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«Mille faces cachées»
By Louise V. Labrecque on July 18, 2012
C’est dans une maison de la rue Saint-Hubert, à Montréal, qu’habite le député d’origine iranienne Amir Khadir, lequel appelle à la non-liberté de commerce et à l’apartheid israélien, notamment sur la rue Saint-Denis à Montréal, face aux boutiques Le Marcheur et Naot, lesquelles vendent des produits de marque israélienne. Sur la grande affiche, à côté de la porte principale, en gros caractères, est inscrit : « Quand l’injustice devient loi, la résistance est un devoir ». Sitôt franchi le seuil, derrière ce paravent, une face cachée apparaît soudainement. En effet, en se promenant dans le quartier, il n’est pas nécessaire d’avoir une loupe pour constater combien le député de Mercier suscite de vifs sentiments. Il faut dire qu’en s’exaltant tantôt pour Martin Luther King, tantôt pour Mahatma Gandhi, il y a loin de la coupe aux lèvres. En effet, nous pourrions en rire si au moins c’était drôle.
Les faces cachées d’Amir Khadir
By Éric Duhaime on July 18, 2012
Le dramaturge, romancier et enseignant retraité d’une école publique primaire, Pierre K. Malouf, publie, aux éditions Accent Grave, un important essai sur l’unique député de Québec solidaire.
Rien ne prédestinait pourtant Malouf à écrire un tel ouvrage.
Âgé de 68 ans, il en avait vu d’autres avec les communistes et syndicalistes du Québec des années 60 et 70.
Il change cependant d’idée et décide de sortir sa plume suite à la présence d’Amir Khadir parmi un groupe de manifestants devant Le Marcheur le samedi 11 décembre 2010, ceux-là même qui boycottent et harcèlent la boutique parce qu’elle vend des souliers fabriqués en Israël.
Les faces cachées d’Amir Khadir
By Jacques Brassard on July 18, 2012
Si vous êtes un «idiot utile» qui trouvez bénéfique et tellement «progressiste» le rôle joué par Québec Solidaire sur la scène politique;
Si vous êtes un grand cœur naïf sérieusement convaincu que le Hamas est une organisation humanitaire qui lutte contre l’horrible apartheid qui ravage Israël ;
Si vous êtes un électeur anonyme qui, dans les sondages, croyez sincèrement qu’Amir Khadir est un député humaniste qui n’a qu’une seule mission : la défense des pauvres, de la veuve et de l’orphelin,
Alors, il vous faut lire le livre de Pierre K. Malouf, paru aux éditions ACCENT GRAVE, Les Faces Cachées d’Amir Khadir. Ça défrise et ça déniaise!
Pourquoi Je suis devenu un 450
By Jeff Plante on July 18, 2012
J'ai aimé cette ville à un point tel qu'à l'époque j'avais joint les rangs de l'équipe du maire Bourque, un maire certes mal aimé, mais qui avait une qualité intrinsèque : celle d'aimer sa ville, c'en était presque charnel. Je me souviens très bien comment à chaque conseil, malgré nos opinions politiques disparates nous avions le sentiment de travailler pour quelque chose de plus grand que nous. Chaque entreprise que nous amenions, chaque tournage international, chaque projet immobilier, chaque événement d'envergure qui s'arrêtait chez nous étaient pour nous une petite victoire.
Seventh hearing of OMHM versus Danny Palladini is long and complicated
By Tracey Arial on July 18, 2012
Two people testified on the seventh scheduled hearing in the case of Montreal’s municipal housing authority (OMHM) versus Daniel Palladini. The OMHM is trying to evict Mr.Palladini because it says he has caused too much trouble with his questioning of how some $16,000 of two tenants associations funds were spent. Palladini, who has lived at the OMHM's Manoir Roger Bernard for some ten years, was the charter founder of the associations.
Supreme Court rules against TMR victim’s family: Surprisingly broad interpretation of Quebec's Auto Insurance Act revives calls for "no-fault" refor
By P.A. Sévigny on July 18, 2012
Six years after Gabriel Rossy was killed after a rotten tree fell on his car while he was driving through Westmount during a freak summer storm, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled against his family after it sued the city for failing to properly maintain the tree that killed their son. Following last week’s unanimous decision, the court decided that under the regulations of Québec’s Automobile insurance Act, Rossy’s family must turn to the province’s automobile insurance board for compensation because he was driving a car at the time of his death.
