Lionel Albert
Encyclopedia
Lionel Albert is a businessperson, writer, and political activist in the Canadian
province of Quebec
. He is best known for his opposition to Quebec's language laws.
in 1905.
A computer analyst in private life, Albert lived in in Outremont
, Montreal
for many years before moving to Knowlton in the Eastern Townships
.
(otherwise known as Bill 101) and of Quebec nationalism
in general. He argues that the Charter of the French Language violates the rights of Quebec anglophones, and he blames nationalist policies pursued by the Quebec government since 1962 for prompting anglophones to leave the province. He has also written that the French language
is not under threat in Quebec and that the province would be more successful economically if it dropped its nationalist focus.
Albert is an ally of William Shaw, a longtime right-wing anglophone activist in Quebec and a former Member of the National Assembly (1976–81). Shaw and Albert wrote a book entitled, Partition - The Price of Quebec's Independence, in 1980, arguing that Quebec could and should be partitioned if it ever declares independence. (Specifically, they argue that the far north should be retained by Canada outright, and that the Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue
, most of Montreal
, the territory to the south of the Saint Lawrence River
, and some borderlands with Labrador
would likely remain in Canada following negotiations). Shaw and Albert also suggest that separation will never happen, on the grounds that that nationalist francophone Quebecers have used the threat of separation to extract concessions from the federal government
but recognize actual independence would harm their community. They further argue that French Canadians inside and outside Quebec are a distinct group with the right of self-determination
, but that residents of the province of Quebec are not.
Albert has continued to express these and similar opinions since Partitions publication. In 1990, for instance, he argued that English Canadians were taking the threat of separatism too seriously. In a public debate in 1994, he suggested that Quebec should be partitioned to prevent more anglophone youth from leaving the province.
Albert's criticisms of Quebec nationalism have sometimes provoked controversy. In early 1990, he wrote a piece in the Montreal paper The Suburban comparing Quebec’s language legislation to Nazism
. (When Michael Crelinsten of the Canadian Jewish Congress
objected to this analogy, Albert responded by attacking Crelinsten in print.) In the same period, Albert wrote another piece for The Suburban suggesting that francophone Quebecers were "country people" and that anglophone Quebecers were "city people." The paper later apologized for Albert's articles.
Albert joined the executive of the Equality Party of Quebec, which was focused on anglophone rights, shortly after its founding in 1989. When speaking at a party rally that year, he argued that the government of Canada
could be justified in sending the Canadian Army into Quebec because of threats to the anglophone minority. A Montreal Gazette article subsequently described Albert as belonging to a "redneck anglo-rights fringe" distinct from more mainstream supporters of anglophone rights. Equality Party leader Robert Libman
also clarified that Albert’s views were not those of the party. For his part, Albert later said that he did not favour sending federal troops to Quebec, but believed that the federal government should act with "all the force at its command" to protect what he described as threats to a minority culture.
In the 1993 Canadian federal election
, Albert ran as a candidate of the unregistered Equality Party of Canada, which was aligned with the provincial party. During this campaign, he was quoted as saying, "The anglo minority in Quebec is just not represented in the House of Commons." He finished well behing Liberal
candidate Bernard Patry
.
Albert joined the Reform Party of Canada
after the 1993 election. He attended the party’s 1994 convention and supported its call for an end to Canada’s Official Languages Act
. He later criticized the Canadian Alliance
, a successor party to Reform, for working too closely with Quebec nationalists.
In the 2003 Quebec provincial election
, Albert ran for the Equality Party in Brome—Missisquoi
. He again focused on language issues, saying that incumbent Liberal representative Pierre Paradis
had not defended the rights of local anglophones. The Equality Party was nearly moribund in this period; on election day, Albert received less than one per cent of the vote.
In the 2008 Canadian federal election
, he supported Conservative
candidate Mark Quinlan.
, criticized Pete Seeger
as a communist propagandist, praised Chile
an dictator Augusto Pinochet
, defended Monsanto
, and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq
. During the 2004 American presidential election
, Albert attempted to counter the perception that George W. Bush
received support from less intelligent American voters. His public letter on this subject included the statement, "Bush leads 55-42 among whites while Kerry leads 82-12 among blacks, who on average are less educated."
He is also opposed to abortion
. In 1992, he wrote a piece comparing abortionists with hangmen.
Albert has written that he is not a Zionist.
Provincial
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. He is best known for his opposition to Quebec's language laws.
Background and private career
Albert is of Lithuanian Jewish background. His grandfather, Simon Albert, moved to Canada following a regional pogromPogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
in 1905.
A computer analyst in private life, Albert lived in in Outremont
Outremont
Outremont may refer to:*Outremont, Quebec - a borough and former town in Montreal*Outremont - a Canadian federal electoral district*Outremont - a Quebec provincial electoral district...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
for many years before moving to Knowlton in the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
.
Cultural politics in Quebec
Albert is a vocal critic of Quebec's Charter of the French LanguageCharter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
(otherwise known as Bill 101) and of Quebec nationalism
Quebec nationalism
Quebec nationalism is a nationalist movement in the Canadian province of Quebec .-1534–1774:Canada was first a french colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America...
in general. He argues that the Charter of the French Language violates the rights of Quebec anglophones, and he blames nationalist policies pursued by the Quebec government since 1962 for prompting anglophones to leave the province. He has also written that the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is not under threat in Quebec and that the province would be more successful economically if it dropped its nationalist focus.
