Cavendish link now closer to realization: MNAs

Cavendish link now closer to realization: MNAs

May 2, 2012

Joel Goldenberg. The Suburban

 

D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman, NDG MNA Kathleen Weil, Mont Royal MNA Pierre Arcand and St. Laurent MNA Jean-Marc Fournier are all lauding the recent announcement that Quebec – through the Société nationale du cheval de course – is ceding the Hippodrome land to Montreal for a future housing development. “This will allow in the coming years the development of the full potential of this large tract of land of almost 43.5 hectares, one of the last of this size close to downtown Montreal,” said a joint statement by the four MNAs.

“The transfer of the Hippodrome land and its future development are at the same time bringing us closer to the long expected realization of the link of the two parts of Cavendish Boulevard since the planning of this infrastructure comes naturally within the scope of the development of the Hippodrome site.”

The four MNAs also said they were pleased with the agreement in principle between the province and Montreal, which “confirms that an amount of $44 million is still inscribed in its triennial immobilization program for the realization of the Cavendish-Cavendish link, a road belonging to the municipal network and that lies under its responsibility.

Also, the City of Montreal took the engagement to have an update done of all studies related to the realization of the Cavendish-Cavendish link, and the costs of which will be reimbursed from the resale of the parcels of land of the Hippodrome site.”

Bergman pointed out that Raymond Bachand, the minister responsible for Montreal, announced that a portion of the revenues coming from the resale of the Hippodrome land could be reinvested in the Cavendish-Cavendish link. Bergman represents constituents in Côte St. Luc, Hampstead and part of Côte des Neiges/NDG – the councils from the three areas have passed resolutions calling for a prioritization by Quebec of the Cavendish link. The Hampstead and Côte St. Luc resolutions also ask Montreal to prioritize the link.

“This is something that surely can speed up the process,” Bergman said.

Arcand, the Mont Royal MNA whose constituency includes the Town of Mount Royal industrial park, which is close to the Hippodrome site, said TMR “has, for a long time, been asking for the realization of this project in the interests of its residents.”

The MNAs also detailed some of the next steps in the process. “In the coming months, the City of Montreal will present a plan for the Hippodrome of Montreal site, which will be the object of a public consultation process,” they jointly said. “Accordingly, the sale of the lots of the land could begin in 2017 and the real estate development of the site could be completed by 2025. The City of Montreal estimates that between 5,000 and 8,000 housing units will be built on the site amongst which approximately 15 percent will be social housing units and 15 percent low income housing.”

Related articles

• CSL, Bergman working toward Cavendish link: Housefather (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• CSL gives new push to extend Cavendish (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• CSL calls on Quebec, Montreal to prioritize Cavendish link (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• CDN-NDG supporting Cavendish extension (gjnashen.wordpress.com)

Business offers free helmets for Bixi users cycling in Old Montreal and the Old Port

Business offers free helmets for Bixi users cycling in Old Montreal and the Old Port (Montreal Gazette)

Jack Kowalski has been pitching an odd idea for several years.  He’d like helmets to be worn inside cars.  While his idea has yet to gain much traction I share his enthusiasm for increased awareness, promotion and use of helmets for cycling, skiing and other sports that can easily result in traumatic brain injury.  TBI is preventable in 80% of cases by wearing an approved helmet.

Kowalski is upset that Montreal’s bike sharing system, BIXI, does not offer or require helmets. I agree with him on this point.  So he has done something about it.  He has purchased 50 helmets that he will loan for free to BIXI users at his store in Old Montreal.  Great initiative. Bravo Jack Kowalski.

This is Public Safety Week

OTTAWA, May 5, 2012 - Today, the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, recognized Emergency Preparedness Week (EP Week) 2012 by highlighting several online tools to help Canadians prepare a family emergency plan and do their part to improve community resilience against disasters. The 17th annual EP Week takes place May 6-12, 2012, and the theme of this year’s event is “Make a Plan.”

“Emergency Preparedness Week is an opportunity for us to ensure we are prepared for any emergency situation that may occur. It is also a time for us to recognize those men and women on the front lines who work heroically to protect our families and communities from emergency situations,” said Minister Toews.

To help Canadians plan for emergencies, a redesigned GetPrepared.ca website was launched today with easier navigation and new sections on preparing children for emergencies, how to plan for pets and service animals, and using technology to keep in touch during emergencies. The website allows Canadians to go online to complete and download their own family emergency plan.

