http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/topic/1enghttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1062http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1062Ça fait trop longtemps que le Parti libéral essaie de définir le libéralisme comme un ensemble de pratiques comptables ou de positionnements politiques centristes. Le libéralisme ne peut pas réussir une fois réduit à une stratégie qui plaît à tout le monde. Le libéralisme n'est pas facile, il est difficile. Il est difficile parce qu'il représente surtout l'idéal dont son nom origine : la liberté. Le libéralisme et les libéraux réussissent quand les gens à trouver le courage de surmonter leurs craintes.Beryl WajsmanTue, 10 Jan 2012 17:54:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1061http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1061I first heard the idea of using a primary type system to choose the next Liberal leader in April, 2011. By then it was pretty clear we were not going to form the next government; indeed it was apparent we were in danger of losing our spot as official Opposition.James MortonSun, 08 Jan 2012 22:17:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1050http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1050We have to give credit where credit is due. When The Suburban’s publisher Michael Sochaczevski and I testified in front of Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre, and her commissioners, hearing testimony on the Payette Report that seeks to institute journalistic accreditation creating two classes of writers, we came with a long list of concerns. Not only those of The Suburban and The Métropolitain but also those of the 31 member Quebec Community Newspaper Association whom we represented.Beryl WajsmanFri, 16 Dec 2011 23:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1049http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1049 During an official government consultation which took place in the Théatre Rouge located in Montreal's Conservatoire D'Art Dramatique, Quebec's Minister of Culture and Communications stated that there would be "no mandatory French language tests," for Quebec's ethnic and Anglophone media. Ministre Christine St-Pierre is presently leading a province-wide consultation which is examining assorted issues related to Quebec's media following the release of what has come to be known as the Payette Report.  P.A. SévignyFri, 16 Dec 2011 22:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1053http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1053Il y a eu un an le 2 octobre qu’un marchand de chaussures de la rue Saint-Denis, Yves Archambault, a reçu une mise en demeure d’un organisme appelé Palestiniens et Juifs Unis (PAJU) lui enjoignant de retirer de ses tablettes les souliers BeautiFeel, fabriqués en Israël. Bien que cette marque ne représente que deux pour cent de son chiffre d’affaire, le propriétaire du Marcheur considéra avec raison qu’il était libre de mener ses affaires à sa guise et refusa d’obtempérer. Le jour même, une douzaine de manifestants  se massèrent devant sa boutique avec pancartes et banderoles et distribuèrent aux passants de tracts qui dénonçaient la prétendue complicité du Marcheur avec le soi-disant apartheid israélien.Pierre K. MaloufFri, 16 Dec 2011 22:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1051http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1051Out of the clear blue sky, the manufactured chasm between the two solitudes reopened this week with a string of Quebec commentators fanning the flames of intolerance by, essentially, conducting a witch-hunt to find the ubiquitous unilingual Anglophone.Dan DelmarFri, 16 Dec 2011 21:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1052http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1052C10, the omnibus crime bill, passed third reading and is now over to the Senate for what is supposed to be sober second thought.  The vote could only have been a depressing anticlimax for the many Canadians who were fighting to stop or amend this legislation.  And the implacable inevitability of its passage must surely lead many to ask, ‘why bother, what’s the point?’Alex HimelfarbFri, 16 Dec 2011 21:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1046http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1046Another nail was hammered into the coffin of Montreal’s bike-sharing service when BIXI president Roger Plamondon quietly resigned; the news released just like any dignified public figure with a clear conscience would have it – on a Friday evening. Dan DelmarFri, 16 Dec 2011 20:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1057http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1057 One of the enduring elements of Canadian psychic angst is the status of its First Nations.   Over the years, indeed over the decades, an observer can recall the viewing-with-alarm and/or dismay that affect Canadians when one or another instance of ghetto in the woods associated with a First Nation reserve comes to light. David T. JonesFri, 16 Dec 2011 15:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1058http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1058Dans les années 70, à une époque qui n’est pas si lointaine, M. Larose participait à une petite mouvance de « catholique de gauche » comme prêtre rédemptoriste. Il était en effet membre du Réseau des Politisés Chrétiens et responsable d’une minuscule et pompeuse « commission de théologie ». Dans un article hautement significatif qui est une véritable pièce d’anthologie intitulé Des chrétiens ont choisi le marxisme, Larose exprimait des propos lourdement marxisants. Il constatait que beaucoup de chrétiens, dont lui-même, sont attirés par l'analyse marxiste.Pierre BrassardFri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1034http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1034 Où étiez-vous à 10h38 le 11 septembre 2001? On s’en souvient tous. J’étais dans mon bureau dans l’édifice du Centre du Parlement canadien à Ottawa. Quelques minutes plus tard, la sécurité faisait évacuer le building. On courait sur la rue Wellington, en panique, devant la Tour de la Paix, comme si un avion allait nous tomber aussi sur la tête. Ce n’est pas les deux tours du World Trade Center de New York qu’Al-Qaïda a attaquées ce jour-là, mais plutôt notre démocratie, nos valeurs et notre mode de vie occidental. Cette véritable déclaration de guerre bouleversera chacun de nos parcours. Éric DuhaimeWed, 26 Oct 2011 23:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1035http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1035Ok, everybody gets it. Economic disparity between the wealthy and the workers is expanding at a faster rate than at any time in the post war period. We have seen the destruction of a free and fair market by rapacious corporate chieftains. But why occupy Wall St.? The problems do not lie in Wall St. or Bay St. and certainly not in Pace Victoria.If these protestors really understood the markets, they would know that the stock exchanges are the great equalizers.  