Isn't it funny that in these days of hiring freezes, so many of us concerned about the economy, so many Canadians simply looking for work, that the Quebec government manages to find enough cash to hire dozens of new employees at the Office de la langue Francaise.

Thank goodness! I don't know about you, but I've lose a lot of sleep worrying about the fact that the OLF had a number of people retire. Who was going to make sure the English language, on signs for instance, was nice and small?

I'm well aware of the fact there are many people in this province concerned about preserving the French language. I'm not insensitive to that fact.

But what really gets me is that the Quebec government, a Liberal government, is going against its own hiring-freeze policy to replace 26 workers who had left vacant spots at the OLF. In fact, 69 people will be hired over a six-month period.

There was the government wringing its hands over the more than 1,000 lost jobs at Aveos. Why not hire some of those now-former workers in some capacity or another?

Nope. More money for new staff at the OLF is a priority.

And what's ironic is that the PQ isn't even satisfied, saying that if the only measure the government is taking is to replace people who've left, it's hardly an improvement.

Welcome to Quebec. The more things change, the more they stay the same.