By Murray Sherriffs
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The Santé Mont-Royal family health clinic will close April 1. Medical director and co-owner Dr. Mark Bush says that it’s because of Bill 2, which will result in 45 per cent loss in revenue because it ties part of doctors’ salaries to performance targets.
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Dr. Bush says that Bill 2 was non-negotiated, falsely conceived and thought out; that performance targets, including asking general practitioners to collectively deliver 17.5 million appointments per year, are unattainable because they are quantity not quality based, that they make no sense and that patients will suffer. The Journal de Montréal is reporting that 40 clinics in Quebec will shut down in the New Year because of Bill 2.
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Former parliamentary leader Marwah Rizqy has been tossed from the Quebec Liberal Party caucus, a move justified by leader Pablo Rodriguez who sais that “…she chose to turn her back on our team, enough is enough, for the past two weeks she has done a lot of damage to the Quebec Liberal Party.”
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MNA Rizqy has acknowledged her expulsion on social media; “…from the day that I was elected as the Member of the National Assembly for Saint-Laurent, I have represented my constituents with dedication and diligence. I wish to assure them that I will represent them with the same commitment now, as an independent member.”
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Premier Legault says that Canada’s new Official Languages Commissioner Marc Miller is “…a disgrace to all Quebecers and I don’t know how he’s going to show his face at a cultural event in Quebec” after repeating what he stated two years ago about the decline of French in Quebec, “…I refuse to accept the dogma that certain political parties promote, that French is in total decline, when in reality there is good news, particularly the news from the past several decades thanks to Bill 101” and “thanks to the Canada-Quebec agreement” that gave Quebec several powers in the area of immigration, including the ability to prioritize French-speaking newcomers.
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Premier Legault is urging Prime Minister Carney to “intervene” with his Minister of Immigration in the case of asylum seekers, in light of a statement from the office of Quebec Minister Lena Diab who said that Ottawa is already doing enough for Quebec.
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Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette has tabled Bill 10 in the National Assembly, that will protect Quebecers from hidden fees, inflated resale prices and online platforms that make it hard to cancel subscriptions.
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Alexandre Plourde, a lawyer with the consumer advocacy group, Option-Consommateurs, says Quebecers are fed up with the never-ending requests for tips, for services or products beyond bars or restaurants and it’s time for “bakeries, chocolate shops, retail stores, professionals and mechanics” to rein in their solicitations for extra money from consumers.
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Montreal police are investigating six separate break-ins over just a few hours in Dollard late last month on Dawn, Harris, Ceres, Surrey, Myconos and Drouin streets between 6 p.m. and midnight, with the bad guys forcing entry on a door of each residence.
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Toys ‘R Us Canada is shutting down more stores in Quebec (Laval, Brossard, Quebec City) and, when all is done after Christmas, 70 jobs will have been eliminated and only the outlet in Gatineau outlet will remain in operation.
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A 15-year-old Montreal lad has been charged in connection with an attack on a 50-year-old man, when the two met to talk about a cellphone that one of them was selling, but police are still working to learn how the boy also ended up being stabbed.
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A Lasalle mother and her daughter, 49-year-old Sonia Abbruzzo and 24-year-old Bryanna Abbruzzo, who forced a young woman to work as a prostitute for six months, are looking at jail time if the Crown gets its way.
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Montreal’s SPCA has launched a 24/7 hotline to report animal abuse anonymously, citing a dramatic increase in the number of abuse cases in recent years and it is threatening legal action in some of the cases that it has already investigated.
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Cyclists have protested to closure of a bike lane in Outremont on Lajoie Avenue in Outremont for the Winter months, claiming that other lanes will also be closed.
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Ottawa 5 Canadiens 2
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Alouettes receiver Tyson Philpot has been signed for the next two years.
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Cloud / 0 today
Flurries / minus 4 tomorrow
