Montreal Gazette Dept: The ADQ is in a rebuilding phase. Founding leader Mario Dumont resigned on election night in December 2008. Current leader Gerard Deltell, a native of Quebec City and a former television journalist there, has been spending the last couple of weeks walking up and down the streets of the city of Montreal's mightyindustrialsuburbof St. Laurent, where a provincial by-election will be held on Monday, according to Montreal Gazette. On the face of it, Liberal candidate Jean-Marc Fournier is the heavy favourite to win on Monday. After 14 years in the National Assembly as a Liberal representing Chateauguay riding, Fournier quit politics in 2008. But the Chateauguay native has returned, at Premier Jean Charest's request, to run in Saint-Laurent. And Charest is so confident of victory that he preemptively named Fournier minister of justice last month, displacing Kathleen Weil and there is no such thing as an abridged history of the rise and fall of the Action democratique du Quebec. It's a very short history. The party's rise in 2007 was as sudden as its fall in 2008. After winning a breakthrough 41 seats in the 2007 general election, the ADQ fell back to just seven seats in 2008. The provincial riding of Saint-Laurent is one of the safest Liberal seats in Quebec, and it is an unlikely political arena for the ADQ to entertain notions of a comeback. But with the party still struggling to regain the confidence of francophone voters, Deltell sees Saint-Laurent as an opportunity to do something that Dumont never really did -get out there and press some real allophone and anglophone flesh, deep in the heart of multi-ethnic Montreal. As reported in the news.
@t ethnic montreal, jean charest

Minimum Sentences Dept: This singularly useless measure is reportedly being proposed to cabinet by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. Meanwhile, recent news reports can only increase Canadians' already-substantial suspicion about the legitimacy of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea last month, and of further shiploads of claimants now foreseen, according to Montreal Gazette. Fortunately, Toews is not the only minister involved. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is in South Asia now, talking to officials and seeking ways to forestall more boatloads of queue-jumpers. That more muscular approach seems to us far more promising than fooling around with minimum penalties for people-smugglers we never catch anyway and get caught trying to smuggle 10 or more people into Canada and you can be fined a maximum of $1 million or sentenced to spend life in prison. But the Conservative government, scrambling to look "tough" against shiploads of questionable refugee claimants, is now reportedly considering minimum sentences as well. For one thing, thousands of Tamils are now reportedly returning to Sri Lanka, as the security situation there improves. Others have already done the paperwork, from India or elsewhere, to come to Canada, but cannot muster the cash "fare" that people smugglers charge. Another report says Ottawa knows of Tamils accepted as refugees in this country who have since returned there for vacation, or on business. Some refugees! As reported in the news.
@t sri lankan tamil, montreal gazette

Dramatic Differences Dept: That was one of the findings of a University of B.C. study by education Prof. Lee Gunderson, who has been examining trends among immigrant students in Vancouver public schools for more than a decade, according to Vancouver Sun. "We found dramatic differences," he said in a recent interview. "It breaks the myth of the model minority." Mandarin-speaking girls are four times more likely than other Asian students to get good grades in high school, while Cantonesespeaking boys are four times more likely to struggle. Gunderson said his latest study examined the stereotype that Asian students are all high-performers by comparing Grade 12 marks of groups that speak Mandarin, Cantonese and other Asian languages. As reported in the news.
@t vancouver sun, asian languages

Atlantic Provinces Dept: Forty-four per cent of B.C. residents feel immigration is having a positive effect in Canada, according to the poll, released Thursday, according to Vancouver Sun. "It's almost like a different country from Alberta to the Maritimes," said pollster Mario Canseco of the survey results and british Columbians, more than Canadians in other provinces, are the most likely to embrace newcomers to the country, even as the national attitude toward global migration appears to be hardening, a new survey by Angus Reid Public Opinion shows. That number dips to 42 per cent in Quebec, then drops dramatically to 32 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 30 per cent in Alberta and 29 per cent in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. As reported in the news.
@t global migration, vancouver sun

