Bill 104: While English Canada Obsesses Over Language Mafia Takes Over Montreal

You know how the English-Canadian media is always lecturing the Québécois on how their language issues are distracting them from the real important stuff, like economic developement and roads? And how the separatist obsession with language is killing Montreal and has been causing it’s decline?

Two stories broke in the news yesterday. One involved language, the other one about… hum… just something about the Mafia running the City of Montreal.

The three French-language dailies in Montreal headlined with the Mafia story. Only le Devoir even mentioned the Supreme Court ruling on bill 104 on the first page. The Montreal Gazette went for the language headline and gave the story about the former of leader of the opposition and former executive council member Benoit Labonté’s allegations that the City of Montreal’s administration is hostage to organised crime a whopping 1/40th of the front page.

Inside, the Gazette gave the language story more that 4000 word, including the main editorial. The City Hall scandal? 332. Eighteen less words that this post.

The National Post also headlined with language. No national daily in Canada mentions the fact that Canada’s second major city is in the midst of a major corruption scandal one week from a general election.

A Google.ca news search for bill 104 on the 22nd and 23rd of october returned 167 stories in English. A search for Labonte returned ony 21 articles. A search in French netted 84 stories for Labonte as opposed to only 47 about Loi 104.

Vigile.net, the ultra-nationalist clearinghouse for all things language and separatism-related in the Québec media lists 50 stories on Bill 104 and 90, almost twice as many, on the City Hall scandals.

Even those language-obsessed separatists of the Parti Québécois are reported by Radio-Canada not to have mentioned language, the Supreme Court or Bill 104 for the first 20 minutes of question period!

Meanwhile, the « Top court strikes down Quebec English school law » is the most active story of the day on CBC.ca with 1170 comments and growing. The four stories on the Montreal situation, stories that just might be the answer to the eternal question as to why Montreal has so many potholes, have a total of 94 comments.