re-constructions and renovations of Monuments

City Palace Berlin, Sagrada Familia Barcelone, FrauenKirche Dresden, Lower Town Quebec City, Ara Pacis Rome, Parthenon Athens.

In my life of travelling and living abroad I have come across many sights which have been resurrected from the past or cleaned up or re-built. Why do governments do it, in most cases to recapture shares of the mass tourist market, tourist want to see things they do not have back home. Per example see London like Mary Poppins or the Rome of the Popes or early Christians or see ancient monument reborn after centuries of neglect. We want to recapture the past and with our modern sensibilities pretend we are just like the ancient, though sometimes it makes for funny situations, per example one remark often heard when visiting a former Royal Palace now a museum, tourist no.1 will say to tourist no.2 Can you imagine living in a place like this, it must have been nice.
The reality is if either of these persons had lived in the past centuries, they probably would have been peasants in the fields working hard and would never have come anywhere near such a place, this because of social barriers and strict divisions of society.

In 1962 the old City of Quebec the portion within the old Walls and the Lower town below by the St-Lawrence river dating back to 1608 was in ruins. Things were so bad the Provincial Government was considering bulldozing the whole thing and making it all modern. Luckily the Federal Government owned most of it and forbade the grand scale demolition, it also started to invest into rehabilitating the City walls, Quebec is the only city in North America with complete defensive walls and gates and dozens of stone homes from the 17th Century built in a French Norman Style. Today people from around the world come to Quebec City to see La Vieille Capitale, because Quebec was the Capital of the French Empire until 1763 and then the Royal Capital of Canada until 1820. So history is everywhere in its historic streets.

 Eglise Notre Dame des Victoires, 1688

Place Royale, Ville de Quebec

Petit Séminaire de Quebec, 1664

I started to visit Athens around 1998 though I had often flown over the City in the late 1980's never had I actually visited.
Athens was a small city until 1960's it is only in the last 35 years that a real estate boom has made it
into a megapolis, though the total population is 800,000. Not exactly Montreal or even Rome at 3 million people.   The Symbol of the City is the Acropolis and the Parthenon built originally in 480 BC and re-built in 438 BC to honour the Goddess Athena Parthénos, ( Virginal Pallas triomphant) who protects her City and its people. The Parthenon is said to be the most perfect Doric style temple ever built.

To my mind the Parthenon is the symbol of the Western World, there is no more beautiful site than to watch the Sun rise in the morning and its rays hitting the White with a golden tinge Pentelic marble of the Temple making it shine as if it was made of gold.  When you look at it you are reminded that theatre, philosophy, democracy, trial by jury, all come from this ancient site.

The statue of Athena stood in her temple until the fifth century AD when a fire destroyed it. With the arrival of Christians the Acropolis and the Parthenon suffered vandalism and then the Ottoman Turks occupied the site for many centuries until that fateful day when a Venetian Captain Morosini attacking Athens from the Sea aimed his canons on the Temple which at this point was used as a gunpowder store by the occupying Ottoman Turkish army. The explosion from the direct hit in September 1687 caused the devastation we see to this day. However in the last 25 years Greek Archeologists with funds from the European Union have worked at restoring this ancient temple and others on the Acropolis, like the small temple of Athena Nike and the main entrance gate the Propylae and the Erechtyion returning them to what they were like before the attack by the Venetian fleet of 1687. It is also a function of consolidating the buildings and preventing any further degradation. Using titanium rods on the blocks instead of steel which rust and then eats away at the marble. In some cases new marble blocks have been carved to replace those to weak or degraded. In my lifetime I can say that I have seen the Parthenon and the other temples restored or reborn. Many might say why restore such an ancient site, I think that in this case given the importance of this sacred place for us Occidentals, this hill must continue to live forever.

Temple of Athena Nike, restored 2011

Propylae gate, Acropolis in restoration 2010

Parthenon under continuous restoration in June 2014.

The Capital of Saxony, Dresden was totally destroyed in a fire bombing by the British forces on the night of 14 February 1945, 600,000 civilians died burned alive in the firestorm. Dresden was not a strategic city and had no military value, it was known for its culture and art. Canaletto had made a very famous painting of the city in the 18th century. This painting was so accurate in its architectural detailing that it was used to rebuilt the city from its ashes after 1989. 

The devastation of Dresden was total and after the end of the Second World War, Dresden was behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany. There was no money for re-building and very little effort was made to repair the damage inflicted. Most of its civilian population had died, so the Communist authorities decided to rebuilt here and there in a haphazard way outside of the old city limits. The Lutheran Church wanted it's main temple re-built because of its association with Martin Luther who had preached there. But all this re-building had to wait German reunification in 1990, from public donations from around the world the Lutheran Church was able to rebuild the Frauen Kirche of Dresden originally built by architect George Bahr in 1726 it had survived intact other wars and invasions until that fateful night in 1945.

The plan to rebuild this one church gave the impetus to massively rebuild the old city including the other churches and the Royal Palace of the Princes of Saxony, the Semper Opera house and other palaces and museum. We first visited around 1999, the old City was a field of construction and the Frauen Kirche was only half rebuilt. When we returned in 2014 most of the work was complete and the Church itself had been re-dedicated and is now serving the Lutheran Community of Dresden. 

Dresden is also famous for its porcelain and the celebrated Meissen Porcelain factory. Some 23,000 pieces of 17th and 18th century porcelain can be admired in the Zwinger Palace forming the private collection of the Royal Family of Saxony.  Then the beautiful Art museums and the Residenzschloss or Royal Palace and its incredible precious jewels and other rare objects collections, requiring a minimum of 2 days to fully appreciate the wealth of the collections which can now be seen as prior to 1939 in all its glory.

Dresden and the FrauenKirche on the New Market Square, 1742 by Bernardo Bellotto

Dresden re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche re-built in June 2014

FrauenKirche in ruin after fire bombing of 1945 with the Statue of Martin Luther. Reconstruction will start in 1996 only.

Partial view inside the FrauenKirche, Dresden, 2014 (Lutheran Baroque)

Despite the beauty of the reconstruction and how faithful to all the details to ensure accuracy, I was somewhat disappointed, difficult to explain, maybe it was the realization that I was not looking at the original Church or City but a faithful copy. I also wondered if future generations will understand what happened to this city in 1945, one could understand if they forgot all about it or disbelieved any tale of war and mayhem.

