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MAPLE SPRING: THE RED SQUARE MOVEMENT RETURNS AS ANTI-AUSTERITY PROTESTS HEAT UP IN QUEBEC
MAPLE SPRING: THE RED SQUARE MOVEMENT RETURNS AS ANTI-AUSTERITY PROTESTS HEAT UP IN QUEBEC
“They may have the toughest batons. They may have the thickest armor. They may have the largest newspapers. They may have the thickest wallets. But we have the longest breath. We have the courage of the oppressed. We have the strength of the multitude. But mostly, we are just right.” – Patrick Charron Morneau, spokesperson for the Association for Student Solidarity
In the summer of 2012, streets in cities across the province of Quebec, Canada, resounded most evenings with the sound of “les casseroles.” Citizens stood at open windows and on their balconies banging pots and pans as student protesters and sympathizers snarled traffic in daily marches which, at their peak, brought up to 200,000 people onto the streets of Montreal, the province’s largest city.
The Red Square movement was born to fight against the Liberal government’s plan to raise tuition by 75% over five years. Since 1968, mass actions of this sort have stopped Canadian governments in their tracks when it came to raising the fees for higher education.
Today, Quebec’s militant student actions have resulted in the lowest costs for post-secondary education in North America. In practical terms, it has also meant less debt and less worry for young people entering an economy that is producing fewer and fewer well-paid jobs, even for those with degrees.
The success of the Red Square protests – as well as the mobilization of activists from outside groups, especially in the environmental and anti-poverty movements – may be a sign that the energy unleashed in 2012 may now be getting harnessed for a broader fight against the neoliberal economic policies favored by almost every political party in the province and across Canada as a whole.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Police Gas Student Protesters In Quebec
Police Gas Student Protesters In Quebec
Earlier this week we reported that the Blockupy movement — supporters of which set fire to the streets of Frankfurt earlier this month in an anti-austerity protest timed to coincide with the grand opening of the ECB’s new headquarters — had apparently spread across the Atlantic to the streets ofMontreal where students describing themselves as “an association of young communists and anti-capitalists” got tear gassed, sound bombed, and shot with rubber bullets after they failed to provide police with an itinerary as to what they planned to vandalize and when.
Just days later and aggrieved Canadian students are at it again, this time in Quebec City where hundreds gathered to protest austerity measures like shorter library hours. Here’s more from RT News:
Students in Quebec City were sprayed with tear gas by Canadian police after holding an ‘illegal’ gathering to protest the provincial budget. A brief scuffle broke out before law enforcement officers began randomly gassing the demonstrators.Hundreds of students, some traveling from as far as Montreal, had gathered in front of the National Assembly to protest the Quebec government’s budget, which had been table on Thursday.
The demonstrators wanted to hold a protest in front of the National Assembly to show their disgust at cuts to services such as healthcare on campus and library hours. They were met by a line of riot police in full body armor.
According to reports, this group made the same mistake as the last group by not providing police with an itinerary thus rendering the whole endeavor illegal from the get go and so in the end, the outcome was largely the same: some folks got gassed.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Quebec resident Alain Philippon to fight charge for not giving up phone password at airport
Whether border officials can force you to provide password hasn’t been tested in Canadian courts
A Quebec man charged with obstructing border officials by refusing to give up his smartphone password says he will fight the charge.
The case has raised a new legal question in Canada, a law professor says.
Alain Philippon, 38, of Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Que., refused to divulge his cellphone password to Canada Border Services Agency during a customs search Monday night at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
Philippon had arrived in Halifax on a flight from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. He’s been charged under section 153.1 (b) of the Customs Act for hindering or preventing border officers from performing their role under the act.
According to the CBSA, the minimum fine for the offence is $1,000, with a maximum fine of $25,000 and the possibility of a year in jail.
Philippon did not want to be interviewed but said he intends to fight the charge since he considers the information on his phone to be “personal.”
The CBSA wouldn’t say why Philippon was selected for a smartphone search.
In an email, a border services spokesperson wrote, “Officers are trained in examination, investigative and questioning techniques. To divulge our approach may render our techniques ineffective. Officers are trained to look for indicators of deception and use a risk management approach in determining which goods may warrant a closer look.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Opponents Of Quebec’s Arnaud Open-Pit Mine Face Threats, Hack Attacks
Opponents Of Quebec’s Arnaud Open-Pit Mine Face Threats, Hack Attacks
Tensions are running high in la Belle Province as people wait for the government’s decision on opening a controversial new mine in northeastern Quebec.
Opponents of the Arnaud mining project, a proposed open-pit mine inside Sept-Îles’ town limits, say they have been the targets of a campaign of intimidation.
For more than a year now, supporters and opponents have been publicly going head to head in the media and in the streets.
With the economy slowing down, the region desperately needs to create jobs. But the proposed project was labelled “unacceptable” for environmental reasons by the independent advisory agency, the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), in February 2014.
Claire Hébert lived in Parc Ferland, a trailer park located about three kilometers from the site of the proposed pit in Sept-Îles when she started doing her own research into what was under the ground at this particular location.
