Quebec’s zero-alcohol law for young drivers comes into effect

I’m very pleased that Quebec is tightening the allowances for alcohol behind the wheel, with new legislation to kick into place today.  Our streets need to be safer.  All drivers and pedestrians deserve a more secure environment so this is a step in the right direction.

Next, Quebec ought to tighten the legal limit of blood alcohol to make driving even safer.  Repeat offenders should not be given as much leniency when it comes to driving a vehicle.

Driving is a privilege and should be treated with greater respect in order to make us all safer.

Montreal Gazette:  Quebec’s zero-alcohol law for young drivers comes into effect.

Bergman, 71, set to run for sixth time

Congratulations to our MNA, Lawrence Bergman, on his nomination as the Liberal candidate for D’Arcy McGee in the next provincial election. A five term incumbant, there is little surprise in this nomination, yet it is significant just the same.

Lawrence is a hard-working, dedicated and honest man who never forgets his roots.  He is ferociously committed to his riding and to the issues facing us as Cote Saint-Lucers.  He is very approachable, interested in helping local folks with their issues and can be credited with many achievements in our community.

In a word, he’s a real Mentch.

Most important on my agenda, Lawrence was very much involved in saving the CSL Emergency Medical Services during the merger with Montreal when the new island-wide fire department gobbled up all of the suburban brigades and took over emergency medical first response, except in CSL.

He was also integrally involved in securing funding for the new CSL Aquatic and Community Centre. His involvement with the Jewish General Hospital is becoming legendary.  And ask any member of the CSL Senior Men’s Club and they’ll speak of Lawrence in endearing terms, as they would of a close family member.

I often joke with Lawrence how he put me out of work back in 1994 when I was serving as Robert Libman’s chief of staff.  Libman was the former MNA for the riding.  Bergman won the general election that year evicting me (and Libman) from the office. (I harbour no ill feelings toward Lawrence. He helped advance my career by tossing me out of work).

Although I would like to see Lawrence and his fellow English-speaking MNAs speak out more forcefully on language issues and the erosion of our rights, which are constantly under attack, I must give him high marks on other aspects of local representation.  Having spent two years in his office before his arrival, and working as a City Councillor for a significant portion of his constituency, I know personally how difficult it is for him to be responsive to the many requests that he receives and to balance these demands with his obligations in the National Assembly, his responsibilities to the government and to his political party.

This is not an easy job to be sure.  But Lawrence does an impressive job and makes it look easy.

Read more in this week’s Canadian Jewish News: Bergman, 71, set to run for sixth time | The Canadian Jewish News.

Bergman, 71, set to run for sixth time

Janice Arnold, Staff Reporter, Tuesday, April 10, 2012

MONTREAL — At 71, Lawrence Bergman is going to seek a sixth term as the member of the National Assembly for D’Arcy McGee.

Bergman, who was first elected in 1994, was unopposed in his bid to once again run for the Quebec Liberal Party in the next provincial election.

A standing-room-only audience of about 300 turned out at Hampstead’s Congregation Adath Israel, of which Bergman is a past president, for the April 2 nomination meeting.

Two cabinet members, Health and Social Services Minister Yves Bolduc and Kathleen Weil, minister of immigration and cultural communities, were present to praise Bergman, who chairs the government caucus.

Bergman and Bolduc talked at length about the major expansion the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) is undergoing.

Bergman was credited with tenaciously working to persuade the Charest government to approve the construction of Pavilion K. The first phase, to which the government contributed $95 million, is expected to be finished at the end of this year. The government is committed to contributing more than $300 million toward the next three phases, planned through to 2016.

“This will change the face of health care in Montreal for generations to come,” Bergman said.

“If Lawrence was not your MNA, the work of Pavilion K would not even be started now,” Bolduc added.

Bolduc lauded Bergman’s personal qualities of likeability and gentlemanliness, and his effectiveness in representing the interests of the anglophone and Jewish communities.

“He’s good for you. He knows how to speak to a French guy like me, from Lac St. Jean,” said Bolduc.

Bergman noted that every Tuesday morning, he meets for 1-1/2 hours with Premier Jean Charest.

Weil reassured that she and Bergman, as well as Families Minister Yolande James and MNA Geoff Kelley, are representing the concerns of anglophones within the government.

She also said speaking English is OK. “Yes, we promote French as the language of work and the common language, but to speak a second or third language is not a threat to the creation of an overall French society.”

