It took hard words and harder numbers to change us. Lockdowns are not normal. Neither is social isolation. Many of those words and numbers have been proven wrong. They are now being changed as new facts are coming to light. Now that we are beginning a social and economic reboot, we must act …
Some of the concern over re-engaging after the lockdown has to do with the numbers. Every day only the total numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are reported. And each death is tragic make no mistake. But it is also important to remember that numbers must be taken in perspective. Y…
Commerce will restart on Monday. Montreal’s numbers are coming down. We have had under 50 deaths a day from Covid all this week. The lowest numbers in almost two months. But many habits won’t change quickly if at all. Many will continue to work most of their week from home. You’re reading on…
Montreal mayor Valerie Plante decided earlier in the week to allow restaurants to open terraces without the usual exorbitantly high fees demanded by the city. Some went as high as $30,000 for the season.
We wrote last week,of all the reasons why this is the right time for a gradual reopening. And of all the things we will be changing to assure the safety and success of our societal reboot. But all the rules and comforting words can only go so far. We understand that concerns remain. Sometime…
No, these New Rules are not a replay of Bill Maher. But we are rolling out our society again. To paraphrase one of this week’s correspondents Henri Bybelezer, we are awakening and arising. And though it’s not going to be as tough as leaving a Higgins boat and landing on Omaha Beach, we are g…
Premier François Legault this week outlined a gradual plan for restoring education and business in Quebec as we report on our front page . We understand that many are still concerned. But the reality is that there is no measure that can absolutely protect anyone from catching Corona. As deva…
Despite all the caution Quebec is using in gradually restarting our economy, we know that many of you are scared. Most understand the necessity and are ready for the challenge. But everyone has some corner of concern in our minds.
Premier Legault is about to make some decisions that are the hardest for any governor to make for the governed. These decisions are now being considered throughout North America and indeed through the western world. He is about to set a timetable to reopen our society. He will be striking a …
We have been pleased to use this space to praise Premier Legault’s handling of the Covid crisis here in Quebec. He has rolled out urgent measures with resolve and conviction and less pressing ones with a gradualism that allowed all of us to properly acclimatize and not give in to panic. When…
So many owe so much to so few. That paraphrase of Winston Churchill’s famous statement during the Battle of Britain was in our minds as we planned this special issue where we profile some of today’s frontline heroes in the Covid crisis. This can rightly be called the Battle of the World. And…
This is a tough time. But we are a tough people. We have an obligation to steel our resolve, marshal our strength and do the most we can do with what we have now. If we don’t we’ll have nothing on the other side of all this.
There is nothing good about this Corona crisis. There is nothing good about any crisis. But as CNN’s Chris Cuomo said this week, “Hard times make tough people.”
It’s been a hard week. There is no getting around it. The constant headlines on corona, and the number of countries affected. The tough health policies put in place. And the biggest daily drops in stock markets since 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. Sometimes we lose sight of the larger p…
The current slew of litigations filed and threatened almost makes the infighting over Bill 40 before it was passed seem like a gentle prelude. From the EMSB, to the QCGN to QESBA and to a variety of French school boards, the legal papers are flying and many law factories are gearing up for a…
What is it about February and language? That thought came to mind when the CAQ voted for a PQ motion last Thursday to expand Bill 101 into areas of federal jurisdiction and make it applicable to small companies of 25-49 employees. Now, it’s just a motion but it is still dangerous and disappo…
The railroad blockades that are plaguing the country are the wrong tactic based on wrong facts and aimed at the wrong victims. They are nothing but the result of a political exploitation of an internal and localized west coast First Nations dispute that has spilled into the national arena. I…
Day after day we all work hard, try to provide for ourselves and our families and as tired as we get in the face of rising taxes, demanding government and crumbling services, we comfort each other by repeating the mantra that we should be grateful we live in a free country. But freedom isn’t…
Monday, January 27, was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. So designated by the United Nations. It was also the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
This past Monday was the United Nations’ International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was also precisely seventy-five years since the liberation of Auschwitz. The UN, at whose entrance are carved the words of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah that, “Swords shall be beaten into plowshares and nation s…
Last week, Montreal’s opposition party leader Lionel Perez held a press conference calling on the Plante administration to pull the plug on electric scooters after last year’s pilot project. He claimed that scooter users flaunt parking laws, don’t use helmets and that scooters are left anywh…
Albert Camus once wrote that, “At every corner of every street, the absurdity of life can hit anyone in the face.” No words come more to mind than these as we ponder the deaths of the victims of Ukrainian International flight 752 shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile.
As we enter the new year, we would like you to imagine some things.
