Martin C. Barry

The Nova Scotia-born founder of a new Montreal-based group for Anglophones who support the idea of Quebec becoming a sovereign nation maintains that the current rights of English-speaking citizens would be guaranteed in an independent Quebec based on a statement former PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau was going to make on the night in 1995 when sovereignists lost the last independence referendum.

“In a separate Quebec I see all those rights being protected,” said Jennifer Drouin, a Montreal-based professor of English who started the group Anglophones for Quebec Independence which now claims to have up to 50 members.

A ‘non-issue,’ she says

“I see it really as a non-issue that Anglophones shouldn’t be worried about,” she said. “I understand that they are, but they shouldn’t because those rights have always been there and they will always be there. And sovereignist governments are constantly restating that and reaffirming that they will protect Anglophone linguistic rights.”

Drouin maintained that in 1995, when then PQ Premier Parizeau pre-recorded a victory speech for the Yes side in the referendum had they won, he explicitly stated that he was committed to protecting the historical rights of the English community in a sovereign Quebec.

More notoriously, though, it was on that same evening, when the Yes side failed to muster enough support and narrowly lost the referendum, that Parizeau made his infamous comments about “money and ethnic votes” having cheated the Yes side out of a win.

‘Unfortunate’ Parizeau comments

“That was unfortunate,” said Drouin, dismissing the incident. “I think we all know that was a speech made in the heat of the moment, and none of his councillors at the time agreed and we’ve been compensating for that one moment of emotion ever since.” Still she maintained that when Parizeau recorded his alternate statement for a victory, “there was a very strong commitment to historical Anglophone linguistic rights.”

To further bolster her case, Drouin noted that in 2007, when former PQ MNA Daniel Turp tabled a proposed constitution in the National Assembly for an independent Quebec, “he very explicitly referenced in the opening preamble the historical rights of the English community,” she said. “And we also have to remember that after a Yes vote, sovereignty doesn’t just happen like that: there’s a negotiation that will happen between Quebec and Ottawa.”

Measures not ‘anti-English’

Since 1976 when they first started being elected, PQ governments have enacted the strictest legislation Quebec has ever known to protect the French language and culture. This has included Bill 101, which restricted the use of languages other than French in public advertising and led to the creation of an outspoken lobby of anglo rights activists. Drouin said she doesn’t understand what all the fuss was about in this last respect.

“We [AQI] don’t feel that measures to protect the French language are anti-English,” she said. “Because, I mean, if you look around, living in Quebec as an anglophone, it’s so easy I find. I honestly have trouble understanding the argument of oppression because I’ve had nothing but fantastic treatment as an Anglophone living here for 15 years.”

She maintained that the services for anglophones in Quebec, which include many longstanding institutions such as McGill University, Bishop’s University, as well as hospitals like the MUHC, are exemplary compared to what’s available for French-speaking minorities in other parts of Canada, such as the Acadians in Nova Scotia where the availability of services for them is lamentable.

Wants to build bridges

Drouin said the purpose of Anglophones for Quebec Independence “is to give anglophone sovereignists space to come together to have a collective voice so that people know that we exist and to build bridges between the two solitudes – to have the anglophone and francophone communities in dialogue.”

Drouin, who was born into an English-speaking family and adopted her francophone name after marrying a French-Canadian, said she became acutely aware of the endangered state of the French language in most of Canada outside Quebec after attending university in the Acadian region of Atlantic Canada where she said French is constantly under threat.

“One of the things you notice very frequently is the difficulty of trying to get services in French,” she said. “Trying to get health care services in French in Nova Scotia is extremely difficult.” She said that while in Nova Scotia she found herself cast in the role of “constantly playing translator” for her French-speaking spouse who was originally from Trois-Rivières in Quebec.

Martin C. Barry

According to a 2015 province-wide CROP survey of community vitality among Quebec’s English-speaking population, the anglophone community in Laval underwent the greatest amount of growth, increasing from 31,357 English-speakers in 1996 to 82,000 in 2011.

