Gambling site names odds on strike outcomes
A gambling site based in Kahnawake is offering odds on various student strike outcomes.
Le Devoir says Michelle Courchesne will talk if the tuition hike moratorium is off the table while the CBC says she will talk if Bill 78 is off the table. If either of those things is true, I’d say Courchesne has to accept that this can’t be about keeping the upper hand or showing the students who’s boss, because frankly we’ve seen the results of that kind of attitude and we know it doesn’t work. FEUQ and FECQ are no longer holding out for the suspension of Bill 78 before they’ll talk.
Since Bill 78 has to be made to pay something, CLASSE may be fined for Tuesday’s demo, because they never submitted a route to the police and this CTV piece suggests Courchesne is wavering on accepting CLASSE’s presence at any talks because they “encourage people to break the law.”
I guess they should come arrest me too, then: I was among the thousands who took the unsanctioned route west along Sherbrooke and down Peel Street Tuesday afternoon.
Marco 18:48 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
“I was among the thousands who took the unsanctioned route west along Sherbrooke and down Peel Street Tuesday afternoon.”
ant6n 18:54 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
If CLASSE gets fined, it’s gonna go to the supreme court.
Ian 19:11 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
ANY action on this idiotic bill will. If you hear a dripping sound, it’s a thousand young lawyers drooling over a pro-bono Supreme Court case that has a good chance of winning & establishing their careers,
mdblog 20:26 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
@Kate, Bill 78 wouldn’t be on the books if it weren’t for the student uprising. I think it’s great that you were out standing up against an obviously unjust law. But where were you when I attended the anti Bill 101 rally last year? I suppose it’s hard for me to have sympathy with regards to constitutional rights being trampled on when as an Anglo Quebecer mine have been virtually disregarded my entire life. My taxes pay for language police and now I have to pay for extra police to respond to manifestations perpetrated by the same people who want me to subsidize their tuition? People like GND will grow up to tell me to parlez en Francais SVP and deny my kids jobs unless they parlez blanche.
I’m sorry but I don’t care to support White-Franco dominance paid for by the same people they would aim to oppress.
Kate 20:55 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
Bill 101 is ingrained in this society, you might as well demonstrate against the climate. You have to decide whether you’re willing to live within its limits, or go live somewhere else.
ant6n 20:56 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
@mdblog
The bill 101, while undemocratic, and yes it sux, is pretty unrelated to the student/loi78 issue. And Quebec is majority white, majority French. But you know, the young people will remember all the West Island anglophones drooling over the gazette and being hateful against the students — sadly the anglophones missed the chance to make this movement bilingual, and work against the stereotypes that anglophones are just a bunch of neo-liberals with an ROC mentality.
mdblog 21:05 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
@Kate
What a cop out! I expected better from you. One could say the same thing to the students. Thanks by the way for showing me the door to a place that my family has lived in for 140 years. I suppose if I disagree I have no rights in your eyes; best I just submit to authority. You aren’t against Bill 78. You are Bill 78.
@ant6n
Let them remember their own version of history as they have always done. Their xenophobic policies and culture are/is ultimately self-destructive. At least you acknowledge the stereotypes against Anglos in Quebec, even if you support them. What pray tell, is the ROC mentality?
ant6n 21:24 on 2012/05/23 Permalink
@mdblog
I think Kate’s just saying that it will be pretty hard to try to build a consensus against bill 101. I do agree with you though (and against Kate for once ;-), that an an attitude of “if you don’t like it go Russia” is not going to solve anything. The exodus of anglophones, and that so many people didn’t feel welcome in the province their parents were born in, is very unfortunate, so is your obvious resignation when it comes to Quebec…. but then again, all kinda unrelated to the students issue.
Kate 00:16 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
@mdblog: I am not Bill 78. That’s bullshit and spoken from anger, but please do not go on the attack in that way. A statement like that can’t be countered, it’s just anger flying around.
I don’t like having to say “love it or leave it” but bill 101 is sacrosanct. It might be changed again in 45 or 50 years’ time but I doubt it will be changed in our working lifetimes. We have to accept that fact and either decide we want to live here and can live with it, or decide we need to proceed with our lives and careers away from it. People are always moving around the world to find better opportunities and get away from inconvenient laws – I don’t think choosing to leave Quebec is a special case.
