A study done by local researchers find that there’s very little Indigenous contribution to the genome of modern white Quebecers, and many people overestimate the likelihood they have Indigenous ancestry.
The part of my brain that’s forever 12 years old is amused that there’s a genealogical database at UQÀC called BALSAC.
Justin Trudeau has shuffled his cabinet. I’ve updated the roles of local MPs in the sidebar list.
Anthony Housefather didn’t get tapped for Minister responsible for Official Languages? Surprise, surprise 😀
I’d vote for him if I was in his riding but the rest of them can go suck eggs. The federal Liberal handling of Bill 96 and C-13 was a gross betrayal.
Andrew Coyne in the G&M writes “I do not know what David Lametti could have done to merit being turfed as Justice minister. (I have my beefs, same as you, but a firing offence? In this government?)”
Michael Geist writes “removing David Lametti as Justice Minister and replacing him with Arif Virani means online harms loses an important voice for freedom of expression in favour of someone who has expressed impatience with delays in new regulations.”
and on Heritage, Geist continues:
“Not only is St-Onge likely to continue down the same path on Bill C-18, but her mandate letter will undoubtedly also call for her to lead on online harms (or online safety) legislation …. The online harms package has long been viewed as the most controversial of the government’s three-part digital regulation plan (yes, even more than Bills C-11 and C-18). The new Justice Minister Virani played the lead role on online harms consultation in 2020 on behalf of Lametti, leading to the 2021 consultation package that was criticized by 90% of Canadians who responded…”
Geist’s full opinion about the shuffle: https://t.co/0hKiXvSgUU
Paul Wells on substack (https://paulwells.substack.com/p/the-army-you-have) quips “Why do they call it Canadian Heritage if only ministers from Quebec are allowed to do the job?” Canadian Heritage ministers under Trudeau: Melanie Joly, Steven Guilbeault, Pablo Rodriguez, and now Pascale St-Onge.
On the change at Justice from Lametti to Virani, after saying a few nice things about the new minister, Wells goes on to say “Virani was Jody Wilson-Raybould’s parliamentary secretary; she seems not to have kept many fond memories. (In her memoir she calls him one of the “talking heads” who were sent out “to make comments that evidence has now shown were not accurate or right.” In general, Trudeau, a non-lawyer mostly counselled by non-lawyers, seems to be chronically unsure why he should have a justice minister or what they are good for.)”
The G&M’s cartoonist, Gable, has Trudeau standing in the centre of a stadium announcing:
“Next, in tier two: seat 238, is the new minister in charge of government efficiency and productivity.”
H. John, do we know that Lametti didn’t want to leave?
@Kate Well, when asked, Lametti said he intends to continue to serve his riding as an MP, but more importantly, he will run again at the next election.
When Trudeau was asked why Lametti is gone, he rambled about him being a strong member of the team, and continuing to be a strong member….
Lametti was probably just unlucky to be the easiest to move out in order to abide by all the other political considerations of constructing cabinet. Gender parity, geographical and provincial representation along with electoral necessities (905 vote) and unique Canadian political realities (can’t have a heritage minister that doesn’t speak French) gotta balance senior portfolios between Toronto and Montreal representation. For example you can’t have Freeland at finance and Anand at Treasury Board with no Quebecer in an economic portfolio so Champagne is unmovable. Then you’ve got certain “star” cabinet ministers that want specific ministries (Duclos at Health, Anand that wanted something economic)
It’s a miracle and debatable if you end up with enough competent MP’s to fill all these roles.
CBC now has an item about David Lametti saying it was a surprise when he was dropped from cabinet. As does La Presse.
Any minister is going to have a short list of criticisms (I have my own concerning Lametti). He wasn’t incompetent, but he was far from being a star. A little shuffling is a good thing.
I have to admit to having no opinion at all of Lametti’s track record as justice minister, a job he’s been doing since 2019. But in government, often no news is good news, and a minister who can work in a non‑flashy way might be what’s wanted for the job.
It mostly seems odd to me that Lametti didn’t see this coming. At that level you’d think you’d have some intimation that the top boss wasn’t happy with you for whatever reason.