When Quebec’s English-speaking communities were compared in the survey, Laval – where the total population now exceeds 400,000 – saw the greatest jump, said Joanne Pocock, a consulting researcher for the Quebec City-headquartered Community Health and Social Services Network.

Growth in English community

Presentation of the findings from the CHSSN survey, which was funded by a grant from the federal government, were the main subject of a special meeting of Agape NPI Partners held at Cité de la Santé on Sept. 29.

“Laval is always remarkable to us at CHSSN for being such a growing English-speaking community,” Pocock continued. She said she presumed that the surge in Laval over the 15-year period probably represents “a lot of young families and children that probably are fitting in there.”

With the aid of a graph, Pocock pointed out, without overstating, that around 16,000 of the anglophones in Laval are 55 years old and over. “That’s a fair number,” she said. “They represent over 19 per cent of the English-speaking population. Substantial.”

Kevin McLeod, executive-director of the Youth and Parents Agape Association Inc. which anchors NPI Partners, interjected that Agape is currently in the process of beginning groundwork for the establishment of an English-speaking senior citizens’ wellness centre.

English wellness centre

“Laval needs to have a wellness centre for English-speaking seniors,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get some funds together because of the importance, having Place des Aînés, we have a lot of community groups, we have a lot of seniors clubs. We have all this working out, but we need a wellness for seniors. That’s one of our projects we’re working on right now.”

When Agape social worker Ian Williams pointed out that a significant amount of Laval’s English-speaking population sees itself forced to go to the island of Montreal to seek out health and social services in their own language because they are usually not available here, CHSSN’s Pocock said the question did come up in the CROP survey as to whether individuals are using services outside their region.

Lack of English services

“There’s a fair proportion that comes up for Laval,” she said. “We also asked them what was your main reason? There were lots of reasons cited, but certainly what came out on top in Laval was that they didn’t have access to English services in their region. That’s why they found themselves going elsewhere. That’s their main barrier.”

Examining some income statistics, Pocock said “it’s certainly remarkable in Laval to see that 50 per cent of the 65 and over are living on a low income” which is often less than $20,000 per year.

“We know from research that lower income individuals tend to be less healthy, so they have a demand for services, and they’re less likely to be able to afford private services. So you are going to see that clientele at your hospital or at your CLSC. They need those public services.”

Two-hundred-and-seventy respondents from Laval in the survey were asked how satisfied they were with access to health and social services in English. More than 50 per cent replied that they were not satisfied.

Not satisfied with service

“If you look across the regions, you’ll see that’s among the highest reporting no satisfaction,” Pocock added. Just 22 per cent responded being affirmatively satisfied with the level of service, she said. While the sampling may seem small, she confirmed to Williams that “it’s a statistically substantial group” for a population of 82,000. She elaborated on the implications for Laval’s English-speaking population.

“It’s been shown when you’re in a situation of poor health, when you’re older, age also affects this. There are a number of elements actually that come into play at the point of communication, at the point of access. Which means you don’t use your second language as easily as you might in other situations. So when you have a health issue, when you’re anxious, stressed, age also affects your capacity to use your second language.”

As far as your pets are concerned, Halloween is just another day. They won’t understand the reason for extra visitors coming to the door; nor the concept of costumes and masks.

Like most holidays, Halloween comes with its own set of concerns for our cats and dogs. Let’s break those concerns down into three main categories: candy, costumes and trick-or-treaters at the door.

Candy
The last thing you want is to spend October 31^st in the emergency room at your local veterinary hospital because your dog got into your candy bowl.

Chocolate is the biggest culprit. Chocolate poisoning in cats or dogs can be dangerous, even deadly. Xylitol, an artificial sweetener found in some candies, can also be poisonous to dogs.

