Quebec politics are headed for a race to the bottom.

With the next election less than two years away, the opposition parties are scrambling to find ways to dethrone the Liberals who, despite some rather rough sailing, still lead the polls.  

If you liked the Charter of Values debate last time, you will love version 2.0. We’re just getting started here. The CAQ is already staking out its ground as the defender of the fleur de lis and the right to eat tourtière. This political ad warns of the dangers of the teachers of young minds wearing the Muslim chador.



The CAQ believes it is a clear and present danger to young Québécois and Québécoises, and obviously it must be banned. That’s because of an onslaught of chador-wearing teachers? Do you know how many there are in Quebec? None. Not a single teacher wears this style of dress.

And further – doesn’t it kind of remind of you of something else? How different is this from the uniform worn for years in Quebec schools by the good sisters?

The PQ, not to be outdone, is revisiting its Charter of Values and will launch a consultation on burkas in public. I think most people can agree that one's face must be uncovered when dealing with government and authorities and that people in authority positions should not wear overt symbols, but beyond that  debate, once again we will likely go down that slippery and ugly slope where we will debate the length of symbols and how many angels indeed can dance on the head of a pin.  

Then there is the cynical scheming being undertaken by the PQ and Quebec Solidaire. The party Che Guevara would be proud of is actually thinking of jumping into bed with the PQ to help defeat Liberal candidates in tight ridings. It would be a marriage made in hell. The fact is, the Liberals have been in for pretty much most of this century. The sad thing is one can only hope they stay there because the alternatives are less than inspiring and somewhat dangerous.

Guess who will pay for F1 improvements? That's right - you


(AP / Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

If you're a racing fan, you must be happy that the asterisk has been removed and the Grand Prix will return in 2017.

If you are taxpayer, you might be wondering how much it’s going to cost you.  The F1 crowd held a knife to Montreal’s throat because the track facilities weren’t up to snuff – or their standard of snuff.   And the mayor would not tolerate losing the race in an election year. So guess who will pay for the revamp for a facility used once a year by the one per cent? You will. That’s in addition to the $187 million all governments will pay for the privilege of holding an F1 race in Montreal until 2024. What the Grand Prix wants, the Grand Prix gets in the city – and we pay.

What an embarrassment


THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Now to the best laid plans of mice and men. The folks with the Montreal Impact had two weeks to figure it out.

It can’t be that difficult to figure out the lines on a soccer field. There were 60,000 fans at the Big O and the soccer world watching in Canada and around the world, notably in the U.S on ESPN, and instead of a kick off, they got team employees repainting the field.

No one from Montreal's best soccer team had noticed that the penalty areas were about two metres short of regulation.

What an embarrassment. ‘It was just a human error,’ claimed an obviously red-faced Impact official.

Most people might want to put in much stronger terms, if you read between the lines.