Author: Bambi

Bambi has been away and very sick. She is now catching up on national news.

It is fascinating to watch all the misunderstanding of Bill 21 and all the levels of mean comments about Québec and its choices as a (distinct) society, or as a nation within the Canadian nation.

In early June 2019, a friend from a certain village in a nearby province, asked Bambi about the prospects of teaching jobs for a relative who is looking to move out of Lebanon. She explained that she did not know the system well here but referred him to another friend. She shared some insights about the high school educational system in Québec, as an alternative. She asked if the relative in question wears a headscarf (it turned out that she does). She then explained that a new Bill, called 21, is about to kick in in this province. As a result, his relative may not be able to find a position in the public sector, if she wears a headscarf (unless she would remove it whilst on the job). His answer was very clear: “That’s not a problem. I understand that this is their choice as a province”.

Bambi thought to herself then, wow. Those Lebanese people (even the most religious ones) understand Québeckers way more than the rest of those Canadian citizens opposed to death to this Bill. How come a Lebanese-Canadian Muslim man and his veiled cousin (Lebanese from a religious community) are able to imagine (and respect!) a different country with its own mindset or approach to secularism? Why aren’t we that culturally wise in our Canada?

Bambi has written about this law in more than a post. She immediately saw the merit of judges, lawyers, and police officers in positions of power not wearing a religious symbol because they represent the secular, neutral, Québec state. She struggled to see why teachers, especially in the beginning. After careful thoughts, and comparisons with other European countries, she ended up finding this bill moderate and even reasonable. The Government of Québec took a legal measure to protect the rights of those already on the job. She just does not understand why they keep funding private schools (some are ULTRA religious). An apparent contradiction there.

Many articles, many individuals, many levels of government outside of Québec have criticized the Bill (Manitoba even has ads to invite “persecuted” citizens by Bill 21 to move there ?).

Anyhow, here is a multiple choice questionnaire for you about this bill. The answer to each question appears at the bottom:

1. Bill 21 is an Act that is all about…

A. Harassing women in positions of power wearing headscarf, men wearing a kippa and/or persons wearing a turban or a large cross, etc.

B. Respecting the secularism (or “laicitiy”) of the State.

C. Telling workers of the state which pyjamas to wear or not at home.

2. “Persons who present themselves to receive a service from a staff member of a public body must have their face uncovered where doing so” because:

A. Mr. Legault is highly allergic to covered faces.

B. This is necessary to allow their identity to be verified OR for security reasons.

C. Québec is a lunatic province.

3. People who are subject to the prohibition of wearing religious symbols in the exercise of their functions are:

A. Tourists, refugees or immigrants as soon as they land at Trudeau airport or who cross the borders.

B. ONLY Public servants in positions of authority. Here is a comprehensive list: the President and Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly, administrative justices of the peace, special clerks, clerks, deputy clerks, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, clerks and deputy clerks respecting municipal courts, and bankruptcy registrars, members or commissioners who exercise their functions within the Comité de déontologie policière, the Commission d’accès à l’information, the Commission de la fonction publique, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec, the Commission des transports du Québec, the Commission municipale du Québec, the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles, the Régie de l’énergie, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, the Régie des marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, the Régie du logement, the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal, the Administrative Tribunal of Québec or the Administrative Labour Tribunal, as well as disciplinary council chairs who exercise their functions within the Bureau des présidents des conseils de discipline, commissioners appointed by the Government under the Act respecting public inquiry commissions, and lawyers or notaries acting for such a commission, arbitrators appointed by the Minister of Labour whose name appears on a list drawn up by that minister in accordance with the Labour Code, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, and persons who exercise the function of lawyer, notary or criminal and penal prosecuting attorney and who are under the authority of a government department, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the National Assembly, a person appointed or designated by the National Assembly to an office under its authority (or a body referred to in paragraph 3 of the bill), persons who exercise the function of lawyer and are employed by a prosecutor (Code of Penal Procedure), unless the prosecutor are persons acting in criminal or penal matters for such a prosecutor before the courts or with third persons, lawyers or notaries acting before the courts or with third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into with a minister, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the National Assembly, a person appointed or designated by the National Assembly to exercise a function under its authority (or a body referred to in paragraph 3 of the bill), or lawyers acting in criminal or penal matters before the courts or with third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into with a prosecutor, peace officers who exercise their functions mainly in Québec; and principals, vice principals and teachers of educational institutions under the jurisdiction of a school board established under the Education Act or of the Commission scolaire du Littoral established by the Act respecting the Commission scolaire du Littoral.