Moving on to Rome where nothing is ever changing or so it seems one could be forgiven for the fact that much of what we see today in Rome is often the case of the will of men to change the city to suit a political program. It is often said that Rome looks like a theatre set, every angle is like a theatre set design to attract the eye to a beautiful panorama.
First the Popes on their return from Avignon in France decided to remake Rome.
The numerous well preserved Temples of Antiquity were dismantled to be used in the rebuilding of churches and public works. Then other works of art were used to decorate palaces and gardens, often with a beautiful effect. However much was also destroyed carelessly for mercantile reasons.

Unified Italy as of 1870 embarked on a program of changing Rome to suit its new image as a Republican Monarchy opening new streets like Via Cavour and Via Nazionale in the heart of the City and building the great walls along the Tiber to prevent winter floods. Then when Mussolini came to power in 1923 he wanted Rome to reflect its imperial glory so he employed historians, archeologists and architects to find all those pieces of the puzzle that were still buried and he resurrected temples or part of them like the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Forum or the Arch of Titus or went on to build the Via dei Fori Imperiali crossing the whole of the ancient Forum area so he could have great military parades à la Hollywood.

So when you visit Rome today the ruins you see are the work of the Fascist era (1923-1943), unwittingly Mussolini helped the Italian Tourist Industry for decades to come. Tourist have something to see.

One such monument amongst many to have been resurrected and it is a magnificent one, is the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar to Augustan Peace) as the name indicates it was to celebrate world peace brought about with the pacifying of the Barbarian nations. A monument built as a testimony to the legacy of Octavian the nephew of Julius Caesar better known to us as Augustus the first Emperor of Rome (63BC to 14AD) and probably the greatest and best. His legal legacy still resonates with us today and is found carved in stone on the side of the building housing the Ara Pacis, the Res Gestae in Canada Lawyers call it the Law of Evidence.

The monument was built at the request of the Roman Senate in July of 13BC and was located in the Field of Mars an area nowadays around the Via del Corso and Via del Parlamento. The soil being quite soft in the area the weight of the monument caused it to sink into the ground and only 60 years later it was half buried. Eventually it disappeared completely only to be re-discovered by accident during excavations in 1568 under Palazzo Chigi and more fragments surfaced in 1859 and in 1903. Those fragments ended up in the Vatican Museum, the Villa Borghese, the Uffizi Museum and the Louvre in Paris. In 1937 to celebrate the 2000 Birthday of Augustus, Mussolini ordered that the whole monument be excavated and re-assembled in a new site by the Tiber and next to the Mausoleum of Augustus at Ponte Cavour and Via Tomacelli, a special building was also built to house the monument. That building was again completely re-designed in 2006 by architect Richard Meier. Nonetheless the Ara Pacis is a very important monument for the Western World.

I studied that monument in school as a kid and imagine how wonderful it was for me to see it in 2007 for the first time in person. Though the white marble stone today does not show the original colours, think of an Hindou Temple, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Augustus the monument is displayed at night with a show of light so the public can see it again as it was then, the bold colours are jarring to our modern sensibilities.

I visited the Ara Pacis numerous times and am still in awe of its magnificent grandeur.

West side  

 East Side

Members of the Imperial Family, all can be identified by name.

One monument which is being re-created from scratch is the City Palace of Berlin, for centuries this was the Palace of the Princes of Brandenburg, then the Official Palace of the Prussian Kings and finally the Palace of the German Emperor until 1918.

The palace was bombed and burned in 1944 but could still be restored, however with the partition of Germany in 1945 it fell in the Eastern Sector of the City and the Communist authorities decided to blow it up in 1953 to make way for a military parade ground instead, more goose stepping. 

The palace was in an area of Berlin which housed a unique complex of buildings, university and museums at the end of the ceremonial road Unter den Linden (under the linden trees) which starts at the Brandenburg Gate. The palace was located on an island on the Spree River next to the Lutheran Cathedral and all the museums housing the various art and archeological collections. 

As of 1990 the new united City of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany decided to renovate all the historical buildings of the Eastern sector left derelict by the Communist government for decades. In fact in 1985 the East German government had threatened to blow up every historical building in its sector if the West German government did not pay the full price of reconstruction. Had this plan gone ahead much of the 800 years of the history of Berlin would have been lost forever. 

Berlin has been one huge rebuilding project since 1990, it's infrastructure, the rail system, the U and S ban and its real estate all of it renewed or rebuilt. The Lutheran Cathedral, the various museum on the island and every other monument and palace rebuilt. Frederick II the Great is back on Unter den Linden riding into the City again a top his monument. The one missing link was the City Palace, it took years of discussion and consultation and finally the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) sitting in the rebuilt old Reichstag building voted in favour of rebuilding, the City of Berlin also supported the plan. However first the old East German Parliament building had to be demolished and that took 3 years when it was discovered the building was full of asbestos. 

Palast der Republik, GDR, Berlin in 1977

The idea is to rebuild the palace on the outside as it was before 1918 and make of the interior a modern University conference centre and library with museums on foreign cultures. It will be called the Humboldt Forum after the German brothers Alexander and Wilhelm Von Humboldt. With the palace rebuilt the entire area will have a homogenous architectural look recalling the 18th Century and the age of Enlightenment. 

What the rebuilt City Palace or Humboldt Forum will look like in 2019.

I have been following the entire saga since the beginning in the 1990's and this December construction of the shell of the palace is complete. Though the Federal Government of Germany will pay for the entire completion of the inside of the structure the decorative Baroque elements on the outside must be paid for by private donations and at the moment some 60 Million Euros still need to be raised, completion date 2019. It should be said that a lot of controversy surrounds this project, though now it is well on its way to be completed. Though it is only to fulfil a wish to have the city centre whole that this project was put forward, many advocated that something different be built. However historically speaking for 600 years a Palace stood in this place. See the link
http://berliner-schloss.de/en/humboldt-forum-new-palace

You can see a photo of today 1 Dec 2014 at 21:05 Berlin Time and how advanced the construction of the Palace is at this point, they are at the roof top.
http://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de/?id=1417459501

Another project this one in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain is the Church of the architect Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia under construction since 1882 it is nearing completion now due to strong tourist interest and ticket sales to visit the site. As a child I had heard of this church by Gaudi and how no one knew if it would ever be completed. Antoni Gaudi died in 1926 in Barcelona run over by a street car. After his death no one knew if the church could be completed, since it was very much his inspiration which created this masterpiece. Then the Spanish Civil War saw a great deal of chaos, the Catholic Church in Spain sided with the Fascist forces of General Franco and in Catalonia there was much repression of the population. The Church was no ones friend, the Republican lashed out and attacked the construction office where all the archives of Gaudi were kept everything was destroyed including the mock-ups of the final product. Now construction stopped completely, to add to this sad situation General Franco was victorious, he exiled the Royal Family and proclaimed himself dictator at the same time he allied himself with Nazi Germany. The Second World War saw more economic disaster befell Spain and despite being a Neutral country it was very isolated. After the war a commission of academics and other experts decided that the Sagrada Familia Church should stand as is incomplete as a monument to Gaudi. It was only in 1975 with the death of General Franco and the return to democracy and a restoration of the Monarchy that once again the construction work re-started but this time with a panel of artists and architects devoted to seeing the vision of Gaudi for his church in the completion of the project. Only having a few documents in private hands from the time of Gaudi and some of his writings to guide them, new financing was devised in organized tours of the site where tourist would pay to gawk at what was going on.

