The CAQ has voted to expand the reach of the Charter of the French Language. Maybe this will slow down the real estate boom a little.
Updates from February, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
I haven’t been following every step of the hearing on Pierre Coriolan’s death, but this piece Thursday was striking in the simplicity of the question from the coroner: What was the hurry? Why did Coriolan, alone in the face of five police officers, have to be subdued so quickly?
A second thing strikes me. Last year the SPVM promised all officers would get training about mental health crises. I posted about it and even mentioned I’d seen it promised a previous time. Now in this piece it quotes the head of the Police Brotherhood saying that he expects the coroner to recommend mental health crisis training for the police.
How can we believe these promises when every time they’re mentioned, it’s like a brand new idea that hasn’t been thought of before?
Ian
Hm one might almost suspect that they are lying and just saying what they think people want to hear with no intention of actually changing anything but that would be far too cynical an assumption to make about our buddies in blue, right?
Related note: seen on a metro cop, a thin blue line QC flag patch.
https://twitter.com/noahchermes/status/1230927540983910408
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Kate
Bit of a dust-up Thursday between McGill professor Daniel Weinstock, who’s refuting a claim by Richard Martineau that he once defended a modified version of female circumcision, presumably to appease parts of the Muslim community. Either Martineau is lying outright, or Weinstock is.
Jack
We know who the Minister of Education believes, a Sec.V grad who sings for his supper and frankly is the definition of a Zelig. Or a PhD with years of study in this exact field. This from Martineau…
“Le ministre de l’Éducation Jean-François Roberge n’a pas tataouiné !Il n’était même pas 8 h ce matin que déjà, son bureau émettait un communiqué annonçant que le philosophe Daniel Weinstock (dont je parle dans ma chronique d’aujourd’hui) ne pilotera plus un des forums portant sur la révision du cours d’éthique et culture religieuse.
Rappelons que monsieur Weinstock, qui enseigne le droit à McGill, a dit qu’on devrait envisager que l’État permette les ” excisions symboliques ” afin d’accommoder les parents qui tiennent à cette pratique…
Une proposition délirante…
Bravo au ministre, qui a réagi au quart de tour ! On aime ça de même !”
Kate
It’s so weird, I remember when Martineau wrote for Voir and was mildly lefty. Anyone know what Kool-aid he drank?
But the education minister removing Weinstock from an important consultation based on this claim is bizarre. And I’m not seeing any retractions from QMI either.
J
Apparently, it started back in 2013:
https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/daniel-weinstock/daniel-weinstock-exicison_b_4433293.htmlCharlesQ
The Quebecor coolaid is the most powerful one… I can’t beleive they still get away with this. It’s like their fake story about a mosque asking that there are no female construction worker on a work site near them. And Martineau promoting islamaphobia at every turn and he still has his job.
Jack
I used to read him in Voir, he was a cosmopolitan , sovereignist sceptic , democratic socialist, as was the owner. Now he writes for a bigger check signed by PKP, where he is a hard nationalist xenophobe. He and his wife ferment islamophobia on a weekly basis. This kind of character assassination is invariably deployed against minorities.
Kevin
He moved to a nice house in Westmount.
Kate
I wonder if I would turn this blog into a right-wing rantfest if you offered me a nice house in Westmount and the means to keep it up.
I don’t think so, not because I’m a saint, but because I’d keep tipping over into satire. Although in some ways Martineau could be doing just that and yet still find he’s taken seriously.
Michael Black
Almost a hundred years ago a nurse was given a house in Westmount. Clearly she made an impression, I’m thinking it had something to do with the big flu epdemic of a few years before.
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Kate
Jump bikes haven’t been banished in the scooter ban, although the company has to pay more for a permit this year. Curiously, one of the arguments against the scooters was the impossibility of making people obey helmet laws for powered vehicles, but that issue isn’t even mentioned here.
Ian
Related: FNoMTL Lime & Jump montage
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Kate
There has been an arrest in the assault of a woman near Beaubien metro station last weekend. A La Presse opinion piece reminds us how lucky we are to live in a big city that’s one of the safest in the world, and that this is something worth preserving.
Ian
So I guess it wasn’t a warning, eh.
Kate
All I meant in the initial was that such a report is in the public interest, warning people to keep an eye out for trouble.
Ian
Ah I thought you meant like as in a gang thing, my bad.
Kate
There didn’t seem to be any gang angle in the story. It puzzles us when we get hit and it’s neither by someone we know out for revenge, or someone after our money or possessions.
Ian
It is certainly perplexing.
Michael Black
One time about 30 years ago I was downtown and someone hit me with a stick on my forehead. Didn’t say anything, just did it in passing. I can’t remember an exact year, but the Monkland theatre was still showing movies.
If it happened more frequently, maybe it would be a challenge or entry requirement, but I’ve never read anything till now. It’s the sort of thing I would notice if I read about it happening to someone else.
Kevin 22:39 on 2020-02-20 Permalink
Quick! The people are realizing that the CAQ often acts before it thinks! And that the Caisse is doing worse than the markets! Beat the same old drum!
Filp 00:45 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Given that it’s 2020 and the charter is 43 years old, anyone who is seriously considering moving here won’t be deterred by the french language. Ontario is wide open and directly next door, so those who choose to come to Quebec made a conscious decision to live with this political reality. Especially business owners. We can rest easy knowing rent will continue to increase when the sun rises tomorrow loool
Ian 08:44 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Yeah I think we’re going to need another referendum to get the rents down. This is only going to effect small companies, so expect lots of light industry corporate divisions to make sure their staff is somehow under the magic number. That was the loophole everyone used to avoid francisation in the past anyhow, and it doesn’t cost anything to do.
Kevin 11:05 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
@Ian
It’s not going to affect anyone. This was just a meaningless motion to start a potential examination of existing law.
Bureaucrats are going to toss this in their equivalent of the honey-do jar.
Kate 14:12 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Kevin, what is a honey-do jar? (I can assume from context you mean putting it in a place where it will be forgotten, but I don’t know the expression.)
Ian 16:12 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
The to-do list of household chores, e.g.; Honey, do _____ on Saturday
Kate 21:04 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
You can tell I don’t have a “honey” to assign chores to.
Kevin 22:11 on 2020-02-21 Permalink
Kate
As a homeowner the household maintenance chores are always growing 🙂
Kate 09:49 on 2020-02-22 Permalink
Yes Kev, no house, no husband, no honey. How do I manage.