Drunk-Driving Roadblocks Catch Very Few

You'd think that those drunk driver roadblocks put in place by the police would nab a lot of people, especially when they are set up late on a Saturday night.

Apparently that really isn't the case.

Two Saturday nights ago, police did a blitz in Montenergie region of Quebec (an area just south of the Island of Montreal ). Over 130 police from several municipalities including Longueuil, du Roussillon, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Kahnawake (peacekeepers), as well as the Sureté du Quebec set up 22 roadblocks.

They stopped about 8,000 cars and submitted about a hundred drivers to the Breathalyzer type test.

19 people were over the limit and arrested.
Now that's 19 too many drunks on the road, but nonetheless a pretty small number if all things are considered.

Let's break it down.

First of all, there were 22 roadblocks and only nineteen arrests. That means that a minimum of three and probably more roadblocks yielded not one single drunk, over the whole operation!

If these numbers are typical, it means that on any particular Saturday late night, we can expect 1 out of every 400 cars to be driven by a drunk driver.

It seems like an awfully small number, but nonetheless drunk drivers still manage to kill over 200 Quebeckers each year.

It seems that the barricades are more useful as a deterrent, rather than a device to get drunks off the road.

A personal story;

Many years ago my mother (in her 70's) went out to a restaurant for dinner with my aunt and split a bottle of wine between them. On their way home, they found themselves stopped in a drunk-driving barricade. A young policewomen stuck a flashlight into the car and when she saw the two gray-haired seniors decided to have a little fun with them.

"You young ladies haven't been out parting and drinking tonight, have you?" she asked in mock seriousness.
The two seniors shook their heads vigorously from side to side.
"You wouldn't lie to me now, would you?"
"Nooo!" they answered.
"Well..... I think I'll let you go this time..." and then with smile and a pleasant wave she called off the charade and wished them a good evening.

YIKES!
My mother told me the story the next day and swore she'd never drink again. Even though she didn't think she was over the limit, she was seriously freaked out!

Yup, those barricades are are effective!

New York Times Also Reporting on Montreal City Hall Corruption

The media is abuzz because the prestigous Economist magazine had an article this week entitled 'Water and Grime' about corruption related to the awarding of contracts at Montreal city hall.

It's been largely unreported, but the New York Times also had an article about corruption in Montreal city hall, yet it's been curiously unreported.

........Wait a second, now I get it.

This article was written in another '09 year, actually 1909, just about 100 years ago. WOW!

The judge's report recommends that the number of elected Montreal officials be reduced.
Sound familiar?

plus ça change, plus c’est pareil!

Weekly Anglo Quebec News June 20-26

Want to Keep up with Quebec News in just 5 minutes?

Perfect for Ex-pats or those in a rush!
Every Saturday read a short, subjective weekly review of Quebec news with a Anglophone POV.

Quebec celebrates Fete Saint Jean Holiday, which signals the start of the summer holiday season. All went off without any rioting, which for Quebec is pleasant change.

Montreal city hall under the influence. It is becoming sadly apparent that Montreal is a city in deep trouble with allegations of corruption in relation to the awarding of contracts. While no one would suggest that Mayor Tremblay is corrupt, he does seem sadly naive as to what is going on around him. It all unravelled when the mayor's number one guy Frank Zampino, left his job abruptly to take a job with Tony Accurso, a man whose various company's have been awarded the lion's share of city contracts and which are the subject of numerous criminal and tax investigations. It didn't smell right and pressed by the media, it was revealed that Zampino was quite cosy with Arccurso while working for the city, taking two vacations aboard his luxury yacht in the Caribbean. While denying any wrongdoing, Zampino ended up to resigning his new job. What's most telling in all this, is that Acurrso has been deathly silent, refusing to comment or to be interviewed. The man is so secretive and camera-shy, that it's makes whole affair even more suspicious.
The story continues to embarrass the city. This week, the world famous, London based weekly news magazine, 'THE ECONOMIST' with 1.4 million copies printed internationally, ran an article about the affair, entitled- Water and Grime.

The city has also come under fire for another dubious practice, the hiring of private companies to decide which tenders the city should accept in relation to city contracts. Instead of using civil servants to do the work, the city outsources the job, leaving private companies to decide which other private companies will win city contracts. Conflict anyone?
The press is calling for a full-scale inquiry.
It leaves Montrealers with a sad choice in this fall's mayoralty election. They'll choose between an incompetent nice guy and a autocratic hard-line separatist. Ouch!

Liberals win 2 by-elections. Three months ago when the $40 billion loss of the Caisse de Depot became public, Premier Charest was accused of a cover up and the Liberal party's reputation was in tatters. Well, it's seems that the Premier played his stinky poker hand beautifully and the springtime debacle is all but forgotten. The Liberals won the two by-elections held on Monday for vacant seats in the National Assembly. One was a no-brainer, a safe seat in Montreal, but the other was Mario Dumont's vacated seat in Riviere-du-Loup. The ADQ came in a distant third and now seems destined to the scrap heap. This auger's badly for the PQ and there's got to be a lot of hand-wringing going on over at the sovereignists HQ.
By the end of the week, the PQ's brightest star, Francis Legault, the economic critic, decided to resign, citing the tedious nature of sitting in opposition as well as his disappointment in the lazy direction Quebec society is going. Some in the media believe that it may be a strategic move to take over the leadership when Pauline Marois implodes. With such a feeble result in a by-election that they should have won, it be long before the knives come out for Pauline, it's a PQ tradition..

