Courtesy and Respect in Quebec

Quebec, a province like none other.  With a population that takes pride in its francophone mentality, its individuality, their values, customs and above all, heritage.  Their love of their distinct language and culture.  Their fascination with rejecting authority.  And their historical affinity for anti-Semitism, among many of the distinctive characteristics defined in the French-Canadian character.

The current youth defiance that has disrupted the social order in the Province of Quebec revolving around university students refusing to respect their elected government and its laws, denouncing a newly-defined increase in university tuition fees also bespeaks an element of Quebec culture of entitlement.  Little wonder that French-Canadians have an interest in unions and social welfare.

Social activists like the member of the Quebec National Assembly, Amir Khadir appear to be extremely popular among the electorate.  His defiance of the governing Liberals and his contempt for Premier Jean Charest are manifested in a manner that is objectionable even to most francophones.  His daughter, Yalda Machouf-Khadir was recently arrested for her masked participation in student protests.

Her father, Amir Khadir took grave offence at members of the police entering his home with a warrant for his 19-year-old daughter, without first removing their footwear.  "My wife tried to let the police know that in our home, as in the homes of many people we take off our shoes upon entering, and we act with courtesy.  Unfortunately, that was not necessarily the case", he huffed.

This member of Quebec Solidaire is an enthusiastic supporter, among other items, of a boycott of shop owners who stock and sell products made in Israel.  He called for a boycott of a shoe store located in his riding, because it sold shoes manufactured in Israel.  And he took part himself in an illegal student protest in Quebec City, where he was handcuffed by police and took possession of a $495 ticket for taking part in an illegal process.

And he is furious that a poster that he has in his home has been condemned by many who have learned of its existence.  Little wonder that his daughter took part, wearing a mask, in protests that ransacked the office of the Education Minister, a university and a CEGEP.  That little apple fell very close to the trunk of the tree that bore her.

Her father treasures an adaptation of Eugene Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People.  The poster, based on the painting, substitutes a few figures for one of himself standing holding a musket, over the dead and unclad body of Jean Charest.  "To see the premier dead in such  context, I don't think it sends good messages in a democratic society", said Health Minister Yves Bolduc.

Nothing demure about Amir Khadir as he took up the offensive against the two Quebec-based newspapers that ran photos of his poster preserved in his home for the last two years under glass.  He has threatened a lawsuit for their having published a photograph on their front pages under the headline: "Khadir armed, Charest dead."

"What is distasteful is trying to use that to intimidate me and Quebec Solidaire on our opinions against the corruption of this government", he fumed.  Representing the central Montreal riding of Mercier, elected in 2008, he has a popularity rating of 11% as contender for the best candidate for premier.  And he feels his poster is ironically amusing, not at all in poor taste.

It is only shoes worn in the confines of his home that are in poor taste and lacking courtesy.