Here is the first drawing of what the Sagrada Familia would have looked like, a design by Francisco de Paula Villar y Lozano, the first architect who would be replaced by Antoni Gaudi. Of this original design only the underground crypt church was completed in 1900. Gaudi then changed everything and started on his vision.

Floor plan of the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. 

The current construction schedule is going well and the Church is well on its way to be completed after 70 years of sleep. At this time though it is not clear if the main front entrance of the Basilica the Portico of Glory will be completed, the reason is that it now stands above a express train tunnel (Paris -Barcelona) and the vibration of this high speed train as it enters Barcelona may affect the front of the building. Also in 1975 the land immediately across the street was sold to a developer in what many see as a shady land deal. So the great staircase and plaza planned for the area cannot be built now since condominiums occupy this land. 

Glory Portico which may never be finished.

The Passion Portico and the Nativity Portico face parks and can easily be admired. Maybe in a way given the tortuous story of the construction of this church it is better if part of it remains unfinished.

Certainly the rest 90% will be completed by 2026, sone 144 years after the beginning of the work.

What is wonderful about this construction is that all the funds came and still come from private donations and tourists buying tickets to visit the site.  

Panoramic view of the ceiling vault of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

This view is dizzying but given the high luminosity of the Church and the multitude of stain glass, the gold on the ceiling, your eyes are really seeing a marvellous feat of architecture. The columns are not painted, they are stone and they take on various shades of colour as the Sun illuminates the building, this changes as the hours pass. The most magical of effect.
There are more photos at this site http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

The basilica in 2014.

There are many more projects around the world, St-Petersburg is another one where dozens of Palaces have been meticulously restored and turned into museums or hotels. A whole generation of Russian artisan is being trained to produce furniture and other objects but also trades in refurbishing these historical buildings. This could be another entry unto itself.
In Asia Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia have projects to redo sites which have been neglected or abandoned. China redid its Forbidden City in advance of the Olympics games a few years ago, though unfortunately with little care for historical accuracy. 

  

Scotland!

Referendum day has come and I am listening to the BBC World Service running commentary on what is happening. It is odd really listening to this event taking place, shows how little I knew of Scottish politics in the UK.  It appears that the turnout is high or very high more than 88% in rural and suburban areas whereas in the Cities the turnout is much lower around 75%. Scotland is hoping to have as high a turnout as in the Quebec referendum of 1995 which was 93.5%. It looks likely they will achieve that given the importance of the vote and the question. The big story tonight is how incredible the voter turnout has been. Usually during British general elections the turnout is around 65% the numbers tonight are very high in comparison.

The population of Scotland is small at 5.2 million Scots, somewhat smaller than the population of the City of Toronto. This does not count all the Scottish diaspora around the world, who cannot vote in this referendum. Scotland is portrayed as more left leaning and liberal than Britain. Because of its small population it cannot influence Parliament in Westminster and has little say in the budget. Scottish Labour is seen as unable to disassociate itself from the free-market and austerity policies of the moment, which makes it unpopular. By tomorrow the results either for or against independence, one thing appear certain the old certainties of the past will be dead and gone. The consequence for Cameron and the Conservatives are huge, it would probably mean the government will fall and Cameron will have no choice but to resign. As for Labour it will also be a shock and their future will be also uncertain. No Prime Minister wants to be remembered as the one who lost the Union. However watching the vote results come in Scotland appears divided, there are strong opinions in either camp.

Either way Britain tomorrow morning will be a different country. What I like about the coverage is how there is talk now even before the final results are in of change and how Westminster needs to change, respect for the aspirations of the Scots. It will be interesting to see how this evolves between now and 2016. What is also impressive is the level of respectful dialogue between people on either camp, except maybe for Ukip. There is none of the insults and bad language and immature attitudes we so often find here in Canada when there is differences of opinion after elections.

I would agree with commentators that Canadians and people in Quebec all have a lot to learn on how to run a referendum on such questions, much more mature and respectful in this case.

Elections

Several people have asked me about the results of the April 7 Election results in Quebec. I was not going to write about it but given the numerous questions, I will give my take on it.

First I have to state that my family belongs to the Anciens Canadiens arriving in 1662 in Quebec City. The new elected Liberal Premier of Québec Dr. Philippe Couillard's family arrived in 1613 so we belong to the old stock. Now for a lot of people familiar with Quebec Politics this makes us ''pure laine'' but we cannot be called séparatiste, this is not the case. The majority are attached to the concept of Canada as one Nation. The rest can be best described as sentimentality with a dose of pragmatism.

First for myself and for many other belonging to the Old Stock families, the Province of Québec as we know it today is a modern invention dating from 1949. The borders have changed a lot since 1763 when Canada was ceded to England by France under the Ancien Régime in the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Year War between England-Prussia vs France-Austria. In fact until the Treaty was signed some 4 years after the short battle (10 minutes) on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City in September 1759 it was not very clear to the troops of King George II if they were going to stay permanently or return to Europe.

France was tired of its territory in North America, too costly and did not bring anything in terms of revenue, England did not want New France, the war in North America had been nothing more than a diversion. When France offered in the peace talks to give away all of New France which was basically all of North America with the exception of the British 13 Colonies, the Prime Minister of England William Pitt Junior said NO!  In the end Pitt realized he had to accept, there was nothing else on offer. The King of England did by decree recognized and guaranteed protection for the French Language, religion RC and French Civil Code. In the Royal decree of 1791 women who owned land could also vote.

Fast forward to 1865 and all the talks about uniting the 4 Provinces against a possible American aggression. Here Quebec represented over 50% of the population of the New Canada under Confederation. The new National symbols all belong to pre-arrival in Canada of the so called English, the Feuille d'érable, the Castor, and the National Anthem O Canada,  a poem composed as a French-Canadian Nationalist Anthem for the St-Jean Baptiste Society, not exactly an English symbol.

