This week in corruption
Montreal City Hall raided"Quebec’s anti-corruption crackdown has reached into the heart of political power in Montreal – City Hall itself – in a sweeping police operation said to be tied to illegal party financing.
Investigators with the UPAC, or Unité permanente anti-corruption, entered the Old Montreal landmark late Tuesday afternoon and ordered municipal employees and political representatives and their staff to evacuate. Investigators were seen inside the office of interim Mayor Michael Applebaum." Read the rest of the story Watch a video story
Construction boss claims he's no member of the Mafia
"A former construction company owner who delivered cash to Mafia leaders spent his third day in front of the Charbonneau Commission Wednesday.
On the stand Wednesday, Nicolo Milioto continued his display of ignorance, claiming that he had no idea what the Italian word 'capo' meant, and also saying that he did not understand English.Hospital employees targeted in affidavit
Milioto has testified that he doesn't know what the Mafia is, and that despite seeing Mafia leaders like Nick Rizzuto Sr. daily for decades, he had no idea what Rizzuto did for a living.
Milioto, also known as Mr. Sidewalk for his company's dominance of that industry in and around Montreal, said his only mistake was to act as a go-between for cash exchanges.
Milioto was caught on surveillance tape delivering tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to Rizzuto Sr. during several exchanges. On the stand Milioto said he never asked what the money was for, and assumed it was all for the Catolica Eraclea community organization named after his home village in Sicily." Link + video
"Provincial anti-corruption investigators alleged in a sworn affidavit that employees at the McGill University Health Centre — as well as employees of engineering firm SNC-Lavalin — committed fraud and forgery arising from the $1.3-billion MUHC superhospital contract.New York Times reports on Quebec corruption
Sergeant Jean-Frédérick Gagnon, of the Unité permanente anti-corruption, made the allegations in a signed affidavit on Sept. 4, 2012, in order to obtain a search warrant of the headquarters of the MUHC on Guy St. Investigators raided MUHC offices on Sept. 18, and left with boxes of documents.
The affidavit is the first time that police allege that MUHC employees have committed wrongdoing in connection with the superhospital contract, noting that the infractions were committed from Nov. 1, 2009 to Sept. 23, 2011.
Richard Fahey, director of public affairs of the MUHC, told The Gazette Wednesday night that MUHC officials were informed by investigators that “there are no current employees of the MUHC that are under investigation.”
Fahey added that the hospital network itself is not under investigation, either.
The affidavit does not identify which MUHC employees are alleged to have broken the law or their exact positions.
It does, however, shed some light into the police investigation. Police allege that Riadh Ben Aïssa, a former vice-president of SNC-Lavalin, “orchestrated” $22.5 million in unauthorized payments by the engineering firm to a company under the name of Sierra Asset Management Inc." Read the rest of the story
MONTREAL — “We ask everyone to kindly leave,” said the voice over the loudspeaker in Montreal’s City Hall on Tuesday. Minutes earlier, a fire alarm had gone off — even though there was no fire.Montreal Bakery faces extortion
As politicians and city officials filed outside into a gathering snowstorm, dozens of cops from Quebec’s Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit moved in for an unprecedented raid, searching for documents to prove allegations of fraud, misrepresentation and abuse of trust.
At that precise moment, other anticorruption officers were raiding six Montreal borough halls, as well as the headquarters of the former ruling party in the city, Union Montreal. The operations were all part of a sprawling multiyear investigation into illegal party funding that has rocked the city establishment, already claiming one mayor’s head and making his replacement very uncomfortable just months into the job. Link
It's not a big story, but it's interesting because it's being reported in a Lebanese newspaper. Over here, not a peep in the press about a baker who is facing demands from a Black street gang to pay up 'protection' money, or face the consequences.
Instead of paying the Lebanese immigrant has adopted a bullet proof vest and has installed security measures.
Read the story in French
Police discover Smoking Gun in Laval?
It's being reported that in a police raid on ex-Laval Mayor Gilles Vaiilancourt, a safe was discovered containing a list detailing all the politicians and municipal employees on the take and the payoffs they received.
Police aren't saying much, but it's hard to contain such a blockbuster. Link{fr}
Language Cops humiliate themselves again...then backtrack
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| OQLF.....Pizza is OK as a French word, but not Pasta |
The latest transgression in Quebec's language wars involves an Italian restaurant that serves pasta.
According to restaurant owner Massimo Lecas, the Office Quebecois de la langue francaise has determined that pasta is not a French word, and its appearance on a menu without an adequate translation violates Quebec's Language Charter.
Lecas, the owner of Buonanotte on St. Laurent Blvd., told reporters that his restaurant was visited by an OQLF inspector on Sept. 5, 2012, who told him there had been complaints about the menu....
Many items on the menu at Buonanotte have names in Italian, but the descriptions are in French, and this week Lecas learned that is just not good enough to comply with the Charter.
In a letter delivered on Tuesday, the OQLF pointed out a host of infractions from writing 'bottiglia' instead of 'bouteille' on the wine list, listing squid under the word 'calamari' and using the Italian word for meatballs.....
Brit & Chips on Cote-des-Neiges Rd., which serves typical English pub food including fish and chips, told CTV Montreal it too had been asked to change its menu listings in English and remove other terms incomprehensible to unilingual francophones such as the word "Gents" on a washroom door.
The OQLF also told owner Toby Lyle that his sign out front should indicate -- in French -- that it is a restaurant.
Lyle said he will comply with those requirements but he is challenging a demand to remove a sign saying "Fish & Chips" from the restaurant's front window, and replace it with one saying "poisson frit et frites"
"I can't comply with this because it will literally kill my business," said Lyle. Read the story and watch a video report
Realizing that the story is going to go viral, the PQ government and the OQLF tried to get ahead of the story, but the press releases probably did more harm than good.
