Equality Party (original) (raw)
| | | How to reach the Equality Party: Mail: P.O. Box 21, NDG Station, Montreal, QC Canada, H4A 3P4. Office: 3333 Cavendish Blvd, Suite 290, NDG Phone: 514-488-7586 Fax: 514-488-7306 Email: jkalma@aol.com Web: http://www.equality.qc.ca | | | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | |
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"A sad day for civil rights" as EP leader Keith Henderson steps down
The announced resignation of Equality Party leader Keith Henderson following yesterday's resounding defeat of all 21 EP candidates in the 2003 Quebec general election marks "a sad day for civil rights, and for the English-speaking communities in Quebec," said Peter Sauv�, the party�s communications director and candidate in Notre Dame de Grace.
"Never in the history of Quebec politics -- English Quebec's, anyway -- has one individual worked so hard, for so long, for so many, and for so little as has Keith Henderson since becoming leader in 1993," Mr. Sauv� said. "He has led not only his party, but his entire community, with an unparalleled blend of tenacity, wit, style, courage, clear-headedness, humour, dedication and unselfishness. As with anyone who so adeptly chronicles and condemns language-rights abuses in Quebec, Keith has suffered many unfair slings and arrows, typically from English Montreal's pro-Liberal "big media" and the usual assortment of Liberal contract players and hangers-on.
"Yet Keith always remained the epitome of class, doing far more for his community out of office than all the anglo Liberal MNAs did while in office. So I wish English-speaking Quebecers lots of luck because they've rejected their brightest and best representative. They're the big losers today."
EP vice president and Nelligan candidate Giuliana Pendenza called the outcome "a protest vote against the Parti Qu�b�cois government. The Liberals were seen as the lesser of two evils. But voters who think they'll rectify rights imbalances will be sorely disappointed. And non-francophones won�t have anybody in Quebec City to defend them." Dr. Don Donderi (EP -- Westmount-St. Louis) said the vote represented an intelligence test for anglos where they were the majority in ridings with EP candidates -- "and they failed it."
Mr. Sauv�, a journalist, said it's always easy, yet often unfair, to blame the media for a party's misfortunes. "Equality's case, however, is exceptional. The party�s very existence, like that of other like-minded activist community groups, is proof there�s a serious rights-problem in Quebec, and that there is something people can do about it. And that makes many uncomfortable." He cited an earlier study published on The Gazette�s front page confirming that most Quebec anglophones support the EP's core policies, but contradict this support by voting Liberal.
"There are many good but very dissatisfied English journalists who know their employers wanted a Liberal government and didn't want us winning votes from them. So Equality and its appealing core issues, including language rights, were virtually shut out of major media coverage," he said. "This, English voters' dogmatic fear that a vote for the EP would help the PQ win, and Keith�s exclusion from two major French debates, meant it was pretty much over before it even began. But that's our political and media culture for you."
Henderson said that he will defer the date of his resignation until the party can make plans for its future.
Equality presents Quebec Liberal Party�s Top-10 Greatest Hits against federalism
Following its recent Montreal West Island rally promoting its cost-free municipal de-merger policy, the pro-Canada Equality Party reminded voters in the province's April 14, 2003 general election of the Quebec Liberal Party�s continuing and disgraceful record of pandering to Quebec nationalist interests. Among the lowlights of their Greatest Hits against Canadian unity and federalist values, in no specific order:
1974: Liberals pass Bill 22, limiting access to English schools and instituting language tests for four and five-year olds. Businesses need francization certificates to get government funding.
1980: Leader Jean Charest votes Yes in first Quebec sovereignty referendum (source: 1998 Montreal Gazette column by Canadian historian Desmond Morton, then head of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.)
1988: Premier Robert Bourassa breaks 1985 election promise on bilingual signs by overriding Supreme Court of Canada decision on Bill 101 challenge; His government passes Bill 178, banning English from all outdoor signs in Quebec. He boasts that "we have suspended fundamental liberties."
