Sunday, November 1, 2009

Montreal Election today , who will win Thief #1 ,thief #2,...or ???

Montreal is Corrupt.....................No , No, No,.say it isn't so...........hahahahahahah.everyone knows that Montreal has been run by corrupt people forever,,,,,,,including the infamous Drapeau.he filled his friends pockets too.

Macleans Magazine finally has a scathing story,big deal,until the people actually take back city hall,by demanding & outsting the blatant thieves,then nothing will happen,we as usual are all too apathetic to bother. That's why the Voter Turnout is usually so low,we've all come to the conclusion it doesn't matter .....but I still suggest voting or don't complain.....here's the Macleans story:

Montreal is a disaster

FULL STORY: The once-glamorous city is now a corrupt, crumbling, mob-ridden disgrace. What went wrong?

by Martin Patriquin on Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:45pm - 117 Comments

Montreal is a disasterIt says something about a city when tales of bravery in the face of organized crime are apparently a prerequisite to governing it. Five weeks into an increasingly bizarre election campaign dominated by scandal, graft and good, old-fashioned backstabbing, Gérald Tremblay wants it known that he is scared for the well-being of his family. Montreal’s mayor and leader of the municipal party Union Montréal (Quebec has parties at the city level) is vying for a third term. He says his decision to clean up city hall during the past four years has made him a target of Montreal’s criminal underbelly. He recently reminded voters of the time police found two fire bombs behind his country house in 2005. Then there was the time when, as Quebec’s industry minister, he denied a liquor permit to a Montreal-area wine producer—who was subsequently found dead in the trunk of his own car. “I’m not naive,” Tremblay told Le Devoir last week. “I’m very well informed. I knew exactly what I was getting into with the city of Montreal.”

Not to be outdone, Tremblay’s opponents offered up their own brave bona fides. Tremblay’s main challenger and leader of the rival party Vision Montréal, Louise Harel, reminded voters that her late husband, journalist and union leader Michel Bourdon, was repeatedly threatened by the Mafia. Richard Bergeron, of the upstart Projet Montréal, says he has requested police protection, though he makes it clear that his crusade against municipal corruption hasn’t garnered him any death threats—yet. “Everyone knows where I live,” he told a reporter recently.

While other cities grapple with garbage collection, snow removal and other humdrum realities of municipal politics, Montreal has, in the past several weeks, become a chaotic and dirty throwback to its bad old days. Allegations of mobbed-up favouritism, brown envelopes stuffed with cash, wildly inflated city contracts, an aggressive blue-collar union perpetually at odds with the mayor’s office: these, not its many charms and joie de vivre, are Montreal’s stock in trade these days.

Just who gets to fix this disaster will be decided soon: Montrealers go to the polls on Nov. 1. All three mayoral candidates—including Tremblay, who claims to have seen and heard nothing of the excesses perpetuated on his watch—have promised once again to clean up city hall. Should Tremblay fall, and there is a growing chance that he will, he will be replaced either by an ardent separatist and former Péquiste minister (Harel) who often refuses to speak English, or a relative political neophyte (Bergeron), whose greenish anti-corruption credentials are undermined by his staunch belief that 9/11 was an inside job perpetuated by the U.S. government.

The winner will inherit a chronically underperforming city burdened by an archaic governmental structure, a bloated public sector (Montreal’s city council has twice as many elected officials as New York City), and what many say is an endemic culture of corruption. More and more of its citizens are taking refuge in the suburbs, while big business continues to flee for Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. Montreal is saddled with the largest debt of any major Canadian city, and its infrastructure is a leaking, potholed mess. It costs 30 per cent more to build a stretch of road in Quebec than anywhere else in the country, and a recent multi-million-dollar water contract was cancelled after its cost ballooned from $154 million to nearly $356 million. The city’s political culture, one of its disgraced former politicians said recently, is hopelessly, institutionally crooked, “infected with gangrene.” Meanwhile, the province’s language hawks are yet again glancing sideways at the supposed creeping English presence among the city’s immigrant populations. The parade of bad news afflicting what a La Presse columnist once dubbed “a beautifully messy Latin city” has raised the question: how could something so beautiful go so wrong?

Montreal’s political and social landscape didn’t look nearly as grim eight years ago, when Gérald Tremblay rode into office with a promise to bring democracy and transparency to Canada’s second largest city. A former perfumer, hockey agent and provincial cabinet minister in Robert Bourassa’s Liberal government, Tremblay has cultivated the image of a squeaky-clean (if somewhat bland) politician whose idea of excitement, until his knee surgery three years ago, was a nice, long run through his neighbourhood of Outremont.