Navi Pillay, butt out of Quebec!
By Beryl Wajsman on July 18, 2012
The arrogant, breathtaking audacity of, pardon the expression, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, taking a swipe at Quebec’s Bill 78 as a cause of concern evidences again not only the UN’s never-ending readiness to take any shot at functioning democracies to balance off its cowardice in confronting tyrannies, but also the ignorance of its officials. Even at the highest levels.
The Kids Are Not All Right
By Akil Alleyne on July 18, 2012
I am fond of griping that Canadian politics always seem to become most interesting when I am out of the country. I was away at university in New Jersey when the wily Prime Minister of my childhood, Jean Chrétien, was supplanted by his restive deputy, Paul Martin; when the sponsorship scandal terminally weakened the Liberal Party’s grip on federal power; when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a minority government in 2006; and when the Tories finally won a majority, and the NDP supplanted the Liberals as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, last year. (I was here, mind you, to witness the Opposition coalition power play of December 2008, but of course that died pathetically on the vine.)
Axe falls on English social service team
By Joel Ceausu on July 18, 2012
I am tired,” says André Gagnière, director-general of the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de la Pointe-de-l’Île. “I am tired of fighting for the Pivot by myself. I can’t do it anymore.”
And with that, it’s seemingly a done deal as the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal brings the axe down on a team of social workers that for years had ensured access to English services in the east end for a host of clients including children with intellectual disabilities.
Israel-Egypte: réalités et pragmatisme
By Amb. Freddy Eytan on July 18, 2012
Jerusalem - L'élection de Mohamed Morsi est historique et révolutionnaire. Dans ce coup de théâtre de l'absurde, l'homme qui a été emprisonné par Moubarak est entré au Palais présidentiel d'un pas feutré, sur le tapis rouge et avec tous les salamalecs. Moubarak, lui, est derrière les barreaux plongé dans un coma irréversible… Tandis que le fondateur de la confrérie des Frères musulmans, Al Banna, (grand-père de Tarik Ramadan) réalise un grand rêve…et se retourne dans sa tombe dans l'allégresse… Le grand Mufti de Jérusalem, grand défenseur de la confrérie islamique et allié d'Hitler ne peut non plus dissimuler sa joie en se frottant les mains…souillées de sang juif!
Handle with care: A fragile Afghanistan in Tokyo
By Omar Samad on July 18, 2012
Ten years after the first Afghanistan reconstruction conference was held in Tokyo in 2002, Japan will host a second donors' gathering on July 8 to formulate a strategy to ensure the sustainable development of Afghanistan beyond 2014 - the date set for NATO's withdrawal. Tokyo 1 took place at a time of high hope, a clean slate, and enthusiasm for engagement, but almost no assessment of the gargantuan rebuilding task to be undertaken in a country devastated by more than two decades of warfare. There also was no insurgency to worry about. Tokyo 2 is happening at a time of uncertainty and donor fatigue, but at least the stakeholders now have a vast (and expensive) database to work with. However, the most conspicuous feature Afghans and donors will face next week and beyond, is the fragility permeating the Afghan security, political and economic sectors. Furthermore, the Taliban are now viewed as a real threat to stability.
Obama did not "lose" Canada
By David T. Jones on July 18, 2012
Washington, DC - Whenever one reads a title including “Who Lost…” you know that ax grinding is about to start with the whetstone spinning. There is a blame game to be played and guilt to be apportioned. Thus, variously, over the decades, the outraged have exclaimed “Who Lost China?” “Who Lost Vietnam?” “Who Lost Iran?” and currently, preemptively lamenting over who lost Afghanistan and/or Iraq. The author(s) always know that others are at fault and they knew better.
The Music has Stopped – Why Are We Still Dancing?
By Robert Presser on July 18, 2012
Partygoers are familiar with the ritual at the end of a festive evening – the band announces the last song, those still up for a dance take to the floor, other revellers observe, have a last drink or finish up their conversations. When the music’s over, the band thanks everyone for coming out, the lights go up and then the staffers encourage everyone to head to the door. At least this is how it is supposed to be.
This is not the case if the party is being thrown by the debt-laden developed economies of the world, and especially those within the European Economic Community who are members of the Eurozone.
Leo Leonard, a.k.a Clawhammer Jack : last of the urban horsemen.
