# Something is rotten in the province of Quebec **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801 "2012-09-05T22:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/1 "2012-09-05T22:43:09Z")
In late August, there was a daring heist at the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve (GSMSR) for 30 million dollars’ worth of maple syrup \* and now the newly elected Premier almost gets assassinated\*\*. COINCIDENCE!!! More seriously, recently there was a movement\*\*\* where people pinned red squares to show their belonging to a mass movement with anarchist/democratic socialist leanings. Through the summer there were riots. A few years ago, a radio station was shut down when the Canadian FCC refused to renew its licence because a cetain man (a mix of Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh) kept making defamatory remarks on air\*\*\*\*. As a result, there was another movement: “The X” who also used standardized symbols to identify themselves as members of a broad political-social movement. The two groups have different demographics and political opinions yet exhibited much of the same mass movement dynamics. Remember the movie Network where people would, during the show, go out on their balcony and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore”. In 1996/1997, there was a TV show by Jean-Marc Parent where Parent would exhort people to keep turning their lights off and on. You could look out the window and see people turning their lights off and on just as people shouted in the movie Network. It seems people got a sense of belonging out of it. It was an absurd mass social phenomenon. Quebec seems to have had more than its fair share of shootings for a province with a population equal to Virginia and located in Canada where guns are more difficult to come by. > **[Dawson College shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_College_shooting)** > > The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006, at Dawson College, a CEGEP located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The perpetrator, Kimveer Singh Gill, began shooting outside the de Maisonneuve Boulevard entrance to the school, and moved towards the atrium by the cafeteria on the main floor. One victim died at the scene, while another 19 were injured, eight of whom were listed in critical condition, with six requiring surgery. The shooter later committed suicide, At 12:30 p.m... > **[École Polytechnique massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre)** > > .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}45°30′17″N 73°36′46″W / 45.50472°N 73.61278°W / 45.50472; -73.61278 > The École Polytechnique massacre (French: tuerie de l'École polytechnique), also known as the Montreal massacre, was an antifeminist... > **[Concordia University massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_University_massacre)** > > The Concordia University massacre was a school shooting on August 24, 1992 in which Valery I. Fabrikant, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, killed four colleagues and wounded a staff member at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. > Fabrikant was a mechanical engineering associate professor who had worked at Concordia University for 13 years. He had begun as a technician, and long demonstrated disruptive behav... > **[Denis Lortie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Lortie)** > > Denis Lortie (born March 10, 1959) is a former Canadian Forces corporal. In 1984, he stormed into the Parliament Building in Quebec City and opened fire with several firearms, killing three government employees and wounding thirteen others. The National Assembly's serjeant-at-arms, René Jalbert, volunteered himself to serve as a hostage, and conversed with Lortie for several hours before convincing him to surrender to authorities. > After a 1985 conviction of first-degree murder was overturned by ... The relationship to ethnic minorities is also rockier than in other provinces\*\*\*\*\*. Since the mid 90s, political parties have been in flux. The ADQ was libertarian-ish, died and was reborn as the CAQ which is much the same. Québec Solidaire is the parliamentary equivalent of the Occupy movement and got started in 2006. Maybe there are no links between all of these and it’s just various unrelated phenomena. I’m not sure what to think of it myself. Hence why I’m offering it up for opinions. \*[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=663912&highlight=maple](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=663912&highlight=maple) \*\*[Breaking News, Headlines and Stories | National Post](http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/05/suspect-in-quebec-election-shooting-identified-as-local-hunting-and-fishing-lodge-owner/) \*\*\* Which originated from a proposed college tuition hike but grew to be broader than that. [2012 Quebec student protests - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Quebec_student_protests) \*\*\*\*[CHOI-FM - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHOI-FM#Dispute_with_the_CRTC) \*\*\*\*\*[Reasonable accommodation - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_accomodation) ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/2 "2012-09-05T22:53:57Z")
I think the amount of dissonance that comes from being an island of Francophones in a nation of Anglophones might be a bit disturbing. I don’t know if it will be better when Quebec finally decides to leave federal state of Canada, but I suspect that civil unrest will continue until there is some rational resolution. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/3 "2012-09-05T23:12:35Z")
do you live there, MichaelE? I know nothing about the province except that I have always wanted to visit. so they want my tourist dollars they best not be shooting people so much. Alors! ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/4 "2012-09-05T23:44:52Z")
Jackie, Yes, I do. I also note that a disproportionate number of SDMBers seem to come from Quebec, especially considering it’s majority francophone and this is an English speak forum. I can count at least 5; myself, Nmesony-something-that-sounds-like-it\*, Harry, MattMCL and Hyp Jerk. I remember Harry being an Ashkenazi retired math teacher. Hyp Jerk is, I believe, involved in graduate studies of the equally geeky kind. I’m a lawyer who studied philosophy. Not sure what MattMCL\*\* and Nmesony do or what their background is. \*Sorry, I like you as a poster but my brain hates your name. \*\*Who was a political candidate in a major national party if I remember correctly. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/5 "2012-09-06T00:40:52Z")
I’d give you a **mnem** onic, but I don’t know if it would help…FWIW I’m a chemist-turned-engineer who works in aerospace. Three guesses as to where, though I’ll neither confirm or deny under the pretense of privacy. 🙂 **mattMCL** is (was?) involved with the federal NDP and was once a candidate. As for everything else…I don’t know what to say… …but… I’m going to point to Ontario and wonder what’s up with all the rotten torsos? Even the guy who killed in Montreal came from Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/6 "2012-09-06T00:54:59Z")
Virginia might not have been the best comparison: [Virginia Tech shooting - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre) Nothing you posted about seems linked. Unless that assassin in the bathrobe masterminded the syrup heist. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/7 "2012-09-06T02:09:16Z")
I think I’d be concerned with Ontario too, what with the [hacked up](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19498156) body they found today and all. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-is-rotten-in-the-province-of-quebec/633801/8 "2012-09-06T03:01:40Z")
I’m definitely from here, too. Yes, Québec is more complicated than most of North America. We used to have only French-vs-English, sovereignty-vs-federalism, but these past few years the far-right / libertarian ideas have made some headway into Canada and into some regions of Québec. So now there’s also plain old left-vs-right, which we’re not used to seeing. And it’s increasingly polarised, just like in the States. I wouldn’t say there were riots all summer. Protests, yes, since the spring, but few riots. It also depends on what news outlet you listen to.