Updates from May, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 23:22 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  The union of the STM bus drivers is asking drivers not to transport police to enforce Bill 78 on demonstrators.

  Forty arrests followed a generally peaceful massive rally that moved through the streets of Montreal from 2 pm Tuesday and is continuing. (Note that CTV has illustrated this story with a bonfire picture from May 19.) Update: 100 arrests, and the photo’s been changed.

  Road rage overtook the driver of a white Mercedes who drove right into two demonstrators. He’s still on the loose. [This story has just been contradicted on Twitter by Alexander Panetta, who's been a reliable observer of the demonstrations, so it may turn out not to be true.]

  Kevin, ant6n, Steph, and 6 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Hamza 05:19 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Thomas Mulcair needs to find some ‘cran’ and say something. His silence is embarrassing.

  • Raoul 06:00 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    I doubt he can really :/ its all the ammo harperites would need to superimpose his face on images of burning police cars.

  • Kevin 08:57 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Unfortunately not all of CTV Montreal’s cameramen can take still photos just yet, so there is a delay in getting pictures back to the station. In those cases the writer has to pick whatever photo — usually stock — is available.
    This morning I changed the photo to something actually from last night.

  • Michel 09:05 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Kevin, with all due respect, sincerely, but that’s a bullshit excuse. The only stock photo that you had on hand was one of a bonfire? Just that one, eh?
    Oh all the hundreds of photos that have been taken for the past few months, the *only* stock photo you had was that one?
    Yeah, I’ll buy that for a buck.

  • Kate 09:19 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Hamza I agree. But the bigger issue is that Quebec needs a province-level NDP or similar social-democratic alternative that is not also devoted to nationalistic ends. I’m not even expressing typical anglo separatism fear here (I think), but just wishing I could cast a vote that expresses my political ideas – and the common ideas of many in Quebec – without supporting a party that has to waste a lot of money and effort servicing a “national” project.

    In a way it’s a much bigger project to ask Quebec to act as a beacon for the rest of Canada, but when you’re in the front sometimes you have to lead.

  • Jack 09:32 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Kate I was a member of that party, NDP-Quebec, until one day the CSN signed a couple of hundred membership cards and suddenly we were led by that most beautiful democrat, Paul Rose. What a mind f__k that was.I believe that most Quebecois politicians do not even have a lexicon of thinking about Quebec without a Federal-Provincial binary.After forty years its the only language many of them know. I am super hopeful something might come out of this generation, but when I see them with the grey hairs at CSQ,FTQ,and CSN ….I wonder.

  • Kevin 09:38 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Michel,
    We have far fewer people working online than you think — Kate can testify to that.
    The person working for us last night, who has spent countless nights covering the protest on the frontlines for us and OpenFile, chose that picture.

    Don’t buy it? Spend another buck or two on a metro ticket on and come down for a tour.

  • Kate 09:53 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Jack: Yes, I was just looking up the history of the Quebec NDP and saw how it basically collapsed and its last leader was Paul Rose. Yikes. Maybe it’s too soon for a revival.

    Kevin, I was only in the offices for a few minutes, but I’ll take your word (they made the grave error of not hiring me : ) )

  • Hamza 10:32 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Def need a new political party up in here. It’s nauseating hearing that concern troll Legault talk about change days after he backed Charest on Loi 78.

  • Michel 10:33 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Kevin,
    You didn’t really defend the choice of the photo, you simply tried to divert the conversation.
    I really don’t want to get into a pissing contest, and I’m not a radical (right or left). However, I have worked in a news room for over 3 years, so I’m a little familiar with the process. Someone had to choose that photo and, if CTV wishes to be a reliable organisation, then an editor had to approve said image. CTV decided to go for shock value.
    As to the person working for you last night, spending countless nights? Don’t know what you’re getting on. A lot of people (about 90%, I guess) work. It’s called a job.

  • Steph 12:15 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    And what’s the excuse for CTVnews@11 to use the picture of the burnt & towed cop truck (the one that was announcing loudly that protests were illegal) from Friday Night – a fire that was actually caused by an electrical problem? That’s just poor journalism all around.

