Décision 2011: Des élections inutiles ?
Par Pierre K. Malouf le 21 avril 2011
Il paraît que la majorité des Canadiens ne voulaient pas de nouvelles élections fédérales. Les voilà mis devant le fait accompli. MM. Ignatieff, Layton et Duceppe en voulaient, eux, de nouvelles élections, et Stephen Harper aussi, d’ailleurs, ne soyons pas naïfs. M. Harper a volontairement poussé ses adversaires dans leurs derniers retranchements, il a atteint son but. Les Conservateurs ne demandaient rien d’autre que d’être renversés, ils l’ont été. M. Harper a bien manoeuvré et compte bien faire élire le 2 mai prochain un gouvernement conservateur majoritaire. Aussi ne pouvons-nous le prendre au sérieux quand il affirme que ces élections sont «inutiles».
Décision 2011: Canadian Politics X
Par Akil Alleyne le 21 avril 2011
The bell has been rung, and the Tories, Grits, Dippers and Blocquistes are going another round in their bout for parliamentary supremacy. The ruling Conservatives, of course, are hoping that in their five-year quest for a majority government, the third time will prove to be the charm. Yet from the campaign’s outset, there has been one factor the Tories have lustily exploited, one having little to do with their actual fitness to govern. I refer to the specter of another coalition of Opposition parties snatching the reins of power from Tory hands.
Décision 2011: Key races to watch in central Montreal
Par Dan Delmar le 21 avril 2011
Outremont - Jeanne-Le Ber - Westmount-Ville Marie - Mont Royal - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – Lachine
Décision 2011: Are they all statists?
Par George Jonas le 21 avril 2011
During the chummy pre-election weeks, politicians and their handlers are flirtatious but gun-shy. Journalists, viewed with grave misgivings, are being handled gingerly. The ambiance is ostentatiously egalitarian. The leaders’ aides refer to their bosses as Hollywood studio execs do to all-powerful movie moguls: First names, uttered in deferentially hushed tones.
Once Again-Burning Qu'rans
Par David T. Jones le 21 avril 2011
Washington, DC - So Florida-based pastor Terry Jones is back for another bite at the 15-minutes-of-fame apple.
This time, however, the consequences of his campaign against the Qur'an has had fatal effects. His largely unremarked "trial" and "execution" by burning of a Qur'an occurred almost completely without notice in North America. One assumes that this lack of media attention in the United States/Canada was deliberate (one 15 minutes of fame per eccentric claimant) with the appreciation that publicity could have invidious effect.
Montreal’s ‘Socratic’ dialogues City conference cites ‘Canadian Model’ as a working plan for a ‘post-crisis world’
Par P.A. Sévigny le 21 avril 2011
Ninety nine years to the day after the R.M.S. Titanic hit an iceberg and sank while trying to break a trans-Atlantic speed record on its way to New York, Professor Kimon Valaskakis and his New School of Athens are determined to devise the means by which the world’s assorted economies can avoid similar disasters.
“We must face the facts,” said Valaskakis. “The recent financial earthquake caused a socio-political tsunami which has spread all the way from the Persian Gulf to Madison, Wisconsin.”
Creative Destruction in Japan
Par Robert Presser le 21 avril 2011
Some may recall the teachings of Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian economist (1883-1950) who advocated the concept of creative destruction. Schumpeter argued that old economic models or investments had to be destroyed in order to liberate the financial and human capital to undertake new, innovative and more profitable ventures. For the first time since the end of WWII, a major developed economy has suffered an economic calamity of the scale deserving an analysis under Schumpeter’s model. The question is whether Japan, as an economic and social society, is prepared to seize this moment to radically change its economic model, or if it will miss the moment and re-create what has not served it well over the past 20 years.
...THIS YEAR IN JERUSALEM
Par Alan Hustak le 21 avril 2011
A trip to Jerusalem is an act of faith no matter what your convictions.
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel but it is not by any stretch of the imagination, an exclusively Jewish city. It throbs with a brash energy, pulsates with Semitic and Slavic rhythms and resonates with a sense of shared history unequalled in any other place on earth.
In the words of one writer, it remains “a golden object of desire,” a site for pleasure, prayer and pilgrimage.
Dr. Patrick Moore “How Greenpeace turned its back on science”
Par P.A. Sévigny le 21 avril 2011
Following a recent lunch and lecture in Montreal’s well-appointed Omni Hotel, city business people were lining up to meet Patrick Moore who was one of the founding members of the Greenpeace organization and is now one of its more notable critics.
“We did a lot of good things over the early years,” said Moore, “…but after 15 years, there came a point where we had to part ways over obvious scientific issues.”