Bergman said, “Quebec values are that everybody, whether they were born here or chose to live here, whatever their colour, religion or language, has equal rights.”

D’Arcy McGee is the only Quebec riding with a majority Jewish population, and Bergman has garnered more than 90 per cent of the vote in some elections.

Bergman, a notary by profession, singled out for gratitude one of his most prominent supporters from the start, Steven Cummings, “the de facto president of the Quebec Jewish community.”

Another person he is counting on for support once again in the next election campaign is his mother, Nettie Bergman, who was also present.

Bergman recalled that his proudest achievement in the National Assembly was the unanimous adoption of his bill officially recognizing Yom Hashoah in December 1999, when the Parti Québécois was in power.

Looking to the future, he said his government’s priority is the economy. Charest’s Plan nord, an ambitious project to develop the province’s territory north of the 49th parallel, will benefit all of Quebec, Bergman said.

“When Robert Bourassa launched the James Bay hydroelectric project, there was opposition at first, too,” he said.

Bergman echoed Charest’s resistance to the demands of students to not go ahead with increasing university tuition.

“It’s important that students pay their fair share. We will maintain the increase over five years, notwithstanding the protests,” Bergman said.

For area residents, Bergman held out hope that the long-awaited linking of the two sections of Cavendish Boulevard will be realized with the purchase by the City of Montreal of the former Hippodrome site for residential development.

The Free Press, April 10, 2012:

Click to enlarge. The Free Press. April 10, 2012.

Read more in Mike Cohen’s blog

Relocation is not merger

Letters to the editor

Montreal Gazette

Re: Let Royal Vale stay in NDG, Dec. 7, 2011. Jack Jedwab’s analogy of the forced municipal mergers and criticism of Cote Saint-Luc city council in its support of the proposed move of Royal Vale High School from NDG to CSL is completely flawed and incorrectly lays blame on my council.

Relocating the school to another building is not being forcibly merged. In the forced mergers, the City of Cote Saint-Luc ceased to exist and its council disappeared. With relocation, RVHS will not cease to exist and its governing board does not disappear. It just runs the school at another location.

Most of all, it is not the elected council of Cote Saint-Luc that proposed the relocation of RVHS. The English Montreal School Board long-range planning committee recommended relocation to CSL and this is the only proposal that the EMSB is currently considering.

As a municipal representative and former executive director of Alliance Quebec, I find it regrettable that our embattled English-speaking communities are pitted one against another for the retention or relocation of an English public high school. All neighbourhoods that can support such a school deserve to have one. CSL is unarguably such a community.

Glenn J. Nashen

City Councillor

Cote Saint-Luc

Why is Robert Libman still talking of a merged CSL, Hampstead, MoWest?

Former Cote Saint-Luc Mayor, CSL-Hampstead-Montreal West Borough Mayor and Montreal Executive member Robert Libman was hired to write a report on the future of Hampstead’s town hall, fire station and Hampstead Park.

As reported in the Suburban, Hampstead wants 16-storey high rise at fire station site, Libman was quoted as saying:

“A number of people I spoke to said that if a major change is made in Hampstead Park, keep in mind if one day it becomes an entity such as Côte St. Luc-Hampstead-Montreal West, the facilities should be adaptable to a larger population.”

With well over 90% of our local voters having cast ballots in 2004 to demerge (putting an end to the Borough of  CSL-Hampstead-Montreal West) it is unclear which people Libman consulted, and why, for him to make such a statement? 

The forced mergers were a failed experiment in Quebec and ought to be banned completely. Let’s leave Pandora where she belongs.

Quebec should make AEDs mandatory

Image via Wikipedia

The odds of surviving cardiac arrest are higher for people given an electric shock to their hearts in a public place than for those shocked at home, a new study suggests.

The study, which appears in February’s New England Journal of Medicine, found the chances of surviving the cardiac arrest are high if the event is witnessed in a large public venue, such as an airport, sports arena or shopping mall. Those going into cardiac arrest at home and have access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) have lower survival odds.

The Quebec government should require Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to be accessible in buildings and public places just as fire extinguishers are mandatory devices to save lives and property.

In Cote Saint-Luc, AEDs are located in the City Hall / Library complex, at the gym / pool and in the arena.  All Public Security and vCOP vehicles carry AEDs and of course EMS is equipped with more sophisticated defibrillators. 

AEDs cost less than $2000.  Costco advertises a home AED for under $1500.