  • ant6n 12:17 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    The ctv (news) coverage of the student issue just plain sucks. They just had a bit on 100 days of protest. They start of saying that that the demo resulted in 100 arrests, not even mentioning that it was a giant demonstration (not even conflating the giant protest during the day and the night protests – but just ignoring the larger protest altogether). Then they say that only 33% of the students are on strike, and that a large silent majority of 66% supports the government — that’s a straight lie, which kinda looks legit except that they are conflating faculties which have enough support for the strikes to go on strike with people who support the government.
    They talk about how Charest has made tons of concessions (when he hasn’t moved on the actual tuition hikes); and then they actually say talk about the “issue” that media reporting is biased towards the students – for example by interiewing student leaders…

  • ant6n 12:21 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    They also mention only the CROP poll, that came out before the details about loi78 came out, but don’t mention the Leger poll that came after at all.

  • Kevin 16:07 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Michel
    Your description doesn’t jibe with how the company I work for operates.

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• 18:55 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  The pains of being a public figure may be coming home to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, whose rental arrears are now news.

  Surely someone could set up a Paypal fund – if everyone in today’s march tossed in a couple of bucks he could pay his rent arrears no problem at all.

  Kate, Maggie_T, Hamza, and 10 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • steph 19:09 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    No idea why he would pay his rent in cash, fat envelope in mail box with no receipt, sounds like the kind of sketchy behaviors we’re trying to clean up. Definite lapse in judgement imho.

  • mdblog 19:30 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Even I don’t want to see this, ahem, gentleman tossed out onto the street so I’d gladly donate to help out. But let’s not forget that there are people out there much needier than GND.

    By the way, if this protest had morphed into a protest against the lack of constitutionality of Bill 78, would CLASSE and the other student unions care to protest against Bill 101 as well? It’s just as large a violation of fundamental human rights as Bill 78 in my opinion. If we’re going to reboot democracy in Quebec, we may as well get rid of all the injustice.

  • Spock 19:34 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Maybe if he focused on something more than stirring the seeds of trouble, he could pay off his rent.

  • Maggie_T 19:48 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    I think that canoe.ca actually broke this story (time stamp): http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/regional/archives/2012/05/20120522-163609.html

    Our intrepid Gabriel Nadeau-Douchebag was trying to BS the court by showing statements of bank withdrawals and arguing that it’s proof that the landlord received payment.

    It’s the kind of nonsense that may get you into the pants of foolish and impressionable young UQAM sociology students, GND, but you can’t pull the wool over a judge’s eyes.

  • Ephraim 19:50 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Responsibility… paying your rent on time. Irresponsible… claiming you pay your rent in untraceable cash. Withdrawals from your bank account are proof that you spend money, not that you paid anything. Judgement at the rental court are good for 30 years and through bankruptcy.

  • sam 19:53 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    rubbing elbows with the mafia on the one hand, and being a month behind in the rent on the other? pah-leeeeze.

  • Ian 19:54 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    I somehow sense that Maggie_T is a less than neutral observer on this matter. A former impressionable, young UQAM sociology student, perhaps? :D

    I know I’ve been screwed by landlords and it’s all just hearsay – you only learn to keep notes onyour landlords by experience, nobody expects to get screwed unless they are an intrinsically paranoid person. When there’s an older businessman claiming a rabble-rousing student is full of crap, whose side do you think the judge is going to take? Still and all, the law is the law – and as M. Nadeau-Dubois has learned, once burned, twice shy – keep better records. I know I do.

  • steph 19:55 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    I know some landlords can be difficult – but I’d make the effort to protect myself if I had one of those. There’s no need to pass the hat – he’s paid the amount due (by cheque this time) while the judge was considering the verdict.
    Lets over-react anyways.

  • C_Erb 19:56 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    How is this news?

  • Kate 20:24 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    It shouldn’t be, but it is. Actually, I was hoping someone had set up a fund, but steph suggests the problem has already been taken care of.

  • JaneyB 05:15 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    It is not uncommon to pay rent in cash these days. Many people do not have chequebooks and landlords who rent to students assume that cheques might bounce. He should have gotten a receipt but he is 21 and probably did not foresee this. Good that it is taken care of.

  • Maggie_T 06:29 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    C_Erb: It’s news because it shows the content of GND’s character. He tried to weasel out of paying his rent and deliberately misled the tribunal hearing the case.

    Ian: I love the mental gymnastics that GND followers go through to remedy the cognitive dissonance associated with accepting that their hero is a douche who tried to screw a landlord out of rent and then lied the court about it.

