Bernie Ecclestone is Bluffing Montreal

It's doubtful that Bernie Ecclestone would ever need to embark on another career, but if he did, he should consider taking a seat at the World Series of Poker. Mr. Ecclestone has demonstrated that he is the world's greatest bluffer and has played for stakes that the most successful poker players in the world could only dream about.

A couple of years ago, the boss of Formula 1 racing persuaded an international conglomerate to buy out the majority of his business interest in Formula 1 racing for billions, when clearly the future indicated that the sport was tracking downward.

In a brawl with team owners this year, Bernie prevailed again, despite the fact that the teams were holding a royal flush and he was playing a busted straight. The dispute centered on the proposed imposition of a spending cap, which the richest and most successful teams rejected. They threatened to bolt and start their own racing circuit. Without the teams, Bernie and Formula 1 would be left holding an empty bag and it seemed, for a while at least, that the teams would opt for other arrangements.

It was not to be. Bernie, in a masterful example of bravado, faced down the threat with a compromise that left him firmly in control.

Yesterday he announced that Montreal would again be added to the racing schedule next year,

Trouble is, that it's news to Montreal Mayor Tremblay and his negotiating team.
Today they are scratching their collective head, trying to figure out what the heck is going on. According to them, no deal has been struck, even though they remain hopeful.

It's but another masterful negotiating ploy by Bernie, one meant to wring out more concessions from the City, as negotiations go down the final stretch.

Once Bernie announced that a deal was done (when in fact it wasn't) any failure would be conceived by the public as a failure of the part of the city, an outcome that Bernie understands would be politically unacceptable.

If Montreal is smart, they'd back off and demand concessions from Formula 1, instead of the other way around.

The race is coming back to Montreal, not because of anything the city has done or offered, but because pressure in being applied by the racing sponsors and teams.

Ferrari, the most powerful and influential team was furious with the elimination of Montreal as a venue. Sales of their cars in North America represent a big part of their business and the event in Montreal was as huge a celebration of the brand.

It may also be, that the return of racing to Montreal was one of the conditions demanded by the teams in accepting a compromise that left Bernie Ecclestone and his organization in charge.

The mayor and his negotiating team, should understand that it is they that are in the driver's seat. Let's hope that they understand their negotiating strength and call Bernie on his crappy poker hand.

READ'EM AND WEEP, BERNIE!

Veronique Cloutier-A Chip Off The Old Block?

Seven months ago a controversy erupted in Quebec television circles over the annual New Year's comedy "Bye-Bye" show which aired Radio Canada, the French version of CBC television. The satirical revue is often hard-hitting and a bit cruel, taking shots at people in the news, regardless of political stripes or affiliations.

This year the network received in excess of 1,300 complaints over two bits that contained material that many believed crossed the line.

The first was a skit about newly elected Barak Obama and offered up the opinion that he'd be easier to assassinate being a 'black' man in a White House. The joke went over like a lead balloon.

The second controversy which was more serious, concerned a skit that poked fun at Nathalie Simard's decision to move out of Quebec in the wake of several controversies surrounding her. I wrote about the incident back in February and included a copy of the offending skit. Luckily I included an integral version and not just the link, as the network sanitized sites like Youtube from carrying it.

Nathalie has been a Quebec media personality since childhood, when she performed with her singer brother René. The kids grew up to adulthood on television and while not outstanding artists, were household names.

Guy Cloutier was their manager. He guided their careers as well as those of other Quebec artists. He became one of Quebec's most successful manager and producer, winning all sorts of awards along the way.

Then a bombshell.

It was revealed that Mr. Cloutier was a paedophile and that he was abusing Nathalie from a tender age. He was arrested and sent to jail.

Here's a longish translation of an article written by Rodolphe Morissette in 2004, writing in the Journal de Montréal about Cloutier's abuse of Nathalie Simard. It's pretty graphic, so be warned. You can read the original here.

"In the summer of 1980, Guy Cloutier was driving his car on the south shore of Montreal, accompanied by a young 11 year-old prepubescent passenger. Taking advantage of a talk show that was discussing sex on the radio, he asked the girl if she had previously seen a penis. He showed her his own and invited her to touch. - "Sure. - Pass me the Kleenex, "he said, after having ejaculated.

Thus began a very sad story, that led the impresario, two decades later, to waive his preliminary hearing and plead guilty yesterday, to the surprise charges of repeated sexual assaults on two young victims.