1991: Following the 1990 failure of the Meech Lake constitutional accord, Liberals launch B�langer-Campeau commission. They agree with Parti Qu�b�cois that Quebec can secede unilaterally, and reject principle of equality of citizens under the law.
1992: Liberals pass Bill 150, asserting Quebec�s right to unilateral separation.
1993: Liberal government gives cabinet the right to decide sign law regulations privately.
1994: Over 15 years have passed since then McGill chancellor Gretta Chambers submitted the Chambers Report. Liberals have yet to act on its finding that Bill 101 constitutes "a deliberate death sentence for the English community."
1997: Liberals join PQ in asking Ottawa to repeal constitutional protection for denominational schools here.
1998: Jean Charest�s Liberals side with PQ in opposing Supreme Court of Canada reference on validity of unilateral Quebec separation; both foster contempt for decision delivered in August. In September, Jean Charest renounces Liberals� own Bill 86, Quebec�s five-year-old sign law, by joining Quebec nationalist cacophony vilifying Alliance Quebec leader William Johnson, who asked major retailers to include English on their signs. In October, Liberal education critic Francois Ouimet says Jean Charest "has no intention of bringing any changes to Bill 101 or modifying the legislation in any way." (source: The Gazette, Oct. 23). The Chambers Report celebrates 20 years on the Liberal shelf.
2002: Liberals support PQ's Bill 104, closing longstanding constitutional avenue of recourse in Bill 101's school-access regulations. English Liberal MNAs mutter something about "building bridges," replace duct tape over their mouths, and await 2003 election.
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Your Vote For The EQUALITY PARTY Is A Vote Well Earned.
I don't live in Quebec any longer. But if I did, I would NEVER vote Liberal. NEVER!
by Howard Galganov
We are less than one week away from the Quebec general election, which is guaranteed to send to Quebec City's Assembly, yet another Qu�b�cois ethnocentric nationalist.
It will either be a repeat of the Parti Qu�b�cois' Bernard Landry, the ethnocentric Qu�b�cois nationalist we know so well. Or, it will be Jean Charest, the ethnocentric Qu�b�cois Nationalist of whom we know so little.
Here is the rub. Both of these characters couldn't give a damn about anyone's opinion, or rights, or visibility, or equal status within an unequal Quebec society who are not part of the French speaking majority.
The Quebec Liberals have long ago abandoned even the pretense of campaigning for the votes of the minority, specifically the English speaking minority. But that has not stopped the "Anglos" from showering them with their votes.
This says far more about how utterly stupid the "Anglo" vote is, than it says about the ethnocentric Quebec Liberals. We all know; not by conjecture, but by actual fact that the Quebec Liberals are just as ethnocentric as are the Parti Qu�b�cois.
Once in power, the Bourassa Liberals not only maintained every facet of Quebec's racist Bill 101 language law, they actually suspended individual rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Canadians under Canada's Charter of Rights. All of this to enforce a law struck down as unconstitutional by Canada's Supreme Court.
And that was after promising the English speaking community, that if elected, the Liberal Party of Quebec would indeed change the language laws as they pertained to public signs, and make them equal.
We also know that it was the Quebec Liberals under Bourassa, in 1993, who created a new language law that FORBID any language on signs, but specifically English, from being equal in size or number to the French language.
And for off location signs such as billboards, or signs on moving vehicles, English remained ILLEGAL regardless of the size or number.
But to get to the very crux of ethnocentric Qu�b�cois nationalism, you have to go back to Bourassa's Bill 22, the MOTHER of the Parti Qu�b�cois' Bill 101, which declared that the ONLY official language of Quebec is French.
Bill 22 also set in motion the denial of choice to parents vis a vis the language of education available to their children.
Here we are in April 2003, and nothing much has changed. The Liberal Party under the perfectly bilingual Jean Charest wouldn't even pay a modicum of respect to the English community by debating in the English language during the "three" leaders' debate; which by the way excluded the perfectly bilingual leader of the Equality Party, Keith Henderson, representing the only Party that speaks on behalf of the English and minority communities.
