What happened this week in an NDG garage was so much more than vandalism. It was without question an act of hate.
The spray painting of swastikas, albeit backwards, on four cars is troubling, and more so were the threatening notes and bullet left behind.
The plague of anti-Semitism has been growing at an alarming rate in Europe where the lessons of the past seem to mean nothing.
Obviously we are not immune here. It is a constant threat and each and every one of us must denounce it whenever it rears its ugly head.
When the premier of Quebec rose in the National Assembly he struck exactly the right note
“These cowardly acts remind us how important it is to continue to combat intolerant gestures that target the Jewish community and all ethnocultural minorities in Quebec,” said Premier Philippe Couillard.
It is never simple vandalism; not when there is so much ignorance, so much hatred. We all have a responsibility to speak up and speak out.
Objections to Bill 20
No one likes to be forced into doing anything.
Quebec doctors do have a point when they are raising their objections to Bill 20.
The health minister is right when he says more Quebecers need access to family physicians. About 25 percent of Quebecers don’t have a GP.
Health Minister Gaetan Barrette threatens that unless doctors take on more patients they will have their pay cut.
The doctors, on the other hand, say Barrette is wrong, that forcing them to substantially increase their patient load will lead to assembly-line medicine, and further that patients needing more care will suffer.
Plus the minister doesn’t take into account all the hours they work in hospitals.
There must be some room for compromise here, but by trying to use his muscle to force the issue, Barrette is making a mistake.
No one likes to be pushed around and most people tend just to push back.
Bye bye Bolduc
It was only a matter of time before Yves Bolduc made one gaffe too many.
His comments on respectfully strip-searching teenagers were way over the top and his boss, the premier, knew that Bolduc had to go, by either the carrot or the stick, and it is quite a carrot.
Bolduc’s golden parachute from the National Assembly is $155,000 plus it will cost us another half a million or so to hold a byelection to replace him.
As Bob Dylan once sang, "Money doesn’t talk, it swears."
Envy in Quebec City
Now apparently size does matter.
At least it does to some of our friends downriver.
You can’t fault them for ambition and for perhaps trying for a little one-upmanship
A Quebec City developer, with the support of the capital’s mayor, wants to build a 65-storey skyscraper.
It would the tallest building east of Toronto, they note.
In other words, taller than anything in Montreal.
Quebec City has always felt a little inferior to La Metropole.
Critics say the city doesn’t need some steel and concrete monstrosity more suited to Dubai than la Vielle Capitale.
Quebec City is a little jewel on the St- Lawrence. It’s a world heritage site.
The last thing it needs is a grandiose scheme based on tower envy.
It’s pretty much perfect the way it is.
