DELHI FLOODING

 

Jane Campion, New Zealand's humble cinema giant



Issued on: 11/09/2021 - 

Campion has already picked up the top prize at Cannes

 Filippo MONTEFORTE AFP


Venice (AFP)

New Zealand's Jane Campion underlined her status as one of the leading film-makers of her generation, taking home the best director trophy at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

"The Power of the Dog", an emotionally complex tale about feuding brothers on a 1920s Montana ranch, was Campion's first film in more than a decade and won immediate acclaim from critics.

Campion was already a major figure in the history of cinema as the first woman to win a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, for "The Piano", and only the second ever nominated for a directing Oscar.

Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars in her new film, told reporters she was a "key icon" of the women's movement.

"She's a great filmmaker and a very powerful woman in our industry. She handles it all so adeptly, and she's so ridiculously humble about it," he said in Venice.

Campion returned the compliment as she accepted the award on Saturday, saying of Cumberbatch: "He really did go around the world and back again to find this character, to strip himself bare."

Campion was a little-known arthouse filmmaker when she brought "The Piano" to the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.

The New Zealand-set movie about a mute pianist and her daughter starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin, went on to pick up three Oscars and was a huge critical and commercial hit.

"'The Piano' was a massive film for me growing up -- seminal -- all of her work is," said Cumberbatch.

She followed that film with a run of complex films featuring strong-willed women that have established her as one of the foremost auteurs of her generation.

- Early exposure -

Born in Wellington on April 30, 1954, the second of three children, Campion grew up in a theatrical family.

But despite this early exposure –- her mother was a writer and actress, her father a theatre director and producer –- Campion did not set out to become a filmmaker.

Instead, she studied for a degree in anthropology in New Zealand before concentrating on art in London and Sydney.

Only later did Campion find her calling at the Australian Film Television and Radio School between 1981 and 1984.

Head of the Cannes jury Jane Campion, pictured last year in Cannes, made her name portraying complex, strong-willed female protagonists and knows from first-hand experience that the festival is a place where careers are made

 Anne-Christine Poujoulat AFP/File

Many of Campion's films revolve around gender issues, and she has been praised for the innovation, imagination and intelligence of her work.

"The Portrait of a Lady" (1996) was an adaptation of the Henry James novel, starring Nicole Kidman, while "Holy Smoke" (1999) cast Kate Winslet as a woman experiencing a spiritual awakening on a trip to India.

Campion also cast Meg Ryan in "In The Cut" (2003) as a New York writing professor who has an affair with a detective investigating a local murder.

- 'Mythical and exciting' -

She first came to Cannes in 1986 when she won best short film with "Peel".

In 1989, her first feature film "Sweetie" -- the story of a young woman's difficult relationship with her unstable sister -- was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or and she returned with "An Angel at my Table" (1990), based on the autobiographies of New Zealand author Janet Frame.

As well as features, Campion has branched out into documentaries such as "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story" (2006) about a Japanese student kidnapped by a North Korean agent in 1977.

Her television mini-series "Top of the Lake", with Elizabeth Moss as a detective returning to her home town to investigate a child abuse case, was a hit with audiences and won a string of awards.

In 2014, she served as head of the jury at Cannes, and described the festival as a "mythical and exciting" place where "amazing things can happen".

"I know this because that is what happened to me," she added.

burs-er/jj

Italy: Palermo puts migrant children center stage

Veteran mayor Leoluca Orlando has transformed the Sicilian capital from a Mafia stronghold into a beacon of migrants' rights, and opera has been key. But Palermo's inclusive vision may be about to die.

When the Rainbow Choir reunited for its first rehearsals after the pandemic last summer, the sense of excitement was palpable. "Louder," bellowed the ensemble's maestro, snapping his fingers as he paced around the room. The young singers needed little encouragement — grinning in unison, they soared through another verse of an Italian movie soundtrack.

Run by the Teatro Massimo, Palermo's majestic opera house, the Rainbow Choir unites children from the city's many migrant communities, from Romanian to Philippine to Bangladeshi. The ensemble's appearances in concerts and international opera productions can provide life-changing experiences for its often disadvantaged members. And, after a long, grueling lockdown, the young singers were keen to get back to work.

"When I sing, I feel like I have been reborn," said Carmela, an 11-year-old Ghanaian member (photo above). "I want to do opera, I hope to become a professional [...] I also want to go to the conservatory."

The choir was launched in 2014 by the Teatro Massimo and the Consulta delle Culture, an elected body representing migrants' interests. Initially intended to draw migrant parents into the theater, the ensemble ultimately became a lifeline for many of its young members.