Canadians are also encouraged to visit the recently-launched mobile website,m.GetPrepared.ca, which gives quick access from a mobile device on what to do during different kinds of emergencies. The website also allows users to email a custom emergency kit shopping list from their mobile device.

Also accessible from GetPrepared.ca is the Canadian Disaster Database, where Canadians can learn about risks that have affected their region since 1900 and allow them better to prepare.

EP Week is a national event coordinated by Public Safety Canada in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments and other partners, encouraging Canadians to be ready to cope on their own for at least the first 72 hours of an emergency. For more information on EP Week and to complete a family emergency plan, visitwww.GetPrepared.ca, and follow @Get_Prepared on Twitter.

***

OTTAWA, le 5 mai 20 - Aujourd’hui, l’honorable Vic Toews, ministre de la Sécurité publique, a souligné le début de la Semaine de la sécurité civile de 2012, et a présenté plusieurs outils en ligne qui ont été conçus pour aider les Canadiens à préparer un plan d’urgence familial et à apporter leur contribution pour améliorer la résilience communautaire contre les catastrophes. La Semaine de la sécurité civile se déroule du 6 au 12 mai 2012, et le thème de l’année est « Préparer un plan ».

« La Semaine de la sécurité civile nous rappelle que nous devons toujours être préparés à faire face aux éventuelles urgences. C’est également l’occasion de reconnaître les hommes et les femmes qui, aux premières lignes, font preuve d’héroïsme pour protéger nos familles et nos collectivités lorsque survient une situation urgence, a dit le ministre Toews. »

Pour aider les Canadiens à se préparer aux urgences, le site Web remanié Preparez-vous.ca a été lancé aujourd’hui. La navigation y est plus facile, et de nouvelles sections ont été ajoutées sur la préparation des enfants aux urgences, la planification pour les personnes ayant des animaux domestiques et d’assistance et le recours à la technologie pour communiquer avec les membres de famille en cas d’urgence. Le site Web permet également aux Canadiens de remplir en ligne leur propre plan d’urgence et de le télécharger.

Les Canadiens sont également encouragés à visiter le site Web, m.Preparez-vous.ca, qui a été récemment lancé et qui permet, à partir d’un appareil mobile, un accès rapide à des renseignements sur les étapes à suivre en situation d’urgence de différents types. Le site Web permet également aux utilisateurs d’envoyer par courriel, à partir de leur appareil mobile, une liste d’articles à acheter pour la trousse d’urgence.

Également accessible à partir du site Web, Preparez-vous.ca, est la Base de données canadienne sur les catastrophes, où les Canadiens peuvent se renseigner au sujet des risques ayant touchés leur région depuis 1900 ainsi que des mesures de préparation d’urgence.

La Semaine de la Sécurité civile est coordonnée par Sécurité publique Canada en collaboration avec les gouvernements provinciaux et territoriaux et d’autres partenaires. Elle vise à encourager les Canadiens à se préparer pour être autosuffisants pendant les premières 72 heures d’une situation d’urgence. Pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements sur la Semaine de la sécurité civile et préparer un plan d’urgence familial, visitez le site Web, www.preparez-vous.ca, et suivez Sécurité publique Canada sur Twitter, à l’adresse : @Get_Prepared.

Victory in Europe commemorated in Cote Saint-Luc

Each year Cote Saint-Luc salutes its veterans and remembers those who have passed.  V-E Day takes place on the first Sunday in May.  Unfortunately, the crowd of veterans grows thinner each year and those still attending grow a little more frail, a little older.  Their ages have now reached the upper 80s and many into their 90s.

The Cote Saint-Luc ceremony is solemn and meaningful.  Remarks are given by members of the Royal Canadian Legion, the diplomatic corps, municipal officials and a military band and trumpeter provide musical accompaniment.  The Master of Ceremony was Frank Levine, a veteran of the Second World War and local Legion president. The event co-chairpersons were councillors Allan J. Levine and Ruth Kovac.

I have been attending the Cote Saint-Luc ceremony for some 32 years since I first joined the CSL Emergency Measures Organization in 1979.  Back then, EMO members would march, 30 or 40 strong, from 8100 CSL Road to the CSL Shopping Centre where we would meet up with hundreds of veterans, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, scouts and other volunteers.  The larger parade, including marching bands would make its way further down CSL Road to the reviewing stand near the fire station and the parade would assemble at the old cenotaph at Father Foley Park between the fire station and the post office.  Hundreds of spectators would line the street.

