Justin Trudeau and moonlighting by MPs (and MNAs)
Kudos to Justin Trudeau for voluntarily disclosing his personal finances, thereby setting an example for other elected officials to follow. And kudos to Trudeau as well for raising, albeit...
View ArticleThe Charbonneau inquiry’s extension and the next Quebec election
As expected, the Charbonneau commission requested an extension of its mandate, and the Marois government acceded to it. The commission now has until April 19, 2015, to submit its report. The government...
View ArticleThe Liberal-CAQ see-saw
Further to my column in The Gazette of Saturday, May 4, on how the Quebec Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Québec are on an electoral see-saw, which makes it difficult for them to vote together...
View ArticleMarois: Why break up a losing team?
Premier Pauline Marois was reported this week to have told the Parti Québécois National Assembly caucus she has no intention of shuffling her cabinet in the near future. After all, why break up a team...
View ArticleFor some Quebec Liberals, it pays to delay
“Profitable federalism” was a slogan coined in the 1970s by the late Liberal premier Robert Bourassa. Recently, some members of Bourassa’s party have been practising profitable filibustering. On...
View ArticleDefections from the Coalition Avenir Québec to the Quebec Liberal Party?
Could the fall sitting of the National Assembly, which begins Sept. 17, see defections from the Coalition Avenir Québec to the Quebec Liberals? That’s what pollster Jean-Marc Léger speculated in a...
View Article(UPDATED) The chutzpah of François Legault
The classic example of chutzpah is the man who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan. Now there is a new example from Quebec politics, provided by...
View Article(Updated) PKP and the PQ
After Premier Pauline Marois appointed Québecor media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau chair of Hydro-Québec last April, I noted in my column in The Gazette “speculation that, at only 51, he may have...
View ArticleNational Assembly staff, MNAs and media undergo training for active shooting...
QUEBEC — About 20 journalists assigned to the National Assembly sit around an oval table. It’s Monday morning and they’ve just been told by the head of security to ignore their journalistic instincts...
View Article12-year-old transgender youth among those honoured at anti-bullying awards...
QUEBEC — In the short time since she came out as a transgender person, 12-year-old Olie Pullen from Pointe-Claire has accomplished a lot. The preteen — who was born Oliver — made the cover of Maclean’s...
View ArticleNational Assembly resumes sitting amid protests from taxi drivers, school boards
QUEBEC — Members of the National Assembly received a loud “welcome back” on Tuesday, as dozens of taxi drivers circled the perimeter and honked their horns in demand of fairer and more equitable...
View ArticleOliver Jones honoured by National Assembly
QUEBEC — Montreal pianist Oliver Jones was awarded the National Assembly’s medal of honour Tuesday in a ceremony that also celebrated author Arlette Cousture, businesswoman Lise Watier and doctor...
View ArticleOpinion: Let transgender children in Quebec change their birth certificates
How much time do you spend thinking about whether to mark a “m” or “f” on a form? In fall of 2014, Emilie lost 20 precious minutes of her high school entrance exam as she tried to decide which box the...
View ArticleCouillard insists fall session will be about Quebec's 'newfound prosperity'
QUEBEC — Trying to set the tone on the opening day of session Tuesday at the National Assembly, Premier Philippe Couillard insisted this political season will be all about “Quebecers’ newfound...
View ArticleDon Macpherson: What's to be done about Gerry Sklavounos
In the Paquet-Sklavounos affair, the list of victims, alleged and presumable, grows ever longer. To begin with, there is Alice Paquet, the young woman who last week alleged that she was sexually...
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