Ex-Premier Robert Bourassa a child molester? The guy who wrote the tell all book about Guy Laliberte, Ian Halperin says that André Arthur, a famous Quebec radio personaility and sitting federal MP (Portneuf-IND) that not only was Robert Bourassa gay, but also a child molester.
In his Blog Halperin wrote;

"Quebec’s all time king of talk radio and tv Andre Arthur was taken aback when my story about Robert Bourassa being gay and a child molester was published. Arthur, whom I consider a veritable Quebec icon and class act, asked me to publish a clarification of what happened. I told him I was aware of a new book about Quebec’s late Premier being published. When I told Arthur about rumours of Bourassa being gay Arthur responded that Bourassa was not only gay but also a “paedophile”. Arthur then went into more detail about Bourassa’s private forays which stunned me. Arthur wrote me saying he would not deny what he said but added that “It was along the lines of an idea for the author of a book...." LINK

Up to now, the mainstream press isn't touching the story with a ten foot pole. The fact that the person who made these allegations is a sitting MP in Ottawa doesn't seem to matter. That's how scary the story is...

Another story heating up this week related to Ian Halperin is the one about Guy Lalblerté is seeking an injunction to have the tell all book removed from bookstores. Halperin answered with a $500,ooo lawsuit of his own, for comments made by the Cirque founder about him to Yahoo news on June 16. Here's the naughty part that Halperin objected to;

On Tuesday, Laliberte described Halperin's book, which claims to chronicle his excessive partying lifestyle, as "a piece of crap" and said it is "full of lies."

"It's a cheap shot from (a) guy who's trying to make money out of the success of somebody else," Laliberte said. "The guy (Halperin) is a crook, like the editor, taking advantage of gossip.

Read the article here

If he wins, it'll probably be more money than he makes from the book! The kerfuffle has made the NY Post's Page Six.

The NHL entry draft opened at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Friday with first round selections. There were few surprises and the Canadiens made the fans happy by choosing Montreal native West-Islander Louis Leblanc as their first choice. The impeccably bilingual 18-year old center gave interviews in perfect French and English after his selection. Obviously, he's no dummy, especially considering that he is off to Harvard in the fall. Yup, that Harvard.

Bits'n Pieces
A caleche driver (tourist horse & buggy) in Quebec City was stopped by a tourist cop for driving under the influence. Since he wasn't operating a motorized vehicle and the horse wasn't drunk, all the coachman was liable for, was a $300 fine.

A Quebec City photographer has neighbours buzzing by storing a coffin under his balcony. What's he doing with it. Something, but he doesn't know yet. Where'd he get it? ...Someone threw it out.

Gillett Made $1 Million Profit per Habs Game!

Contrary to the numbers being bandied about, George Gillett made a lot more money on the sale of the Montreal Canadiens than observed in the media.

Gillett purchased the team for $275 million, but only made a down payment between $10-$80 million dollars. the rest was borrowed from the seller (Molson-Coors) and the Caisse de Depot.

The funds borrowed were all paid back over the course of the 8 years that he owned the team and just like a paid off mortgage on your home, the equity is recouped on an eventual sale.

It's unclear if Gillett paid himself back his original investment, but it seems highly likely, considering his tight financial situation and the fact that last year, he borrowed against the team's assets because he needed the cash. Between what he took out on the re-fi and the money he'll clear in the sale, Gillett will clear well over $500 million on the sale. WOW!

Over the period of his ownership, the Canadiens played about 600 regular season games. Calculating the sale price and adding in some yearly profit, it's safe to say that Gillett made about a $1 million for every single regular season game played!

L'Autre St. Jean-The Non-Event

After the huge kerfuffle surrounding the anglophone artists playing at the Fete St. Jean celebration in Parc Pelican, in Rosemount, you'd think that there'd be more of a turnout, but the culmination of ten days of intense media debate turned out rather anti-climatic.

When bluegrass band Lake of Stew took to the stage to open the celebration at 6:00PM there were less than 100 people in the audience.
Yup, less than 100. Argh....

There were only about 20 protesters from radical group, the Reseau de Resistance du Quebecois which tried to disrupt the set by making noise with drums, fog horns and by shouting. They were closely monitored by the police who outnumbered the protesters by about three to one.
The best part of it all were the beautiful horses that the police rode as a measure of crowd control.

The protesters were poorly received by the hostile crowd, and finally put down their placards.

About 2 hours later, when the audience had swelled considerably, the radicals had long given up the ghost. They stayed to enjoy the rest of the show and when Bloodshot Bill began his rockabilly set, some of the radicals, (feeling no pain...er... at this point) danced to his music.. (sigh...)

After all the point was made and a party is a party. It's still a holiday!

Molsons First Priority?- Fire Upper Managment

Now that the Molsons are the new owners of the Montreal Canadiens, it's time to complete the 'menage' and oust GM Bob Gainey and team president Pierre Boivin.

Gainey's ill-considered firing of Carbo was a desperate attempt to shift blame and to save his own career. His firings this week of Don Lever and Doug Jarvis are more of the same, another sad attempt to cover up his own poor performance as the coach and general manager who led the team to another post season disaster.

You'll recall that Gainey parachuted Don Lever in from the Hamilton farm club to help stabilize the team, after he fired Carbo and went back behind the bench himself. It was advanced by some media types that had Donny-boy some French, he'd likely be the next Habs' coach. Alas it was not to be. What smelled so good in Hamiltion, apparently stunk in Montreal. Now Lever is toast, fired cruelly over the phone.
So much for Gainey's keen eye for talent.

The Canadiens under Gainey are lurching badly, his serene and studious disposition has become grating, considering the desperate situation. The free agent exit from the team has already started with Komisarek's announcement that he's gone and with more to come, it 's time to panic.

