I saw nothing admirable about the dishonest nature of the Oui/Non question that was posed. And in public life, one of the worst losers ever.
Jacques Parizeau
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I saw nothing admirable about the dishonest nature of the Oui/Non question that was posed. And in public life, one of the worst losers ever.
I'll call bullshit on the all of your post based on your last point.
By Jove was part of his vocabulary where he refined his English while attending the London School of Economics where he earned a PhD. In fact, his English had an English upper class Oxford twang.
He always encouraged young people to learn English if they wanted to broaden their horizons.
He always spoke his mind and publicly argued against PQ leaders of the day, including Pauline Marois's proposed charter of Quebec values. Marois then got soundly defeated.
That question was not his. He argued for a very direct question, yes or no.
In public life, he came within 50,000 votes of getting Quebec to secede.
In public life, he was largely responsible for establishing the Quebec Pension Plan, and the nationalization of Hydro-Quebec while he was a senior economic advisor to the government of Premier Jean Lesage. In fact, he was one of the behind the scenes players in the Quiet Revolution of the 1960's.
There in lies the hypocrisy of Perizeau.
You might think that he encouraged young people to learn English, and he may have even said that, but the reality was anything but..
Language police, Le Bureau Francais du Quebec, forbidding Quebecers to send their children to English schools, making professionals (Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Accountants, nurses) take and pass a French proficiency test (in Ontario or other provinces, one need only be the master of one of either official languages of Canada) - this is the REALITY of Jacques Perizeau.
The PQ wasn't a dictatorship and Parizeau wasn't a dictator; the party's downfall was that it had too many factions to juggle. He had influence but was bound by party policy and by the actions of his predecessors.
Of course, if you want to talk about Harper or Chretien, then you have examples of autocracies driven by ideology as in the case of Harper, and unelected autocratic senior advisors like Crouton's Eddie Goldenberg, for example, for top-down policy making.
*I do not agree with your opinion in this post therefore all your opinions previous and future are not valid.
Whatever.....
"You may go snort dog diarrhea, he liked to taunt the English media to show the separatist that they were "Maitres Chez Nous" (In his own words - masters in their own house ) "
The 'Maitres chez nous' expression was first used by Liberal Premier Jean Lesage in the 1962 election campaign.
I'm not a separatist, but I'll speak out against the sort of heckling we're seeing here. Most of it is hysterical nonsense.
The "whatever" is that he was no humanitarian or Anglophile as you make him out to be. He knew that Bill 22 was restrictive and destructive to the Quebecois and it was going to make a province full of stupid people that will be imprisoned within the borders of Quebec without the ability to communicate with the rest of the world or to take advantage of opportunities outside the province. He wanted to be the king of Quebec. When he was defeated in the referendum he quickly resigned from politics the next day after only served 16 months as premiere. His By Jove taunts were a mockery on English speaking people.
Bill 22 was the product of the government of Liberal Robert Bourassa.
And do you need an independent quote for the By Jove business?
'He took so readily to England and British ways that were it not for a prior commitment to return to teach at HEC, he might well have spent the rest of his life in England, where tempting career opportunities beckoned in British academia.
He took to dressing like a London City banker and cultivated a British accent that could pass muster at Blandings Castle; he was not just the only Quebec separatist, but surely the only Canadian politician in modern times given to the exclamation, “By jove!”'
(http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/jacques-parizeau-obit)
"He was also schooled at the prestigious London School of Economics in the 1950s, where he picked up a number of British affectations such as a penchant for three-piece bankers' suits, expressions like "By Jove!" and a gruff British tinge to his accent when he spoke English."
(http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/former-quebec-premier-jacques-parizeau-dies-at-84-1.2402030)
'The Premier, Jacques Parizeau, 64, speaks impeccable English with an upper-class British accent, sprinkling his speech with expressions of yesteryear like "by Jove" and "humbug."
........It is an intellectual argument, based largely on economics, befitting a man with a doctorate from the London School of Economics and a love of rational discourse. Unlike many nationalists, he bears no animus against English-speakers.
Indeed, he angered some of the more hotheaded nationalists a couple of years back with a blunt exhortation to Quebecers to learn English. "I'll boot the rear end of anyone who can't speak English," he told an interviewer. "In our day and time, a small people like us must speak English." '
(http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/14/world/man-in-the-news-jacques-parizeau-torchbearer-for-quebec.html)
It was the effort of Lucien Bouchard (not Parizeau) who took the separatists to within 50,000 votes of victory. The separatists were losing badly under Parizeau and then the 7th calvary arrived in the form of Bouchard.
Yes, but he at least had the sense to hand over the reigns to Bouchard because of the latter's charisma and oratory skills, despite the fact that the two didn't get along together apparently. But Bouchard didn't invent the separatist movement. Parizeau was one of the principal brains behind it.
When he was defeated in the referendum he quickly resigned from politics the next day after only served 16 months as premiere.
When Rene Levesque won the election to be premiere he wanted to step back and govern, Parizeau left politics in a huff. When Parizeau won the election to be premiere after a short 16 months in office he called a referendum and lost. He left politics the next day because he saw that separation was not in the cards. He spent his last days on a vineyard in France making his brand of wine. Parizeau was out to be King of Quebec and if the price was to destroy Canada, he was willing to do it.
He was willing to do what it takes, after he left politics he come back to criticize several PQist. He knew that the Charter of Quebec values was a step backward and would hurt the cause of separation. Parizeau knew that hard core separatist like P i e r r e Karl Peladeau would not fire up the separatist cause and the Party Quebecois faced “a field of ruin.” In one of his last interviews he stated that “the party was gradually demolished and it has lost its soul.”
On the contrary, Mr Parizeau's bluster, abrasive personality, arrogance, xenophobia and immaturity is what ensured the PQ defeat and what sabotaged all PQ leaders subsequent to him. He continually stoked internal division among the PQ members making the party ungovernable. As long as he was around, federalists could count on Mr Parizeau sink the PQs hopes. For that alone I always wished him long life.
I'm surprised that you a racist is an honouable, perhaps you should reflect on that a bit.
Would it be fair to say that Rene Levesque and Jacques Parizeau has given Toronto billions of dollars.
We all come up against the limits of our ability to understand now and again. The important thing is to stay calm and to keep trying, which is what Parizeau did. Unlike those with limited understandings who now leap to equate him with ISIS terrorists, to cite an opposite example that no one should emulate.
As for "the love" or "being missed"you mentioned, That's a matter for his family and close friends and associates. However reasonable people can accord a man of peace and principle the respect he earned and deserves when he passes. But perhaps you just misread through the lens of your own opinion what they actually said.
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