In March, he began to feel the pressure in relation to one of his victims, and he was haunted by the dream wherein two police officers would come to arrest him. Guy Cloutier had confided that if this were ever to happen, there would be no trial and he would not "fight in court."

Yesterday, he lived up to his word. He plead guilty to a variety of sexual assaults, some of which started when the victim was under 14 and lasted for a period of seven years (1980-1987).

He also admitted that he offered $300,000 to the young woman towards the middle of last March to buy her silence. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a second teen for six years, when the victim was between 12 to 17 years old.

The most serious of the offenses carried a maximum sentence of ten years in penitentiary.

The Crown, represented by Josée Grandchamp, and the defense by Sophie Bourque, presented an "agreed statement of facts" relevant factors drawn from evidence gathered by police.

It all started in Cloutier's car when the victim was 11 years old.

The illegal touching of the girl increased: the breasts, the genitals.

It took place everywhere: in hotels, in the car, at his offices in Montreal and throughout Quebec. When she took a shower he masturbated in front of her.

Then they began to have complete sex.

Ten years after the fact, she recalled a certain night in particular, the eight penetrations that occurred on the eve of her 13th birthday.

The frequency of touching, and then intercourse increased to several times a week.

This lasted until she reached age 18, when apparently she no longer interested Cloutier.

Years later she offered a bitter reproach.

She "was ashamed, felt like old dirty laundry being abandoned." She felt she was "an object, a thing."

In 2001, she had the idea to seek his help in getting a job. Cloutier brought her home and immediately masturbated in front of her.

In late 2002, she confided her story to a confidant and the next day, the latter approached Cloutier and passed on the message that he'd have to "pay big time" for his actions.

"Don't send me to jail," begged the accused.

The victim went on to therapy with a psychologist, where she again revealed her secret, in an attempt to get her life in order.

Cloutier, by this time, had already started giving her money.

Beginning in 1994, he regularly paid her between $350 and $500 per week, in addition to paying her rent and for a car.

When Cloutier felt threatened that she would denounce him to the police, he upped the payments to $2,000 per month, then to $5,000.

He even bought her a home worth $450,000 in 2003. In short, in ten years, he spent about a million dollars on her.

On 21 January, she asked to meet Cloutier in a restaurant.

According to him, she demanded two million dollars (but she denies this).

She threatened to write a book about their sad adventure. He sought to deter her.

The impresario begged;
"You'll earn $150,000, maybe half after taxes," he said. "It would be a bombshell, there's never been anything like this seen in Quebec. You'll do all the TV shows, then I'll be in prison. Will it make you feel better? I beg you, do not get me arrested!"

Cloutier then offered her $300,000 not to complain.

In February, she chose to file a complaint with the Sûreté du Québec. On March 17th, she lured Cloutier to her home.

Police were hiding in the house, a camera and a portable tape recorder installed, all unbeknownst to Cloutier.

In the taped conversation that she had with Cloutier that day, she retold that all that she lived through with him during the 1980s. He admitted to the facts and expressed his regrets.

Guy Cloutier was arrested and appeared in criminal court March 25.

What played out yesterday in court was a a well-controlled judicial process;
The confession of Guy Cloutier, followed by the sentencing arguments of his counsel, were unusually controlled.

Cloutier was brought to court on March 25, charged with eight counts: assault lasting over five years, gross indecency lasting over several years, repeated rapes, sexual assaults, including one in 2001, sexual assault by means of a "weapon", namely a remote control, then an attempt to obstruct justice.

In April, the accused, through his lawyer, Sophie Bourque, began to negotiate with the Crown, Me Josée Grandchamp, a plea of guilty to reduced charges.

The parties, however, failed to agree on the sentence that they would co-recommend to the judge.

The lawyers have finally agreed to proceed with charges related to two confessions to various forms serious sexual assaults, which covered a period stretching over seven years, and an attempt to buy the silence of the victim.

Finally, a new fifth count, was added yesterday: that of having indecently assaulted a second victim, for six years. The details of that case were not revealed to the public and subject to a closed court session that lasted an hour.

All we know is this: it was masturbation and oral sex that started (it is unclear in what year), while the victim (gender not specified) was 12 years. Details remain secret, according to the section of the Criminal Code aimed to protect the identity of the victim.

On the other hand, the Crown and the defense have agreed to waive the preliminary hearing, record the confession, and then argue about the sentence - all in a day, so not to drag the case out in the media.

The prohibitions to identify either of the victims in the press means that the media will have no right, and in perpetuity, to reveal most of the factual narrative of the charges.