Pierre Boivin deserves to be fired as well, firstly, for backing Gainey and going along with the bi-annual ritual of the forced walking of the plank by decent, competent and hard working coaches.

His reaction last spring to the media and talk show pressure that demanded that the team hire a francophone coach, was to cave faster than a Vichy politician. Speaking at a luncheon in the midst of the firestorm, he didn't just promise that the new coach would speak French, he promised a bona fide 'francophone'. Not only was that outright discriminatory and illegal, it was bad management to so limit the field of applicants.

As long as this attitude of appeasement remains in the office of the president, the Canadiens are doomed. Letting the fans and the media dictate team policy is a shameful abdication of responsibility. It's time to get somebody with the balls pucks to do the job right.

Maybe the team can go back into time.

In the 1935-36 NHL season the Canadiens had the worst record in the league. Distressed by such a crappy performance, the NHL gave the Canadiens the draft rights to all the French Canadian players for the next two years.

Now wouldn't that be loverly?

St. Jean Baptiste Day, Time To Get Out Of Town

The fact that the two anglophone acts, Bloodshot Bill and the band Lake of Stew were re-invited to perform in a Fete St-Jean show after being dis-invited should not be taken as a sign that the celebration is becoming more open towards minorities, nothing could be further from the truth.

The only reason for the re-integration of the anglos was the intolerable level of negative publicity.
After a couple of days of futilely defending the indefensible, organisers decided that it would be wiser to beat a tactical retreat...this time.

It is widely held by the nationalist media that the organisers were badly outplayed with some fuming that the movement continues to shoot itself in the foot. Look for novice Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste president, Mario Beaulieu, to learn from his mistake.

The vast majority sovereignists are sophisticated, liberal and dedicated to fairness. They will react, when their sense of fairness is assaulted and Mr. Bealiueu learned a cruel lesson that his version of Quebec nationalism is not shared by most in the sovereignty camp.

That being said, don't look for any changes to the Fete National program next year. What happened this year, vis-a-vis the anglo performers, was a one-off mistake that will not be repeated, not as long as the sovereignist St-Jean-Baptiste Society runs the show. You can be assured that they've learned their lesson and that a 'special' committee will surely be organised to vet the 'bona fides' of next year's performers.

In fact, this year's controversy may well serve as a cautionary tale for nationalists, one that reminds radicals that without vigilance English will make insidious advances. To the barricades!

Guy A. Lepage , the wildly popular television personality and ardent sovereignist, who will be hosting this year's annual St. Jean Baptiste Day holiday show in Maisonneuve park, re-launched the controversy as to what the holiday represents when he stated that the show wasn't just a celebration of Quebec culture, but rather a political holiday that clearly promotes sovereignty. Richard Martineau, in his blog complains that the sovereignty movement has hijacked the holiday which he posits is supposed to be an all-encompassing celebration of Quebec society.

"Does this mean that the federalists are not welcome? There is already the Patriots' Day ... do we need another day to support the cause? Is it a good idea to "politicize"Saint-Jean Baptiste Day, a holiday that is supposed to be inclusive?"

Est-ce à dire que les fédéralistes ... ne sont pas bienvenue?
Il y a déjà la Journée des patriotes... Faut-il une autre journée appuyant La Cause?
Est-ce une bonne idée de "politiser" la Saint-Jean, une fête qui est censée être rassembleuse"? "

For Anglophones, there never really was a question as to what the holiday represented. Thirty years ago it was a common sight for Canadian flags to be burned by drunken merry-makers. It was an opportunity to bash Canada and anglophones alike. The francophone artistic community, who are overwhelmingly sovereignist, use the stage to salute and promote the movement. The government and the organizing committee are quick to remind us each year that the holiday is inclusive, but the reality is different.

As long as the government sub-contracts the organization of the celebrations to radical sovereignist groups instead of taking on the job itself, it will remain a holiday for separatists.

For Anglophones and Allophones, June 23-24, is a good time to get out of town, to the cottage or on vacation.

Molson's Purchase of the Canadiens Confounds the Experts

In the months leading up to this week's sale, not one of our professional sports newsmen came remotely close to naming the Molsons as a potential purchaser of the Montreal Canadiens. Why were they so badly off the mark?

They bandied about plenty of names and wrote long articles speculating on the final buyer's identity. The list was long and included some names who had zero means and no desire to purchase the team.

The Bronfmans, Celine and René, Joey Saputo, Jean Coutu, Jim Basillie (Blackberry), Pierre Peladeau (Quebecor), BCE, Serge Savard, André Demarais (Power Corp), Guy Laliberté (Cirque du Soleil), Graeme Roustan (Nike), to name just a few.

In fact not until May 27, when the Molsons outed themselves as potential buyers, did the press finally cotton to the most likely purchaser.
It doesn't speak well of our press corps to be so sadly uninformed.
The next time these experts speak, remind yourself that experts built the Titanic.


At any rate it is extremely satisfying to have the Molson family back as owners of the team. Those of us old enough to remember the comforting vision of the dignified and confident Hartland Molson sitting behind the Canadiens bench at every home game, can take comfort that the family has always treated the team as a prize and a legacy.

It's fair to say that the announcement led to a giant sigh of relief in both the Francophone and Anglophone hockey community. The biggest fear was that the home grown business shark, Pierre Peladeau would get his claws into the team and squeeze as hard as he could.

There were some of course who demanded that the team be acquired by real Quebeckers (read:francophones) and they even started an online petition.
This from their website:

INVITATION
"Devenez membre du Groupe Facebouc « Rapatrier le CH au Québec »"

By the way, does anyone out there know what "Facebouc" is?

