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L’infrastructure numérique du XXIe siècle
By Marc Garneau on February 11, 2010
Pendant et après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, C.D. Howe, un homme politique canadien, a présenté un grand projet de société pour transformer le Canada en une puissance industrielle de premier plan dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Anticipant l'avenir, il a commencé à créer les industries nucléaire et aérospatiale du Canada, ainsi que l'infrastructure essentielle nécessaire pour bâtir une économie prospère et dynamique.
The CSST and workers rights
By Jack Locke on February 11, 2010
One day, Bob Morgan was happily working at his baking job when he was
assaulted by a co-worker. The story is eerily reminiscent of the
butcher who had a mishap while grinding beef to make sausage.\
The butcher was a skilled fellow with many years experience under his
belt. As he was grinding the meat he realized he had to add more spices
to the mixture. As he reached high atop the shelf, the pepper fell.
When he tried to catch the falling container, he accidentally backed up
into the meat grinder...
Liberalism and the Jews
By David Solway on February 11, 2010
One of the strangest and, at first blush, inexplicable aspects of the current social and political scene, remarked upon by many writers, is the swelling tide of antisemitic sentiment and the orchestrated, international campaign against the very existence of the Jewish state. We see it in the divestment campaigns of the churches, NGOs, and trade unions, in the proliferation of “Israel Apartheid Weeks” on university campuses, in the modern blood libel perpetrated by the Swedish press, and in the ramifying anti-Israel resolutions passed by the United Nations, exemplified most recently by the mendacious Goldstone report. Why should this be so?
Literary connections, plays about writers and writing hit the stage
By Alidor Aucoin on February 11, 2010
Imagine, if you will a shoot -out between two of North America’s most
famous French-Canadian word slingers, Michel Tremblay and Jack
Kerouac. George Rideout’s Michel & Ti-Jean, playing at the Centaur
until March 7, is an unexpected surprise, a daring, novel audacious
idea that actually works on stage. The encounter between the two takes
place in 1969, one month before Kerouac drank himself to death.
Tremblay, who was then 27 and anxious to validate himself as a writer,
hitchhikes to St. Petersburg, Fla., with a copy of his then as yet
unproduced play, Les Belles Soeurs in his knapsack to give to Kerouac
to read.
KATE McGARRIGLE: Musical Matriarch 1946-2010
By Alan Hustak on February 11, 2010
Kate McGarrigle was a free spirit who, with her much more restrained
sister, Anna, enchanted us with their unornamented, honey-voiced duets
in both official languges. Kate was the taller of the two, the
slightly off kilter one, tart and earthy, the one who took charge on
stage assuming everyone in the audience was a member of the family.
Single Rose
By Leslie Cottle on January 7, 2010
Bring me one daisy,
Bring me your smile,
Darken my doorway,
Through life's untimely trials.
Write me a kind note
Bring me one rose,
Sit down beside me...
Fouetter le chat pour que le chien cesse de japper
By Pierre K. Malouf on January 7, 2010
Avant et depuis son implantation dans les écoles québécoises, le cours Éthique et culture religieuse (ÉCR) est mitraillé de critiques venant de tous les côtés : catholiques traditionnalistes, défenseurs de la laïcité, nationalistes «identitaires», etc. Ces tirs croisés n’ébranlent en rien la flopée de théologiens qui dirigent en sous-main notre système scolaire, mais tant pis ! Continuons de répéter que le roi est nu.
Of scans, profiles and freedoms
By Beryl Wajsman on January 7, 2010
Much time has been spent, and appropriately so, defending our privacy rights in this time of war on terror. The public must be convinced of their importance. Justice Louis Brandeis called them “the most prized right of civilized nations.”
Louis « le Pieux » Cornellier, sublime gardien de l’orthodoxie politico-religieuse
By René Girard on January 7, 2010
Dans les sphères rocambolesques du nationalisme québécois, il m’arrive parfois, au hasard de mes lectures, de tomber sur un article dont le titre accrocheur m’invite à lire plus avant. Parfois, c’est un auteur particulier qui m’attire, et il est vrai que j’en chéris quelques-uns. Louis Cornellier, dit « le Pieux », est l’un d’eux car je suis toujours certain qu’il ne me décevra pas. En effet, je serais bien déçu s’il fallait qu’un jour ses propos me plaisent, quoique je n’ai aucune crainte à cet égard.