Leoluca Orlando has been a force in Palermo politics for decades

The initiative is a testament to the pioneering vision of Leoluca Orlando, Palermo's veteran mayor. Since freeing the city from the grip of the Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s, Orlando has sought to transform the Sicilian capital into a beacon of migrants' rights. However, with Italian right-wing leader Matteo Salvini's popularity growing locally, and Orlando preparing to step down before local elections in spring 2022, the long-term survival of the mayor's project hangs by a thread.

Migrants find a home

Few Italian cities appear as welcoming to migrants as Palermo. With residents from 127 countries and an immigrant population that has almost tripled in nearly two decades, to 24,000, Palermo is Italy's most ethnically diverse city. The walls of its historic center are plastered with multilingual street signs in Italian, Hebrew and Arabic. An architectural patchwork of Moorish domes, sweeping Norman arches and dazzling Byzantine mosaics testifies to centuries of sociocultural and ethnic mixing.

Yet Italy's bureaucracy turns many undocumented migrants — they numbered roughly 600,000 in 2020, according to government estimates — into second-class citizens. Those without work or residence permits are often forced into illegal employment and barred from access to public health care and social services, said Ibrahima Kobena, president of the Consulta delle Culture, in an interview. Moreover, Italy's birthright laws do not bestow citizenship on children who do not have an Italian parent. Despite being born in Italy, Carmela, who lives with Sicilian foster parents, will not be entitled to Italian citizenship until she is 18.

The choir has helped redress the balance. "Italians feel like the boss. If your skin is a different color, they treat you badly," said Angela Assare, a 13-year-old member who is also from Ghana. "In the choir, we are all equals. It helps us understand that we are not animals."

The Rainbow Choir sings in Palermo's grand Teatro Massimo

Whole families have been lifted by the choir's work. One parent, Rudy Chateau, relocated from Mauritius to Palermo as an undocumented migrant in the early 2000s, picking up irregular work at a parking lot, and supporting his family on €500 ($587) a week. Rudy and his wife, Stephanie, would skip meals to feed their son, Niguel. Today, they have work permits and steady jobs. "When the conductor chose Niguel [to sing in the choir] we were so proud," said a beaming Stefania. "We entered the theater for the first time, and we were like 'Wow.'"

The choir is one of a rich array of local policies and initiatives benefiting migrants. Orlando has described Italy's residence permit as a "new form of slavery," offered newcomers to Palermo "honorary citizenship" and, in 2018, locally overruled the then-Interior Minister Salvini's order to close Italy's ports to migrant boats. Launched by Orlando's administration in 2013, the Consulta delle Culture has united Christian and Muslim leaders in mosques, organized multicultural parades through the city and helped draft Palermo's pro-migrant manifesto.

Populist politics threatens mayor

But a battle for the heart and soul of Palermo is brewing ahead of next year's elections. A string of defections of conservative politicians to Salvini's League hint that the party is on the way to becoming the dominant right-wing force in Palermo. Meanwhile, Orlando's popularity has slumped. After an economically suffocating pandemic and perceived chaos at city hall, which culminated a year ago with the resignation of two deputy mayors, in July the veteran was voted the third least popular of 105 mayors in a poll by newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Last summer, many in the city's impoverished historic center voiced open dissent. "Palermo is not like once upon a time. Now there are foreigners here, and we don't get on well," said Ottavio Pensionato, 70, in the working-class Capo district. "Orlando has abandoned us. He doesn't think about us Palermitans," said Francesco Paolo, an unemployed 30-year-old, in a piazza surrounded by crumbling buildings in the Vucciria district. "Salvini's first concern is the Italians. He's getting my vote."

The Rainbow Choir performed in Richard Wagner's opera 'Parsifal' in 2019

Orlando remains resolute: "There is only one way to combat populism. By having respect for time," he said during an interview in the sumptuous villa of Palermo's mayors. Yet time may be running out. "There is no indication that the mayor's vision will continue," said Kobena. "If there is no successor, the Palermo he has created will die."

A victory for the right would spell the end of the Mediterranean's most ambitious integration project. Yet Orlando's legacy will live on in those lives that have been transformed. "We are all from different nations," said Carmela of the Rainbow Choir. "We are many different voices that come together as a single, more beautiful voice."

DW VIDEO PALERMO RAINBOW CHOIR

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder most common health effect of 9/11

Two decades after the collapse of the World Trade Center, people are still coming forward to report illnesses that might be related to the terror attack. Dr. Carol Tosone, professor of social work at New York University, explains how post-traumatic stress disorder has emerged as one of the most common, persistent health conditions.

Horwath pushes Ford to reconvene legislature to stop hospital protests

WANNA PROTEST, GO TO QUEENS PARK

Fri., September 10, 2021

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath says the 'violent vitriolic harassment and intimidation' that is happening to healthcare workers must be stopped.

 (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press - image credit)

With anti-vaccination protests becoming a frequent occurrence in Ontario — including outside hospitals, where demonstrators have shouted down patients and staff — provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath is pushing for Premier Doug Ford to reconvene the legislature to put a stop to such "vitriolic harassment by anti-vaxxer mobs."