CTV News report: Cardiac arrest survival odds better in public

Saving Meadowbrook is key to protecting our landscape heritage

Saving Meadowbrook is key to protecting our landscape heritage

Thursday, February 24, 2011

By ERICA BROWN, The Gazette

We’ll never know how Sir William Van Horne would have reacted to the destruction in 1973 of his mansion at Sherbrooke and Stanley Sts. because the railway tycoon and builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway died in 1915.

We do know that on the evening the Victorian builing was demolished, John Colicos, who portrayed Van Horne in the CBC miniseries The National Dream, called the wrecking “a shame and a disgrace.” By morning, the last remaining Canadian example of a Collonna Art Nouveau interior was mounds of rubble.

The demolition was a hinge event, marking a turning point for Montreal’s architectural heritage that remained in private hands. Like campaigning Venuses emerging from dusty waves of debris, groups of citizens arose, intent on historic and cultural preservation. They would continue to prod the city administration to create bylaws protecting heritage zones and restricting development, realizing the truth of what Thomas Fuller wrote in the mid-18th century, “We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.”

Now another Van Horne legacy, the 57 sylvan hectares of Meadowbrook Golf Club, faces the threat of development. The club, formerly the Canadian Pacific Recreation Association’s park for its railway workers and a golf course since the 1920s, has been a bone of contention between citizens who want to preserve the green space intact, and the developer Group Pacific who wants to build condos on it.

Last fall Alan DeSousa, vice-chair of Montreal’s executive committee, announced that the city would not approve the developer’s plans for Meadowbrook. Future development still remains possible, however. Perhaps it is time to recognize that it is not only our architectural heritage that is worth preserving. We have a landscape heritage to protect as well.

Ironically, today’s battles to protect and naturalize green spaces echo the efforts of the city’s early landscape architects to preserve what they created. The reality is that the parks in which today we cycle, play and walk our dogs were created by 19th and early-20th century visionaries. Preserving their landscape designs required civic commitment and constant vigilance, which just like today was often in short supply, and their parks’ acreage diminished as the years went by.

Creating them in the first place took commendable acts of municipal vision and a willingness to innovate. More than 135 years ago, Montreal’s parks were born during a golden age of landscape architecture. In 1874, Montreal hired Frederick Law Olmsted of New York’s Central Park fame, to create a park out of the Royal Montreal Golf Club and the hobby farms situated on Fletcher’s Field on the east side of Mount Royal. It was not alone. Parc Lafontaine was established from a British garrison on land that was once the experimental farm of James Logan. Angrignon Parc, then countryside and fox-hunting grounds, was saved from development by the city of Verdun in 1930. Parc des Rapides and Parc Dorval were transformed from golf courses, and Parc Maisonneuve, which originally contained a golf course, was protected when the Olympic Park was created.

The first to use the term “landscape architect,” Olmsted gifted Montreal with the English garden look and with his experience, convincing city hall to create green havens for city dwellers. Holding that “lives are shortened and made painful by city air,” he designed the winding trails and soothing vistas that mark his parks. Presciently, Olmsted also predicted the ills of littering, pollution, and city blight, long before doing so became common wisdom.

Olmsted’s acolyte, Frederick Todd, arrived in Montreal from Massachusetts in 1900 to work with his mentor and never left. Todd turned Olmsted’s precepts into public and private projects across Canada, producing gems that inhabitants take for granted.

Todd certainly left his mark on Montreal. Because of him we have Beaver Lake, created on a site originally chosen by Olmsted and appropriately over an ancient beaver dam. Todd designed the Town of Mount Royal and the chalet on the mountain, and transformed the deserted garrison of Île Ste. Hélène into a park.

In the late 1950s, another visionary, Montreal Parks director Claude Robillard, tried to revive the city’s illustrious heritage of acquiring private lands for the public park system, declaring that 15 per cent of Montreal land should be reserved as green space. His message often fell on the deaf ears of Jean Drapeau, who clearly believed that If We Build It, Tourists Will Come.

It’s not a bad idea to raise ghosts for good causes. Every time we’re in a Montreal park, we’d do well to remember what we owe to Robillard, Olmsted and Todd. Olmsted’s warning that it’s impossible to recapture space to which urbanites can escape is timely given Meadowbrook’s uncertain future. Just as gardeners know that to naturalize and maintain the picturesque takes effort, we should apply equal effort to reclaim our landscape heritage.

Olmstead was right in his own day, and he remains so today, when he said: “conserve, protect, build only what is necessary.”

