It was more than a little troubling when the people sworn to protect us see the law being broken and do nothing about it.
It is a slippery slope indeed.
Outside of Montreal city hall this week police and firefighters and other city workers blocked the street, set fires and created a mess. There was no one to uphold the law.
Yes indeed, a double standard.
If you or I set a fire or took a hose to city hall we would be arrested in a New York minute.
But it seems it is okay to disregard and disrespect the law when vested interests are at stake.
So what's next? Civil disobedience? Or as one union leader said, the government's pension reform plan, is "an act of war"?
The students got what they wanted by demonstrating and occasionally trashing the city.
Former student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois now says he supports the police and the others in their fight against Quebec City. A world upside-down indeed.
Pensions will still exist
Here's the thing about municipal pensions: we pay for them and most of us would love to have the benefits, working conditions and pensions enjoyed by city employees.
The pensions are not being eliminated.
The employer is not closing.
This is not Nortel.
What is required is larger contributions from employees.
One of the main reasons your property taxes rise every year is because cities are increasingly incapable of funding the plans.
And all of this protesting is coming before the bill is even passed.
So perhaps instead of trying to set fire to the whole thing, all the unions should sit down to try to negotiate something they can live with.
The province may indeed be going too far with changing the rules for those already retired.
Somehow, that does not seem fair.
But at the end of the day the cupboards are bare, the credit cards are maxed-out and something has to be done if we are not to become an economic basket case.
I fear that this is only the beginning of the protests.
Moreover, our police must always be accountable for their actions or inaction.
Bloc Quebecois fading into irrelevance
The Bloc Quebecois is about to fade into history as the party of petulance.
The party of grievance and its new leader, Mario Beaulieu, is an apostle of the French language, a protector of bill 101.
If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there Mr Beaulieu.
His mission is to restart the march to sovereignty because he knows what's best for Quebecers.
Well Mr. Beaulieu, a new poll this week shows the most Quebecers think the Bloc has lost its relevance. Only 19 percent say separation should be the Bloc's priority.
When federal per-vote funding for the Bloc dries up next year the party will become little more than a rump.
Protest parties come and go and hopefully the Bloc will only be a minor footnote, nothing more than a hiccup of history.
Deservedly so.