Though to be fair, the English Elite (mostly Scots and some Brits) dominated the business sector and abused their position.  The French-Canadians, Irish,Welsh and a few Jews where not well treated at all. There was grievances and they were not always properly addressed. Though again French-Canadian Politicians dominated the political scene. One of the most famous Prime Ministers was Sir Wilfrid Laurier an icon of French Canada and a Saint of the Liberal Party.

So for me Canada or old Canada is this big land mass from l'Acadie (today's Maritime Provinces) to the Rockies out West and also a great big chunk of the USA where the Mississipi flows including many cities like Detroit, Chicago, Duluth, St-Louis all originally French settlements.

I cannot conceive of this idea that the Province of Quebec today would be my country and ignore the rest of Canada as irrelevant. I also do not buy into the long winded speeches of Politicians of the Parti Quebecois though they appeal to basic fundamental cultural heritage and language. Speech that mirror a very narrow vision of Ethnic Nationalism, remember Yugoslavia and Milosevic, very similar.

Today,

The situation in Quebec today (2014) is not that of 1968 when the Parti Québecois was created by René Lévesque. It is true that back then Quebec society was far more homogenous, so was Canada for that matter. There were some important social injustices and economic inequalities, there was none of the important financial institutions like the Caisse de dépôt or economic autonomy which exist today.

It was another world and another generation, that of my parents who were running the show. The Catholic Church which had been such a power for centuries was losing its grip. Society was becoming rapidly open and accepting of new ideas and concepts, in other words it was the era of the famous Quiet Revolution.

The PQ came to power for the first time in 1976, the year of the Olympic Games in Montreal. In their first mandate they certainly cleaned up the mess left behind by years of inept governments, they also established a framework on cultural identity and language, Bill 101. That was then and the past cannot be relived or brought back.

Today Quebec Society is diverse, multicultural and young. Quebec controls fully its Immigration something none of the other 9 provinces in Canada do, we have seen an important intake of French Speaking Africans, Haitians, Maghreb Muslim Arabs with others from Lebanon, Egypt and Syria.
The actual number of French citizens (France) coming to Quebec is fairly small and not stable since upwards of 40% leave after only a few years in Quebec.

The PQ was created in 1968 for one purpose alone Secession from Canada, its article 1 of the Party Charter. The raison d'être without it there is no reason for the PQ. The PQ lost by a slim margin the second and last referendum in 1995. Since then a long period of bitter recrimination amongst PQ loyalists has been simmering against the Federal Government in Ottawa and anyone like myself and others or 65% of the population of Quebec do not support them.

According to official PQ speak, the victory had been stolen by the Anglos and Ethnic voters in 1995. Foreigners were the problem and kept Quebec in a state of advanced Colonialism like what could be seen in Africa prior to 1960. The PQ speak is extremist and borders on known forms of extremist ethnic politics. If you do not speak French fluently you might not always understand the turn of phrases used.

Some 18 months ago in 2012, the Quebec government of Liberal Premier Jean Charest fell with the help of social unrest provoked by Pauline Marois and the PQ in their support of University students who were demanding Free Tuition for post secondary education.

The students looking at post-secondary education in some European countries where it is Free  demanded that the same standard be applied here. Premier Charest had 80% of public opinion on his side and refused to grant the request of the students claiming that there was no money for such a policy, which is quite true given that record numbers of young Quebecois going to University. However through well orchestrated public protests and riots in Montreal and elsewhere the government called an election on the question and lost and Premier Charest retired.

During this election Mme Marois promised the students that she would grant them Free Tuition, once elected she quickly forgot that promise and raised the tuition fee tying it to the inflation rate. Though her victory was far from complete, the Liberal won 31.2% of the vote the PQ won 31.95% of the vote Marois was in but had a minority government.

 Mme Marois wanted a majority government and to gain a majority she needed an issue, she found one by creating a false identity crisis based on a narrow ethnic definition of what a Quebecois is. No one was fooled, to fit the bill you have to be an Old Stock Family, White, Catholic, French. The Catholic part is bizarre since very few people are practicing Catholics.

The Quebec economy required attention and massive intervention but Marois and her PQ colleagues could not gain much traction on that topic given the PQ lack of policies and vision on investments, job creation, etc, high taxes in Quebec and the bloated Public Service and the enormous debt are a huge impediment. Not the sort of complicated issue you can win easily with when you have no plan.

Pauline Marois and her tchador (election humour)

So the issue of choice of Mme. Marois was the ''Foreigners'' in general, who undermine Quebec culture and the Muslims in particular with their Sharia, tchadors and violent ways, the Jews and religious Sikhs were also thrown in for good measure. The problem with this approach being that most if not all immigrants come either from Francophone Africa or the French Maghreb. So if the Foreigners are the problem why is Quebec Immigration concentrating on a specific region of the World?

Marois and her party orchestrated a Commission of Enquiry for the implementation of a Charter of Québecois Values to study the Muslim menace which promised to turn Quebec into an Islamic Caliphate in no time at all. The Charter had to be imposed to protect Quebec old stock identity and Christian civilisation. Again all this was extremely strange and bordered on the twilight zone of politics.

Some testimony at the commission was hilarious and downright dumb, like the one by this family who travelled to Morocco for the first time and came back with cartoonish impressions of strange Foreign practices we could not allow in Quebec.

On the other hand you had testimony by people like Jeannette Bertrand who is a retired talk show host, tv actress, public personality and an icon of 1970 Feminism ( a select club of white old women who see their values as the correct ones) Mme. Bertrand would like to correct young women today who do not understand that their brand of Feminism makes too many concessions to please those other foreign women wearing veils. Her friend Lise Payette also a former talk show host and a former PQ politician wrote articles sympathizing with her.

The whole Charter episode is a sorry one of ignorance, intolerance and prejudice, too many ugly things were said by people who should have known better given their status in Quebec Society.

The Charter debate in the media and public at large gave the impression to Mme Marois that she could easily have an electoral campaign based on cultural identity crisis and fear of the other. She firmly believed that this would be the magic trick to a majority government.

This was a false impression, the polls appeared to give her a majority government, they were wrong and her strategy backfired. She failed to understand that the Quebec population wanted to talk about the economy, jobs, the debt, investments, education and health care, not separation and not a referendum and the Charter embarrassed far too many people.

Clear polls showed that 85% of the Quebec population did not want a third referendum and did not want to hear about Sovereignty, Separation or any other items of the basic PQ platform. Mme Marois ignored those polls, it was her big mistake.

