La Patrie
Both sides wrong
By Beryl Wajsman on October 10, 2011
The 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.
ALLAH CAFÉTÉRIA!
By Éric Duhaime on August 26, 2011
Ceux 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.
From subject to citizen: Keeping the promise of the authentic Canadian liberal revolution
By Alfred Apps on August 26, 2011
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.
Canada and arrogance of Amnesty International
By David T. Jones on August 26, 2011
Washington, 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.
Capitalism’s insurance not citizens’ ‘entitlements’
By Beryl Wajsman on August 26, 2011
The 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.
Jack Layton, a happy warrior
By Alan Hustak on August 26, 2011
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.”
Candles, tears and a song for Jack
By P.A. Sévigny on August 26, 2011
Three 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.
Predictably unpredictable
By Dan Delmar on August 2, 2011
It 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...
When the worst of times become the best of times: a future for liberalism in Canada
By Alfred Apps on June 11, 2011
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.
Election analysis: Bain de sièges
By Pierre K. Malouf on June 10, 2011
Le 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.
Election analysis: Tories and NDP must deal with new pan-Canadian realities
By Anja Karadeglija on June 10, 2011
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.
Election analysis: The election: A chance for real hope and change
By David Solway on June 10, 2011
On 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.
Election analysis: What Harper hath wrought
By Alan Hustak on June 10, 2011
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.
Election analysis: Pourquoi le libéralisme est important
By Beryl Wajsman on June 10, 2011
Il semble que l’élément le plus important à retenir de la dernière élection fédérale soit le supposé renouveau de la gauche. En fait, cet élément est un non-événement. Il n'y a pas eu de renouveau de la gauche. On tente ainsi de démontrer que le succès du NPD est d’abord un phénomène québécois enveloppé dans une «énigme» du Québec. On tente aussi de nous faire croire que ces élections signifient un pays divisé et désespérément polarisé entre une droite récalcitrante et une gauche autocrate. Et pourtant, les raisons sont toutes autres : la fatigue des Québécois pour la séparation et l’incapacité pour les libéraux de rallier les Canadiens à travers un message authentique.
Election analysis: Post election blues: Splitting hairs on vote splits
By Johannes Wheeldon on June 10, 2011
One of the outcomes of the 2011 Federal election has been interest in how Liberal and NDP voters split the progressive vote, and thus paved the way for a conservative majority. Shouldn't it be easy to understand what role vote splitting played in the 2011 election? Well, yes. And no.
Election Analysis: Les dépendantistes
By Éric Duhaime on June 10, 2011
La déconfiture du Bloc québécois après l'election pose la question de la survie du parti. Le Bloc est-il mort? Avec seulement quatre députés ayant survécu au naufrage, la reconstruction s’annonce périlleuse, voire impossible.
Election analysis: Better voter representation system needed
By Duff Conacher on June 10, 2011
The $2 per-vote annual subsidy for parties is the most democratic part of the federal political finance system, because it is based on the fundamental democratic principle of one-person, one-vote. While it should be changed to make it more democratic it will be very undemocratic to cut it to zero as the Conservatives propose.
Election analysis: No more room in between right and left?
By David-Éric Simard on June 10, 2011
We have just witnessed several surprising political upheavals that have changed the Canadian political landscape. Is this ephemeral, or the path we are set on for the next generation? Despite the passage of a few weeks to take it all in, it is still hard to believe that we now live under a majority Conservative government. For many people, it’s difficult to clearly see what has changed and where our country is headed. In our immediate environment, Quebec’s political map has been painted NDP orange while most of Canada’s other regions are now Conservative blue. This clear distinction leaves many of us wondering whether there’s still a place for Liberal red and the Bloc’s light blue on the political horizon beyond the next four years.
Why liberalism matters
By Beryl Wajsman on May 4, 2011
The biggest story about the supposed resurgent left in this election is that there is no story. Nor is there a resurgent left.
What most current discussion misses in covering the NDP is that the party's success was an overwhelmingly Quebec phenomenon wrapped in a Quebec enigma. It had nothing to do with a nation divided against itself hopelessly polarized between a recalcitrant right and a statocratic left. It had everything to do with Quebecers fatigue with separation and Liberals failure to connect with Canadians through an authentic message.
Décision 2011: Des élections inutiles ?
By Pierre K. Malouf on April 21, 2011
Il paraît que la majorité des Canadiens ne voulaient pas de nouvelles élections fédérales. Les voilà mis devant le fait accompli. MM. Ignatieff, Layton et Duceppe en voulaient, eux, de nouvelles élections, et Stephen Harper aussi, d’ailleurs, ne soyons pas naïfs. M. Harper a volontairement poussé ses adversaires dans leurs derniers retranchements, il a atteint son but. Les Conservateurs ne demandaient rien d’autre que d’être renversés, ils l’ont été. M. Harper a bien manoeuvré et compte bien faire élire le 2 mai prochain un gouvernement conservateur majoritaire. Aussi ne pouvons-nous le prendre au sérieux quand il affirme que ces élections sont «inutiles».
Décision 2011: Canadian Politics X
By Akil Alleyne on April 21, 2011
The bell has been rung, and the Tories, Grits, Dippers and Blocquistes are going another round in their bout for parliamentary supremacy. The ruling Conservatives, of course, are hoping that in their five-year quest for a majority government, the third time will prove to be the charm. Yet from the campaign’s outset, there has been one factor the Tories have lustily exploited, one having little to do with their actual fitness to govern. I refer to the specter of another coalition of Opposition parties snatching the reins of power from Tory hands.
Décision 2011: Key races to watch in central Montreal
By Dan Delmar on April 21, 2011
Outremont - Jeanne-Le Ber - Westmount-Ville Marie - Mont Royal - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – Lachine
Décision 2011: Are they all statists?
By George Jonas on April 21, 2011
During the chummy pre-election weeks, politicians and their handlers are flirtatious but gun-shy. Journalists, viewed with grave misgivings, are being handled gingerly. The ambiance is ostentatiously egalitarian. The leaders’ aides refer to their bosses as Hollywood studio execs do to all-powerful movie moguls: First names, uttered in deferentially hushed tones.
Paying for Democracy
By Robert Presser on April 21, 2011
The revolutions taking place across Arabian North Africa are astounding for the rapidity with which they overthrew longstanding dictatorships and the confusion they provoked in Western governments. The US, UK, France and Germany had to decide when and how they would abandon the leaders they had backed for decades, and in the case of Libya the first coalition of the willing since the 1991 Gulf war was created to pound Gaddafi’s forces into retreat to allow the rebels to retain Benghazi.
The image of eviction
By Beryl Wajsman on February 24, 2011
This 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
I 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
Ainsi, 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
Quand 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.
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.