By Alan Hustak on July 18, 2012
Leo Leonard, affectionately known as Clawhammer Jack, was an authentic urban horseman who maintained a horse palace in the heart of Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood for almost five decades. A third generation Irishman, Leonard was a horse whisperer and a former caléche driver who lived in the same neighbourhood just below the Bell Centre for almost all of his 86 years. He held out almost to the end against developers who wanted his property for office and commercial space and for affordable and subsidized housing. He died on July 5 several months after finally moving out of Griffintown.
Notes from the Sinkhole of our discontent
By Joel Ceausu on July 18, 2012
I held my son’s chocolate peanut-butter ice cream slathered hand and looked at that nice strip of fresh black bitumen over the former sinkhole that opened up on Ste. Catherine St. last week and wondered like many others in our city, what if?
What if it happened in front of my house? What if it swallowed a car? What if some protesting window-smashing “anarchist” had taken a journey down that rabbit hole?
"We're just friends" doesn't apply to men and women. An appreciation of Nora Ephron
By Margaux Chetrit on July 18, 2012
Nora Ephron, the journalist, playwright, director, producer and actress passed away last week after a years-long battle with leukemia. She was 71. The disease never got the better ofmher until almost the very end. She leaves behind a legacy of best-selling books, sparkling films and priceless advice.
Nora, through her ongoing artistic commentary on the romantic zeitgeist, succeeded in imparting lessons and igniting debates on the state of love and relationships.
She shook our conceptions to the core and left us uncomfortably aware of how truly clueless we were about the opposite sex.
The art of machismo
By Frank Borsellino on July 18, 2012
'Hemingway & Gellhorn' is a study in the art of machismo . . . just as much from a woman as from a man. This film, which premiered on HBO, dramatizes the volatile coming together and falling apart of the famous novelist and his third wife. Martha Gellhorn, a renowned war correspondent and the only one of his brides who was also a fiction writer. The film is a big-name affair, with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman in the leads and Philip Kaufman directing a screenplay by Barbara Turner ('Pollock') and Jerry Stahl ('Bad Boys II').
Standing Up for Sauvignon Blanc
By David White on July 18, 2012
Poor Sauvignon Blanc.
For years, some of the most prominent wine critics have bashed the grape. In Slate Magazine, Sauvignon Blanc was once described as "maddeningly dull." Wine Enthusiast's West Coast editor has criticized the grape for failing to elicit "profound excitement."
Hogwash. Like every wine grape, Sauvignon Blanc demands the right soil, the appropriate climate, and a skilled winemaker. When those demands are met, the grape can produce remarkably fresh, complex wines, capable of expressing a sense of place and provoking emotion.
OMHM versus Danny Palladini Raises Serious Questions About Rights of Low-Income Tenants
By Tracey Arial on July 4, 2012
The next hearing in the case of Montreal’s municipal housing authority (OMHM) versus Daniel Palladini will take place at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 9. It happens in room 2220 of the D wing at the Quebec Rental Board main office in the Olympic Village, 5199 Sherbrooke Street East.
The landlord plans to present one more witness, its employee Sylvie Marchand. She will speak for an hour and a half. The tenant won’t say who will testify on his behalf.
Hot town: putting the new prohibitionists on the run
By Beryl Wajsman on July 2, 2012
It begins as the velvet draping that envelops the downtown core of this pearl of the St. Lawrence as night turns pitch black. As the deep evening turns early morning, the moveable feasts make their pilgrimages to their own holy stations. These hours are ours and there are no rules. The stars sparkle and wink guiding you from one holy grail to another. The playrooms of the inner city, with their terraces and open doors, that beckon all who are willing to live life to the fullest into their open arms.
Corporations should just say no to the OQLF
By Beryl Wajsman on June 26, 2012
The problem with modern government is that everyone tries to do things by consensus and to give all parts of the whole a sense of importance. It doesn`t work.
In Quebec, what that produces - specifically in the case of the OQLF - is a bloated sense of self-importance resulting in actions that are not only injurious to the government as a whole, but to the citizens that government and those agencies are meant to serve. The latest broadside of the OQLF demanding that national and multinational companies add a French descriptor to their trade names is beyond reason.
