The Constitution of 1982 is the fundamental law of the land everywhere in Canada, including Quebec, notwithstanding the regrettable fact that the then sovereigntist premier of Quebec, René Lévesque, refused to sign the final document. However, although not legally necessary, it is nevertheless desirable that the National Assembly of Quebec formally endorse the 1982 constitutional changes.
After the second protest in the last two weeks following a provincial summit on higher education, everything about Montreal's current spring weather seemed to have year-old Maple Spring undertones to it, including violence, arrests and injuries. The plight of student debt, post graduation underemployment, and rising housing costs are all unarguably quite legitimate burdens faced by my generation. Will free tuition as demanded by the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) and its followers solve these zeitgeist conundrums? Unlikely.
The recent crackdowns by Quebec's French-language watchdog troupe (officially known as the OQLF) is actually designed to BENEFIT Quebec's English-speaking minority (a.k.a. "Anglophones") and small business. The global attention generated by the OQLF will spawn a new breed of tourist, "Wordies," who will flock here to eat, drink and take pictures in all the affected places.