Shy Man Dept: Erich was a shy man. Wanda had arrived in Windsor, Ont., three years before him and so was already conversant in English. The first expression Wanda taught him was, “I love you.” He mastered the sentence and repeated it often. The inevitable happened when he asked its meaning. When Wanda smiled and replied, “ Ich liebe dich ,” he never uttered the words again, but there was no doubt that he adored her, according to Globe And Mail. Erich loved to dance with Wanda. He once invited Ingrid to join him in a robust polka. After a few short rounds he threw up his hands and said, “You’re no good, Erin’s better.” His children all grew thick skins and erich’s youth was spent in Germany where, at 18, he became a paratrooper and gunner during the Second World War. He was shot by Americans in France, survived a prisoner-of-war camp and returned to Bavaria in 1945. After receiving his accreditation as a tool-and-die maker, Erich immigrated to Canada in 1952 and married his fiancee, Wanda. Shortly after arriving in Canada, Erich was hired by Ford Motor Co. He and Wanda raised four children – Walter, Ingrid and twins Erin and Eric. When tough times hit Windsor in 1962, Ford transferred Erich and the family moved to Oakville, Ont. As reported in the news.
@t globe and mail, thick skins

Colombian Woman Dept: Gloria Uribe arrived at Trudeau International Airport at 8:30 a.m. ET, holding her two-year-old daughter in her arms and with her 10-year-old daughter by her side, according to CBC. She is expected to take a flight to Toronto at 11 a.m. and a connecting flight to Bogota later in the afternoon. 'The paramilitaries are still very active, very sopshisticated throughout Colombia. She's with two children going back there.' John Bradley, supporter A Colombian woman who lost her battle to avoid deportation presented herself to Canadian authorities Thursday at Montreal's airport to start her journey back to her native country. Supporters accompanied the family to the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, where federal agents were waiting. As reported in the news.
@t citizenship and immigration, canadian authorities

Deportation Dept: Return home with her daughters and face the wrath of vengeance-seeking paramilitary groups, or seek sanctuary in a Montreal church, according to Montreal Gazette. As of last night, it was not possible to determine which path she had opted for, but at a news conference on Tuesday Uribe, 43, said she was considering seeking sanctuary in a church should all other options fail and with her deportation to Colombia set for this morning, failed refugee claimant Gloria Patricia Uribe had to choose: Uribe did not show up for a demonstration on her behalf yesterday because she felt "drained" by the prospect of deportation and fears paramilitary groups her family defied will seek to harm her, supporters said. As reported in the news.
@t montreal gazette, paramilitary groups

Vancouver Sun Dept: The migrant initially denied to investigators any association with the Tigers or having travelled outside Sri Lanka. But when confronted with a newspaper article about the trip, he admitted travelling with the group as a member of the media, according to Vancouver Sun. The newspaper article says an eight-member Tamil Tiger delegation had travelled abroad to raise tsunami-relief funds and one of the 492 Sri Lankan migrants who arrived in Canada last month aboard the MV Sun Sea allegedly travelled to foreign countries with a delegation from the Tamil Tigers terrorist organization, a hearing into his detention heard Wednesday. Jennifer Friburg, a lawyer representing the Canada Border Services Agency, said the migrant's contradictory statement "clearly indicates deception" and "negatively impacts his credibility," and called for his continued detention on the grounds that he poses a possible security threat. As reported in the news.
@t canada border services agency, tamil tigers

S Line Dept: Residents have started a petition and hope to convince Ottawa to reverse the decision, according to CTV. Up to 70 per cent of the apple orchards in the region are in the town of Franklin, and money poured into advertising the town and its agriculture would become futile if the border is closed, said Franklin Mayor Suzanne Yelle-Blair and those opposed to Ottawa's plan to close the Franklin border crossing gathered Wednesday to explain why they think the move would be disastrous for the local economy, and in particular apple orchards in the region. In July, the town received a letter from the Canadian Border Security Agency stating that next spring, the Franklin border will be closed along with the Jamieson's Line station south of Huntingdon. As reported in the news.
@t town of franklin, yelle

Attractive Vehicle Dept: In fact, city staff thought the best way to get upper-level governments to provide funding was by creating a cultural precinct. That precinct, they wrote, “would provide an attractive vehicle to raise the funds necessary.”, according to Globe And Mail. The $120-million from each level of government never materialized before the recession hit full force in the fall of 2008. However, former councillor Elizabeth Ball, who dealt with arts issues while in office, said they were lobbying hard for it and getting positive signals and the October, 2006, report made clear that the plan developed by the previous council was for the gallery to share that block – envisioned as part of a grand new cultural precinct – with an office tower and a 450-seat theatre. Making the project attractive was vital because the city counted on getting two-thirds of the $360-million cost from the federal and provincial governments. As reported in the news.
@t fact city, provincial governments