Students, stop whining

[Re: “Student strike history,” Nov. 1] Apparently, back in 1988, the provincial government vowed to raise tuition fees (according to your article). Well, it’s that time again.

Don’t get me wrong. No student who has the qualifications should be denied access to post-secondary education. The grievance that some individuals can’t afford it is no longer valid if funding is made universally available by way of loans, with repayment conditions made as lenient as possible.

Unfortunately, our distinctly sophisticated society insists on ensuring its citizens feel comfortable above all else, regardless of how immature they are. So fanatics will still feel free to view loans as intolerable burdens. And how do the academy staff members feel about such objections? Who can blame them if those running the system are getting fed up with budget or salary constraints?

Must they fight fire with fire? Must the educators themselves threaten walk-outs or mass resignation in order to pressure the government into legislating reasonable tuition increases? In the face of such institutional paralysis, will our student vanguard realize how futile its complaints are?

Surely the virtues of accountability and independence are worth more than sloth and beggary. Perhaps the claim that today’s militant students have less “fire in the belly” is a good sign. Let’s hope it means they have more sparks in the conscience.

>> L.S. Cattarini

Good riddance

[Re: “Goodbye Montreal, again,” Letters, Nov. 1] There’s been a recent rash of indignant letters and editorials in English-speaking newspapers about the proposed Quebec citizenship, specifically regarding its requiring working knowledge of French for new arrivals. We hear, as in Gregory Azeff’s letter, the inevitable allegations of racism, ethnic cleansing and of course Nazism. But has anybody paused to think about this?

As a long-time permanent resident in Montreal now seeking citizenship, federal immigration law already requires me not only to demonstrate my language skills, but also to swear allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It seems to me that Quebec, as a French-speaking nation within Canada, is justified in imposing equivalent (and more relevant) conditions of its own.

As for the fears of the native anglophone residents of Quebec, a cursory read-through of the proposal reveals that they are exempt from this requirement. It is true, however, that existing non-native residents would be subject to the language test. This I object to, insofar as I feel that existing rights should be inalienable.

Personally, I find that it is a basic courtesy, when you choose a place of residence, to learn the local language and respect the culture. I see too many English-speaking Canadians come to Montreal only to cloister themselves up in the West Island, Westmount or the McGill ghettos and isolating themselves from the rich French Quebecois culture and its people—as if this were colonial Africa. They stick together, read their own newspapers and write angry letters about a Quebec that they fear but do not understand. Yet it is a warm and welcoming place when you get to know it, as I have. It helps to learn French.

Meanwhile, I wish Gregory a happy life in Toronto.

>> Fred Dorosh

C’est complètement irresponsable de votre part, publier une lettre raciste et propagandiste sous couvert de liberté d’expression. Un connard disant qu’il à quitté le québec parce que les péquistes sont trop fermés et racistes, mais qui dans son propos est raciste et fermé.

Enfin, j’ai rarement vu un propos aussi con, omis, peut-être la personne qui décide de le publier! Veuillez agréer mes sentiments les plus fécaux.

>> André Boisvert

Gregory Azeff claims he is delighted to have left Quebec. Not as much as Quebec is.

>> Shirley Groves

Meat no good

[Re: “Vegans vs. food snobs,” Letters, Nov. 8] Lucas Solowey makes a lot of good points in his insightful letter. I read the Mirror interview with chef Anthony Bourdain and he demonstrates colossal ignorance and narrow-mindedness about vegetarianism.

Vegetarianism in reality is not only for animal rights fanatics or Hindus, as Mr. Bourdain implies. Hundreds of people of privilege and power like Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Paul McCartney, Greek mathematician Pythagoras, Bertrand Russell etc. have been vegetarian for ethical and health reasons over the course of history. Even tennis superstar Martina Navratilova has been vegetarian for more than 25 years.

Our closest cousins in the animal kingdom with whom we share 98 per cent of our genes are gorillas and gorillas are 100 per cent vegetarian. Chimpanzees are 95 per cent vegetarian. Humans have a lot of learning to do from gorillas, it seems.

Those who stubbornly defend meat-eating should remember this Jerry Flattum quote: “Eating meat is a luxury, a cruel one at that. It is a habit born from custom and tradition. Some customs and traditions deserve to disappear. Slavery, burning witches at the stake and throwing thieves to the lions were once customary and traditional.’’

>> Manish Patwari

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