    Shame on you for wanting to “pass around the hat.” He’s your pied piper.

  • Ian 07:25 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Maggie_T ad hominem attacks aside, I never advocated passing around the hat, I advocated keeping better records. Your agenda of personally-directed hatred against GND seems to be impairing your reading skills. FWIW, having finished my university education over 20 years ago I’m not a student, so to call me a “follower” of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is a bit presumptuous- though I do sympathize with the #ggi this movement has transcended the “special interest” status of a mere student issue – now that bill 78 has passed, it’s a popular movement as evidenced by yesterdays’s protests, where 100s of thousands from all walks of life showed their support.

  • Kate 07:42 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Maggie_T , that’s slander, do you think that’s an intelligent line to take?

    @steph, you mention that GND has paid the rent after all. I’m not seeing that anywhere, do you have a cite?

  • Raoul 10:10 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    It makes sense to pay the rent in cash if you owe money and your accounts are in the red (avoid having to explain to the bank why you chose to put a roof over your head before paying for their kids’ vacations)

  • Maggie_T 10:41 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @Kate: it’s only libel if it isn’t true. I’m reiterating what the commissioner thought of GND’s testimony. In this case, the Régie commissioner’s own assessment of GND’s testimony is that it was simply not credible. I’ll leave it to everyone to assess what “not credible” means.

  • ant6n 10:56 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    This is a civil case, so it means that from court’s point of view, the story of the landlord is more likely than the story of GND. You seem to mix that up with the standard of “beyond reasonable doubt”, which applies in criminal cases.

  • Maggie_T 11:10 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Ant6n – yes and no. Yes that the standard is not the same as in criminal cases. No, that I’m confused since I didn’t even discuss standards of proof. Clearly, the judge didn’t buy the story that GND was peddling and said that it was not credible.

    Whether the standard was “beyond a reasonable doubt” or “on the balance of probabilities” is beside the point. The commissioner did not believe GND’s story and ruled against him on those grounds.

  • ant6n 11:13 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    You make it seem that GND is a liar beyond reasonable doubt, and a sleazebag on top of that. mThis is not something you can infer from some comissioner deciding that the landlord’s story was more credible.

  • Maggie_T 11:29 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Ant6n: your reference to standards of proof between criminal cases and civil cases is a red herring. GND gave testimonial evidence that was considered “not credible” by the commissioner hearing the case. That doesn’t mean much to you (as it is the assessment of “some commissioner”) but I find it telling.

  • Hamza 12:03 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    hey maggie_t…. WHY U SO ANGRY!?!!!!

  • Maggie_T 12:22 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Hamza, ’cause I ain’t feelin’ the love from all y’all! You be showin’ GND too much love and he don’t deserve it, dawg. He ain’t keepin’ it real and that ain’t cool.

  • Steph 12:23 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    @kate – I read it on the JDM site. They were especially smarmy about how he decided to pay with a cheque this time, and insinuated that his payment before the judge rendered a response was an admission of culpability. It’s clearly not there anymore. Maybe someone else also saw it too?

  • Hamza 12:49 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Your skill with typed ebonics is mighty though hampered by a reliance on apostrophes.

    Gabriel is 21 and not the leader of anything. As he made clear in last week’s mirror, he’s just the messenger.

    However he does deserve kudos for consistently outpoliticking the premier, assemblie nationale, national post, journal de montreal, and all the rest of the establishment attempts to destroy him and the student movements.

    Be honest did you think that we’d ever make it to 100 days, a special law that lasted about two seconds and sister protests in new york and paris?

    Even if you hate him and CLASSE, don’t tell me they doesn’t deserve some grudging respect.

  • Kate 15:03 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Thanks steph.

    Maggie_T, you fail to impress.

    Hamza, you make sense, as usual.

  • Maggie_T 16:01 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Kate, never set impressing you as a goal, so failure to impress you doesn’t bother me. Actually, I’d be worried if I did impress you because it would mean that I was incoherent.

  • Kate 16:47 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Not sure what you’ll get out of hanging around here being hostile to me. Surely there are more congenial places for a woman of your apparent intellectual superiority.

    Since all you’ve given us so far is a fictionalized piece of slander about GND, forgive me if I continue to fail to be impressed by your performance.