The minister responsible for the OQLF, Diane DeCourcy said in her press release that she has full confidence in the OQLF and agrees with their position vis-a-vis the restaurants.
Perhaps it was Opposite Day when she said let loose this beauty;
"In all the issues surrounding language, judgment and moderation must be what guides us." Link{fr}
Then in another pres release the minister demanded that people stop using derogatory terms like 'political police' to describe the OQLF, calling out a Liberal member of the National Assembly for using the term. Link{fr}
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| #pastagate... 21% approval rating |
In the end someone higher up whispered some sweet nothings into the ear of the boss of the OQLF and ordered her to defuse the situation. That someone recognized the brewing political disaster and humiliation. (Pauline?)
In a new press release, the OQLF said that perhaps it was over-zealous in pursuing the restaurant about the amount of Italian on the menu.
How about this gobbledygook;
"The Office will consider the peculiarities of the restaurant, taking particular account of the exception relating to foreign specialties, prescribed by regulation." Link{fr} Story about the OQLF backing down
Yesterday, the chief witch of the OQLF Louise Marchand gave an extensive interview on television claiming that it was all a misunderstanding, an over-zealous employee and that all has been repaired.
Mario Dumont, the interviewer, asked sarcastically if it was the publicity that humiliated the OQLF into backtracking.
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| See more political cartoons from the brilliant 'ygreck' |
Already the Hashtags are out there and humiliating comments floating through the Twittersphere.
Try '#Pastagate'
The story is already going international;
From Italy Foxnews Eater.com Inquisitr.com The times From Italy
In Indonesian MSN More from Italy Even more from Italy
Attention Chinese food restaurants... It may be time to find a French translation for 'Chow Mein!
In other OQLF follies, the government agency made the city of Montreal removed safety signs from Montreal parks because the according to the agency, the signs were illegal because they were in English.
Now the law provides that signs dealing with health safety can be posted in English, but in this case ruled that the signs were 'preventative' .
French/English confrontation video goes viral on LiveLeak
Remember the video from a couple on months ago where a drunken francophone Montrealer assails a couple of young Asian tourists for not speaking French?Well it was picked up just this week and published on the Liveleek website which features offbeat videos and which has a HUGE audience.
While the video when first released on YouTube, it received about ten thousand views in five months, while one week on LiveLeek produced over 75,000 views.
The Liveleak audience is a tough crowd and the comments below the video are something to behold, over 2,000 and counting.
Here's a sample of the sarcasm....
"I don't mind French people in Canada. What I do mind is having to rotate my cereal box around 50% of the time to read it in English." LiveLeak
Justin Trudeau drives separatists bonkers
"Speaking in Quebec on Tuesday, Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau declared that “at least” two thirds of Quebecers would need to approve of secession before the federal government would be obliged to take notice.“If we are going to change the Canadian constitution and the state of our country so profoundly, it should at least require the same level as that required to change the constitution of the New Democratic Party, which is two-thirds” said Mr. Trudeau as quoted in French by La Presse.
The statement, made before a crowd of about 100 students at McGill University, was a jab at NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, whose party recently tabled a private member’s bill to amend the Clarity Act, a Chretien-era piece of legislation mandating that a clear majority of Quebecers need to approve of secession before the federal government is obligated to set out terms." Read the rest of the story
Readers, if vigile.net ran a poll as to the most hated politician in Canada is, Justin Trudeau would win hands down.
He represents everything that separatists hate, plus he is one of them, a francophone Quebecer seen as their very own version of Benedict Arnold.
With his pronouncement in regards to the two-thirds majority, he reopens one of the touchiest issues that separatists face, something that they thought had been settled.
Like a bandaid being ripped off an unhealed wound, all they can muster is a loud 'OUCH!'
In an article in the Journal de Montreal, the newspaper just hisses venom, it's headline "Justin Trudeau admits he's a millionaire" speaks volumes about Quebecers' perception of success. Link{fr}
Hundreds protest against PQ's French language policies
"About 200 protesters blocked a downtown street outside the Montreal offices of the Quebec Premier Pauline Marois on Sunday afternoon demanding her government rescind its new language legislation.
Some protesters went so far as to threaten to withhold their taxes if language restrictions aren't eased in Quebec.
The PQ's Bill 14, which is at the debate stage in Quebec's legislature, seeks to strengthen the province's French-language requirements, including for businesses, schools and individuals.
The protest was organized by two English-language rights groups, Put Back the Flag, and The Unity Group" Read the rest of the story
Although the numbers were rather modest, the protest seemed to strike a cord in the French press which strangely devoted a lot of ink to the smallish demonstration.
In fact, much to my surprise, some were frightened by the rise of the 'angryphones'
In an opinion piece entitled : "The Equality party in Power," the author wrote;
"Given that Jim Kalafatidis and his flock had no trouble getting PLQ and CAQ to maintain the maple leaf in the Blue Room of the National Assembly, it seems that Bill 14 is indeed stillborn. This leads to the conclusion that although Pauline Marois leads PQ government, this party is not really in power. On the other hand, the Equality Party ... " Link{Fr}
Interesting letter to editor
Weekend reading
A Quebecoise learns why it's not a good idea to sleep on the beach while sunbathing topless.
58 per cent of anglophones feel welcome in Quebec: poll
42% of Anglos considered leaving Quebec post PQ win: poll
Quebec's military families concerned by Bill 14
Officer 728 ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment
Anglophones wary of PQ government
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
BONNE FIN DE SEMAIME!
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