Not only that, the Liberal Party of Quebec doesn't even have bilingual campaign posters, and seems not to be investing very much, if anything at all in English advertising to EARN the votes of the "Anglo" community. THEY'RE ALREADY IN THE BAG!
I don't live in Quebec any longer. But if I did, I would NEVER vote Liberal. NEVER!
Why would I want to vote for a political Party that treats me and mine with an attitude that borders upon contempt?
In the last Quebec election in which I voted, I asked the Equality Party to run a candidate in the riding where I lived: St Lazare-Hudson. I didn't want to simply destroy my ballot. I really wanted to be able to vote for someone.
Don Donderi, the founder of SitCan, author and professor at McGill University came forward to throw his hat in the ring, just so people like me would have someone to vote for.
None of us were deluded to believe that Don had a chance in hell of winning anything. All we were certain of, was that with Don's name on the ballot, I along with anyone else who cared, had someone who we could vote for who stood for my right to be visible and equal.
Don Donderi of the Equality Party made the effort to make my vote mean something. And that is light years from any effort offered by the Liberal Party of Quebec.
I know that many people who will be reading this will say to themselves: yeah, that's true, but I better vote for the Liberals anyway. And that's too bad.
And that is also the reason why the "Anglo" community throughout Quebec, and principally within Greater Montreal is taken so much for granted.
I have no vote in this Quebec election. But you do. Don't waste it on someone who couldn't give a damn about who you are, and what you want.
Don't squander your vote on a Party which cares so little for you, that they don't even "pretend" to make the effort to earn your vote.
MANY OF YOU WILL HAVE A CHOICE. You can choose to vote for antipathy of equality for all people represented by the Quebec Liberal Parety. Or you can vote for your own right to be Equal. It is as simple as that.
When you go into the privacy of the polling booth, read all the names on the ballot. And if you're lucky enough to see a name that says EQUALITY PARTY, you will be lucky enough to have a choice. You can ask no more than that.
It is entirely unlikely that the Equality Party will win any seats. But it is 100% guaranteed that a vote for EQUALITY, is a vote for your rights to be equal and your rights to mean something.
The Equality Party name on a ballot gives you a choice. What you do with it is entirely up to you.
For more from Howard Galganov's site, visit http://www.Galganov.com
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NDG Liberal's absence a harbinger of fu- ture non-representation: Equality's Sauv�
Liberal MNA Russell Copeman's absence from today's press conference regarding the Quebec's language police's harrassment of a Notre Dame de Grace small-business owner is "fully indicative of the non-representation local residents can expect on this critical issue" if the incumbent is re-elected on Monday, Equality Party candidate Peter Sauv� said following the event.
"Mr. Copeman, the Action D�mocratique du Qu�bec candidate and I all were invited by the organizers at Alliance Quebec to attend," Mr. Sauv� said. "We see Russell's expensive campaign signs everywhere on the street outside this small business, but there's no sign of Mr. Copeman himself. Where's Russell? Where's the NDG MNA when a small-business owner like Sam Servello of Boutique Rock needs him?
"For that matter, where are CFCF-12, CJAD Radio and the Montreal Gazette newspaper? CBC Radio is here. The West End Chronicle is here. The French television network TVA is here. Where are the three largest English media in Montreal when Alliance Quebec calls a news conference on the very issue that's consistently been diminishing the English-speaking community of Quebec? Have these big media missed the news value in this story? Or are they conveniently avoiding any story that's language-related for fear of hurting the Quebec Liberal Party's chances of winning English-community votes on Monday? Judging by their coverage-priorities during this campaign, there�s absolutely no doubt in my mind it's the latter," said Mr. Sauv�, an experienced journalist who earlier won an Ontario Press Council case against The Toronto Star newspaper for refusing to correct its erroneous editorial attack on Quebec anglophones. "Montreal's big English media is decidely pro-Liberal, and their record in this campaign merely confirms it."
