Quote of the week

“I find that disturbing. It’s not reassuring for health care in Quebec.” —Claudelle Cyr, a spokesperson for Coalition Santé Solidaire, on former provincial Health Minister Philippe Couillard joining Persistence Capital Partners, a private equity fund that invests in health care companies.

Slavery remembered

This Saturday, Aug. 23, marks the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, and, despite the clunky name, black leaders in Montreal pay it special attention. With tensions still simmering over the recent riots in Montreal North following the police shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva, the day, says the Black Coalition of Quebec’s president Dan Philip, “serves to remind us of the past and to be aware of how insidious we find racism and racial profiling in society. To understand slavery is to understand racism in society.”

One of the modern manifestations of racism, he says, is racial profiling by the city’s police—something the chief of the force strongly denies is widespread. Still, says Philip, “We’ve seen no good will as far as this is concerned.”

Nevertheless, to keep the day focused, Philip says, on being “joyous, and looking forward to the future,” a concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. that evening at 419 St-Roch in Park Ex. There will be, according to Philip, live music and hip hop, performances by actors, including a sketch about one of the first slaves in Quebec, and an homage to the late great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Tix are $25 at the door.

Bridges of dreams

The Champlain bridge, it seems, is never in good condition, and many a frustrated commuter, sitting in a car somewhere on the Bonaventure or Highway 10, must have dreamed of its destruction. So when the federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced a plan to build another bridge nearby and reduce the existing structure to rubble, and include a light rail transit system on the icebreaker bridge, it was the stuff of dreams.

And many people are seeing it as just that. There’s byelection in St-Lambert soon, and promising an easier commute might help the Conservatives’ chances. The Liberals and Bloc have already trashed the plan, calling it bald electioneering. And Projet Montréal’s Richard Bergeron, a former transport wonk with the Agence métropolitaine de transport, says it’s the same old, same old. “It wouldn’t be for 10 or 15 years,” he says, dismissing the project. “It’s the same project they announced 15 years ago.”

Any new project, he says, should keep the bridge’s capacity at the present level, but include a tramway like the one planned for the Peel-to-Old-Montreal route. “It doesn’t make sense to turn Montreal into a showcase for all the different transport technologies in the world.”

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Tunes to cure

Even though it’s afflicted zillions of famous people over the years, from Mao to Muhammad Ali to Michael J. Fox, most people still don’t really know much about Parkinson’s disease. Which is fair enough. After all, why would you, unless you or somebody you cared about contracted the illness?

Canadian Olympic figure skating sensation Craig Buntin came to know Parkinson’s the hard way, shortly after his mother came home from her doctor’s office with the discouraging prognosis. “I’m fortunate,” says Buntin, “because as an Olympic athlete I’m sometimes featured in the media, so when I can bring attention to Parkinson’s, well, that’s what I do.” To this end, Buntin is involved with a group called Musicians Against Parkinson’s (MAP), who have organized a benefit concert at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent) on Saturday, Aug. 23, to raise both awareness of the disease and money towards an eventual cure. Featured acts will be Monday Rose, Polar Eyes, the Hot Streak, la Confrérie and the New Cities.

“This is our first big show,” says Buntin. “We’re really trying to make people aware of this disease. Basically, all most people know about Parkinson’s is that it makes you shake.”

Tickets are $12 plus tax. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more info go to mapmusic.org.

by Chris Barry

Sweat, strut for hospitals

Suffering from Olympian envy? Feel like you need to upgrade the wardrobe? Want to spend some of your hard-earned cash on a good cause? If your answer to any of these three questions is yes, this is your lucky week.

This weekend, Saturday, Aug. 23 and Sunday, Aug. 24, the fourth annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer (WEBC) Walk in Montreal will see thousands of women and men take to the streets to walk 30 kilometres a day to raise money for the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General. Past Segal achievements include hiring well-respected oncologist Dr. Marc Tischkowitz, building and equipping the hospital’s two WEBC Laboratories and funding all kinds of research. To learn more, visit www.endcancer.ca.

If sneakers and sweats aren’t your thing, you might want to use Friday night to help the Montreal Children’s Hospital, take a gander at some hot new threads and try your luck at scoring a date with a real live model. The goods include, for men, Diesel, G-Star Raw, Golden Rocks Couture, Affliction and Jack Jones, and, for the ladies, Diesel, Fornarina and Miss Sixty. The event takes place at Time Supper Club (977 St-Jacques) at 10 p.m. Suggested donation $10, call or text 514-806-4724 or 514-585-1866 for info and tickets.

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Rear-view mirror

11 YEARS AGO - AUG. 21–28, 1997

On the cover: A young Latino holding a map to the stars’ Hollywood homes, from Miguel Arteta’s black comedy Star Maps, appearing at the World Film Fest. “Everybody in this film is longing to be someone else,” he says. “In L.A. that’s the way it is. People here are extremely insecure about themselves but they all want to be in the movies.”
• In an article about veterinary costs, Valerie Goddard of Toronto’s Pet Plan Insurance says, “Financial euthanasia—putting a pet down for financial reasons—is a major cause of pet deaths.”
• Mirror photographer Tshi travels to Graceland for Weep Week—marking the 20th anniversary of Elvis’ death—for a photo essay.
•Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood says, on recording OK Computer, “We work best outside of London, so we thought we would do this album not only outside of London but out of a studio outside of London.”
• As the Expos’s dreams are dashed again, Terry Haig blames “an industry that favours the rich and reduces the poor to cannon fodder.”

Angel >> Ontario ombudsman André Marin Despite assurances to the contrary by Quebec’s Public Security Minister, the SQ and the Montreal police department, using cops from another force to investigate police shootings is a waste of time, Marin said this week. In the wake of the Fredy Villanueva shooting in Montreal North two weekends ago, Marin pointed out that it took the SQ almost a week to interview the cops present when the unarmed 18-year-old was killed. Saying the delay was “bogus,” he believes there is zero chance the investigation will be impartial—echoing the exact sentiments of many ordinary Montrealers.

Insect >> Tony Clement The federal Health Minister has never been a friend of Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection facility for intravenous drug users, but in a speech to the Canadian Medical Association in Montreal on Monday, he slammed its supporters—mainly health professionals with front-line experience, unlike him—calling them immoral and unethical. Smart policy never got in the way of ideology for this particular government, and Clement’s boneheaded chiding betrays a paranoia only the rigid-minded suffer. Nearly 80 per cent of doctors support facilities like Insite, says the CMA’s president, as do forward-thinking countries across the world. But under this regime, Canada won’t be joining them any time soon.