A massive fleurdelysé was unrolled at Place des Arts Saturday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the flag. Le Devoir recounts the history of the design, although doesn’t show us the religious banner it’s based on.
Updates from January, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A cone has been paved into the sidewalk on Sherbrooke downtown, and QMI is trying to make a scandal of it. But it’s clear that the asphalt paving is only meant to be temporary.
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Kate
Chinatown is putting on a festival for the lunar new year. Audio from CBC.
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Kate
Justin Trudeau says it’s time to rethink the use of the notwithstanding clause, as its use by the provinces is turning the Charter into a slice of Swiss cheese. François Legault sees this as an attack on the people of Quebec – which leaves out the uses Ontario and Alberta have made of the clause, besides using his technique of equating “the people of Quebec” with the will of his party.
JaneyB
He can dream all he likes, like many Canadians. The only way to get rid of that clause is to open up the Constitution. The powers the Fed will have to give away to get agreement there will make the notwithstanding clause look like it was the most beautiful thing in the Charter. We can’t get rid of it, mostly because Canada is a community of communities – just like former Prime Minister Joe Clark said it was. A majestic document that can enforce uniformity doesn’t fit us. Yes, it’s annoying a geometrically annoying but in practise, it mostly works.
Kate
Notwithstanding (!!), as I’ve said before, we pay taxes to Ottawa so I don’t think it unreasonable to expect to be protected by the Charter, and not only the bits left over after the premier of Quebec (or any other provincial premier) has scratched out the bits they don’t like.
I agree this is a difficult standoff.
Kevin
The notwithstanding clause was supposed to come with a burden of shame — a public denunciation that the provincial government in question was stripping people of their rights.
But the people who wrote that into the constitution failed to realize that the vast majority of the public are not political wonks, and so it never worked as intended.
And now, with governments using it to impose labour contracts, it’s been demonstrated to be dangerous to our democracy.
Meezly
“but in practise, it mostly works.” Yeah, for those who don’t have to worry about being impacted by provincial exceptions to limit the rights and freedoms of certain people who don’t look or behave like the majority, or who just simply want to be heard.
Personally, it’d be reassuring to know that as Canadian citizens, our constitutional rights and freedoms are protected across all provinces and territories, without being affected by notwithstanding clauses.
Kate
The notwithstanding clause was a kludge meant to make the document acceptable in the short term. It would’ve been better if they’d simply admitted it was an imperfect document that would be opened for review later.
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Kate
Friday there was a La Presse story that Quebec wanted to cut back on its plan to enlarge Maisonneuve‑Rosemont hospital, but Saturday, Radio‑Canada says Christian Dubé denies the story and that the enlargement should proceed as planned.
La Presse’s Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot makes a plea for an entirely new hospital for Montreal’s east end, where he says healthcare has been underfunded for years.
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Kate
The Canadiens’ Cole Caufield is out for the season because of injury and surgery to his shoulder.
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Kate
This CBC piece about a 99-year-old woman facing criminal charges for failing to appear for jury duty annoys me, in the way that a lot of emotionally charged journalism does. It starts with the family and what a terrible situation this is, but then tells us that if someone had simply filled out the exemption form that comes with the summons, and sent it back within the prescribed deadline, none of this need have happened.
Then they get back to a lawyer, who confirms that this is true, but they extract a soundbite from him about how it’s “shameful” – but if her relatives had simply read the instructions (I’ve received the summons and it’s not complicated) this would not be a story at all.
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Kate
A “parc de rails” or “snow park” has opened in the Olympic Park and is for doing snowboard tricks. It’s named after Dillon Ojo, who died in a snowboard accident a few years ago.
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