By Murray Sherriffs
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Quebec’s Liberal party is leaderless with Pablo Rodriguez resigning and planning to meet with reporters this morning to talk about his future and the controversy that has consumed the party that involved high-profile firings and allegations of votes-for-cash and donor reimbursement.
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Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said that she has no ties to businessman Emanuel Cabral, who does have ties to the Quebec Liberal Party scandals, saying that she did attend Cabral’s garden parties, that they were not fundraisers or a financing event and that she deplores what has happened to the Liberals because it “…casts a shadow on all the work politicians have done over the years.”
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Mayor Martinez-Ferrada, with federal Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly and provincial Minister of Economy Christine Fréchette standing with her, told the East Montreal Chamber of Commerce that she will fulfill a campaign promise to revitalize the East End “with the financial help of all levels of government and the business community.”
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Montreal police are investigating a drive-by shooting last night in Pierrefonds that involved a man sitting in a parked car on Pierrefonds Boulevard near Saint-Pierre who was not hit.
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68-year-old Daniel Jolivet who has spent more than 33 years behind bars for four murders in Brossard and tomorrow will find out whether he will be granted bail, after the federal government determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a miscarriage of justice had occurred.
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This is the year 2025 and the Anicinape community of Kitcisakik, near Val d’Or, Quebec, has been connected to the Hydro-Québec’s power grid, but residents still have no running water and must haul water home from the village pumping station—no mean feat in the winter.
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Several Canadiens players have brought Christmas cheer to the Montreal Children’s, Sainte-Justine and Shriners’ hospitals by continuing a tradition of more than 50 years, which saw young people smiling and giggling as the players interacted with them.
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Montreal firefighters also spread the holiday mood handing out food baskets to needy families on the 38th annual holiday basket deliveries that has seen thousands of families benefit.
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Premier Legault says that safety guidelines, issued to dozens of Quebec school districts by the Quebec Reciprocal School Insurance Union, make no sense. It requires children to wear helmets if they engage in roughhouse games in the school yard at recess. The Premier recalls memories of playing King of the Hill “…when we were king, then we’d get knocked off the top of the mountain by others” and said that the guidelines are excessive. They also suggest that children not “go sliding” on hills that have more than a ,25º slope and not build large snow mounds, to prevent children being launched to thrilling heights. The hills should also have “…clearly identified zones for children to walk back up the hill a waiting area, a layout plan, a supervision plan and a daily inspection log” to ensure that good, safe fun is experienced by all. Critics ask who is going to enforce the guidelines, because educators, student supervisors and personnel are already overworked and understaffed.
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Chicago / Canadiens / 7 p.m.
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Sun / cloud 5º today
Rain / 9º tomorrow