Mr. Sauv� noted the Quebec language police -- "and I call them 'police' instead of inspectors because it now seems they have some new 'right' to remain on private property against an owner's wishes -- are proceeding against Mr. Servello for a window display that includes the illegal English word 'hydroponic' in place of the French word 'hydroponique'. How petty can this get?
"All three other parties -- including the ADQ -- are clearly on record saying they won�t touch Bill 101. Equality is the only party that has consistently called for its elimination," he added. "Yet the only Liberal MNA -- Reed Scowen -- who will admit to this law's destructiveness could only do so about 15 years after he left office. So don't expect any change soon in the English media and political establishments' complicity in the erosion of this community�s civil rights."
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Henderson to Dion : Do you back Senate's call or Bill 101? Result: (Story compliments of the Montreal Gazette)
Equality Party leader Keith Henderson told newsrooms he would challenge federal intergovernmental affairs minister St�phane Dion during a meeting with students at Vanier College to "choose between Quebec's language law and the Canadian Senate, whose opposing view on rights is manifested in its 2001 decision recommending Canada implement the international human-rights treaties it has signed."
Henderson's view is that United Nations treaties that Canada has signed disallow the uneven application of rights across a federation, and if those treaties were implemented, it "would mean the end of Bill 101's marked predominance requirement for French on signs. It would end any obligations for courts to interpret laws asymmetrically to favour French Quebec, and also prevent federal governments from entrenching special constitutional status for certain people based on their ethnicity."
Here, for the record, is the question Henderson asked Dion:
"I have in front of me here a document from the Senate. It is entitled Promises To Keep: Implementing Canada's Human Rights Obligations. I'm sure you're familiar with this document. A lot of you students in the room would not be familiar with the following fact - we have international treaty obligations on human rights. And John Humphrey, a Canadian, was responsible for writing the basic document that produced them. We're very proud of John Humphrey, he was actually an anglo Quebecer. Most western nations, the United States, Australia, Great Britain have implemented those rights, meaning they have legal effect. You can go to the court and say Canada's treaty obligations work. They have implemented their rights. Canada has not.
"And I am asking you, because it's so important for us to be able to be consistent, we're very proud of our role in the United Nations, but Mr. Dion I am not proud that Canada, among the western nations, almost alone, has not implemented these rights. And I'm asking if you would agree with the Senate, that it is time for our international human rights obligations to have force and effect in front of judges and our courts."
And Here, for the Record, Is Dion's Answer:
"In Canada, domestic rights prevail over international rights. It's not a concern for me because we have a very good Charter of Rights."
The moderator then asked for the next question.
Here's what Keith told the press before Dion's speech:
MONTREAL -- Federal intergovernmental affairs minister St�phane Dion today must choose between Quebec's language law and the Canadian Senate, whose opposing view on rights is manifested in its 2001 decision recommending Canada implement the international human-rights treaties it has signed. "Unless organizers cancel the audience question period, that's exactly what I'll ask Mr. Dion to do following his 12:00 noon address today in the amphitheatre of Vanier College," said Equality Party leader Keith Henderson, the EP's candidate in the West Island riding of Jacques Cartier.
Canada has signed several such treaties, but has implemented none, so they're effectively non-binding, the EP leader noted. "The Senate says Canada should put its money where its signature is, so to speak. If it does, then Canada�s obligation to honor its signature would mean the end of Bill 101's 'marked predominance' requirement for French on signs. It would end any obligations for courts to interpret laws asymmetrically to favor French Quebec, and also prevent federal governments from entrenching special constitutional status for certain people based on their ethnicity.
"That's because the United Nations treaties that Canada has signed disallow the uneven application of rights across a federation," Mr. Henderson said. "Canada's courts would be required to apply all laws evenly, and that's why our federal governments have avoided implementing them. But the Senate's decision changes everything. So the question is, has St�phane Dion, who repeatedly insists that Bill 101 is 'great Canadian law,'� come around to agreeing with the Senate? If so, then neither he nor others can support the 'Bill 101 is a great Canadian law' canard. And if he rejects the Senate'�s call, then Canada must stop deceiving the UN and erase its signature from these documents immediately."
