Drimonis: CAQ's zero-sum politics add up to a loss for Quebec
This week's news that McGill University is eyeing a 'rebrand' — which followed recent headlines about the Legault government's $30-million fine against LaSalle College for exceeding quotas on English-language students — left me feeling exhausted.
Over the last few years, I've grown increasingly tired of watching Quebec's English-language institutions spend so much energy, time and money fending off attacks by the Coalition Avenir Québec instead of focusing on what they do best: educating students.
Why would a nationally and internationally renowned university like McGill feel the need to rebrand if not for a government seemingly determined to undermine it by imposing measures that create chaos, confusion and financial uncertainty?
And why is LaSalle College — a successful bilingual school (founded by a francophone) — now having to fight for its survival over student quotas supposedly aimed at strengthening the French language, but for which no evidence exists that they achieve any such thing?
It's been demoralizing to watch English-language institutions that have benefited, shaped and promoted Montreal and Quebec around the world be treated in a consistently aggressive and underhanded way by this government. And for what? Political points?
Time and again, the CAQ has chosen division over real investments in the French language, perhaps hoping to distract from its own disastrous record. In attacking these vital establishments the government seems to be trying to convince Quebecers that any loss for English-language institutions is a gain for French. Does anyone actually believe that?
When I hear the antiquated rhetoric of those who refer to McGill as a bastion of anglo supremacy, disconnected from Quebec's francophone majority, I can't help but think these critics are the ones disconnected from today's Quebec.
Are they aware of the number of francophones who are employed by, teach or study at English-language institutions? Or the extent to which these institutions help fill labour shortages elsewhere in the workforce? It's absurd to treat them as something separate and apart from the rest of Quebec. They are Quebec.
Post-Bill-101 Quebec is no longer a place where francophones, anglophones and allophones walk separately. Most of us want to move forward, side by side, speaking each others' languages.
Quebec society benefits daily from the skills, research and innovations of its institutions of higher learning — English and French — from artificial intelligence to public health and beyond.
It's tiring to see this government repeatedly use language as a weapon and treat politics as a zero-sum game between two opponents. Are we not all on the same team?
It's been said before: a Quebec institution is a Quebec institution. Their success is the bedrock of our collective success. We all lose when one of us takes a hit.
English-language institutions are assets that contribute to Quebec's educated workforce and economic development. They deserve as much respect and protection as their French-language counterparts. We shouldn't have to argue this.
Yet this government would have us believe that when one of us is cut down, the other becomes taller. In truth, zero-sum politics are increasingly being recognized as outdated and harmful, hindering co-operation, stifling economic growth and innovation, and contributing to political divides.
Positive-sum policies, on the other hand, create better outcomes for everyone. That's what we need — governments that amplify our strengths, not chip away at them.
In a place that understandably will always worry about the protection of what makes it unique and different, it's lazy and cynical to use language as a political weapon — especially when English-speakers who are bilingual or multilingual are a fundamental part of Quebec's success, too.
The Legault government seems stubbornly stuck in the Quebec of yesteryear, fighting enemies that no longer exist. Language is a tool for communication and success, not for exclusion and suppression. We either succeed together, or we fail while pointing fingers at one another.
I know which I prefer.
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Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump once decried the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — During sweaty summer months, Abraham Lincoln often decamped about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the White House to the Soldiers' Home, a presidential retreat of cottages and parkland in what today is the Petworth section of northwest Washington. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes summered at his family's cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, even occasionally driving teams of horses on the beach. Ronald Reagan once said he did 'some of my best thinking' at his Rancho Del Cielo retreat outside Santa Barbara, California. Donald Trump's getaway is taking him considerably farther from the nation's capital, to the coast of Scotland. The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate. But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch. Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' 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Japan Forward
15 hours ago
- Japan Forward
Abduction is a Global Issue
