"Marois's selection for PQ language critic is an odd choice"

6 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2009-01-15 10:33

toddsschneider

"She picks the error-prone Curzi over the experienced Beaudoin"

... When Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois announced the official
opposition shadow cabinet last Friday, it was surprising to see that
she had not replaced Pierre Curzi as language critic with Louise
Beaudoin.

Beaudoin was the minister responsible for language in the Bouchard
government from 1995 to 1998. It might have seemed much longer to
anglophones on whom she made such an impression that more than 10 years
later, she remains the Péquiste they most love to hate ...

Curzi, on the other hand, was recruited by Marois's predecessor as
leader, André Boisclair. A member of the National Assembly since only
2007, he lacks Beaudoin's experience and her political instincts, and
in his first term was prone to error ...

Thu, 2009-01-15 15:21

Ken Burch

What would be Curzi's selling point? Does the man have some huge personal fan base or something? _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our Demands Most Moderate are/
We Only Want The World!
-James Connolly

Thu, 2009-01-15 16:14

lagatta

Indeed, and he was a player in the recent cultural workers' protests against cuts to arts funding - which became a popular cause here, alongside the women's movement against C-484.

And hey, he's from Villeray e suo padre è Italiano... (Have to stick up for the 'hood, no?)

Thu, 2009-01-15 17:31

martin dufresne

Curzi is a heavyweight in cultural circles, having steered Quebec's Union des Artistes for years. He is perceived as telling it like it is and eager to really protect French-language rights.

"Curzi and other PQ MNAs expressed support for extending to the pre-school level Bill 101's restrictions on admission to English primary and secondary schools" (from Don McPherson's viewpoint)

No wonder The Gazette, Don McPherson, toddschneider and other angryphones hate him...

(But why aren't they rejoicing to see the PQ install an "error-prone" person in the driver's seat?)

Thu, 2009-01-15 20:47

Ken Burch

OK, sounds like a reasonable choice, in that case. _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our Demands Most Moderate are/
We Only Want The World!
-James Connolly

Mon, 2009-01-19 12:58

ClaudeB

martin dufresne is absolutely right about Curzi.

Beaudoin would have been a good choice for the position. But you have to remember why she was assigned that portfolio at the time. As one of the foremost foreign policy specialists in Quebec, Beaudoin used this department to lay the groundwork for the adoption of what would become the UN convention on cultural diversity.