And Montreal welcomed him, in large part because he was so beige. The city has long been considered Quebec’s existential nightmare, “the rottenest city on the continent,” according to religious pamphleteer Evanston Hart in 1919, a place where every vice and threat—games of chance, naked flesh, the lion’s share of English people in the province—could be experienced in abundance. Though the city has since been rehabilitated somewhat, its reputation for secretive, top-down governance à la Jean Drapeau (who took power in the 1950s and ruled for nearly three decades) remained, all the way to Tremblay’s predecessor, Pierre Bourque. In his first two years in office beginning in 1994, Bourque’s party pleaded guilty to 122 counts of electoral and campaign finance charges. “Ever since Drapeau, Montreal mayors have had the tendency to last a couple of terms and then get into trouble,” says Harold Chorney, a professor of public policy at Concordia University in Montreal.

For years, it seemed Tremblay would buck the trend, thanks to Montrealers’ yawning indifference to municipal matters: barely 35 per cent of voters bothered to cast a ballot in the 2005 election. Whiffs of scandal—the city’s real estate corporation, run by Tremblay’s former chief of staff, was found to have made a sweetheart land deal to a well-connected developer—bounced off the mayor, as did the news that the city’s consultant and outsourcing budget had nearly doubled over six years.

Tremblay managed to withstand the revelation last April that Frank Zampino, his former right-hand man on the city’s powerful executive committee, had twice vacationed on the yacht of Tony Accurso, whose firm was ultimately awarded a $356-million water- meter contract without any debate in city council. “Frank Zampino didn’t make the best decision,” the mayor said of his lieutenant’s choice of vacation. The mayor nonetheless defended the water-meter contract, only to cancel it when an auditor general’s report said it was rife with “irregularities [and] deficient management.”

35 comments:

Les F said...

It would appear ,thief #1 wins,......well that's good in a way,cause if he does want to clean up city hall,then he sure should know who the biggest thieves in his circle are..........hahahahah
.ahhhh Business as usual..............................hf7rv

Ken McLaughlin said...

Looks like Thief #1 got back in and for all the wrong reasons. Hell, even "seperatists" were not en masse crazy about Louise Harel.
Anyway the really important news, heh heh, is that yours truly received 23% of the vote to finish 3rd in Champlain/Ile Des Soeurs for Projet Montreal. Not bad considering how heavy duty a riding it is for Union with it's not so pretty legacy of Georges Bosse but more money than they need, just in case....... Champlain/Ile Des Soeurs is basically everything east of Rielle plus Nun's Island. We are going to win in 2013!

Ken McLaughlin

Les F said...

Nice Deal Ken,.go for it, cause if your not part of the solution your part of the problem 23% not bad for what I would imagine was a reasonably unknown but informed type of guy(or are you more known to the locals than most ??), by today's standards.Send me some of your party's website address's so I can read about the exploits.......HF&RV.
ps: as far as the only 'knock' they mentioned about the Projet Montreal leader Bergeron,......I agree with him,and I don't see much of a conspiracy as it seems to be more of a blatant sanction of murder & destruction..... Not JMHO......hf&rv

Les F said...

Clear, Simple & Straight to the Point,.....Here's Ken's message:


good Luck Ken with all future endeavours.................HF&RV

pauline garneau said...

Ken McLaughlin

October 06, 2009 - 10:06 PM
Quote by Ken

Sorry, Mark, but like many of the posters above, you don't seem to be paying attention very well. I am an "anglo" and am running in Verdun on the Projet Montreal ticket. You would all be well served by checking out Richard Bergeron a little more closely. Projet Montreal is quite in tune with today's world with over 50 candidates under 40. Give us the opportunity and we will surprise you in many ways.


