It is not the first pipeline debate we have had.
Back in 1956 the plan to build the pipeline to bring natural gas from the west to the east was divisive and confrontational.
Jump forward to 2016 and history is repeating itself.
The proposed Energy East Pipeline has the potential to become an issue of national unity.
Environmentalists warn of the dangers of spills and they don't like what they say is dirty oil from Alberta.
Proponents say it's a matter of energy self-sufficiency and national interest.
The credibility of the National Energy Board to guide and oversee this process has been compromised.
This week it became a circus as angry protesters stormed Monday’s meeting and the NEB decided to back away from Montreal hearings -- at least for now.
They were not prepared.
The fact that its members met with Jean Charest, who lobbied for TransCanada Pipelines, and that has destroyed any semblance of perceived neutrality.
The board totally bungled it.
What the NEB needs to do is clean house and start again.
Bad start to school
Sometimes they really don't get it.
Teachers in an elementary school in Outremont decided to welcome students back to class by wearing and distributing traditional indigenous headdresses.
What the hell were they thinking?
Obviously they were not.
The Assembly of First Nations is quite correct in saying that Quebec needs better education.
It is difficult to fight racism when people deny it exists.
To have teachers setting such examples is shameful.
What is next? Quebec teachers wearing blackface?
Opposition parties struggle for traction
It has been a crazy week in politics.
The PQ leadership candidates are all snipping at each other.
The party seems almost certain to pick the underwhelming Alexandre Cloutier from the Saguenay.
The others are complaining that Cloutier is blocking their access to party members.
Is politics supposed to be fair?
Over at the CAQ, they are drooling about bringing back the identity politics debate.
The Caquistes think displacing the PQ as the party of Quebec values could bring them to power.
They want fewer immigrants, and want anyone who comes here to pass a values test, including promising to forsake burkinis.
The premier chimed in calling Francois Legault the Trump of Quebec.
The CAQ is playing the only card it can in positioning itself as the defender of Quebec.
Trump, on the other hand, is a misogynist, racist demagogue who vows to deport millions of people in his first hour in office.
Legault, on the other hand, is just a political opportunist pandering for votes.
Fine the litterers
As far as big cities go, Montreal is not the cleanest I've seen.
Litter and garbage on the streets has been a problem for years.
But when the city pays a million of your dollars into a campaign that includes erecting a giant replica of dog poop complete with flies, you have to wonder who makes these decisions.
Do these bright lights at city hall really think this will be effective?
If you want a clean city you need enforcement.
Franchement, what were they thinking?
Same answer as before: they weren’t.
Your tax dollars at work.