C. Truck drivers crossing the TransCanada highway, as soon they hit any Québec border.

4. Teachers wearing a religious symbol, such as a headscarf, can keep it on the job because:

A. They will have to do the following in return: walk daily in -20, without a coat, from Métro Henri-Bourassa (subway station in Montreal) all the way to Québec city OR under the rain, without an umbrella, or under the sunshine, without any headscarf and no sunscreen.

B. of a grand-father clause protecting their rights.

C. They would have paid a fine of $100 per day.

5. New teachers about to enter the profession in the public sector must remove any religious symbol because:

A. The average Québec citizen is a French-speaking Hitler.

B. It will be now required upon hiring.

C. Québec enjoys torturing women, especially those with a headscarf, whether their first language is Arabic or not.

Note: All the answers of this Multiple Choice Questionnaire are “B”.  B is for “Bravo Québec” for the courage of being whom you are and governing according to your history and values.

Bambi read a recent article by Ms. Amelia Fleming with much interest:

Concern over RCMP presence on campus

From this article, she learned that some members of the university expressed concerns over a visit of a couple of plain-clothes RCMP officers to a public event (i.e., a visiting author’s talk about the mining industry in Canada).

First, bravo to the talented author of this article. Bambi is a faithful reader of Ms. Fleming.

Second, she has three comments or rather questions to the concerned members of the university:

1. Aren’t police officers (especially out of uniform) allowed to attend a public event?
2. Will Dr. Thomas share with us what he will learn from his request of access to information regarding the described incident?
3. Are the concerned members of the university interested in a gift from Bambi: a free ticket to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, China, or even Russia? Perhaps upon returning from such a trip they will tell her if they still consider Canada to be a police state ??

Bambi just read the news and watched the video below.

See for yourself:

‘I was shocked’: Doug Ford denounces protest during pro-Israel event at York University

Today, this happened at York University (Toronto).

Yesterday and decades before yesterday, it used to happen at Concordia University (Montreal) or elsewhere.

Bambi is writing this post, without caring about people’s opinions (each has one and she has hers).

She is just sick and tired of seeing conflicts from abroad disturbing our beautiful campuses or cities. This regardless of whom is (more) wrong or right.

Before reading Global news and watching the video, she has considered writing an initial post about Mr. Trudeau’s change of vote on the UN.

Last December, when she travelled to Beirut, all the Middle East Airline (MEA) planes played a famous song by Feiruz, a Lebanese singer, for Jerusalem following landing in all capitals they stopped in (this came as a reaction to Trump’s unilateral decision to move the American embassy there). The song’s piece was about a prayer for peace in this so-called holy city. It was a nice gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Bambi is and has always been for peace and justice, that is for a two-state-solution to this endless conflict in the Middle East. In all honesty, despite faith in her heart, she does not care much about the spiritual/religious part of the issue related to Jerusalem. She cares more about human and citizen rights, let’s say.

This is why, she applauded Trudeau’s change of vote 2-3 days ago.

Some say Canada did this just to win a seat on the UN. Maybe? Some say he could not do it before because of the NAFTA negotiations. Maybe? Some say it is odd to be appearing to side with the dictators of the world on this issue. Maybe?

Regardless, it is a position that is more congruent with a two-state-solution (if at all realistically possible, given the level of deep hurt or hatred). It is also a position that appears to be more “Canadian”, so to speak. This, even if Bambi also respects earlier decisions. In the end, the problem is too deep. She even doubts it will be solved before the death of her grandchildren (OK, she is saying this because she does not have kids).

More seriously, Bambi will say: Thank you Mr. Trudeau, even if she did not vote for you a second time.  

Yes, the Palestinians suffer under occupation and further continuous colonization. Yes, it breaks Bambi’s heart. However, her heart also breaks to read about Israeli kids (or any kids!) worried about safety, for real (violence of some sort) or not (perceived fear). So, everyone deserves a solution to this problem. Mind you, so does Lebanon that has directly suffered from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (triangulated into civil war).

To the people fighting in the Middle East and to the overzealous students at York University, she will say:

Enough violence. Enough extremism (ideological or religious or whatever else). Enough stupidity, please… and not in our peaceful Canada.

Let’s listen to each other, even if we do not like what the other will say.

It is only with continuous, and of course respectful, open channels of communication that trust can be re-built on day.

Without trust, there can be no hope for peace.

Peace starts in our hearts, between our ears (there is brain there, let’s use it!), in our relationships, in our cities or countries, established ones or countries yet to be built.

The Consulate invited the Lebanese-Canadian community of Montreal to participate in this video, featuring citizens singing the Lebanese anthem.

