10.22.2009

LPC bodychecked by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has just sunk Liberal (LPC) fortunes in Quebec. Today they ruled against Bill 104 stating it was unconstitutional and gave the Quebec government one year to clean it up. The Bloc will use this as another reason to send them to Ottawa to look out for Quebec as yet another Canadian institution has assaulted the sovereignty of French nation of Quebec.

The Supreme Court decision was unanimous. That says that even the three Supreme Court Justices from Quebec have deemed the law unconstitutional. That is not going to go over well and it provides an opportune time for the BLOC to solidify what was a weakening lead over the LPC in Quebec.

Add to this story the recent book by former Philadelphia Flyer player Bob Sirois, who examines forty years of NHL draft picks and determines that francophone Quebecers are systematically ignored by an “anti-french virus”.
"Francophone Quebecers are wrongly disparaged as too small, too lax on defence and not suited to the robust “Canadian” style of play, Mr. Sirois writes in the book, published in French and titled Le Québec mis en échec (Quebec Bodychecked). “Myths, prejudices, stereotypes and favoritism make up an integral part of every draft session in the National Hockey League.” - Graeme Hamilton, National Post, October 19, 2009
Sirous makes a good case for his findings while pointing out that the current General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Bob Gainey has drafted fewer and fewer french players since he came into the job. If Quebec's team can't or won't draft french players who will?

Have a look at the the Montreal Canadiens roster and it likely has more Russians than French Canadiens. That would have been unheard of 15 or 20 years ago.

These stories add up to the Bloc becoming rightiously indignant about the Quebec place in Canada. I can see an ad coming, Iggy and Harper gaining up and bodychecking some pee wee hockey player in a school league somewhere.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

last time I check, the QLP, NOT the LPC was the government in Quebec.

If you can't get that basic bit of info right, you shouldn't be making posts

ADHR said...

I'm not totally seeing the connection here. How can the BQ capitalize on this, given that the Quebec Supremes voted with the rest of the court? That seems to make it pretty hard to sell "Quebec's getting screwed by Ottawa".

ricky said...

Anonymous said...
last time I check, the QLP, NOT the LPC was the government in Quebec.

If you can't get that basic bit of info right, you shouldn't be making posts


Dear LPC member who won't share a name...,

I did not mean too, nor did I refer to the "QLP". Actions or decisions taken in Ottawa that appear to or do "infringe" on language issues in Quebec make it easier for the BLOC to make their case for a "more" independent Quebec.

This decision will allow the BLOC to point toward Ottawa and say "outsiders" are making the law for Quebec.

Seems pretty clear to me.

The point that the LPC lose here is that they were the only federal party making any progress in Quebec. The decision of the Court is not their fault, nor can they do much about it but smile as the BLOC make hay.