Ottawa

PQ: The initials stand for “Beatles Fan.” No, really!

The embarrassing little episode where Paul McCartney’s Quebec City concert drew complaints because he’s British and so were Quebec’s conquerors drew so much attention in the rest of the country that it’s worth pointing out that Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois is still dealing with the damage that stance caused her party.

Now she’s warned her caucus not to take sides when depositing petitions at the National Assembly, because it was just such an action that caused three of her caucus members — Martin Lemay, Daniel Turp and Pierre Curzi — to decide complaining about McCartney was a brilliant idea. A caucus rule urging neutrality with regard to petitions seems a bit circuitous; Marois could simply have reminded her MNAs to try a little harder not to be cretins. But at least in Turp’s case, that counsel has long seemed particularly hard to follow.

Anyway. My point here is that it wasn’t all Quebecers, or all francophones, or all Quebec City residents, complaining about a Paul McCartney concert. Far from it. So far from it, in fact, that the few who did complain have suffered lasting political damage. Because in general, as a rule, anywhere you go, most people aren’t silly.

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