How Too, Eh?

Hugh Oliver is Editor-in-Chief, OISE Press.

In this little book, the two authors and a couple of their colleagues
collaborate to snipe at a variety of targets—in Quebec (the province
of their origin), in Canada, and in the United States. In these
Mulroney-governed, constitutional-crisis-ridden times, it is hard to
imagine any country in the world that lends itself more readily to
satirical treatment than Canada—and, of all the Canadian provinces,
Quebec. “This is the West Island. This is anglo land. / Here, la, /
Les For Sale signs are raised. Here they contemplate / The low offers on
their estates and / Under their breath mutter ‘maudit
tabernacle’.”

Satirical verse has a long tradition going back to classical times, but
like a lot of other poetic forms, it is currently out of fashion. The
authors have here written some hard-hitting and often humorous stuff. My
only criticism is that sometimes they use a bludgeon when a rapier would
have seemed more appropriate.