Learning to count… teachers
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Dollard-des-Ormeaux school, in Ville-Émard
First-year students at a school in Ville-Émard, in Montreal, have seen around fifteen teachers pass through their class since the start of the school year, journalist Marie-Eve Morasse revealed this week. Enough to stun everyone, especially the children who would like to learn to read and write in this school year also marked by a long strike. This situation shows the concrete effects of the shortage of qualified teachers. Of course, as columnist Rima Elkouri reminded us, Minister of Education Bernard Drainville cannot remedy this shortage “with a snap of his fingers”. However, that does not authorize her to tolerate the intolerable while waiting for it to resolve, she added.
Read the text by Marie-Eve Morasse
Read Rima Elkouri’s column
Rich enough not to be poor?
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Every year, the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information measures the amount needed to live decently, what it calls viable income.
How much do you need to earn to not be poor? asked columnist Marie-Eve Fournier this week. “Every year,” she wrote, “the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS) measures the amount needed to live decently, what it calls viable income. » However, this income varies greatly from one city to another in Quebec, depending on the cost of living. A single person who earns $30,738 in Trois-Rivières will thus be just rich enough not to be poor, whereas one must earn $43,609 to live decently in Sept-Îles. In Montreal, this threshold is at $38,479, up more than 19% over the past year, a sign that the housing crisis is costly for many households. “It is not for nothing that financial anxiety is increasing, as is the use of food banks,” concludes the columnist.
Read Marie-Eve Fournier’s column
The identity of the top gun finally revealed
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Geneviève Biron, very first boss of the new Santé Québec agency
After months of research, Minister Christian Dubé finally chose – among around sixty candidates – his top gun : this is Geneviève Biron, former CEO of Biron Groupe Santé. The appointment of Mme Biron, who comes from the private health sector, is already raising eyebrows in the opposition and among the unions. “This bias in favor of private health is dismaying, but the appointment of Geneviève Biron has the merit of being clear: the private sector is now in control of our health network,” said Vincent Marissal, spokesperson for Quebec solidarity in health matters. Geneviève Biron no longer holds any interest in Biron Groupe Santé, which is now managed by her sister, Caroline. To “eliminate any potential conflict of interest”, specified the Minister of Health. With more than 330,000 employees, Santé Québec will become one of the largest employers in the country.
Read “A top gun private health at Santé Québec »
The cultural heritage of Jean-Pierre Ferland
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Pierre Ferland, in 2021
Tributes poured in this week for the late legend of Quebec song Jean-Pierre Ferland. Although he is already missed by music lovers in the province, he leaves behind an immense legacy among the next generation of musicians. The journalist Alexandre Vigneault collected the testimonies of several young artists, who agree that the mark of the little king will not disappear soon. If Marie-Pierre Arthur admires his sense of melody and his ability to combine it with the magic word, it is his adventurous side that Thierry Larose will remember. Lumière was marked by Ferland’s mixture of “naivety and sensitivity”, and the album YELLOW is a flagship work for the members of the Vendôme group. The album YELLOW also rose to second position on Monday in the top 100 Canadian best-selling albums on iTunes, ahead of The Tortured Poets Departmentby Taylor Swift.
Read “Ferland seen by young creators”
The McGill camp through the eye of a lawyer
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University, Tuesday
For two weeks, mobilizations in support of Gaza have multiplied in American universities. Encampments were established on several campuses, and the movement percolated as far as Montreal, at McGill University. The demonstrators who have set up their tents there are demanding that the establishment sever all ties with Israel. The Superior Court on Wednesday rejected a request for an injunction aimed at restricting the space where demonstrators could protest, but McGill University still wants to move forward with dismantling the encampment. This threat poses interesting questions about the right to demonstrate, which journalist Léa Carrier submitted to law professor Louis-Philippe Lampron.
Read “The threat of dismantling seen by a law professor”