McKibbins makes lemonade out of OLF lemons

When the OLF erroneously ordered the pub's vintage signs removed --language tensions being what they are in this province-- the savvy business owners quickly decided they could squeeze some extra lemonade out of the OFL lemons they were handed.

Employing the kind of media manipulation that would make spin doctors proud, Laderoute and Fon quickly had most Montrealers lining up eager to swallow their Guinness along with their grievances. And who can blame them? They simply chose to play the game to their advantage, because –after all- they weren't the ones who invented the rules, were they?

The story goes as follows: Anonymous customer is unable to be served in French at the pub, sees an English-only menu posted on the wall and English-only decorative signs. He or she (since complaints can be filed anonymously, we'll never know) lodges a complaint with the tongue troopers. By law, when a complaint is lodged, they must investigate.

While a number of Montrealers could argue that the OFL's $18 M budget could be better spent rectifying a number of larger issues affecting the province that's not the point of this editorial. As long as the OLF exists, it has a job to do.

The veil of secrecy and anonymity under which such complaints can be made, however, is the real issue. What's there to stop self-appointed language vigilantes from making any number of unsubstantiated complaints, which have to be investigated at taxpayers' expense? Nothing, and that's the unfortunate part.

Now, as most of you know by now, decorative signs are excempt from language legislation and a simple explanation from the pub's owners would have gotten the OFL off their backs. What the owners chose to do however is create a major media storm over this and use it to their advantage. If Pauline Marois can employ language demagogery to benefit her cause, why shouldn't two savvy business owners, who didn't even ask for this in the first place, do the same to benefit their coffers?

Before we could say "shamrock shenanigans", articles were published, blogs were circulating on the internet and Facebook groups had been created in support of the pub with the inventive titles of "Bye Bye OLF" and "F&% the OLF, lets go to McKibbin's".

Well... Montrealers did go to McKibbins and Irish eyes were smiling indeed…