THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1992

The Montreal Downtowner July 1, 1991

by Eileen Travers

Click the image to see original article

(Caption) Tête carré Philip McMaster with Sir John A. MacDonald on René Lévesque Blvd. on Canada Day, afterselling t-shirts and caps inscribed with "It's hip to be square."

Canada Day weekend saw the birth of yet another Quebec party.. but this one aims to provide much needed comic relief on the provincial political scene.

The Bloke Quebecois kicked off its funraising, (that's without the "d") campaign selling t-shirts inscribed with "It's hip to be square"(reference to English speakers as "têtes carrés", or "squares" -ed.) at the Canada Day parade last Monday. Creators Philip McMaster,and Peter Kelly, said it's about time all Quebecers lighten up.

Cooked up over Kelly's kitchen table in the Laurentians, the Bloke Quebecois is a non-political interest group aimed at bringing chucklesto the tense faces of today's separatist scene.

At the Canada Day celebrations a Place du Canada, McMaster, Kelly and other Blokes gathered 60 new members. To join you must make a $15. donation, for which you get a t-shirt or a cap with the Bloke Quebecois logo featuring a crossed out 401 sign.

Kelly said people were sensitive to the T-shirt's resemblance to logos used by the Bloc Quebecois, a newly formed separatist party, saying the 401

Source: The Downtowner, Montreal Quebec, July1991.