While George Gillett was a admirable owner, his son's meddling with certain players was certainly not helpful and ultimately led to the downfall of Carbo. We can be assured that the Molson's have too much class and experience to believe that it is they who should run the team.

Gillett is lucky to realize a $300 million dollar profit on his small investment. If he runs true to form, he'll blow it anyway. Read about his checkered business career.
The Montreal Canadiens are better for having him gone. Owners in financial trouble always spell disaster for the teams they own.

Remember the Edmonton Oilers' owner Peter Pocklington, another car dealer turned entrepreneur, who ran into financial trouble while owning the NHL franchise. His solution...trade Wayne Gretzky to L.A for $15 million. argh.......

Weekly Anglo Quebec News June 13-19

Want to Keep up with Quebec News in just 5 minutes?

Perfect for Ex-pats or those in a rush!
Every Saturday read a short, subjective weekly review of Quebec news with a Anglophone POV.

Separtists hold big annual meeting in Riviere du Loup where they patted each other on the back and fashioned their forty-millionth new plan for sovereignty.
One party bigwig proudly proclaimed that that Quebec will definitely achieve sovereignty in this century! WOW!
Why did the party move it's meeting to this picturesque town located halfway between Quebec City and Gaspé. It seems that there's a by-election coming up to fill Mario Dumont's old seat and a big PQ conflab might just be the boost the local candidate can use.
Although the Liberals are running a strong candidate, he's taking some heat for a DUI last year.
In the meantime, the Liberal party complained (to no avail) to the election office that the cost of the meetings should figure into the election spending of the PQ candidate running for the local seat.

Montreal North riots again. - The district, which is home to many poor immigrants underprivileged new Canadians, erupted into confrontation again as youths and police battled it out. Nine people were arrested after a night of rioting. The district is fast becoming Canada's most dangerous neighbourhood. Last year police shot at a group of youths who were swarming them, killing one and injuring a few. That signalled the beginning of the war between district youths and police. Crime in the area is through the roof. Last month a Vietnamese grandmother was beaten by three teens in a purse-snatching incident that resulted in her death. Last week a 40-year-old man Montreal North man was arrested and charged with killing his 11-month-old son.

Montreal's gift to Morocco -Swine Flu - While the theory that Gaëtan Dugas (an Air Canada steward in the 70's) was patient zero in the AIDS epidemic has largely been debunked, there's no doubt about who is H1N1 virus 'patient zero' in Morocco. A 18 year student travelling home from Montreal took an internal flight to Fez after flying to Casablanca from Montreal. Exiting the plane, she looked ill, and was scanned by a thermal reader which indicated no fever. She was told to contact authorities if she developed symptoms, which she did the next day. Tests confirmed she was the first person in Morocco with the virus. Since then another passenger on that first plane has become sick. Swine Flu, WELCOME TO MOROCCO! Link
The 32nd case of swine flu in Singapore is a 28-year-old man who returned to Singapore from Montreal via New York and Tokyo on Japan Airlines JL711 on June 11. That's a lot of plane trips. Think how many people this guy infected along the way...

Man admits rape, judge acquits- Syl­vain Pa­pa­tie of Lac Simeon was acquitted of rape and assault after pleading guilty to the offence months before. Last October he plead guilty to two out of the three charges laid against him.
It seems that while awaiting sentencing, he had a change of heart and requested through his lawyer that his plea be annulled because he was in bad mental frame of mind when he copped to the crimes and didn't understand the consequences.
The judge allowed him to change the plea and proceeded to set a trial date. The crown prosecutor, who also attended the meeting, then admitted that he hadn't really prepared for a trial and that there was not really enough evidence to convict. The judge dismissed the charges! Link in French

Anglophone Performers tossed then re-integrated -Blooshot Bill and the band 'Lake of Stew' from the Mile End district of Montreal were invited, then disinvited to play at the inaugural "L'Autre St-Jean", an alternative celebration of Quebec's 'national' holiday. Organizers said sponsors worried that hearing English would cause the audience to riot or worse still, turn the Francophone attendees into Anglophones. Link Link
After 'la caca' hit the fan, organisers reversed their decision.

Operation 'BORAX" continues to round up suspects in Montreal's Vietnamese community which has been rocked by the sheer number of arrests in relation to a hydroponic marijuana grow-op that operated in hundreds homes. Police are seeking to arrest an additional 100 people in addition to the 100+ already in 'da klink'. Link

Photo radar will not be the cash cow predicted-Up to now only warnings have been issued by Quebec's new photo radar program. Next month real tickets will be issued, but surprisingly fewer than predicted.
In it's first 26 days of operation the 15 cameras have generated 2550 warnings, an average of 100 per day. If that holds up, the annual amount of tickets issued will be about 36,000 and with a $200 dollars average fine, it will only bring in about $7.2 million. Considering that the program costs several million dollars to run annually and the fact that the equipment cost over six million to acquire, it probably won't to be the cash cow predicted. In fact the numbers are remarkably low compared to other cities. There's one red light camera in San Diego that generates up to 5,000 tickets per year, all by itself!
Incidentally, one phenomenon of red light cameras is the increase in rear-end collisions as drivers slam on their brakes to avoid getting nabbed by the camera. Link
If officials ever decide to place photo radar on one of the overpasses that cross Decarie Boulevard and monitor the speeds on the expressway below, it wouldn't take more than a couple of months to eliminate the deficit!

An amazing 81% of electorate would vote for mayor again--No, not the mayor of Montreal, the mayor of Quebec City!
Regis Lebaume is likely the most popular mayor of any large city in Canada. 91% of those surveyed also said that they were satisfied with city services.

