Montreal Canadiens Too English?

So today, Pauline Marois, Parti Quebecois leader (That's the official opposition party in the Province of Quebec) stated publicly that she felt the players on one of the most beloved NHL teams in history, the Montreal Canadiens, are "not French enough".

Apparently, Pauline also told reporters the fact that there are so many non-French players on the team is not in Quebec's interest.

Sound stupid? Wait. It gets more retarded.

Pierre Curzi, who is the language critic for the Parti Quebecois stated on a popular French radio program that he believes the lack of French players is "Not by chance" and that it is an attempt to "Serve the Federalist agenda"

It seems that Curzi's comments have created quite a stir in Quebec, and indeed within the NHL.

Dominick Saillant, a spokesman for the Montreal Canadiens responded by saying that language has nothing to do with who plays on the team, and that player selections are done purely based on talent.

As it should be, in my opinion.

Saillant did go on to say that as long as people are counting, the Canadiens do have more francophone players than any other team in the league, with 11 being French.

Since the public furor, language critic Curzi has attempted to backtrack on some of his comments suddenly saying he did NOT believe this was a deliberate attempt by the team to stack itself with English players. This came after Pauline Marois denied that there was a federal conspiracy to slight the French speaking people.

As if Curzi doesn't sound brain-damaged enough, he made headlines 2 years ago when he spoke out against Paul McCartney putting on a free show on the Plains of Abraham to celebrate Quebec City's 400th birthday. He stated it was inappropriate for McCartney to be singing in English on the historic battle site of French and English troops.

On a personal note to Curzi, should he happen to read this: 1. I doubt Paul McCartney could care less about furthering Canada's Federalist agenda, and 2. The French LOST. Deal with it.

All of the above shenanigans is a prime example of what is wrong with the Parti Quebecois. I don't really have a preference for or against Quebec separating. Whatever they want to do is fine with me.

What I DO have a problem with however, is irrational, uneducated ramblings from people in high ranking positions with the intention of getting the public worked up. Instead of wasting valuable air time being negative and looking for non-existent conspiracies, the party SHOULD be showcasing the positives and uniqueness of their culture. Why not spend some of the cultural dollars Quebec has and use it for a cross Canada promotion of French Heritage? Lots of provinces (ie, New Brunswick, Manitoba and even Alberta) have a significant Francophone population, and such actions would probably do well to convince other Canadians to embrace the importance of the French culture.

What do you think? Am i being too hard on the Parti Quebecois? Or do they really use scare tactics on a frequent basis. I don't live in Quebec, so it is possible I have a bias. If you think so, let me have it!

Rainn