Albert is an ally of William Shaw, a longtime right-wing anglophone activist in Quebec and a former Member of the National Assembly (1976–81). Shaw and Albert wrote a book entitled, Partition - The Price of Quebec's Independence, in 1980, arguing that Quebec could and should be partitioned if it ever declares independence. (Specifically, they argue that the far north should be retained by Canada outright, and that the Outaouais, Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a region located in western Quebec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of 57,674.26 km2 . As of the 2006 census, the population of the region was 143,872 inhabitants.-History:The land was first occupied...
, most of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, the territory to the south of the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
, and some borderlands with Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
would likely remain in Canada following negotiations). Shaw and Albert also suggest that separation will never happen, on the grounds that that nationalist francophone Quebecers have used the threat of separation to extract concessions from the federal government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
but recognize actual independence would harm their community. They further argue that French Canadians inside and outside Quebec are a distinct group with the right of self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, but that residents of the province of Quebec are not.
Albert has continued to express these and similar opinions since Partitions publication. In 1990, for instance, he argued that English Canadians were taking the threat of separatism too seriously. In a public debate in 1994, he suggested that Quebec should be partitioned to prevent more anglophone youth from leaving the province.
Albert's criticisms of Quebec nationalism have sometimes provoked controversy. In early 1990, he wrote a piece in the Montreal paper The Suburban comparing Quebec’s language legislation to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. (When Michael Crelinsten of the Canadian Jewish Congress
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol...
objected to this analogy, Albert responded by attacking Crelinsten in print.) In the same period, Albert wrote another piece for The Suburban suggesting that francophone Quebecers were "country people" and that anglophone Quebecers were "city people." The paper later apologized for Albert's articles.
Political activism
In 1976, Albert became active with an organization called "The Preparatory Committee for an Eleventh Province." He has acknowledged that his primary concern was to remove language restrictions from anglophone Quebecers.Albert joined the executive of the Equality Party of Quebec, which was focused on anglophone rights, shortly after its founding in 1989. When speaking at a party rally that year, he argued that the government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
could be justified in sending the Canadian Army into Quebec because of threats to the anglophone minority. A Montreal Gazette article subsequently described Albert as belonging to a "redneck anglo-rights fringe" distinct from more mainstream supporters of anglophone rights. Equality Party leader Robert Libman
Robert Libman
-Background:Born in Montreal, Quebec, he is the son of David Libman and Goldie Aronovitch. He attended Herzliah High School, Vanier College, and received a Bachelor of architecture from McGill University in 1985...
also clarified that Albert’s views were not those of the party. For his part, Albert later said that he did not favour sending federal troops to Quebec, but believed that the federal government should act with "all the force at its command" to protect what he described as threats to a minority culture.
In the 1993 Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, Albert ran as a candidate of the unregistered Equality Party of Canada, which was aligned with the provincial party. During this campaign, he was quoted as saying, "The anglo minority in Quebec is just not represented in the House of Commons." He finished well behing Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
candidate Bernard Patry
Bernard Patry
Bernard Patry is a Canadian politician, and was a Member of Parliament for the riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard from 1993 to 2011....
.
Albert joined the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
after the 1993 election. He attended the party’s 1994 convention and supported its call for an end to Canada’s Official Languages Act
Official Languages Act
Official Language Act or Official Languages Act may refer to:* the Official Languages Act passed in Canada to enshrine official bilingualism* the Official Language Act passed in Quebec to ensure that French retained its primary status...
. He later criticized the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
, a successor party to Reform, for working too closely with Quebec nationalists.
In the 2003 Quebec provincial election
Quebec general election, 2003
The Quebec general election of 2003 was held on April 14, 2003, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec . The Parti libéral du Québec , led by Jean Charest, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Bernard Landry.-Unfolding:...
, Albert ran for the Equality Party in Brome—Missisquoi
Brome-Missisquoi (provincial electoral district)
Brome-Missisquoi is a provincial electoral district in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The riding was created in 1973 from Brome and parts of Missisquoi and Shefford...
. He again focused on language issues, saying that incumbent Liberal representative Pierre Paradis
Pierre Paradis
Pierre Paradis is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He has represented Brome—Missisquoi in the National Assembly of Quebec since 1980 as a member of the Liberal Party...
had not defended the rights of local anglophones. The Equality Party was nearly moribund in this period; on election day, Albert received less than one per cent of the vote.
In the 2008 Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, he supported Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
candidate Mark Quinlan.
Other views
Albert is a prolific writer of opinion columns and public letters on diverse subjects. Among other things, he written against the metric systemMetric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
, criticized Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
as a communist propagandist, praised Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an dictator Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
, defended Monsanto
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...
, and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
. During the 2004 American presidential election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Albert attempted to counter the perception that George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
received support from less intelligent American voters. His public letter on this subject included the statement, "Bush leads 55-42 among whites while Kerry leads 82-12 among blacks, who on average are less educated."
He is also opposed to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. In 1992, he wrote a piece comparing abortionists with hangmen.
Albert has written that he is not a Zionist.
Electoral record
FederalProvincial