{"id":62402,"date":"2017-01-08T15:17:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T15:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/parti-quebecois-plans-to-crash-canadas-150th-birthday-party-politely.html"},"modified":"2017-01-08T15:17:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T15:17:23","slug":"parti-quebecois-plans-to-crash-canadas-150th-birthday-party-politely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/parti-quebecois-plans-to-crash-canadas-150th-birthday-party-politely.html","title":{"rendered":"Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois plans to crash Canada&#8217;s 150th birthday party, politely"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is promising not to spoil Canada&#8217;s 150th\u00a0birthday party, but it also won&#8217;t sit quietly by and let their federalist rivals have all the fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lis\u00e9e, the sovereigntist\u00a0party leader, announced last week the PQ will hold a series of parallel events to counter some of the flag-waving that will accompany the official celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want to give balance to the discussion,&#8221;\u00a0Lis\u00e9e\u00a0said as he unveiled\u00a0a campaign dubbed\u00a0L&#8217;Autre\u00a0150e, or The Other 150.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to do it in a negative, victim-oriented way, but to say, &#8216;listen there are some very interesting facts in the Quebec experiment within Canada that may be left behind in the official story.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Canada is celebrating 150 years of\u2026 what, exactly?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u200bThe PQ campaign aims to hold 150 events, centred around such themes as &#8220;Confederation of 1867 &#8230; the worm in the apple&#8221; and &#8220;150 years of Quebec-bashing.&#8221; Marie Imalta Pierre-Lys, a chemist, and a rapper known as Rod le Stod\u00a0will serve as campaign spokespeople.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will bring\u00a0a little spice to the Canadian salad they want to serve us this year,&#8221; Lis\u00e9e\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/fcafb_quebec-byelections-20161205.jpg\" alt=\"Quebec Byelections 20161205\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lis\u00e9e (right) says the PQ will &#8220;spice up&#8221; the Canada 150 celebrations. (Ryan Remiorz\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<h2>Excited for Canada 150? Meh, says Quebec<\/h2>\n<p>The federal government&#8217;s <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">plans<\/a>\u00a0for Canada 150 include amping up celebrations around\u00a0National Flag of Canada Day (Feb. 15),\u00a0National Aboriginal Day (June 21) and\u00a0Canadian Multiculturalism Day (June 27).<\/p>\n<p>In all, according to an estimate by the Globe and Mail, the Liberal government has allotted close to $500 million for Canada 150 events.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even though Ottawa is also planning to help Quebecers celebrate\u00a0F\u00eate nationale (June 24), few so far have expressed much interest in their country&#8217;s birthday celebrations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">The week in commentary: Making plans for Canada&#8217;s next 150 years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">poll<\/a> conducted this summer by market research firm L\u00e9ger\u00a0found only 55 per cent of Quebecers agreed, or strongly agreed, with the statement &#8220;I am looking forward to celebrations of Canada 150.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The next lowest was British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces, where L\u00e9ger\u00a0found 77 per cent\u00a0of respondents backed the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Ontarians appeared to be\u00a0the most enthusiastic about the celebrations; 84 per cent said they were looking forward to getting their party on.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/89108_mccartney-quebec-20080720-topix.jpg\" alt=\"McCARTNEY QUEBEC 20080720 TOPIX\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">It was feared by some that Paul McCartney&#8217;s 2008 perfomance in Quebec City &#8220;would bring back painful memories of our Conquest.&#8221; (Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<h2>Party and politics<\/h2>\n<p>Quebec&#8217;s collective shrug at Canada 150 may suggest a certain wariness at the tendency for politics to break out at every good party in the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When\u00a0Paul\u00a0McCartney\u00a0was invited to play a free concert during Quebec City&#8217;s\u00a0400th\u00a0birthday celebrations in 2008 there was outcry that this &#8220;international Anglo-Saxon idol&#8221; should trespass on the Plains of Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>PQ\u00a0MNAs\u00a0tabled a letter in the National Assembly that argued the ex-Beatle&#8217;s concert would &#8220;bring\u00a0back\u00a0painful memories of our Conquest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">CBC celebrates Quebec City&#8217;s 400th anniversary<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At a F\u00eate Nationale\u00a0event in Quebec City this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u00a0was met with a chorus of boos when he spoke English briefly during a speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/89108_que-trudeau-20160624.jpg\" alt=\"QUE Trudeau 20160624\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves as he leaves a F\u00eate Nationale celebration in Quebec. (Ryan Remiorz\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<p>The crowd was later chastised\u00a0for its reaction by Premier Philippe Couillard, who called on them &#8220;to be open and tolerant.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Montrealers\u00a0also find themselves in the midst of their own expensive birthday celebrations, as the city rolls out a series of multi-million dollar projects to mark 375\u00a0years of existence.<\/p>\n<p>Montreal&#8217;s anniversary happens to fall on a municipal election year and the opposition at city hall is\u00a0already raising the spectre of a boondoggle given that several marquee projects are behind schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For Lis\u00e9e, though, bringing a dose of Quebec\u00a0politics to the Canada 150 party isn&#8217;t a bad thing. It may actually liven the celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u200b&#8221;The good news is that if you thought it would be boring, the 150th birthday of Canada, think again,&#8221; he said Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be interesting!&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Will Montreal&#8217;s 375th celebrations cement Denis Coderre&#8217;s legacy or be his undoing?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/parti-quebecois-canada-150-justin-trudeau-jean-francois-lisee-1.3926066?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois is promising not to spoil Canada&#8217;s 150th\u00a0birthday party, but it also won&#8217;t sit quietly by and let their federalist rivals have all the fun.\u00a0 Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lis\u00e9e, the sovereigntist\u00a0party leader, announced last week the PQ will hold a series of parallel events to counter some of the flag-waving that will accompany the official [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-62402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}