Horwath, MPP for Hamilton Centre, was outside McMaster Children's Hospital Friday, promoting a proposal that would create "safety zones" around hospitals and businesses where protests have escalated into harassment.

The bill, which can't be tabled until the legislature returns from an extended summer break, would make targeted harassment of people and businesses upholding public health rules in designated safety zones a provincial offence, punishable by a fine of up to $25,000.

"I believe in the right for people to protest, but what we have to stop is really violent vitriolic harassment and intimidation that's happening in these situations," she told CBC Hamilton on Friday, citing a recent incident at a Kingston hospital where a cancer patient was accosted by protesters. "It has to stop. We have tools we can engage to make that happen."

Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC

The protests have escalated over the federal election period, while Ford has kept out of the spotlight, pushing back the return to the legislature to Oct. 4, after initially setting it for Sept. 13.

Horwath says she'd like him to call MPPs back early to stop the harassment, which is targeting sick people and healthcare providers, who have no recourse or power to do anything about the situation.

'Healthcare workers do not make policy'

Horwath's Friday event follows recent protests outside Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington and the home of that city's mayor Marianne Meed Ward, which "included harmful messages, harassment and misinformation targeted against our medical and healthcare professionals, resulting in emotional distress and moral injury," according to a statement from "Burlington's community leaders" posted on the hospital's website.

"This type of protest undermines the hard work and sacrifices of hospital staff, physicians and first responders over the past year and a half and as we head into the fourth wave of this pandemic," states the release. "We condemn, in the strongest of terms, this targeted and misdirected abuse and harassment of healthcare workers that has occurred during these recent protests."

The statement asked protesters to take their messaging to decision-makers and away from private homes and healthcare providers. "We also ask you to be considerate of those who need access to our hospital for life-saving treatments and those visiting their loved ones. Healthcare workers do not make policy."

There were also reports on social media showing pictures of an anti-vaccination and anti-vaccine mandate rally marching through downtown Hamilton Friday afternoon.

Hamilton doctor receiving threats

Dr. Amit Arya, a palliative care physician and assistant clinical professor of palliative care at McMaster University, says he's had numerous online threats of violence against him and his family after posting on Twitter about the pandemic and vaccines.

He says he's received racist attacks and death threats, from people questioning his expertise or suggesting he's in the pocket of "big pharma."

He's also had someone call the hospital where he works to try to speak with him directly about one of his tweets, which he says was simply factual information about vaccines.

Dr. Arya welcomes legislation that would put a protective bubble around hospitals, saying he's had several conversations with colleagues worried about the day protesters materialize at the facilities where they work.

"It's not just because health workers are scared of being harassed, we're scared for our patients," he said. "We are not legislators in the hospital. If people are unhappy, they should go to Queen's Park."

Disappointing response to Indigenous issues in federal election leadership debate

Fri., September 10, 2021,

Indigenous people got little more than platitudes from the leaders of the five major parties in last night’s one and only English-language federal election debate, and that’s why Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald tried to push organizers for an Indigenous-issues only debate.

“That would be the space where we could really get a sense of what these leaders are prepared to do, what commitments they can make,” she said. It’s a place where Archibald could hear where leaders and the parties stand on inherent and treaty rights.

Archibald watched the debate after coming off the water in Nova Scotia where she boarded a Mi’kmaw fishing boat as the treaty-rights bearing fishers were surrounded by department of Fisheries and Oceans officials. Their lobster traps were seized by DFO.

“There’s a real underlying issue (of) … inherent and treaty rights being ignored. First Nations sovereignty and jurisdiction are not being addressed adequately in my view, and I would have liked to have heard the leadership of the parties on how they would begin to create the mechanisms so that we can really have true peace here on Turtle Island because these conflicts … are really about lands and waters and resources,” she said.

Dismantling the Indian Act and ensuring that Canada lives up to its constitutional obligations to Indigenous peoples were among the topics pursued by APTN journalist Melissa Ridgen, who led the Reconciliation section of the debate.

However, the answers to her questions provided few details beyond parties hoping to build partnerships and their stated need to listen to Indigenous leaders.

Liberal leader and incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government was committed to dismantling the Indian Act and how that happened would vary from community to community depending on which jurisdictions each wanted to first tackle.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said the solution would have to be “Indigenous led.”

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole said he would work with Indigenous leaders from non-profits, the private sector, industry and academia, while Green Party leader Annamie Paul said Indigenous MPs would provide direction.

Archibald points out that none of the answers—whether on this question or others—included getting direction from the AFN, the Métis National Council or the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which reflects an “ongoing colonial approach, an ongoing patriarchal and paternalistic approach” to solving issues.