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/sovereignist+views+matter+mayor+race/2080045/story.html

Richard Bergeron is a "separatist”, "sovereignist" terms used to describe individuals wanting the province of Quebec to separate from Canada to become a country of its own.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bergeron

Richard Bergeron, in his 2005 317 pages long book, Les Quebecois au volant, c'est mortel, wrote a paragraph which raises questions about the actual events surrounding the September 11 attacks.[18]

Direct quote:
"No one knows what really happened on Sept. 11, 2001. We have been sated with pictures of two airliners striking the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. This is the only event of which we can be sure. The reasons for this act remain unknown. As for the two other planes that would have crashed — one on the Pentagon, in Washington, and one in Pennsylvania — they resemble a macabre farce, in my opinion. Everyone knows that any airplane crash produces an abundance of debris. Yet no one has seen any debris at all at the Pentagon or Pennsylvania. I personally don't believe 60-tonne planes can simply vanish. It might be that what we witnessed on Sept. 11, 2001, was a simple act of state banditry of titanic proportions. The events of that fateful day provided the mafias surrounding George W. Bush with a pretext for taking over the petroleum reserves of the Persian Gulf." [19]



http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/cnw/article.jsp?content=20091006_164502_0_cnw_cnw

As for Project Montréal's Richard Bergeron, his judgment is questionable. His belief in a 9/11 conspiracy endures. And he told La Presse's Michèle Ouimet that smoking is good for his health. (The marathoner said smoking reduces his lung capacity and thus keeps him from running so fast that he might injure himself, as happened once when he was off cigarettes.) Bergeron has since said he was joking. Ouimet assured me yesterday he was not.



He is a separatist but doesn’t want to discuss it, he is a non practicing Muslim not an ex Muslim and as a woman absolutely nothing would interest me in a man with Muslim beliefs.
Thank God Mr. Gerald Tremblay got in as Mayor of Montreal.

As for the MacLean’s magazine Google MacLean’s magazine corrupt cities in Canada and read what MacLean’s magazine has to say about your city.
Pauline

Les F said...

I would bet you will find as many believers in the 911 conspiracy theory,as you would find believe the Gov't theory .
I also think that the separatists have done more for the rest of Canada,by simply ruining LabelleProvince,just look at Toronto the financial capital of Canada,when it was Montreal for years & could very well have stayed Montreal,if it were not for the blunders,of the separatist movement,Montreal & Quebec are only recently coming out of the slump they were in for nearly 4 decades....and if it wasn't for real-estate values going crazy all over the country,then they would still be sucking the hind teet......
As for corruption, Did anyone 'ever' think Montreal was not heavily corrupted....please they were the yardstick by which all other thieves would measure themselves.......hahahahah I watched BC over the past 35 years,& have been amused at what they think corruption is,but they are learning fast.& our politicians here may soon rival those of every other province & the rest of the thieving snakes across the planet.
Politicians probably decide to follow that path ,with ideas of actually helping & changing the way things are done,I believe that most start out with good intent,but soon fall victim to the reality of the monumental task to straighten things out & so ,give way to the political double speak & the status quo.
Being a separatist ,doesn't preclude someone from having good ideas,it just makes them an easier target,that ship I think has sailed ,and it's more the ilk of the Pauline Marois, & the Louise Harels and other hard lined separatists,who find it just easy to be on the gravy train,soliciting that vote,and there are plenty of them. Gilles Duceppe doesn't hate Canada enough to not cash his paycheques either..........lol
However he calls a spade a spade,which is more than I can say for many of the swine ,filling their snouts from the public trough.
ps: Gerald tremblay is also surrounded by separatists,*& he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar,blatantly,& he just dismiss's the notion that he is indeed a thief........it was in all the papers........hahahahaha

......ahhh and life goes on, ...............HF&RV

Ken McLaughlin said...

The joke here is that they are really digging hard to discredit Bergeron which the party interprets to mean he has arrived. A lot of the media stuff has been similar to what Obama went through with the "Muslim Terrorist" crap. And The Gazoo endorsed Tremblay which makes them pretty much irrelevant here now. But it does show you how the paranoia and old grudges still function.

What can you do? The Arctic might be gone in 10 years but most people still don't believe climate change is real. I make no pretense that I don't live on a planet full of morons. Um, make that "Moron Terrorists".

lol

Ken McLaughlin

Ken McLaughlin said...

A few interesting items. If you only counted the votes in the old Montreal districts, Louise Harel wins. That's quite ironic considering that she was one of the designers of the merged city.
Tremblay got in with about 36% of people who actually voted. 64% voted for someone else, while only about 39% of all registered voters showed up and marked their ballots properly. That all translates to about 14% for Tremblay amongst everyone 18 and over in Montreal. I think that tells you a lot. And it's very scary because incumbents usually have the money and are absolutely the ones most likely to benefit by a low turnout. If the protest vote doesn't show up, you are back in.

