A response to the blog posting Mario et «nous», Montréalais :

Philippe
Les adéquistes sont partout. Du Nord au Sud, de l'Est à L'ouest. Toute la province est maintenant sous le pouvoir de l'empire de l'ADQ. Toute ? Non ! Car une grande ville socialiste résiste à l'envahisseur, encore et toujours. MONTRÉAL ! Mais pour combien de temps ? Astérix, Obélix, Panoramix ??? Où êtes-vous ? On va avoir besoin de la potion magique socialiste ! Sinon, nous devrons nous séparer du Québec, qui ne nous aime plus. Snif, snif

Montreal, a socialist city? In my dreams, perhaps. Stilll, it made me laugh.

The ADQ won 41 seats, but none in Montreal. Can’t we get with the program? Mario is the bright new star in Quebec's political firmament – everyone knows that. And everyone knows that people in the regions are sick and tired (tanné) with superior Montrealers; so tired of a city where whole neighbourhoods (like the Plateau) are well-known to be nests of socialist vipers seeking to impose their values on everyone else.

I understand that people are complaining about being disrespected by Montrealers, but “ce petit jeu joue à deux”. I believe in respecting people, but I have little sympathy for people who complain about being disrespected when they are being called on their disrespect of other people. The wounded pride of the Herouxvillois who stood up for that fundamental Quebec value of people never wearing exotic garb such as hijabs except on Halloween (Woooo! Scary Muslims!) impresses me not at all. The radio talk show host who wrote of his right to think differently from people in the Plateau after he likened the Parti Quebecois to ‘a club of fags' likewise does not have my sympathy. Rule number one: If you want to be respected by people who are different from you, start by respecting people who are different from you.

Mind you, I must make a confession: I live in the Plateau. Although come to think of it, that in itself does nothing to rank me above or below anyone.

I also think that we Quebecers must not be afraid to name the racism, homophobia, and other forms of discriminatory oppression in our society (including in Montreal, even in the Plateau!). People are often motivated by xenophobia rather than racism, but their xenophobia makes racist discrimination acceptable. And racism is definately a problem in Montreal, where there is, for example, a pattern of police shootings of so-called "visible minorities" (an interesting euphemism)- a pattern which includes complete inpunity for police officers. And that's just one of the more blatant patterns of racism that never quite seems to get on the radar screen for white Montrealers here in this oh-so tolerant, open, and diverse metropolis.