‘It sounds like a whisper!’
By P.A. Sévigny on January 7, 2010
Folk artist Tracey Chapman may be right. When people start talking about a revolution, it really does sound like a whisper.
“People are angry,” said Maison du Partage food bank director Madeleine Daoust.”…really angry. There’s a lot of tension in the air and people are beginning to lose patience ….They know something’s wrong and for once, they’re not to blame.”
Pour une vraie commémoration de la Bataille des Plaines
By Bernard Amyot on January 7, 2010
Le 13 septembre 2009, la tenue d’une commémoration du 250ème anniversaire de la bataille des Plaines d’Abraham aurait été importante pour l’ensemble des Canadiens et ce, à plus d’un titre. Il est encore temps de faire l’effort pour aller au-delà du délire de la dernière année et vraiment comprendre la falsification historique des indépendantistes à ce sujet.
EXCLUSIVE: The real scandal of climategate: They got the math wrong
By H. Douglas Lightfoot on January 7, 2010
The level of confusion and misinformation surrounding the real and perceived issues of “climate change” related to CoP 15 in Copenhagen is enormous, but it need not be.
The real issue is not about “climate change”, but about the effects of global warming on the environment. Every adverse effect on the environment cited by people who study these things is always about the effect of warming.
Canadians are too hard on themselves
By David T. Jones on January 7, 2010
There is an aphorism to the effect that you can always make a sensitive person feel guilty. Extrapolate that judgment to a national level and one can conclude that Canada is so afflicted.
There is much wrong, indeed evil, that is done in the world that we can do nothing to mitigate, let alone eliminate. To paraphrase scripture, too often “we do those things that we ought not to have done and leave undone those things that we ought to have done.” We cudgel ourselves with “what ifs.” If we had only paid more attention; worked harder; spoken out; saved more/spent less, the wrong would be righted (or would never have happened at all).
The end of the line?
By David Solway on January 7, 2010
Following the release into the webworld of hacked emails, computer codes, and a raft of supplementary documents recording the antics of sundry paleoclimatolgists at the University of East Anglia’s influential Climate Research Unit, it has now become ice-crystal clear not only that the world has been cooling for the last decade, but that the global warming crusade is an environmental racket of historical proportions. Many “climate skeptics” and independent researchers have long known this to be the case and have understood that the motivating factor behind this massive and unprecedented fraud is the unsavory quest for power and profit on the part of governments, corporations, and ambitious individuals, scientists as well as entrepreneurs.
Sakharvov remembered
By Joel Goldenberg on January 7, 2010
On Dec. 14, 1989, law professor, rights activist and now Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler was on his way to Moscow to have dinner and a discussion with renowned Soviet human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, when he called his wife Ariela during a stopover in London.
“She said ‘you won’t be able to have dinner with Dr. Sakharov,’” Cotler recalled, his voice breaking and halted. “’He died this morning.’ Instead of having dinner with Andrei Sakharov, I attended his funeral.”
Djemila Benhabib, sur l’affaire des minarets en Suisse
By Djemila Benhabib on January 7, 2010
L’image de cette petite et riche enclave au cœur de l’Europe célèbre pour sa fondue, sa raclette, son chocolat et enviée partout dans le monde pour ses stations de ski et ses lacs paisibles, miroirs où se reflètent des paysages et jardins bucoliques, serait-elle en train de changer ? Que dire de sa flore humaine? Les Suisses auraient-ils subi des mutations biologiques accélérées pour célébrer le deux centième anniversaire de Darwin et sa théorie de l’évolution ?
Copenhague: Une grande douleur pour peu de gain
By Robert Presser on January 7, 2010
Plutôt que d’analyser tous les détails de l’accord, l’objectif de cet article sera d’adopter une perspective à plus long terme fondée sur l’hypothèse que l’accord non-contraignant conclu à Copenhague doit être transformé en un accord contraignant et vérifiable pour la réduction des émissions à long terme. L’entente conclue entre les États-Unis, la Chine, l’Inde, le Brésil et l’Afrique du Sud contient des engagements pour que la réduction des émissions limite le réchauffement climatique à un maximum de 2 degrés Celsius, mais que veut dire cela en termes de vraies cibles ?