Look at this from the Projet Montreal website.
"Although each party is allowed several million dollars in total electoral expenses, Projet Montréal will voluntarily limit its 2009 campaign spending to $500,000. Any donations which would take the party’s campaign finances above this ceiling will be returned to their contributors, along with a list of worthy and charitable causes which might benefit from the money."

I heard that we never went much higher than 200,000k in total. Tremblay's party spent one million on election day alone.

We have the principles in place. But it is going to take another 4 years to go over the top.

Ken

pauline garneau said...

Poor Louise Harel if she had left Montreal as it was she could have been the mayor of The old Montreal according to your statistics. To bad she DIDN'T ASK the people of Montreal if they wanted their cities to merge.
O well life goes on.

pauline garneau said...

I would bet that the same people who believe that 911 didn’t happened believe that the holocaust did not happen also.

Not only did the separatist destroy the economy of Quebec and I see it as I travel down the 401 it also destroyed families. The economy may bounce back eventually but what they stole from mothers and fathers sisters and brother’s aunts and uncles etc can never be replaced. I’ m sure that many come back to Montreal only to visit the graves of parents buried in Canada and we will make sure that their final resting place will remain in Canada .


No one denies that a separatist may have some good ideas but the price we paid for their past good ideas and their future good ideas is what concerns me. People cannot see through people like them who try to disguise themselves as for the people when they are in it for themselves.


Pauline

David Flood said...

I like separatist NOW. It lit the bulb in my brain that told me there was no future for me or my potential family in Quebec. So I moved to sunny, warm California at the first chance that came up. And I like it here. Yup I like to visit my old digs but still see no future in the turmoil. We also have a pretty good hockey team (Sharks) trying to establish a history.

Thanks Rene and the others for showing me the way to San Jose.

Lastly, I know that in the 60s a Verdun alderman candidate spent a small fortune to get elected to a 12K a year job for a two year term. He eventually moved into a wonderful expensive house that was well above the norm for a person making that money. Go figure how.

Les F said...

That's it Dave ,you got it too, We should all appreciate the PQ party which Btw: had it's origins slightly before Rene Quebec, joined them ,but he was the driving force,and he did a good job driving 400,000 people & companies out of Quebec,in the first few years, & who knows how many in the first decade.
Aislin drew a great political satirical cartoon with Rene standing at the Ontario / Quebec border with nothing on and watching the very last Moving Truck leaving the Province,......the quote under the pcartoon,simply said "Can I get you anything else" as the Moving Van sped down the 401 to Toronto.
...and as most people know old Rene was never without a cigarette,and in this case Aislin had one sticking out of his naked arse...............hahahahahah
Aislin still has a cartoon in the Gazette everyday.
.but yes this Country grew greatly with the addition of many young minds & bodies that spread out through the land ,and of course we lost some to the US as well. & many other countries around the world. but that's what makes this Verdun Connections Our common denominator,these days.& of course the sporadic visits back to the LaBelle Province, but I would never move back,regardless of what changes back there,( cause the important things never change)
Have Fun & Remember Verdun

Diane Roberts said...

I'm with you Pauline...you tell it like it is! The anti-American, anti-Jewish and anti-Everything sentiment among many people makes them paranoid idiots, believing in their own fairytales! The Separatist Movement destroyed the growth and vibrancy of Montreal by forcing family and friends to make heart wrenching life changing decisions to leave the city they loved. The unique mix of French and English cultures made Montreal more vibrant & interesting than any other city in Canada. Yes, we had our problems and differences that needed to be addressed, but absolutely nothing compared to the problems facing Montreal today. Both French & English were proud to be from Quebec (Verdun especially!) and actually defined themselves by saying they were "English Quebecker or French Quebecois, not Canadian! We had a pride of place that made us unique and now when I visit Montreal, only the memory of a once great city lingers as the very fabric of a dynamic society was ripped apart by the separatists. The "new Montrealers" who have replaced the English, don't appear to have assimulated and therefore lack sense of pride in the place and responsiblilty towards the community as a whole. Of course by now, I'm only an outside observer who visits my "hometown" every couple of years. However, I feel privileged to have lived there when it was the "Jewel in the Crown"! The dynamics of the French and English just made it so special......Diane

Ken McLaughlin said...

