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An Irish Tale

By Father John Walsh on April 21, 2011

polly_bridgewater.jpgIn Polly Of Bridgewater Farm  -- An Unknown Irish Story (Cabbagetown Press Limited. Toronto. Ontario. 2009) Catherine Fleming McKenty offers a refreshing look at her own family’s life in Ireland and their eventual coming to Montreal and settling in Toronto.



“Take a Back Seat Schwartz’s, Toronto Has You Beat! And the Perfect Wine with Smoked Meat”

By Robert K. Stephen on April 21, 2011

As a Montrealer transplanted to Toronto since 1984 I had long given up the illusory search for a decent bagel or a smoked meat sandwich in Hogtown. Strangely enough and in somewhat of an unpatriotic fashion (from a Montreal perspective) I have developed a fondness for peameal bacon sandwiches on a bun.Fairmont and St. Viateur have the Montreal-Toronto bagel contest locked up. Try as I may there are no comparable bagels in Toronto with that wonderful, smokiness and dense sweetness Fairmont and St. Viateur can deliver. But hold on Montrealers...

The Montreal Dialogues: Solutions for the post-crisis world New School of Athens global initiative brings leaders to Montreal on April 14th at ICAO

By Alan Hustak on March 27, 2011

 

NSOA_02.jpgPoliticians, economists, political scientists and sociologists will be gathering in Montreal  on April 14th to examine the flaws in the world’s financial and social policies and at the same time consider why some countries, Canada in particular, have weathered the recent economic meltdown better than others.The Canadian Model: Strategic lessons for the post-crisis world,  is the second of nine global conferrences sponsored by the New School of Athens and is aimed at determining what about globalization works and what doesn’t.

 

May Cutler 1923-2011

By Alan Hustak on March 6, 2011

May_Cutler_photos_4.jpgNot  only was May  Cutler  the  fearless  Quebec  champion of kids lit  who  pioneered the market for quality children’s  books  in Canada through  her  publishing house Tundra Books  she was also the girl from the other side of the tracks, the outsider,  who in 1987  became the  hell-raising  Mayor of Westmount, the first woman  elected to run the tony Montreal suburb.

The image of eviction

By Beryl Wajsman on February 24, 2011

eviction.jpgThis is one of those stories without a good guy or a bad guy. Just victims. And the cushion of comfort between the fortunate and the vulnerable is filled with a good deal of luck.This past Monday morning I received an e-mail about an eviction. It was from a neighbor of the unfortunate tenant. By the time I arrived on the quiet block of duplexes in Cote St-Luc the bailiff and police had gone. All that was left were the worldly possessions of the tenant neatly stacked on the street as you can see in the picture.

A wake up call for Quebec

By Beryl Wajsman on February 21, 2011

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier’s weekend comments calling Bill 101 unnecessary are a clarion call of courage and candour. We should be rallying around those sentiments. Bernier spoke truth to myth and emerged as a new patron saint of reason. He should be lionized not vilified as he has been in much of the Quebec press. He has opened the door to a much needed debate on a heretofore taboo subject. It is a wake up call for this province and perhaps a last chance to turn Quebec toward the politics of respect, justice and equality. 

Notre nombril: Sommes-nous moralement supérieurs aux Américains?

By Pierre K. Malouf on February 16, 2011

Dimanche, 9 janvier 2011, 17 heures. Les nouvelles à RDI. À quel événement Radio-Canada donne-t-il la priorité ? Choix de réponses:

Le rapport Payette: Un autre affront à la liberté d'expression

By Beryl Wajsman on February 16, 2011

Au-delà d’un an, Dominique Payette, une ancien journaliste et maintenant professeure à l'Université de Montréal, a été mandatée par la Ministre de la culture Christine St-Pierre pour étudier des façons dont les médias dans les régions du Québec et les médias indépendantes dans les villes pourraient être aidés à l’ère des nouvelles technologies. Son rapport final, présenté la semaine dernière, est allé bien au-delà de son mandat. En fait, c'est le plus grand affront à la liberté d'expression depuis les lois linguistiques. Ça mérite un rejet retentissant.

Revenge of the nerds

By Dan Delmar on February 16, 2011

delmar-twitter-screen-bw.jpgI was wrong.  Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote in these pages that, as a proud journalist, I would be boycotting Twitter and limiting my use of Facebook. I argued at the time that traditional forms of media could remain competitive with social media if they simply fought back andput out a more entertaining product.