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Today’s assembly is smaller.  The event is simpler.  But it is still very important to remember.  Mayor Anthony Housefather spoke eloquently about the veteran’s returning from WWII who built CSL into a modern and thriving urban city.  He thanked them for their dedication in building our community.

I am fortunate to once again have attended with my father, George Nashen, a veteran of the RCAF who served in England from 1942-1946.  I salute him, the members of the Brigadier Fredrick Kisch Branch 97 of the Royal Canadian Legion and all those who served in the Canadian Armed Forces.

We will remember them.

View more photos on the Cote Saint-Luc Flikr page.

Read more on Mike Cohen’s blog.

Read more in the Suburban.

Côte Saint-Luc blood donor clinic on Tuesday, May 8

Côte Saint-Luc blood donor clinic on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The annual Côte Saint-Luc blood donor clinic takes place on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 from 1:15 pm to 8 pm at the municipal Gymnasium at 7500 Mackle Rd.

“We help organize a blood donor clinic each year because it is so important to the health of so many Quebecers,” said Councillor Ruth Kovac, a long-time blood donor who is the chairperson of the event. “We know that many people cannot donate blood because of health problems or medications they must take. That means that people who are healthy need to step up, roll up their sleeves, and donate this life-saving resource.”

Anyone who is at least 18 years old and in good health can donate blood once every 56 days, which is six times per year. Review the donor qualifications at www.hema-quebec.qc.ca or call 1-800-343-4264.

The four most common blood types are 0 blood (46 percent), A blood (42 percent), B blood (9 percent) and AB blood (3 percent).

Meadowbrook preservation highlights Jane’s Walk in CSL

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I was pleased to participate with my family in this week’s Jane’s Walk to the Meadowbrook Golf Course.  About 50 residents from across the Island of Montreal joined Cote Saint-Luc Councillor Dida Berku and the Green Coalition’s David Fletcher for an educational stroll along the border of the Meadowbrook Golf Course.  The goal is to continue the 22 year battle to protect the area and eventually turn it into an urban recreational area.

I’ve been alongside Dida Berku for these 22 years opposing any development on this site and hope that the City of Montreal and Province of Quebec will finally see the important value for the health and safety of West End residents who are currently deprived of a substantial recreational area in the southwest sector of the Island.  Councillor Steven Erdelyi is also an outspoken activist in this matter.

Berku has become an expert in all aspects of the fight to preserve Meadowbrook having taken the matter before the National Railway Association and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The heat maps produced by the City of Montreal show considerable concentration in the southwest sector lending strong support for an urban recreation area to absorb heat and to naturally cool the surrounding areas.  As well the land currently allows for a substantial buffer from many rail lines to the closest homes as recommended by the National Railway Association.

What can you do to protect Meadowbrook?  Call the Mayor’s Office of the City of Montreal, your Member of the National Assembly as well as your Member of Parliament.  All levels of government must show greater concern and understand the urgency in preserving this heritage site for the health and safety of future generations.

Activists use Jane’s Walks to call for protecting Meadowbrook

BY PAT DONNELLY, THE GAZETTE MAY 6, 2012 7:01 PM

MONTREAL – Urban development guru Jane Jacobs was remembered over the weekend with the fourth edition of a series of Jane’s Walks around the city.

Montreal was but one of about 100 cities in 17 countries that participated this year.

The idea is to get acquainted with the flora and fauna of each neighbourhood. About 40 guides led 50 walks in 12 boroughs and several cities on Montreal Island on Saturday and Sunday.

Jacobs was the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a seminal critique of urban renewal policies of the 1950s. She died in Toronto in 2006.

In Côte St. Luc, city councillor Dida Berku and members of a local activist organization called Les Amis de Meadowbrook hosted the Jane’s Walk which began at Richard Schwartz Park on Westluke Ave. on Sunday, just a stone’s throw away from the railway tracks. There were, however, no worries about stones being thrown at this most peaceful of demonstrations attended by about 45 brook-loving people.

The mission of Les Amis de Meadowbrook is to protect the verdant area, which is currently being used as a golf course, from being developed into high-density residential dwellings. The 57 acres in question are currently owned by a company called Groupe Pacific which has construction plans in mind.

There were placards to wave at Richard Schwartz Park. And a large sign (erected with the help of the City of Côte St. Luc), read “SOS! Conserve Meadowbrook for everyone!”