I disagree, Diane. Montreal is consistently attracting "anglos" from around the world who still come here because they see a great, unique city, and a very cool place to raise a family. Things haven't gone the way us boomers would have liked them to go, so what? Let each generation enjoy their youth! If Montreal has gone downhill, what about the rest of Canada? I find it embarrassing that we now have a George Bush type of crowd in Ottawa at a time when the Americans may have finally rejected that kind of pure idiocy. Nothing wrong with Montreal that 5 or 6 Stanley Cups in the next 10 years couldn't cure. LOL!

Ken McLaughlin

Les F said...

Hmmmm let me know when the mighty Habs are in line for earning at least one more Stanley Cup.......It will certainly never happen in our lifetime that they get to 30.....hahaha Not a chance.but I do agree ,it would go a long way to restore harmony amongst the 'FranGlais' group,.let's face it all I care about is a new dynasty of Habs.........lol
I also have to disagree Ken about Montreal 'always' attracting anglos.....I do see an influx of immigrants ,who I almost agree with Diane, do not bother to mould in to the surrounding's group,but do certainly add to the Multi Ethnic melting pot ,that large cities are these days...
Hmmmmmm Meltin Pot, remember that instrumental tune by Booker T & the MG's

Have Fun & Remember Verdun

Les F said...

and here's the more known tune by Booker T & the MG's...........
Green Onions,.............came out along time before the movie American Grafitti,but was showcased in that flick.........

Diane Roberts said...

Do your homework Ken. Compare the hundreds of thousands of "Anglos" who have left Montreal since the early seventies versus the trickle who have returned. How else do you explain the population loss Montreal has suffered versus boring Toronto. Do the math!
By the way, I'm talking about real anglos Ken not "everyone other than French Quebecers" who may immigrate to Quebec...Diane

Ken McLaughlin said...

I am not talking about 30+ years ago. I am talking about what life is like here today.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/anglo+revival/2204478/story.html
Concordia has really grown into a great school and there is McGill, so we have long had plenty of young english people coming here every year. And I do mean people who's mother tongue is English. The whole debate about English/French here is very stale with an aging anglo boomer generation that remains bitter and at large across the country. Montreal is also a huge centre for the "creative class" tech types most of whom are under 35 and want a multiplicity of alternatives in their urban environments. No place in Canada can outdeliver Montreal in that area. It's a good place to be here, now.

Ken

Les F said...

Ken "creative class" tech types applies across this country,Victoria BC has anincredible 'tech type ' bunch,the whole westcoast has 'creative class' tech types,.just down the road from us here is guy called Bill Gates,..he's certainly what I might describe as a 'Creative Class' 'tech type'........hahaha Montreal has no market cornered in that department. I do see Montreal as a changing city (it has too) but so does every other place on the planet (it's inevitable)....I used to think of Montreal in the way it was (when I lived there) that's what spawns sites like this ,the nostalgia thing,however I don't think anyone here is living in the past,I think that everyone so far has expressed their thoughts,with all things considered ,That we all live in different spots around the globe & we do think back to Montreal as a sort of common denominator for us all. Many of the usual nonsense poltically wise does seem to rear it's ugly head in LaBelle Province more often than not. As I mentioned in a previous post, i too believe 'that ship has sailed' (so referring to it as 'stale') is accurate........but my point is more one of that there is life after Montreal,and Montreal although 'Unique' or at least once was,.it really is no more 'Unique' than most other places on the planet......and so the No place in Canadfa can out deliver Montreal is (imho) wrong ....Unless of course your talking about Pizza's......to have a few well reknown schools ,is not really much of an advantage anymore,as many places in Canada have well reknown schools....
Living wherever one choose to live & appreciating it,is more of passage of life, & a show of maturity....Montreal no longer holds the 'place where I'd like to be' award amongst young people,Toronto unfortunately is probably leading in that respect..and the West is where youth of back east want to go..
So you see my friend, the "Grass is always Greener on the other side "(of the Rockies)........hahahaha
HF&RV

Sandy Walsh said...

I agree Les - the grass is also greener on the other side of the Adirondacks - lol. I know about five or six kids from around here who went to McGill - why? - it was so incredibly cheap compared to what they would pay down here. While they say they got a great education and enjoyed Montreal for four years, they came back down here after graduation and went on to Ivy League grad schools - Columbia , etc. to complete their education - and they still don't speak French very well - lol lol lol

Ken McLaughlin said...