Lametti didn’t see this coming because no one did.
Every political columnist has opined for months about Marco Mendicino’s likely ouster because of the mistakes he’d made during and after the convoy crisis amongst other things.
Lametti wasn’t on the radar of a single columnist or pundit since the shuffle was announced.
The fact that it’s the one thing that there has been so many columns about says a lot of people don’t understand. You won’t find a single column asking why was Mendicino removed.
As Chantal Hébert said today, on Peter Mansbridge’s podcast The Bridge, when Trudeau was asked why Lametti was removed from cabinet the “Prime Minister’s explanation was totally lame.” She went on to say “When this is one of the dominant questions on the day after, you have to say the message of change was not, at this point, received in a significant way.”
An SPVM policeman was stabbed in the stomach late Wednesday morning in Côte‑des‑Neiges. His assailant was arrested.
A La Presse writer says Canada leads the world in people working from home, and Montreal is the least office‑bound city of all. He weighs various pros and cons. This time of year it’s hard to remember that one of the best things about not going to an office is that it’s so much nicer staying home in wintertime.
Yeah, exactly. This time of year WFO is kind of nice. “Hey, it’s 5:00PM and I’m not at home. Yay!”
Raises (for me) the question ‘What is work?’ and, ‘Why do we need to do it?’ – hoping to provoke discussion
@Tee Owe – I work from home, but it’s physical work, not online and I work 7 days a week from late April through the end of October. I do it so that I can pay bills and travel…. 😀
The only thing I miss about my old office job in summer is AC … but I can get AC at my local library, which is much nicer – and closer – and I can walk there.
Tee Owe, I think a fair chunk of office jobs are “bullshit jobs” too, but what are you going to say to someone who needs an income and is prepared to spend their days analyzing spreadsheets to make ends meet?
WFH is wonderful. No more useless exchanges with extroverts justifying their existence wasting my time. No more sitting at my desk pretending I’m busy. Time for hobbies is flourishing and I’ve never been happier.
WFH is definitely a mixed blessing and its effects are not universal. For someone like steph, I can totally see why WFH is great, and I share that perspective to some extent.
I’m also glad to not have the daily commute.
But I live in a pretty sleepy neighbourhood, which is great most of the time but sometimes it’s nice to have quick access to bars and restaurants and the 5à7 scene right after work instead of just the sofa. It’s also nice to have downtown lunch options instead of just your own fridge. (Weirdly, the lunch options around my downtown office are better now than before WFH.)
I would hate to have to choose 100% one or the other, which is why hybrid arrangements are my preferred option. That said, I did not go to the office once between September and June, but I went twice in July and will again tomorrow, making it three times. I suspect I’ll go a half a dozen more times before summer is out.
I also wonder about people who are in the very early stages of their careers. There’s nothing better for learning your industry and your job than having lots of contact with peers and more experienced workers every day, both casual and formal. Mentoring doesn’t happen nearly as well over Zoom as it does F2F.
In the early days of the pandemic there were many reports showing increased productivity from WFH people, but that has apparently come around. I can’t cite sources other than “a podcast I listened to recently” or “an article I read” (but I tend to only listen to and read reliable sources), but apparently WFH is now showing a decline in productivity in most cases, plus those initial “increase in productivity” studies have been re-evaluated and found to be erroneous in many cases.
That said, it’s great for people with young children or elderly parents to take care of, and for people who simply don’t need the company of other people, or who are well established in their careers. But for people just starting out? Maybe not so much.
I am so happy to leave my apartment and go to my job every day. People who “work from home” will soon be experiencing the psychological trauma that stems from social isolation.
Especially the young who are still building their personalities based on their social circles. For most adults, new friends and social contacts are made at the office.
qatzelok, we hired 2 interns this summer, and figured both would want some WFH fraction, but both practically pleaded for 100% in-office, they we so sick of zoom from university and wanted to actually interact with humans. (Who knows if they are representative, but they are out there.)
I’m on steph’s team WFH-wise.
