• PQ ‘secularism’ statement

    Posted by in Politics, Religion   0 Comments

    Aug

    14

    2012

    So, the PQ says that they want to ban overt religious signs in public service. Now, generally, I’m all for government staying completely out of any sort of religion in any and every way, shape or form. However, I strongly suspect that this is just the PQ showing their xenophobia once again. I submit this [...]

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    Cher SPVM/Dear SPVM,

    Posted by in Montreal, Politics, Student Protest   10 Comments

    May

    24

    2012

    (English text follows the French) Chers membres du SPVM, En 2008, il vous en souvient peut-être, à l’invitation de votre estimée Fraternité déçue de l’offre salariale de la Ville de Montréal, vous protestiez en portant un jean et une casquette de base-ball rouge… Nous, nous en avons gardé un souvenir très précis. Même si vous [...]

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    Nightly ‘Casseroles’ (pots and pans) Protest

    Posted by in Montreal, Student Protest   3 Comments

    May

    22

    2012

    Yet another awesome thing about Québec culture. This is right outside my apartment door: Every night, my neighbours are protesting the Charest government’s tuition increases. To make matters worse, Charest has been totally inept and incapable of coming up with a compromise. So these protests have been happening nightly, and they last for about 10-15 [...]

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    Jon Lajoie – Song for the Students

    Posted by in Music, Student Protest   0 Comments

    May

    21

    2012

    Montreal born and raised comedian/musician Jon Lajoie wrote and shared a song in support of the student protesters. He has also tweeted permission to upload and share it. Although he hasn’t specified the license, I’m going to assume Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. If you are Jon, or if you know Jon and he [...]

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    Why I Love Québec Culture

    Posted by in Montreal   0 Comments

    May

    21

    2012

    There are actually many reasons why I love Québec culture (including the music, which is an amazing mixture of French Troubadour and Irish Trad), however this photo highlights one aspect of Québecois culture that I really appreciate: This photo was taken by David Champagne, and is on his blog here. Here’s a video of the [...]

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    Extreme Over-Reaction by Montreal Police (SPVM)

    Posted by in Uncategorized   0 Comments

    May

    20

    2012

    Last night, things got way out of hand during the 26th consecutive nightly protest – which were given new momentum thanks to Jean Charest’s government passing the draconian and over-reaching Law 78. There was a lot to be ashamed of on both sides of the issue (especially these idiots). However, while we do expect citizens [...]

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    Montreal under siege (video)

    Posted by in Montreal, Politics, Student Protest   2 Comments

    May

    20

    2012

    An uprising against law 78, a law that requires protesters submit their protest plans 8 hours in advance to the authorities. A law that is considered by many to be draconian (French only) and over reaching (including the Quebec Bar Association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers).

    A couple of things were painfully obvious here:

    • the police were not in control of this situation
    • a small group of troublemakers were responsible for most of the violence
    • the crowd (wrongly in my view) allowed these troublemakers to take control of the situation
    • although this was clearly a very difficult and dangerous situation for them, the police behaved very unprofessionally. They were overly aggressive and were taunting and mocking the protesters, further instigating violence.

    This is sowing disrespect for authority and the law. The people hired to protect us are becoming the enemy, which is toxic to the fabric of a healthy society.

    I hold Jean Charest and his government responsible for letting things get out of hand like this. They should show leadership and crisis management and actually do what’s necessary to resolve the issue before there are serious injuries and deaths.

    Montreal under siege

    Posted by in Montreal   1 Comment

    May

    20

    2012

    Last night, things got way out of control. There was a small group of trouble makers who were doing everything they could to get the police’s attention – they succeeded. To make matters worse, the crowd was supporting the instigators rather than denouncing it. The regular police force arrived first, and had to deal with [...]

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