Erica Brown is a freelance writer and editor living in N.D.G.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Reverse 911 service coming to Montreal

CBC News – Montreal – ‘Reverse 911′ service coming to Montreal.

I’m glad to see the Montreal Agglomeration is embracing new technologies to communicate more effectively with The Island’s residents in case of emergency or crisis situation. In 2011, though, they should also be actively pursuing the myriad of social media possibilities that can reach out much faster to many more people, and faster, than a traditional phone dialer. Twitter is an undeniable major player and its role in disseminating emergency communications should not be underestimated.

I do find a sense of irony in reading about Fire Department’s interest in reaching out to the residents across the Island of Montreal. If they are truly motivated to be more efficient at communications they ought to ensure that their own website’s English side shows more than “under construction” some 10 years after the announcement to merge Fire departments across the island.

After all, effective emergency communications is carried out in many languages, not just one.

Bernier’s language law quips blasted by PQ and Libs; I say thanks Maxime

CBC News – Montreal – Bernier’s language law quips blasted.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier was quoted as saying we don’t need Bill 101, Quebec’s 33-year-old repressive language law anymore.  The Quebec Liberal’s culture minister, Christine St-Pierre, calls his comments “irresponsible” while PQ leader Pauline Marois says it’s “unacceptable”.

The only thing irresponsible and unacceptable are politicians who stymie the free speech and expression of those who have the guts and courage to freely speak their mind.

Good for you Maxime.   We need more politicians who are not afraid to speak up.  Others may not like what they hear, and they have the right, and the duty, to respond.  But to silence your opponent is to cower from open and democratic debate. 

Let the Liberals and PQ explain why they feel they need to hold back the majority French-speaking population from freely choosing the language of education for their children, the language of signs in their private places of business and why they feel we, the taxpayers, need to spend untold millions of dollars on language inspectors and agencies rather than allocating these dollars to priority areas such as health care, education and crumbling bridges and roads.

Read My Position on Bill 101 on Maxime Bernier’s blog.

A portion of this post was reprinted in the Montreal Gazette letters to the editor on Feb. 10, 2011 next to this column by Don Macpherson, Facts debunk loss-of-French scenario.

Related Articles

• Bernier’s courageous stand on language is of immense value (Gazette Op-Ed)
• Bernier lashes back in wake of Bill 101 comment furor (ctv.ca)
• Bernier blasted for calling historic Quebec language law unnecessary (theglobeandmail.com)
• Ottawa distances itself from Bernier’s language law comments (thestar.com)
• No need for Bill 101 in Que.: Bernier (cbc.ca)
• Government distances itself from Bernier comments (ctv.ca)
• Maxime Bernier on Quebec law: ‘We don’t need Bill 101′ (ctv.ca)

Montreal is bilingual, poll finds

Montreal is bilingual, poll finds (Montreal Gazette)

While most Montrealers are brave enough to express that Montreal is, in fact, a bilingual city, the same cannot be said for the municipal or provincial leadership who have designated Montreal as a French-only city.

The first paragraph of the charter of the city is a vision statement for the city.  While drafted by provincial civil servants, and ratified by provincial politicians, it is the legal framework bestowed upon municipal politicians and city bureaucrats.  Yet the very essence of this vision, from Quebec City, is blurred here in Montreal.

Montreal is not Quebec City.  It is multicultural and multilinguistic and it is richer and healthier because of this.  For the most part Montrealers are friendly, tolerant and accommodating.  It’s high time our politicians face up to the reality of what most Montrealers already know.  We are not a French-only city.  We are a bilingual (if not multilingual) city with great respect for each others languages.

CSL resident seeks parking permit

CSL resident seeks parking permit

By Joel Goldenberg, The Suburban

January 5, 2011

Côte St. Luc resident Sarah Rosenfeld says she would like the city to renew her permit for overnight parking, as she fears parking in her condominium’s lot.

Overnight parking is usually prohibited in Côte St. Luc, and permits are only issued in cases where there is no other available parking space.

“I want to continue my permit to park my car on the street,” the Merrimac resident told The Suburban Thursday. “My permit ends in January. But a lieutenant from public security told me my safety is not considered an exception to the rule. The irony is, I’m in Ottawa half the week, so I’m only talking about three days a week, and I’m still willing to pay the full amount.”

Rosenfeld charged that her permit was not being renewed because other residents complained of people not having the justification to park on the street overnight, even with permits, and alleged that every permit holder was reinvestigated.

Rosenfeld said she was granted the permit in the first place because there were three people living in her house, which is no longer the case. But she added that those in charge also knew of the safety situation at that time.

