Mayor Tremblay Needs To Show He's Boss; Louise Harel's Linguistic Deficiency

Thank God some newspapers - La Presse and The Gazette specifically - cared enough to follow up on the water meter scandal. Mayor Gerald Tremblay is, rightfully, set to cancel this contract lest it be a direct assault on the citizens regarding finances and taxes. I wished someone would examine Laval major Gilles Vaillancourt to make sure Quebec's answer to the de Medici's is on the up and up.

How does it go from a an already ridiculous $335 or $350 million price tag to over $600? These are the same people (bureaucrats in general) who run public health folks. Sure, America, your government will "control costs" with a public option. Sure.

I think this sort of corruption on a grand scale (provincially or municipally) is happening a little too often here in Quebec for my taste.

Just how rotten is Montreal? Is Tremblay, who seems like a decent and honest fellow, competent enough to keep his undelings honest and why is he passing the buck?

Ask any construction worker/owner about what they think off the record about how things work at city hall. Ga'hed.

Last, maybe it's time to give independents a shot. Maybe, just maybe it's time to scrap the party system and let non-affiliated members of the society who truly care and come without baggage enter the fray.

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Speaking of municipal politics, Montrealers will be heading to the polls and lemme tell ya there aren't too many choices. You get to choose from Mr. Magoo (or Alfred E. Neuman I can't decide which) and a scheming separatist with a phobia against the English language.

And what about the language of John Locke? That there won't be an English-language debate doesn't surprise me. We didn't have one at the provincial level so why would the municipees do it? It's par for the course in this joint. I will admit I won't be watching for two reasons: I live in Laval and I'd rather watch Inuit porn.

But I will say this about Louise Harel's claim she's not "comfortable enough" to debate in English. If it were anybody else I would sympathize but let's face it, this coming from a person who holds the language in clear contempt hardly makes me shed a tear. Rather, it points to her character I suggest. It says a lot about who she is. I will always respect Green party leader Elizabeth May for not only demanding and fighting for her right to be at the table but doing it in French as well. Her French was far from stellar yet she faced the people with honor.

Ah yes, FACING THE PEOPLE.

A lost concept in Quebec and Canada.