All the pieces of evidence - psychiatric reports, audio and video cassettes (wiretap) of the criminal investigation and victim impact statements have been sealed and are not accessible.

It was a successful operation.

Wow. A sick story indeed, but what does it have to do with a New Year's eve television show?

Let's get back to that controversy.

The two producers of the show faced a storm of controversy which culminated in a news conference where the two attended in order to explain themselves. Visibly perturbed, Louis Morissette insisted that he wasn't a racist and that the accusation was a hard one to swallow. Concerning the skit about Nathalie Simard, the wisdom of lampooning a sex abuse victim was perhaps a mistake, according to the other producer Veronique Cloutier.

What's the rub in all this?

Veronique Cloutier, the producer of the skit, is the daughter of Nathalie Simard's abuser- Guy Cloutier.!!!

Interrogated about the skit, Veronique insisted she did not have an axe to grind with singer, Nathalie Simard. She did allow that spoofing Simard was "an error in judgment on my part."

But if it was an apology, it wasn't much of one and recently her true feelings on the matter finally surfaced.

Last week I caught a TV interview with her on the show 'Montreal vu par.. with Patrice Roy. It was the first interview since the 'Bye, Bye' fiasco and while she remained polite and deferential to her accusers, it was surprisingly clear that she was unrepentant.

She confided that 3,000 people emailed her to show support and that she is often stopped in the street by fans who tell her that they indeed thought the jokes were funny. Ms. Cloutier opined that the whole controversy was overblown and should have ended with her press conference. Enough is enough!

It's obvious that she's inherited some of her father's traits, arrogance, self-pity, self-indulgence with a nasty streak of cruelty.

Any sane person would blanch at the idea of humiliating her father's abuse victim on public television. A normal person would likely wish to call as little attention to the incident as possible. Her defence, that she meant no harm, is so unbelievable that it is obscene.

Faced with criticism, she remains unrepentant, disappointed with her treatment in the press and contemptuous of those who dare to call her out.
Her sense of entitlement and lack of accountability reminds us exactly who's daughter she is.

Is it fair to compare her to her father? Should we visit the sins of the father on the child?

It's her who brought it on. By mocking the victim that her father abused, she becomes fair game.

Mr. Cloutier was largely responsible for the personal and social difficulties that Ms. Simard has suffered her whole life. That Ms. Cloutier added to the harm by lampooning the vicitm in a very public form, makes her an 'abuser' of a different sort, but an abuser just the same. She deserves to be called out on it, even if she wants us all to forget who she is.

By the way, Guy Cloutier served just 20 months for the abuse. Last February he attended a tribute dinner for singer Patrick Zabé in Quebec City, but sat alone at a table at the rear of the room. The public as well as the entertainment industry is not in a forgiving mood.

If Veronique Cloutier still believes that Ms. Simard's erratic behavior is fair game, perhaps we should take her down to visit the cancer ward at the Children's Hospital, or perhaps the Douglas mental facility in Verdun, where she can work on new material for the next Bye, Bye....

Formula 1 Racing Fiddles While Montreal Burns With Rage

It was with a measure of disgust and frustration that I watched the Formula 1 race from Hungary last Sunday.
As seen in the picture, the race was run to a half full house, with tens of thousands of seats unoccupied.

Formula 1 has always nurtured an image of exclusiveness and owned a well-earned caché of decadence.
Rich tourists with fat bankrolls, expensive sports cars, beautiful women, Dom Perignon, Cuban cigars, famous pop singers and movie stars, that's what the Formula 1 organization promised to deliver to the hosting venues.

When the Grand Prix came to town, it was a chance for the hoi-polloi to rub up against the gliterrati, the rich and famous jet setters, for a weekened, anyway.

Watching the Hungarian Grand Prix play out before an empty house was deflating and image busting. It can't be good for the sport.

Here in Montreal, the Grand Prix always ran to a packed house and everyone involved with the event including the racing teams, the organizers, the sponsors and the fans were in love with the summer event, everyone that is, but Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1’s boss.

Next to Monaco, Montreal was the highlight of the racing calender, the worldwide television audience numbers proved it. No other host city put as much effort into making the event successful and memorable. The city transformed itself into a Mardi-Gras type atmosphere with street closings, parades, parties and special events making the fun accessible even to those who don't like car racing.

Each year over 100,000 fans shelled out between $60 and $1,500 dollars for tickets.
How on earth can that not be a paying proposition for Formula 1?