The world is indeed constantly changing, Les, we won't recognize what it will be like in 100 , um, more like 20-30 years, if not next week.
Keep an eye on Montreal, it won't let you down, we survived our worst mistakes, nowhere to go but up big time from here.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be as the saying goes.

Ken

Diane Roberts said...

Yes Ken, I agree with you that Concordia and McGill are great universities. McGill was always highly regarded and that will continue to be the case, but unfortunately for La Belle Province, most of the bright well educated graduates will leave the city for a better future elsewhere. However, I disagree that the whole debate is stale and dying out with an aging anglo boomer generation. The Parti Quebecois lives on, the debate over separation still simmers and continues to rear its ugly head and the fact is, it all started thirty years plus and is still having a huge negative effect on La Belle Province. While major cities around the world have grown in population and prospered, Montreal has been set back thirty years by the continual threat of possible separation from Canada, creating an unsettling atmosphere for investors, prospective new citizens and the continual slow exodus of young people leaving for brighter futures elsewhere. My husband Richard (totally bilingual) has just returned from Montreal and after many discussions with relatives (all French Quebecois), he heard the same negative feedback from young and old alike, visually he saw no growth in the city except for bicycle paths...nice, but not life exactly life changing for the majority. He lived in downtown Montreal and the stench was absolutely revolting from the sewerage system for the whole 4 weeks he was there. Not very condusive to encouraging a thriving tourist industry, especially from repeat visitors.......I think perhaps more money should be spent on upgrading the infrastructure and less on bicycles! Ken, I think bitterness abo

Diane Roberts said...

REARS IT'S UGLY HEAD! Les, I haven't used that expression in years and here I see you're using the same language half across the world at the same time!....Good on ya Mate!l

pauline garneau said...

Ken
http://msa.concordia.ca/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=29&limit=1&limitstart=1

http://msamcgill.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=14&pid=1

The face of the up coming leaders of our province .They are all multilingual. Fine, the English language may still be heard but the price we are paying for that, REASONABLE ACCOMADATION I’m sure you have heard of it. How far do we have to go to accommodate? Things we never heard of before like HONOR KILLINGS and allowing weapons to be carried etc. Canadians who have lived here for generations have been replaced with people who have no respect for our laws and the country that welcomed them.

Have you heard the expression brain drain????

As you have quoted “Nothing wrong with Montreal that 5 or 6 Stanley Cups in the next 10 years couldn't cure” In your world and your words what will that statement fix for Montreal ?????

Ken McLaughlin said...

If you are going to bring Muslims students at Concordia as a sure sign that something must be terribly wrong with Montreal, please let me consider this thread dead. It's okay to debate the pros and cons of something but if you are going to introduce racism, or something very much akin to it, as part of the debate, please do not continue to include me.

Ken McLaughlin

Ken McLaughlin said...

If you are going to bring Muslims students at Concordia as a sure sign that something must be terribly wrong with Montreal, please let me consider this thread dead. It's okay to debate the pros and cons of something but if you are going to introduce racism, or something very much akin to it, as part of the debate, please do not continue to include me.

Ken McLaughlin

Les F said...

Ahhh !! Montrealers discussing poltically charged conversations,........I love it...hahahahah
Imagine that Montrealers' having different opinions.......well will wonders never cease ( or is it ,will wonders 'ever cease)........ Feed the Christians to the Lions, (let the muslims blow each other up,who cares it 's all going to happen anyway.......(except for the Christian- vs- lions thing,.even they aren't that nutty anymore.................hahahahah where's those lightning bolts Sandy....surely I need a jolt by now.............hahahahahhaa

Sandy Walsh said...

We here in North America should be more like Australia - don't let anyone in unless they already have a job and at least $100,000 in the bank (is that right Diane?) - that would keep out a lot of troublemakers - here are some bolts for them (not for Les) - they deserve more than bolts

pauline garneau said...

