Translating the printemps érable

Marie Vaillancourt                  August 2, 2012 

Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/elections-2012/356034/participer-a-la-reelection-du-gouvernement-charest 

In my opinion, the re-election of Charest’s government would be a tragedy. Even without a majority. We would still be left with the fact that Quebeckers chose this government and endorse its politics. A re-election of the Liberal Party would mean going ahead with the Plan Nord, disregarding the environment, and acquiescing to smokescreens, misinformation and false concern for Quebec’s nation and language. 

The re-election of the Liberal Party would probably mean perfecting a system that protects a privileged group of friends with mutual vested interests. The re-election of the Liberal Party would mean, among other things, giving this government another four years to develop shale gas operations, ruin Anticosti Island, make a mockery of students, and steer universities to serve the economic machine.

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Lise Payette July 20 2012

Original French text: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/355006/le-pere-noel-est-tot-cette-annee

Honestly, the election will be welcome and it will probably come as a relief for those who are waiting for a major change in Quebec’s political situation, after years that can’t be said to have been pleasant for everyone. Far from it.

The hundreds of thousands of people who, night after night, have taken possession of the streets all over the province since last spring will reignite the glimmer of hope that they have carried without wavering. The protesters of all ages will not want to miss this gathering from which they hope will finally bring a collective future that resembles them.

I would like, however, to put them on guard against an old technique, developed a long time ago and used largely by the liberals and the conservatives each time that it serves their interests and that consists of using a weapon against the good people that will end up paralyzing them. If the people rekindle the hope, the politicians will do their best, to seize power, to bring back fear, an often insidious “weapon of mass destruction” which wreaks havoc among the most fragile people.

We’ve seen the same technique used each election for decades and the “sponsorship scandal” has demonstrated well how far some politicians were ready to go not to face defeat. Obvious lessons must be learned before the next elections bulldozer is put in motion, because, believe me, the attack will be excessive. It’s enough to see to what point those who are in office hold onto power to imagine how far they will go to keep it. Each person’s vanity will serve as fuel, and the blows will be ample.

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Renaud Picard June 17, 2012

Original French text: http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/le-cercle-la-presse/actualites/201206/17/48-529-lesprit-de-la-loi-78-et-le-fascisme.php

Many groups have denounced the association of the spirit of Bill 78 with Fascism as inappropriate. They say it misrepresents the definition of Fascism and is akin to identifying the Liberal government with the ideological monstrosities of Nazism.

But what exactly do we know about Fascism? What is the basis for claims to the real definition of the term? We know that Fascism has not always been Nazism. We also know that the Nazi salute started out as a Fascist salute in Italy. We know that Fascism, in fact, took many different forms in Europe during the 1930s.

These facts are well established and to suggest otherwise would be embarrassing, disgraceful even. Why then this tendency to reduce any association between Bill 78 and Fascism to a simple analogy between the Liberal Party and Nazism? Why assimilate the Fascist salute solely to its Nazi expression? Most likely, it is to avoid the accusation of brushing it aside, but also, perhaps, to make the severity of the analogy seem irrational and absurd.

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Tommy Chouinard and Paul Journet          June 12, 2012

Controversial poster art by music group Mise en Demeure, published on cover of today’s Journal de Montréal. 

Original French text: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/201206/12/01-4534219-khadir-envisage-de-poursuivre-le-journal-de-montreal.php

The deputy leader of Quebec Solidaire, Amir Khadir, will likely take legal action against the Journal de Montréal and the Journal de Québec for headlines in today’s editions.

 The front pages of both dailies featured the headline, “Khadir Armed, Charest Dead” («Khadir armé, Charest mort»,). A subtitle specified that a “troubling image” had been found at the Mercier MNA’s home during a police search of his residence last Thursday. The front page image is a of poster inspired by the famous painting, “Liberty Guiding the People,” by Eugène Delacroix. In the altered version of the painting featured in the papers, Amir Khadir’s head has been photo-shopped onto the body of a revolutionary fighter, and Premier Jean Charest’s head has been photo-shopped onto the body of a man lying on the ground.  

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Daniel Nadeau - Former Liberal organizer, and communications director for Jean Charest in the Sherbrooke riding in 2003.

June 5, 2012

Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/votre-opinion/201206/04/01-4531660-que-sont-devenus-les-liberaux.php

The actions and words of the Charest government are more and more inspired by a conservatism that resembles the politics we’re used to from Harper in Ottawa. PHOTO: LE SOLEIL

You can’t call yourself a liberal and a democrat and, at the first sing of difficulty, trample the principles you say you hold dear and defend. You can’t lay claim to liberalism then suspend the fundamental rights and liberties of citizens to deal with a political crisis that stems from the government’s stewardship of a pre-revolutionary context. That is what the Charest government is doing.

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