Boycott this!

By Beryl Wajsman on February 16, 2011

DSCN0807.JPGAinsi, une partie des puissantes forces "progressives" du Québec ont décidé de boycotter les produits et les compagnies israéliens en raisonde « l’apartheid politique" d'Israël. Simplement de l’hypocrisie et une ruse. Par leurs mots et leurs actions elle a démontré, en folie et en honte, le vrai visage de cette partie de la société « civile » du Québec qui tout en déclarant hardiment sa propre « différence », est vraiment hanté par un doute de soi-même poussé par une jalousie des croyances individuelles des autres.


Les souliers d’Amir

By Éric Duhaime on February 16, 2011

Le député de Québec solidaire, Amir Khadir, ne fait pas que lancer des souliers. Il les boycotte!
Au cœur de son comté de Mercier, la boutique Le Marcheur a pignon sur la rue St-Denis depuis 25 ans. Yves Archambault y vend des chaussures venues des quatre coins du monde. Le 2 octobre dernier, Monsieur Archambault reçoit une «mise en demeure» d’une organisation radicale de gauche qui le menace de piqueter devant son commerce pour lancer un appel au boycott s’il continue de vendre des souliers fabriqués en Israël.

Le boycott sur St-Denis est un échec

By P.A. Sévigny on February 16, 2011

IMG_9367.JPGQuand cinq députés fédéraux, les chefs du PQ et du Bloc québécois et un nombre de plus en plus important de députés provinciaux condamnent vos manifestations hebdomadaires comme étant « … totalement inacceptables dans une société démocratique» vous pourriez envisager de plier les banderoles et de rentrer à la maison. En date du samedi passé, ce semble être ce qui s'est avéré car les militants de PAJU (Palestiniens et Juifs unis) ne se sont pas présentés alors que presque 20 personnes se sont réunis devant Le Marcheur, le magasin de chaussures de la rue St-Denis de Yves Archambault, pour démontrer leur soutien au droit de l'homme d'affaires de la rue St-Denis de gérer sa propre entreprise et ont repris la rue. Une victoire après presque treize semaines. 

Canada already knows a Muslim Sit-Com is not the answer

By David Solway on February 16, 2011

CBS anchor Katie Couric recently went on record deploring the “bigotry” and “seething hatred” that Muslims are supposed to be facing in the U.S., and proposing a “Muslim version of the Cosby Show” as a remedy to this lamentable situation. Of course, Ms. Couric’s reading of America’s ostensible anti-Muslim attitude is total nonsense of the sort associated with the political delirium of the “progressivist” class. The American people on the whole are probably among the most tolerant to be found anywhere in the world, with the glaring exception of the scandal-mongering left that has falsely donned the egalitarian mantle.

New START Had It Easy

By David T. Jones on February 16, 2011

On December 22, 2010, the Senate having spent much time wailing and gnashing teeth approved the New START Treaty with Russia.  From the language, one could have thought its advocates believed it to be the arms control's Second Coming (or at least a much accelerated new millennium) while its opponents characterized it as a cup of hemlock for the Republic.

Haiti and the scandal of The Global Fund

By Mischa Popoff on February 16, 2011

Your hard-earned tax dollars have been pouring into Haiti since the earthquake last year and things have only worsened. Here’s a thought... maybe money and aid aren’t the answer.It is now crystal clear that The Global Fund, although much ballyhooed, is totally corrupt. This is the high profile charity that pretends to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and which benefits from lucrative, high-profile support from the likes of U2 front-man Bono, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and France’s First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The United States and Canada have pledged to give a whopping $10 billion to this fund for various third-world improvement projects, including Haiti. But if the fund can’t even keep its own affairs straight, we must demand that our politicians stop contributing to it immediately.

Democracy in the Arab world

By The Hon. David Kilgour on February 16, 2011

As more and more Arab countries turn their backs on autocracy, Canada can be a key player in encouraging democratic governments to take hold.
In the 22 member states of the Arab League, many people now appear to be turning their backs on autocracy, declaring to themselves and the world that governance of, by, and for the people is a universal value.

The Flashlight at the End of the Tunnel Can we cement a fragile recovery in 2011?

