The joke is that when the Parti Quebecois was first elected, 40 years ago this week, it ran on a platform of holding a referendum. Now four decades later, the party is going to run the next election campaign on a platform of not holding one.
The irony is delicious.
The PQ used to be a party of the social democratic left.
The PQ used to be a party of principle upholding the sanctity of its Article One, the independence of Quebec.
The PQ, like it not, used to stand for something.
Mind you, it still proudly supports the suppression of English, but really, not much more than that.
It no longer even pretends to fight social injustice.
So when I saw this week that the PQ was planning a new campaign to coincide with Canada’s 150th anniversary, my eyes rolled.
The Pequistes are calling it “The Other 150th” and they are asking Quebecers to tell them why 150 years of Canada has been a bad idea.
They want to come up with the top 150 ways Quebec has been screwed by Confederation.
Liberal Jean Marc Fournier quite rightly says this is the beginning of the PQ’s six-year referendum campaign, making it to the Promised Land sometime in 2022 or 2023, after its second imaginary mandate.
Canada’s 150th birthday is coming soon and it is something we should celebrate as opposed to Montreal’s silly, over-inflated, and ridiculously expensive plans for its 375th anniversary.
The PQ and its misguided path to independence has always reminded of the classic “Swamp Castle” scene from Monty Python – where a lord builds several castles that sink into a swamp.
We all know that Montreal cops have ticket quotas, and this week we were reminded once again why the current chief needs to reconsider his career options.
We learned this week that top cop Philippe Pichet issued orders for his constables to give out tickets every minute.
Such orders, of course, lead to unjustified tickets and really stupid ones.
Consider the case of Jeff McCarthy, a well-known Montreal bagpiper.
He was given a ticket for wearing a small ceremonial dagger in his sock.
He has been wearing it for 25 years as part of his traditional highland dress.
We figured that on sober second thought Montreal police would admit their mistake and rescind the ticket as just a little cultural misunderstanding.
Nope.
McCarthy will take the matter to court and rightly so.
The guys in clown pants have no lessons to give on what to wear and the department should brush up on history and tradition.
Especially since they work for a city that has a Scottish thistle on its flag and coat of arms.
But stupid is as stupid does.