While you may know that chocolate (and xylitol) are no-nos for pets, others may not. When your kids come home with their loot for the night, remind them that candy is for people only!

Costumes
It may look cute when dogs and cats are dressed up as superheroes or other animals, but if you plan on dressing up your pet for Halloween it’s important to ensure the costume was actually intended to be worn by animals. The costume shouldn’t be too restrictive; your pet should still be able to move and breathe.

Festive bandannas can be a safe choice for dogs that just aren’t comfortable wearing a costume.

Trick-or-Treaters
Let’s face it: dogs get excited (and sometimes territorial) when strangers show up ringing the doorbell. Consider keeping your front door open or sitting outside on your porch so that your doorbell isn’t ringing over and over again.

You may want to keep your pet in their crate in a closed room during trick-or-treating hours to avoid them sneaking out the door during all the commotion. You should also make sure your pet has their collar on that night with correct identification tags, just in case it runs out the door.

The most important thing is to know what you are going to do with your pets on Halloween night before the big day arrives. Talk to your veterinary healthcare team ahead of time for more information on how to keep your pets safe during all of the Halloween festivities.

(SOURCE: Canadian Animal Health Institute)

Martin C. Barry

The Conservatives won the 2006 federal election with 40 per cent of the seats and 36 per cent of votes, followed by the 2008 election when they won 46 per cent of seats with 38 per cent of national support.

The Conservatives scored another win in 2011 when they finished with 54 per cent of the seats and 39.6 per cent popular support, while the Liberals won the 2015 election with 50 per cent of the seats but just 35.5 per cent of the national vote.

A flawed system?

These kinds of lob-sided election results – in which the seat count doesn’t jive with the popular result – are leading some observers to view Canada’s current electoral system as fundamentally flawed, according to Saint-Louis Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, president of the Liberal government’s special electoral reform committee.

Scarpaleggia was at the Centre de Sablon in Chomedey on Sept. 13 to lead a public consultation meeting attended by 20 or so people, with three of Laval’s four MPs (Angelo Iacono [Alfred-Pellan], Yves Robillard [Marc-Aurèle-Fortin] and Fayçal El-Khoury [Laval-Les Îles]) also present.

Canada’s current electoral system, known as “first-past-the-post” or plurality voting, has voters indicating on the ballot the candidate of their choice, with the one receiving more votes than any other winning the election. The government’s actions date from a resolution passed at a Liberal Party of Canada convention in Montreal in 2014, a year before they formed the current government.

Some voting alternatives

Alternative types of voting system that were presented during the meeting included: Preferential or Ranked Voting, in which voters rank candidates in order of preference, with the winner requiring at least 50 per cent support; Proportional Representation, which increases the impact of the popular vote while weakening the link between voters and local representatives; Single Transferable Voting, in which electors vote for their most preferred candidate, and as the count proceeds and candidates are elected or eliminated, the vote is transferred to second-choice candidates; and Mixed Proportional Representation, which combines first-past-the-post and Proportional Representation. An added complication to some of these is that they involve electing more than one representative per riding.

While the NDP and the Green Party agree that Canada is overdue for an electoral reform and are participating fully, the official opposition Conservatives have been much less enthusiastic. The Conservatives have also been conducting an aggressive campaign on Twitter and other social media, demanding the Liberal government hold a referendum if any changes are made to the country’s electoral system.

Response by constituents

During a question and answer period following a PowerPoint presentation, several residents said what they thought of the proposed alternatives. Alain Ouimet of Alfred-Pellan said he tended to favour Mixed Proportional Representation, while adding, “I am mostly in favour of changing the actual model.”

One of the criticisms expressed during the meeting about Mixed Proportional Representation is that since it is a two-tier system, involving the election of representatives from local ridings as well political party representatives, the cost of sustaining such a system could easily be higher.