Barium, vanadium, cobalt … all substances that are cause for concern, since they would be brought up in the first round of dynamiting and settle in fine particles on mounds of residue left over by the mine’s construction. As she pursued her research, Hébert shared her findings with her Facebook contacts through screenshots or homemade graphics.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Hydro-Québec Restores Electricity To Most, But 8,500 Still In Dark
Hydro-Québec Restores Electricity To Most, But 8,500 Still In Dark
Freezing rain, high winds and a rapid drop in temperature created a host of problems for people living in the greater Montreal region and elsewhere in southern Quebec.
On Sunday, a dangerous mix of precipitation followed by freezing cold made for extremely slick road conditions.
The weight of the ice that formed on trees caused many to snap, sending large branches down onto sidewalks, roads and power lines.
At the height of the power outages, more than 150,000 Quebecers were without electricity.
Power has been restored to most Hydro-Québec customers, but about 8,500 households and businesses remain in the dark — and could stay that way well into Monday afternoon and even evening, depending on the area.
Hydro-Québec has a map on its website of which neighbourhoods are affected and at what time they expect to have the lights back on. Find out what time the utility expects to restore power by clicking on the voltage sign in your neighbourhood.
Suncor facility in Rimouski leaked thousands of litres of gasoline – Montreal – CBC News
Suncor facility in Rimouski leaked thousands of litres of gasoline – Montreal – CBC News.
Thousands of litres of gasoline leaked from a Suncor facility in Rimouski, Que., on Thursday evening, said a spokesman with the company.
Residents living near the facility called police to complain about a strong gas smell.
Staff found a small crack in a valve near a reservoir that held two million litres of gasoline.
The workers have diverted the gas into another reservoir, containing 1.6 million litres of the gas.
Claude Schink, the facility’s supervisor, expects the cleanup will continue pumping fuel until 2 p.m. ET Friday.
Schink told a news conference the company does not have a number on how much fuel was spilled, but said the crack in the valve was small.
So far, 30,000 litres of foam, water and gasoline have been vacuumed from the site.
Suncor facility in Rimouski dealing with gasoline leak – Montreal – CBC News
Suncor facility in Rimouski dealing with gasoline leak – Montreal – CBC News.
A Suncor facility in Rimouski, Que. has been leaking gasoline since early yesterday evening.
Firefighters and Quebec’s environmental emergency team are on the scene, trying to fix the leak and clean up the spilled gas.
Emergency responders were alerted to the leak at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Neither the quantity of the spilled gas nor the cause of the leak is known at this time.
Crews are working to collect the oil and put it into tanker trucks.
Authorities told Radio-Canada that although the leak has not yet been sealed, the situation is under control.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Energy East Pipeline is Unsafe and Unwanted | Stéphane Brousseau
Energy East Pipeline is Unsafe and Unwanted | Stéphane Brousseau.
TransCanada’s strategy to hoister its Energy East pipeline on the Quebec public has been unmasked, and Quebecers don’t buy the company’s sales pitch.
Quebec citizens, not to mention citizens worldwide, have done their homework and based on the science, the facts and the statistics are keenly aware that the risks inherent in this proposed pipeline, a project endorsed by the federal government, are simply too great, and the required social acceptability for this project is not there, and never will be.
We know that to determine the risk level and viability of a project you can calculate the probability of an accident and the cost of decontamination. This can mean hundreds of billions of dollars in decontamination costs and costs in relation to persistent pollution impacts.
A good indicator in this case is TransCanada’s dismal track record for pipeline oil spills in terms of frequency, quantity and response time.
Political Will Pushing Energy East Pipeline In Canada
Political Will Pushing Energy East Pipeline In Canada
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice met his Ontario peer Kathleen Wynne Wednesday as he presses for approval of TransCanada’s (NYSE, TSE:TRP) proposed Energy East pipeline, which would pass through the Central Canadian province.
After their first face-to-face meeting they sounded conciliatory, saying they consider the controversial $12 billion project as a “nation-building” exercise.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard released last month a list of seven conditions for the proposed pipeline, which would carry western crude to refineries located on the opposite side of the country. The most important of them is the potential impact of the pipeline on the environment.
But Wynne, reports Canadian Press, says her concerns about the pipeline’s contribution to climate change are limited to greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario and in Quebec from the pipeline project itself.
She added that the seven principles do not extend to “so-called upstream emissions resulting from getting the crude out of the ground, refining and burning it.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario, Don’t Dump Our Money Into Rebuilding an Outdated Power Station | Mike Schreiner
Ontario, Don’t Dump Our Money Into Rebuilding an Outdated Power Station | Mike Schreiner.
The Ontario government has a decision to make: Raise your electricity bill to rebuild the Darlington Nuclear Station or lower your bill with water power from Quebec.
The historic Memorandum of Understanding signed at a joint Quebec-Ontario cabinet meeting on Friday opens the door to for electricity imports that will save you money.
The average household can save between $52 and $192 per year if Ontario cancels the Darlington Nuclear Rebuild and instead signs a power deal for existing Quebec water power. The province could save between $700 million and $2.6 billion per year — a whopping $52 billion over 20 years.
Quebec Premier Phillippe Couillard has made it clear that his province has surplus electricity, and Quebec is eager to sell it to Ontario, especially since U.S. demand for Quebec power is declining.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
