The whirlpool bath
When demonstrators have the nerve to install a whirlpool bath in front of parliament, we have proof beyond any doubt that it is no longer a demonstration, but a pure and simple occupation. It took 23 days for the police to finally dislodge the truckers who were poisoning the lives of Ottawa residents. It is clear that the Ottawa police have been sleeping on the gas and that Doug Ford’s government did not want to get involved, for fear of displeasing its supporters before the Ontario election. It remains to be seen whether the Emergency Measures Act was necessary to end this circus. The report of the Rouleau commission will decide soon.
Stephanie Grammond
Tylenol for children
Quebec spent a good part of the fall in shortage of Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil (ibuprofen) for children, because of the trio of respiratory diseases for children that we must fight at the same time. This caused – with good reason – the anguish of many parents. Due to the respiratory syncytial virus–COVID-19–influenza trio, children’s hospitals have also been overwhelmed since November, in Quebec as elsewhere in the country. No, the pandemic is (unfortunately) not over.
Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot
The handcuffs (and the lost key)
It looks like a sketch from a bad police comedy. Officers cavalierly arrest a black man heading for his own vehicle, handcuff him, realize their mistake… but do not have the key to free him. Far from finding it funny, the man in question, Brice Dossa, came out humiliated. Is this racial profiling? Impossible to say without knowing the full story. The SPVM has provided few explanations and is conducting an investigation that seems to us to be very long. One thing is certain, the mere fact that we cried out against discrimination on all platforms shows the extent to which the bond of trust between the Montreal police and its citizens is broken.
Philip Mercury
Éric Duhaime’s tax account
For someone who aspired to manage the province, Éric Duhaime will have shown us that he manages his own finances in a nonchalant way to say the least. During the election campaign, we learned that the Conservative leader had failed to pay not only his municipal taxes, but also school taxes and Hydro-Québec bills. When the bailiffs and the courts have to get involved and Hydro-Québec cuts the power, we understand that we are not talking about slight delays due to inattention. Under Mr. Duhaime, the Conservative Party of Quebec will finally have won 13% of the votes in the ballot, a spectacular increase compared to the 1.5% collected in 2018. But the cantor of the Quebec right could not be elected, not more than any other member of his party.
Philip Mercury
The lettuce
Lettuce brought laughs as much as cries in 2022. Cry when inflation pushed the price of an ordinary iceberg to $8.99. Laugh when the English started betting that their new prime minister would last less than a lettuce. And lettuce won the duel! Liz Truss resigned after just 45 days in the job. The markets did not digest the tax cuts she had proposed and which went against the central bank’s efforts to counter inflation. His project, which was based on loans, caused interest rates to jump and the currency to fall. This setback should serve as a lesson to all governments thinking of fighting against the rising cost of living by sending checks to the entire population.
Stephanie Grammond
The Islamic veil in Iran
Iranian women finished first in magazine’s ‘Hero of the Year’ category Time. It is well deserved. Their courage is remarkable and contagious. Result: in spite of the repression, the mode does not manage to stifle the revolt. At the source of the uprising, there is an object, which has also become its symbol: the Islamic veil. The revolt follows the death of Mahsa Amini in September. She was allegedly killed by members of the vice squad because she had worn her veil in a manner deemed inappropriate. A tipping point was then reached. It is now generalized oppression that is challenged. And the regime of the mullahs which is destabilized.
Alexandre Sirois