“I did notice that generally the parties feel they’re consulting with somebody. I don’t know who it is. I certainly was not asked as a national chief to have input into party platforms, where I stood on particular issues (and) that’s a problem because the issues that we’re facing, the longstanding ongoing problems and challenges, the solutions to those issues are actually in First Nations,” said Archibald.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet faced a question about systemic racism in Quebec, with specific reference to Atikamekw woman Joyce Echaquan who recorded and posted the racist treatment she received in a hospital just prior to her death. It was the second question of the night that Blanchet had received about discrimination in his home province. He refused to answer.

Archibald said she recently did a tour of communities in western and southwestern Quebec with AFN Regional Chief Ghislain Picard.

“It’s very clear to me that there is not only systemic racism in Quebec, there’s outright racism and that racism is impacting the rights of First Nations people in that province,” she said.

Archibald said the Quebec government had made little progress in resolving land issues on unsurrendered and unceded territories of the Algonquin people, which infringes upon their rights and access to resources.

“To me that really speaks to a province, a provincial government, that isn’t doing enough to begin to solve the problems of their province as it relates to First Nations right holders,” she said.

All the leaders made it clear that reconciliation was a priority, but few were specific on the issues raised through the questions asked by both Ridgen and debate moderator Shachi Kurl, which included building respectful nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous peoples; addressing the disproportionate violence faced by Indigenous women and girls; addressing poverty and trauma in order to keep children out of the child welfare system; and ensuring money spent to address Indigenous concerns gets results.

The section on reconciliation, which was one of five debate topics for the evening, was kicked off by 18-year-old Ojibway man, Marek McLeod of Sault Ste. Marie, who asked how the leaders would build trust with Indigenous peoples after 150 years of failure.

“Relationship,” “partnership,” “engagement” and “action” were the buzzwords for the answers, but nothing specific was offered to follow those words.

Paul, the only woman on the debate floor, made it clear “political will” was needed to tackle violence against Indigenous women and girls and to ensure that poverty and trauma were addressed in order to keep children out of the child welfare system.

“The Indigenous leadership is there; it is ready to guide all of these processes. We have all of the recommendations we need. What we're missing is political will,” she said.

As for the other topics of the night—Affordability, Climate, COVID-19 recovery, and Leadership and Accountability—Archibald says these all pertain to First Nations people as well, although the solutions differ.

“That’s where we’ve got to start charting the path forward with all of these parties, is helping them to understand that First Nations people want the same thing that regular Canadians want. We want our children to be healthy and happy, surrounded by the love and care of their families in safe and vibrant communities. We all want that. The solutions of how to get there are actually in our communities,” she said.

While the choppy format of the debate did not allow for prolonged discussion among the leaders, Archibald said she was impressed with the work done by Ridgen, who offered up strong, detailed questions. Ridgen is the first Indigenous journalist to ever be included in a federal leadership debate.

“I hope by APTN being here, asking the questions that we asked, regardless of what the answers were, I think that the questions should be enough to get people thinking and I hope to see that people get educated,” said Ridgen, speaking after the debate in a special follow-up broadcast by APTN.

Prior to the debate, Archibald released the AFN’s The Healing Path Forward: 2021 Federal Election Priorities for First Nations and Canada, which outlined five priorities: truth, reconciliation and healing for First Nations and all Canadians; climate and conservation leadership with First Nations; economic growth, prosperity, and wealth building for First Nations; promoting peace by respecting First Nations jurisdiction; and rebuilding and strengthening First Nations.

She said she had received no formal response from any of the leaders, although Trudeau had phoned and told her they were “analyzing and looking at” the document.

“What I did let him know is that we want to make sure that even though party platforms have come out, that they are hopefully living documents where they can begin to adjust them based upon input they’re hearing directly from First Nations,” she said.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalist

QUEBEC NATIONALISM IS RACIST 

Leaders defend Quebecers as questions about discrimination erupt after debate

ALL NATIONALISTS ARE


Fri., September 10, 2021

OTTAWA — Federal party leaders were defending Quebec against charges of racism on Friday — a day too late, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet shot back — as they returned to the road hoping to capitalize on any post-debate momentum as Canadians start voting in advance polls.

No stranger to recent federal election campaigns, the controversial issue of secularism in Quebec once again burst onto the scene at Thursday's English-language debate, when Blanchet objected strongly to the phrasing of a question by moderator Shachi Kurl.

Kurl asked about Blanchet's support for "discriminatory" laws in Quebec such as one known as Bill 21, which bars some civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols or garb. Blanchet in turn accused her of painting all Quebecers as racist.


Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative rival Erin O’Toole in separate campaign events on Friday asserted Quebecers are not racist, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it was unhelpful for the fight against systemic racism to single out any one province or territory.