  • Maggie_T 22:00 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Kate, I was not hostile to you; you were passively-aggressively taking a cheap shot at me. By saying that I fail to impress, it presupposes that you’re someone superior that I’m here to impress. You’re not.

    BTW, it’s not about intellectual superiority, it’s about intellectual integrity and honesty. You’ve got to get yourself some of the latter as I haven’t seen any evidence of it from you here. I have seen a disturbing amount moral bankruptcy gussied up with pedestrian and hackneyed leftist rhetoric and masquerading as moral certainty. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing. If you want to play house or blog queen and leave me out, then you don’t have to tell me twice.

    For the record, there’s nothing libelous about saying that GND is a deadbeat who needed a Régie decision evicting him from his apartment in order to pay his rent. Nor is it libelous to say that GND lied to the commissioner about the situation. You can read that in the decision. It’s a matter of fact.

  • Kate 00:18 on 2012/05/24 Permalink

    Really turning on the charm, aren’t you?

• 17:30 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  Thousands of people marched peacefully in Montreal Tuesday afternoon to mark the 100th day of student protest.

  I went, and I’d have to say that if someone came to town not knowing what the march was about, the signs and chants would’ve clued them in that they’d stumbled on an anti-bill-78 action and an anti-Charest movement. Hardly anything harked back to the original tuition hike struggle. Plenty of folks in the crowd were well beyond typical student age, too.

  Pictures from TVA.

  Josh, Ian, Stefan, and 6 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Ian 18:41 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Exactly – by introducing bill 78, Charest has successfully turned this from a “student” issue into a “popular” issue. People were marching against the suppression of dissent – and historically, once a movement progresses from “interest group” to “popular movement”, the government’s goose is cooked.

  • Bill Binns 18:41 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    The Police just declared the march illegal

  • Ian 18:45 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    On twitter they say there’s a group trying to take the Jacques-Cartier bridge – surely the entire demo isn’t being shut down for one branch’s actions?

  • Kate 18:52 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Difficult to know. Technically a big part of the march this afternoon was illegal, because we took a route that hadn’t been agreed with the police – but there were so many people it wasn’t practical to try to stop us, and it remained peaceful. The only police I saw were outside the Loto-Quebec building (“guarding my retirement fund” somebody tweeted).

    According to La Presse the demo broke into three major pieces almost from the beginning.

    Twitter indicates the demo goes on, though.

  • walkerp 19:41 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Wow, I wish I were in Montreal today. I’m hearing about people just coming spontaneously out of their houses with pots and pans in support. This whole movement seems to just keep on gaining momentum. Well handled, Charest.

  • Kate 19:43 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    I’ve heard some “concert de casseroles” and some vuvuzelas from my place in Villeray, a pretty long way from the demo.

  • Ephraim 19:52 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Lost focus… is this about tuition anymore?

  • C_Erb 19:53 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Concert de casseroles in Villeray: http://superbon.net/?p=2312

  • Ian 19:55 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    @ephraim Not only, a lot of this protest was specifically against bill 78 and is being positioned that way by the media, too.

  • walkerp 20:10 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    This isn’t lost focus at all. This is broadening the appeal and sending a message that we are sick of paying for government and corporate collusion. This is a cry from a wide range of the population that we want a fair society and a government that represents us and our future.

  • Alex L 22:27 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Pots & pans = cacerolazos. This is going on all around the city since at least friday.

  • Stefan 02:51 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    This has made major news [traduction en francais par google] in Austria today, with what I think is very objective coverage (initiated by protest against tuition fee hikes, now broad protest against this emergency law). A sign that this conflict is not only noticed in a few select countries anymore, but in a broad international spectrum.

  • Ian 07:26 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    How strange that CBC and CTV are reporting “tens of thousands” when even the Gazette acknowledges that Place-des-Spectacles holds 100k and was well over capacity.

  • Josh 15:54 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Ian: Fagstein has a post up about the difficulties of crowd estimations. You might want to check it out.
    http://blog.fagstein.com/2012/05/23/protest-crowd-estimation/

• 10:57 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  UNESCO is holding a meeting of creative cities in Montreal, although Helen Fotopulos’ statement that living in a UNESCO city of design gives its 25,000 designers an edge is dreaming in colour.

  Kate, Ian, William, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • William 15:22 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    I’m curious to know what makes you say that, Kate.

  • Kate 17:03 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Cynicism. Living in a UNESCO city of design doesn’t buy me any double espresso shots for free.

