsibility to dictate how people should dress? Despite all this the PQ insists that the Christian cross will remain in Quebec’s legislature. Hypocrisy or what? The PQ says there will be no “Religious Police” but I find that very hard to believe. I can seem them modeling this new police force after the Taliban’s officers that used to go around Afghanistan and whip people they thought were not following Islam properly.

From what I’ve read and heard the father of Quebec separatism and the PQ, Rene Levesque, would be disgusted if he saw what his party has turned into – a bunch of US southern style good ole boys. The PQs’ and Quebec nationalists’ main error in logic is they think they can legislate and use punitive measures to protect the Quebecois culture. From what I can see and from what I’ve heard the pundits state is that this is has not been the case. These types of Draconian measures have just driven business and responsible citizens out of the Province of Quebec. Cultures and religions have thrived without these measures just look at the Caribbean population in Canada its giant festival held annually in Toronto. Jewish people thrive in Canada as well as Italians, Greeks, Polish people and many others. All this diverse culture is thriving without impinging on other people’s beliefs.

 As long as someone is doing their job properly what business is it of mine what they wear on their heads or around there necks? What business is it of the government? I want my government to offer me services and keep my infrastructure intact not dictate how my fellow citizens express themselves culturally.

I say where your crosses, where your Star of David’s, put on a yarmulke, a hi-jab, a turban or a head scarf. Put up a Christmas tree in city hall and place a menorah beside it, heck put up an Islamic symbol a Wiccan symbol. As long as it doesn’t affect people’s safety bring it on. The more cultural diversity the better.

I’ve heard the pundits give various reasons for this proposed legislation by the PQ minority government. The overwhelming belief, and I concur, is that the PQ want the Charter to pass and then have it shot down in a court challenge (which will inevitably happen). That way the PQ can use this as an election issue to convince its paranoid population that the province must separate from the Rest of Canada. The PQ will say, look the Rest of Canada is interfering in our culture if we were our own country this would not happen. Then another referendum will commence causing more economic instability for the Rest of Canada. If a referendum is held in Quebec I say all the other provinces should hold their own. Our referendum question will be a simple one (not some convoluted, manipulative, question like Quebec’s past referendum ones have been): if Quebec separates can it keep our money, passports and northern lands? My answer would be a simple “NO”. Well maybe a “HELL NO”. 

Dave the Dude

Good friends and things kids today will never get to experience

When I was in high school it seemed like everyone knew everyone and I had lots of friends and a core group of guys and gals I could call good friends. Today, in my early 40s, it seems my friends have dwindled. I have lots of acquaintances but only a few people I can truly call good friends.

Although I don't talk to my high school buddies on a regular basis I know that our friendship endures to this day. There are two guys in particular that I know I will consider my best friends until the day I leave this earth. Chris, Neil and I knew each other since grade school (Chris since kindergarten and Neil since grade three). It wasn't until grades seven or eight when we bonded and became best friends. Neil and Chris were buddies with each other before that and for some reason I entered into the group. We used to do everything together: watch movies, play video games, hit on girls, party, etc, etc. The reason I know our friendship continues to endure is that whenever we get together it feels like we just saw each other the day before. There are no awkward silences and the laughs are genuine and aplenty. The three of us have much different lives from one another, hell Neil lives four hours away, but the bond we formed in our youth remains. For me, at least, it's comforting to know that exists. I always have someone to depend on and I hope they feel the same way.

Speaking of youth I've been thinking of things that I experienced growing up that kids today will never know. The way we listened to music was much different. There were vinyl records (45s and LPs) and tapes. I was on my tread mill the other day cranking up the tunes and trying to remember the lyrics of songs from my teenage years and it occurred to me that part of the reason I was able to memorize all the lyrics was because you'd would actually purchase an album and the lyrics would be included. Whenever I bought a new album I would put on the ole record player, lie down on the floor with the album spread out in front of me, and read the lyrics as the music played. The album covers were awesome as well. The artwork/photo would have me mesmerized. Double albums were even better (there's another one no more double albums). We became experts at air banding. In fact at our high school one of the teachers would put on a huge air band contest. Much thought was put into the performances by all involved and it was always an entertaining evening. My group of buddies entered the contest three years in a row - first year we did Alice Cooper's Schools Out and the other two years we did Def Leppard's Photograph and, if I remember correctly, Pour Some Sugar On Me. It was a ball.

I don't know how kids today would survive back then. My friends and I didn't have instant communication with one another. The only thing we had was a plain old land line and we had to deal with the ever-annoying busy signal. There was many the time I smashed the phone down into the receiver after hearing the busy signal for the umpteenth time. Oh yeah, we had a receiver to smash the phone down into. Today when you get angry at someone you can't end the conversation by smashing the phone down. A silent "end conversation" just isn't the same.

When I tell my de facto step son about how I watched television he is astonished. We had a big ass television that was extremely heavy and it didn't get over 100 channels nor was it high definition. In my household we didn't even have cable. We had a big ass aerial that you controlled by a box beside the TV. When trying to receive a TV station you would have the aerial turn in the direction the signal came from. I watched approximately six or seven channels back then and a lot of the American ones (from Buffalo) were pretty fuzzy. I remember watching those TV stations from Buffalo there was always a fire in Cheektowaga or Tonawanda.

Back then and up to the late 1990s we also wrote actual letters. I went to university in Montreal and one of my favourtie things was writing letters back forth to Neil and Chris. We would send each other letters that were several pages long. I feel receiving a letter in the mail is much more gratifying than receiving an e-mail. More thought had to be put into an actual written letter. It was more personal and you could hang on to it. No one seems to write letters anymore. I think this will be disadvantageous to future historians as they will not have a permanent record to look back on to see how things were in our time.

Yeah, things sure were different back then. However, things aren't too bad today either.
Dave the Dude