Quebec, with 78 seats, is a key battleground that could determine the outcome of the election. At dissolution, the Liberals held 35 seats in the provinces, the Bloc 32, the Conservatives 10 and the NDP just one.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault for his part described the question about Bill 21 and Bill 96, which proposes to strengthen the role of French in Quebec, as “unacceptable” and an attack on the province. He called for Kurl and debate organizers to apologize.

Both Bills 21 and 96 have been panned by civil liberties and human rights groups as discriminatory. Bill 21, which has widespread support in the province, has been challenged in court, though the province has pre-emptively used the notwithstanding clause to protect it from a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Blanchet defended both laws during the debate as legitimate and reflective of Quebec’s values.

He also objected to how the issue of systemic discrimination had become "a political tool" to use against Quebec. "It became a tool to say Quebec is this and that and racist and xenophobic and all of that,” Blanchet said in the debate.

The only leader to challenge Blanchet during the debate was Green Party Leader Annamie Paul, who invited the Bloc Québécois leader “to get educated about systemic discrimination.”

Trudeau has previously spoken out against Bill 21, including during the 2019 federal election, as well as a ban on face coverings adopted by the Quebec government. That issue also figured prominently in the 2015 election when the former Conservative government mulled a niqab ban for public servants. He reiterated his opposition to the secularism law on Friday.

Yet the Liberal leader also said he was “taken aback” by the premise of Kurl’s question, saying during a campaign event in Hamilton, Ont.: “It is wrong to suggest that Quebecers are racist. As a Quebecer, I found that question really offensive.

“Yes, there's lots of work to do to continue to fight systemic racism across this country and every part of this country. But I don't think that that question was acceptable or appropriate.”

Trudeau made the comments as the Liberals announced they were launching a new advertising campaign in Quebec.

O’Toole went further, promising that as prime minister, he would never challenge a law passed by a provincial legislature.

“Quebecers are not racist, and it's unfair to make that sweeping categorization,” the Conservative leader said during an event in Mississauga, Ont. “They've made decisions and laws passed by their national assembly. I will respect that.”

Singh during a news conference in Ottawa said systemic racism and discrimination are not isolated to one province or territory, suggest one of the biggest examples is Ottawa’s failure to address boil-water advisories on First Nations.

“This is not a problem of any one province or territory,” he said before flying to British Columbia to vote in an advance poll in his riding. “It exists everywhere in Canada. And to tackle it, we've got to acknowledge that it's everywhere and work together towards eradicating it.”

Blanchet, who also voted in an advance poll on Friday, accused the other three leaders of coming too late to Quebec’s defence.

“I will let Quebecers measure the credibility of these renewed affections, which did not appear when the time was right," he said in French.

He also defended the law, saying in English: "Religion has never protected equality for women within the state and never will. We are not the ones working with discrimination in mind."

Others were equally critical of Trudeau, O’Toole and Singh, but for different reasons: Not standing up to Blanchet and clearly denouncing Bill 21.

“When the other party leaders did not step in to argue that Bill 21 does engage in act of systemic discrimination, that's shameful," said Mustafa Farooq, chief executive officer of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which is challenging the law in the Court of Appeal of Quebec.

Canadians United Against Hate founder Fareed Khan accused Blanchet of getting “all huffy” during the debate, adding: “I would say to Mr. Blanchet, if he was in front of me: ‘If you don't want to be labelled as xenophobe and a racist then don't support xenophobic, racist legislation.’”

Singh, meanwhile, revealed the NDP will release the full costs of its campaign promises on Saturday, as he faced several questions about why Canadians have yet to see the fine print on its platform with the final vote just 10 days away.

Both the Conservatives and Liberals have released fully costed platforms.

“We've been working with the PBO, and it certainly does take time,” the NDP leader said in reference to the parliamentary budget officer.

“The PBO is obviously very respected and they've got a great track record of being able to cost our platform. So we wanted to work with them, and we'll have our costed platform released on Saturday.”

On Friday, Statistics Canada reported the economy added 90,000 jobs in August — the third consecutive monthly increase.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.1 per cent for the month, compared with 7.5 per cent in July, bringing the rate to the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic last year.

Gains were concentrated in full-time work and in the hard-hit service sector, led by gains in accommodation and food services as restrictions eased in much of the country.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2021.

— with files from Lee Berthiaume and Maan Alhmidi in Ottawa, Jacob Serebrin in Montreal and Allison Jones in Toronto.