"Les faces cachées d'Amir Khadir" The new faces of the old fears
By Beryl Wajsman on June 26, 2012
Quebec playwright and novelist Pierre K. Malouf has recently published an explosive book on one of the most controversial and divisive figures in the Quebec political scene. "Les faces cachées d'Amir Khadir" - "The Hidden Faces of Amir Khadir" - examines the Québec Solidaire MNA from Mercier from several perspectives.
The book, brought out by the independent publishing house called Accent Grave, is divided into two parts. The first examines Khadir's involvement in the boycott of a St. Denis St. shoe store called "Le Marcheur" because that store had the "audacity" to sell Israeli shoes among its products. Readers may remember this paper's leadership in supprt of Le Marcheur. Eventually, the street was taken back from Khadir and his cohorts, but they moved further down St.Denis to boycott a store selling exclusively Israeli producs called Naot.
On Second Avenue Celebrates Theatres Yiddish roots.
By Alidor Aucoin on June 25, 2012
New York’s Second Avenue looms large in the mythic landscape of Broadway Theatre. A century ago the East Village neighbourhood was the ghetto for Jews from Central Europe where Yiddish Theatre In America was born and flourished. It became “americanized,” and went on to influence not only the Vaudeville stage but Broadway itself, On 2nd Ave, playing at the Segal Centre until July 1, is a revival of the show that was staged at the Segal in 1998. . It pays homage to Abraham Goldfaden who is said to have started the first professional Yiddish theatre company in Romania.
Maria Marrelli, Italian Community Activist, and former Citizenship Court Judge
By Alan Hustak on June 24, 2012
Maria Marrelli was the community activist and local columnist before she was named a Citizenship Court Judge in 1977. Mrs. Marrelli, who was 97 when she died on June 21 was well known in Notre Dame de Grace, where she was heavily involved as a Liberal party organizer and as a warden of St. Raymond’s parish, and as an interpreter at the local caisse populaire.
”She was a leader. A force to be reckoned with. Not only was she able to express her views, she was able to rally people behind her so when she spoke, she spoke with a unified voice,” said Montreal’s Executive Committee Chairman, Michael Applebaum. Applebaum said the borough will see how best to honour her achievements in a permanent manner
It’s called being human
By Kristy-Lyn Kemp on June 13, 2012
Just last week I published an opinion piece concerning the need for the government to sit down with the student leaders and educate them about tuition rates across Canada as well as in other countries. While I still believe that the students need a lesson in reality, and that it is part of the government’s responsibility to provide such education in this time of crisis, I no longer believe that many of the student protestors are worth the time that it would take to educate them. A lot can happen in a week, as has been evidenced by the recent influx of pictures of the student protesters with their arms raised, posing as did those who supported Mussolini and Hitler.
Memo to Montreal’s mad marchers: Nazi salutes? You lose!
By Beryl Wajsman on June 13, 2012
The sight of Montreal’s marchers giving Nazi salutes has gone viral around the world. These gangs of thugs have lost all credibility.
Yes, we know, some voices are calling for understanding of “context.” That these students were making a point that the police were fascists. Nonsense!
Justin Trudeau recently said in Parliament that the first party to invoke the Nazis or Hitler in a debate automatically loses. Memo to Montreal’s mad marchers: You lose!
Le boucher de Damas face à l'impuissance des Occidentaux
By Amb. Freddy Eytan on May 28, 2012
Voilà déjà 4 décennies que la famille Assad règne en Syrie avec une poigne de fer souillée de sang et le monde libre laisse faire dans le désarroi total. Ce régime est une dictature calquée sur le modèle soviétique de Staline. Le pouvoir syrien est fondé sur deux piliers: le socialisme du parti Baath et les liens étroits et religieux de la communauté alaouite ancrée dans toutes les sphères de la société, de l'armée, des services de sécurité et des institutions gouvernementales. Le pouvoir d'Assad étouffe et écrase toutes les libertés des droits de l'Homme. Il ne recule d'aucun moyen pour mettre au pas ses opposants en exerçant à leur encontre une punition sanglante et impitoyable. Son armée de quatre cent mille hommes est principalement destinée à la répression intérieure. Les terribles massacres de Hama en février 1982 par Assad père firent plus de 20 000 morts! Ils n'étaient qu'une avant première des carnages successifs commis par Assad fils depuis le 15 mars 2011.
Student rioters might be banned from USA
By Byron Toben on May 27, 2012
Can arrests or convictions of student protesters bar them from future entry to the USA? I have been asked this increasingly. A complete answer could fill a booklet.The ultimate conclusion is yes, in some cases. The details, translated from legalese into plainspeak, are the following.