By Robert Presser on February 16, 2011

Statistics often mask a reality that is more complex than the numbers.  The US has been in recovery for over a year, yet most Americans will tell you that it feels as if it has not even started.  In Canada, our recession was the mildest of all the industrialized nations yet our mindset is still influenced by the slow recovery of our southern neighbour.  Economists in both countries have said that employment growth is the key to sustaining the recovery; consumer confidence and, eventually, consumer spending must be strengthened via income growth overall. 

The imperative of individualism

By George Jonas on February 16, 2011

When I was 10, a rusty mastiff followed me home from the playground. It accepted a dish of liver from my mother, then curled up in front of my bed. Whenever my parents approached, it raised its massive head and growled.
I felt flattered. The dog had a collar but no tag. “Can I keep it?” I asked my father.
“If that were a real question,” my father replied, “my answer might be yes. But you and I know that what you’re actually asking is: Will you, dear parents, keep a dog for me? Feed it, walk it, groom it, muzzle it? And the answer to that is no.”

It Can Happen Here

By Rev. John Vaudry on February 16, 2011

American author Sinclair Lewis, in his chilling 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, imagines the United States becoming a fascist state. Doremus Jessop, a small town Vermont newspaper editor, tries valiantly to warn his compatriots that what is taking place in Europe in the 1930s could occur on this side of the Atlantic, but is met with disbelief—“It can’t happen here.”

L'Itineraire

By Bill Economou on February 16, 2011

Itineraire_500.jpgThe newsroom at L’Itineraire, magazine remains one of the most unique in Montreal because it is the only one in the city where you will also find several tables set aside for homeless people to eat. That’s because the publication is published, sold and written by members of Montreal’s homeless population and serves as a vehicle to help restore their pride while articulating their points of view.
The magazine is published by a non-profit organization and about 150 people, including myself, sell L’Itineraire in different locations across the island of Montreal. Each vendor is assigned at least one or two locations to sell. A number of us can also be found in métro stations. 

A tribute to Diana and David Nicholson's Wednesday Nights

By Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone on February 16, 2011

The Nicholsons greeted me in their salon for the first time back in 1996. I was then a graduate student at HEC Montreal, completing a M.Sc. in International Business. I love debates, sharing ideas, learning about the arts, trade, diplomacy, and politics, among many other subjects.

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: They make it relevant

By Donna Logan on February 16, 2011

 had the great, good fortune to meet Diana and David long before they started the Wednesday Night Salon.  I already knew they were very special people.  The salon started... I have many fond memories of great sessions and meeting a broad, cross-section of incredible people!

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Dear Wednesday Nighters

By David Beigie on February 16, 2011

I regret that I was unable to represent my dad Carl at the 1500th gathering. But I wanted to share these words of congratulations as you embark on the next 1500.
My father enjoyed debate and discussion. And he loved to teach. This was his main currency in life. Wednesday Night provided an ideal setting for all his passions to come together in one place with people he cared about.

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Rage, rage into Wednesday Night

By Felix von Geyer on February 16, 2011

Like the two matching lines of a villanelle poem such as Dylan Thomas above, Diana and David Nicholson intertwine their alternate lines that have recurred throughout the poetry of Wednesday Night that last December pushed through its 1500th successive Wednesday – more than 25 years.
Between them they introduce, compare and contrast people, their perspectives, opinions and deeds that are the substance and form that bring shape, solidity and occasionally lingering noeticism to any informed debate or opinion.

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Beyond measure

By An Thien Ngo on February 16, 2011

How to measure the contribution of Wednesday Night to our society and to the lives of the individuals who gather each week in the Nicholsons' salon? By insights gained, connections forged, endeavours catalyzed, new fields explored?

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: The University of Wednesday-Night

By P. David Mitchell on February 16, 2011

The Age of Enlightenment spawned the salon, an important place for the exchange of ideas,  an increase in knowledge and a source of pleasure and friendship for participants. And an influence on society.

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Something unique

By The Hon. David Kilgour on February 16, 2011

Diana, David and friends have achieved something unique and important with their uninterrupted Wednesday salons over so many years. In our travels around the world, we have never heard a similar institution.

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Never better, never warmer

By Stephen Blank on February 16, 2011

From someone who spent some moments on Canadian TV in the 1990s (when I headed the Council of the America’s Canadian Program in New York City), I can tell you that the lights were never hotter, the questions never tougher, the company never keener and the conversation never quicker than around the Nicholson’s table on Wednesday night.  Might I also say, the friendships were never warmer, the wine more plentiful or hosts more gracious. Hail to David and Diana!