The Canadian Press

THE FATHER OF  MODERN QUEBEC NATIONALISM 

WAS THE PROTO FASCIST DUPLESSIS

Maurice Duplessis - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Duplessis

Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis QC served as the 16th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. He rose to power after uniting his Conservative party and the breakaway Action liberale nationale progressive faction of the Liberal party of Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, to form a new national-conservative party, the Union Nationale. His era was later labeled as La …

• Early life
• Political career
• Policies
• Jehovah's Witnesses and Roncarelli v. Duplessis
• Death and legacy
• Further reading

Duplessis was born in Trois-Rivières, the son of Bertha (born Genest) and local politician Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis. He studied at the Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières, obtained a law degree from Université Laval's Montreal branch (later renamed Université de Montréal) and was admitted to the Barreau du Quebec in 1913. He returned to his home town to practice law until runnin…

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

Maurice Duplessis | The Canadian Encyclopedia

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/maurice-le-noblet-duplessis

• Background and Rise to Power
• First Term as Prime Minister
• Second Term as Prime Minister

• Maurice Duplessis's father, Nérée Le Noblet Duplessis, was a fervently Catholic and Conservative MLA for Trois-Rivières 1886–1900. He had been an unsuccessful federal Conservative Party candidate before being named a superior court judge by Sir Robert Borden in 1915. Duplessis' mother was of part Scottish and Irishdescent. After studying at Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal (where he became something of a protégé of Brother André) and the Séminaire de Trois-Rivières, he graduated from Université Laval's Mo…

See more on thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

HE IS ONLY DEFENDING ANGLOPHONE MINORITY RIGHTS

Robert Libman: Beware poking the nationalist bear in Quebec

In both the federal and municipal campaigns, minority communities are left high and dry.

Author of the article:Robert Libman • Special to Montreal Gazette
Publishing date:Sep 10, 2021 • 

The EMSB was quick to backtrack after Premier François Legault called the English school board "radical," notes Robert Libman. 

PHOTO BY PAUL CHIASSON /The Canadian Press


Intimidation. Bullying. Ridicule. Some of the words that come to mind in describing how Quebec politicians and opinion leaders quickly attack anyone who dares to disagree with supposed Quebec collective opinion. This week, both the federal and municipal election campaigns clearly highlighted how parties will cower if they anger the Quebec nationalist bear and then quickly fall into line to curry favour. As usual, Quebec minorities are left high and dry

In a free and democratic society, people — including minorities — should be treated in a manner that is fair and equitable. This week, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, Premier François Legault and even Montreal mayoralty candidate Denis Coderre attacked the English Montreal School Board, with Legault calling it a “radical” organization.

So, what was the EMSB’s odious sin that merited the wrath of representatives from all three levels of government? The board is daring to challenge Bill 96 — the Legault government’s proposed revision of the French Language Charter — whose changes include the constitutional recognition of Quebec as a “nation,” with French as the only official and common language. The EMSB is calling on the federal government to refer the legislation to the Supreme Court to test its legality.

The symbolism of Quebec as a nation has been recognized before in the House of Commons. Nation is defined as “a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture or language inhabiting a particular country or territory,” according to Oxford Languages. No one can really deny that Quebec is uniquely different from the rest of Canada with its majority language and culture, and many believe the acknowledgement is important. To many Quebec anglophones, however, because of the restrictive aspects of Quebec’s language laws, the concept reinforces the notion they are being relegated to second-class citizenry and creates confusion over whether it implies that Quebec is a country within a country.

However, this current debate is not about mere symbolic recognition of Quebec’s uniqueness. Bill 96 seeks to inscribe this concept of a Quebec nation — a concept of collective rights — in the Constitution, which could be severely detrimental to the legal protection of minority rights in Quebec.

In the future, when issues are brought before the courts — for example, on minority language rights, educational rights or secularism — would judges be compelled to weigh individual Charter of Rights protections in the Constitution against the collective rights of the Quebec nation? In which direction would they tip the balance? Could this impact the anglophone community’s rights regarding control of our education system as contained in Section 23 of the Constitution? The notwithstanding clause cannot even apply to that section. Would Section 23 now become vulnerable? These are grey areas for interpretation and fundamental questions affecting English-language school boards. That’s why referring the matter to the Supreme Court is critical.

Everyone seems to panic when nationalist pressure is brought to bear. In the federal election campaign, we’ve seen how all the parties are willing to sell out minority communities in exchange for the craved-for blessing of the Quebec nationalist elite. At the municipal level, Coderre showed weakness and insulted the anglophone community by revoking EMSB chairman Joe Ortona’s candidacy for his party.

Even Ortona and the EMSB recoiled in the face of nationalist blowback. Commissioners will be voting this weekend to change their position on Quebec nationhood. For years, this school board has been an embarrassment because of infighting under its former chairman. But they are supposed to stand up for the community whose interests they represent. It’s not the time for them to back down on such a fundamental issue.

If one doesn’t stand up to intimidation, bullying and ridicule, nothing will change.

Robert Libman is an architect and building planning consultant who has served as Equality Party leader and MNA, as mayor of Côte-St-Luc and as a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a Conservative candidate in the 2015 federal election.