A special thanks to our extended Suburban family
With this last issue of the year coming out in this special celebratory season, we thought this date called for a special sentiment. So we wanted to take this space and move away from the public issues and offer some personal thoughts.and those thoughts are aimed at you, our extended Suburba…
Almost one year ago today Montreal Executive Committee President Benoit Dorais announced that the city was considering a by-law to outlaw Public-Sac distribution. We wrote then that this was another damaging example of arrogant dogma replacing common sense in public policy. Again, instead of…
Almost exactly ten years ago we first championed the case of Bela Kosoian. A law student then and mother of two, she was manhandled by a transit cop at the Laval Montmorency metro stop because she did not have her hand on the handrail of an escalator as suggested by pictograms. She refused t…
Last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved Canada voting for a U.N. resolution condemning Israel. It was the first time since former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was elected that Canada has committed such an odious act. And this act came one week after some 600 rockets launched from …
This past Monday Montreal city council voted unanimously to accept the motion of council dean Marvin Rotrand calling on the SPVM to stop “unfounded and random” police checks of Montrealers. The motion arose out of a finding of an independent report that found many “arbitrary checks that disp…
Through all the pettiness and venalities of Quebec language battles through the years, Minister for the French Language Simon Jolin-Barrette’s suggestion last week to take away English services from immigrants while maintaining them for the “historic anglophone community” is a new low in nat…
As we enter Veterans’ Week we remember them all. From Vimy Ridge to Normandy. From the Korean hilltops to the sands of the Sinai. From the fetid marshes of the Balkans to the bomb-laden roads of Afghanistan. We remember the legacy of the best of us. The legacy of the bold and the brave. But …
Hearings have started at the City of Montreal on whether or not to ban Publi-Sacs or change the manner of distribution. There has been so much wrong information from those opposed to Publi-Sacs that even Projet Montréal’s councillor in charge of the process, Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, came ou…
There were no great dramas coming out of the 2019 Federal Election. But Canadians sent important signals of what they want.
At the age of 29 Conservative leader Andrew Scheer became the youngest deputy speaker of the House of Commons in the history of Canada. Justin Trudeau at 29 was putting on blackface. We open this editorial with this image not to be pejorative or sarcastic. We open with it because this electi…
“La liberté ne s’accomode pas d’une discipline qui a pour devise: chez les autres on vous apprend comment penser; chez nous, on fait mieux, on vous apprend quoi penser.” ~ Jean-Charles Harvey, rédacteur-en-chef, Le Jour
We have criticized Mayor Valerie Plante often in this space for certain of her green policies from the closing of Camielien-Houde Road, to the reduction of traffic lanes on St. Catherine to the massive park she plans for Pierrefonds that would end the projected building of 6000 much needed h…
The Education Ministry’s report on the EMSB has called it “dysfunctional” and Education Minister Jean-François Roberge has said “everything is on the table including trusteeship.” We would urge the Minister to tread carefully in this matter.
Last Friday the new property valuation rolls were announced for the agglo by the city of Montreal. The rolls affect all boroughs and demerged cities on the island of Montreal. The new valuations increased property values by an average of 13.7% across the island. Demerged suburbs were hardes…
The Bahamas are one of the favorite vacation destinations for Canadians. The Bahamians are our friends. And friends aren’t just friends for the good times. They stick with each other through the hard times too. That’s real friendship.
CJAD’s Aaron Rand was talking to his listeners Friday asking them whether they thought the Quebec provincial government should bail out newspapers in trouble like The Gazette. Many callers recognizing the importance of local news in their lives thought a bail-out was not a bad use of tax dollars.
Last Wednesday, Canada ceased being a constitutional democracy. The federal Liberal government used its majority on the House Ethics Committee to silence the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner. He wanted to testify on his report in which he concluded that the Prime Minister had a “Conflict of…
The iconic line from scripture should come to everyone’s mind this week. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and feed him for a life.”
As we went to press, the news broke of the untimely passing of West Island Palliative Care Residence founder Teresa Dellar at the far too young age of 58. She died of cancer. And ironically not in the gentle surroundings of the residence she founded — the largest palliative care institution …
Mayor Plante’s decision to take 7,000 acres of land in the West Island to create Canada’s largest park may be the most transparently dogmatic and totally unnecessary decision she has made. It is geared to nothing but pandering to her green voting base that is a small percentage of the popula…
“All civilized systems of law confer upon the people, as against their governments, the right to be let alone. That is the most comprehensive of rights and the most valued by civilized men.”
After a spring and partial summer of driving in the city of cones, one could have been excused for hoping that the week before the construction holiday would see some respite. But no, not here.
Summer seems to be the time for experiments in this city under our present administration. Last year we saw the incredibly unpopular closure of Camilien Houde Road on Mount Royal. Opposed by thousands at public consultations that began AFTER the decision was taken and in a 25,000 signature p…
It seems to happen every year. As soon as the first heat wave occurs and vulnerable seniors begin to get ill, or die, there are calls for more care and consideration to be shown to seniors. Calls for more funding for government services for people who have paid into the system their whole li…
As we enter the best of summer we wanted to remind our governors that festivals and frolic does not make this city work for us. It can be made great again, but it will take intelligence and political will. We cannot simply repeat the same mistakes thinking we’ll have a different result.
We thought that this week — between Quebec’s “Fête Nationale” and Canada Day — coming in a year of almost historic peace on the sovereignty front, may be an important one to reflect on regarding our history. Because history matters. And many of the words, names and symbols that have caused s…
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