Will BIXI Go the Way Of Vélib'?

Sadly, it seems that the Montreal BIXI program may be going down the path of Paris' Vélib', the bicycle rental program that served as it's model.

The Vélib' program has been decimated by vandalism and the theft of thousands of bicycles. The Globe and Mail has a depressing article about it.

Over 8,000 of the 20,000 bicycles in Paris have been stolen and thousands more vandalized.
Now BIXI honchos are reporting that they are starting to see similar problems, albeit in much diminished proportions.... so far.
To date, over 40 of the 2,ooo BIXI bikes have been stolen. LINK

Since BIXIs and Vélib's have virtually no value to thieves, it's maddening that people would sabotage such a wonderfully communal idea. Those who do, are cut from the same cloth as computer virus propagators. Evil for evil's sake. Bah!

The Vélib' program is in such trouble that the city of Paris plastered posters around the city in an effort to humiliate the guilty.


Here's a sad pictorial of what the vandalism looks like;

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!