Quebec Schools To Celebrate Diverse Holidays

From The Globe And Mail:

A new course on ethics and religious culture has at least one private school protesting the curriculum

MONTREAL — Quebec schools won't be marking the arrival of just Christmas any more - now they will be required to note the passage of holidays like Hanukkah and Eid al-Adha, Diwali and the birth of the Sikh guru Nanak.

The dates on the school calendar are part of a controversial new course on ethics and religious culture that makes its debut in classrooms across Quebec this year.

It's a historic shift in a province defined by Catholic and Protestant education for nearly two centuries. But there's disagreement over whether the classes are a confusing buffet of moral choices, or a model of diversity for the rest of Canada.

At least one school isn't happy with it, and is considering going to court in protest.

Loyola High School in Montreal has been teaching boys for 112 years, among them former governor-general Georges Vanier and Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Now, more than 600 parents at the private Catholic school have asked for exemptions to allow their children to opt out of the course.

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Japanese Film Wins Top Jury Prize At Montreal World Film Festival

From China View:

MONTREAL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japanese director Yojiro Takita's "Okuribito" (Departures) won the top jury prize Monday at the 32nd Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF).

The MWFF jury, which included Chinese director Xie Fei, awarded the Grand Prix of the Americas to Takita's drama about an out-of-work cellist who leaves Tokyo to return to his hometown to become an undertaker.

"The Necessities of Life," directed by Canadian filmmaker Benoit Pilon, won the top audience award -- Public Award for the Most Popular Film of the Festival -- voted for by filmgoers.

The story tells of an Inuit hunter named Tivii who is flown to a Quebec sanatorium to be treated for tuberculosis in the 1950s. As Tivii loses the will to live, he is tended to by a nurse named Carol, who puts him in touch with a young Inuit named Kaki. Tivii regains his pride and will to live as he teaches Kaki about Inuit ways.

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SAQ Bag Surcharge A Hit With Shoppers

From Global Quebec:

Shoppers at the Société des alcools du Québec are welcoming a new surcharge on plastic and paper bags that goes into effect today.

Yesterday outside the SAQ Express on Ste. Catherine St. W., just about everyone said the extra fee was a good idea.

"I think it's great because people tend to throw their plastic and paper bags away after they use them," said shopper Edward Deer.

Stores across Quebec are now charging five cents for a single-bottle bag, 10 cents for a two-bottle bag, and 15 cents for a four-bottle bag.

The SAQ wants to do away with paper and plastic bags altogether by January. The company claims this will reduce the number of bags used in Quebec every year by 80 million, or four per cent.

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Gagliano Buys Quebec Vineyard With Government Loan: Media Report

From The CBC:

Alfonso Gagliano, a former Liberal cabinet minister in charge of the mismanaged federal sponsorship program at the heart of an extensive public inquiry launched in 2004, has bought a Quebec vineyard with a government loan of more than $500,000, according to a media report.

Montreal's La Presse newspaper reported Saturday that the purchase of the Dunham vineyard in Quebec's Eastern Townships was registered last Friday in the Quebec Land Registry for $733,687. The loan from Farm Credit Canada, a federal Crown corporation, was for $550,000.

Gagliano and his family plan to harvest the grapes in the next few weeks and sell their wine under the name Gagliano Vineyard by next spring, the ex-public works minister told La Presse.

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Death Linked To Cheese Recall In Quebec

From The CBC:

One person has died and 87 cases of salmonellosis have been linked to three brands of contaminated cheese in Quebec, provincial health authorities said Friday in announcing a recall.

The raft of cases occurred in three areas: Chaudière-Appalaches, Estrie-Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec, Dr. Horacio Arruda, the province's director of public health, told a news conference in Montreal.

The three areas, which are in zones south of Quebec City, the Eastern Townships and central Quebec, experienced an unusually high incidence of cases in recent weeks. Quebec normally sees 1,000 cases of salmonellosis province-wide every year.

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Ice Cider From Quebec

Quebec's Cider Route Rules -- Windsor Star

Area south of Montreal turns harsh winter climate into sweet taste of late summer.

Using Quebec's harsh climate as a blessing rather than a curse, Quebec apple cider makers took the ice wine idea and spun it into an award-winning variation using frozen apples instead of grapes. Since the first ice cider became available in stores in 1996, they've been snatching international gold medals and selling out in 30 countries.

