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Montreal planning new centre for stray animals
Montreal plans to open a municipal centre for stray animals. The decision comes eight months after Radio-Canada exposed the inhumane treatment animals were receiving at the Berger Blanc. The private pound had been contracted by 10 of the city’s boroughs.
The new municipal facility will offer adoption services and education. It will also ensure that all procedures are carried out by certified veterinarians.
Part of the problem at the Berger Blanc was the sheer number of animals that had to be euthanized on a daily basis. About 15-thousand animals are euthanized each year in Montreal. Richard Deschamps is in the city facility’s executive committee. He says that this number is unacceptable and wants to revise the way the city handles lost and abandoned animals.
Deschamps also said that the Berger Blanc has changed the way it treats animals since the Radio-Canada report. The city may continue to use the Berger Blanc even after it opens the new facility.
Mcgill releases report on November 10 incident
The investigation into the clash between police and protesters on November 10th at Mcgill University is now complete.
November 10th was Quebec’s province-wide day of action against proposed tuition hikes. Around 30 thousand people protested on the streets of Montreal peacefully. But as the protest wound down riot police were deployed on McGill campus. They were responding to a call from the University to bring in police.
The 60-page report was written by Mcgill’s dean of the Law Faculty Daniel Jutras. He writes that the school did not call riot police even though around a hundred of them came.
Professors and students claimed that they were clubbed and pepper sprayed by the riot police.
The Concordia Student Union denounced the police response in a statement voted in by council late last month.
The report made six recommendations to improve communication between the university and the police.
Mcgill’s principal refused to comment until the beginning of the new year.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/12/15/montreal-mcgill-...
Trudeau swears in Commons, apologizes
Justin Trudeau came under fire yesterday for using foul language in the House of Commons.
The Liberal MP was heard calling Environment Minister Peter Kent a piece of **** during an especially raucous question period.
Kent was being berated by critics in the House for his role in Canada’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.
The situation escalated when Kent suggested one of his critics should have attended the climate change conference in Durban if she was to criticize his decision.
But the Conservative government banned opposition MPs from attending.
Trudeau apologized for his language later in the day, calling it decidedly unparliamentary.
Trudeau is far from the only MP to drop expletives during this session of the House.
The NDP’s Pat Martin dropped used the f-word in a tweet describing the governments actions this past November.
News December 15 2011
Read by Tara Brockwell.
Produced by Sofia Gay.
Stories by Esther Viragh, Shaun Malley and Cynthia Othieno.
Transgender student gets full support from CSU
The CSU held its final Council Meeting for 2011 yesterday.
It included a motion to support transgender students in their fight to have whatever name they feel comfortable with on their transcript.
Students who are uncomfortable with their birth name are stuck with it in the current system at Concordia. They must legally change their name and/or undergo invasive medical procedures to physically appear their desired gender.
But Council voted to support the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy project to allow gender non-conforming students the right to be called what they wish. President Lex Gill offered her full support to help present the case to Senate.
Council also had to shape up their standing committees after a number of people stepped down from their positions.
They named one new student to the Financial Committee and two more to the Events Committee.
Nearing the end of the meeting, Bruno Joyal announced his resignation from council. This is after six months of representing the faculty of arts and science.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Tuition Hike Protest
As soon as the Quebec government announced higher education fees, student mobilization began.
The fee increase meant an extra $325 a year for the next five years. Making tuition sixteen hundred and twenty five dollars higher in twenty sixteen.
A red fabric square pin has became the symbol of the anti-tuition hike movement.
On November 10th, students from across the province went on strike for the day and marched downtown against the proposed hike.
Over twenty thousand students showed up. It all went peacefully until the very end. 13 students occupied a McGill administration building and were forcefully removed.
Over one hundred riot police came and forced the rest of campus. They used pepper spray and four arrests were made.
Montreal police has denied any wrong doing in the matter. Meanwhile, the Concordia and Mcgill student unions condemned the police action.
Students at Concordia overwhelmingly voted to continue fighting against the tuition increase in November’s CSU by-election.
Chuck Ragan & Dave Hause on Hooked on Sonics THIS Thu 6-8pm ET
Modern punk legends Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music and Dave Hause of the Loved Ones dropped by CJLO's studios in the mid summer of 2011 to record a session and interview for the Hooked on Sonics program. Tune in this Thursday from 6-8pm ET to hear the guys chat about the relation of punk rock to folk music and hear exclusive collaborative versions of each others' songs and a cover of Canadian cult singer-songwriter Northcote that the guys worked out on the spot in CJLO's studios. Following the airing, streams of the mp3s and videos of the performances will be made available, as well as a download of the Northcote cover. Tune in - Hooked on Sonics Thursdays 6-8pm ET!
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Canada votes blue and orange
Canada’s voters dramatically changed the makeup of their Parliament this year.
2011’s federal election ushered in a Conservative majority while the NDP gained its largest share of seats in its fifty year history. This made Canada’s leftmost major party the Official Opposition to Harper’s right-leaning government.
The most monumental political shift was seen in Quebec, as Bloc blue was swept away by an orange wave of NDP support.
The NDP’s share of seats in Quebec vaulted from one to fifty-seven after the election.
The loser in this equation? The Liberal Party. The Grits plummeted from a seventy-seven seat Opposition to a thirty-four seat outsider. This came as a result of an election they forced with a vote of non-confidence in March. The disappointing result cost Party Leader Michael Ignatieff his job.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Canada loses Jack
He had been battling prostate cancer for months, but had apparently gone into remission before the 2011 Federal election.
Fashioning a cane during the debates, Layton was seen as a feisty and inspirational leader to many. Being voted in the CBC election poll as most favourable leader to Canadians.
His beloved NDP was rewarded. They won the most seats in party history at 103. In Layton’s home province of Quebec the party earned an unprecedented 58 new Members of Parliament.
Following the election, Layton’s health took a turn for the worse. Looking extremely ill, in July, Layton announced that he would temporarily step down as party leader. But he never returned.
On his deathbed Layton wrote a letter addressed to Canadians which finished with these inspirational words:
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Your Concordia wins CSU election
This year saw another highly contentious Student Union election.
Mostly composed of newcomers, the Your Concordia slate took on the Action-Vision-Fusion dynasty and came out on top.
Before the campaign, VP Morgan Pudwell created chaos in the CSU with her resignation. She said the CSU she ran with was corrupt. So it was not a surprise to many when she showed up just a few weeks later on the challenging slate.
Nothing seemed to go right from there on in. Illegal campaigning and general misconduct were some of the many election violations.
Chief Electoral Officer Oliver Cohen disqualified both teams following the election. But the Judicial Board overturned the ruling and re-instated both teams in the summer.
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