Quote of the week:

"We presume they went back home the way they came." - Constable Robert Mansueto, referring to six snowmobilers who made it to Crescent Street from the South Shore early Monday morning, in Tuesday's Gazette. One snowmobiler, smelling of alcohol, was arrested.

Unfair bus fares

Yves Bellavance, spokesman for the Table régionale des organismes volontaires d'éducation populaire (TROVEP), knows that he has a long fight ahead of him. The demonstration that he took part in last Monday, Dec. 15, in front of city hall protesting the newest transit fare hike won't lower the cost of metro passes, but at least it will send a signal to the administrations in Montreal and Quebec City that the 70 community groups that make up the organization aren't going to stop pestering both of them about it.

"I'm not naïve," he says. "But I hope this makes the politicians think, and yes, we will be back in the new year after the [Jan. 1] fare hike. The problem is far from over."

Indeed not. 2003 will be remembered by some as the year of the fare hike, when public transit users were hit with three in 12 months, raising the cost of a pass by 18 per cent. That, he says, is three too many, and will in the end prove counter-productive anyway.

"The STM [Société de transport de Montréal] can't get any more money from users," he says. "We know that public transit use declines with fare hikes - they're eating their own tails. This isn't a solution, unless they want the service eventually privatized."

Bellavance says his organization is going to go after the Charest government and urge it to invest more in public transit in the new year. "But we know it won't be an easy target," he says.

» Patrick Lejtenyi

Bed cuts no biggie

Getting sick over the holidays sucks any way you look at it, but in Quebec it can be downright life-threatening. According to the Régie régionale de la santé de Montréal-Centre, local hospitals will be closing 627 beds over the holidays. And that's actually an improvement, being 3.5 per cent less than the year before. The services will be reduced for the period between mid-December to mid-January because of staff holidays.

The move may seem counter-intuitive, seeing as how more people get sick in winter and travel conditions - both wheeled and foot - deteriorate, but for some people, it won't make much of a difference either way. For the people running the Old Brewery Mission, they've seen it all before.

"I haven't heard about this, but it won't make much of a difference to us," says André Charbonneau, the Mission's media rep. "Hospital beds don't only close around Christmas, they close all year long. When the Louis-Hyppolite Lafontaine Hospital closed down some of their beds, all those people were coming here. We had line-ups outside. And people were coming from other places as well."

Charbonneau doesn't think that Christmas has much to do with increasing the number of people dropping by the Mission, although the cold weather does. "Of course there are more people when it's colder," he says, "but I don't think there's an influx over Christmas. The situation's been the same for 10 years when we had 150 beds, and it will probably be the same 10 years from now, when we might have 500."

» Patrick Lejtenyi

Recycle your cycle

Quebecers buy 625,000 bikes a year - some of which will surely be rolled under piney Christmas tree branches soon enough. This, however, means that a comparable number of their rusty predecessors get tossed into landfills. It's tragic considering that many in the developing world would be popping joyous wheelies if given the chance to getting their butt on your banana seat.

"Over there bikes aren't just for biking around, they're used for heavy duty work, moving water, firewood and transporting food for families. Farmers sometimes walk two hours a day to get to work, with a bike they could do that in one-fifth the time," says Claire Morissette, coordinator for Cyclo Nord-Sud. The group managed to send 3,000 bikes to Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa and Mexico this year, and wants to increase their numbers at least by 1,000 in 2004.

Citizens of those countries aren't able to afford their own bicycles. "They're out of reach price-wise and there are no second-hand bicycles for sale because people hold on to them until they fall apart," Morissette says.

Donors are asked to pony up $10 and their old wheels in return for a tax receipt based on the evaluation of the value of their bicycle. Warm-hearted cyclists can drop off their bygone bikes at 7235 St-Urbain (corner Jean-Talon) Wednesdays to Fridays between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - although they're closed after Dec. 19 until January 7. Call 843-0077 for info.

» Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

14 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Dec. 14-21, 1987-Jan. 7, 1989

On the cover: Three classical composer busts - with one wearing sunglasses and a foulard - amid a scattering of records, for the Mirror's Music Annual 1989. Best Montreal album: Doughboys' Home Again, Voivod's Nothingface, Ripcordz's Ripcordz Are God. Best International Show: Big Daddy Kane at James Lyng, Violent Femmes at Théâtre Outremont, Metallica at the Forum.

• The table of contents photo shows a group of people holding candles during a memorial vigil at the Université de Montréal. In a commentary, Paula Sypnowich writes: "Almost every aspect of popular culture encourages [violence against women]… The ‘excitement' of caged women in heavy metal music videos, the ‘humour' of humiliating women in most all comedy, or the ‘thrill' of watching another woman hunted down in horror flicks is as normal as it is sick."

• Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V is reviewed, glowingly. "He not only does great justice to the original material, but turns it into a truly modern film."

Angel >> Dora Wasserman It may sound like a cliché, but it is true: Dora Wasserman, who died early this week at 84, was a Montreal institution. Awarded both the Order of Canada and the Order of Quebec, she founded Canada's only Yiddish-language theatre company, which now bears her name - widely regarded as the best in the world. Her commitment to the stage was legendary, and Wasserman leaves behind a tremendous cultural legacy both in the ongoing work of her theatre troupe and the thousands of students she taught and mentored. Koved ihr andenk, Dora - that's Yiddish for in honour and tribute.
Insect >> Hydro-Québec Well, the local energy monopoly got its way, at our expense. As of January 1, hydro rates will increase across the board. The three per cent hike translates into an increase of $2.75 to $4 per customer per month. Not a huge hike, granted, but Hydro is eyeing another 2.9 per cent rate increase in April. Consumer groups are justifiably angry, pointing out that the utility makes $2-billion a year already. Hydro suits, meanwhile, say a three per cent increase doesn't constitute "tariff shock," but casually ignore how shocking another hike might be four short months later.