Quote of the week:

“If it wasn’t for my husband’s affair with Belinda, we wouldn’t be getting a divorce.” —Leanne Domi, wife of former Maple Leaf Tie Domi, who says he has been “in an intimate sexual relationship” with federal Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, in Tuesday’s Toronto Star. She alleges the affair began at last year’s Formula One in Montreal.

Mid-East bumbling examined

As the Bush administration’s plans for a new Middle East lie smoldering in the ruins of Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq, local peace activists are gathering to discuss and debate the results of American policy in the region.

“On a humanitarian level, it’s been absolutely devastating,” says Michel Chossudovsky, author, economist and editor of the Centre for Research on Globalization Web site. “It’s also big business, which is something people don’t like to hear about.”

Tonight, Thursday, Sept. 28, the CRG is holding a public conference entitled “Les enjeux de la guerre au Moyen Orient: Le Québec s’interroge,” at the Centre Saint-Pierre’s Salle Marcel-Pepin (1212 Panet). Along with Chossudovsky, the panel will include Michèle Asselin of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, René Charest of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, Bruce Katz of Palestinian and Jewish Unity and Francine Néméh of the Ligue des droits et libertés.

Coffee will be served at 6:30 p.m., followed by the panel discussion at 7 p.m. Entrance is by voluntary contribution.

For info contact crg.online @yahoo.com or visit www.globalresearch.ca. —Christopher Hazou

Go green and win a prize

Just in case you never made the connection yourself, your physical health and the health of the global environment are intricately linked—whether you want to believe it or not. When the oceans start rising, well, you’d better start learning how to swim pretty quickly or prepare to drown.

As part of an information campaign designed to promote “ecological transport,” Équiterre, in association with MétéoMédia, is sponsoring le Concours Cocktail Transport 2006. “What we really want to impress upon people with this contest are ideas which are beneficial to their health, the environment and to their wallets,” says Amélie Ferland, spokesperson for the well-known local environmental organization.

“For example,” continues Ferland, “by walking or cycling to work, you not only get the exercise you need to stay in shape, but you haven’t contributed to pollution, nor have you spent money on a bus ticket or gas for your car.”

To pick up more practical tips like this and sign on to the contest, where several eco-friendly and valuable prizes are up for grabs, go to www.equiterre.qc.ca/concours. —Chris Barry

Children of the WTO

World Trade Organization talks collapsed in July 2006 over strong internal disagreements on agricultural policy. While social activists throughout the world cheered, policy-makers in the U.S. and Canada started aggressively pursuing bilateral trade accords or Free Trade Agreements [FTAs].

“FTA agreements go beyond the WTO,” says local activist Aziz Choudry of www.bilaterals.org, a project aiming to boost awareness on bilateral trade. Choudry recently travelled to Bangkok, Thailand for an international meeting to plot opposition to the emergence of FTA agreements and will be speaking at Concordia on Monday, Oct. 2, at the School of Community and Public Affairs (2149 MacKay, 7 p.m.). “Global corporations view them as the tool of choice to target specific laws in specific countries that they have not been able to erode through multinational negotiations.”

Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has stated its intention to pursue bilateral trade negotiations with countries throughout the global south and is currently in negotiations with South Korea. Canada’s auto industry has rejected the bilateral Korean trade accord, the Canadian Auto Workers Union arguing that the deal would cost an estimated 15,000 manufacturing jobs in Canada. —Stefan Christoff

Eat for Lebanon

Not too long ago, before John Mark Karr and Hugo Chavez’s brimstone speech at the United Nations, Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon was the biggest thing that happened to news broadcasters since Hurricane Katrina. But only a little more than a month after a UN ceasefire ended the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanon registers as a blip on the collective radar, even though the country still needs a large amount of foreign aid to rebuild after its pummelling at the hands of the Israeli air force, says Roula Bitar.

Bitar is organizing a fundraiser for the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Lebanon relief fund for Friday, Sept. 29, at Lordia Restaurant in Laval. “There is so much damage in Lebanon due to the war,” she says. “We don’t want to forget that they still need our help.”

More than 1,000 Lebanese, most civilians, and 157 Israelis died in the fighting.

The fundraiser will feature Massari, a Lebanese-Canadian singer, and DJ Psychology, as well as other acts by tableh and reggae groups.

Tickets are selling for $35; you can buy them from Lordia (3883 Boul. Pérron, corner Curé-Labelle in Laval) or from Andalos Bakery (266 LeBeau in Ville St-Laurent). For more info, call 813-9388. —Samer Elatrash

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

XX YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

On the cover: Les VRP, a French group in town for Les Francofolies. Says VRP washtub bassist Neiry, “We sing about ordinary situations everyone can relate to. For instance, when we were in Montreal three years ago, we wrote a song called ‘Tabernacle.’”

• Gazette political reporter Hubert Bauch writes a letter to the editor. An Aug. 20 Mirror article about former Equality Party member Richard Holden, who’d recently bolted to the PQ, quotes Bauch’s wife, Holden’s former assistant, saying Holden was “easier to work with when he was drunk.” The Mirror noted Bauch had recently written an analysis on the Equality Party for the Gaz and suggested there was a conflict of interest. A clearly angry Bauch calls the article a “scurrilous little item” and a “cheap shot.”

•About 20 white supremacists demonstrate outside an East-End anti-racism rally.

• Russell Means, co-founder of the American Indian Movement and co-star of Last of the Mohicans, says “While Dances With Wolves was insidiously racist, [Canadian-made] Black Robe was blatantly racist.”

Angel >> GRIS-Montréal’s new anti-homophobia campaign The Groupe de recherche et d’intervention sociale gaies et lesbiennes (GRIS-Montréal) launched a sensitivity campaign this week to teach high school students about homophobia and its dangers. Recognising that not all teenagers are open-minded, kind and accepting, GRIS says that bullying—physical, social and psychological—of kids grappling with their sexuality can lead to depression and even suicide. The campaign called “L’Homophobie, pas dans ma cour” (“No homophobia in my schoolyard”) will include posters and cards as well as inviting gay and lesbian volunteers into the classroom.
Insect >> Knife-wielding Conservatives Sitting on a fat $13.2-billion budget surplus, the Harper Conservative government’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is wasting no time in bringing down the axe on several sensible Liberal policies in the name of “trimming the fat.” Medical marijuana research will have all of its $4-million funding cut, and the Court Challenges Programme—which helped gays and lesbians win the right to marry—will lose its $5.6-million, while adult literacy and youth employment programs, the Status of Women department, museum assistance grants and the Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative will all have their funding cut. The Tories claim the move, coupled with unspecified tighter management practices, will save $2-billion over two years