We, the Lazy Quebecois

I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to say about this story.

“QUEBEC — Lucien Bouchard's comments that Quebeckers don't work as hard as Ontarians and Americans sparked a furor Tuesday, with labour leaders and anti-poverty groups accusing the former Parti Québécois premier of being out of touch.

But some business leaders said they hope his remarks will encourage Quebeckers to rethink whether they can continue their current lifestyle.

“We don't work enough,” Mr. Bouchard said Monday night on the French-language TVA network. “We work less than Ontarians and infinitely less than Americans. We have to work harder.”

In the interview, Mr. Bouchard blamed what he called Quebeckers' poor work ethic and low productivity for the province's high debt and taxes and its economic stagnation.”

As I was saying to Rattansifan just the other day, my mother always said that Americans work A LOT harder for their money than we do. Now, apparently, so do Ontarians.

I guess the argument comes down to: do you work to live or live to work? And if you work to live, as we do here, how long can the economy sustain this?

Everyone’s saying the labour unions are too strong and workers never do one iota more than their job descriptions tell them to. I've spent a lot of time in hospitals over the last few years, so I've seen that attitude plenty of times, but I've also seen nurses and orderlies do things that I knew were not part of their jobs, so not everyone is the same. I know that work-to-rule attitude is not productive, but is it better to have employers who expect their employees to work regular overtime without pay? And employees who do it, knowing it is expected? That’s not fair either.

You know how, with US Generals, they can’t say what they really think of the Iraq War until they have retired? It’s the same with PQ politicians. They can’t tell Quebeckers they are lazy unless they are retired and absolutely certain they are never going back to public life.

Now I may not be a 100% pure Quebecoise, so in the minds of hard-core PQ supporters my opinion means nothing but, face it, if I was hard-working, would I do most of my blogging at the office? (Rhetorical question, that.) If this was Deadwood, people would call me a lazy c**ksucker.

I think it’s silly to deny that we work less hard than other people, but nothing in the system compels us to work harder*. So why should we? I like being out the door at 4:30.

*I do expect a comment from Mr. Anonymous on this. Rumour has it he works slightly harder than I do.