Piperberg's World
By Roy Piperberg on January 7, 2010
Les Sulpiciens et la liberté de presse
By Pierre Arbour on January 7, 2010
A l’occasion du 350e anniversaire de l’arrivée des Sulpiciens en Nouvelle-France, de nombreuses fêtes, cérémonies et célébrations eurent lieu pour commémorer cet évènement ainsi que les réalisations des Messieurs de St Sulpice; ces réalisations ne furent pas des moindres surtout dans le domaine de l’éducation. Un livre vient d’être publié “Les Sulpiciens de Montréal; une histoire de pouvoir et de discrétion 1657-2007, Fides”; curieusement, on n’y fait pas mention d’un épisode marquant de notre histoire ancienne où le Supérieur du Collège de Montréal, Etienne Montgolfier (1712-1791) joua un rôle important quant à la suppression du premier journal au pays.
A crash course in unwanted expertise
By Kevin Woodhouse on January 7, 2010
A true benefit of being a journalist is having the opportunity to meet other interesting people and hear their stories. As a writer, it is a great by product to be able to amass information and skills from the good subjects.
This past November, my sisters, brother, father and I became defacto experts in the business of funeral arrangements. Death and taxes are indeed inevitable and eventually for most people, they will outlive their parents.
MONTREAL JOURNALISM; THEN...
By Alan Hustak on January 7, 2010
MONTREAL CONFIDENTIAL
A Reprint of a 1950’s Montreal tourist guide; plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
... AND NOW
By Alan Hustak on January 7, 2010
POLITICS PEOPLE AND POTPOURRI
l. Ian MacDonald’s snapshot of history in the making
EX-CENTRIS RE-BRANDS: The Temple to Cinema on The Main becomes an Alternative Arts Centre
By Alan Hustak on January 7, 2010
Ten years after Ex-Centris opened as Montreal’s premier cinema art house, the $35-million complex on St. Lawrence Blvd is attempting to carve a new niche for itself as a multi media showcase for emerging talent.
A season of conscience
By Beryl Wajsman on December 3, 2009
Many people deride the generosity of spirit and selflessness of action that pervades our civic life during this time of year. They call it hypocritical. A passing fancy. They should not do that. This season of conscience is no longer limited to the twelve days of Christmas. It seems to start somewhere around mid-November – when lights begin to splash the city nights – and end around mid-January when they are taken down. Two months out of twelve where conscience trumps competition and compassion is prized above contempt. One-sixth of the year. It’s not perfect, but we should make the most out of it...
Inutile de vous faire vacciner, la fin du monde s’en vient
By Pierre K. Malouf on December 3, 2009
Jean-François Revel écrivait que pour combattre le mensonge rien n’est plus efficace que la vérité. Contrer une fausse information en la censurant donne toujours de moins bons résultats que le simple fait de lui opposer une information exacte. Voilà un beau principe... auquel je n’ai jamais pu me rallier sans réserve. Un autre grand auteur, que j’admire tout autant que Revel, mais pour d’autres raisons, Eugène Ionesco, ne disait-il pas, preuves à l’appui, que « la vérité n’intéresse personne » ? Entre l’optimisme de Revel et le pessimisme de Ionesco, mon coeur à longtemps balancé. Aujourd’hui je suis fixé: des événements récents ont en effet démontré sans l’ombre d’un doute que Ionesco avait raison...
Anti-poverty activists lead major protest over Quebec’s “empty action plan”
By Beryl Wajsman on December 3, 2009
Hundreds of anti-poverty and social advocacy leaders and activists turned out recently to protest the opening of the Quebec government’s third phase of consultations on the formulation of a concerted provincial plan to significantly reduce poverty over the next ten years. Their complaints, which were first heard in the summer at the time of earlier phases of the consultation process, center around their perception that the government does not really want input from fontline groups and that these meetings are just so much window dressing. The hearings are taking place under the name “Le Rendez-vous de la solidarité 2009.”
Enquêtes sur le monde de la construction: indépendante, la SQ?
By André Malouf on December 3, 2009
Le ministre de la Sécurité publique a chargé la Sûreté du Québec d’enquêter sur les faits et allégations entourant l’immixtion du crime organisé dans le monde de la construction et les affaires municipales où la corruption régnerait. Cela suffira-t-il à redonner confiance ?
