By Murray Sherriffs
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Data from the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire has revealed that university enrolment for the fall session has plummeted by more than 21 per cent at the master’s level and 12.1 per cent overall with the sharpest declines evident among four schools in the Université du Québec network and Concordia reporting a 16.7 per cent drop, while McGill is reporting a 5.6 per cent decline.
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Bus and metro drivers in Montreal’s public transit system are considering strike action, following the agency’s maintenance workers, evidenced in a billboard campaign launched by their union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, that reads “Buses and metros soon to strike. Merci, STM.”
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Quebec’s SAAQ is cutting 100+ jobs as part of Premier Legault’s belt-tightening measures to reign in spending, the majority in non-renewal of casual contracts, casual positions and attrition.
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Research from Concordia University has determined that COVID-19 dramatically changed the gaming habits of Quebecers, who are now almost three times more likely to play poker, buy lottery tickets, bet on sports and engage in other online games of chance, compared to 2018, compromising their health and causing other problems.
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The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says the province’s residential real estate market is holding steady, despite the economic slowdown and a sluggish job market in the 3rd quarter, with the average price of a single-family home going for $490,000, up nine per cent from last year.
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A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered Jean Laprade to pay $5,000 for improperly using artificial intelligence to defend himself in court, claiming he cited expert quotes and jurisprudence that don’t exist.
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McGill University has enhanced its international reputation in developing an AI model that optimizes cancer care, uses sunlight to transform methane and carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and a technique for stimulating the growth of lab-grown tissues through vibration. These are just a few of the recent technological, environmental and biological advances that have come out of McGill. The school secures some of the highest amounts of research funding of all universities across the country and has had more Rhodes Scholars and Nobel Prize laureates than any other school in Canada. Last year, McGill students received 16 Vanier Scholarships and seven Banting Fellowships in recognition of their academic excellence.
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When a politician decides to be one of his people. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has revealed he had an interesting day this summer that centred on his threat to beat up a Home Depot shoplifter. He told an audience at the Empire Club in Toronto that bail needs to be strengthened because criminals are so bold. The premier says on a day he ditched his police detail to go to Home Depot to buy plants for his cottage for an upcoming visit from Prime Minister Carney he encountered a man walking out of the store, trailed by security guards who claimed he stole something but they stopped following because they had been instructed not to do anything to escalate a situation and allow shoplifters to walk. Ford says he took matters into his own hands, challenging him to open up his bag. When the man refused, Ford says he threatened to beat him up and he eventually relented.” I said, buddy, ‘I’m going to kick your ass all over the parking lot, show me what’s in your bag.” He said the man then pulled out a saw blade that the store manager said was stolen. “Then I went on to tell him, if I ever see him in the parking lot, he’s going to get a beating like he’s never got before,” Ford said. “But that’s that’s what you have to do.”
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The Montreal Canadiens have signed general manager Kent Hughes and hockey operations executive Jeff Gorton to multi-year contract extensions. The club has also announced Gorton will start a new role as president of hockey operations. Hughes and Gorton were in the final year of their contracts.
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Habs 5 Kraken 4 (OT)
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Sun / cloud 13 today and tomorrow