Alberta mum on further plans to curb COVID-19 spread

Fri., September 10, 2021

Alberta's provincial COVID-19 cases are soaring in the fourth wave, reaching the highest daily case count since May, and the government is staying mum on what future measures they may be considering to curb the spread.

On Thursday afternoon Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and Dr. Verna Yiu president and CEO of Alberta Health Services announced that, in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, the province would be providing more funding to increase health-care capacity.

While the province provided funding for moving patients out of hospitals, Shandro would not say when they expect the fourth wave to peak, although he noted it may be in the “coming weeks.” He also would not say what options are on the table to further curb the spread of COVID-19, including a vaccine passport.

The minister said in the last 18 months no jurisdiction has been able to predict the future, but the province has Alberta-based modelling available on their website for residents to look at.

Shandro said that because it is impossible to predict the future with 100-per-cent certainty, the government can’t say if they are considering any form of vaccine passport system in the province.

“This is a pandemic that quickly changes, and government responses have to quickly change,” Shandro said.

The province knew the cases were going to increase as a result of opening for summer and the removal of public health-care measures, Shandro said, but expected more Albertans to get vaccinated, which would result in fewer patients in the hospital.

On Thursday Alberta saw another 1,510 new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed after 13,800 tests, and a positivity rate of 11 per cent.

There are 679 Albertans in the hospital, with 154 of those in intensive care. There have been nine new deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

Hinshaw and health officials are urging Albertans to get vaccinated to curb the spread, and in the past four months some 84 per cent of those who died have not been fully immunized from the virus.

“Unfortunately we are seeing a small number of breakthrough infections in those who have been fully immunized and some of these people have gone on to have severe outcomes, including death,” Hinshaw said.

“The majority of these severe outcomes have been in those who are older have multiple medical conditions,” Hinshaw said, adding that is why they implemented a third dose for Albertans with compromising health conditions.

While cases in the province surge, Alberta Health Services continues to cancel elective surgeries to free up space to treat COVID-19 patients. In Calgary, all scheduled elective surgeries and outpatient procedures were cancelled for the remainder of the week, which includes some non-urgent paediatric surgeries, transplant cases, and cancer surgeries.

Right now, ICU capacity in the province is at 87 per cent, which includes the surge capacity created to treat COVID-19.

There are 231 people in ICU right now, and about 70 per cent of the patients have COVID-19, Yiu said. In the past seven days the province has added an additional 59 surge beds, for a total of 93 beds above the baseline capacity of 173 ICU spots.

“If we did not create the surge beds, we would be at over 130-per-cent capacity,” Yiu said.

The announcement on Thursday will see Alberta spend up to $36 million in new funding to improve wages and create additional workforce capacity to allow more Albertans to access home care and facility-based continuing care. Some 400 Albertans are currently waiting in hospitals to move into continuing care facilities.

“We do actually have the ability to actually move about 200 [people] into continuing care spaces in the next week or two,” Yiu said.

Jennifer Henderson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette

Why Kenney's government handed Albertans a nothing burger — not answers — amid a disastrous 4th COVID wave

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Politics is winning over science on the COVID war in Alberta, says opinion writer Graham Thomson

Graham Thomson · for CBC Opinion · Posted: Sep 11, 2021

THE THREE STOOGES

From left, Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Premier Jason Kenney and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw have starved Albertans of information, honesty and leadership as COVID-19's fourth wave slams the province, says opinion writer Graham Thomson. (From left: Todd Korol; Todd Korol, Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

This column is an opinion from Graham Thomson, an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

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It was a nothing burger — with extra word salad on the side.

Thursday's news conference with Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw should have been a meaty update on how the provincial government is battling the devastating fourth wave of COVID-19.

Instead, Shandro and Hinshaw continued to starve Albertans of information, of honesty and of leadership.

When reporters asked Shandro repeatedly if he would consider introducing a government-mandated vaccine passport — as other provinces have done successfully to encourage people to get vaccinated and open up their economies — he stoked up the fog machine.

"People are expecting certainty, they want certainty now, they want us to commit to an answer to a particular question," said Shandro as he disappeared into a verbal smog. 

"Why can't we say that the future is definitively 100 per cent going to be one way or the other? And I know that's been a question that I've received many times over the last 18 months but it's also a question that people throughout the world have had of their governments. They want to know, 'You said this was going to happen this way and it didn't,' and it's been because this is a pandemic that quickly changes and government responses have to quickly change and I know that's frustrating because you want 100 per cent definitive answers to the questions."

Don't bet on Kenney admitting he was wrong

If you missed the news conference, consider yourself fortunate.

Shandro repeatedly refused to answer the question and in the aberrant world of politics, journalists are now convinced the government will in fact introduce some sort of government-mandated vaccine passport — but will call it something else.

