Disinformation Campaign Used to Camouflage Quebec Economic Disaster

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I'm reminded of that upbeat television commercial from the Bank of Nova Scotia reminding Canadians that "You're Richer than You Think!"
No matter how you cut it, it certainly doesn't apply Quebecers who are actually much poorer than we think.

In the war of statistics, one can convince anyone of anything as long as the recipient is attuned to the message being flogged, regardless of it's veracity or accuracy.

In this respect Quebec nationalists have raised the disinformation campaign to an art form with consummate con-artists like Jean-François Lisée telling Quebecers that all is well and that reports of economic disaster are federalist plots to discredit Quebec.
It is a message that resonates with most Quebecers and why not, who really wants to hear the bad news?

And so Quebec militants have created a potent disinformation machine, complete with spokesmen who dazzle us with selective, faulty and downright dishonesty, coupled with phony-baloney pseudo-reputable organizations that cloak themselves in an outward appearance of legitimacy, when in fact they are nothing but dishonest facades, whose sole mission is to cloud the debate with the help of a complicit media that never questions their credentials.

"Such is the case of the insufferable Institut de recherche sur le français en Amérique (IRFA) an organization that uses the word "Institute" to give itself a false and bloated appearance of something which it is not. Aside from its minuscule size, it mimics the work of the SSJB, Mouvement Quebec Francais and Imperatif Francais in promoting the French language and the cause of sovereignty.

THE IFRA is a tiny French language lobby group, run by a university student consisting of a website, post-office box and a personal cellular telephone number.
The website shows a couple of academic separatists forming a 'scientific committee' which includes Marc Termote, a demographer and renowned language militant, and employee of the OQLF."  Link

Other separatist propaganda organs like organization  Institut de recherche en économie contemporaine (IREC), 'Institut de Recherche et d’Informations Socio-économiques' grind out statistical nonsense that the French media eat up, giving Quebecers a false economic sense of security.

Here'a an example of the type of slanted and bogus reporting that Quebecers are treated to on an ongoing basis.
A recent Journal de Montreal article focused on the fact that 65% of 4,499 students entering kindergarten and who couldn't speak French, were born in Quebec. Link{Fr}.

They even included a table which was more interesting for what it did not say.


The table shows the six principle countries of birth for these students.
Here  is the problem, there are two.
The article's first line says this;

"In 2007-2008, 65% of 4499 children who needed support for learning French (SAF) on entry to the school were born in Quebec.

As you can see in the table presented above, it lists a different percentage for the Quebec born, that of 37.3%. What gives??

But even if it is a typo or I am getting it wrong, and the real number of these students born in Quebec, but unable to speak French when entering French kindergarten, is as the article indicates,  65% of 4,499 or 2,900, in all.
What number does this represent as a percentage of all students entering French kindergarten?
It is the essential point that the article never addresses and herein lies the disinformation.

Is it a crisis or not? How do we know, if we don't know what percentage the 2,900 represent in relation to the total number of students entering kindergarten.

I did a little checking of my own and have found out that about of 75,000 student enter French kindergarten each years, making the problem students involved at around 4%. Link

Quite a different story, and let's be honest, did they really expect English children forced into French schools (which represents 20% of the total) to be proficient in French?


This is just the latest example of  what I like to call, 'separatist statistics', disinformation, half-truths and outright lies, numbers and facts that never stand up to scrutiny.

The greatest economic fiction sold by these organizations is that Quebec is not really poorer than the rest of Canada, the argument being that the lower disposable income available to Quebec families is based on the collective decision to pay higher taxes in order to fund richer entitlements.

It's a good line, but hardly true.

In fact almost all the so-called Quebec entitlements, including $7 a day child care, extended parental leave, free prescription drugs and low tuition fees can be attributed to the $8 billion subsidy Quebec receives from Ottawa in the way of transfer payments.

Quebec can argue that  it is entitled to this money, but the reality is that in the present federal economic model,  Quebec has its social programs paid for by Ottawa while Alberta does not, that is a fact.

Yet despite the evening-up subsidy, Quebecers remain poorer than Canada's other big provinces, something that no statistical sleight of hand can mask.

Here is  a simple table based on the average family income that I defy separatists to discredit. It is based on Statistics Canada data and an online tax calculator.