Charter rights don’t just belong to the students
By Beryl Wajsman on May 23, 2012
The current debate about Quebec’s Bill 78 and Montreal’s notional and nascent demonstration regulations, have opponents of both measures invoking the Charter. Well, Charter rights are not one-sided. It’s not just the students who have them. The students’ victims — all of us — have them too.
The reality of the current troubles is that a small group of students, probably positioning themselves for a future in politics, gave a large number of their cohorts a reason to party. In the streets, and at the expense of all citizens. In the course of two months, their demonstrations have involved criminal trespass, violent destruction of private property and collective intimidation of the two-thirds of students who want to study and complete their semesters. A massive, moveable rave snaking its way through our streets at a whim. Even union supporters of these paragons of radicalism cannot control them.
Haunted Billy: toe-tapping, ass-slapping country shenanigans
By Alidor Aucoin on May 23, 2012
Dracula meets Dogpatch in Haunted Hillbilly, the honkey-tonk black comedy at the Centaur until June 3. The show is based on Derek McCormack’s book which is centred around a hapless backcountry buck, Hyram Woodside, who sells his soul to the devil to win acclaim as a singing sensation known as “The Lonely Boy.”
The premise has been around for centuries: Luc Plamondon did it in his musical, La Légende De Jimmy, in which movie hearthrob James Dean sold his soul to the devil for stardom. In this case the Nashville setting is part of the joke. The play is send up of Hank William’s career -, the self destructive cowboy singer who was fired by the Grand Ole Opry for his alcohol and substance abuse, and died in 1953 at the age of 29.
Puzzling Over the Quebec Student “Strike”
By David T. Jones on May 18, 2012
Washington,DC - Following the elements of Quebec’s student “strike” during the past 11 weeks has been somewhat equivalent to a TV mini-series, but while sputtering along, it leaves a Washington commentator with a number of observations.
First, it is really not over money. The amount of tuition increase over five (or seven) years is trivial in real terms. Variously, it was been characterized as a latte a day (or a bottle of designer water) in total price. Rather it appears symbolic, even akin to the precursor-stimulus for theAmerican Revolutionary War of a tax on tea.
Gérald Larose et la marge la plus extrême. Partie 4 de 4
By Pierre Brassard on May 18, 2012
Un ami de très longue date de Gérald Larose, le défunt syndicaliste de la CSN Michel Chartrand (1916-2010), qui n’a jamais laissé planer ses doutes sur son petit catéchisme « antisioniste » a eu une influence significative sur Gérald Larose. Laissons les calembours populistes au personnage Chartrand, mais n’oublions pas les propos peu raisonnables qui nous éloignent substantiellement de son côté « humaniste chrétien », surtout quand il est question du Moyen-Orient. Revenons sur une déclaration que ne renieraient pas aujourd’hui les organisations palestiniennes extrémistes.
Titanic, the Movie Sequel coming soon to Quebec
By Boyd Crowder on May 18, 2012
On the approaching 100th anniversary of the the sinking of the Titanic, the evocation of that event brings to mind a suitable metaphor for where we seem to be headed, as western societies in general, and Quebec society in particular.
Look around and take stock at where we are.
Over 40% of Quebecers do not pay any income tax.
For the remaining 60% who do, what do we get for our hard earned money?
Equitable and Responsible: A proposal for proper public transit funding
By Raymond Beshro on May 18, 2012
The public consultation currently underway on the financing of public transit (PT) will draw out specialists on new methods and sources of funding, and will generate recommendations for the Transport Commission of the MMC (Montreal Metropolitan Community). This article seeks to bring to the forefront the notions of equity and responsibility in the allocation of public funds, more specifically for the funding and development of West-bound PT projects.
The urgency for responsible authority. Pause if there is no cause
By Beryl Wajsman on May 18, 2012
The story of the abuse and humiliation of Abiner Lema and Stacey-Ann Philip by Montreal police underlines once again how critical it is that this city achieve what I call for in the title to this piece. Responsible authority.
An end must be brought to the aggression demonstrated by too many of our security officials, whether police or STM guards. The stories come in on a weekly basis. Yes, I know it is a minority of our security personnel that step out of line. But that minority is in danger of growing into a plurality.
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