To start with and get back on track Montreal elected an alleged thief as to a proclaimed Separatist. Doesn’t that tell you something? The separatist have one goal which hasn’t changed and that is to remove Quebec out of Canada.
Maybe Quebecers are starting to wake up and are trying to climb out of the rut that the province has been in for thirty years under the leader of the party Quebecois. For thirty years absolutely no new construction to our roads and when our overpasses fell down and killed people the government had a rude awaking .Only the bare necessity to maintenance and when they left powers they left a humongous debt. Where did the money go? Absolutely no accountability .Wouldn’t it be nice to have answers to some questions?
I am definitely not a racist I am stating a fact that what happened in my province had nothing to do with religion because I cannot equate murder with religion. As a woman I have rights and I have a right to my opinion the same as you as a man and if you want to back out of this thread because the truth hurts then by all means go ahead. That is your right.
The party Quebecois has not gone away and, they are still trying to control the new immigrant and French Canadians from attending English public schools. I was educated in English and I lost my children’s right to educate their children (( my grandchildren) in a language of their choice just because I sent my English speaking children to a French school because I wanted them to be bilingual and that they would have the option to stay in this province or leave for greener pastures. Don’t you think rights are worth fighting for?????
This thread can go on forever or until the party Quebecois flies the Canadian flag . The flag that I’m so proud of. O Canada we stand on guard for Thee.


Pauline


http://www.cjad.com/node/1021892

Diane Roberts said...

No Sandy, that's not the situation. We have various levels of migrants and who you are referring to business migrants that do have to bring in cash and also start businesses that employ at least 2 or 3 Australians for a period of 5 years, before qualifying for permanent residency or citizenship. We also have migrants who must pass a test which is fairly basic and of course we take in our fair share of refugees. Australia is a multi cultural society just like Canada & the States, however our quotas are lower as the country has a small population and very little liveable land. Big Country, Mostly Desert!

Diane Roberts said...

I agree Ken, that debating the pros and cons of a subject is what a debate is all about. But to "label" any negative comment regarding different cultures and religions as "Racist" is a ploy to try to keep people on the politically correct track. The multi-cultural diversity is a reality of all countries in the Western world today ( many non-Western societies do not tolerate multi-culturalism) and it is a reality that has brought both positives and negatives into our societies. To openly discuss the negatives is not racism, but facing facts and hopefully attacking and eventually solving the very real problems that face our societies today...imagined or real. I have noted that you have had no qualms about attacking the American society, and not just the previous government, with bitter and insulting language in the past....do you not consider this racism? I do.
That said, I too consider this thread a dead issue and I hope you can keep politics off this site. We all know you are an active member of a political party in Quebec and I wish you every success in the future, if, and I repeat if, your party represents a change for the good of Montreal, listening to the people and considering everyone's point of view. Now hopefully we can all get back to basics and celebrate our common thread....Verdun and it's wonderful history, people and its' future......Diane

Diane Roberts said...

Just noted that my comment seemed to be cut off at the end.
I don't believe bitterness is still a part of most former anglo Quebecers lives as they have moved on to develop enriched lives with family and friends elsewhere. Time heals all. That does not mean they don't continue to care about the stagnation that has affected our birthplace for decades and have concerns about the future of La Belle Province. Many of us have moved on, but we still have family there and would like to see the city rise again to it's former glory...at least I hope to see that happen in my lifetime because bottom line, La Belle Province will aways be home....Diane

Diane Roberts said...

Yeap Les, you've presented the whole Kit and Kaboodle! Lots of red tape but necessary for the sustainable growth of the country.
Now, when I arrived 36 years ago, we just paid for our plane tickets, hopped on a plane and landed in Sydney. The immigration officer asked us if we were visiting or staying? We said staying and he immediately stamped our passports with Permanent Resident Visas! They changed the law a couple of months later.....often wonder if we were the cause?....lol....Diane

Sandy Walsh said...

How apropos that Andy Rooney reports on how to get into the USA these days on 60 Minutes tonight - he's as honest as they come - that's why he's not a politician I guess

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5658419n&tag=related;photovideo

Les F said...

Well it seems Mr Tremblay was slightly more than humbled,by his less than stellar victory in the recent Montreal election. He garnered far fewer votes than he had in the previous term,so he has decided to "keep his friends close, & his enemies closer" I guess. He has appointed Mr Bergeron to the inner cabinet of the City of Montreal,.......I think this is a good move,he is acknowleding that Mr Bergeron must have something on the ball enough to add him to the mix,this does show some wisdom,as Mr Bergeron did recieve a large percentage of the vote.....Let's hope Mr Tremblay is sincere about trying to
"Clean up City Hall".......or is he just spreading the loot around a little further.............lol.
Heres' a recent article in today's online Gazette:


Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron was named Tuesday to the city of Montreal Executive Committee, which functions as the mayor’s inner cabinet.

Bergeron is one of two opposition councillors apppointed to the commitee by Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay Tuesday.

The mayor also named Lyn Thériault, of the Vision Montréal party, to the committee.

More details to come.


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