Paying for Democracy
Par Robert Presser le 21 avril 2011
The revolutions taking place across Arabian North Africa are astounding for the rapidity with which they overthrew longstanding dictatorships and the confusion they provoked in Western governments. The US, UK, France and Germany had to decide when and how they would abandon the leaders they had backed for decades, and in the case of Libya the first coalition of the willing since the 1991 Gulf war was created to pound Gaddafi’s forces into retreat to allow the rebels to retain Benghazi.
L’apartheid culturel de Pauline Marois
Par Beryl Wajsman le 21 avril 2011
En octobre de 2007, j'ai écrit dans « Une question de préjudice » au sujet du projet de loi sur l’identité québécoise de Pauline Marois et du PQ que « Pauline Marois ne semble pas comprendre la fureur provoquée par la proposition du projet de loi sur l’identité québécoise du Parti québécois de limiter l'accès à la citoyenneté, l'ascension à la fonction politique et même le droit de grief devan tl'Assemblée nationale à moins que les nouveaux arrivants au Québec aient une connaissance « adéquate» du français. Essayons d’apporter une clarté à sa compréhension. Mme Marois, la fureur surgit parce que c'est une question de préjudice! C’est outrageux dans une société démocratique. »
New palliative care unit facility
Par Alan Hustak le 21 avril 2011
Plans to convert the church of St. Raphael the Archangel in Outremont into a 12-bed palliative care unit and day centre have moved into high gear. The church on Lajoie Ave. opposite the Sanctuaire apartment complex, served an English-speaking congregation for almost eight decades until it closed in June 2008.
A nice way to say ‘Thank You’!
Par P.A. Sévigny le 21 avril 2011
While some may think it was nothing more than an evening full of music, a bit of wine and a plate full of spaghetti Bolognese, others would recognize the supper party as the kind of event which pulls a community together.
“Without all of your efforts,” said Michelle Bourget, “…none of this would be possible.”
After spending almost 30 years with friends and colleagues fighting the endemic poverty in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest, Bourget’s efforts are beginning to pay handsome dividends because hundreds of people who used to come to their doorlooking for something to eat are now honorably employed, working professionals or even own their own business.
Don Cherry and hockey pornography
Par Dan Delmar le 21 avril 2011
Montreal Canadiens fans were horrified on March 8 when the seemingly lifeless body of a young star, Max Pacioretty, laid on the Bell Centre ice for minutes before being carried away on a stretcher by paramedics. Pacioretty wasn’t just a victim of an overzealous defenceman looking to intimidate his opponents, but a sport culture that tolerates brutal violence and even promotes it.
Brassy Brisket and Ham: Schwartz’s The Musical
Par Alidor Aucoin le 21 avril 2011
No matter how thin you slice it, Schwartz’s the Musical at the Centaur Theatre until April 24 is as appetizing and as satisfying as a smoked meat sandwich. It is as effervescent as a Cott’s black cherry coke chaser. (Burp). It’s a ludicrous treat, even though bits of it might be hard to digest. The daffy burlesque of a show was inspired by Bill Brownstein’s history of the landmark Montreal deli on The Main published five years ago by Véhicule Press, but the script which went through dozens of rewrites, alters some of the detail in the book, and takes on a life of Its own.
Ringuet, cet illustre inconnu
Par Louise V. Labrecque le 21 avril 2011
Philippe Panneton, dit Ringuet (nom de sa mère), trifluvien d’origine et ensuite montréalais, écrivain et auteur du roman Trente arpents amène une réflexion sur nos origines. Tel un monde oublié, le Dr Panneton illustre avec force et justesse, dans le livre Un Monde était leur Empire, notre préhistoire américaine. Dans les manuels, nous nous intéressons en effet beaucoup plus à l’Europe qu’à l’Amérique. Ce fait s’explique aisément et il n’y rien là de quoi s’élever. Nous sommes bien un peu européens malgré notre transplantation il y a quelques siècles en sol québécois.
An Irish Tale
Par Father John Walsh le 21 avril 2011
In Polly Of Bridgewater Farm -- An Unknown Irish Story (Cabbagetown Press Limited. Toronto. Ontario. 2009) Catherine Fleming McKenty offers a refreshing look at her own family’s life in Ireland and their eventual coming to Montreal and settling in Toronto.
“Take a Back Seat Schwartz’s, Toronto Has You Beat! And the Perfect Wine with Smoked Meat”
Par Robert K. Stephen le 21 avril 2011
As a Montrealer transplanted to Toronto since 1984 I had long given up the illusory search for a decent bagel or a smoked meat sandwich in Hogtown. Strangely enough and in somewhat of an unpatriotic fashion (from a Montreal perspective) I have developed a fondness for peameal bacon sandwiches on a bun.Fairmont and St. Viateur have the Montreal-Toronto bagel contest locked up. Try as I may there are no comparable bagels in Toronto with that wonderful, smokiness and dense sweetness Fairmont and St. Viateur can deliver. But hold on Montrealers...