We can see in it students of all ages, construction workers, taxi drivers, lawyers, scientists, healthcare providers, hockey players, dancers, cooks, etc. A productive diaspora, proud to be both Canadians (+ Québeckers) and Lebanese.

Thank you for this moving initiative.

Best wishes to Lebanon and to the Lebanese people, united in their dream for a better future.

It is impressive that between 900 and 1000 Parisians of Lebanese origins rallied once again in support of Lebanese protestors in less than a month.

Like everyone else, Bambi does not know how the Lebanese revolution will end.

Anything is realistically possible for sure. The best case scenario would be a much needed change of a system that has clearly failed. The worse case scenario can of course be violence… or even chaos.

This being said, at least the people of Lebanon woke up from their apathy (they use the term “coma” there). They are courageously demanding, for the first time ever, an end of the “metastatic” corruption. They want transparency. They want a real functional country. How? Through a government composed of independent technocrats who will have the legislative executive power to draft a new electoral law (in order to hold elections).

Mind you, Lebanon does not seem to be showing any sign of a forthcoming government (not even with those same politicians, that is minus any technocrats). In the meantime, the financial crisis is deepening.

Maybe the President of Lebanon should hire a head-hunting firm to find those technocrats (just like Sackville is doing now to search for its new CAO :); https://warktimes.com/ ).

That was a joke, obviously. More seriously, what is Lebanon waiting for? Not for Godot, Bambi hopes.

Is it waiting for a bailout from this or that country or external entity?

Who will dare to help Lebanon once again? Will any financial support work and for how long? Until a next crisis, if serious reforms are not undertaken? Will any external help come with strings attached? Why do political solutions seem be paralyzed or totally absent, even after a month of protests?

Too many questions. No clear answers. Just the hope for a better tomorrow.

Lebanese protesters blocked an unconstitutional parliamentary session (France 24):

Lebanese physicians and patients are worried about potential medical supply shortage (France 24: “‘Like a Rolls Royce without fuel’: Dollar-strapped Lebanon hospitals faced with closure”):

“North Korea to play World Cup qualifier against Lebanon behind closed doors in Beirut on security concerns” (Euronews by Reuters): https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/19/north-korea-to-play-in-lebanon-behind-closed-doors-on-security-concerns-afc

As a comment to the following article, Bambi will resort to some sarcasm, just for some fun:

Sackville’s mayor apologizes to council, staff and citizens for not correcting false claims

While apologizing to Mr. Burke (for whatever hidden reasons, genuine or not), why doesn’t our Mayor take the opportunity to apologize to all the former Heritage Board members, and especially to Bambi’s spouse, Mr. Louis Béliveau. The latter was wrongly accused of misconduct by a town wanting to badly hide its own legal misconduct.

If the Mayor (or Councillor Black earlier), will say she is fabricating facts, well the whole story is documented in several past articles on the New Wark Times where Mr. Wark cleverly shared the “secret” Lordon Report, which ended being not too secret, we learned from the Supreme Court of Canada (https://warktimes.com/?s=Lordon+report).

Following the above, Bambi has expressed her hope for our town’s public apologies to Louis and to the other Heritage Board volunteers at two opportunities, if her memory is accurate, on the New Wark Times’ blog platform. She then quickly realized that not everyone is capable of introspection to generate authentic apologies. Who cares about apologies when we know the truth and we stand by our values? Plus, life is way too short. We preferred to move on and keep enjoying our daily lives.

Anyhow, according to Bambi, our Mayor takes good decisions sometimes and, when this happens, she is the first to write in appreciation. For instance, she can think of decisions for the Industrial park, bringing more businesses (mind you, even Louis wrote something positive about it), of the beautiful decorations for Remembrance Day, minus of course the rather odd management of the Memorial Park saga over the summer.

All the above being said, our town is notoriously known for overspending, especially on this highly expensive pond project (is it really needed?) and also on the Sackville Arts Wall that has cost us $43K (Bambi has called it in the past the “Wall of China” ?), or more recently the idea of an $80K dog park. Of course, Bambi adores dogs but is this project a good use of public funds, as Councillor O’Neil recently wondered (https://warktimes.com/)?

Regardless, our Mayor is free if he wants to apologize or to defend a town’s specific staff member, but Bambi does not agree with him on the way he is telling this story or this truth (or should she say “his” truth, to borrow a famous word we heard from a famous Canadian working in Ottawa).

