Vigile.net - Don MacPherson

Extremism and money

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-11-13T12:26:00Z

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Extr... It's not H1N1. But both the sovereignist and federalist movements in Quebec are infected by viruses. In separate incidents on the same day this week, they showed the symptoms of their respective infections : by extremism in the case of the sovereignists, and by money in that of the federalists. (...) - consulter en ligne

As winter approaches, the language issue heats up

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-10-20T09:28:00Z

The language issue suddenly resurfaced yesterday, presenting political problems for Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois as well as Premier Jean Charest. First, pro-French language hawks, with a new ally in former PQ premier Bernard Landry, launched a campaign to overcome Marois's resistance to extending to the CEGEPs Bill 101's (...) - consulter en ligne

Landry's musings on CEGEPs will cause Marois trouble

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-09-22T11:22:00Z

Pity Pauline Marois. Her predecessors as leader of the Parti Québécois had enough trouble with only one "mother-in-law." Now Marois must contend with two former leaders meddling in her relationship with her party. - consulter en ligne

Only in Quebec, you say ?

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-09-16T14:25:47Z

Thus the sovereignist parties, their leaders and elected representatives contributed to the rehabilitation of the FLQ and the legitimization of political violence - and not only in a relatively distant past. - consulter en ligne

The Liberals love it when the PQ talks of sovereignty

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-06-09T16:21:16Z

Who needs Quebec sovereignty ? The Quebec Liberal Party does, for some of the same reasons as the Parti Québécois. Opposition to sovereignty might be the last remaining principle that distinguishes the Liberals from the PQ, just as advocacy of sovereignty defines the latter. Can the average Quebec voter say what else the QLP still stands for (...) - consulter en ligne

Harel will have a polarizing effect on city politics

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-06-04T13:44:00Z

This November's municipal race in Montreal was shaping up as the usual soapbox derby among jerry-rigged vehicles named Fill-in-the-blank Montréal that might qualify as cults of personality if only their leaders had any. Then along came Louise Harel to make things interesting. Such is the political vacuum in Quebec's metropolis (...) - consulter en ligne

Harel will have a polarizing effect on city politics

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-06-04T12:45:29Z

Liberals should watch their steps around pet hotel

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-05-09T12:55:00Z

As Quebec's minister of "colonization" during the Depression of the 1930s, Irénée Vautrin launched an ambitious program to encourage city families to migrate to outlying rural regions and clear land for farms to support themselves by growing their own food. But what Vautrin is most remembered for still is charging his department $10 for (...) - consulter en ligne

Charest is beginning to look like a tired Bourassa

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-05-02T14:16:00Z

Three more years of this ? Less than five months into its new term, the Charest government already looks too old and tired to care. It has lost its fiscal discipline, given up even pretending to balance the provincial budget, and put off identifying billions of dollars in revenue increases and spending cuts which it must make over the next (...) - consulter en ligne

Student's kirpan survives latest court challenge

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-04-18T14:02:00Z

Pourquoi est-il interdit en cour ? Surprisingly, there were no calls for the banning of hairpins from Quebec schools in the immediate aftermath of a verdict handed down in Montreal this week. Judge Gilles Ouellet of the youth division of the Court of Quebec found a 13-year-old Sikh boy guilty of having threatened two classmates by pointing (...) - consulter en ligne

Charest's Iron Lady says goodbye

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-04-09T12:21:00Z

In paying tribute to Monique Jérôme-Forget yesterday, Premier Jean Charest said she had been Treasury Board chair, the minister responsible for controlling all the government's spending, longer than anyone else. He was mistaken. Jérôme-Forget held that thankless portfolio for 68 months, from Charest's taking office in April 2003 (...) - consulter en ligne

Even francophone medical grads are leaving Quebec

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-04-07T17:06:00Z

Quebec has long benefited from unofficial linguistic protectionism ; if skilled French-speaking Quebecers wanted to live, raise children, and work in their own language, there were few places in Canada outside this province where they could settle. So Quebec could offer lower pay and poorer working conditions and still retain talent. (...) - consulter en ligne

