Quebec News of the Weird- Volume 02

College Student Needs Economic Lessons

The Concordia University student union in Montreal, is reeling from a scandal that saw a lot of money disappear from it's treasury.
The $500,000 deficit occurred between 2005 and 2007 and was blamed on a former accountant.
According to VP finance Andre Leroy;

"..the deficit was not a loss, but rather consisted mostly of unpaid bills and taxes. What happens is that you go into the next year with liabilities,... stuff you still have to pay off."

Huh? Somebody better repeat 'Accounting 101.'

Gatineau Father's Punishment is Reversed by Court
A divorced father who had custody of his 12 year old daughter, refused her permission to go on a year-end school trip, because she had been surfing forbidden web-sites on the Internet.
The girl, along with the non-custodial mother, sued the father in court and won the right for the girl to go on the trip.
The judgement was upheld on appeal. Link

Coalition contre la Répression et les Abus Policiers

The acronym of a new organization that opposes Montreal Police 'abuse' is,
wait for it......;

C.R.A.P.

It's website address in www.lacrap.org/

Alleged Terrorist Just Exercising Free Speech

Unable to come up with a more viable defence, Said Namouh, a Moroccan immigrant charged with promoting terrorism, claimed he was just exercising his right to free speech, when he called for people to hurt other people in the name of religious conviction.
The judge seemed wholly unimpressed. Link

TV Show Overloads Telephone System

Last Sunday, a record 2.8 million people watched the the finale of the Quebec television show, "Star Acadamie"(a Quebec version of American Idol.) To put the number of viewers in perspective, the American Idol finale in 2006, had 36 million viewers, which meant that about 1 out of every 9 Americans was watching. The Star Acadamie finale was so popular, that about 1 out of every 2½ Quebeckers watched the show. The related telephone voting was so heavy that it overloaded the telephone system in many areas throughout the province. In some places there was even a delay for 9-1-1 service.

Gaspe Newspaper Runs Out Of News
I guess not much must be happening in the Gaspé village of Matane. This was front page in in the local newspaper, Voix de Matane.

"Le prix du litre d'essence ordinaire a diminué d'un cent, passant de 93,4 cents à 92,4 cents, ici à la station-service Esso Le Cristal, sur l'avenue du Phare Ouest"

"A liter of regular gas went down by one cent to 92.4 cents, from 93.4, here at the `Esso Le Cristal gas station on Phare avenue, West.