Habs Serve Up Holy Water at the Bell Centre

There's some who say that a trip to see the Montreal Canadiens play hockey at the Bell Centre is more than just entertainment. It's been compared to a religious experience, as fans soak up the heady atmosphere of the NHL's premiere temple of hockey. There, walking through the storied corridors amongst the pictures and statues of the sainted players of the past, it is said that one can feel the the presence of the famous 'ghosts' that surround and protect the team.

That's probably why a regular bottle of water undergoes a mystical transformation and becomes holy water, once it enters the hollowed confines of the Church of the Canadiens.

.....Otherwise how can the price be justified.

Francophone Quebeckers are TVholics

Last Sunday was not only an amazing example of how much television Quebec Francophones watch, but a testament to how little variety they enjoy.

A total of 3.5 million people were watching just three different shows at 8:00PM, Star Acadamie (Quebec-American Idol), the Jutras Award show (Quebec-Academy Awards) and Loft Story(Quebec-Big Brother)

That's over 50% of the entire French population of Quebec.

Star Acadamie drew an amazing 2.5 million viewers.
That means that 4 out of every 10 Francophone Quebeckers were tuned in!

Comparing the number of viewers proportionally, 4 times as many Quebeckers watched Star Acadamie as compared to Americans who watched last year's American Idol finale!

Quebec To New Doctors -Drop Dead!

Quebec doctors who are finishing their specialist training got a rude awakening as the government of Quebec announced that they are placing a hiring freeze on almost all specialties until 2011.

This means that the government will not offer approximately 400 jobs.

On February 2, the government dropped the bombshell through a directive that it sent to Quebec health and social services, confirming a moratorium on the hiring of new specialists.

Incredibly the mainstream press has completely missed this story, which is sending shock waves through the medical community.

'Residents' is the term used to describe doctors, who are training to become specialists. After four years of medical school, they typically spend another two to seven years working in a hospital setting in an apprenticeship program, learning the skills that they will specialize in.

Here's some sort of a list of what Quebec will no longer be hiring;

Imunologist/ Anesthesiologist / Cardiologist / Cardiovascular surgeon / Colon and rectal surgeon /Dermatologist - Diagnostic radiologist - Emergency medicine specialist - Endocrinologist -Forensic pathologist- Gastroenterologist- Geriatric medicine specialist - Gynecologist -Haemato-oncology/Hematologist -Infectious disease specialist Internist Medical geneticist / Neonatologist /Nephrologist / Neurological surgeon /Neurologist / Nuclear medicine specialist/ Obstetrician/ Occupational medicine specialist / Ophthalmologist - Oral surgeon / Orthopedic surgeon /Osteopath / Otolaryngologist / Pain management specialist - Pathologist / Pediatrician /Perinatologist / Plastic surgeon /Preventive medicine specialist /Psychiatrist /Pulmonologist / Radiologist /Reproductive endocrinologist / Rheumatologist/ Sleep disorders specialist/ Spinal cord injury specialist/ Sports medicine specialist/ Surgeon Thoracic surgeon/ Urologist/ Vascular surgeon

Here's what they're still hiring;

Family doctor (outside Montreal) / Radiation Oncologist /Haemato-oncology

So all that training is going to be Quebec's loss and somebody else's gain!

The Journal de Montreal has been blasting McGill because 52% of the doctors that graduate there, move out of the province. This moratorium should bring that number up to 95%, since the only jobs available, in family medicine, are located in the boonies.

On an ironic note, the Federation of Residents held its 13th 'Outside Quebec Career Day' and booths were reserved by 47 health care establishments from the rest of Canada and the U.S.

The event was attended by some 300 medical residents.

The 400 doctors that the government is sending out of Quebec means that the approximately 4,000 years of medical training, paid for by the people of Quebec, is being given away for nothing.
Shame on the government.

Shame on the media for not reporting it.