I’ve worked in a lot of different places over the years. I’m still in touch with the boss from my first serious job, but I wouldn’t call him a friend in the sense of someone to hang out with. He’s an excellent dude though and I’m glad I know him. But I only have one friend remaining from any workplace. Take away the shared circumstances involved in a workplace and often there’s little remaining to sustain a friendship.
In 2014, when I was 36 years old, I told my employer that I wanted to work from home because spending 2hrs a day commuting was a waste of time, energy and money. He refused, so I started freelancing. I’m not sure what kind of psychological trauma I’m experiencing after almost a decade of this but it sure is delightful.
First of all, we’re all different personality types and respond to things like WFH in different ways. This might seem obvious but I feel like some people still don’t get it and are trying to impose their personal preferences on everybody.
That said, if WFH means that instead of commuting you spend an extra two hours a day being social (broadly defined as anything from talking to your family to shopping in a local mom-and-pop) , then it’s the opposite of isolating.
I personally like going into the office and like the occasional WFH day. That said, I get why people really like WFH. It depends what type of work you do, your personality etc.
My comment was intended to promote debate, glad to see it has – what I propose for further debate ( if Madame la Blogeuse allows) is whether much of what we call ‘work’ is directed towards generating tax dollars and would make no difference to the functioning of society if we never did it (I am not qatzelok)
Tee Owe, I take it you’ve read Bullshit Jobs?
I’m an introvert and I absolutely hate wfh.
Mainly I want to keep home life and work life separate, for the work-life balance thing.
@Kate – yes, sorry for not acknowledging it – OK and all that – also acknowledging Ephraim who gave a real-world reason for working, but can’t we do better – ? Some countries (Finland?) have instituted a minímum wage regardless of employment status, with apparently positive results – people did not collapse into dependency, even found new jobs – I’m just exercised by the meaninglessness of much of what many people do
Sorry for ranting
I don’t know….I don’t think what many people do is or has to be meaningless…
I don’t think my job is extremely important to society but I honestly don’t feel like it’s meaningless. In fact, my role was created around my skills, so I get to do something I’m good at and enjoy. I understand that’s not true for everyone but I just don’t think it’s fair to deem what “many” people do as “meaningless”. Maybe “some” or a “few”.
JP – OK, that’s fair, I didn’t mean to imply that any one person’s job was meaningless. But I feel there is a sort of a vicious circle where governments need the taxes that come from employment and so they promote employment in order to increase the tax base. I am not missing the fact those taxes benefit all of us. Sorry, ranting again. BTW I also enjoy my work.
A body was found in a parked car in Montreal North early Wednesday. Cops say it’s a suspicious death but no homicide number has been assigned yet and very little is said about the circumstances at either link.
Update: It’s been declared a homicide, #16 of the year.
CBC inquires further into the unlicensed tour guide issue. Some merchants ban them while others shrug. “I don’t understand why I would say no to a sale” says one shopkeeper.
Some locals are seeing a lot of earwigs this summer. CTV says they’re mostly harmless.
Shots were fired early Wednesday near Cabot Square. One man was injured, and another turned up later with stab wounds.
Blork 15:37 on 2023-07-26 Permalink
(I always have the same reaction to the name “Balsac.”)
Ian 18:27 on 2023-07-26 Permalink
Hey now according to my DNA test I’m 1% “North American Native”, lol.
That said, I apparently have no French in me? What are the odds.
I’m still more Native than Legault.
Kate 19:46 on 2023-07-26 Permalink
Legault did once claim offhand that he had Indigenous ancestry, but so did most of the Québécois de souche that I encountered doing census work. For all of them it wasn’t a recent fact, it was more in the realm of legend. As the article says, evidence shows that if French settlers and Indigenes ever interbred it was hundreds of years ago.
JaneyB 13:40 on 2023-07-28 Permalink
The sample was 205 people out of 8 million and sampled from every region at that. I have trouble believing that small of a sample is indicative of anything. Even at the level of appearance, Quebecois, especially around Montreal, physically resemble the Metis of my hometown of Winnipeg and do not look like the Français. Several Français that I know have even commented on this. Given the relative lack of residential schools in QC, I don’t see how Indigenous people and Quebecois de souche could avoid contact. Not scientific but that sample seems too thin to be accurate.