Big speeders targeted. Last year the government passed a law that imposed harsher punishment for scofflaws who travel at dangerously high speeds.
In the first 12 months the police across the province gave out an average of over 20 tickets every single day and levied over $5 million in fines.
What's is classified as dangerous speeding?

95 kph(59 mph) in a 50 kph(31 mph) zone = $528 and 6 demerit points
145 kph(90 mph) in a 90kph zone(55 mph) = $718 and 10 demerit points
180kph(112 mph) in a 100 kph zone(62 mph) = $1255 and 14 demerit points
Plus in all cases - 7 days immediate license suspension.
That's gotta hurt!

The biggest offender of the year? A car travelling 226 kph(140mph) in a 70kph(43mph) zone! Must have been the Batmobile!
BTW, it takes 15 points over a 2 year span to get your license suspended in Quebec.

Fraudster to get day parole. Vincent Lacroix, Quebec's very own Bernie Madoff will be getting day parole after serving just about a year of the original 12 year sentence. A judge reduced his sentence on appeal to just 42 months and so voila, he getting out of jail! Lacroix ruined the lives of thousands of mostly francophone Quebec investors by stealing over $110 million. Lacroix never said what he did with the money and for all we know, there's relaxing Caribbean retirement in his future, to be lived in the lap of luxury! Let me ask you honestly. 1 year in jail=$110 million. Any takers? .....take a number! Hmmm...
If he committed the same crime in the USA he'd probably get 50 years (with parole after two thirds.) The differences in sentences between the US and Canada.

Montreal, 4th greenest city? In a article in entitled 5 of the Greenest Cities in the World to Visit on the website Treehugger, Montreal came in fourth. The article made me think of another one that I scanned a couple of weeks ago entitled 48 jours de smog sur Montréal au cours de l'hiver which said that Montreal had a record 48 days of smog last winter, eclipsing the 2005 record of 19. That's what I call progress. Most of the damage is attributed to Montrealer's affinity to out-dated wood burning heating systems that creates clouds of pollution. Thank you Treehugger for the shout-out!

Hell's Angels Organization Decapitated. Montreal police are keeping up their torrid pace of arrests targeting organized crime. They busted a ring of drug dealers operating downtown Montreal and arrested 40. On Wednesday, police on the south shore arrested 11 more Hell's Angels member for various drug related crimes. On Thursday they confiscated $10 million worth of booty bought with drug money. Operation 'SharQc' has put 128 members of the biker gang behind bars.

Bits'n Pieces

In a radio interview Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloq Quebois lamented that there are too many unemployed people (chomeurs) who don't even have enough money to go on vacation because their benefits ran out. That's a good one! A reader left a comment reminding the dear leader that you can't be away on vacation while collecting UI.

Sister Judith Pinard was Quebec's oldest person(110 years old) when she died last Saturday in Trois-Rivières. She was a month away from turning 111. Bet you'd like to know who's the oldest Quebecker now. Dunno....but a 113-year-old British World War I veteran, Henry Allingham is now the world’s oldest man.

An accused drunk driver, Guy Gagnon has successfully postponed his sentencing 32 times! Four years ago he ran down a child while under the influence. He's now demanding a new trial because the crown prosecutor who won his conviction has been appointed a judge. He's been out on bail all this time.

For the first time in seven months, the number of Montreal home sales sold, has jumped by 7%. Bucking the North American trend Montreal house values actually increased by 2.9% this year! An average condo in Montreal goes for $225K and that sector of the housing market has risen by 7% this year.

The unmitigated disaster that was the Turkish Grand Prix has opened the door for the return of Formula One car racing to Montreal. François Dumontier has been asked by Bernie Ecclestone to organize a race and the Quebec minister (in charge of car racing) says chances are good for a 2010 return. Our mayor should be careful before signing any contract, it seems that Ferrarri is revolting and leading a bunch of teams to form a breakaway series.

On Thursday, the price of gas jumped to about C$1.15 a litre in the Montreal area. Compared to the average price in the USA of C$0.70 a litre, it means that gas is 65% more expensive here. If you want to do your own comparisons, here's a handy website.

The government of Quebec announced it will be enacting laws to control excesses by cell phone companies (surprise fees, automatic renewals) in relation to contracts with consumers.

The long-anticipated Mont Tremblant Casino in the upper Laurentians ski resort will open June 24.

Ex-Montreal Canadiens superstar Guy Lafleur is given a suspended sentence after his perjury conviction.

One out of every four Quebec adults has a Facebook page. 70% of those between 18 and 24 have a page as compared to 3% of those over 65. Only 54% of them have actually met all their 'friends' in person.

A 'swingers' club in Montreal caught fire Thursday sending patrons fleeing into the streets in various states of undress dress. Newsworthy?-Not really but the media thought it important enough to cover. The club 'Auberge 1082' operates legally ever since the big Supreme Court victory in 2005. BTW, the French word for 'swinger' is 'echangiste', somehow more elegant, don't you think.

The CRA, the new name for Revenue Canada launched the most moronic contest ever. They invited Canadiens to submit videos about the illegal tax-avoiding underground econony. Here's an example. Ugh...

Guy Laliberte, the publicity hound founder and head honcho of Cirque de Soleil has been all over the news lately. First it's the ongoing saga of his salacious divorce, then the announcement of a trip as a space tourist to the International Space station. On Friday it was announced that he'd be getting a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame.
Now a tell all book by Ian Halperin that dishes all the dirt on him has been flying off the bookstore shelves. A lawsuit has been threatened. Read an excerpt of the book in Maclean's magazine.

Fête St. Jean versus Fête Nationale -Which is It?