Berku voiced concerns about noise pollution from the recently constructed AMT railway-car repair yards in nearby Lachine, and about the dangers of freight trains carrying toxic substances passing so close to residential areas. Minutes later, a freight train towing several tanks of toxic substances appeared as if on cue to underline her words.

Retired schoolteacher and self-taught ecologist David Fletcher, of the Green Coalition, led the walk along the road next to the tracks. He pointed out black willows and hickory trees. After suddenly declaring “I love mosquitos!” he waded into a watery ditch in an attempt to trap mosquito larvae for display. (No luck. Too early.)

Access to the actual Meadowbrook park was not possible. So two members of Les Amis welcomed the walkers into their backyards, both of which overlooked the golf course. One of the hosts, aeronautical engineer Nigel Dove, pointed out the area targeted for condo development: “The last proposal was a green proposal but this isn’t the right place for it. It would be high-density, four-storey condos, 1,500 condos crammed into this little area.”

“My interest is to keep nature alive and to support what is important to the next generation, to pass it on,” said Sharon Smith, who teaches art at Royal Vale school.

Some of the walkers, such as François Rivest, Marie-Josée Breton and their three children, were visiting the Meadowbrook area for the first time. Breton had organized the Jane’s Walk in Montreal North on Saturday and the whole family had attended there, too. “That was quite enjoyable, “ Rivest said. “People were happy and relaxed and talking to each other. It was kind of a village setting.”

This was the first year that the city has participated in the Jane’s Walks organized annually by the Urban Ecology Centre.

pdonnell@montrealgazette.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Activists+Jane+Walks+call+protecting+Meadowbrook/6575258/story.html#ixzz1u8hrSWi5

Ever hear of a “Move Over” law? This tip can save you time and money.

Ever hear of a “Move Over” law?  Well you better take note because you may soon be stopped for failing to move over and it’ll cost you dearly.

Recently I heard of a Montrealer who was stopped on a New York State highway and given a ticket costing several hundred dollars and a mandatory court appearance.  The reason?  She failed to move over to the left lane while passing a State Trooper who was stopped in the break down lane.

After doing some simple research I quickly learned that many US states have so-called “Move Over” laws, enacted as a result of the significant number of police injuries and deaths on US highways, having been struck by oncoming vehicles.

I asked several friends and neighbours if they had ever heard of such a law and not one was familiar with “Move Over”.   You’d think with such a serious potential to strike an officer that such laws, only passed in the last couple of years, would be widely publicized on roadside billboards.

Two weeks ago, returning by car from Boston, I stopped in a Vermont rest stop and found the flyer just below.  It explains it in clear and basic terms.

It seems that interest is growing for such a law on Quebec highways, as evidenced in yesterday’s Granby  Express and tweeted by the Montreal Gazette’s reporter Andy Riga.  A petition is now  circulating, with some 8000 signatures, calling on the Quebec National Assembly to enact a made-in-Quebec “Move Over” law.

Hats off to Chambly Paramedic Patrick Dufresne for launching this petition.  Anything that can be done to reduce the risk to police officers, ambulance technicians and highway crews is well worth consideration.  I’ll be signing this petition and I encourage you to do so too by forwarding this blog post widely.  What do you think?  Do you agree with such a law?  Click Leave a Comment now and share your opinion.

Related articles

• New York Move Over Law Amended (nytrafficticket.com)
• Drivers Ticketed During “Move Over” Law Crackdown (miami.cbslocal.com)
• Officials urge motorists to do their part (gloucestercitynews.net)
• Maryland Police Remind Drivers To Move Over (washington.cbslocal.com)
• “Move Over” For Emergency Workers (miami.cbslocal.com)

Commemorating VE Day – We will remember them – Nous nous souviendrons d’eux

 

The City of Côte Saint-Luc and the Brigadier Frederick Kisch Branch 97 of the Royal Canadian Legion launched the We Will Remember Them online campaign.

The goal is to encourage the Facebook generation to honour the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation by changing their Facebook profile photo to the We Will Remember Them logo or to pose with the We Will Remember Them poster, both available for download at www.cotesaintluc.org/WeWillRememberThem.

“Every new generation must remember those who fought to defend Canada and her allies,” Mayor Anthony Housefather said. “Côte Saint-Luc is a community that remembers its past and honours the veterans who returned to build our community and the memory of those who did not.”

The annual Victory in Europe (V-E) Day commemoration ceremony in Côte Saint-Luc takes place on Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 2 pm at Veterans Park (on Cavendish Blvd. next to City Hall).

