A perpetual crisis

Posted on by

This afternoon the Charest government passed Bill 78 for which the stated goal is to put an end to the civil unrest of the past three months in Quebec, and allow students that wish to return to their classes to do so.

On the surface, the intentions are generally good, but in practical terms, this is just one more escalation in a conflict in which all sides are guilty of provocation and absence of leadership.

The student protest against a relatively modest increase in tuition fees reached the point of being a farce many weeks ago. The student leaders have shown little inclination to negotiate, and even less inclination to compromise on their position.

On the other hand, the provincial government has shown a willingness to do both on many occasions, but has also shown contempt for the grievances of student groups and has condemned violence by protesters while at the same time condoning (implicitly) violence of equal if not greater proportion perpetrated by police forces in Montreal and elsewhere in the province.

It was apparent before this evening that authorities no longer had much regard for civil liberties. Incidents of illegal detentions, charges rapidly being dropped, peaceful assemblies being declared illegal and other concerning developments are plentiful.

Sadly, outbursts of violence at student protests, of which at least some (certainly not all, not even a majority, but some nonetheless) students are responsible have been an almost daily occurrence. These incidents which certain student leaders took time to condemn have damaged the credibility of all protesters by association.

So where does that leave us? We have two opposing factions, who have lost what little trust they had in each other, trying to put an end to a crisis in which both are unwilling to show any humility or take any responsibility. It is to be expected that the government not wish to appear as though it were caving in to the demands of protesters that are hardly representative of a majority of their peers, let alone of the electorate. For one thing, if the government allows itself to be pushed into such a position, it then becomes a lame-duck at any subsequent negotiations with interest groups of one sort or another. Secondly, governments quite normally wish to get re-elected and continue to govern. Showing weakness against what is perceived by the public to be a bunch of hooligans hardly makes for a compelling case at the ballot box.

For this reason, Bill 78 is incredibly difficult to understand. It tramples civil liberties, including many that are protected by the Charter, in order to get students back into the classrooms, an objective that is dubious at best. The right to assemble and peacefully protest is fundamental in any free society. It is one of the ultimate ways for the citizenry to show its rulers that they disagree. Taking that right away, or subjugating it to the whims of the police force having jurisdiction in a particular area, is a rather frightening approach to crisis management.

It is hard to have envisioned any other result to this type of legislation being enacted, than more protests, only this time in the name of protecting our rights as citizens. Already tonight, and I expect it to snowball during the long week-end, people who had nothing to do with the protesting students are now joining them to show their disgust over this type of measure.

It will be very difficult for this legislation to be enforced in any meaningful way, which will have the bizarre effect of weakening the rule of law rather than enforcing it. If tonight is an example of things to come, the Montreal police will act as though this law had never been given assent and  we will be back at square one, with the government frantically looking for a solution and the student protesters claiming another victory.

The big loser in all of this, is once again, the average citizen who sees his rights diminished, the rule of law damaged and in some cases, his property damaged and safety threatened. Unfortunately for democracy’s sake, our elected leaders likely don’t need to fear much of a backlash on election day over yet another encroachment upon our fundamental freedoms.

This was never about tuition

Posted on by

After many long weeks of protests, allegedly against a tuition hike proposed by Premier Jean Charest, it appears that student representatives and the Quebec government have reached some sort of deal to bring all this chaos to an end.

A press release issued earlier this afternoon by the Ministry of Education states that the government has come to an agreement with representatives of the four main student associations leading the now 11 week old strike.

One may still wish to hold their breath as this agreement must be ratified in general assemblies to be held over the next few days. I would not put it behind some student leaders to advocate for continued action in this affair. Much of that will depend on the contents of the agreement to be announced later this evening. At the same time, the events of last night in Victoriaville seem to have deflated the student leaders’ drive to keep up a strike growing increasingly more violent.

Meanwhile it has become tragically apparent that this whole affair has dragged on for far too long and has left everyone in a worse position than where they began.

The students will likely not gain much from this agreement, and the session they’ll have lost (and tuition paid for nothing) will be far more costly over the long-term, than the government’s proposed tuition hike could be. One thing that is virtually certain, is that the freeze in tuition rates will no longer continue, while abolishing tuition altogether is an even less likely scenario.