 
But even the disparity in the above table doesn't tell the whole story, although Quebec families have 17% less disposable income (after taxes) than Ontario families and 30% less than Alberta families, the situation is aggravated because disposable income in Quebec doesn't go as far.

Almost everything except housing costs and electricity costs more in Quebec, a lot more, further reducing family buying power.
But even the historically higher housing cost for homes in Ontario and Alberta has been offset with rising prices, and while Albertan and Ontarian families paid more for their homes over the years, the rise in value more than offset the investment.

Just about the only place Quebecers save is in electricity where the average family pays about $500 less than Albertans and $600 leas than Ontarians. Link
But all this is wiped out by the differences in sales tax and gasoline prices which cost the average car-owner in Quebecers about $350 more than Albertans and about $200 more than Ontarians. You can double those costs for two-car families.

Provincial Sales Tax
QUE- 9.5%......ONTARIO.. 8%......ALBERTA 0%

Gasoline
QUE- $1.38......ONTARIO..$1.20......ALBERTA $1.04 

There is a simple truth that the apologists won't admit.
Quebec families are poorer than those in Ontario, B.C and Alberta because theycollectively don't produce as much wealth, and the wealth that is produced is taxed at a higher rate, this despite having the vaunted social programs paid for by other Canadians.

When militants tell us that we are poorer than other provinces because we are richer in social spending, it is like everything else they tell us, an ounce of truth and a pound of malarkey.

Social programs contribute to Quebec's bloated spending, but are by no mean the entire story.
Aside from the bloated and wildly expensive government itself, Quebec lavishes subsidizes to provincial businesses to the tune of 6 billion dollars a year, three times what Ontario spends despite being almost double our size.
In effect Quebec is forced to 'buy' jobs for its citizens through subsidies because Quebec industry is not competitive. The best example of this is the half a billion dollars the government pours into the pork industry each year, despite the industry operating at a loss. Link{fr}

Percentage of  revenue use to pay debt  from  Antagoniste.net

Don't forget the double-whammy of agricultural subsidies coupled with higher food prices, propped up by cartel-like marketing boards that fleece Quebec consumers.

And let us remember that Quebec pays the highest percentage of any provincial budget towards debt repayment.

But Quebec apologists have steered the conversation away from reality, convincing Quebecers that their lower standard of living is an honourable thing.
Like the Church of old that told Quebecers that the meek shall inherit the Earth, Quebecers are fed the line that their reduced wealth is an admirable sacrifice for the betterment of society in general.

It is a less than half-truth, it is a lie.

As long as the media discusses the merits of a descriptor in front of the name of Canadian Tire, the problems of wealth creation, productivity, exploitation of natural resources and government overspending are ignored, as Quebecers continue their economic decline.
As long as Pauline remains obsessed with symbols like the Canadian flag in the National Assembly  rather than attacking the economic challenges that face us, we are doomed to sink lower in the Canadian pecking order of wealth and when the Maritimes pass us, we will have truly crossed the Rubicon.

In Quebec, as the old saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

The priest of yore who told Quebecers not to complain and accept their humble lot in life are today replaced by a new cadre of economic gurus, who are telling Quebecers the exact same thing.


A SPECIAL NOTE:
This blog is not about Israel or Gaza, but nobody can be insensitive to what is going on in the Middle East. I'm not going to comment other to say that our problems here in Quebec seem so remarkably petty compared to what is going on over there.

Imagine the terror that all civilians feel on both sides of the Gaza/Israeli border when rockets and bombs rain down.

I'd like to ask readers to take a moment to imagine a rocket or a bomb landing on your street or neighbourhood.

These people have real problems, ours in Quebec and Canada,  are manufactured nonsense.

Francophones, Anglophones and Ethnics, we are blessed to live where we do. 

Imagine that we have energy, time and the inclination to discuss a flag in the National Assembly as if it has the slightest importance or meaning.

Again, I'm not going to write a blog piece about what is going on over there, but readers are welcome to comment.

The only thing that I will offer an opinion on, is Amir Khadir, someone who we've heard nothing from ever since the beginning of the conflict in Syria which has taken the lives of 29,000 civilians as well as 10,000 combatants.
Mr. Khadir took part in an anti-Israel protest in Montreal yesterday and while he tried to make impartial comments, his presence spoke volumes.

That Mr. Khadir is an Israel basher is fine, there are many.
It is his hypocrisy that is just so galling. Link