Viken Afarian of Laval-Les Îles said the present electoral system is “is one of the worst among the potential choices. I also am in favour of Proportional Representation, but at the same time as saying that we don’t have to increase the number of elected representatives because we could change the number of ridings to make sure that, I don’t know, say 75 per cent of representatives are elected by the ridings, 25 per cent nationally through party lists.

“For me this is not a worry but it’s not where I am going,” he added. “Preferential voting would be much better than what we have got. On the other hand, we will lose the vote expressed in first and second rounds by people who have become lost. We would be in the process of forcing the channelling of votes that perhaps the citizens don’t want.”

Against radical reform

George Guzmas, editor of the Laval News and a Laval-Les Îles resident, waded into the debate. He said that in Italy there have been 62 governments since World War II, largely because Italy has held elections with the Mixed Proportional Representation system. He also pointed out that in Greece, where a form of Proportional Representation is used, a neo-Nazi party gained the opportunity to run for the Greek parliament largely because of the nature of the electoral system.

“This is why I am against a radical reform of the electoral system,” he said, “because I think democracy in Canada and the electoral system are working very well. I know, too, that at the present time Italy is looking at the Canadian electoral system to change theirs.” Guzmas said he plans to present a written memorandum, including his opposition to a reform, to the electoral reform committee.

Mixed Proportional Representation

Michel Charuest of Alfred-Pellan suggested that Mixed Proportional Representation could help build bridges between political parties by encouraging them to work more closely, while reducing the tendency of parties to be partisan. He pointed to the example of Germany as a European country where Mixed Proportional Representation is used and the government is stable.

“That’s why I believe that Mixed Proportional Representation is one of the best systems,” said Charuest, while adding that Canada’s current electoral system favours regional parties, such as the Bloc Québécois, who have used it to their advantage.

The Liberal government’s attempt at electoral reform comes two years after the former Conservative government passed the Fair Elections Act, which was attacked by opponents (including the Liberals) as an attempt by the Conservatives to change the country’s electoral system to the Conservatives’ advantage. Iacono and El-Khoury maintained adamantly that there is nothing partisan in the Liberals’ current efforts.

‘Not partisan,’ say Liberals

“Absolutely not,” said El-Khoury. “All the decisions will be based on facts, on evidence, on research, on consultation. You know, for this particular reform our minister is travelling and we are doing consultation from coast to coast to coast. We are collecting data, evidence and we will provide our report to the Chamber, but all the citizens of Canada are being consulted.”

Iacono noted that the Liberals “invited all the other parties to be part of this process, so we’re not really doing it on our own. We’re inviting everybody to be part of it.” As for the indifferent response from some opposition MPs, he acknowledged, “They are not much collaborating, but we have continuously invited them to be part of this change to help us to come up with something that will represent all Canadians.”

Scarpalegggia, for his part, pointed out that the Liberal government’s good intentions should be evident given the fact they agreed to put together the electoral reform committee with a minority of Liberals as members. “The rules of the House of Commons make it such that committees reflect the distribution of seats in the House, but this is an exception,” he said, adding “I think this is a gesture of good faith.”

(TLN)

Laval mayor Marc Demers has repeated his position to a federal panel of commissioners regarding the necessity to maintain door-to-door mail delivery in the city’s older neighbourhoods.

“A number of our residents have no problem with the community postal delivery boxes in neighbourhoods where recent changes took place,” Demers said in a statement.

Older neighbourhoods

“The way things are done has become clear for some. But this is not the case in our older neighbourhoods which are more densely populated and largely inhabited by older people or persons with reduced mobility who are losing an essential service without anything to replace it.”

Therefore the mayor is asking Canada Post to withdraw all community mail boxes from Laval’s older neighbourhoods. “In the most recent neighbourhoods, we want Canada Post to systematically review each of its community postal box installations in conjunction with our staff in order to assure us that they fully respond to the criteria of security and fluidity of traffic. In cases where the situation might be problematic, these boxes must be reinstalled elsewhere.”

