Quote of the week:

“It’s better to have Bush visit than the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division.” —an anonymous Liberal staffer, citing the Top Reason (of 10) why it’s nice to have a presidential visit, quoted in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail.

Montreal Massacre remembered

The lone act of a madman or the pointed end of a misguided sense of male entitlement? This question, among many others, is raised every year around this time as Montrealers commemorate the 1989 Polytechnique massacre at the Université de Montréal. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the rampage and, while the larger meaning of it is still debated and contested, there are many opportunities for Montrealers to remember, pay their respects and reflect on what might have been if one man with a gun hadn’t snuffed out the lives of 14 young women.

On Sunday, Dec. 5, the Fondation des victimes du 6 décembre contre la violence will be holding a concert night called Symphonie pour ma fille at the Église St-Jean Baptiste (4237 Henri-Julien, corner Rachel) at

8 p.m., $15. Also on Sunday, 14 women artists will be painting portraits of significant figures in the history of non-violence movements. The public is invited to watch the artists at work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the exposition will continue the next day from noon to 4 p.m. Everything happens at the foot of St-Joseph’s Oratory (3840 Queen Mary).

On Monday, Dec. 6, the Choeur Maha and Mouvement contre le viol et l’inceste will invest in some street theatre and singing in the McGill metro from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The public is asked to fill out pledge forms to fight discrimination and sexism.

In conjunction with Amnesty International, the Fédération des femmes du Québec is circulating a petition denouncing violence against women. They hope to present 100,000 signatures to the National Assembly on Monday. To sign it visit www.ffq.qc.ca.

Finally, the Fondation’s official commemoration takes place on Dec. 6 at the Place du 6 décembre 1989, at Decelles and Queen Mary, metro Côte-des-Neiges, beginning at 4:30 p.m. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Anger meets exotic dial-up bills

To most, Sao Tome, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Cook Islands and Guinea-Bissau are little green dots on a map. But to untold beleaguered dial-up Internet users, they’re the source of much outrage, as phone companies have demanded payment for costly calls people say they never made to such places.

Some dial-up Internet customers have been tricked into dialling up servers in these far-off places when connecting to the Internet, and a local consumer group wants it stopped. Last spring, Telus and later Bell Canada made it impossible to call the above countries without an operator, and more recently they issued a warning about the scam, which Charles Tanguay, media rep of the Union des consommateurs, describes as “too little too late.” Tanguay says that Bell hasn’t been shy to demand full payment for these phantom calls, and should therefore work towards implementing a more serious solution to the problem.

“We want a first-time forgiveness policy on these calls, like they already have in place for 900 or 967 lines, and we want the CRTC to hold hearings on the matter and create a system that protects the consumer, such as a PIN number you dial every time you want to make a long distance phone call,” he says.

One Ontario resident has brought a class action suit against Bell to recoup money paid for such calls, although no such action has yet been taken in Quebec. Tanguay says consumers can legally refuse to pay the illegitimate long distance without losing their phone line. » Kristian Gravenor

Controlling Christmas

The holidays are usually a good time to throw spending caution into the wind and go all-out in a frenzy of consumer madness. Problem is, buying love and showering adoration on friends and relatives can be costly, and not everyone is able to suck up the loss. So the Association coopérative d’économie familiale (ACEF) Sud-Ouest de Montréal is giving lessons on stretching that already tight buck.

While also offering courses to middle-income families on how to plan a budget, the organization is holding workshops next Wednesday, Dec. 8 and Monday, Dec. 13, on budgeting for lower-income households and dealing with outstanding debts.

“What we want to do is explore alternatives to consumption,” says ACEF Sud-Ouest’s budgetary counsellor Gabrielle Roy. “We’re used to expressing our sentiments through money, and there is this prevalent attitude of worrying about holiday bills later.” While the courses are offered year-round, this time of year especially sees a marked increase in interest in the courses and workshops, she says.

Roy says she won’t lecture attendees on how to spend their money. “We just want to make people aware of their habits and their consequences,” she says. Call 362-1771 for more info. » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

16 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Dec. 2–Dec. 15, 1988

On the cover: The increasingly popular Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir. “Black church music is a brand of folk music passed on through oral tradition,” says choirmaster Trevor Payne. “It’s all natural. Black culture couldn’t afford voice lessons.”

• As of Dec. 1, 1988, the first World AIDS Day, AIDS-prevention programs remain sorely lacking in Quebec and Canada. Authorities are too squeamish to talk about it and it’s still regarded as a gay disease, say activists and health workers.

• In the concert film Big Time, Tom Waits seems like “Milton Berle on highballs, staggering around, the miner’s lamp inviting us into his world. The next we see him sitting at a piano, show-biz sleaze personified, mugging before an appreciative audience,” writes reviewer J. D. Stewart.

• While praising Wayward Girls & Wicked Women, an anthology of stories by women about women, reviewer Anna Asimakopoulos writes, “If these girls and women were invented by men, they would seem much worse—predatory, drunken hags, confidence tricksters or promiscuous heartbreakers.”

Angel >> Montreal drivers There was a minor media sensation earlier this week following reports that the U.S. State Department warned visiting Americans to beware of reckless Canadian drivers. Although in reality the 3,000-word “consular information sheet” contained all of two sentences about the perils of driving in Canada, and didn’t single out Montreal—contrary to some sensational media reports—the city’s drivers still have an unfair reputation for being, well, somewhat crazy. But the figures don’t match: according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, a U.S. government organization, Montreal’s actually quite safe. Our road death toll—at 1.77 per 100,000 inhabitants—ranks lower than Toronto (3.70), Vancouver (4.40), New York (4.51) and Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit, which have a staggering 15.89 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Insect >> Beef beefs While U.S. President Bush dangles the prospect of easing restrictions on Canadian beef imports, the fact is that 18 months after the border closed thanks to one case of mad cow disease, the industry, especially in Quebec, is hurting bad. Dairy farmers and cattle producers set up a mock auction in front of the National Assembly to complain about the low prices they say they’re getting per pound of cow, and about the monopoly a Drummondville slaughterhouse has over the industry. Producers and farmers say that before the scare, they were getting up to 60 cents a pound for their cows. They claim the price has since dropped to between 12 and 16 cents, and want the province to set a temporary price at 42 cents a pound.