And Why Not?

"What did we do?  We aired images that Pauline Marois herself and her party had aired.  I am very intrigued by the reaction of the Pequistes.  Are they embarrassed by their own images, that they themselves made public?  If so, why?"  Quebec Premier Jean Charest

"I believe that it's time to move on.  I wore it with pride, I defended what it represents, namely making education a priority and fairness for all students....  With the fete Nationale approaching, we are wearing the fleur-de-lys.  It brings people together."  Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois

So what's the fuss?  Footage of an awkward-appearing Ms. Marois wearing the red square of support for Quebec students, banging pot lids, so what?  The video, after all, appeared on a Parti Quebecois web site, to demonstrate her unalloyed support for the law-breaking, spoiled-child antics of Quebec's student unions in defying the province's move to minimally raise their minimal university tuition fees.

A cash-strapped province with many areas of society needing support makes a decision to raise fees by a nominal sum that will still leave Quebec post-secondary students with the lowest tuition fees in the country most certainly has a right and an obligation to the rest of its society to ensure that everyone pays at least some modest fee toward something that benefits them uniquely.

The sometimes violent, always obstreperous antics of protesting hordes of students who didn't mind interrupting the studies of other students - the majority of Quebec students in fact, who wanted nothing whatever to do with the protests and who geared themselves to getting on with their studies - ensured they suffered at the hands of their protesting peers.

The disruptions caused by student protesters, backed by their unions, which ended up inconveniencing the rest of society by blocking highways, obstructing bridge passes, smashing storefronts, invading colleges and university premises to destroy computers and desks, won them no support from the public.  But it did prod the government to enact a law that would require a permit to launch such protests.

The backlash to which the Parti Quebecois made the most of, wearing red squares on their clothing as symbolic support for the student-union-led youth who continued their rampages, interrupting the province's major tourism events with their raucous and juvenile antics.  The governing Liberals, in advance of a possible close election date, simply took the footage of Ms. Marois to demonstrate how foolish she appeared.

The individual who had taken the video, and who placed it on his Facebook page with the title "Get rid of the Liberals", has publicly complained that his video has been highjacked, demanding the Liberals withdraw the electioneering advertisement they made of it.  Ah, responded the Liberals, the images are in the public domain, having been used by a PQ candidate.

And it is, after all,only a 15-second advert.  Of Ms. Marois bashing pot lids, peering foolishly at the camera, pursed lips smugly smiling.