We knew pretty early on that for the radical student group CLASSE the tuition fee issue was just a smokescreen for its broader agenda.

CLASSE released its manifesto this week.

"We are the people," it proclaims.

Really? They are the taxpayers? They are the workers, the voters?

Basically this manifesto is a long, tiresome, anti-capitalist diatribe on class struggle and the need for revolution.

Now the big test for CLASSE will be the upcoming Quebec election. Will CLASSE respect the results?

That is a question which so far has not been answered.

In the meantime the other student groups would do well to distance themselves from an organization which clearly has a more dangerous agenda, and students should prepare to go back to university and CEGEP next month.

They must realize that the ballot will always be more powerful than the clanging of pots and pans.

 

 

With friends like these as the saying goes.

The Charest Liberals are really trying to portray themselves as the great defenders of French even trying to outmanoeuvre the PQ on some issues.

Anglos who need information from the health insurance board may run into some trouble.

If you call the RAMQ, its en francais seulement, unless the agent at the other end of the line determines that your French is not good enough to make yourself understood.

Then English may be offered up.

So in effect, some functionnaire is giving language tests.

Lucien Bouchard once said "when you are in pain, you may need a blood test but you don't need a language test." He was right.

The Quebec government tends to be quite bilingual when it comes to taxes, or lotteries, or anything with a dollar sign attached.

This is just another indication of where we stand sometimes.

But it is an issue worthy of questions as Liberal candidates troll for your votes in the upcoming election.

 

 

The federal government is spending a small fortune this year commemorating the War of 1812.

28 million dollars is being doled out in these penny-pinching, cutback times.

Canada did not become a nation in 1812 as some suggest, but the British war against the Americans did plant some seeds of Canadian identity.

Speaking to an audience at the French Embassy on Bastille Day, Our Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay praised the French contribution to the War.

But you see, the French were actually on the other side. They fought with the Americans.

Oops.

This is the same minister who last year publicly praised the common border shared by British Columbia and California. He forgot about Washington and Oregon.

Clearly geography and history are not his strongest suits. Perhaps some of that $28 million could go for summer school.