There's A Douche, Douche, Douche Hangin' 'Round The Back Door: Mark Spector Views Quebecers As Morally Corrupt

One thing that surprises me when a (or in this case many) racist comments towards Quebecers are published in an English Canada magazine or website is the lack of subtlety. Not only are the ''Frenchies'' the only people it's alright to be bashing, it's more often than not done in a way that it implies fact, like ''these sub-humans are terrible people, what, you didn't know? Here's yet another example why''; if you'd talk like that of Mexicans, Blacks, Jews - all hell would likely break loose. But the ''fucking frogs''? That's a-ok.

Case in point: this morning's Sportsnet column by Mark Spector. So he's against government funding for a proposed new arena in Québec City that could, perhaps, eventually, be used to lure in an NHL team, but would first and foremost be used in an Olympic bid and as a live concert venue.

His (actual, decent) arguments:

So what if arenas in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver were all privately built, with no handouts from the Feds? Who cares if in Edmonton, where two years of local haggling has included every scheme except looking to Ottawa or provincial coffers for the lion’s share of the costs?

Ok. Except Winnipeg got some of the feds' money for their arena's renovations. And Calgary's arena, conveniently is left out. Why? Because its actual name is the 'Olympic Saddledome', as it was built to host the 1988 Winter Games. Just like the feds spent over $5-billion in Vancouver infrastructures for their 2010 Games. Which is exactly what Québec wants for 2022 - Olympics.

And what about all the other pro sports stadiums paid for by the government? Montréal's Olympic Stadium? BC Place's roof? The proposed new Hamilton Stadium - or the Hamilton Copps Coliseum, formerly the Civic Center.

Where Spector, who shares a last name with alleged killer Phil Spector, goes a tad awry is when he tries to hypnotize us with fake math:

If the Mayor of Quebec figures that tacit level of commitment is solid enough to wager all those taxpayer’s dollars, than who are we to argue? Other than, of course, the Rest of Canada, whose hard-earned money, through copious transfer payments to the needy La Belle Province would make up both the provincial and federal input.

But we’ll ask you: If no one in Quebec cares where the money comes from, why should we? They’re getting the tax dollars from the Rest of Canada anyhow — who are we to say what they should spend it on?

Ok, Champ. Here's how it really works: Québec and Ontario, at this point, make up for between 45-50% of the country's population, with Ontario being the richest province. Chances are we're also the two provinces giving up the most in federal income taxes, no? Yes. Québec provides 20-25% of federal income taxes.

But that's not it: Québec is, in fact, a distinct society. It spends more and saves less. And guess what that means? In federal GST sales taxes, we're #1, with a whopping 30% of the country's GST revenues coming from this province. Sure, some Ontarians account for it when they cross the border after 1AM to drink here, but mainly, we like to spend our cash. And when we do, we fill up the coffins in Ottawa.

So... one of the provinces who ends up paying for the others the most is... needy? Makes no sense. Unless...

Ah yes. The bigotry:

It is too easy though, for an Albertan to paint the picture of a province that seems always to have it's [sic] hand out; a people who look at the way things are done across the rest of Canada and appear to say to themselves, “Why should we have to pay also?”  (...)

Of course, that is the mantra of a province that has become the Florida of Canada.

In the United States, a disproportionate amount of mail scammers, telephone fraudsters, real estate schemes and all-around con artists reside in Florida. In Canada, whenever there is a Shawinigate, a sponsorship scandal, accusations of a crooked judge-naming process, or a good old-fashioned political sex scandal a la Julie Couillard, it seems it is brought to us by our Quebecois friends.

Ok, wow. First off, let's decipher the apples from the nectarines, and the oranges from the ice cream: Canada's leader in mail/phone scams is Montréal, whose team built its arena with its own cash, not QC. And Montréal's pretty much the reason why Québec is still a province and not its own country, so be nice.

Shawinigate: when former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien helped a hotel/motel/auberge get federal funds for its renovations... which seems less bad than all the Western MPs in current PM Stephen Harper's cabinet, who have each had billions invested in their own 'hoods in Saskachewan and Alberta for brand-spanking new projects. That's today. And the past 5 years. And some of them are couples, and they own businesses together that pay no taxes anywhere. Helena Guergis, anyone?

Sponsorship scandal: at the time (the '95 referendum of Québec sovereignty), most of the ROC was pleading with the feds to massively invest in the ''No'' campaign to stop the province from seceding. And the feds did just that. Had they not, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

The judge-naming controversy is provincial, sure, but it's also on-going, which means it hasn't concluded yet. But the way all of Canadian politics seem to work, I wouldn't be surprised if here was but the first of 10 or 13 province/territory investigations. Party fund-raisers have way too much power over who gets appointed where - and Harper's feds are yet again a prime example, with dozens of partial senators named by Harper's money-man - who included himself, and former illiterate NHL coach Jacques Demers.

And calling the Couillard thing a sex scandal? Really? She's a hot chick who likes to fuck men who have power. She dated an MP, he was stupid enough to leave confidential documents at her home. I fail to see how this is a Lewinsky-gate or a pedophilia ring or how it compromised national security, seeing as the only thing Bernier did as an MP was bring Twinkies to the troops in the Middle East.

Myself, usually, when I see inequalities in the Québec/Canada divide, I see Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, not being brought back from whence he is tortured by U.S. military.