Ever since Mr. Ecclestone sold the majority of his interest in the business to CVC Capital Partners for $2.5 billion, Formula 1 racing has become obsessed with wringing out as much profit from the business, without regard for the long-term good of the sport.

To fetch such a high selling price, Ecclestone had to guarantee a huge cash flow and so he regularly takes out half of the $1 billion that the sport generates each year.

This is the new reality of Formula 1, where venues are chosen exclusively for what they will pay to host the event and where live audiences and real fans have been declared redundant.

If an organizer offered Bernie enough money, he’d hold a race on the moon.

And so races take place in countries where autocratic leaders seek validation of their regime by hosting a showcase international event. They pay obscene amounts of money in the vain attempt to buy legitimacy.
No matter that the man in the street has no interest in the sport or the wherewithal to attend, it is but a side issue.

Turkey, China, Hungary, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and Bahrain are all venues where fans are nonexistent and where those who do attend, pay just a few dollars or are let in free. Worse still, in some venues people are forced to attend to give the impression that the event is successful.

The sport may return to Montreal, but I'm not sure it will ever recover it's past glory. In North America and Montreal in particular Formula 1 is damaged goods.

Fans were royally annoyed that they were so callously treated. With the elimination of the US Grand Prix, those Americans fans who made the trek up to Montreal to see the race may choose to pass on Formula 1 if it returns to Montreal.

I can't imagine what sponsors think. Allowing the sport to remain unrepresented in their most important markets seems counterproductive, but then again many things are strange.

Perhaps the chickens have come home to roost.

This week BMW announced their retirement from the sport, leaving only four engine manufacturers left in the sport. It's widely believed that another engine manufacturer will also leave by year's end.

Formula 1 continues to generate a lot of money, but for how long?

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Weekly Anglo Quebec News July 25- July 31

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 perspective.

Earl Jones arrested. The crook who bilked his friends out of $30-$50 million was finally arrested after crown prosecutors finally put together a case. It appears that he never really was on the lam and had been impatiently waiting for the arrest, holed up in Montreal. He was charged and then given bail, in a court appearance that lasted minutes.

Another idiotic honour crime in Montreal. This one not as serious as the one where four women died as of a result of an honour killing in Kingston. Not one day after Mohammad Shafia and his clan were arraigned in relation to the murder of their three daughters and the ex-wife, another honour crime took place in the LaSalle neighborhood of Montreal, where a couple has been charged with assaulting and threatening their teenage girls. The girls, aged 14 and 15 had snuck a boy, aged 11 into the family home when the parents were out. They were discovered and a beating was administered to all three. The father called 911 and told the operator that the boy broke into their home. Police arrived and figured out what had really happened. Arrested was Zahid Hussain, his wife and her mother, all charged with various crimes including assault, uttering death threats, using violence to force their children to give a false statement to police and obstructing justice. Yikes! Link

Ponzi anyone? A Montreal lawyer alleges that investment counsellor Lance Townend sold phony investments in Progressive Management Ltd, a company that was nothing more than an empty shell, according to him. In a previous life, Mr. Townend worked for Triglobal Capital, a company which illegally invested several millions in the Cayman Islands and then went bankrupt. It's owner, is currently on the lam.


Comedian Lewis Black did a bang up job when he was pressed into service to host a comedy gala after John Cleese suddenly took ill. The audience was treated to a wonderful performance by one of comedy's giants. For comedians, bringing local content to an audience is always a challenge, but apparently not for Mr. Black.
Commenting on his ride into the city from the airport which took him across Montreal's infamously crumbling Turcot Exchange highway, he quipped that; "There are aqueducts in Rome in better shape than (Montreal's) infrastructure."
His words were sadly prophetic. On Monday morning, a construction worker was seriously injured when a piece of concrete, the size of a football fell off that highway and onto his head.

High school graduation rates continue to be dismal for Quebec students, especially males. 65% of boys haven't graduated five years after starting high school. Now a more shocking statistic has been released. As bad as that situation is, nothing compares to what is going on in the high north of Quebec in schools that teach natives. Only 4,2% students in schools run by the Commission scolaire Crie graduated, five years after entering high school and the situation is only slightly better at the Commission scolaire Kativik, where 9,8% graduated within five years.

Arturo Gatti's murder has turned into a suicide according to Brazil authorities. His wife, who up to now has been in prison in Brazil as the prime murder suspect was released. The boxer's family is skeptical and demanded a second autopsy.

