The aces of info | Verified: your emotions are playing tricks on you

In this Verified series, Les Aces de l’info present you with a multitude of tips for using the media in an informed way! Before giving in to emotions, you have to check what you read. Vanessa gives her advice on how to outsmart our emotions in order to detect fake news that is often written in such a way as to make us react. Good viewing, and don’t hesitate to visit the As de l’info website for the other episodes.

Quit plugs

Perhaps you have heard of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel recently. This is normal, and you will surely hear about it for a long time to come.

Since Monday, half of the tunnel tracks have been closed for work that will last at least three years. Since there will be fewer lanes, there will be a lot more traffic jams than usual.

It is a very important crossing. Nearly 120,000 motorists use it every day! This will cause a lot of people to try to take other routes, which will add cars to the traffic on the other routes.

hard choices

Maybe your parents are facing this difficult situation. This is the case of Ken Thériault, who taught in a school in Montreal.

Already spending hours driving his car every day, this dad of four decided to quit his job. With the new jobs, he couldn’t imagine spending even more time in traffic for the next three years. But above all, he does not want to waste this precious time for the benefit of that spent with his family. Leaving his old job was a difficult choice, as he loses good working conditions and risks earning less money. But for him, quality of life is more important than that.

Jean-Philippe Tremblay is also going through a difficult situation. He is the father of a son in shared custody and lives in Montreal. However, he must go to Longueuil to take his child to school. He spends every day, morning and evening, too much time in his car. This father is discouraged. Above all, he does not want to resign from his job in Montreal or give up joint custody.

What are the solutions ?

Several solutions are available to motorists. Transports Québec has offered parking lots on the South Shore for all residents who want to park their vehicle and then take public transport. Five free shuttles have been created to cross the bridge-tunnel from parking lots in Boucherville, Belœil and Sainte-Julie.

Also, cars with three or more passengers can use the reserved bus and taxi lane on Highway 20 in several places.

Only, in the case of some people, opting for public transport, such as the bus, is impossible. For some, it’s even longer than by car. For others, it is the hours that are not suitable. For example, there are no more buses at night for those who work late, such as nurses.

These works are a headache and create a lot of anxiety for those affected. Will the proposed solutions be sufficient?

The security of the population is threatened in Haiti

For several weeks, a deep crisis has shaken Haiti, a country located in the Caribbean. Its population has to face great political instability in addition to being hit by a very serious epidemic. But how did we get here? The Aces team explains to you what’s going on.

Gangs, a major problem

In 2010, a gigantic earthquake shook Haiti. Over 220,000 people died and over 300,000 were injured. A lot of buildings were also demolished; even the presidential palace has been there.

Since then, Haiti has been plunged into an unprecedented crisis. You see, the country was already very poor before the earthquake, and the earthquake only made the situation worse. For lack of money, the government has great difficulty in restoring order in the territory. It is precisely this chaos that gangs profit from.

A gang is a group of people who engage in criminal activity. In general, a gang operates in the shadows, without disturbing public order too much.

But in Haiti, given the situation, the police are overwhelmed and therefore the gangs are not afraid to commit their crimes in the open.

The gangs have even set out to take over Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. It is estimated that they control 60% of its territory, including a very important port.

Cholera back

Gangs are not the only concern facing the Haitian people at the moment: a cholera epidemic is also growing in the country.

Cholera is a serious disease that has been known in the West for about two centuries. It is caught when you swallow food or water contaminated with a bacteria called Vibrio cholerae. People sick with cholera suffer from nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

From 2010 to 2019, more than 10,000 people in Haiti died from the disease. Nevertheless, last February, the state celebrated the official elimination of cholera, as it had not recorded a case since 2019.

Unfortunately, it looks like that wasn’t entirely true, as so far 2000 confirmed cases have been reported in the past few weeks. And the problem is that the gangs prevent hospitals from functioning properly, and therefore from treating cholera patients.

Will the international community intervene?

So far, relatively little has been done to help Haiti out of trouble. However, it must be understood that this is a very complex situation and that the various international leaders want to make sure that the right decisions are made.

Canada has already sent military equipment to the Haitian police to help them control the gangs. For its part, the UN is considering sending troops to the field. In the meantime, she announced a series of sanctions against criminal gangs.