That's because Premier Jason Kenney doesn't like to apologize or own up to a mistake or admit, for example, that Albertans did not just enjoy the "best summer ever."

When Kenney announced in June that Alberta would be "open for good" after most pandemic restrictions would be lifted on July 1, he accused journalists and health experts of fear-mongering for warning of a fourth wave on the horizon as COVID's delta variant gathered strength.

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"I don't think it's responsible constantly to be spreading fear," declared a dismissively punchy Kenney on June 18. "I've heard about CTV reports about how, you know, 'We're headed into the fourth wave' and some person on Twitter with their projections that we're going to be awash in delta cases forcing people into the hospitals."

His issues manager and Twitter warrior, Matt Wolf, declared in a tweet: "The pandemic is ending. Accept it."

Now that we're in a fourth wave — that was predicted by a number of experts and therefore preventable — Kenney said last Friday during one of his rare appearances that he always knew there would be a fourth wave. This, of course, is classic Kenney, a politician so adept at gaslighting Albertans, it's a wonder we can see anything through the murk.

Why Kenney may not care he's out of step

But Kenney doesn't seem to care what many Albertans think, particularly the majority who, according to recent opinion polls, support a government-approved vaccine passport. Kenney is focused on the vocal minority who hold anti-mask rallies, refuse to get vaccinated and who just this week forced the cancellation of a federal election forum in Innisfail after they refused to mask up inside the debate hall.

Rural Conservatives who bristle at restrictions are Kenney's people, his supporters. They are represented by United Conservative MLAs who are pressuring Kenney to go easy on those who don't like masks, vaccines or passports. They are the caucus members who staged a mini-revolt against Kenney in April after he introduced pandemic restrictions. Two of them were kicked out of caucus for criticizing Kenney publicly. They are the rock upon which his leadership and government are built. When it comes to taking action against COVID, they are the tail that is wagging the UCP dog.

Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie wrote an open letter this week criticizing Kenney's renewed provincewide mask mandate and complaining the government adopted a 'disparaging and accusatory tone' towards the unvaccinated. (Facebook)

One of them, Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie, wrote an open letter this week criticizing Kenney's renewed provincewide mask mandate and complaining the government adopted a "disparaging and accusatory tone" towards the unvaccinated.

"People refusing COVID-19 shots were painted as culpable for creating challenges to the health-care system," wrote Guthrie. Well, yes, but that's only because the unvaccinated are creating challenges to the health-care system by plugging up hospital beds and forcing the cancellation of surgeries.

But Kenney is wary if not outright fearful of MLAs like Guthrie. They are as much a threat to Kenney's political health as COVID is to our public health. If he pushes too hard on restrictions or brings in a government-mandated vaccine passport, he'll risk a fractured caucus with just 18 months to go until the next election as his popularity continues to be the lowest of any premier in Canada.

That's why he has refused to implement policies that will further anger his rural base, especially after he assured them the pandemic was over and the province was "open for good." Instead, he has pleaded with the unvaccinated, tempted them with million-dollar lottery prizes, and most recently tried to bribe them with a $100 reward for getting the vaccine.

But Alberta continues to have the lowest vaccination rate in the country and the highest number of COVID cases. 

Peculiar and disturbing scenes

In Alberta, politics is winning over science.

Alberta politics is also creating some peculiar scenes these days where the NDP has emerged as the champion of free enterprise, where party Leader Rachel Notley has argued in favour of vaccine passports that she says would allow businesses to reopen fully. And she accuses Kenney of damaging businesses by forcing bars and restaurants to stop serving alcohol after 10 p.m.

• OPINION
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One troubling sight was watching Hinshaw appear to march in lockstep with Kenney's hands-off, libertarian, "personal responsibility" ideology that has been driving his COVID response for much of the pandemic and saw him rush to lift restrictions in July and announce the pandemic was now a manageable endemic — and thus create the conditions for the fourth wave to flood our health-care system.

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Even when Hinshaw said she was postponing her intention to stop routine testing, tracing and isolation scheduled for Aug. 16, she made the announcement on Aug. 13, on the eve of the federal election, which made it appear she was pandering to Conservatives afraid a spike in Alberta's pandemic numbers in September would hurt CPC Leader Erin O'Toole's federal campaign. 

"Clearly, the move to endemic was too early," said Hinshaw of her mistaken push to lift restrictions over the summer. It was the most honest answer of Thursday's news conference. But it was still just a verbal crumb at a time when Albertans deserve a smorgasbord of honesty and leadership, with a side order of political courage.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Graham Thomson

Graham Thomson is an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years, much of it as an outspoken columnist for the Edmonton Journal. Nowadays you can find his thoughts and analysis on provincial politics Fridays at cbc.ca/edmonton, on CBC Edmonton Television News, during Radio Active on CBC Radio One (93.9FM/740AM) and on Twitter at @gthomsonink.