So a horse walks into a bar and the bartender says "hey buddy, why the long face?"

Sorry, it always makes me smile.

In this case, it’s more of an about-face. A huge about-face.

I’m referring of course to the mayor and his flip-flop on caleches.

The mayor's rash decision to immediately slap a one year moratorium on the caleche industry was impulsive.

Caleches have been around this city for hundreds of years and all of a sudden, in the heat of the moment, his worship decides to pull them off the road.

Obviously a rash decision because without warning, without consultation, he decided to take away the livelihoods of the drivers.

Now if the caleche industry needs new rules and if Mr. Coderre wants a new set of regulations they should be thoughtfully considered and implemented.

One of the things the city can do right away is to make road construction sites safer for the horses, or maybe give them new routes that aren't as dangerous.

To act in such an authoritarian manner is just wrong. You just don't treat people that way or horses.

SAQ rips us off

Another voice of sanity has been added to the growing list of people who think it’s time for the government to get out of its monopoly on the sale of wine and spirits in Quebec.

Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc confirmed what we all know: the SAQ rips us off. Plain and simple.

She found the SAQ does not get the best prices from its suppliers and the profit margins are way too high.

In Ontario the LCBO imposes mark ups of 71.5 percent.

In Quebec, mark ups go as high as 121 percent.

Her findings were similar to a government-appointed committee which last year recommended ending the SAQ monopoly to give consumers more choice.

But don't count on this government to do anything so bold or daring.

Let’s face it, the SAQ is just a tax collection agency, and competition doesn't suit the nanny state philosphy of Quebec where the government knows best.

Once again the people who are supposed to be in charge, the people who pay the taxes and elect the politicians, are left holding the bill.

Slap on the wrist

Do you wonder why people lose confidence in the police and justice system?

The Montreal police department’s own version of Rambo, Stefanie Trudeau, received 60 hours of community work for assaulting an innocent citizen.

That's it?

Too often people think when it comes to police there is a double standard.

They are right. 60 hours is a slap on the wrist.

Ambassadorial manhandling

Elbowgate will soon be long forgotten. Now this, we have a real case of manhandling.

Our ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickers, the former Mountie and House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms who was hailed as a hero for shooting a gunman on Parliament Hill, tackled a lone protester in Dublin.

Can you imagine foreign ambassador coming to Canada and tackling protesters here?

It's a matter for local police, not the diplomatic corps of another country.

We will be forever grateful for his heroism on that terrible day in Ottawa in October 2014.

But let's leave this sort of stuff to Liam Neeson.