Then she allied herself with PKP or Pierre Karl Peladeau the son of Peladeau father the media baron who became rich by being tough with the little guy, a crude and unpleasant man. PKP is also known as being the enemy of the working man and for his hatred of labour unions. Suddenly this arch-conservative was a PQ star. It is important to note that the PQ has always been a leftist party closer to socialism and labour unions than capitalism. How could a party which stood for the lower classes and the blue collar workers suddenly become the Republican party? No one in the Quebec electorate understood that one, least of all staunch PQ old time leftist members, the die hard separatist branch of the party.

The debate on the Charter of Values created a malaise in Quebec society, most people think of themselves as open and socially progressive, Quebec is by far the most open and liberal society in terms of morals and attitudes in North America, if compared with any other part of Canada or the USA for that matter.

This Charter was not and is not a reflection of Quebec, Montreal a city of 4 million people is diverse, cosmopolitan and multicultural, how to impose such a backward notion of society on a city which is the economic motor of the Province.

So the result of this ill conceived campaign was a PQ defeat, the worst electoral results since its creation in 1970, gaining only 25% of the votes cast. The PQ still got 30 seats but just barely, in many cases wining by just a few hundred votes where just 18 months ago they had won by a large majority.
It was also the first time since 1921 that a sitting Premier (Marois) was defeated by a new incumbent (Couillard).

In many ways this defeat of the PQ is a third NO to the idea of a referendum and separation. Probably a final No to the basic tenet of the party. Mme Marois herself lost her seat to an unknown candidate and so did all other controversial candidates espousing narrow ethnic views like Mme Mailloux who spouted Nazi propaganda which Mme. Marois did not disavow. It was the worst campaign I had ever witnessed, showing how incompetent Mme Marois was and how detached from every day reality. It was also a vanity project, Mme. Marois saw herself as the first women to become President of a New Republic, she would succeed where men including the party founder René Levesque had failed. Born in a very poor and humble family, Marois rose to prominence and became a millionaire living in a Chateau on an island and wearing a lot of bling. How did this all happen, well that is another sorry story.

What is troubling now is how her lieutenants like Bernard Drainville and J.F. Lisée two senior PQ Ministers say they did not mean all the things they said and did not really support the Charter. Repudiating Mme Marois even before she steps down after Easter.

As for the PQ loyalist they blame again the Media, the Foreigners like the Muslims and all other Quebecois who do not support their vision for this defeat. Basically the majority 58% is wrong for not supporting the PQ. What is also sad is the continuous un-going monologue about how we as a people are in danger and how the forces of oppression (the bad anglos and the foreigners) are out to get us. The other country and its Parliament (Canada) is pure evil, we must save ourselves. Just read the chat lines and the opinion pieces in newspapers, pure lunacy. It remains as the Elected Premier Couillard said, an idea does not die, yes that is true and in Quebec the 30% die hard separatist will not let go. But the PQ as a party is in very serious trouble and may disappear all together in the coming years if it is unable to re-position itself. If the PQ abandons article 1 on separation then it has no purpose as such, if it does not then it is marginalized, other parties have taken up the space the PQ once occupied, this is how political commentators see the debate. It very much looks like the whole idea which led to the creation of the PQ was the project of one generation which is now passing. PQ support is amongst the 60 and older group.

I think it can be truthfully said that the Quebecois are Nationalist but not Separatist. Happy to remain in Canada and make the best of it as we have for the last 400 years.

Recipe, Recette Gâteau à la soupe aux tomates

Here is a childhood memory of a cake my Mom use to make for us. Unusual cake if you think of it, though very typical of French Canada, tomatoes belongs to the fruit family and not a vegetable. Tomatoes are delicately sweet tasting and this makes for a nice cake which can be enjoyed with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

Gâteau à la soupe aux tomates

Tomato Soup Cake 

ingredients:

50 ml butter
175 ml sugar
2 eggs
375 ml all purpose flour
1 tea spoon of baking powder
1 tea spoon of cinnamon
half a tea spoon of grounded clove
a quarter tea spoon of Baking Soda
175 ml Campbell Tomato soup
175 ml raisin sultana

Soften the butter gradually adding the sugar, the eggs, and beat well.

take a small part of the flour and coat the sultana raisins with it, set aside.

take the rest of the flour, the cinnamon, the ground clove, the baking powder and
baking soda, mix well.

take this mix and add the tomato soup and add the sultana raisins as well, mix well

pour the mix into well greased and floured cake mould.

Bake in the oven at 180 C. or 350 F. for 35 minutes.

Once the cake mix is baked let cool.

Cover with a Cream cheese icing.

Recipe for Cream Cheese icing

Glaçage au fromage à la Pie.

Ingredients

125 ml of ricotta cheese or cream cheese
250 ml Icing sugar
half tea spoon pure vanilla extract
half tea spoon lemon juice

Soften butter and add all other ingredients
Mix well until a good consistence is obtained

add sugar if required.

  

La Charte des valeurs.

This week in the news and it has been the only item in the news, no it's not Syria or diplomatic moves between Russia and the USA, it is about the Charte des valeurs du Québec. It is being proposed by the current Provincial Government in Quebec City, which is a minority government led by Madame Pauline Marois as Premier. She is an old warrior of the Separatist cause and a veteran of controversial causes.

At this moment it is a project, the public in Quebec is being asked for opinions on this project of a Charter of Values. If this project becomes a bill to be tabled at the National Assembly ( Quebec's Parliament), the Charter would define was is called common values. It should be remembered that Quebec never signed on to the Canadian Constitutional agreement of 1982 and did not accept the Canadian Charter of Rights because Quebec had its own Charter of Rights voted in 1975.

It is also a battle between two visions of Canada, one is the Multicultural policy of the Federal Government adopted in 1976 and the other is the Integration (Melting Pot) approach of Quebec.

Quebec for many years has had an official policy of selecting it's immigrants from almost exclusively Maghreb countries of North Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and French Africa, with some ( a small number) immigrants from France and other French speaking countries. Most immigrants settle in Montreal who now has a population of about 3.5 million people.

This means that Montreal is French speaking and very cosmopolitan, many neighbourhoods have important diverse communities while the rest of Quebec is mostly made up of old French Canadian families with no or very little visible minorities. The proposed Charter would ban in the Public Service all religious symbols, including turbans for Sikhs, Islamic head or face coverings or veils for women, Jewish Kippah and Christian crosses worn around one's neck. What the Quebec Government is really targeting is Muslim women. Many in Quebec are offended by this face and head covering, all kinds of beliefs and stories circulate around such coverings. It is misunderstood and much of it comes from ignorance. It is believed that women who wear such covering do so not because of religious belief but because they wish to present themselves as different or are forced to wear such covering because they are forced to do so by their husbands. We already had incidents with Sikhs who wear turbans while playing on a sports team. Sports federations have banned such players on safety grounds amid great controversy. As for Jews, they are also targeted by this Charter project simply because the Charter claims to be universal in its ban of religious symbols in the public service. Though Jews have been present in Canada and Quebec and very much an integral part of society for at least 200 years. Same for the Sikhs who have been in Canada since 1898, Queen Victoria's last Jubilee, nothing new here with the colourful turbans.