Specifically, she is talking about the word “fabrication” used by our Mayor, which seems to insinuate that Mr. Percy Best is not reporting the evidence or the truth accurately. Mr. Percy Best is one of the most decent men Bambi has met. Or was it meant as a shot against Mr. Estabrooks (former Deputy Mayor) rather?

Our Mayor’s choice of words also seems to insinuate that Mr. Wark is not honest or accurate, as a reporter. Mr. Wark is one of the most professional and decent journalists she has ever met (see earlier post, reply to Councillor Black: https://tinyurl.com/tmnj58c).

Bambi does not understand, or care to understand, all the internal politics of our town. However, she cannot help not to wonder: Why this comment, this apology, and why now?

Bambi recalls only one encounter with Mr. Burke that was not particularly pleasant, and she is usually someone who naturally tends to see the good side of folks first and fast.

Mr. Burke may have not noticed that she has witnessed this interaction, between him and her spouse, that occurred at the Champlain Mall in Moncton where they had company with them. The incident happened during the saga of the Heritage Board before the legal action. It was the first time she met this Mr. Burke actually.

Anyhow, Mr. Burke’s attitude was more “childish” than anything else, if she may use the term. It made everyone smile ?. Perhaps this was his way of reacting when triggered. Maybe Louis “triggered” him when he politely greeted him. Luckily, she has seen him acting much more professionally on the town’s social media.

Because there is hope for more noble behaviour, she hopes Mr. Burke will have the decency to apologize to Mr. Best and Mr. Estabrooks. Whether he meant to be rude to them or not in the incident involving Crandall Engineering company, his action spoke volumes about the state of democracy in our small town.

If he apologizes (just like his/our Mayor did), despite overspending issues in this project or despite any error (mistakes do happen, we are human), like Bambi, Sackville citizens would appreciate his politeness. Perhaps they would also become more convinced/impressed by our Mayor’s recent public comment and apologies.

https://www.sackvilletribunepost.com/news/local/in-their-own-words-marshview-middle-school-students-share-their-reflections-on-remembrance-day-374755/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-protests-economy/we-cant-take-it-anymore-as-lebanon-economy-skids-jobs-in-firing-line-idUSKBN1XR0I0

Above is the link to the article in question (a 2 min read).

The picture above shows the Bank of Beirut.

Bambi is now thinking of her dearest cousin and her spouse who work there.

Bambi is also thinking of all her other relatives and friends, also bankers elsewhere.

Sadly, “S&P Global Ratings said on Friday that it lowered Lebanon’s long-term and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to ‘CCC/C’ from ‘B-/B’, citing rising financial and monetary risks”:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-ratings-s-p/sp-downgrades-lebanons-credit-rating-amidst-ongoing-protests-idUSKBN1XP2DP

If Bambi understands well, “a sovereign credit rating” refers to the credit rating of a “sovereign” entity (national governments). It is an indicator of the risk level of the investing context of this sovereign jurisdiction’s debt. Investors usually use such indicators before deciding to invest in a jurisdiction. Obviously, this indicator also takes into account political risk.

Keeping this in mind, it seems that three top Lebanese banks (Bank Audi, Blom Bank, & Bankmed) were downgraded by S&P Global Ratings, as reported by both Reuters (please see above) and Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-14/banks-on-the-frontline-of-lebanon-s-crisis-get-downgraded-by-s-p).

Bambi hopes that this VERY dark financial cloud will be managed as wisely as possible.

Clearly, tough management decisions will have to be taken by businesses (small or large), especially but not only by banks, as well as maybe by hospitals, other organizations, and/or by citizens at large, in the days, weeks, or even years ahead.

By the way, in the picture above, the sign in Arabic on the wall reads as: “The return of the stolen money“.

Bambi is unsure if those public funds have been stolen in the true sense or just very badly (i.e., criminally) mismanaged by politicians… or both? In either case, the consequence on citizens is tragic.

One thing is also sure: The country’s financial situation seems to remain a total mess.

At the time being, whether for geopolitical reasons or pure incompetence, there seems to be an incapacity of the government (or what is left of it?) to solve this deep financial crisis.

“Bon courage” to all the citizens of Lebanon! Hang on, please.

Above is an interesting English report by Ms. Nadia Massih and Mr. Mohamed Farhat (France 24; published on November 16, 2019).

Bambi discovered “Megaphone“, which is a news platform that gives voices to Lebanon’s uprising. Thank you France 24.

First, it is somehow ironic, and even amusing, to see the smiling faces of the police officers. I guess it is not every day that they see so many people happily waiting for citizens to be released from their police station :).

Second, and more alarmingly, it is Bambi’s hope that Lebanese people’s right to freedom of expression will keep on being protected, now more than ever.