Instead, we are left contemplating a pathetic scene. A young man in his twenties has lost the use of an eye in last night’s barbaric protest, likely from a rubber bullet to the face. A police officer has been dragged out of his cruiser by an angry mob only to be beaten like an animal. Thousands of students wanting nothing to do with this have been forced out of school and told they’ll have to come back next year and do it all over again.

What is worse, is the climate this saga has bred within the province. This morning pundit Richard Martineau tweeted that guards were protecting his home after a journalist from a rival publication published his home address, knowing full well the ramifications of doing so (Martineau has not been sympathetic to striking students and has legitimate reasons to fear for the well-being of his property).

Montreal now looks more like the suburbs of Paris than it does a large North American city. That is by no means a compliment. The police now have carte blanche to use heavy-handed tactics as they please and against otherwise innocent citizens. A huge cache of footage, on YouTube and elsewhere makes it plain to see that in many cases, the Montreal police and the SQ were just as guilty in provoking violence as splinter anarchist groups embedded in student protests.

Only one person seems to have benefitted from this mess and that would be Premier Charest. Once again, the Teflon Politician appears to have come out on top. An opportunistic PQ that backed the strike even when it clearly ceased to be about tuition and became about protesting for protesting’s sake, will not even come close to winning the next election. An incoherent and bumbling Coalition for the future of Quebec (CAQ) led by François Legault will be lucky if it keeps the seats it has. And that election may come much sooner than previously anticipated.

Good money says Jean Charest will be Premier of Quebec for at least another 4 years in large part thanks to a fractured left that stands too busy fighting its own to mount anything even resembling a credible challenge to the Liberal Party. I am certain the irony is not lost on Mr. Charest.

Critics of Black’s return clueless

Posted on by

This upcoming Friday, Conrad Black will be released from prison in Florida after serving several months behind bars. On more than one occasion, Mr. Black has made it clear that he wishes to return to Canada upon his release. Although he is no longer a Canadian citizen, having relinquished that status a decade ago, he continues to own a home in Toronto and is married to Barbara Amiel Black who is a citizen of this country. Mr. Black’s desire to return to his native home and move to regain his citizenship is therefore quite natural.

As those who have followed Conrad Black’s story from the height of his media empire to the demise of Hollinger and throughout his legal saga, it comes as no surprise that elements of the left in this country do not wish him to set foot on our soil ever again. The left has always had a grudge against Mr. Black for being successful, arrogant, extremely intelligent, and arguably, a live caricature of every rich white man from Bay Street.

This distaste for all that Conrad Black is or has done (or has been attributed to him) has now metamorphosed into outrage with influential leaders of Canada’s left leading the charge. In fact, an article on the National Post’s web site cites Leader of the Opposition, Thomas Mulcair, as describing the man as “the British criminal Conrad Black” no less, and claiming that a grave injustice has been committed in allowing Mr. Black to return to Canada (a decision announced this week by Immigration Canada):

“This is a simple case of a double standard on behalf of the Conservative government,” Mulcair said. “There is obviously one set of standards for Conservative party insiders and another that applies to everyone else.” (Postmedia News, Davis, J; Kennedy, M; Fekete, J; May 2, 2012 – 2:04am)

It is to be expected that the NDP would attempt to use this issue to attack the goverment. After all, support for Lord Black outside conservative circles in this country is practically non existent save for a few legal scholars and journalists having taken the time to analyze the merits of this case. In other words, Thomas Mulcair doesn’t stand to lose many, if any, votes over this, so his thinking must be “damn the torpedoes and fire on the government”.

Unfortunately for Mr. Mulcair, it would appear that he has no case. Minister Jason Kenney has made is incredibly clear that he would leave the decisions pertaining to Lord Black’s return, and eventual granting of citizenship, solely in the hands of the non-partisan civil service.

There is really no reason to doubt Minister Kenney or the Prime Minister on this matter because they both have very little to gain and all to lose from interfering in this affair.

Mr. Mulcair however has little to gain from his position which is what makes it so curious. Is this one of his mythical raging rants or is there some method to his madness?

One tends to think this is nothing more than political posturing with little thought behind it. I am reminded of what a mentor of sorts once told me about being in opposition. “The great thing about being in opposition is you can quite literally make everything up and nobody will ever call you on it. Government is another matter.”

If Mr. Mulcair wishes to be PM, and I suspect he does, he needs to start thinking about how his fabulations of the day might come back to haunt him come election time.