  • Maggie_T 17:07 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    And why should it, Kate? Double espresso shots cost money. There’s the labour and capital required to pick them and that required to roast and ship them to market.

    In your business development strategy, perhaps you should be treating your prospective clients to some free double espresso shots.

  • ant6n 17:32 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    @Maggie_T
    Kate is treating you to some free news blog stories. Many of them, in fact. For many years.

    (Still think that hardware donation box might not be a bad idea ;-)

  • Kate 17:53 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Thanks, ant6n.

    @Maggie_T, I was riffing on the old expression “that and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee” used for things that are being inflated to sound grand but don’t actually offer any material advantage. Or as the Brits would say, fine words butter no parsnips – but maybe you’ll now tell me I should offer you some free parsnips.

  • William 19:14 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    My opinion is that the three (and a half) levels of government offer plenty of great programmes to support the creative industries in Montreal, from individuals through to corporations, and that Montrealers as individuals tend to place high value on culture.

  • Ian 19:17 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    That and the fact that Montreal employers are cheapskates compared to other “design cities” nearby, like NYC, Toronto, or Chicago. I’m a freelance designer, and I don’t even seek out local contract work as I know I can make better money working for outside-the-province clients even if it’s a bit harder to dig up the work. Montrealers balk at even standard rates in my experience – US and ROC tend to have deeper pockets. Maybe Montrealers are used to the glut of cheap student labour, maybe it’s the lower salaries chez nous- who knows? Being a Montrealer does have some cachet, however – we are perceived as “with it” and can score jobs a freelancer in Wichita or Saskatoon might not be able to bring in.

  • Kate 09:20 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Tu l’as dit, bouffi (as one of my old bosses used to say).

• 10:54 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  There are to be marches in Paris and New York today in support of Quebec’s student movement. I hope they get better marching weather than we’ve got today.

  Kate, Anny, Alex L, and 5 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Fred 13:16 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    No!!!! This is a trojan horse. If OWS, which is generally supported by the 99%, takes up this “cause”, the opinion of the protesters that is currently prevalent in Québec will become that of the North American majority about the whole OWS movement. Which is to say, by saying OWS=CLASSE, OWS will lose the support of the majority. Banksters win. Thanks for playing.

  • Ian 13:38 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    @Kate Rainy weather is a good thing, it makes tear gas and CS less effective.

  • qatzelok 15:21 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Fred, thanks for the strategic advice, but one of the problems with our current leaders is that they – like you – tend to see everything in terms of a poker game, rather than in terms of collective well being.

  • Fred 17:02 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    @qatzelok: “Collective well-being,” huh? And where do people who agree with OWS (which is at least trying to address serious, STRUCTURAL problems in our society) but think that CLASSE is a bunch of spoiled brats fit in your black-and-white picture of the world?

    I am really curious, because this peculiar demographic may turn out to be… oh, I dunno, may be 50-60% of the folks out there?

  • ant6n 17:34 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    If you think that there is no structural problem if the government tries to balance budgets by trying to suck it out of studenst, basically one of the poorest stratas of society, while wasting hundreds of millions on highway intersections and subsides for the NHL, then wtf? The student movement as a whole is not black and white, but your description of it surely is.

  • Fred 20:02 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Ant6n, I agree with you on the highway intersections thing! You want to protest THAT – let’s do it! The fact that Montreal doesn’t invest in its infrastructure, that its roads are crumbling (I am not a big fan of the roads, but the ones that exist should at least be safe), that there’s no money for the light rail, that there’s endemic corruption in the construction industry. All perfectly legitimate targets for public outrage. Except nobody seems to be protesting this too loudly. The crybabies are throwing a fit because they have to pay like an extra $1/day. How is this not selfish? Where’s the much advertised concern for “collective well-being”?

  • Ant6n 20:19 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    They are protesting not being able to graduate without debt even if they work to the extend that will provably affect their academic performance. Students are falling in to the debt spiral all over north America, and Quebec students don’t ant this to happen here.

  • Alex L 22:32 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Wow Fred, stop reading the Gazette. Can’t believe that after more than three months, we’re still arguing over that kind of “arguments”.