このページを 日本語 で読む JAPAN Forward has launched "Ignite," a series to share the voices of students in Japan who write in English. What do they see beyond our obvious differences, disabilities, and insecurities? Individually and collectively, today's students have the power to shape our global future. This sixth essay of the series, by Masakazu Takata, a junior high school student from Maizuru, is on the issue of North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens. Annually, the Headquarters for the Abduction Issue holds a North Korean Human Rights Violations Awareness Week Essay Contest for junior and senior high school students across the country. (The Government of Japan established the Headquarters, an organization led by the Prime Minister and composed of all the Ministers of State to resolve the abductions issue.) It aims to raise awareness of the abductions issue through viewing films and stage plays, reading books related to the issue, and other opportunities to help the students understand the feelings of abduction victims and their families. These students often go further, taking the opportunity of the essay contest to think deeply about what they can and should do to resolve the abduction issue. Some, like Masakazu Takata, also take on the challenge to directly communicate their thoughts and ideas to others in English. Let's listen. Sixth in the Series, 'Ignite' We cannot just "know" about the abduction issue. If Megumi and her family had not been abducted, they would still be living an ordinary, happy life. Such a daily life was interrupted by the abduction. In August [2024], I participated in the "Junior High School Summit on the Abduction Issue." There, I listened to a lecture by Takuya Yokota, the younger brother of Megumi Yokota, a victim of abduction. The abduction refers to the incident about fifty years ago when North Korea abducted young Japanese citizens to train their agents. Although North Korea admitted the fact, only 5 out of 17 abductees have returned. Even after half a century, the abduction issue remains unresolved. Masakazu Takata, a student at Maizuru City Kasa Junior High School, reads his winning essay during the 2024 North Korean Human Rights Violations Awareness Week seminar on December 14. (Screenshot) What we can do to solve the abduction issue is to first watch the anime "Megumi." At the summit, Mr Yokota emphasized the importance of thinking about it as a personal matter. It is crucial to watch it with the mindset of "What if my beloved family or friends were suddenly taken away?" After the summit, I watched "Megumi" again. It looked completely different. The first time I watched it was when I was in 7th grade. At that time, I watched it as a bystander. Now, I can feel the pain and suffering of the family. I understood the meaning of "as a personal matter" that Mr Yokota mentioned, and I became able to assert it in my own words. According to a public opinion survey, the percentage of people interested in the abduction issue is 73.6%. As the awareness of the issue fades over time, it is necessary to spread the abduction issue. The internet and social media are used by a wide range of age groups, from young people to the elderly. By utilizing information and communication technology, it is possible to disseminate information widely. The families of the abductees are aging, and Megumi's father, Shigeru, passed away in 2020 without meeting his beloved daughter. Therefore, the abduction issue is a race against time. Megumi Yokota (center) and her family visit the Japan Sea the year before she was abducted by North Korean agents. ( © Yokota family.) Conflicts continue around the world today, such as the invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Palestine. It is common to see reports of conflicts when you turn on the TV. However, we must not forget about the abduction issue. It has been a silent battle for much longer than wars. From Mr Yokota's lecture, the desire of the abductees to "return to Japan as soon as possible" touched strongly in my heart. The abduction issue is not the past, and Megumi and others are still waiting for help with the single-minded desire to "meet their families." Therefore, I believe that raising our voices in cooperation with the world for the early return of the abductees will be the driving force for their rescue. As a participant in the summit, I felt a mission to disseminate the abduction issue. It is necessary to widely disseminate the current situation of the abduction issue and what we can do. I want to actively participate in future activities for the early return of the abductees. At the time he submitted this essay, Masakazu Takata was a student at Maizuru City Kasa Junior High School, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. He delivered this comment upon receiving the Grand Prize for an English essay by a junior high school student: Comment from the winner: After listening to Takuya Yokota's lecture this summer [2024], I realized that I had to think of the abduction issue as something that concerned me personally. As a citizen, I want to take action in whatever way I can. Author: TAKATA Masakazu Student, Maizuru City Kasa Junior High School このページを 日本語 で読む
Montreal Gazette
17 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec's English school boards to mount legal fight over budget cuts
By English school boards in Quebec plan to challenge the province's new education funding rules in court, calling them unconstitutional and unworkable. The cuts, which were initially announced in June, could force boards to cancel programs, reduce special education services, or even close schools, said Joe Ortona, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association. Ortona said at the centre of the dispute is Quebec's move to block boards from accessing their accumulated budget surpluses. The funds were saved for future needs and belong to the boards, not the province. 'That money belongs to us,' he said. While the province hasn't said it will take the money back, the uncertainty has left boards cautious. 'We've learned to expect anything from this government.' The new funding rules also introduce what Ortona called 'unrealistic and arbitrary' conditions. For example, one limit he described was how many staff boards can hire. This comes despite the period for staffing already being finalized in May under union agreements. 'Many boards can't meet the staffing cap without breaking union contracts,' he added. Ortona also warned the rules could force cuts to support staff and student services. Areas already under pressure, such as speech therapy, psychological services, and tutoring, could face deeper reductions. A legal challenge is being prepared and is expected to be filed before the school year begins. He said some boards have already signed on, while others are reviewing their finances before joining. 'We've been working with our lawyers since these cuts were announced,' Ortona said. 'We're trying to protect our right to deliver the services students need.' He did not provide further details about the legal action, saying it would be premature to comment.