A Tale of Two Murderers

Two Quebec woman, both obviously mentally ill, are going to face completely different outcomes because one committed her crime in Quebec and the other in Vermont.

Louise Desnoyers, 48, drowned her 8-year-old son, Nicholas Desnoyers-Langlois, in Lake Champlain on August 15, 2006. She then tried to kill herself by drinking anti-freeze, but survived and was arrested the next day. Police say she killed the boy to spare him the pain of the imminent separation of her and the boy's father, after he announced that he was leaving her for another woman. She told police that her son was in a 'better place'

She has been incarcerated ever since, awaiting her trial.

A year ago, Judge Ben Joseph rejected a plea bargain that called for a 15 years in prison sentence for second-degree murder because the deal called for Desnoyers to do the time in Canada, where earlier parole is the law. The judge was not keen to accept that.

On Thursday, in a plea bargain, she agreed to plead no contest to second-degree murder. The terms of the agreement calls for between 10 and 15 years in prison, to be served in the United States. She will be formally sentenced at a later date.

In the Saguenay region of Quebec, Cathy Gauthier-Lachance, 34, faces three counts of first-degree murder and one charge of aiding her husband to kill himself, in an alleged murder-suicide pact. On New Year's Day, 2009, her husband and three children were found dead in their home.

Amazingly, three months after the crime, Judge Richard Grenier granted her request for bail after listening to testimony from the accused, her psychiatrist and a relative. He also ordered Gauthier-Lachance to stay in a transition house for women and to continue her therapy.

It's likely that when she does receive her sentence, it be infinitely less harsh than that of Louise Desnoyers and will probably be in a hospital or mental ward.

The chasm between American and Canadian justice is wide, the former seems overly vengeful, while the latter, overly lenient.

Which represents a better solution?

Aside from gun crimes, both countries have similar crimes rates (it's a myth that Canada has less crime than the US.)

But proportionally, for every person incarcerated in a Canadian jail there are 7 inmates in the United States penal system. That's a big, big difference!

The US regularly treats the mentally ill and young offenders, as ordinary criminals, something that the rest of western democracies have given up on. Much of the prison system in the US is privately run and for profit and some argue that it is a factor in the huge prison population. Empty prisons mean less profits.

On the other hand, Canadian prisons are all about getting offenders out as quickly as possible, with punishment an afterthought, often taking a distinct back seat to the cause of rehabilitation. Many victims of violent crime consider the short prison stays a violation of their rights to see justice done.

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Montreal Canadiens Practically Impossible to Sell

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The media has been going crazy over the potential sale of the Habs, as the owner, George Gillett, looks to raise cash.

When the Canadiens were sold to Gillett in 2001, there wasn't another buyer around and back then the team was a relative bargain. It's hard to see somebody buying the team today, at a 50-75% premium.
The team is firing on all financial cylinders, revenues are high, but the potential to up the earnings is rather limited and the buyer is acquiring a mature business with more downward risk, than upward potential.

That's why the owner had to hire a consulting group in order to help identify and pursue possible suitors.

All the potential buyers who's names are being bandied about by the newspapers, had the opportunity to buy the team back in 2001 and passed. Given the new set of circumstances today, it's even more unlikely that they will come back to the table and pay even more for the team, given the present economic era of uncertainty.

The Quebec finance minister has pooh-poohed the idea of the Caisse de Depot (the province's pension fund) providing financing, which makes the deal even more unlikely, given the frozen credit markets. This decision is hard to understand. The Caisse lent $140 million dollars to Gillett to buy the team in 2001 and the loan was completely repaid. With the credit markets the way they are now and without the Caisse's involvement, the buyer will have to commit over $400 million in cash to get the deal done.

Let's review some of the personalities mentioned as potential saviors.