Don’t think I don’t understand the position you’re taking on 101. But that’s not the issue here: you can’t say “why fight injustice X if you’re not prepared to put the same effort into fighting injustice Y?” The world is full of injustices, you fight the ones that you can fight in the time you have.
Spock 06:34 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
Its OK to be racist towards minorities and to force them into the mould but heaven forbid we try to bring tuition up by the price of two Starbucks coffees per week…
mdblog 07:00 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
@Kate
It’s disheartening to be asked to be resigned to one’s fate. I feel the same way about Bill 101 as I do about Bill 178. At least Bill 178 will be struck down and/or expire next year. I doubt the notwithstanding clause will be used here as it would be political suicide for whichever party tried to use it.
I don’t expect you to understand because you come from both of the founding linguistic groups, which gives you a privileged position in this society, whereas my family came from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. None of my ancestors spoke English or French but we became Canadian anyways.
Asking me to leave; suggesting it, encouraging it, is just hurtful and shows just how un-Canadian this province has become. Quebec used to BE Canada for all intents and purposes. Remember, no other province would have dared to try to enact a law like Bill 178. Quebec did it because they thought that because they got away with Bill 101 that they could do the same thing here; except they were wrong. So you see, Bill 101 and Bill 178 are related. They came for the Anglos and I said nothing…
Spock 07:24 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
mdblog – I think you may have a typo; 178 instead of 78.
Freudian slip. :)
qatzelok 08:27 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
mdblog, it looks like you have a problem with all the white franco power out there. Is it this hegemonic group that controls our banks, media, and sends us off to war? Do we need to keep this particular ethnic mafia in our sites? Maybe we should ask Goldman Sachs/Koch brothers/Exxon to help us bring pack power to the little guy like you and me?
paul 10:11 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
I claim ignorance on knowledge of the law, but could someone with some legal knowledge explain how 78 violates our rights? I imagine from the government’s perspective, they haven’t limited the ability to protest or gather, they have just added restrictions (for which there are numerous precedents, even in Canada).
What argument would a lawyer use to fight this position?
Ian 11:41 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
“they haven’t limited the ability to protest or gather, they have just added restrictions” Well, yes and no. For one thing, many of those restrictions are prohibited by the charter of Rights & Freedoms – there are limitations on freedom of association in bill 78, and the legislated limitations on when and how a protest can occur are in some cases in violation of freedom of expression (as defined in the Charter). Check out this article for some specific issues from a legal perspective: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/There+doubt+Quebec+back+school+violates+charter+lawyer/6665551/story.html
Kate 11:43 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
mdblog says to me: I don’t expect you to understand because you come from both of the founding linguistic groups
I don’t know why you make this assumption. My ancestry is Irish and English but some of my family have been in Montreal since 1840. I have no French ancestry. I grew up in an English-speaking household and am old enough to have gone to school in English – actually, I would’ve had charter rights to go to school in English anyway – so although I speak French now, anyone can tell I’m an anglo. I’ll never sound like I grew up playing stickball in Hochelaga or going to confession at Saint-Viateur.
This hasn’t really helped my chances in life, I’m aware of that, but due to how my personal biographical stuff intersected historical fact, I still live here.
Your assumption I have French ancestry seems to imply that this is why I “don’t understand” Bill 101. I can’t convince you I do. But I also had to come to terms with how solidly the charter of the French language has become the rock on which modern Quebec society is based. I could batter myself to death on it (I’ve seen some people try) but it would end up defining me – and defining this blog. And when I started this blog I made a very clear decision it wasn’t going to be an angryphone blog.
Where is your anti-101 blog, if maintaining an anti-101 stance is so important?
paul 12:23 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
Thanks Ian…much appreciated. It sounds like the restrictions on protesting are not that big of an issue but more the restricting of teachers to associate and the large fines against student associations. Will be interesting to see if any charges are actually laid.
I also asked above, but does anyone know what are the consequences for those arrested??
Kate 12:24 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
paul, I think it’s mostly fines. CBC noontime news says most people were fined and let go, a few were given more serious criminal charges (connected with vandalism or assault – i.e. throwing things at police) and will probably have court dates later.
paul 12:42 on 2012/05/24 Permalink
Thanks Kate