In the event of rain, it will take place next door at City Hall, 5801 Cavendish Blvd.

The Master of Ceremony will be Frank Levine, a veteran of the Second World War and local Legion president. The event co-chairpersons are councillors Allan J. Levine and Ruth Kovac.
 
The City of Côte Saint-Luc and the Brigadier Frederick Kisch Branch 97 of the Royal Canadian Legion organize the V-E Day event, which commemorates the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany.

Victory in Europe (V-E) Day was May 8, 1945, the date when the Second World War Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany. The cenotaph at Veterans Park honours the memory of those who gave their lives in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. 

The Greatest Generation is a term coined by journalist Tom Brokaw to describe the generation who grew up during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in the Second World War, as well as those whose productivity within the war’s home front made a decisive material contribution to the war effort.

Côte Saint-Luc hosting Jane’s Walk neighbourhood walking tour

Jane’s Walk neighbourhood walking tour in Meadowbrook

Côte Saint-Luc, April 27, 2012 – The City of Côte Saint-Luc will be home to one of 50 neighbourhood walking tours around the island of Montreal on May 5 and 6, 2012, as part of the annual Jane’s Walk event across North America and the world.

Councillor Dida Berku and members of Les Amis de Meadowbrook will be leading the two-hour tour “Meadowbrook: A Treasure to Discover” on Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 11:30 am starting at Richard Schwartz Park (Côte Saint-Luc Rd. at Westluke Ave., bus route 103). The walk is free of charge, but participants are encouraged to RSVP at dberku@cotesaintluc.org. During the Saturday walk, Councillor Berku will be joined by wild-life biologist Patrick Ash, and on Sunday by naturalist and environmental educator David Fletcher.

The Montreal-area walks are organized by the Montreal Urban Ecology Centre (www.urbanecology.net/walks).

Jane’s Walk is a series of free neighbourhood walking tours that helps put people in touch with their environment and with each other, by bridging social and geographic gaps and creating a space for cities to discover themselves. Since its inception in 2007, Jane’s Walk has happened in cities across North America, and is growing internationally.

Jane’s Walk honours the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning. Jane’s Walk helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership.

This year, Jane’s Walk will be hosted in 17 countries and more than 100 cities, such as Barcelona, Berlin, Canberra, New York, Mumbai, Paris, Toronto, Saint Petersburg and Sao Paulo. In 2011, Jane’s Walk took place in 75 cities around the world with more than 12,000 walkers and 500 walking tours.

CSL, Bergman working toward Cavendish link: Housefather

CSL, Bergman working toward Cavendish link: Housefather

April 25, 2012

Joel Goldenberg, The Suburban

Côte St. Luc mayor Anthony Housefather insisted to discouraged council regular Bernard Tonchin that Côte St. Luc and especially D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman are working hard to help the cause of a Cavendish Blvd. link between Côte St. Luc and St. Laurent.

Côte St. Luc, Hampstead, St. Laurent, Côte des Neiges/NDG, Montreal West and Town of Mount Royal have passed resolutions asking that the link be prioritized. The Quebec government also revived the issue in their announcement that the Hippodrome land would be ceded to Montreal for future development.

Tonchin said at last week’s city council meeting that he would not attend the next Montreal island-wide agglomeration meeting if the Cavendish link was not on the agenda. The resident pointed out that previous plans called for the link to be completed this year.

“I’m very concerned with Cavendish, it’s a 40-year battle,” he added. “I and some others are ready to go down again to the agglomeration council, because we have more support now [from suburbs] and we really need it. I’ve asked many times to invite our representative from D’Arcy McGee to a meeting strictly on Cavendish. He got a lot of things done and is pretty powerful in Quebec. We have to confront him, once and for all, on the extension of Cavendish. I don’t know where we stand.”

Housefather said Tonchin is well aware that Côte St. Luc has been in favour of the link for more than 10 years, and that the city and TMR pushed to have it as part of the agglomeration’s transport plan.

“Lawrence Bergman is working on the Cavendish dossier,” the mayor added. “I speak to him about this dossier on a weekly basis. There is nothing he does not know about the population’s support for Cavendish going ahead. He knows it very well. He’s doing his best to lobby, to get the money for Cavendish being extended. He’s doing everything he can. “There is definitely every kind of impetus that the city can have on Cavendish. And there’s no point in putting it on the agglomeration agenda – there’s nothing being voted on. But you’re always welcome to show up for question period and you can ask it to Mayor Tremblay exactly the way you put it to me. There’s nothing I can do to further Cavendish than I’m not already doing. I’ve asked along with the mayor of TMR for a meeting with the Quebec transport minister and I’m waiting for a response, and we’ve done our best at every level of government.”