Rosenfeld said her parking lot has an infestation of drug dealers.

“It’s been like this pretty much my whole life, and in the past two or three years, the windows of my car have been smashed twice and they paintballed my car as well,” she explained. “When I’ve parked, I could see a few guys snorting cocaine and the parking lot smells like marijuana.

About a year or two ago, I parked and I saw these two guys get out of a car and they were coming after me a bit. I managed to get to the entrance to my garage further down.”

Fireworks were set off in the parking lot during the summer as well, she added. Rosenfeld said police responded, but the perpetrators had left by the time they arrived. In one other instance, a boy punched a girl in the face.

“It’s a known hangout, and it never stops. I walk out of my house, and the whole street smells like marijuana.”

Mayor Anthony Housefather said the rules regarding overnight parking permits have not changed since 2006. “Public security investigates each applicant before an overnight parking permit is granted and as such we do not issue or cancel permits due to resident complaints,” he said. “Côte St. Luc is a very safe city and safe neighborhood and we do not issue permits for parking overnight unless the resident has no garage or driveway space available for all the cars licensed to the residence or if they live in a condo or apartment the landlord confirms that it does not have space available for the resident’s car.”

Mike Cohen, the area councillor, said he is not aware of a current problem in parking lots on Merrimac. “The approach that is taken is, as a councillor for the area, if a resident is experiencing difficulties, the only way I can help them is if they communicate with me,” he said. “I’m not aware of any particular problem in that spot, but I’m not saying there isn’t. I don’t have any reason to doubt this woman. We do have the police station only a few blocks away, we have public security that does patrols. Sometimes when you go to your political representative, things happen a little more effectively. At least I can keep tabs on it. I will do what I can to resolve the issue.”

 

In my opinion:  An overnight on-street parking permit is not the issue here.  The parking lot is private property and it is up to the condo administration to increase their internal monitoring and security.  This could be done by adding lighting, cameras and in exceptional circumstances, private security.  As to the alleged criminal activity, it is not within the City of Cote Saint-Luc’s mandate to investigate, monitor or enforce.  This is a Montreal Police responsibility. 

Chain of survival not strong enough in Quebec

Letter to the Editor, Montreal Gaette

Re: Compulsory CPR urged; call for defibrillators (The Gazette, July 8, 2010):

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Early bystander CPR and access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) is essential to dramatically improve patient outcomes and to save lives. Yet Quebec continues to lag behind other provinces in this critical area. Mandatory CPR training in school is an obvious necessity. Low cost, mass training of the public of all ages is needed in all communities. AEDs should be easily accessible in all large public venues, office buildings, restaurants, theatres and sports facilities. Quebec must do more to strengthen the chain of survival.

Glenn J. Nashen

City Councillor (Public Safety)

Cote Saint-Luc

www.GlennJ.Nashen.com

Letters to the editor: Make the city safe for pedestrians

Letters to the Editor – Montreal Gazette

Re: Make the city safe for pedestrians (Gazette, Jan. 13, 2010)

Authorities have for too long tolerated lawlessness on Quebec roads with regard to pedestrian crosswalks. One need only travel to neighbouring provinces and states to see the vast difference in how those authorities take this matter very seriously, much more so than in Quebec.

As a pedestrian and a cyclist I am amazed at the total lack of respect for those crossing a street within designated crosswalks. Municipal and provincial governments have a duty to create clear signage, widespread education and strict enforcement to protect pedestrians.

In Ontario, standardized panels bearing a large black ‘X’ on a white background indicate crossing zones. Most often, this is accompanied by amber warning lights that signal a pedestrian in the crosswalk and many urban centres have overhead lights that illuminate as the pedestrian crosses the road at night, increasing visibility and safety.

In the US, crosswalks are often painted in a highly visible manner, are prominently marked with ample signage and very often have a median sign in the centre of the road in reflective orange and white reminding motorists very effectively, “State Law. Stop for Pedestrians in Crosswalk.” These laws are very strictly enforced by local police and State Troopers.

In Ontario and many states, one need only step off the curb, or even signal ones intention to cross by pointing one’s arm into the roadway to gain control of the crosswalk, providing ultimate safety. On bike paths that cross roadways, and even state highways, signage is posted alerting cyclists to dismount so that pedestrian/crosswalk laws are in effect.