Une organisation policière comme la SQ est une immense machine à renseignements où les haut placés apprennent tout d’en bas sans avoir toujours pleine latitude pour décider qu’en faire. En cas de dilemme, ils se croient obligés de consulter les autorités politiques, ce qui n’est pas toujours conciliable avec la prétendue indépendance du pouvoir judiciaire. Mais allez faire autrement quand telles ont toujours été les règles.
Citizen Chen
By Akil Alleyne on December 3, 2009
I have always believed that the citizens of a free society should not be punished for acting, within reasonable bounds, to protect themselves or their property from criminals. When the police are able to deal with the robber or attacker in a timely and effective fashion, the job should indeed be left to them. When this is not the case, individuals who are able to bring the perpetrators to heel in a responsible manner should not flinch from doing so. Nor should the state penalize them for doing what needed to be done, which officers of the peace may have been unable—or unwilling—to do...
Handicapped woman meets rigid bureaucracy
By Dan Delmar on December 3, 2009
Teri-Lee Walters has been in a wheelchair since the age of 13 and is hurt that, in 2009, handicapped persons are still have trouble exercising their most basic rights as citizens.
On Sunday, Nov. 1 – municipal election day – Walters and her 75-year-old grandmother made their way to the polling station at St. Gabriel School in Point St. Charles. It was not made clear, Walters said, that she was supposed to vote in advance because of her disability...
École polytechnique: Remember, remember the 6th of December
By Jessica Murphy on December 3, 2009
Just after dark on Wednesday, December 6, 1989 - a drizzling and foggy early winter day in Montreal - Marc Lepine walked through the doors of Universite de Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique with a hunting knife and a .223 Remington concealed in a bag.
He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and Kodiak boots...
Ce que nous devons continuer dire aux Chinois
By Dermod Travis on December 3, 2009
Quelque soit les enjeux sur les droits de l’homme que le Premier ministre Stephen Harper mentionnent aux dirigeants chinois dans sa première visite officielle en Chine, le Canada pourrait faire bien pire que d’émuler Ronald Reagan, un autre dirigeant conservateur, pendant la visite de l’ancien président à Berlin-Ouest en 1987. Le voyage de Reagan sera gravé pour toujours dans l'histoire par ces mots célèbres : « démolissez ce mur. »
Our agenda with China
By The Hon. David Kilgour on December 3, 2009
David Matas and I visited about a dozen countries to interview Falun Gong practitioners sent to China's forced labour camps since 1999, who managed later to leave the camps and the country itself. They told us of working in appalling conditions for up to sixteen hours daily with no pay, little food, being cramped together on the floor for sleeping, and being tortured. They made export products, ranging from garments to chopsticks to Christmas decorations at times as subcontractors to multinational companies. This, of course, constitutes gross corporate irresponsibility and violations of WTO rules and calls for an effective response by all governments who are trading partners of China...
Remembrance 2009: Past and Present
By David T. Jones on December 3, 2009
It was a cold, wet, and grim Remembrance/Veterans Day in Washington this year. Perhaps more than even in the most recent past, moods were irritated, marked by a puzzled frustration over the future of the United States and the most effective manner of management for a multiracial/multicultural/multi-multi society...
Part 2 of 2 - Statist Islam: A continuing challenge to civilization
By Thomas O. Hecht on December 3, 2009
History has a tendency to repeat itself. In the days of expansionist communist Russia, the country was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet Russian communist leadership was responsible for the murder of at least 20 million of their own people. The peaceful majority was irrelevant. Prior to that, 80 million Germans were not all confirmed Nazis, but they were irrelevant when Hitler and his murderous minions caused the death of one-third of the Jewish population in the world and brought about WWII.
Do you know who the real bankers are?
By Robert Presser on December 3, 2009
This year has been a seesaw for the Canadian Dollar. Plunging to the 80 cent USD range during the onset of financial crisis of 2008 and retesting those lows in March of this year, our currency has recovered to trade in a relatively tight range of 92 to 97 cents US over the past two months. The recovery in our dollar has paralleled the recovery in stock markets and commodities, especially oil. Sadly, Canadians don’t look at the broader currency picture – while our Loonie is stronger against the US greenback, the USD continues to fall to ever deeper lows against a broader index of international currencies. The US is pursuing a weak dollar policy despite public statements to the contrary and Canada is along for the ride.