The recent brouhaha concerning the ousting and subsequent reinstatement of Anglo artists at Quebec's annual celebrations brings up an interesting question.

What exactly are we celebrating on June 24?
When I was young, there wasn't any doubt. The holiday was called 'La Fete St. Jean' and was a celebration of French Canadian culture. That was it, period.

As the years went by and the sovereignty movement gained momentum, the celebration morphed into a sovereignist celebration as well. There isn't an Anglo-Quebecker older than 40 who doesn't remember the sickening television images of drunken revellers desecrating and burning Canadian flags, amid shouts of 'Vive la Quebec libre'
The idea of anglophones participating in this celebration was nonsense.

It was a time to get out of town, to go the cottage or on vacation to the beaches in PEI or to those in the northeastern states south of the border. A time to visit out of province family. Those who stayed in town made sure not to venture anywhere east of Bleury street and most just hoped for rain and a quick end to the day without too much violence.

In fact, the Canada Day celebration that took place the week after, was never really embraced in earnest, lest it be seen as a provocation to the 'other' side. Again, for Anglos, it was a good time to be at the cottage or out of Quebec. Those who stayed did little celebrating other than a backyard barbecue.

But then in 1977 Rene Levesque, the province's first sovereignist Premier, officially changed the name of the holiday to 'Fête nationale du Québec' (the National Holiday of Quebec). The new vision was that the holiday would become a celebration of the Quebec nation, inclusive of it's minorities. It wasn't a question of altruism, having a national 'day' was seen as a first step towards sovereignty.
The committee that was formed to organise the 'new' holiday turned over it's responsibilities to la Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste which in 1984, created the Mouvement national des Québécoises et des Québécois. Both organisations were then and remain today, fiercely radical and pro-independence.

Over the years the sovereignty movement has matured and violence has petered out. Francophones today, are about equally split on the issue of Quebec independence, but live together along with the minorities (who are all pro-federalist) rather peaceably.

In this new era of detente, anglophones and allophones were slowly drawn to the celebrations and although they have continued to be an exclusively French language affair, those who's mother tongue is not, are openly welcomed to attend.

The paradox remains.
Is the 24th a celebration of French Canadian culture or a holiday celebrating the entire Quebec national family?

The question has never been fairly addressed.

From the point of view of the SSJB and many Quebeckers, it is the former and as such should be an exclusive celebration of French culture, which all Quebeckers, of all backgrounds and mother tongue are heartily welcomed to attend.

For others, it's a celebration for all Quebeckers and it's proper for English and other minorities to contribute as artists.

It no wonder everyone is confused and so who is right?

Everybody, and that's the problem.

Those who hold the first vision of the holiday should not be castigated. The government has been two-faced, claiming that the holiday is for everyone and then sub-contracting the organization of the event to radial groups.

If the government wants to signal that it really means that the 24th is a holiday for everyone, they must remove sovereignist groups as the exclusive organizer of the event.
In short, if you want a holiday that is inclusive, don't hire ethnocentrics to run the show, it's as simple as that.

The SSJB is what it is and everyone knows it. As long as the government employs them to run the show, sanctimonious protestations by Ministers decrying the decisions they take, is cynical and unfair.
On every level, it is politics at it's worst.

When Temporary road Construction becomes Permanent

Years ago I had occasion to go a small town in Mexico where our company ran a small factory. Outside the front door of the factory road construction had made getting in and out of the building somewhat tricky. I thought nothing of it until I returned over a year later and found that not much progress had been made on the project and the construction site sat idle even though it blocked a significant thoroughfare.
Ah well, I thought "It's the third world, what do you expect?

What I wouldn't expect is the same situation in Montreal.


All The overpasses on the Cote de Liesse highway to the airport have had the traffic reduced to one lane, likely because of the fear that the bridges can't carry the load. At first, traffic cones were used to restrict traffic but as of last fall hazard signs were sunk into the road making the barrier permanent. The one at at the Autoroute 13 overpass is particularly bothersome and creates quite a jam a rush hour. I haven't heard anything about getting these bridges fixed and it's going on two years.

Another barrier which has morphed into permanent, is the one across Loblaws on St. Croix at Dion in St. Laurent.

The temporary flashing light has blinking for over a year now. I'm not sure what it is actually protecting, but it sure plays havoc with traffic.


On a positive note, the laying of new water pipes along Cote de Liesse is going like gangbusters.


For those of us who use the road as a daily commute, it's impressive to see a construction project done right.

French Language Zealots Cave in Anglo Artists Dispute.

What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after defending the decision to bar anglophone groups from the St. Jean Baptiste celebration L'Autre St-Jean, l'association culterelle louise-Hebert" the funding organisation closely allied with Mario Beaulieu and the St. Jean Baptisite Society, has caved.
The English acts are will perform.

The almost universal condemnation from Quebeckers af all political ilks left organisers with little choice. For radicals, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
When Pierre Curzi (a PQ stalwart) signaled that the organisers needed to back peddle, it was clear that there'd be no support anywhere for the exclusion.

Doing it's best to weasel out of responsibility for it's decision, the l'association culterelle louise-Hebert contradicted it's own spokesman Mathieu Bouthillier, who said that the groups English performance was the problem. Today, in a contradictory statement itself, they first said that the decision had never been approved by the executive council and then went on to say that the decision was made for security reasons (after some threats from it's sister organization, the radical SSJB) and not because the acts sang in English. Ha! Ha!

Facing his first major setback since assuming the reins of the SSJB, Mario Beaulieu remained understandably silent today.
The incident represents a major humiliation for radical French language zealots and it neatly squares the defeat federalist side suffered by the cancellation of the Plains of Abraham re-enactment.

