Student media horde invades Montreal

Montreal will be playing host to a couple hundred aspiring ink-stained wretches this weekend, as the Canadian University Press (CUP) hosts its 65th annual national student media conference, which opened last night and runs until Jan. 27. Gathering student journalists from across the country, the conference will feature workshops, seminars and guests speaking on topics ranging from the arty (layouts, redesigns and computer programs) to the nitty-gritty (investigative journalism, newsroom management, surviving as a freelancer). Guest speakers range from the national level, including Robert Rabinovitch, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada and federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, to the local, including Mirror writers Matthew Hays, Amy Barratt and Ken Hechtman.

“The best thing about these conferences is meeting other people who are just as passionate and interested as you are,” says co-organizer Ira Dubinsky, a five-year CUP conference veteran at the unlikely age of 22. “There’s something special about writing at a student newspaper. It’s like it’s the last chance we have to really write whatever the hell we want.”

The conference is open to the public, provided they want to sit with a group of young people facing a future with few job prospects, low incomes, shot nerves and drinking problems. The conference takes place at the Crowne Plaza hotel (505 Sherbrooke E.). For more information, call 773-8007, e-mail conference@cup.ca or visit www.cup.ca/point. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

Market-style
democracy

Shopping at the Jean-Talon Market can be both a fruitful and frustrating experience - just ask anyone who drives there how rarely any of the market’s 250-odd parking spots are available. As a result, a plan to solve the parking woes - one that includes an expansion of the actual market on Henri-Julien and adding over 200 spots in a two-level subterranean garage - was put forward over a year ago, but is now at risk of being scuppered, thanks to residents’ opposition. Such is the level of public outcry against the project that on Jan. 29 the city will be publishing a notice in local papers inviting residents to sign a registry on Feb. 12. While the number is not fixed yet, it’s thought that if around 250 people sign the registry, that will be enough to force the borough of Rosemont-Petite-Patrie to either hold a referendum on the project or scrap it outright.

“The expansion project integrates well with the neighbourhood, and keeps the ambiance of the market. Otherwise we wouldn’t have put it forward,” says Vision Montreal councillor François Purcell. “And we do need more parking, especially during rush hour. But if the people refuse to allow the project, we will of course respect that.”

Due to Byzantine zoning regulations, however, only residents living in certain zones will be allowed to sign the registry. If there is to be a referendum on the issue, it will be the first of its kind in the megacity. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

To the defence of VLTs

In recent years Montrealers have become accustomed to glassy-eyed bar patrons robotically pouring their savings into hypnotic video lottery terminals (VLTs). Eventually, Loto-Québec promised to pull all VLTs from bars which have three or fewer machines and move many into the Blue Bonnets racetrack. But the Frigon Plan, named after Loto-Québec’s CEO whose first name is Gaetan, has hit some resistance. “There are 3,500 bars in Quebec with VLTs. If they take out 3,000 machines from these places, many bars will close and the government will lose the tax money generated on those businesses and machines,” says Peter Sergakis, who leads the Association of Commercial Property and Business Owners of Quebec.

Sergakis, who owns 20 bars and says he represents 2,500 businessmen, says 15,000 jobs will be lost if the Frigon Plan goes through. He says that the newer model of VLTs are slower and less hypnotic, meaning that gamblers will lose less cash in the newfangled gizmos, which Sergakis considers generally benign. “Many of those playing video poker are older people with nothing to do. It’s a pastime for them,” he says.

Opponents of the plan march on Quebec City on Feb. 6, when parliamentary hearings start. Sergakis promises a calm demonstration, unlike the 33 vigorous anti-tax protests he led during the Doré regime, including one in which members knocked down the doors of city hall. (“The door wasn’t knocked down,” says Sergakis about the famous incident. “I think it fell down by itself.”) : » Kristian Gravenor

Angel >> The Detroit Project There might be a few things wrong with this campaign started by the strange U.S. columnist Arianna Huffington, but its basic message - getting Americans to drive more fuel-efficient cars and ditch their SUVs - is a good one. One of their eye-catching ads aired recently asserts that SUV owners fund terrorists: America’s frivolous buying of foreign (read Arab) oil directly funnels greenbacks to the Osama and Co. - thus, otherwise patriotic Americans are responsible for bringing down the Twin Towers. Spurious? Perhaps. But anything that makes the average American (and Canadian) think about the consequences of conspicuous consumption can’t be all bad.
Insect >> The fruitless war on drugs According to a new report published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the war on drugs has cost us millions and done little in the way of stemming the flow of hard drugs into the country. Even after a 100-kilo seizure of heroin in September 2000 in Vancouver, Eastside junkies surveyed for the report said they had no problems finding drugs, the price per hit didn’t go down and there was no drop in overdoses. The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, which conducted the study, suggest too much emphasis is placed on policing and not enough on treatment.