The Canadian Disease Of Ethnocentric Quebecois Nationalism

ENOUGH ALREADY!

As a former resident of Quebec, born and raised in Montreal, I am fed up to here with the bellyaching of Quebec’s French ethnocentric nationalists who do more damage to Quebec’s French speaking community than anyone else.

There is a very funny and to the point Montreal comedy duo known as Bowser and Blue (George Bowser and Rick Blue) who performed a song called “C’est La Faute Du Federal”. Translated: It’s the fault of the Federal government.

No matter what goes wrong in Quebec: It’s the fault of the federal government.

If it’s too hot: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If it’s too cold: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If the crops fail: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If the wind blows down structures: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If Quebec’s taxes are too high: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If Quebec’s sports teams can’t win: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

If Celine Dion gets menstrual cramps on stage: C’est La Faute Du Federal.

By the time Bowser and Blue sang a couple of refrains of this song, the whole audience would join-in singing: C’est La Faute Du Federal at the right moment.

It was fun. But more than that, it also ridiculed the people who made a Quebecois National Industry of blaming everyone else for their own shortcomings, which is the very worst thing that can happen to anyone or any group that wants to be taken seriously.

In Monday’s (October 19, 2009) National Post Newspaper (front page), there is an article about Bob Sirois’ new book that claims with graphs, charts and statistics how the NHL (National Hockey League) is anti-French.

Sirois was a pretty fair hockey player from Quebec who played in the USA. He claims that young French Quebecois hockey players are terribly discriminated against at the draft and during their playing careers. He goes on to state that French hockey players have shorter careers on average than English players.

With all due respect to Sirois – And I really mean with all due respect: HE IS AN IDIOT.

I have a close friend who scouts the minor leagues for NHL potential. The ONLY thing the NHL teams are interested in, is drafting the best. They couldn’t care less what language the player speaks, or the color of his skin.

THE ONLY THING THE OWNERS CARE ABOUT IS IF HE CAN PLAY.

Can he skate and handle the puck at the same time? Is he rough and tough enough to get into it along the boards and come up with the puck? Can he protect the goalie like nobodies business? Can he score from any angle? Or can he set up his teammates to score from any angle?

And if he’s a goalie, of which there have been many fabulous French Quebecois goalies, Patrick Roy being one of them; can he protect the net, even if he has to do it with his face?

Unless you happen to be the Toronto Maple Leafs, where winning isn’t essential to making money in the NHL, you better have a winning team to be profitable.

AND THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE.

In the NHL, like all other professional sports, WINNING IS EVERYTHING!

So, for Sirois to state with total conviction, that owners, managers and coaches are staying away from French Quebecois players because of their language and culture is not just ludicrous, it’s insulting and RACIST.

Maybe, the reason why there are fewer French players drafted in the league (if Sirois’ statistics can be believed) is simply because they’re not good enough. How’s that for a possibility?

Maybe – Just maybe, owners of professional teams care an awful lot less about Affirmative Action than they do about building winning teams.

According to the National Post, the graphics on the cover of Sirois’ book depicts “a blue-clad frog facing off against an angry bull in red.” The blue represents French Quebec. The red depicts the ROC (rest of Canada).

What really pisses me off as much as what Sirois claims, is the publisher’s use of a FROG to portray French Quebecers. It is as self-deprecating as it can possibly get. It reminds me of Quebec Separatist Pierre Vallieres’ infamous book (1968) on how he saw French Quebecers: “White Niggers of America”.

What does either of these depictions say about the community that so readily accepts them?

During the heydays of the Montreal Canadians before the expansion of the NHL, there was a league rule that gave Montreal exclusive first access to ALL French hockey players.

Imagine the advantage Montreal had over all of its competitors in being able to draft the best of the best in the English communities throughout Canada, while simultaneously holding a lock on the best of the best of the French communities throughout Canada?

Where was the fairness in that? Where was the outrage from English Canada?

If you look at the NFL and NBA, you will see a hugely disproportionate number of Black faces on all of the teams, especially when you consider what the racial divide is in the USA between Blacks and Whites.

Of 305 million Americans (February 2009 statistics), 74% (231 million) are deemed to be White, while 13% (40 million) are deemed to be Black, yet, the vast majority of professional players in the NFL and NBA are Black.

What makes this ratio even more compelling, is that virtually all professional NFL and NBA players are recruited from US colleges, where the proportion of Whites versus Blacks favors White registration by 93% (16 million college students of which 2.3 million are Black).

According to various sources I referenced, about 66% of all NFL players are Black. While 85% of all NBA players are Black. But that doesn’t stop the mostly White fans from going to the games cheering for their favorite teams and players.

When is the last time anyone of us heard cries of discrimination coming from the White community? How about NEVER unless it came from a racist cracker?

NFL and NBA owners, just like NHL owners want one thing and one thing alone from their players. EXCELLENCE! Even though there are thousands of fabulous White football and basketball players who would love to play for an NFL or NBA team, they just don’t measure-up against their Black counterparts.

If there is any industry anywhere that rewards strictly on MERIT, opposed to anything else, it is professional sports where there is no AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.

For Sirois to claim that French hockey players are being discriminated against because of their language and culture, only goes to show how insecure and entitled he believes his community has become.

Sadly, Sirois’ book confirms the litany of entitlements demanded and expected by Quebec and Franco/Activists throughout Canada, based upon language and culture opposed to excellence and merit.

I believe the biggest losers of this woe-be-us attitude are the great French Quebecers who have shone within and outside of Quebec on their own merit. He tramples on their accomplishments and diminishes the people he pretends to care about.

MUCH SOONER – Rather than later, the non-French majority in Canada is going to get fed up with all this crybaby crap, and really turn their backs upon Quebec and French speakers. No one wants to be continuously hammered upon by a minority that blames everyone but themselves for not doing well.

And nobody wants to lose out on opportunities because of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. Racism in reverse is racism nonetheless. And for someone to cry that they’re not getting their fair share based upon their race, language or culture, in this day and age is as over-the-top as he or she can get.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov