{"id":476,"date":"2012-05-23T09:08:13","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T13:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=476"},"modified":"2012-05-24T14:56:27","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T18:56:27","slug":"what-about-good-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/what-about-good-government\/","title":{"rendered":"What about Good Government?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many commentators have asked \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with Bill 78?\u201d<\/p>\n

My answer: Division III: the entire section about \u201cpeace, order and public security.\u201d<\/p>\n

It reads:<\/p>\n

A person, a body or a group that is the organizer of a demonstration involving 50 people or more to take place in a venue accessible to the public must, not less than eight hours before the beginning of the demonstration, provide the following information in writing to the police force serving the territory where the demonstration is to take place:<\/p>\n

(1) the date, time, duration and venue of the demonstration as well as its route, if applicable; and<\/p>\n

(2) the means of transportation to be used for those purposes.<\/p>\n

When it considers that the planned venue or route poses serious risks for public security, the police force serving the territory where the demonstration is to take place may, before the demonstration, require a change of venue or route so as to maintain peace, order and public security. The organizer must then submit the new venue or route to the police force within the agreed time limit and inform the participants.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is a demonstration? Does it include soccer games, church processions and neighbourhood get-togethers? Is this up to the police? Does it depend whether neighbours complain? Does it matter if all the participants wear a red square? What about a green square?<\/p>\n

On Friday, the government was proposing that this section cover any group of 10 people or more. As that was being discussed, I worried about whether I should prepare reports of four different events for police for last weekend alone. Now I\u2019m wondering whether volunteer organizers of every other event my family participates in have to be reported to the police.<\/p>\n

It seems clear to me that this law gives too much power to the police, who don\u2019t have the resources to implement the section anyway. This is another example of Quebec\u2019s legislature passing layers of laws that no one knows how to implement.<\/p>\n

Another problem with this section of Bill 78 is that it hints at Canada\u2019s historic preoccupation with \u201cpeace, order and good government\u201d and yet misses the most important of the three for legislators to fix.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to know much to see that \u201cgood government\u201d is a problem in Quebec. Yesterdays Charbonneau Commission into construction practices is the first sign of problems.<\/p>\n

“The Quebec government created this commission of inquiry \u2014 which is totally impartial and independent, well-removed from any political considerations,” said Justice France Charbonneau, who will run the inquiry. “Nobody can tell (the inquiry) what to do, whom to interrogate or how to investigate.”<\/p>\n

Except that the inquiry only gets to look at issues within the last 15 years and only within the terms of the documents that established the commission. I’m discovering, through research, that many of the problems over land use began as far back as the 1980\u2019s. Hopefully, all the documents used by the Commission will be publicized so that freelancers like me can expose the roots of the problem.<\/p>\n

A second hint of trouble was the arrest last Thursday of former Montreal politician Frank Zampino. The former politician worked closely with Montreal Mayor G\u00e9rald Tremblay until he left politics in 2008. Zampino is alleged to have leaked insider information to Paolo Catania of Construction Frank Catania & Associates Inc, who was also arrested last week.<\/p>\n

“There’s no doubt that this affects the credibility of elected officials and, in this case, most acutely, of municipal officials,\u201d said Tremblay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

——————-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To follow the Charbonneau Commission on Twitter, use the hashtag #<\/span><\/strong>CEIC<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

To read some English translations of French media and government documents about the student protest, check out the website http:\/\/translatingtheprintempserable.tumblr.com\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many commentators have asked \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with Bill 78?\u201d My answer: Division III: the entire section about \u201cpeace, order and public security.\u201d It reads: A person, a body or a group that is the organizer of a demonstration involving 50 people or more to take place in a venue accessible to the public must, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-that-matter","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-7G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21407,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/intl_womens_day\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":0},"title":"International Woman’s Day led to our right to vote","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever wondered why we celebrate International Women's Day on March 8? The commemoration stems from a major demonstration led by feminist Alexandra Kollontai that took place on February 23 in 1917. At the time, Russia used a Gregorian calendar, so the day would have been March 8 in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Canada"","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/OverlandFloat1918.jpg?fit=341%2C227&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1266,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/public-lot-on-jean-beraud-laval\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":1},"title":"Questionable Sale of Public Lot on Jean-B\u00e9raud Transferred to Police","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The City of Laval has referred the conditions around the sale of a former city-owned lot on Jean-B\u00e9raud to the S\u00fbret\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec. The referral took place on October 22, after Andrew McIntosh from Agence QMI published an article showing that the sale provided more than a million dollars profit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1212,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/space-still-available-in-lasalle-dance-studio-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":2},"title":"Space Still Available in LaSalle Dance Studio Classes","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to extra-large interest this year, the LaSalle dance student Dans\u2019Atout still has space for a few more students interested in taking ballet, modern dance, hip hop or tap lessons. \u201cAll my hip hop classes were full, so I\u2019ve opened another one,\u201d said studio owner Melanie Beaudet. \u201cMy four year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1512,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/two-tier-justice-at-the-rental-board\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":3},"title":"Two Tier Justice at the Rental Board","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Property owners can evict troublesome tenants in three months or so, and yet it takes two years or more to force negligent landlords to make repairs or heat apartments properly. 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Bastien au lancement de l'hydrolienne @Idenergie_inc Incroyable innovation! #Verdun pic.twitter.com\/bbI9rvqhLE \u2014 Sarah Gagnon-T. 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