Plan Nord: diesel power for diamond mine
Jean Charest bragged that development in the Plan Nord would be ecologically sound, but the Stornoway diamond mine plans to use a diesel-powered generator, which will spew CO2. Bravo M. Charest.
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Jack 09:30 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
According to LaPresse election day is September 4th, and Denis Lessard is usually right about this stuff.
Kate 09:44 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Yes, he’s saying a campaign could start on August 1. Timed to collide with the Bill 78-mandated return to classes in August, and the protests that will accompany them, and hoping frightened people will vote Liberal to protect them from chaos.
Bill Binns 10:11 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Where does this idea come from that anyone is frightened of the students? Most of the people I talk to just think they are a bunch of mewling spoiled brats. It’s not neccesary to be frightened of them to be against their cause (whatever that is).
This whole issue with the students has brought me from being fairly politcally apathetic and barely knowing who Jean Charest is to being pretty impressed that he didn’t do the easy thing and fold. If the schools open next month and everyone who wants to go to school will be able to get in, I will be further impressed. I wonder how many other people are thinking along the same lines?
As I understand it, Charest’s defeat was almost a foregone conclusion at the start of 2012. If he is re-elected, he has the students to thank. That is sweet irony.
Matt 10:12 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
I wish Jean an awful campaign. I still don’t understand how people can vote for him. Never mind the student issue, he’s done plenty of bad (not to be listed here) over the last few months/years.
Kate 10:29 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Bill Binns, people fear chaos, and the media haven’t stinted in building that fear. It’s good for circulation.
Jack 11:24 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
@ Bill Binns, who do you talk to? I would assume a fairly esoteric bunch, especially if they knew what the word mewling meant.
marco 11:40 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
I would take Charest over Marois any day. My vote will be liberal.
Ian 12:14 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Marois is an unsympathetic character in this drama, but she did at least give us subsidized daycare. You only have to talk to people in the ROC to realize how valuable that is in keeping people at work. Charest so far has accomplished pretty much nothing
Anto 12:16 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
@Bill Binns: You know why his defeat was a foregone conclusion a few months ago? Because of this. This is what voting PLQ validates. You say yourself that he has the students to thank for his gain of popularity. Do you really think he doesn’t know that? Do you really think he didn’t use this crisis, and that he didn’t intentionally make it worse to gain political advantage?
The real irony is that people are still prepared to vote for him knowing all of this.
Bill Binns 12:37 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
@Jack – I have a dog and run into a decent cross section of my neighbors at the dog park every day. I have a number of friends who were born and raised in Montreal but they tend to be 50+ and professional. I went to a huge wedding in May when everything was still going on and everybody was talking about the protest. I often walk in on conversations about the protests at my local dep. To date, the only person I have met face to face who supports the students is my wife but she is from France and that is to be expected.
I’m sure this has something to do with the part of town I live in. We have a lot of students here but mostly Concordia / McGill. I was up in Villeray over the weekend and there were red squares, signs and red blankets hanging from balconys all over the place. It looked like base camp for a May Day parade.
Kevin 13:34 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
I have no idea what will happen in the next election, but what will students do if democracy decides upon another Liberal government?
Ian 13:52 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Voting is not the only way to democratically express oneself. If you really believe all there is to democracy is voting, you don’t have much of a grasp of democracy.
Kate 17:39 on 2012/07/11 Permalink
Kevin, I fully expect we will get another Charest government if indeed this latest rumour is true and we vote before the Charbonneau commission does any more work. I think the best we can get is a minority government, which would at least be an improvement.
David Tighe 07:11 on 2012/07/12 Permalink
” And then the infant, mewling and puking in his nurses’ arms” Who doesn’t know Shakespeare, but which play?
Kevin 08:21 on 2012/07/12 Permalink
@Ian
If you think democracy is something other than voting, you’re using the wrong word. Many things come along with democracy: majority rule, independent courts, due process, civil liberties*; but at the core is the vote, and abiding by the rule of law.
Peace, order, and good government.
*which can and are subject to limitations everywhere in the democratic world
Kate 09:46 on 2012/07/12 Permalink
David Tighe: that’s from the Seven Ages of Man speech, which would make it As You Like It, right?
[Looks it up]
Yes!! It’s the All the world’s a stage speech from Act II, scene 7.
[Exeunt with alarums]
Ian 10:44 on 2012/07/12 Permalink
@Kevin – “Some will say the protesters are the undemocratic ones, not respecting decisions of elected representatives. Some will say protest is nothing to do with democracy, that the institution is confined to the ballot box. They should read more, because they are ignorant to the history and meaning of the word democracy.” http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/06/breaking-quebec-solidaire-mna-amir-khadir-arrested-peaceful-cassero
ant6n 17:35 on 2012/07/12 Permalink
@Kevin
democracy should also include minority protections (counter-balancing majority rule), free press, public participation.
Given the silly voting system here, the vote basically comes down to providing one to two bits of decision (from an information theoritic point of view). That ain’t enough.