Seeks cooperative approach

Demers said that in all new neighbourhoods of Laval, the installation of community mailboxes will have to be validated through a consultation process in conjunction with municipal services so that the boxes respect Laval’s municipal regulations. “It is our wish that Canada Post takes care of these community mailboxes as a good corporate citizen, concerned about the environment, while integrating recycling bins for paper in these installations.”

Demers also took a moment to criticize the past behaviour of Canada Post. “We were confronted by a unilateral decision by Canada Post to abandon home delivery,” he told the commissioners. “From the moment the decision was implemented, the City of Laval was up against an absence of listening and cooperation. But in October 2014, a resolution by the municipal council attested to our desire to cooperate with Canada Post.”

Canada Post criticized

According to the mayor, a negotiated solution would have allowed planning for better installations that would have answered to the corporate goals of Canada Post as well as of the citizens. Apart from that, he said it would also have avoided security problems while reducing the anxiety of handicapped or older residents living in some of Laval’s older neighbourhoods.

“The decision by Canada Post gave way to chaotic implementation of the community mail boxes,” added Demers. “We would have wished to deal with an intervener that was more conciliatory, more humane in its way of meeting objectives.” He said he respected Canada Post’s goal of efficiency and viability in the context that it took into account “respect for our most vulnerable citizens.”

Martin C. Barry

After 25 years in the taxi business, George Boussios says he has never seen a provincial government do so many about-faces as the Liberals have in their handling of Uber.

“In one Liberal mandate, their first transport minister, Robert Poëti, was against Uber a hundred percent, saying it’s illegal,” the president of Champlain Taxi, Montreal’s second-largest taxi service, said in an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia.

Three ministers and counting

“A few months later Mr. Poëti was gone and then they put in Mr. Daoust,” he added, referring to Liberal MNA Jacques Daoust who was then appointed transport minister. “But I guess Mr. Couillard wasn’t too happy with the second transport minister going against him, and then the Rona problem arose and he [Daoust] resigned. So now we have a third transport minister in one mandate, which right there to me doesn’t seem right.”

The latest appointee in the transport minister’s post is Laurent Lessard. He remains largely unmoved by the pleas of the province’s established taxi industry to deal more decisively with Uber, which is gradually undermining conventional taxi service. The government’s overall view is that Uber – which uses independent car owners without taxi permits – is operating legally, although the government believes some tweaking is necessary to iron out inconsistencies between Uber and regular taxi service.

A question of fairness

“All we are asking for is fairness,” said Boussios, who took over Champlain from his father who operated it before for decades. According to Boussios, the value of taxi permits, which have been mandatory for cab owners up to now, has diminished by more than $100,000 since Uber became involved in the past few years.

“Five, six years ago they were worth $210,000 – $220,000. I saw a permit two weeks ago that was put up for sale for $120,000. The owner died and the family put it up for sale. That really says it all. If you can drive for Uber without a permit, why would you invest even $1,000 if you can do it without a permit? It looks to me almost like someone is trying to devalue permits on purpose.”

While maintaining that San Francisco-headquartered Uber hasn’t been obeying new legislation, including a clause that says the company’s drivers can’t bill for more than 1.5 per cent in surge charges, Boussios said the company routinely behaves as though it is beyond the reach of the law.

“We all know that Uber does not follow any laws or respect any laws, whether it’s here or all over the world, and that’s why they’re in court all over the world now because they don’t care about the law. It’s a disgrace that we – especially the Liberal Party – make a law and Uber just laughs in their face and does basically whatever they want.”

Champlain’s fleet shrinking

While Champlain Taxi’s operations peaked at 500 cars, the fleet now stands at around 390 vehicles. “Permit owners can’t find drivers to work their cars,” said Boussios. “The people who are suffering the most in this are the permit owners. When a driver, who hasn’t invested anything, hears from Uber that he can work with no rules or regulations, why is he going to work for me?”