Montrealers salute Michael Jackson with a flash mob rendition of the classic video 'Beat It'. Click here to view the video, I guarantee you'll enjoy it! The event was inspired by the original which took place in Stockholm, Sweden which was even more impressive.

Montreal Airport suffers a huge drop in business this last quarter, as flights drop by 8%.

Quebec City suffers extreme weather including a tornado and a storm that dumped 23 mm of rain on the city in less than an hour. In Montreal another rainstorm on Sunday caused the L'Acadie Circle underpass to flood once again. It happened last year under the same circumstances. The province blamed the city for the flood, the city blamed God. “I can’t control the heavens!” said Sammy Forcillo, vice-chairman of the city of Montreal’s executive committee.
Once again nearby homes were flooded. The class action suit filed against the city, in relation to last year's flood has yet to be heard.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT
(Weekly review of interesting crime stories and court room antics)

Another 'Car Surfing' accident. A 17-year-old girl was in critical condition with head injuries in hospital this week after a car-surfing incident in Drummondville, a town about 100 kilometres east of Montreal. The teen driver was arrested. This follows an earlier incident where a man died in Montreal when he fell off an SUV. What exactly is car surfing? Here's a video.

Drunk driving champion Réal Quinn, of Pintendre was convicted for the 17th time in the Quebec City courthouse. He was arrested after a women called police after she noticed him getting behind the wheel, clearly drunk. What made her suspect that he was drunk? He had just staggered out of a depanneur after attempting to pay for beer with a CAA map. During his trial, in which he maintained his innocence, his friend, who was in the passenger seat at the time told the court that Quinn offered him money to lie in court and say that it was he who was driving. He'll be sentenced in the fall.

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Why Earl Jones Got $30,000 Bail.

Those affected by the Earl Jones scam are scratching their heads in frustration in light of Earl Jones' $30K bail and his quick exit from jail.

Sources close to the investigation shed a somewhat different light than what you are reading in the newspapers.

As soon as Earl Jones had his investment scheme blow up on him, he knew that the jig was up. He could of flown the coop, but instead went to see his lawyer, Jeffrey Boro at the Place D'Armes office near the Montreal courthouse.

Mr. Boro informed the police as to Mr. Jones whereabouts, but there was no arrest warrant issued because prosecutors had not developed a case. During this time Mr. Jones travelled to the States to visit his daughter with the full knowledge of the police.

Mr Jones made several visits to his lawyers office during the three weeks when he was supposedly on the lam.

During this whole time, the police (and Earl's family) knew exactly where he was. That is why there was no manhunt and no comment from police concerning his whereabouts. Those who felt police weren't doing much to search for Jones can now understand why.

The investigation was hampered by the key member on the law enforcement side being unavailable for over a week (out of town).

At any rate these investigations usually take months to complete before charges are ever laid.

But as the public pressure mounted, the situation became untenable and even the police themselves, not wishing to appear inept, demanded that the crown go forward with charges even if a case hadn't be made as yet, so they could make the arrest.

Mr. Boro wrung several concessions from the police, including the one where Mr. Jones would be arrested in his law offices, instead of on the street. This actually suited the cops and they made the arrest dressed in their Sunday best, secure in the knowledge that their picture would appear in every newspaper in Canada.

Because there was never any question of flight and Mr. Boro delivered Earl as promised, prosecutors could not in good faith oppose bail, in fact the amount and the conditions were negotiated beforehand.
It wasn't magic that the $30,000 bail money was ready and waiting in court and Earl was out the door in a matter of minutes.

The rushed charges against Earl will be followed up with more charges once the complete investigation wraps up. That won't be before the next appearance in court where prosecutor's will be forced to seek another delay. But that may not happen at all, with the more likely possibility that Earl will take a plea.

It was clear from Mr. Boro's comportment that Earl won't be mounting much of a defence.
I don't think I've ever heard a defence lawyer state that it was time for his client to ' face the music' before charges were even laid!

Mr. Boro has stated on more than one occasion that Earl is in a precarious state of mind. This fact is absolutely true. Sources who know, say that he is completely freaked out and dangerously unbalanced.

His rough treatment at the courthouse, as he was bustled into a waiting car couldn't help that situation.

We are headed towards a guilty plea with no trial.

Earl has no desire to face his accusers. His consternation is real.

I also believe that prosecutors will not not accord the usual courtesy of a reduced sentence for the plea, he may get between eight and fourteen years, but alas, will probably be out in under three years.

It seems that for once the justice system is bending to public pressure as evidenced by the hurried and incomplete way charges were laid by prosecutors.

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