These days, ice cider is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Quebec's beverage industry, accounting for about 70 per cent of all sales of Quebec products. Ice cider -- or cidre de glace -- is the leader of an apple revolution sweeping Quebec. But there are also many other variations that are taking the traditional fermented apple brew upmarket and into the 21st century with new equipment and new ideas.

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Real Estate Brothers' Fortunes Have Seen Better Days

From Canada.com

MONTREAL - They once held their heads high as prominent Montreal real estate developers, but now the small empire the Magi brothers built is mired in financial chaos and problems that generated a recent attempt on the life of one of them and the possible extradition of the other.

In 1999, Antonio (Tony) Magi, 48, was at the pinnacle of his career as the public face behind the launch of one of the most ambitious residential real estate development projects Montreal had witnessed in years. Meanwhile, his business partner and younger brother, Alberino (Rino) Magi, 40, oversaw several major residential development projects through their company Gescor Construction.

Until Thursday, the older brother had been clinging to life. In August, he was shot several times in what police believe was part of an underworld settling of accounts.

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Quebec Poutine -- Haute Cuisine?

Poutine

Quebec Poutine Festival Confirms Working-Class Dish
Now Haute Cuisine -- Canadian Press

Drummondville, Que. — A foie gras poutine served at a festival in the central Quebec town Drummondville confirms the dish's place in the world of haute cuisine.

One of the purported birthplaces of Quebec's best-known dish - the french fry, cheese curd and gravy melange - held its first poutine festival last weekend.

Mario Patry was the professional chef in charge of the Festival de la poutine de Drummondville.

"That's mine, that's my creation," he said of the foie gras poutine being sold.

"People want to eat better and better. And they're connoisseurs."

The town of 67,000, about an hour from Montreal, is where restaurateur Jean-Paul Roy of Le Roy Jucep restaurant claims to have invented the dish in 1964. The Quebec towns Warwick and Victoriaville also lay claim to being poutine's birthplace.

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Update: Poutine, culture intertwined -- Windsor Star

Harper And Dion To Meet On Labour Day

Dion Will Meet Harper As Election Talk Heats Up -- CTV News

Monday will be Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's turn to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper ahead of what is widely expected to be a looming election call.

Dion had indicated he was too busy to meet with Harper before Sept. 9. After several attempts to set up a meeting, the prime minister suggested an election call could come with or without a Dion meeting.

The two are now slated to meet Monday at 4 p.m. at the prime minister's residence.

"I will ask Stephen Harper face to face to explain why he is in such a rush to violate the spirit of his own legislation," Dion said in a statement. "I will ask him to explain why he wants to break his word, yet again."

A centrepiece of Tory democratic reform initiatives in the last election was a law fixing election dates to be held every four years, with the first scheduled for October 2009. Harper has argued that the law only really applies in a majority-government situation.

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More News On Monday's Meeting Between Stephane Dion
And Stephen Harper

Dion-Harper Labour Day showdown unlikely to avert election all parties want -- Canadian Press
Dion to meet Harper Monday -- Toronto Star
Harper-Dion talks unlikely to avert election call -- Canada.com
PM, Dion expected to meet briefly; election thought inevitable -- Globe And MAil
Harper meets Dion today as general election looms -- Calgary Herald
Canadian PM to meet with opposition leader -- International Herald Tribune
Canada PM to meet opposition leader as election looms -- Reuters

My Comment: I would love to be a fly on the wall for this discussion. But the groundwork has already been set. Unless Dion is able to convinve Harper that there should be no Federal election .... we will be in one within the next few days.

What Is Open And Closed In Montreal This Labour Day Monday

Sunday Hours For Most Services -- Montreal Gazette

Here is a partial list of businesses and government services affected by today's Labour Day holiday:

All banks will be closed.

All federal and provincial government offices, including immigration and unemployment centres, will be closed.

Most city of Montreal departments, including Access Montreal offices, will be closed. Many services in other municipalities are reduced; consult your city hall for details.

Most supermarkets will be open, but operating hours may vary.

All Société des alcools du Québec stores that are open on Sundays will follow the Sunday schedule, unless located in a shopping mall that is closed.

There will be garbage, curbside recycling and large-item pickup in some districts of Montreal, but many boroughs have altered their schedules. Contact your borough.

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