Q-92 ballot stuffing?

As a media consultant for an advertising agency in the Montreal area, part of what I'm supposed to be good at is advising buyers on who their audience is. Based on the info culled from your Best of Montreal results, it seems the dominant Mirror reader falls into the following description: he/she hangs out at Bifteck, appreciates all the great work Pops is doing for our street kids, has--or at least hopes to have--sex on Mount Royal, has a thing for David Usher and Moist, can't get enough of godspeed you black emperor! and, when not able to hear the cutting edge new music on Brave New Waves, opts for the safety of lite rock.

Do you see where that falls apart? From what I know of the demographics of Q-92, I'd be surprised if most of their listeners have ever even heard of the Mirror. This works the other way as well. I can't imagine that the majority of your readers--the same people whose top eight bands, and indeed even those only worthy of the honourable mention list, will never be heard on the radio station in question--are waking up early after a night on the Main to listen to the tired and lame attempts at humour perpetrated by Aaron Rand and Tasso.

I know you try to dump the ballot-stuffers, but it's more than obvious some have slipped through. The idea of placing number one on any sort of popularity test, be it the BBM ratings or BOM rating, is something any radio station would be more than happy to use to sell ad time. As a buyer of that ad time, I know when not to believe the pitch.

-- Steve Owl
[Ed's note: We repeat, ballot stuffers were weeded out!]

Purple Rose pink?

As the chairperson of PINAY, an organization representing Filipino women in Quebec, I am always pleased when local newspapers like yours decide to write about our situation, particularly the issue of the trafficking of women and children from the Philippines [Brides by mail, May 4].

The article by John Edmonds reveals the difficult situation faced by mail-order brides coming to Canada, and the role of the Philippine government in profiting from this trade in people. But the article also contains some important inaccuracies.

Our group, PINAY, is an organization made up mostly of domestic workers, many of whom have come to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program. Because of the injustices in this program, many do not have landed immigrant status. PINAY's primary objective is to advocate for the rights and welfare of these women, and of Filipino migrants and immigrants in general. As a matter of principle and practical choice, we support the people's movement for social and political change in the Philippines, for without structural changes in Philippine society, the systemic violence and policies that force our women to migrate around the world will remain.

Membership in PINAY is open to women of any political persuasion who agree with its purpose and objectives. This includes some women like myself who believe in the need for socialism. However, by depicting our group as "Communist," you are not only inaccurate, but perhaps putting some of our members in danger. You are also misrepresenting the Purple Rose Campaign.

This campaign, launched by Gabriela, the women's network in the Philippines, shows that mail-order brides, entertainers and domestic workers leaving the Philippines are not doing so simply as a result of personal choice. They are part of a vast phenomenon of trafficking in people. This trafficking is not conducted mainly by organized crime, but takes the form of official government policies like the Philippine government's Labour Export Policy and the Canadian government's Live-in Caregiver Program. Our campaign aims to expose these programs for what they are, and to raise awareness about the need to put a stop to such policies.

-- Cynthia Palmaria, Chairperson, PINAY
[John Edmonds replies: What I wrote was that PINAY "supports the struggle of the Communist Party of the Philippines and has reading groups which study the works of Mao and other socialist writers." This was told to me by Cynthia Palmaria.]

Correction

In the credits for the cover photo shoot for the BOM issue [May 11], we neglected to thank Lafleur's Restaurant (3620 St-Denis) for their cooperation and free food.