Why this project now? Do we need it? Is there really a threat to French speaking culture in Quebec? What does common values mean in a modern pluralistic society?

I believe that this project was presented now because the Parti Québécois is in a minority government and needs a cause to rally the troops, the hardcore Nationalists who represent about 30% of the electorate. The economy in Quebec is in deep trouble, the debt is out of control, Quebec is often called the Greece of Canada, personal debt per capita at $21,000 is the highest by far in Canada. The solutions to economic problems would be very unpopular and not exactly made to win elections.  So this project of a Charter of Values is far easier to present and defend despite all the controversy it is creating.

Already well over 100 intellectuals who represent the Arts and Culture in Quebec, some very well known names have rejected this idea of a Charter. Some Indépendantiste politicians have also rejected the project to the dismay of the Parti Québecois. It has to be understood that the Nationalist ideas of the 1970's and 1980's are passé and Madame Marois and her Government represent the old guard. Quebec has a society has changed a great deal in the last 40 years and it is a far more diverse society composed of people from all over the world who came to join Quebec Society.  Lumberjacks now in the far North of Quebec are likely to be Africans from Cameroon or Senegal who speak French with the distinctive Quebec French Accent.  They are perfectly integrated into Quebec Society. As for the Maghreb Arabs they too are integrated same goes for many other groups including the Chinese. It is not the Quebec of old where the English and the French were at each others throats over language and economic issues.

There will always be amongst immigrants and new comers people who will not integrate and will be unhappy. It was revealed recently that immigrants from France do not do as well as Haitians or other ethnic groups. That should give pause to reflect on the reasons why one person integrates and another does not.

A threat to French language and culture, I do not think so. My family belongs to the pure laine, the old stock and when I go to Montreal my native City, I see it as my home, I may not like some of the urban developments around me but that is structural, it's not about people. I look at people like Maria Mourani a Member of Parliament in Ottawa, born in Côte d'Ivoire from a Christian Lebanese family who migrated to Canada and sat until yesterday as a Bloc Member, the party that represents the separatists in the Federal House of Commons. She was kicked out of the Party because she declared in a televised interview that she was against this idea of a Charter of Quebec Values, that this was tantamount to Ethnic Nationalism, I agree with her that is exactly what it is. It is also very insulting to all those people who have come to Quebec to build a new life who may be of a different religion than mine or a different culture. They are not a threat they simply have a different culture.

I had the good fortune to grow up in a Montreal at the time of the Universal Exhibition of 1967 and then in the Montreal of the Olympic Games of 1976. That Montreal does not exist anymore, it was very much a white city divided by an invisible East-West boundary between the English and the French. There were very few visible minorities then, except for the Chinese and a few Haitian mostly well educated professional people fleeing the Duvalier Regime. We lived in Snowdon, Hampstead and Côte Saint-Luc, a very Jewish area of the City. So from an early age I got to know all about the Jewish Holidays and traditions. Good business people who knew all about customer service. Our neighbourhood was a mix of English and French speaking people, this is were I learned English on the streets playing with the other kids. There were also Orthodox Jews with there great big fur hats, as a kid  I always wondered if they were not a bit hot on a muggy summer day. We knew quite a few Rabbis and prominent families like the Bronfman of Seagram fame. It was all part of our world, quite ordinary.

Later in school I had teachers who were from Morocco, they had fled unrest in their country, I had friends from Egypt whose family fled the Nasser Regime. We also had family friends who were Syrian and Lebanese.  An uncle of mine who was a priest had worked in Haiti in the 1950's so we knew Haitians. I never saw any of these people as a threat to Quebec or French Culture. They were just people, our neighbours and friends.

Then during my working career I live for 8 years in the Middle-East and North Africa, so I was living among the Muslims, I found them to be kind and cultured, courteous in an old world sense. I can honestly say that I never met a fundamentalist or un-pleasant Muslim. Not that they do not exist but through experience I found that most people are reasonable and easy to get along with.

The problems in Quebec are economic they are not based on identity, culture, language or ethnicity.
It is sad that the current government is so intent on this populist move, stirring up the boogyman of
cultural values. I can say that the Muslim, the Jew, the Sikh wants the same thing I want, I know that and I know it from certainty acquired through a life of experiences.

Unfortunately too many politicians like Madame Marois are cynical and really do not care as long as this gives them another electoral victory, because politics is all about winning otherwise what is the point.  What I fear now is the debates and opinions in the media and I know that this sort of debate will bring out all the extremists from both the Federal and Provincial camps. Many hateful things will be said and this is what Madame Marois is hoping for, she can build her case on such things. Hopefully her minority government can be brought down by a vote before things get too out of hand.

       Assemblée Nationale, Quebec City

While I waited....

This morning at 8am I had an appointment at the car dealership. Waiting rooms in Car dealership in Ottawa are not nice, they are provided but it is more of an inconvenience for the Car dealer and they offer the bare minimum.

So I went in thinking I would be out of there in 30 minutes, no it took 3 hours for a tune-up and frankly speaking I am not even sure what they did, I did see them cleaning the brakes but I did not see anything else.

While I waited I looked around, it's funny really the sort of people who are in the waiting room. One fellow who came in driving an old red jalopy, not the make of the dealership, wearing stretch pants with kids cartoons on them as a motif, a pair of old sandals with dirty old socks, a dirty blue tee-shirt and a baseball cap and wearing a kids mohawk haircut, this guy was in his fifties. Seeing him reminded me immediately of Marché Laflamme our old super market in Aylmer, Québec.  He was the sort of denizen you would see at the marché. I always felt like I did not belong in that supermarket, first when you entered they had this huge display of beer, all the old standards, none of it fashionable, no fussy micro-brew. No it was all the old fashion brands of beer you would find in the old Taverns where you would always get a good fist fight at the bar with the bouncer to break it up and the World Federation of Wrestling on the giant TV, a nice pickled egg and the cigarette lady. They also had all those processed cakes, white powdered sugared doughnuts and sweets like the chocolate Joe Louie which are part of popular culture.