With Friends Like this Who Needs Enemies

To say that Mario Beaulieu and the St. Jean Baptisite Society's decision to use it's muscle to oust English performers at a secondary celebration of Quebec's national holiday backfired, would be one of the largest understatements of the year.

The story which broke over the weekend and is now rapidly spreading across the web is going to humiliate Quebeckers big time.
Bullying is bulling and as headlines go, you can't get one much worse than this.

"St. Jean festivities: anglos not welcome"

The story is just too good to pass up and there's no putting this genie back in the bottle. I can't wait for the political cartoons.

Quebeckers are keenly aware and protective of their collective image as a progressive, liberal and open society. Regardless of political affiliation, they recognize bad P.R when they see it.
Even over at PQ headquarters, there must be some serious moaning and groaning. What will Pauline say? If ever there was a no win situation this is it.

In a hilarious interview on Radio Canada Mr. Bealieu makes a hash of defending himself and his organization. First he declares as defamatory the notion that he rejects anglos-"it's the language." Then he denies that it is he and his organisation that pulled the plug on the artists, but rather the organizing committee L’Association culturelle Louis-Hébert de Rosemont et Saint-Michel. He does however admit that it was his organization that contacted the organisers (who didn't even know about that anglos were scheduled) and put pressure to dump them.
The interviewer, Simon Durivage then challenges Mr. Beaulieu that the committee is really independent as they share the same address as the Saint Jean Baptiste society.
"Aren't you one and the same?" "You didn't have to phone them, just walk over to an adjacent office!"
"Yes we are close" Mr. Beaulieu finally admits.
Another beaut- "They should sing in Westmount.' Ha Ha Ha.....

Nobody but the most rabid of language zealots will defend Mr. Bealieu, but it will be interesting to see who does and how the SSJB will handle the coming flak.
I hope suspect they'll brazen it out and make the situation even worse for them.

Does the nationalist/sovereignty movement benefit from it's asociation with this ethnocentric collection of yahoos. Not any more.
Is it time for the government to break off official ties. Yes

Who benefits from this nasty gaff-Premier Jean Charest and the Liberals who are going to make intolerence the theme of the week.
Who else;



The Anglo performers- Bloodshot Bill and the group Lake of Stew, who'll be fielding more offers they can handle;

Anglophone Performers Pulled from Fete Celebration

Two Montreal English bands may be dropped from a St-Jean-Baptiste concert after one of the backers threatened to pull out over language issues.

The about-face comes days after the concert's producers announced the show, billing it as an indie band alternative to the huge official musical bash featuring French-Canadian superstars, as well as a celebration of the Quebec's cultural diversity.

But the idea of a bilingual concert celebrating Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, a public holiday in Quebec dedicated to the province's French-Canadian culture, proved too much for one of the organizers.

The event - dubbed L'Autre St-Jean - was to be held on June 23 in the up-and-coming and majority French Rosemont neighbourhood.

But in an email sent to organizers on Thursday, the production company says one partner informed them they disagreed with the show's "philosophy" and that, because the French-language is under constant threat in Quebec, they refused to endorse the programming and may block its financing.

Further, the partner threatened to protest to the event.

Read more of the original CP article

Nowhere on the web site of the L'Autre St-Jean event is it mentioned that the St-Jean-Baptiste Society, (an ethnocentric French language supremacy lobby group) is an organizer.

It name is suspiciously absent from the list of partners

Yet it seems that it's president Mario Beaulieu is the one pulling the strings. He advised the English artists that they aren't welcome and that they should sing in English neighborhoods and that if they performed they'd be subject to a protest.

According to the article the SJBS is a principle backer of "l'association culterelle louise-Hebert"

The next time that these type of sovereignists tell you that the movement is inclusive, ask them exactly what they are inclusive of.

How do you spell these type of sovereignists;

R-A-C-I-S-T-S

Weekly Anglo Quebec News June 6-13

Want to Keep up with Quebec News in just 5 minutes?
Perfect for Ex-pats or those in a rush!

Here's a short, subjective weekly review of Quebec news from the Anglophone POV.

Montrealer astronaut Julie Payette was scheduled to blast off into space aboard the space shuttle 'Endeavour on Saturday, making her second trip into space, but the mission was delayed due to a hydrogen leak. When she does take off, she'll be joining fellow Canadian, Bob Thirsk aboard the International space Station and for the first time 2 Canadiens will be in space at the same time. Both Payette and Thirsk (even though he's from BC) are McGill University grads. Payette speaks 5 languages, plays the piano and has sung on stage. Oh yes, if you haven't noticed - shes a hottie!....


Crowds gathered at overpasses to honour 20 year old Private Alexandre Péloquin, aged 20, of the Royal 22e Regiment, based at CFB Valcartier near Quebec City, the latest Canadian casualty of the war in Afghanistan. Ever since the highway which is the route used to repatriate war dead from Trenton air base to Toronto was renamed the 'Highway of Heroes', Ontarians have manned overpasses along the highway to express gratitude for the soldier' ultimate sacrifice, when the sad procession passes by. Peloquin became the 119th soldier to die in the Afghan theater. Sadly, Quebeckers have not shown the same level of dedication.

Months ago, Foxnews in the US ran a story on the satirical show 'Red Eye' that mocked Canada and it's military. If you have a strong stomach watch it here.
Give the network credit. After the show aired, somebody in the executive office was royally pissed and the show was cancelled and most of it's participants fired.