Even francophone medical grads are leaving Quebec

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-04-07T13:35:52Z

According to the most recent information from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, this province spent 11 per cent less per capita on health care than Ontario, and paid its doctors an average 25 per cent less. Even so, it had 23 per cent more doctors per 100,000 of population than its (...) - consulter en ligne

The Caisse controversy just won't go away

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-03-28T13:51:00Z

It is inaccurate to call the appointment of Michael Sabia as president of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec a political train wreck. At least a wrecked train stops rolling. Two weeks after the appointment, however, the Sabia controversy rolls on. Yesterday's Quebec papers reported, some on their front pages, that the Caisse (...) - consulter en ligne

Quebec to Ottawa : Give us money

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-03-26T12:37:00Z

Jean Charest wants billions of dollars in bailouts from the federal government. But if he gets them, Ottawa can't expect our panhandling premier to say "thank you." On Monday, Charest and Employment Minister Sam Hamad announced details of a package of new measures, called Employment Pact Plus, to help unemployed workers find jobs and (...) - consulter en ligne

Liberals are getting pounded over the Caisse losses

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-03-07T13:20:00Z

When Premier Jean Charest called the Dec. 8 provincial election, he said it was because his Liberal minority government lacked the necessary stability to steer Quebec safely through the approaching economic storm. A single pair of hands on the wheel was what was needed, he said. But since Charest obtained his parliamentary majority, it has (...) - consulter en ligne

Mario Dumont's golden parachute from the taxpayers

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-26T11:40:00Z

When it was disclosed last month that Henri-Paul Rousseau had received $378,750 in severance pay when he resigned as president of the Caisse de dépôt last August, the finance critic for Mario Dumont's Action démocratique du Québec called it "incredible." After all, Rousseau had quit voluntarily, to take another job. And in the private (...) - consulter en ligne

Better late than never : Marois cuts ties with violent groups

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-24T13:21:00Z

Pauline Marois knew that not everybody in the Parti Québécois would approve of her cutting ties between the PQ and radical sovereignists. So it took some courage for her to assert her authority as PQ leader by doing so on the eve of a weekend meeting of the party's governing council. But because she did it belatedly, under pressure and (...) - consulter en ligne

Sovereignist rocker gets care from 'English' hospital

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-19T16:46:46Z

So it might seem ironic that, while some sovereignists are campaigning against the construction of a new "English" teaching hospital in Montreal, Lapointe owes his health, and maybe even his life, to an existing one that the new one is to replace. - consulter en ligne

English lessons : Perhaps French boards can learn from anglos

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-10T17:26:06Z

Bloques know best... (as usual) Everybody uses the health-care system. But the only people who use the school system, aside from the people who work in it, are families with school-age children. And in Quebec, there aren't many of the latter. Maybe that's why health care is much more of a political priority than education, even (...) - consulter en ligne

Quebec's French connection

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-07T11:45:00Z

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news... Sarkozy delivers his speech this week, while Jean Charest listens. Nicolas Sarkozy delivers his speech this week, while Jean Charest listens. Photograph by : PHILIPPE WOJZAZER AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, The Gazette Early in the referendum year of 1995, Jacques Parizeau, who was then Parti Québécois premier, (...) - consulter en ligne

Charest ducking latest battle on Plains of Abraham

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2009-02-03T17:28:00Z

Premier Jean Charest has been in Europe since last Thursday. After hanging out with the big-leaguers at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he went to Paris yesterday to be made a commandeur, the highest rank in the French Ordre de la Légion d'honneur, by President Nicolas Sarkozy. Otherwise, at the opening ceremony (...) - consulter en ligne

Exit, quacking

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2008-12-11T11:54:00Z

If it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, it's a duck. And if it quacks like a duck and waddles with a slight limp, then maybe it's Jean Charest. Only a few days after the re-election of his Liberal government, this time with a majority, Charest might already be a slightly lame duck as premier. Tuesday, in his (...) - consulter en ligne

Debate was a flop

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2008-11-29T15:31:31Z

The two faces of Quebec Premier Jean Charest

Don MacPherson - The Gazette (Montreal) — 2008-11-01T12:13:00Z