The butcher would have all the right cuts of meat for the Bar-B-Q and the cheeses for the Poutine or just for snacking, usually high on salt, but so good.  The shoppers always had all kinds of nasty tattoos, none of the silly tribal ones you see today or the Chinese lettering. No it was more along the lines of things like Bleeding hearts and the word Mother with a knife and drops of blood or Virgin of Guadalupe tattoos or your girlfriends name forever. Lots of old Bikers and their old girlfriends who
were well pass 40 if not 50 shopping around.  The cashiers were nice girls who chewed gum loudly, too much make-up and looked slightly vulgar but were always helpful and kind to the old lady or man who struggled with their shopping baskets. They knew the old folks, who more often than not would be family friends of their own grandparents. This Marché Laflamme remains to this day an institution in Aylmer, it has that personal touch you simply cannot find in the big modern super stores. Now the old store was completely renovated 5 years ago and does not look like the old store anymore. Nonetheless the same folks shop there, it's colourful.

I hate going to the dealership, I just don't trust them with their phony baloney friendliness when you know that they are gouging with all their gimmicks. I will have to return in November for the snow tires. Otherwise I try to avoid them if at all possible. Oh yes and they also want you to tell them that they were outstanding in their service. Give me a break!!!

La Saint-Jean, 24 Juin 2013

Bonne Fête de la Saint-Jean à tous!

Le drapeau du Québec depuis le 21 janvier 1948. The flag of Quebec is designed according to the old Carillon French Regimental flag. The blue is the symbol of France and of the Virgin Mary since ancient times, the fleur de lys is the symbol of the French Monarchy and the White Cross is the symbol of Catholicism.

Le feu de la Saint-Jean une tradition depuis les temps immémoriaux. Celebrating the Summer Solstice with a huge bonfire as did our ancestors the Gauls, who worshipped the Sun and elements fire and Earth.

 Notre Dame des Victoires 1687, Old Quebec City, lower town.

 Les Plaines d'Abraham, Quebec, below the St-Laurent a magnificent river which at this point becomes a bras de mer, with a mixture of sweet and salty water. Here looking East towards l'Ile d'Orléans.

Vieux Quebec, 17th century buildings in Lower town.

At the Citadelle de Quebec on Cap Diamant, home of the Royal 22 Regiment, the most famous Regiment of the Canadian Army, known as the Regiment Canadien Francais, with many illustrious military heroes of the  First and Second World War.

The pleasure of seeing her again

We went to the theatre to see a play by our great and prolific Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay, born in Montreal in 1942. Currently the Canada on stage Festival is running in Ottawa. Magnetic North is putting on a series of Canadian plays. For the pleasure of seeing her again is staged by the Western Canada Theatre Company of Kamloops, British Columbia. The actors are Lorne Cardinal and Margo Kane, both Natives of the Cree Nation.

The play is a good English translation, the original Encore une fois si vous permettez, was written in French like all 28 plays by Tremblay. It is a tribute to his mother who did not live to see his enormous success as a playwright. The plays spans 10 years in the authors life from age 10 to 20. It is a series of conversations in flashback the author has with his since deceased mother Nana. Lorne Cardinal is the narrator regaling us with tales about his mother a born storyteller with a love of exaggeration. Margo Kane is Nana, she exasperates the son she so much loves and is the inspiration for his art.

It is a very funny play and brought back memories of my own mother. The play takes place in my native Montreal on the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood and many of the stories resonate with me because they are more or less the same period I grew up in and in a neighbourhood I knew. Tremblay mother says things my own mother would say. In many ways Tremblay is saying that mothers often have a greater impact on their children than a father. Also that mothers because of the many hats they wear at home and outside have more complex, more interesting lives.

I think of my mother who is now 83 years old and confined to a long term care facility. For the last 14 years she has been suffering from Alzheimer. A well educated women, who trained to be a school teacher, who had many professions during her lifetime and was a mother to 3 children and a spouse.
Involved in numerous activities on the social scene from 1960 to 1995. She loved to read and was interested by many topics, social, political, cultural. She had a sharp mind and was very good at reading people and analyzing situations. In Ottawa she was the Social Secretary of the Speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament, a job she loved. It put her in daily contact with many politicians and their spouses. She also managed the Office and because of the position of the Speaker in Parliament, she was the one to do a lot of behind the scene work on bringing people together or solving problems between parties. She could be very diplomatic in difficult situations.

She was also of that generation which took marriage vows seriously and followed a husband who changed jobs often. I do not think that she was always happy with these moves from city to city, from one continent to another. We kids followed changing schools very often, even in the middle of the school year in some cases. It was always about my father's career and Mom would always be the one explaining it all to us kids. She was the best at putting a positive look on any situation. She was always the one organising everything and making sure we would all land on our feet. Every transition was smooth thanks to her, no matter what.

I think she made a lot of sacrifices, she once told me after 30 years of marriage to my father, that looking at all her friends and acquaintances, they were the only one of their group still married, everyone else had divorced or separated. It is not easy but you do what you have to do and what is best for the children. We, the children, always came first, she did her best to give us a good education, maintain our interest in books, reading, the theatre, arts and culture. She valued a good penmanship, she wrote beautifully and she wanted us to also have a good penmanship, to her this was a sign of good education. I remember once when I was 7 years old, she took me to the ballet, she thought it would be a good experience. She was always trying to open our horizons to new experiences. Later when I was 12  she arranged for me to go to weekend theatre school, I did this until I was 16. Our teachers were well known professional actors, I did get small roles in television and in the theatre. It was certainly another world outside of regular school. My mother believed in us kids expanding our minds.

In 1969 she won a radio contest and the prize was a trip to Ireland, she thought while we are in Europe might as well go to France and England too. So we all went and I remember that trip to this day, our first ever outside of North America. During the trip she would try to maintain our interest in what we were seeing, explaining to us about cities and sights we visited.

She was also a good cook and showed me, the eldest, how to prepare simple meals. She would cook from scratch, never processed or frozen or packaged foods, no pizza boxes. Emphasis on fresh vegetables and fruits. My parents had many almost nightly social engagements tied to political events or tourism industry between 1966 and 1976 in Montreal and Toronto. I often had to look after my younger siblings and cook for them.

She was also the pillar of our family, when things did not go well, she was the one staying calm and taking charge. She knew what to do, her mind was practical and logical. Always a good head for numbers and math, she was very proud of that, luckily she was in charge of the family budget.

So many memories of a lifetime, this is why I am pained to see her now in this diminished capacity, a shadow of herself, a silent shadow.

I remember when in 1999 she came with my father to visit us in Warsaw, I was unaware that anything was wrong at the time, but already she was showing signs of confusion and distress. She would say things that did not make much sense.
She would say that she was tired or stressed.  She knew that it was the first stages of Alzheimer, the specialist had told her. I know now that she was very afraid of what would come. During their stay in Warsaw she got lost for a few hours in our neighbourhood and when she finally came home she told us a strange story of how everyone she encountered spoke to her in French, including the young Polish fellow who was a police guard across the street.  I remember asking her who she had met on the street, I was wondering how could all these Polish people speak to her in French.
It took some months for me to get the full story about her health problems.

