In 1985 the late Quebec filmmaker Pierre Falardeau made a short movie called Le Temps des Bouffons (The Time of the Buffoons).It showed members of the Montreal elite partying at the exclusive Beaver Club, dressed in colonial costumes. And Falardeau used those scenes to make a biting, and deliciously vulgar
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Montreal Simon: Jimbo Flaherty and the Vanishing Economy
I'm sad to see that so many GM workers are losing their jobs in Oshawa. The Canadian Auto Workers union received official notice Friday that GM will begin shutting down its consolidated assembly line in the fourth quarter, which will wipe out 2,000 jobs, reducing the number of GM employees
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec’s Mad Emperor Strikes Again
They don't call Jean Charest the Mad Emperor of Quebec for nothing eh? For this is madness. Four days of negotiations ended in an impasse on Thursday when Premier Jean Charest’s government refused to budge on its plan to increase tuition fees. It was likely the last chance for an
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Tom Mulcair and the Tarry Bubbly
Whew. I see Tom Mulcair managed to gallop into Alberta today, cast his eyes upon the darkness of the Oil Sands, and make his getaway without dropping the dreaded T word. In his first-ever visit to the Alberta oilsands as NDP leader, Mulcair was about to substitute “tar” for
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Casserole Protest and the Two Solitudes
As a guy who has one foot in each solitude, I know that the Québécois tend to be a little more exuberant than Canadians in the rest of the country. Especially when it comes to sex, or standing up for their rights. Or beating casseroles in the street in the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Police Execution of Paul Boyd
I think this is the most disturbing video I've ever seen. Paul Boyd, a mentally ill man in Vancouver crawls towards police after being shot seven times. And is finished off with a shot to the head.Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Occupy Movement
On my way home today I visited the park where Occupy Toronto once lived. And I could hardly recognize the place. The old gazebo where so many passionate speeches were made, and so many dreamed of a better world, was quiet now. And where there were once tents huddled together
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Triumph of Thomas Mulcair
The Cons and their stooges in the right-wing media have gone after him like a pack of rabid hyenas. They have attacked the man, claiming he was too angry and divisive to be a leader. They have mocked him for pointing out the dangers of the Dutch Disease, that is
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec, the Con Media, and the Greek Obsession
It's funny eh? When I see pictures like this one I see people standing up for their rights, telling a corrupt government to take their fascist bill and shove it, or just joining others to demand a better world. But most of the Con media only seem to see a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Not So Quiet Revolution
There was another amazing freedom party in Montreal tonight. Thousands and thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets, beating pots and pans. Defying the police to arrest them for taking part in an illegal demonstration. And what struck me the most apart from the incredible energy, was the diversity of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Spirit of Resistance
A massive thunderstorm hit Montreal this evening. The heavens really opened up. But that didn't stop thousands of people from parading through the streets, beating their pots and pans. Even though in a city full of riot cops armed with a fascist bill, anything could happen. More than 2,500 people have
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec: The Mad Emperor and the Klown Media
They were out in the streets of Montreal again tonight, for another casserole protest or cazerolazo The 31st night protest comes as a growing number of Montrealers join a neighbourhood-wide cazerolazo – casserole protest. Since the weekend, hundreds of people in the island's central neighbourhoods have taken to their balconies,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con Mob and the Sad Case of David Wilks
Oh.My.Gorilla. I told you the Con mob was scarier than the Sopranos eh? Just look what they did to poor David Wilks. One moment he was criticizing Stephen Harper's sinister Trojan Horse budget. A Conservative backbench MP has publicly broken ranks with the government and said the massive budget omnibus
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Casserole Symphony and the Royal Canadians
In many Montreal neighbourhoods this evening people were banging pots and pans in another casserole symphony of protest. The latest tactic in this awesome struggle. It's a nightly ritual known as les manifs aux casseroles, that sees hundreds of people step out of their homes, armed with pots and pans.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day They Turned Montreal Red
And so it came to pass. On the 100th day of their amazing struggle, they refused to be intimidated by a totalitarian bill, and turned Montreal RED. A sea of students, their numbers swollen by trade unionists, teachers and other supporters, flooded through the streets of Montreal in a massive
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Big Freedom Party
It's just after 8pm in Montreal, and the reporter from CUTV is talking to a young mother who is taking her two kids to the 28th nightly demonstration in a row. Even though she knows she could be arrested, for defying the Charest government's totalitarian Bill 78, like so many
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jean Charest and the Great Distraction
When I see pictures like this one of my beloved Montréal on a warm Saturday night. On sedate St-Denis street of all places. And I read what kind of peace the Quebec government's totalitarian Bill 78 has brought. The adoption of emergency legislation to end Quebec's escalating student crisis stoked
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Naked Emperor and the Con Regime
If I had painted this picture of Great Ugly Gorgeous Leader, I would have put a crown on his head, and made his buttocks more fleshy, like one of Picasso's women. Or the ridiculous Con prude James Moore. But apart from that I quite like Margaret Sutherland's Emperor Haute Couture.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Mulcair and the Attack of the Con Hogs
Well I see the Big Oil Cons have finally released their attack hogs. The Harper Conservatives have finally unleashed the attack dogs on Tom Mulcair. They've pounced on the newly minted NDP leader's musings about the economic impact of Alberta's oilsands to paint him as a divisive, ill-informed, irresponsible enemy of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Vic Toews and the Bill that Wouldn’t Die
OMG. That'll teach me to stroll through a graveyard in Con Canada, when a Harper moon is in the sky. First I read that Vic Toews' internet snooping bill had quietly died. The Internet surveillance legislation sponsored by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has disappeared down a dark legislative hole. For
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