Quotes of 2022 | The Press

Six quotes that marked the past year

The joke was launched during the election campaign by the CAQ candidate Bernard Drainville. His argument: the famous third link between Quebec and Lévis will not really generate greenhouse gases since the cars that will use it will one day be all electric. The case is symptomatic of an unfortunate tendency at the CAQ: that of believing that the energy transition simply consists in electrifying everything. The truth is that meeting our GHG reduction targets will require a change in our lifestyles. By encouraging urban sprawl and car use (even electric!), the third link takes us in the wrong direction. No offense to the one who is now Minister of Education: no, we will not let go of the government with the GHGs!

Philip Mercury, The Press

Already, Prime Minister François Legault had set fire to the powder by associating immigrants with “extremists” and saying that it would be “suicidal” for Quebec to welcome more than the current threshold of 50,000 per year. But the false declaration of the outgoing Minister of Immigration, Jean Boulet, has completely exceeded the limits. Let’s face it, only 65% ​​of immigrants live in Montreal. The vast majority know French. Their employment rate is higher than that of “pure wools”. And Quebec values? With remarks like those of Minister Boulet, the best-integrated immigrants felt rejected.

Stephanie Grammond, The Press

The Hockey Canada scandal broke our hearts. In the spring, a young woman sued Hockey Canada because players from the 2018 Junior Team Canada allegedly raped her (a gang rape) in a hotel room. Hockey Canada quietly settled the lawsuit within weeks (with minor hockey insurance premium money to boot!), but TSN reporter Rick Westhead released the story publicly. When asked to explain themselves to MPs in Ottawa, Hockey Canada executives then cover themselves in ridicule with their arrogance. Board and CEO Scott Smith, who thought they were indispensable, were finally forced to decamp. And the lights in arenas across the country stayed on.

Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, The Press

Oh, how badly this quote has aged! However, it only dates from last March, when Pierre Poilievre was a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party. In a series of sweeping statements of which he is the secret, Mr. Poilievre then declared that the Trudeau government was “ruining the Canadian dollar” and promised to “remove control of the money from the bankers and politicians to give it to the people”. Populist, you say? We sincerely hope that Canadians have not followed the personal finance advice of the now leader of the Conservative Party. Eight months after its declaration, bitcoin had lost… 63% of its value. Not great for preserving purchasing power.

Philip Mercury, The Press

It is in these words that François Legault invited the population of Rouyn-Noranda to decide the fate of the Horne Foundry, which hit the headlines all year round for its arsenic emissions above standards. However, it is up to the government to enforce the standards, and not up to the population to tear each other apart to find out whether or not to close a factory. While residents of the city overwhelmingly reject the idea of ​​allowing a concentration of 15 ng/m^⁠3 of arsenic instead of the standard 3 ng/m^⁠3, the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, turns a deaf ear and says that this is only “one element” of the equation. For a government that says it wants to rely on the people, it’s ironic. We will know in January 2023 the agreement concluded between Quebec and the company.

Philip Mercury, The Press

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was reacting to the behavior of a group of influencers who left to celebrate the New Year in Tulum, Mexico. The images of this group of young people partying on board a plane while the majority of Quebecers were still confined caused a real media storm. The organizer, James William Awad, meanwhile found himself in hot water, and it was not that of the Caribbean. As for the release of Justin Trudeau, it forced us to revisit our classics. The Ostrogoths, is it Tintin or Asterix? Finally, it was an expression used by a former CEGEP professor of Mr. Trudeau. It was predicted at the time that this incident would mark the end of influencers. This is a prediction that did not come true.

Nathalie Collard, The Press