No you can't beat the markets. But if you understand them, then a relatively small amount of money, properly invested, can produce a healthy supplementary income. People should pay as much attention to that as they do to sports.Beryl WajsmanWed, 26 Oct 2011 22:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1030http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1030Building one kilometre of road in Quebec costs 37 per cent more than it does in the rest of Canada; in urban areas like Montreal, the gap is wider at 46 per cent, according to statistics from one  particuarly troubling Transport Canada study. The numbers speak for themselves. 0 per cent of Quebecers believe that public money is being spent responsibly on infrastructure 100 per cent of the time. The question is: Where is our money going?Dan DelmarWed, 26 Oct 2011 22:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1029http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1029The Conservative’s omnibus crime bill will result, sadly, in more crime, less justice. There are six principal problems with the legislation.l'Hon. Irwin CotlerWed, 26 Oct 2011 21:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1036http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1036No, this is not another essay about the abomination of the modern theocratic kamikazes of the Middle East and why we must remember 9/11 because of them. Enough has been written about that. Legitimacy or condemnation, applause or denunciation, they seem to all assume a single phenomenon at issue: killing for a cause, strategic murder. However, they sadly miss the point. These are very different activities indeed. A new manifestation of an old evil was loosed upon the world that day 10 years ago.Beryl WajsmanWed, 26 Oct 2011 21:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1037http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1037Ex-New Yorker, now Montrealer, veteran of Omaha Beach, and postwar NY-based staff photographer for UPI, photojournalist Sid Birns shares his thoughts and images as we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the shock and tragedy that was 9/11.Sid BurnsWed, 26 Oct 2011 20:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1038http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1038I had been covering terrorism in Canada for The New York Times for the past two years, part of a team around the world working for investigations editor Steve Engelberg. The New York Times was one of the last newspapers to invest heavily in investigative reporting. Its explanatory reporting on terrorism would eventually earn it another Pulitzer. The newspaper had already been building a file on would-be Algerian terrorists for a year before Ahmed Ressam tried to enter the United States with explosives to blow up Los Angeles airport in 1999. In the wake of Ressam’s bumbled bombing, no other news outlet in the world could match the depth of our coverage.I wasn’t one of the millions whose first reaction was to ask “why?” I already knew the answer.Robert FrankWed, 26 Oct 2011 19:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1026http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1026The excuse used by Mayor William Steinberg to justify the inclusion of the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur in existing Hampstead anti-noise by-laws was damaging and wrong-headed. Statutory holidays on which municipal workers don’t work is one thing. But to overlay that with a veneer of religion to satisfy specific groups is quite something else. Freedom of religion, in the words of James Madison, is also freedom from religion. The idea is to live and let live. Allow the broadest possible latitude in which everyone can fend for themselves. Religious strictures should never be imposed by any governmental authority.Beryl WajsmanMon, 10 Oct 2011 13:50:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1017http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1017Ceux qui suivaient avec passion la comédie dramatique des accommodements raisonnables à l’affiche dans tous les médias québécois en 2006-2007, changez de poste ou lisez maintenant les journaux anglophones. Après avoir injustement accusé les Québécois de quasi-racisme, le Canada-anglais vient de lancer ce qui pourrait fort bien être un film s’intitulant « Les Accommodements 2″. La grande première se déroulait la semaine dernière à Toronto, à la Valley Park Middle School.Éric DuhaimeFri, 26 Aug 2011 23:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1016http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1016 On May 2, 2011, the Liberal Party of Canada suffered the most devastating election defeat of its long and storied history. There can be no doubt about that.In terms of both elected members and voter support, Liberals swapped places with the NDP. And it all seemed to happen in one fell swoop over the last half of a very short campaign. No sooner had voters pronounced their judgment than the pundits were pontificating.  Alfred AppsFri, 26 Aug 2011 22:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1015http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1015Washington, DC - All human rights organizations are imperious; didactic; and self-righteous.  