  • Anny 02:08 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Amazing how some people don’t seem to be able to comprehend that being a student is a temporary state, therefore the students of today are not the students of tomorrow and they are not fighting for themselves (only) and cannot be called selfish cry-babies, on the contrary, they are ready to go as far as sacrificing a semester (or more…), get unjustly arrested (many arrestations consist of police intimidation and end up with no accusation, but now with 78, they end up with indecent fines and in all case, humiliation), in order to promote accessible education for them but let’s not forget that many of the students in the streets are in their last year, and so they are not only concerned by their own benefit, but they are rather promoting a society where everyone is participating to the collective well-being of everyone else. I am not a student, I am a well-paid worker and I was in the streets today. I want to pay taxes and I want my taxes to serve education, health and fighting poverty. I would also appreciate corporations to do their part. Another thing: taking the majority of the people for stupid dummies unable to comprehend what really is OWS and what is CLASSE is demonstrating the “high” opinion of Mr Fred about his peers. We need change, real change and real change takes time and patience and positive actions. The process of revolution is what makes the revolution. Regards,

  • Kate 09:21 on 2012/05/23 Permalink

    Anny, thank you. I too am not a student – I work for a living – but I and several friends made the time to be ready to march at 14h yesterday, and we were glad we did.

• 10:29 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  The Journal counts 2000 arrests since the beginning of the student revolt 100 days ago.

  Québec Solidaire is toeing a fine line, not calling people to perform acts of civil disobedience but refusing to condemn them. The website Arrêtez-moi quelqu’un shows a growing collection of photos of people determined to defy Bill 78.

  OpenFile examines rumours coming out of the protests and examines their veracity.

  Pollster Jean-Marc Léger is speaking up for the students (while defending a smaller increase in tuition fees). He’s critical of the baby-boomers: “Les baby-boomers ont endetté le Québec. Ils obligent la génération suivante à payer.” Whereas the National Post’s Kelly McParland – Toronto’s answer to Ed Anger – snarls that Quebec is tempting Ontario’s lefties to do likewise.

  Monday night, thousands marched on a fine evening, some making for Westmount and Charest’s house, while popular gestures of support grew at several intersections, people clashing pots and pans to make a fine old noise.

  On Reddit, someone links to a 1955 edition of the Gazette showing a student revolt against transit fare hikes: “Mayor Drapeau issued a proclamation last night banning all demonstrations or processions ‘in the public interest.’ The mayor said it was ‘extremely regrettable’ that ‘subversive elements and fomenters of trouble’ had slid into the group of students…” Plus ça change, no?

  Thousands are expected to march Tuesday afternoon to mark the 100th day of the protest.

  Bill Binns, ant6n, Kate, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Josh 10:34 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    It may surprise some that I would write this, but Kate, I love your comparison of Kelly McParland to Ed Anger. He just doesn’t get it.

  • Ian 10:59 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    2000 arrests, but how many charges?

  • Kate 11:15 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    No information on that in the article, Ian!

  • ant6n 11:31 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    What Drapeau said and things like it always remind of the 1953 labour uprisings in the young working class paradise of East Germany; and the response written by Bertold Brecht:

    The Solution

    After the uprising of the 17th of June
    The Secretary of the Writers Union
    Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
    Stating that the people
    Had forfeited the confidence of the government
    And could win it back only
    By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
    In that case for the government
    To dissolve the people
    And elect another?

  • Bill Binns 14:39 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Photos of an enormous crowd at Place des Festivals from Twitter

    http://instagr.am/p/K8GBkeSCGs/

• 10:12 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  The Cinéma du Parc is screening some really old movies over the next couple of weeks, things you’ll rarely see on the big screen.

   

• 10:09 on 2012/05/22 Permalink | Reply  

  A woman in a wheelchair was killed in a parking lot in Lasalle on Monday when a driver didn’t see her and plowed her down.

  A cyclist died under a train in Les Coteaux, outside Montreal, and another was run over by a truck which dragged the bike for a kilometer before stopping; the rider isn’t dead but “on craignait pour sa vie.”

  Doobious and Jack are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Jack 10:16 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    For the guy who dragged the cyclist for a kilometer, just say you were “fatigued” and promise to get at least eight hours of sleep.

  • Doobious 15:09 on 2012/05/22 Permalink

    Crap. Those off-island urbs by the river are one of my favourite places to ride my bike. I imagine it’ll only get worse when the new bridge over the St. Lawrence at Les Cedres opens.