Arcade Fire is arguably the hottest band in the world right now.

They are from Montreal.

They sing in English.

When they received their Grammy on Sunday, they even gave thanks in French, and that put them on the radar in the Francophone press.

They even made the front page of the Journal de Montreal.

But would they be welcome at Fete Nationale celebrations?

Organizers say yes, but only if they would sing in French.

Huh?

You see that's the double standard in this province.

My friends in the PQ always say how welcome Anglos are here, that the idea of sovereignty is not ethnically based, that everyone who lives here is a Quebecer or Quebecois.

I don't believe it for a second.

Remember a couple of years back, when the Anglo band Lake of Stew was rejected from a Fete St Jean concert.

They eventually played and everything was fine.

To be fair, some Anglo artists have been embraced by francophone media -- Ian Kelly for one comes to mind -- but in francophone music award shows, Quebec English artists are virtually ignored.

Arcade Fire has never been nominated for an ADISQ award.

Sometimes it seems the beat in Quebec sounds a little tribal.


Will the train roll?

They have promises to keep and miles to go before they sleep… miles of track that is.

Let's face it; the metro will never be extended westward. Sure it will go east, north and south. This is as good as its going to get.

So we are promised better train service to the West Island, but all too often the best laid plans….well, we've heard it all before.

What ever happened to finishing Highway 13? Or the high speed airport shuttles?

We are getting a $22 million engineering study.

No money has been committed to construction or new trains.

A lot of hard work has gone into this welcome first step, and the Train de l'Ouest Coalition should be applauded.

But governments change and priorities change, and until I see shovels in the ground and new track being laid, there is very good reason for skepticism and continued vigilance


Debating the separation of church and state

Finally, there is growing debate in Quebec about religious symbols in public places.

The Human Rights Tribunal this week ordered the city of Saguenay to stop prayers before council and to remove religious artifacts.

A local man who was offended was awarded $30,000 in moral and punitive damages.

This seems to be a little much for his pain and suffering. Give me a break.

The thing is, Quebec is secular and is more so than most, but it doesn't mean we deny or erase our history.

A crucifix in the National Assembly, or at Montreal City Hall, or a cross on Mount Royal is an expression of our past. We must as a society have a memory.

And that is entirely reasonable.