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Protestors took to downtown arteries
It was scene of deja-vu on downtown streets Monday afternoon.
In a report by CTV News, a protest march was called in opposition to the P.Q.'s intention to raise tuition rates by about $70/year.
Riot police and protestors clashed in Griffintown in a scene right out of last spring's "erable printemps." The SPVM announced that two people were arrested for armed assault.
It wasn't the only protest on Monday, as two marches with 20 people each took place earlier in the day.
Flickr Photo: shahk
Stalemate results in Italy, cause for jitters in Europe
The latest round of elections in Italy has resulted in a stalemate.
According to BBC News, no party gained a majority in the senate after the final day of voting concluded on Monday.
The stalemate between the centre-left and the centre-right blocs could spurn fresh elections. Former P.M. Silvio Berlusconi says that is the wrong option for the country, and forming an alliance is the right one.
Markets around the world reacted to the results. Italian markets dropped sharply and others worldwide opened down.
Welfare for First Nations families, underfunded
On Monday, the First Nations took to the Tribunal of Human Rights to discuss the underfunding of child welfare services on their reserves.
According to CBC news, Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations says that thousands of children are being sent into institutional care when there’s a family crisis.
Atleo told the Human Right Tribunal that many reserves don’t have the ability to keep children safe and in their homes.
According to AFN and experts, an estimated 27,000 aboriginal children have been removed from their immediate families.
Today’s case is different from a similar incident that occurred in the 1940s and 50s where children were forced away from their homes and into residential schools.
Back then, discrimination appeared to be the primary issue for these removals.
Atleo says the reasons for today’s removals are different and relate more to poverty and social conditions on reserve.
Flickr Photo by: Michael Ignatieff
STORY WRITTEN BY: JENNA MONNEY-LUPERT
Marois`s Higher Education Conference
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois came into the conference on Higher Education being well aware that an agreement would not be met right away.
According to the Gazette Marois invited the input and opinions of student groups and union leaders within the conference.
Marois stated that one of the goals she brought up within the conference was to make Higher Education more accessible throughout Quebec.
The Higher Education Minister brought up how pleased he was with how well the conference progressed.
He stated that we`ve come a long way since last spring during the time student protests were occuring.
CJLO News - February 25 2013
Hosted by: Aisha Samu
Stories by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi, Natasha Taggart & Kurt Weiss
Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi
Summit on higher education gets underway
Several groups laid out their plan for the summit on higher education, which gets going on Monday.
According to CBC News, fifteen groups invited to the summit to present ideas on how to solve long standing problems to higher education.
The FEUQ and the P.Q.'s youth wing told CBC on Sunday, that they will try to find solutions to counter student debt.
There are also groups criticizing the P.Q. for the way it organized the meetings. They said the summit will be too short to have constructive debates on the issues plaguing higher education.
The coalition of Anglophone will miss out on the summit. They are not part of a federation such as the FECQ and thus weren't invited.
350 people are expected to participate in the meetings.
First day of voting ends in Italy
The first day of an important election in Italy came to a close on Sunday.
According to BBC News, the most recent estimates released two weeks ago, had Pier Luigi Bersani's centre-left alliance. A ban on polls was put in place before the election got underway.
The election is being closely watched in the eurozone. The country is suffering through a deep recession and wipespread public resentment due to austerity measures.
The day wasn't without any fireworks though. Topless women protested Silvio Berlusconi's candidacy as he cast his ballot in Milan. The former P.M. is involved in two trials, those being tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitue.
The second and final day of voting will take place on Monday, with first results expected in the early evening.
Flickr Photo by: Νέα Δημοκρατία
Montreal looks to change process of awarding public contracts
As the Charbonneau Commission continues to shed light on corruption in the construction industry, the city is looking to change the way it goes about handling public construction contracts.
According to the Gazaette, back in November, the borough council set to find out if it would be more cost-effective to have municipal blue-collar workers do the jobs instead of going to private contractors.
The president of the city’s blue-collar union said they are open to the idea, but said the city’s organizational structure would need to be revised.
Currently, it prevents workers in one district from working in another.
Flickr Photo by: ArturoYee
STORY WRITTEN BY: NATASHA TAGGART
Thousands protest EI reform
Thousands of protestors across the province of Quebec, in Ottawa and in New Brunswick rallied Sunday against the federal government’s changes to employment insurance.
In Montreal, the construction part of the Quebec Federation of Labour, called FTQ Construction, organized the protest, reports CBC News.
They want to show the Harper government that the changes to the employment insurance will negatively impact Canadian families.
Construction union executive director Yves Ouellet says they have to be heard as a united front against the government.
Since the changes came into effect in early January, laid-off seasonal workers have to look further for jobs that pay as little as 70 per cent of their previous hourly wage.
And people looking for work are forced to accept work located within an 100-kilometre radius from their home.
Head of the Quebec Federation of Labour Michel Arsenault says the new rules like so are robbing students of jobs and encouraging people to lie about their work history.
He says the government’s decision to send bureaucrats to people’s homes to check out their unemployment stories is like living under a dictatorship.
Minister of Veterans Affairs Steven Blaney says Canadians are misinformed about the changes to employment insurance.
He says the reform takes work conditions, schedule and commute into account, and even baby-sitting fees.
He also blamed opposition parties in Ottawa for trying to take away opportunities for workers to have access to additional revenues.
Similar protests also took place in Quebec City, Saguenay, Rimouski, Baie-Comeau, and Sept-Iles.
STORY WRITTEN BY: KURT WEISS
Nicole J. Georges Interview February 25th on With Gay Abandon
Tune in to With Gay Abandon on Monday, February 25th at 1-2 pm to hear a live interview with Portland illustrator Nicole J. Georges, while en route to her reading in Montreal on Tuesday, February 26th, at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore.
Julie will get the lowdown about her new book, Calling Dr. Laura, and maybe some answers/advice for CJLO listeners in need of an expert Nicole opinion. Email the burning questions that are keeping you awake at night to withgayabandon@cjlo.com and Julie will ask Nicole on the air!
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