In Quebec, one takes their life into their own hands by thinking one can safely traverse a roadway by virtue of the crosswalk designation. There is little respect by motorists and rarely any law enforcement. Signage is inconsistent – not nearly as visible as in the jurisdictions outlined above, road markings are irregular, enforcement is usually absent and therefore pedestrians are simply not nearly as safe as they ought to be.

During the school season I have noticed motorists ignoring crosswalks, directly in front of schools, and this while crossing guards, large Stop Signs in hand, unsuccessfully try to gain control of the crosswalk. This should not – cannot – be tolerated.

Quebec should learn from its neighbours and can increase safety in crosswalks by adopting best practices in use elsewhere and order provincial and municipal police forces to show zero tolerance to motorists who disregard fundamental safety regulations.

Glenn J. Nashen

City Councillor (Public Safety & Traffic)

Côte Saint-Luc

Cote Saint-Luc’s Super Man and Bialik Alumnus

Glenn Nashen: Cote Saint-Luc’s Super Man and Bialik Alumnus

JPPS-Bialik Newsletter - September 2009

by David Smajovitz, JPPS-Bialik Communications Officer

If you reside in “the Luc” (Cote Saint-Luc), chances are that the September Bialik alumnus of the month and longtime city councillor (first elected in 1990), Glenn Nashen ’79, does not represent a foreign name. Come to think of it, due to his lifetime of involvement in the Montreal Jewish community and a myriad of other volunteering ventures, Glenn Nashen is likely a recognizable name regardless of where you live. When he is not attending meetings pertaining to Agence Ometz, (where he serves on the board of directors), volunteering his time to Cote Saint-Luc’s Emergency Medical Services (2009 marks his 30th year), or VCOP (Cote Saint-Luc’s own volunteer security service that he founded), he is proud to be the director of Public Affairs and Communications for the Jewish General Hospital. Mr. Nashen credits his own personal mission of practicing tikkun olam to his days at JPS and Bialik

“I wanted to help people who could not help themselves. That really is the spirit of tikkun olam. I didn’t learn that from anywhere other than my parents and from Bialik.” Mr. Nashen also deems that part of the foundation for his lifetime of leadership and public service was laid during the intense efforts to release Jewish political dissident Anatoly Sharansky and others from Russian prisons during the Refusnik movement time period. JPPS-Bialik as an organization was in the forefront of those efforts, as was our September honouree.

“Bialik was a magnificent stepping stone for me to get smarter and smarter. It created a real sense of leadership.” Throughout his time in the school, Glenn held the school newspaper editorship, as well being responsible for creating the first Bialik graduates society after a request from the late, great Nachum Wilchesky Z”L.

It is quite apparent that Glenn Nashen is both a Bialik and a Cote Saint-Luc success story, but this veteran legislator and public relations expert impeccably carries out both responsibilities despite that fact that he did not attend law school, nor does he have a formal degree in communications. In actuality, Mr. Nashen graduated McGill University with a degree in Industrial Relations. He explained to me that, while he had always recognized that his true calling and passion was public service, his life’s journey, thus far, could not have been foreseen way back in high school. To that end, Mr. Nashen advises that young people ought to “stick their toes in many different areas, even if the waters may seem a bit cold.”

As a current JPPS parent who credits his own parents for the sacrifices they bore to be able send him to JPPS and Bialik, Mr. Nashen closed by saying, “They could not have made a better decision for me than what they chose, and I could not have made a better decision than to send my children here. My hope is that it (JPPS-Bialik) will do the same for my children as it did for me. The people are different, but the neshama (soul) is still there.”

Bulletin du District 6 Newsletter

Bulletin District 6 Newsletter (Bilingual/Bilingue)

VIA Rail strike a big hassle

Open Letter to VIA Rail:

I was one of thousands of travellers who was greatly inconvenienced this past weekend when two of my bookings were cancelled due to the VIA Rail strike. Like so many others I had to make last-minute, alternative travel plans. I wasted much of my time and this created a great deal of stress to my travel companion and to me. VIA’s answer to this mess was to announce a 60% Off sale for all travellers, not just those who were abruptly dumped from their bookings. What’s worse is that VIA only offered a 3 days window to make these new bookings, right in the middle of Quebec holidays when so many are away and unavailable to take them up on the offer.

Even worse, VIA’s 1-888 number has been constantly busy and their website crashes, unable to handle the load of new bookings.

VIA should get its customer service on the right track, distinguish between those whose bookings they cancelled from those who are getting in on a good deal and offer a reasonable timeframe for these new bookings, say 30 days.

Published in Letters, Montreal Gazette