This week saw the publication of a poll indicating that most Quebeckers don't think sovereignty will happen. The findings were a bitter disappointment for those seeking Quebec independence. Asked directly if 'Quebec should be a separate country from Canada' 54% said 'NO' and 34% said 'YES'.
Factoring in the undecided, the numbers are even more telling- 61% -NO versus 39% YES.
A whopping 74 % felt sovereignty was very unlikely or not at all likely to ever occur. See the details of the poll

Pauline Marois, leader of the Separatist Parti Quebeois opposition party, announced a plan to lead Quebeckers (when her party forms a government) to independence by taking jurisdiction in areas of federal responsibility, including tax collection, language and cultural matters. The idea behind the plan is to show Quebeckers that they need more power in order to control their own destiny. Should Ottawa refuse to cede these powers it would likely lead to conflict, which according to sovereignist ex-Premier Jacques Parizeau would be a good thing. In a speech to a sovereignist group Parizeau is quoted as saying, "One of my former assistants said, 'to make sovereignty, there needs to be a crisis."and later said, "In fact, maybe we'll have to create the crisis,Read the story.
Two sovereignists from the past supported Parizeau's view. Ex-Premier Bernard Landry and disgraced party militant Yves Michaud both came out in support of the statement, which of course did Marois more harm than good. She quickly went in to damage control mode and rejected the idea of provoking crisis to help Quebec gain sovereignty. read the story
Quebec Premier Jean Charest almost fell over himself laughing at the idea and even the blogs had a cynical take on the plan. On Thursday the Premier accused Marois of completely losing control of the her party.
Pierre Cloutier created a hilarious sendup entitled "Pauline wants her Cake and to Eat it too" (translation-ed) an imaginary meeting between Marois and the potential new Prime Minister Ignatieff, next year. Read it


Louise Harel who announced she's making a run at the mayor's job at Montreal city hall this fall has anglophones apoplectic at the idea of a separatist who can't speak English, running the city. Harel was the architect of the law that folded all the island towns into Montreal when she was a Minister in the PQ government in 2002, something that anglos will never forgive her for, notwithstanding that the English towns demerged out of city, a couple of years later as a result of a referendum granted by Liberal Premier Charest. Minorities are also wary of the ex-PQ hardliner after she made some injudicious remarks about the city's minorities. Read my Post.
An anglo reporter started a firestorm of controversy when in response a question, Harel made a hash of her English answer. From there, newspapers both English and French started a lively debate as to the suitability of a unilingual mayor. Nationalist and separatist groups launched a furious defense and staked out a position that English is irrelevant and unnecessary for Quebec politicians.


The French media was also furious in relation to an editorial piece in the Montreal Gazette that commented on the popularity of Louis Harel among anglos;

"Among public figures, perhaps only Mom Boucher could make Tremblay look so good in comparison."

Mom Boucher is a notorious Quebec gangster who was head of the Quebec division of the Hell's Angels and is now serving a life sentence for two murders. The French papers quickly took the unfounded position that the Gazette was comparing Harel to Boucher. Read a blistering counter attack to the editorial(in French)

A man who was allowed to produce pot for medical reasons went a bit too far. Yvan Ferland, 50, faced cannabis production and possession charges after police discovered a whopping 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of pot at his home in December 2007. Read the Story

Guy Bertrand is offering a $170,000 reward to find Cedrika Provencher. The family of the missing Trois-Rivieres girl has enlisted the help of the flamboyant defense lawyer to help crack the case. The family and the lawyer are being criticized because of the 'no questions asked' provision of the reward. Read the story. We often hear about abducted children but here's a web site makes that makes it uncomfortably personal.

Lise Thibault, the former lieutenant governor (constitutional representative of the Queen) of Quebec still hasn't been charged with a crime, 2 years after a probe reported on her alleged overspending, double dipping and inappropriate expense claims. We're not talking peanuts, it's $700K. It seems that crown prosecutors are sitting on their hands as nobody wants to be the one to put the 70 year old wheelchair bound cripple, who's in poor health, in jail. Read about her outrageous expense claims here, and here


It's coming down to the nitty-gritty, the Montreal Canadiens will soon be sold. If the $500-$600 million price tag bandied about in the media is true, George Gillett stands to make about $300 million on a team which he bought for $10 million of his own money (the rest was borrowed.) Not a bad return, eh!

Montreal and Quebec police have been red hot of late in fighting organized crime. This week 'Operation Borax' took down a marijuana grow op run by members of the city's Vietnamese community. The 100 or so people arrested were growing weed in their homes, providing equipment or reselling the product. Thursday police broke up a drug gang operating downtown. In the last 4 months, no less than 13 major operations have taken down over 500 suspects related to organized crime. Guards at Montreal remand centres report they are operating at over-capacity. Defence lawyers are also working overtime to handle the load.

Unfortunately, Montreal police haven't been so successful in tracking down a robber who committed his 43rd holdup! He targets small business' without video surveillance where single women are working.

The Shriners announced that it's putting it's planned hospital on hold, due to flagging income from it's investment portfolio due to the market meltdown. It was to be built along side the new McGill super hospital. Now both projects look like they are in deep trouble.


Quebec's liquor monopoly the SAQ reported a 6% increase in profits. The state run company made a $807 million profit on $2.2 billion in sales.


The Quebec government is suing four parents of two drunk students who started a fire in their high school. The Province is seeking a whopping $16 million in damages and a guilty verdict will certainly bankrupt all of them. The province is standing on principle that parents are responsible for acts committed by minor children. Link in French

......FAST NEWS LINKS..
Montreal restaurant O'Noir is staffed by blind servers. Opening soon in Toronto
Montreal MP Sheila Finestone dies at 82
Former Selwyn House teacher pleads guilty to child porn
Quebec pedophile priest found guilty-30 years after the crime (in French)
Montreal baby's heart cures itself miraculously