Explainer: The first 24 hours of Bill 78
After a rare nighttime debate at the National Assembly, Bill 78 was approved by a vote of 68-48 on Friday afternoon with the nearly full support of the Liberal caucus and the right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec.
Given the tongue-twisting name of, “An act to enable students to receive instruction from the postsecondary institutions they attend,” the bill imposes severe limitations on a Quebecers’ right to hold a spontaneous assembly:
- Semesters at campuses impacted by the student strike are immediately suspended, due to start again in August.
- Demonstrations with more than 50 people must provide the police with a time, location and duration at least eight hours...
Coast to Coast: 'Vomiting penis' in Halifax, sex scandal in Ottawa, Rob Ford's rainbow experience
Here’s a roundup of OpenFile stories from across Canada. Enjoy!
HALIFAX
- This week OpenFile Halifax took a look at public art installations decorating the city. Including the Dalhousie Art Centre’s “Marine Venus,” which oddly looks like a vomiting...
The furs will sing no more
A year after their last album was released, Handsome Furs announced on Thursday that the Montreal-based indie rock duo is no more.
A seven-year project of Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and his wife, writer Alexei Perry, the band released four albums, the last of which was an all-keyboard Eastern European-inspired sound that is rarely heard on this side of the Atlantic.
“With a heavy heart the time has come to let all of you know that Handsome Furs are no more. Thank you to all our fans all over the world,” announced the band in a quick note via social media.
Followed by a CNN...
A botched retreat in the chaos of a protest
Like so many clashes, it started with the sounding of a trumpet charge.
Marching against the newly adopted Bill 78, a Quebec law that makes spontaneous protest all but illegal, a slowly thinning crowd of thousands turned onto Rene-Levesque Blvd. just before midnight on May 18.
After two hours of peaceful marching, the angrier elements of the clamouring throng finally had a tantalizing target to vent: a line of five police cruisers belonging to the Montreal...
Saturday Reads: Pakistan’s civil service, naked Harper, keeping the Internet free
A look at some of the week’s best long-form journalism.
The general in his labyrinth
Tariq Ali looks into the state of Pakistan’s governance after the coup by General Pervez Musharraf and the country’s propensity for military rule. Comparing the current government to that put in place by the British Imperial Civil Service, Ali paints a rich and detailed portrait of the collapse of Pakistani ethics. (London Review of Books)
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Did cyber attacks take down websites of Liberal party and ministry of education?
***UPDATE***May 19, 2012. 6:45 p.m.*** QMI news agency reports the ministry of education website as well as the website belonging to the province's loans and bursaries program were taken down as a preventative measure, to ward off a cyber attack. However, it was confirmed the Liberal Party of Quebec's website was the victim of a cyberattack, according to a spokesman for the party (the site is now back online).
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MorningFile: Bill 78 passes, protests marred by violence, city bans masks
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Charest Liberals pass bill curtailing protest rights |
Controversial sex exhibit barely made waves in Montreal
Apparently what's good for the goose isn't always so great for the gander.
Critics have labelled the Canada Science and Technology Museum's latest exhibit "soft pornography," leading the centre to impose age restrictions and remove a part of the presentation. But before making waves in Ottawa, the award-winning Sex: a Tell-all Exhibition passed through Regina...
Gazette copy editor's Facebook comment out of line: Quebec Press Council
***UPDATE*** May 19, 2012 9:20 a.m.*** Please scroll down to the comments section to read Peter Wheeland's response to the Quebec Press Council's decision.
A Facebook comment written by a Montreal Gazette copy editor has come back to haunt him.
This past October, Peter Wheeland used his personal Facebook page to make a comment on a group entitled “Julien Feldman, A really BAD choice for MUHC Hospital board” (since taken off the...
PhotoFile: Welcome to construction season
It's said that Canada has two seasons: Winter and construction season.
Now that the fluffy white stuff is behind us for good (did it ever really arrive)? We're eagerly awaiting the start of summer — or as it's commonly known, construction season.
This week's PhotoFile was partly inspired by the sights and sounds over at OpenFile headquarters. Construction workers, trucks and equipment are all over our neighbourhood and we work happily to the sounds of pounding, banging and drilling.
But enough about us, let's get to the photos!
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