More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Plus ça change..the 700th tribute

By Sam Totah on February 16, 2011

Dear Diana and David,

The year is now 2011, you have just moved out of the house - 33 Rosemount avenue, Westmount, Quebec, still in Canada (!) and I just reviewed what I had written some fifteen years ago about your Wednesday Nights Salon on the occasion of the 700th anniversary. Now, you have passed your 1500th anniversary of your unforgettable “plus ca change plus c’est la même chose” soirées with some slight changes, but the spirit is still the same ! Hope you would like the following to …my tribute to the 700th

NAOMI BRONSTEIN, CANADA’s SWEARING MOTHER TERESA: 1945-2010

By Alan Hustak on January 2, 2011

Naomi Bronstein, who died in Guatemala City on Dec. 23 at the age of 65,  was a humanitarian,  Children’s aid worker and a non-conformist whose abrasive  personality earned her a reputation as the swearing Mother Teresa.

Le Québec doit démissionner

By Pierre K. Malouf on December 27, 2010

La société québécoise souffre de maux qui ne mettent pas sa vie en danger à brève échéance, mais qui lui causent des douleurs chroniques et des handicaps débilitants. Le Québec est un malade qui connaît ses symptômes mais qui n’ose pas nommer sa maladie, qui dispose dans sa pharmacie de tous les remèdes qui pourraient favoriser sa guérison, mais qui refuse de les avaler par crainte des effets secondaires, leur préférant des panacés qui agravent le mal au lieu de le guérir.

La CSST: Le mauvais tempérament de l’époque au Québec

By Beryl Wajsman on December 27, 2010

Les événements en société sont connexes. Parfois indirectement. Parfois ils reflètent simplement le tempérament de l’époque. Mais c'est pour cette raison que ceux qui affectent ce tempérament, ceux qui ont un poste politique important, doivent être imputables quand ils pratiquent la politique de l'annulation.

The Confidence Game

By Akil Alleyne on December 27, 2010

Orator.jpgIn mid-November, I logged on to Facebook to be treated to the following status on the profile of a friend of mine: “What’s the matter, Harper? Afraid you’ll lose the confidence of the House if you put your Afghan war plans to a vote?” My immediate response—which I promptly posted as a comment on my friend’s status—was “Probably.” Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, of course, remains parked at “minority”, theoretically vulnerable to sudden death via a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons. Given this Damoclean threat to his political survival, Harper’s evasion of Parliament did not exactly take me by surprise. Nor was I especially taken aback at reports that the Opposition Liberals had quietly acquiesced in the Tories’ artful dodging. Michael Ignatieff’s Grits have so far struggled to create the “winning conditions,” if you will, for another federal election. Those efforts might not be helped by abandoning an honourable mission that a past Liberal government initiated in the first place.

These boots are made for walking…Supporters of store owner condemn Khadir's smears of Israel

By P.A. Sévigny on December 27, 2010

these_boots.jpgThese boots are made for walking……and as far as Sharon Freedman and her friends are concerned, that’s just what they’ll do. On Christmas morning, at least a dozen homeless kids are going to get a stellar Christmas present, courtesy of Freedman and a few friends who want to let everyone know how a bit of Christmas charity speaks louder than anything Québec Solidaire’s Amir Khadir might have to say about a St. Denis store owner’s right to mind his own business.



 

If the shoe fits…L’ignorance, la haine et le boycottage

By Dan Delmar on December 27, 2010

Les boycotts sont souvent puérils et inefficaces. En politique extérieure, ils n’ont pas plus de valeur que le geste d’un enfant braillard qui interrompt le jeu et rentre à la maison avec son ballon. En matière de boycott, de nouveaux critères d'immaturité et d'ignorance viennent d’être tracés par Palestiniens et Juifs unis (PAJU), groupe soutenu par le député de Québec solidaire Amir Khadir.
Don’t let the name fool you: PAJU is a radical pro-Palestinian group that aims to unite Palestinian and Jews only in their hatred for the state of Israel and all those who, even passively, support it. Along with Khadir, they are working to transform St. Denis into what they call an “Apartheid-free zone.”

 

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