GUY LALIBERTE
The owner of the Cirque de Soleil is certainly rich enough to do the deal, but is unlikely to do so, unless he can wring some big time concessions out of the owner, an unlikely event. Mr. Laliberte seems to be going in the opposite direction, cashing out some $600 million by selling part of the Cirque to Arab interests. Cirque President, Daniel Lamarre, scotched the idea of a permanent show in Montreal, based on economics when the Casino/Cirque deal in the Peel basin died. The Cirque, according to him, went on to bigger and better things. Today, expansion of the Cirque into Russia is a priority and a huge financial and creative undertaking, likely to exhaust the company's energy and focus.
Also, Mr. Laliberte's acrimonious divorce is hanging over him and a high profile purchase of the Canadiens, doesn't seem like a good idea.

CELINE DION/ RENE ANGELIL

The Quebec chanteuse is wealthy, but alas, not wealthy enough. She's definitely no Oprah. Rene Angelil has already stated that the project is of no interest to them.

STEPHEN BRONFMAN
The last remaining member of the Bronfman family in Montreal is a lightweight, without the power or the money to pull off a deal of this magnitude. Charles Bronfman, the ex-owner of the Expos, moved out of the city to New York years ago. He has stated in the past, that his purchase of the Expos in 1968 was based on his love of the city. Now that he's gone, there's no more motivation.
Aside from that, the once mighty fortune of the Bronfmans is not what it once was. It has been battered by a terrible merger with Vivendi SA and the misadventures of Edgar Jr. in the entertainment field.

PIERRE-KARL PELADEAU

Son of Quebec scion, Pierre Peladeau, Pierre-Karl is fighting his own battle to keep his print and media business profitable. PK has a small fortune, but unfortunately started out with a big fortune, it's hasn't been easy since his father's death. I don't know if those proposing his name read the same newspapers as I, but the financial situation at the company needs to rebound in light of the 'Quebcor World' subsidiary bankruptcy. The newspaper business, which the company is heavily involved in, doesn't look rosy and the company's stock price of $17 is way off the $48 high. PK certainly doesn't have the time or inclination to make a move on the Habs and it's unlikely that his shareholders or bankers would appreciate the adventure.


PAUL DEMARAIS
The owner of the powerfully diversified Power Corporation is perhaps the most unlikely buyer of the Habs. Mr. Demarais is no publicity hound, if anything quite the opposite. He is more attuned to living life in the rarefied atmosphere of the rich and famous (he is best friends with President President Nicholas Sarkozy and is said to have engineered his rise to power.) Ownership of the Habs would thrust Mr. Demarais into the limelight and make him responsible to the hoi-polloi for the goings on at the Canadiens. Mr. Demarais is a an unabashed and activist federalist, largely reviled by nationalists as someone who has sold out his people and made money on their backs by controlling Quebec's business world. He could never don the cloak of neutrality that would be required of the owner of the Montreal Canadiens.

JEAN COUTU
Forced out of retirement to help turn around his company's deteriorating fortune, triggered by a disastrous expansion into the USA, it's unlikely that he'd be interested in the team at this point. His company reported a whopping $397 million dollar loss in the last quarter.

LINO SAPUTO
The Saputos are deeply involved with their first love, soccer and are also unlikely buyers. Their dream of owning a franchise in the North American premier soccer league, the MLS went unrealized when they balked at paying the $40 million expansion fee.
$400 million for the Canadiens, I don't think so!


JIM BASILLE
So that leaves the front runner, Jim Basillie, who's dream of owning a NHL franchise in southern Ontario has been dashed on too many occasions by Mr Bettman and friends. Maybe he's ready to 'settle' for the Canadiens, but Mr. Gillett knows his phone number and has probably already called. The fact that there are no rumours of an impending deal, speaks ominously to his interest.
I hope I'm wrong, he'd be a fabulous owner/operator.

The very last idea being floated is that of a group of investors who can be cobbled together, a la Expos. Without a lender and in the present tight credit market, $400 million is an impossible number and given that Gillett is selling the team to raise cash, a balance of sale is out of the question.