Overload

Un de mes employé m'a déjà reproché de faire circuler trop d'informations. Il n'avait pas, disait-il, le temps de lire tout ça. Que dirait-il aujourd'hui?

With the newspapers on internet and all the blogs vying for attention he would be sick. And we have not touched Emails and other means of communication.

My grandson is glued to his laptop uploading and downloading, chatting with friends. My son spends an inordinate amount of time, wherever he is checking on his Emails from the university, from London College, from Finland, Sweden and Iceland, not to mention Buffalo and his friend in Boston.

My daughters have their load also. One has almost to go to bed with the company Blackberry, the other, soon as she sets foot in the house, checks her SPCA Emails to update their stray cats and dogs list and to put online their foster families' notes about animals up for adoption; she works all day on a computer since her office is in Montreal but all her colleagues and her boss are in Toronto.

I follow Al Jazeera, the BBC, CNN, le Monde, Haaretz, Radio-Canada on line and several blogs.

Mon épouse, plus modestement, se cherche de la documentation sur le site de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Today, two bloggers that I follow were considering slacking a bit...the fun had run out; they both run several blogs. That is a full time job, no wonder they consider retiring. As we say:"trop, c'est trop". In other words: enough is enough. Let's relax and take it easy...but, please, keep checking on me.

Canadian diversity

Meet my grandchildren, Alexis and Arianne. Although 10 years apart they have the same Mom and dad. Alexis is the fifth direct male descendent of Andreas and Georgette; Arianne is the first female in three generations. Andreas arrived sometime in 1924 from his native Patras and, in 1930, married a French Canadian girl whose ancestors were French, English and Dutch. Of their three boys, I'm the only one with children. I married a French Canadian girl whose ancestors are French, Algonquin, Scot and Swiss German.

My son married a girl whose father is French Canadian and her mother a German from Essen. Nicole was born in Paris while her father was posted in Moscow as a commercial attaché at the Canadian embassy. Does this represent the Canadian diversity or not?
The children are here playing in our backyard, our little greek corner. It's not Lakeviewer's garden but there we forget the 6 lane boulevard in front of the house and we can imagine that we are in the country.

Enjoy the good time wherever it is available.

Au revoir.

Viva Italia

This week in Montreal it's Italian week. Canadians of Italian origins, immigrants and second and third generation of Italian descent represent the largest ethnic group in Montreal, some 300 000 people. Probably a population larger than many Italian towns. Many activities are held in around little Italy and even the weather seems compliant.

A tutti gli Italiani, megliori auguri e buon settimana.

One size fits all

Not long ago I wrote about our politicians changing parties and allegiance. We have a fresh new example of this interchangebility. In another life our Qébec Liberal Premier was a progressive Conservative minister in Brian Mulroney's government, at one point he was even a canditate to succeed Brian. He lost the leadership race and reappeared as a saviour for the then embattled Québec Liberals. As such he has won three straight mandates (majority/minority/majority).

Lately we have learned that he will be co-presiding over a celebration of Mulroney's political accomplishments. We all know that Mulroney is now persona non grata for Mr Harper who has forbidden his ministers from having any but private relations with Brian because the Schreiber affair.

Harpoon himself is having his very own problems with the progressive wing of his party and could be in for a rough time should he lose the next election or even stay in minority territory. Could Charest be positioning himself for another "saviour" operation only this time with the Federal conservatives? No Québec Premier, since Maurice Duplessis has ever won a fourth mandate.

As they say on TV: "Watch the next episode.

Here we go again

On November 1st all Québecers will be going to the polls to elect their municipal councils for the next 4 years. Montreal and Longueuil are already the focus of some attention. In Montreal Louise Harel, a former P.Q. municipal affairs minister who rammed through municipal mergers strongly opposed by the grassroots, is running for mayor within the Vision Montréal party. In Longueuil Caroline St-Hilaire former Bloc Québécois representative for Marie-Victorin county in Ottawa and wife of Maka Kotto an African born former B.Q. MP for the same area in Ottawa and currently a parti Québécois MPP for the neighbouring county, is also running for mayor for the Action Longueuil party.

Harel can barely speak english and is seeking support among the anglophone population. She needs federalists to win. Julius Grey, an eminent civil rights lawyer and known federalist has accepted to act as her special advisor. Grey is also the town of Hamstead's legal advisor. The City Council, heavily Jewish as is Hampstead's population, has voted a motion to terminate his mandate. Mayor Steinberg has vetoed the motion. There the matter stands.

In Longueuil, a heavily sovereignist city, St-Hilaire has more leeway but she still seeks anglo support. Two candidates from the Greenfield Park mainly anglo precinct have joined her and were promptly branded as traitors.

After the outrage over the attempted exclusion of anglo groups from "la Fête Nationale" in June, does not this reek of the same racism the francos are accused of?

What is sauce for the gander is also sauce for the goose.

Vallium anyone?

Last night the Saint Anne's ceremonies at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica, near Québec city, were stopped, the basilica evacuated and the bomb squad called in. A strange parcel had been left unattended inside the church. As it turned out someone had forgotten a rosary in a pew (probably an American pilgrim, most Québecers nowadays don't even know what is a rosary).

Not so long ago a Montreal Metro station was shut...for a lunch bag left behind on a bench. Two weeks ago a man tied his backpack to his bicycle tied to a parking meter. When he came back the bomb squad had been called and had blown his bag open.

The Université du Québec à Montréal and two or three high schools were closed and evacuated during last spring exam sessions because of bomb alert...bogus everytime. We are in a state of near panic, including our ever more controling governements at all levels.

Seems to me that the so called "terrorists" are winning the war on nerves. Perhaps we all need to breathe through the nose, go take a walk in the country and relax a bit.

Time out

Like many others, I'll be away for the next 10 days. The whole family is leaving for a get togheter up north. Behave yourselves while we are gone.