The actor Harry Standjofski has died. He was not a personal friend, but folks I used to know were friends of his.
Updates from July, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
This is an ethical puzzler. A group of Quebec business owners have launched a $300‑million lawsuit against the federal government, saying they may face bankruptcy if Canada cuts the number of temporary foreign workers allowed in, as it is planning to do.
François Legault says Quebec can’t provide services for the large numbers of workers admitted in recent years.
So, questions: Is the reason that these businesses need foreign workers simply because they will work for less than a citizen or permanent resident would, and put up with more bullshit? Is that a fair thing to allow?
Is Quebec working against its own interests in pushing for a reduction in numbers, when this puts its businesses in jeopardy?
And, most importantly: is there any way to solve this problem, leaving out for the moment the issues of citizenship and residency? There is work to be done and people willing to do it. Can things be structured so that the work gets done, the workers are paid and treated fairly, and yet everyone has a place to live and medical care when needed?
Does anyone know, do any of these workers bring their whole family along? When I was doing the census, the workers I talked to were all men, and when asked if they were married they grinned and said “Not here!” so guessed there could be women and children back home that they were helping provide for. In other words, does Legault have the leverage to claim that we’re also paying to educate temporary workers’ kids?
Joey
All pertinent questions, few with easy answers. As for the lawsuit, IANAL but it sounds insane to me, and the implication that straight-up business interests trump (har) all others is depressing. Maybe H. John can weigh in.
su
Are any of those plaintiffs involved in the lucrative and growing remittance industry?
jeather
You can find the list of businesses here: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2025/07/19/travailleurs-etrangers-temporaires–des-entreprises-poursuivent-ottawa-pour-300-m
su
Maybe those manufacturing businesses can move to other countries where there are plenty of willing employees who would probably be happier working in their homeland rather than under the conditions being offered here.
Kate
Thanks for that link, jeather.
H. John
In response to some of Kate’s questions, in their article about the case The Globe & Mail cited Mike Moffatt, an economics professor, who “argued that while the federal policy shift was abrupt, the Quebec companies could reasonably have predicted that it would ramp down at some point.
““What goes up has to come down,” he said. “I don’t understand how they could think this would be a permanent thing, when all of the increases were couched as being temporary to deal with the pandemic.”
Chronic shortages of native-born manual workers, meanwhile, should eventually be resolved by increasing pay to make those jobs more attractive, he said. “At a certain point we have to say, ‘How much should government be subsidizing industries that aren’t raising their wages?’”@Joey “as to the lawsuit” without seeing what’s being argued, I’m hesitant to give an answer; but, I would point out the lawyer, also a “Membre de la Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ)”, opened his doctoral thesis writing this:
“The boundary between politics and intellectual activism is generally fluid. The whole universe of political-constitutional thought while banging the doctrinal drum is often merely a political construct rather than grounded in fact.”
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Kate
Some of the city’s most prominent fountains are not running this summer because they’re too expensive to repair. Neither the Lafontaine Park fountain in the lake nor the La Fermière sculpture at Maisonneuve market are working, bids coming in at “insane” numbers according to the quoted expert.
I noticed this week that the fountain that’s the focal point of the little square at Jean‑Talon and St‑Laurent was not working. I didn’t think it worth posting about, but now I see it’s part of a bigger picture.
bob
They are not too expensive to repair, the city has decided to spend that money elsewhere, like on life affirming and aesthetically pleasing traffic cone transportation motifs.
Look – if you want to live in a city of fountains, move to Rome. Montreal has other priorities.
Kate
That’s a bit brutal. Fountains are often the set piece for a whole park or square. Not letting them run is a kind of broken-window signal.
DeWolf
I love fountains and it’s very disappointing to not only see so many of them out of order, but the city gradually doing away with them in new/renovated public spaces. The fountain in front of Verdun borough hall will be removed when the square is expanded and revamped, for example.
When one of Quebec’s only fountain engineers says prices to repair fountains are mysteriously exorbitant, maybe we should look into exactly why it’s so difficult to maintain fountains in this city.
Kate
And yet it’s not so long since they put in that fountain in Parc Lahaie, in front of St‑Enfant‑Jésus.
CE
I’ve noticed that the relatively new fountains in Square Viger haven’t been turned on for at least the last month (maybe the whole summer?). Those fountains were a big part of the new park and it looks pretty desolate there without them.
DeWolf
It’s in the article. Something in the Viger Square fountain is already broken and they’re still trying to figure out the problem.
@Kate Luc Ferrandez was apparently a big fountain guy. There’s a relatively new one in Devonshire Park too, it’s really nice.
Orr
In Viger Square’s redesign they eliminated the “building’s wall full-wall waterfall.” It was so great. My favourite waterfall in Montreal. I hope the ground level fountains that are its replacements get fixed soon.
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Kate
Every now and then, anglo media get het up about some businessperson who’s in trouble with the OQLF because they’re flouting the language law. But if you’re putting up a storefront business, surely you need to find out what the law says before you pay to register the business name and have a website built and put up signs. You don’t just do what you fancy and then complain to the media when the consequences fall on you because you broke the law.
But besides that, what are we (as anglo readers of the news) supposed to make of the choice to make this a news story? (It isn’t being reported in the franco media.) Are we supposed to feel angry or sad? And if we do, what possible use is that to anyone?
Ian
I mean I feel bad for the guy but how is it a surprise?
steph
What’s this about “prohibits publishing commercial content on social media in a language other than French.”? Are businesses in Quebec not allowed to advertise in English anymore? I don’t tune into traditional media, but does CHOM, CJAD or the Gazette not run ads in English for local businesses?
MarcG
I think the desired feeling is righteousness.
Joey
I’m familiar with one instance of someone launching a business who’s really struggling to make sense of the new law. But this guy is just being egregious. Like look at that sign.
Robert H
It may be just be my anglophone frame of reference, but I don’t see what’s so concerning here for the OQLF. He’s ready to serve clients in both languages, his Instagram is bilingual, and just in case there’s any doubt, it’s on the sign: “salon du barbier” with a big “bienvenue.” It does look like Padulo is being harassed, and the OQLF comes off looking like The Big Bad Tonguetroopers of anglo lore. Maybe that’s why this is getting so much attention in the English media; because it fits so neatly within the narrative of an obsessive and meddlesome anglophobic government coming down on a small business just trying to get by.
But yes, I would also ask Padulo why he didn’t anticipate all this. He had to have known what would happen. Is he cynically exploiting indignation and sympathy at his plight, milking publicity and hoping that public opinion will force the OQLF to back off?
As for the OQLF itself, it seems like they have reached some kind of an impasse: they’re at a point where they’re trying to confront the sheer dominating might of English in popular culture and specifically commerce. Business drives so much of the anglicization one can see around town: concepts, colloquialisms and attitudes from the continent outside of Quebec wind up on Montreal storefronts and in the expression of Montrealers, especially youth. This crackdown on English signs reflects official anxiety about how to respond. I believe there’s a sentiment in L’Assemblée nationale that if Quebec loses Montreal, it’s the beginning of the end. I’m not accusing them of being paranoid. The erosion of French in the city is a valid concern. But the OQLF has to learn to operate with more nuance than prohibition.
bob
It is a flagrantly unconstitutional law, conceived and enforced by bigots.
Kate
It’s still the law, so you have to be circumspect if you want to break it.
Kevin
Robert H.
Quebec’s chattering class hasn’t lost Montreal, it ran away while they abused it, and now they get all upset that it has no interest in returning their calls.Robert H
Haha! Well, Kevin, I had another thought about that: if francophones, chattering classes and all, want to keep Montreal, they ought to stop leaving it.
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