It has been fourteen long and painful years of a sunset that does not appear to end. This play by Tremblay brought back a lot of memories of that Montreal of my childhood and of my mother's life.

Change of name and mandate

Last weekend The Globe and Mail announced that the famed Museum of Civilization in Hull-Gatineau across the Outaouais river from the National Capital, Ottawa would see its name changed and get a new mandate. The new name will be the Museum of Canadian History, as soon as Parliament can pass the legislation since it is a National Museum.

The Museum of Civilization was built 27 years ago on an architectural design by Douglas Cardinal, it was then the talk of the town, the building is very unusual and at the time required new building techniques, it was opened to the public in 1987, it was or is a museum celebrating civilizations in Canada, in the plural sense, meaning many definitions of civilization and culture and not just of one  dominant group. This was part of the diversity agenda under Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau, celebrating the many peoples of Canada.

Native First Nations of Canada are celebrated in this museum since it is built on grounds sacred to the Algonquin. The museum also presents exhibits about early Canadian history and hold exhibits on diverse topics, recently there was an exhibit on Gods and various religions in the world, very interesting, sort of a wide lens approach broadening of the mind. Currently there is a very good exhibit on the Mayan culture with numerous artifacts from Mexico. There is also a small Canadian Postal Museum  and a Children's Museum on the premises and an IMAX cinema. In this re-branding the Postal museum will be closed and packed off to a warehouse.

Today the Hon. James Moore, PC, MP, Minister of Canadian Heritage announced the change in the Museum's name and mandate. Mr. Moore made it clear that this announcement was made on behalf of our dear Leader, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, a man who has made a point of never going to any museums and cancelling several museum projects in Ottawa, like the National Portrait Gallery on the pretext that there is no money and closing several others. Though there is always money to spend on military monuments or for ever more severe security detail for his entourage to keep the governed at bay.

Mr. Moore was quick to point out that he had the idea of transforming the museum to present a more complete picture of the Monarchy and Canadian history with emphasis on the military aspect. This fits perfectly in the narrative of the current government. We already have a Canadian Museum of War near by, so is this duplication? Do we need more history on the Monarchy? This is a favourite topic of our Dear Leader, he loves the Royals, so his ministers have to come up with projects to emphasize the Royal Family, though the majority of Canadians remain puzzled with this fascination by Harper and company.

What is also curious about Mr. Moore's pronouncement today about the re-branding of the Museum was another announcement last week by same minister that the Laurier House would no longer have any guides, the house is full of personal artifacts, it is a living museum. This house was the private residence of two of the more famous Prime Ministers of Canada who both served long terms in Office, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William Lyon Mackenzie King and truly shaped the history of Canada in the XXth century. Unfortunately for them both Liberals, that is no longer acceptable for the official history of Canada in Harperland. That is another point of the Harper doctrine, demonize the Liberal Party and destroy the legacy.

Now Mr. Moore has also announced that his ministry will spend 25 million dollars on refurbishing the enormous Museum of Civilization. No new money he emphasized, simply money allocated to other projects or salaries now re-directed to this new project. This is what budget cut backs are all about to free money for other things. Why this project now? Well we are on the countdown to 2017 when Canada will celebrate its 150 Anniversary of Confederation (1867-2017). In the meantime Mr. Moore is also involved in closing down many other museums across Canada on Canadian history. What a confused message, no credibility here Minister.

You have to wonder what version of history will be presented in this re-furbished museum. Many are bracing for a very Harperesque version of Canadian History. We saw it this year with the Diamond Jubilee where only photos of Mr. Harper with the Royals where selected for official presentations. Given that Harper has only been PM for 6 years so far one wonders what happened during the other 54 years of our history. All other Prime Ministers being Liberals were omitted and only historical factoids of the dear Leader were emphasized to fit the political agenda. Another example would be the silent treatment the Anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom received or the Anniversary of the Canadian Flag, both came about under Liberal governments. When asked our dear Prime Minister pretends, A) he did not hear the question or B) pretends he does not understand what you are talking about.

So this newly renovated museum will see much cleansing of history. You also have to wonder what can actually be achieved with such a small amount, 25 million dollars is not much money for such a project. The current director was asked what the new museum would look like and he immediately said that he did not know since Parliament would have to decide what would be displayed. Oh, Oh!!!! Neo-Con politicians becoming over night museum curators, good grief!

Sad, I feel we are losing a great museum, it was in fact the most visited museum in Canada. Small minds, partisanship and pettiness have taken over in this case. The Canadian people are the losers.



 

Jour de l'Action de Grâce, Thanksgiving

My favourite holiday of the year le Jour de l'Action de Grâce, Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October in Canada. It is a Liturgical Festival and comes to us from our ancestors in France and England celebrating the Harvest.

Les citrouilles harvest 2012

The actual holiday is Monday but most of us Canadians will celebrate on the Sunday with a Festive meal amongst friends and family. It is a holiday everyone can celebrate unlike Christmas. It is a holiday to reflect on our good fortune and be thankful, if only for the fact that we live in a peaceful and stable country bordering on the boring. In Canada the origin of this holiday are numerous, the first time the holiday is mentioned is 1604 when Samuel de Champlain and his companions who have settled at the fame l'Habitation, gave thanks for making a safe crossing of the Atlantic from France to Quebec City or Stadacona as it was then known. We know that the native people have for centuries celebrated the Harvest with meals and dances, well before the Europeans arrival. It was common to celebrate with the European settlers and this is where squash and corn came into being a part of the meal. The wild turkey a Mexican import came much later probably in those days venison was the main meat of the meal.

Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving was observed on a Thursday in November, something to do with the Royal Family, then after the First World War the observance was around the 11 November, Armistice Day, thankful for Peace, not to forget that 10% of the population had gone to war in Europe. Finally in 1957, Thanksgiving became a National Statutory Holiday and fixed on the second Monday in October.

Glorious Maple tree colours on our back street.

So today I went to the store to pick up my 5 Kg Turkey, a small bird. I love the smell of roasting turkey it brings back so many memories of family gatherings at my grandparents decades ago. I also will do two vegetables, some potatoes and a mixture of celery, pearl onions and peas. One guest will bring an appetizer and the other guest dessert. I have champagne and over 100 bottles of wines to choose from, plus several excellent single malt scotch, gin and vodka for apéritif. So we should be OK so to speak.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 Our street in Ottawa.