They perceive their role as afflicting the comfortable and belaboring malefactors whose sins of omission as well as commission demand vitriolic criticism.  Amnesty International (AI) is a human rights organization and by definition seeks to criticize:  the mote in your eye gets the same intense condemnation as the beam in the eye of another offender.David T. JonesFri, 26 Aug 2011 22:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1018http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1018The global economic crisis has led many commentators and politicians to engage in heated debate over the appropriate balance between increasing government revenues and decreasing government spending. With sovereign debt in doubt throughout the west, the debate is sorely needed. But what is not needed is the hijacking of language and the misrepresentation of the issues that flow from that act by placing the vulnerable among us at the greatest risk.Beryl WajsmanFri, 26 Aug 2011 21:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1019http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1019 There can be no argument that Jack Layton built a place in history. “Bon Jack”, was today’s NDP.A cheerful political warrior, Layton’s always positive, often too sunny demeanour resonated with many. In the recent federal election Quebecers felt, because of Jack, that the NDP was a comfortable pace to park their votes and  propelled him into the Opposition leader’s seat. And this year, many Ontario Liberals abandoned their leader to become, at least for one election, “Layton Liberals.” Alan HustakFri, 26 Aug 2011 20:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1020http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1020Three generations after friends and supporters first raised the city’s monument to honor George Étienne Cartier, more than a thousand people came out to honor another great Canadian. As the sun was setting over the mountain, women dressed in black with nothing more than a bright orange scarf began walking down the street towards the monument. Others used the bus while some rode in on their bikes. There were lots of smiles and friendly greetings as everyone caught up on the news after they dropped out of sight after the last campaign. While some women were pushing baby buggies, others were helping their mother shuffle along with her walker. Some were happy to be with friends while others stood alone with their thoughts at the foot of the monument. Candles were lit as someone began to read the letter Jack Layton wrote only hours before he died. P.A. SévignyFri, 26 Aug 2011 20:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1010http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1010It is amusing to sift through the thousands of column inches printed in the past couple of months throughout the Rest of Canada as pundits attempt, mostly in vain, to make sense of recent developments in Quebec politics...Dan DelmarTue, 02 Aug 2011 10:31:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1003http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/1003 On May 2, 2011, the Liberal Party of Canada suffered the most devastating election defeat of its long and storied history. There can be no doubt about that. In terms of both elected members and voter support, Liberals swapped places with the NDP. And it all seemed to happen in one fell swoop over the last half of a very short campaign. No sooner had voters pronounced their judgment than the pundits were pontificating. Alfred AppsSat, 11 Jun 2011 17:23:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/990http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/990Le Québec avait mal au Bloc, les Québécois ont choisi comme traitement de choc un bain de sièges NPD! Que les motifs de tout(e) un(e) chacun(e) de voter pour un candidat du NPD aient été justifiés ou farfelus (et certains étaient sans doute excellents aux yeux de ceux qui ont fait ce choix), le résultat est le même:  nous voilà plus que jamais éloignés du pouvoir. Et représentés à Ottawa par des députés dont la majorité des électeurs ne partagent  pas les convictions et ne connaissent pas le programme. Pierre K. MaloufFri, 10 Jun 2011 23:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/989http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/989 When Stephen Harper first appeared as a prime ministerial candidate, his opponents charged that he harbored a secret agenda, and the strategy helped Paul Martin’s Liberalsdefeat the fledgling Conservatives in the 2004 election. Seven years later – five of them with Harper as prime minister – Canadians decided they liked Harper and his party enough to give him a majority, but the accusationsof a hidden agenda still haven’t disappeared.  Anja KaradeglijaFri, 10 Jun 2011 22:30:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/991http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/991On May 2 of this year, Canadians went to the polls and generated a set of electoral results that defied the collective wisdom of the nation’s pollsters, editors, political pundits and think tankers. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was given the majority government that had eluded him over the previous two election cycles—and a substantial majority it was. The best he could have hoped for, according to the commentariat, was yet another minority government presiding over a fractious, multi-Party House of Commons, with little chance of passing a Conservative budget and implementing Conservative legislation. David SolwayFri, 10 Jun 2011 22:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/986http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/986 The True North  is undeniably  stronger  for Conservative supporters  following the recent election but  is perhaps a  little less free for those who believe that liberalism and  social justice still matter.The Harper government’s 15-seat majority  puts an end to  political uncertainty for the next four years. But the untimely  collapse of the Liberal party  leaves the country without  a voice for non-dogmatic policies, a less invasive government and a fidelity to executive federalism.  Alan HustakFri, 10 Jun 2011 21:30:00 -0400