Study Shows Quebeckers Overwhelmingly Happy With Their Jobs

Not many people read the annual reports released by the various government departments and it's unfortunate that the press doesn't pay much attention to them.

Mostly self-serving and designed to put a positive spin on their operations, many interesting facts and figures can be culled, even with the most cursory of reads.

If there is any department that you'd think would put out a boring type document, it would be the Commission des normes du travail, Quebec's labour board, who's annual report is actually quite well-written, but alas only available in French, a disturbing trend for government documents today.

Buried at the end of the report is an interesting survey concerning job satisfaction.
I was quite surprised at the generally high level of job satisfaction and the improvement since the last survey. Here's a screen grab with my very rough translations in red.

Battle for Canadiens Turns in Gillett's Favour

It seems that the sale of the Canadiens is finally going to happen sometimes next week and don't be surprised if the price is higher than predicted.

Every buyer dreams of having competing groups in a bidding war that sends the value of what is being sold beyond it's intrinsic value.

The current situation in relation to the sale of the Canadiens has Bell and Quebecor in a desperate fight that is less about owning the team than it is about preserving or enhancing the value of their broadcast assets.

The fact that the interests of both parties goes way beyond the actual value of the team augers well for Gillett.

Bell cannot allow Quebecor to buy the team from under them, as it would spell disaster for it's RDS network and perhaps Bell Expressvu, the satellite network.

Should Quebecor buy the team, it would certainly move the team's broadcasts over to it's TVA network or worse still, start it's own sports network that would showcase the Canadiens, rendering RDS virtually worthless.

By law, the TVA network, as a basic service, is obliged to provide Bell Expressvu it's signal for free.
By switching to a new sports network of it's own (unregulated), Quebecor can chose not to sell the channel to satellite providers and could carry it exclusively on it's own cable network, thus forcing fans to abandon satellite for cable.

For Quebecor, owning the Canadiens means that it's media network could get exclusive Canadiens content for it newspapers, television and soon to be, cell phone network.
It's a match made in heaven.

By owning the Bell Centre (it would become Centre Quebecor), the company can direct the lion's share of the advertising dollars in relation to shows and events into it's own newspapers and television assets, a synergistic dream come true.

All of this means that the team itself is more valuable to Bell or Quebecor than it is to an individual owner, like the Molson family and that will send the price soaring.

In this battle of titans, let's hope that Quebecor loses to Bell. The track record of the latter is ruthless.

Ownership of the Canadiens has always been considered a sacred trust and although Gillett has been a model owner, fans were nervous about someone outside the province owning the team.

If they are looking at Quebecor's Pierre-Karl Peladeau as a savior who'd buy the team and run it as a public trust, forget it.

He has a nasty history of squeezing every division for maximum profits. Quebecor World was sent into bankruptcy when it was obvious it was not longer viable. His lock-out of Journal de Quebec journalists is based solely on increased profits, not survival.

If Peladeau acquires the Canadiens, it will be to make money, as much as he can.

He will no doubt raise ticket prices and squeeze advertisers. The very worst case scenario is that he'll turn the team's broadcasts into a combination of pay-per-view or start a rival sports network that would charge much higher access fees than RDS.

Peladeau is immune to public pressure and is a fighter by nature. It's likely that the team will be milked mercilessly at the expense of fans and advertisers.

On the other hand Bell wouldn't change things much, with it's goal being to preserve what it already has. Riding rough over fans would negatively affect their other business divisions.

If I was a betting man, I choose Bell as the eventual winner, losing to Quebecor would be unacceptable and heads would roll in senior management.

Canadiens fan should hope that I'm right.

Quebec is Protectionist Too

While newspapers and politicians decry protectionist measures in the US, we should perhaps look at our own buy-local program.

While Raymond Bachand, Quebec Minister of Finance complains that American protectionism may cost Quebec 70,000 jobs, our province is not exactly the best of free-traders.


Both Canada and the United States are both signatories to the AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT (GPA), which means that they cannot discriminate against suppliers based on country of origin or organize buy-local programs on their own behalf.

Canadian provinces and American states are not bound by this agreement unless they specifically announce that they will voluntarily abide by it's provisions. Thirty-seven American states have agreed to do so, but no Canadian province has made the commitment.

While Mr Bachand complains about American protectionism, his government is right in the middle of a $14 million advertising campaign urging Quebeckers to buy local agricultural and food products. Local radio stations in Montreal are also running public service announcements encouraging their listeners to buy-local.

As protectionist sentiment rises, companies are jumping on the bandwagon. 'Oasis' brand orange juice is already running a television ad urging Quebeckers to save local jobs, by buying their juice. (although I can't understand how orange juice qualifies as a 'local' product)

The real problem is sentiment, not law. Most of the protectionism is a result of misguided patriotism. The fever to buy 'American' is a result of the deep crisis in the US economy. These sentiments crop during every depression and Canada is not exempt. How many times does our Quebec government give local business' the edge with a wink and a nod?

Canadians are always quick to accuse the Americans of trading unfairly. When the US imposed duties on soft-wood lumber, the politicians and the industry screamed blue murder and slung all sorts of accusations of unfair trade across the border.

This year, without much fanfare, those countervailing duties were upheld by the WTO. The Amercian assertion that we unfairly subsidize soft wood lumber was accepted by the tribunal as true.
Somehow, that uncomfortable turn of events didn't make front page headlines.

Before we call for boycotts, let us not claim that we are guiltless. Trade restrictions between our provinces themselves are so severe that it is practically impossible to get a provincial government contract if you are not a local company.

There are signs that cooler heads are prevailing south of the border. The American Chamber of Commerce has already gone on record as opposed to buy-American programs.

Let's not fan the flames of protectionism, it's a war that we cannot win.

Instead of advocating for more buy-local programs, we should destroy those programs that we have.

Ottawa has the legislative authority to ban inter-provincial trade barriers and should act to ban all buy-local programs by provincial governments.

Only then, will we have the moral authority to demand the same of the Americans.

Harel sets Stage For Race & Language Battle in Mayoral Election

With Louise Harel throwing her hat into the ring for this fall's mayoral race, the stage is set for a nasty war between nationalist francophones on one side and a rainbow coalition of francophone federalists, ethnics and anglos on the other side.

The first straw poll taken by Montreal's CFCF channel 12 last night indicated that the battle lines are clear. Harel is going to get zero support in the anglo and ethnic communities.

If Mayor Tremblay plays his cards right and convinces the ethnics and anglos to vote en masse , he'll overcome his disastrous performance of late. For the mayor, Mme. Harel is like manna from heaven, he couldn't ask for a better opponent.

This election will the most negative campaign ever undertaken in Montreal, complete with attack ads and dirty tricks.

There will be but one central issue. Will the sovereignists or the federalists run the city. Nothing else will matter.
Municipal elections have historically low voter turnout rates. The winning side will be the one who convinces their constituency that the sky is falling.

Take a Ride with Urgence Santé

Here's a video of what it's like to answer an Urgence Santé call with lights flashing and siren blaring.

It's pretty scary.

Count how many idiot drivers react badly or not at all to the siren.

I wonder how many accidents they get into a year.

I once saw a senior citizen plow his fifteen year-old Cadillac into an ambulance on Van Horne & MacDonald. I stopped to be a witness for the ambulance driver. When the driver asked the old guy if he saw the lights and heard the siren, the senior complained that he had the right of way, since his light was green. Arghh....

If you like this sort of stuff, here's a link to see other Montreal emergency vehicles in action.