For Champlain Taxi, the immediate impact has been a reduction in revenue which comes from monthly dues. “If they’re paying $400 per month per car per owner and 10 cars leave, I’ve lost $4,000 right there – that’s what we’re losing.” At the rate Uber is advancing, he predicts that within five years the taxi industry as it is now will no longer exist.

“Look at Diamond,” he said, referring to Montreal’s longtime cab industry leader which was bought up recently by transportation entrepreneur Alexandre Taillefer. “Diamond was the biggest one in Montreal and they sold out. If Diamond with 1,000 cars and that’s been a family-run business for 60 – 70 years can do that, what’s next? If Uber stays, it doesn’t look good for any company. There’ll be no point of driving a taxi when you drive for Uber in your own car.”

Impact on immigrants

Boussios sees individual taxi permit owners as being the biggest losers in the chaos that is sweeping Quebec’s taxi industry. “I’m talking about the person who’s invested $200,000, remortgaged his house to basically buy a job.” He said immigrants are most affected, including Haitians, Algerians, North Africans, Lebanese and some Greeks left over from an earlier generation of cab owners.

Boussios sees the inaction of Premier Philippe Couillard’s government as symptomatic of decay he thinks lies within the Liberal Party. “All my life I’ve been a Liberal and my parents were Liberals,” he said. “We are told to vote Liberal because of fear of separation and referendums and language laws. But at the end of the day, you know what, it is a party of corruption. In the end, they’re not for the middle-class and hardworking people. They’re for people like Uber and for people like Taillefer who are part of the top one per cent.”

Martin C. Barry

On Monday Sept. 19, grade five students from École Boisjoili in eastern Laval got a guided tour of one of Île Jésus’ best kept secrets – the Bois Papineau. Although the densely-wooded forest behind the Pavillon du Bois Papineau on Saint-Martin Blvd. East has been a protected area for decades, a surprising number of people are not yet aware of its charms.

Very old trees

Among other things, the Papineau woods are said to resemble very closely what the forests of New France looked like shortly after the arrival of the first colonists. This is because many of the trees are more than 200 hundred years old. In 2016, the City of Laval is marking the 30^th year since an association was formed to lobby successfully for the woods to be declared a conservation site.

By 1986, long after vast agricultural and wooded areas of the City of Laval had started to be settled for suburban development, the Association du Bois Papineau was formed to safeguard what was increasingly seen as a threatened natural heritage. Today the territory is well protected over an area of several acres from development and construction.

For the children

Following the tour, the students and their teachers were joined in the Pavillon du Bois Papineau by Mayor Marc Demers, Mille-Îles Liberal MNA Francine Charbonneau, Laval city councillor for Val-des-Arbres Christiane Yoakim and CSDL president Louise Lortie. Demers spoke of the importance of preserving Laval’s forested areas such as the Papineau woods for future generations of children. He also maintained that since coming to power at Laval city hall three years ago, his administration has taken important steps to protect Laval’s woodlands.

Lungs of the city

“At the same time our woodlands are the lungs of a big city,” added Demers. “We know that air quality is a constant challenge. So we must do everything and make every effort to preserve the quality of the air. I have said before that we are what we breathe and we have a responsibility to assure the best quality possible. Health costs linked to the quality of the air are going through the roof in Canada these past few years according to the latest studies that I have been privileged to see and it is enormous. It is a sign that we need to be careful with our woodlands.”

New book launched

Charbonneau followed up on the children’s theme brought up by Demers. “It is through you that we come to understand that the woods don’t belong to adults – they are lent out to the children,” she said, alluding to the fact that the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said something along the same lines.

At the same time, the gathering was also was the occasion for the launch of a new book completed for the 30^th anniversary of the Papineau woodlands: L’Arbre millénaire, ou l’histoire du Bois Papineau. Publication of the book received an important amount of financial support from Me. Pierre Renaud who was also present for its launch.