Related articles

• CDN-NDG supporting Cavendish extension (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• CSL gives new push to extend Cavendish (gjnashen.wordpress.com)
• CSL calls on Quebec, Montreal to prioritize Cavendish link (gjnashen.wordpress.com)

Demand grows for CSL shuttle to hospitals

Since the launch of the STM’s “Golden Shuttle” 262 which services Cote Saint-Luc’s senior population, connecting apartments, condos and seniors residences with the City’s main facilities as well as the Place Angrignon shopping centre in LaSalle there has been demand to connect the City with Montreal’s west end hospitals.

Several requests have been made by City Council to the STM and we will continue to press forward with this need.  What can you do?  Call the STM and make your opinion known.

Free Press, April 25, 2012. Click to enlarge.

Related articles

• CSL Golden Shuttle Bus Reminder (gjnashen.wordpress.com)

A sea of blue and white washes across Montreal

Israel’s 64th birthday party was celebrated downtown amid a sea of blue and white waving flags.  A crowd of 10,000 smiling faces made their way along Rene-Levesque Blvd. to Place du Canada for the lunchtime celebration.  School children in uniform danced among the business crowd in suits.  There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of flags of Israel, Quebec and Canada being waved as far as one could see along the one kilometre parade route.

JPPS students celebrating Israel's 64th birthday

Once assembled in the main square musical entertainment was loud and energetic.  Greetings by Consul General Joel Lion, also loud and energetic.  Special Montreal-personalized video greetings were also delivered by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who expressed deep appreciation to Canada for its unprecedented level of support and friendship.  PM Stephen Harper also delivered greetings by video expressing the profound attachment of the Canadian and Israeli nations.

Cote Saint-Lucers were out in large numbers including Councillors Mike Cohen, Sam Goldbloom, Dida Berku and myself along with Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler and his Chief of Staff Howard Liebman.  Other CSLers spotted among the crowds include CSL Public Security Agent Erwin Luden and his kids, CSUQ’s Sidney Benizri, former Bialik teacher Lanie Smajovits, Chabad CSL’s Rabbi Mendel Raskin and Beth Israel Beth Aaron’s Rabbi Reuben Poupko via video feed from the March of the Living in Poland and Israel.

The annual Yom Ha’atzmaut rally downtown is the brainchild of CSL businessman Amos Sochaczevski.

Montreal Gazette: ‘One big family’ on Israel’s Independence Day

Read more in Mike Cohen’s blog

 

What we learned about organic waste collection

Here’s an excellent piece by District 4 Councillor Steven Erdelyi.  Steven is responsible for the Public Works dossier.  He is an excellent Councillor, highly intelligent and devoted to his constituents, his portfolio and indeed all residents of the City.

Free Press, April 25, 2012. Click to enlarge.

Quebec should be the envy of the world: Letter to the editor, Montreal Gazette

Robert Libman strikes a chord with many Quebecers who have endured decades of mean-spirited Anglo-bashing (Anglophones have absolutely nothing to apologize for, Montreal Gazette, Apr. 18, 2012). English-speaking Quebecers are living under very different circumstances today than when the restrictive and loathsome legislation was brought in some 30 years ago.

The facts speak for themselves: English schools continue to close, businesses are pressured into compliance by the dreaded OQLF tongue-troopers and anonymous snitches, bilingual institutions and municipalities are under constant threat by shifting demographics and English-language services are increasingly rare in outlying regions, for example. The economic cost on the community and the province has been severe and the personal toll on thousands of families has been painful.

How unproductive and sad that our political atmosphere remains stuck in an artificial and cruel linguistic pressure cooker.

Just think how much better off we would all be if we channeled our energy into embracing our rich and vibrant cultures, celebrating our ability to speak many languages, and appreciating how fortunate we are to live in an extraordinarily beautiful province. We should be the envy of the world.

Glenn J. Nashen

City Councillor, Cote Saint-Luc

Former Executive Director, Alliance Quebec

Related articles

• Quebec town in trouble over bilingual newsletter (ctv.ca)
• Conflicting interests at L’Actualité (macleans.ca)