Several rights treaties flow from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a treaty Canada signed and whose principal author, the late John Humphrey, was Canadian. "Ironically, while Canada honors Mr. Humphrey on a postage stamp, he condemns Canada�s refusal to honor its human-rights obligations," Mr. Henderson said. "Equally noteworthy is that he said this as a participant at our EP press conference in Ottawa in November 1993. His exact words were, 'Canada tells every country to respect human rights, but they forget about it in their own country.'"
The EP leader noted Canada boasts about its respect for rights, yet claims it can't act where rights-abuses fall under provincial jurisdiction. "But our international treaties explicitly state that this Canadian argument cannot be used as an excuse to evade its obligations," Mr. Henderson added. "�Thankfully, the UN has already anticipated that cop-out."�
Countries that have no intention of honoring rights-treaties shouldn't be signing them, he added. "Nor should their leaders be promoting discriminatory legislation as 'a great law.'"
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Poitrasreport confirms EP's call for cost-free de-mergers:
A new report by a former Quebec Superior Court chief justice confirms that the Equality Party's strong condemnation of the Quebec government's municipal-mergers law -- and the EP's unique call for Quebec to pay all "de-merger" costs where citizens vote to do so -- represent the most democratic opposition to forced amalgamation available, party leader Keith Henderson and candidate Don Donderi said today. "Justice Poitras's report makes it clear that Quebec acted undemocratically, if not with callous disregard for its citizenry, in forcing 27 Montreal-area municipalities to merge into the city of Montreal," Mr. Henderson said. "So why are we the only party in this election campaign that believes the Quebec government -- not the residents whose municipalities were stolen from them -- should literally pay the price to remedy its political wrongdoing? Because we�re the only party that says responsible government means accepting responsibility when an expert in law finds it to be in contempt of democracy." Dr. Don Donderi, the EP's candidate in the Westmount-St. Louis riding, said the Quebec Liberals' outright rejection of cost-free de-mergers contradicts the logic of Mr. Poitras's report. "The Liberals' position on de-mergers is akin to that of a court's finding that a plaintiff has indeed suffered damages, but might be eligible for redress only if he or she pays all court costs. That is not justice." Prepared for a coalition of anti-merger groups, the Poitras report says the mega-merger would not be hard to reverse, and would cost about two-dollars per resident. Though its author didn�t align himself with pro or anti-merger forces, he noted that residents were "forced" into a process with no opportunity to determine its outcome. "�In the last two years, Westmount homeowners have seen a 16.7 percent total tax increase, and they can expect annual increases of at least five-percent each year through 2007," Dr. Donderi said. "As for the degeneration of services, the dream of "One Island, One City," is now turning out to be more like "One Borough, One Fire Truck." Mr. Henderson, Equality's candidate in Jacques-Cartier, noted Pointe Claire residents have also seen a five-percent annual tax hike in the same period, with the same expectation of increases. "Yet service-delivery is worse than when the tax rate was less," he said, noting former town councillor Jacques L'Abb�'s estimate of Pointe Claire's annual payout of 40−millionayeartothenewcityofMontreal−−upfromthepre−mergersumof40-million a year to the new city of Montreal -- up from the pre-merger sum of 40−millionayeartothenewcityofMontreal−−upfromthepre−mergersumof25-million.
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Partition- a core Equality policy
Financial Post columns - by Keith Henderson
Funding- we need funds to fight for your rights!
Immigration & Citizenship- A key Equalityposition
Keith Henderson- EP Leader - e-mail him your opinions...
Membership- please join us...
Supporters- all of you needed!
David Wood's book,"La Rebellion Parizeau", is about the last Quebec referendum. He exposes arguments that both sides tried to suppress. Must read!