Quote of the week:

"I don't have time to smoke pot during this damn election." - Clear-eyed Marijuana Party chief Boris St-Maurice, on the high level of activity at their new campaign HQ, in Tuesday's Globe. The party's campaign slogan - "Let's Roll" - was unveiled this week.

Cheap eats in peril

Until 1991, Montreal's less well-off and assorted savvy cheapskates would seek restaurants offering the $3.25 specials, as meals that price or less remained tax-free in Quebec. But those specials disappeared after a provincial budget obliterated the exemption. Meanwhile, in Ontario, threadbare restaurants' customers maintained a privileged status. And they still do: last week the Ontario government - daunted by the flak of poverty advocates - backed off plans to scrap the provincial sales tax exemption on meals under four bucks. Some might consider this a good time to revive the tax exemption for cheap meals in Quebec, as Hans Brouillette of the Quebec Restaurant Association concedes that it's mainly fast-food outlets that are propelling Quebec's recent restaurant revenue freefall.

"Fast food - we call them limited service restaurants - had zero growth in 2003. Restaurants that have table services are doing a little better," he says. Overall, bankruptcies among Quebec restaurants were up 18 per cent last year and the 2.7 per cent industry growth lagged behind the 3.5 per cent inflation rate. "Quebec's restaurants are doing a lot less well than the rest of Canada," he says.

And predictions of continued lower tourism dollars could also hurt, as an estimated 20 per cent of restaurant revenues come from wandering sightseers. Brouillette says his organization isn't officially demanding a rollback in taxes for cheap meals, as such a policy might seem prejudicial against his more posh member-restaurants, but he concedes that such an exemption for less well-heeled restaurant patrons "would surely help raise consumption." » Kristian Gravenor

Positive party

Meeting new people can be a difficult process for people who are HIV-positive. Not that their sero-status makes an otherwise outgoing person inherently more shy, but because they often find themselves shunned and lonely. But if a room full of people who aren't prejudiced one way or another about the virus get together, it could be a good party. That's what AIDS Community Care Montreal (ACCM) organizers are hoping will happen at their Positive Mingling night this Sunday, June 6. The idea is to gather people who are either HIV-positive or HIV-friendly into a common space to have fun without the awkward moments of disclosure.

"We want people to mix and mingle and not have that conversation that starts with, ‘There's something I have to tell you,'" says Robin Raichle, ACCM's drop-in resource director. "It's going to be a status-friendly zone - if you're HIV-positive or negative, it doesn't matter as long as you're okay with it."

Raichle says the event, the fourth of its kind, is open to all: age, language, gender and sexual orientation are immaterial. "Because gay males are disproportionately affected, the first ones were mostly attended by them," she says. But as the events grew in popularity, and as other HIV resources learned about them, the crowds became increasingly diverse. The last event drew between 30 and 40 straight people, out of a crowd of about 150.

The ACCM's Positive Mingling takes place on Sunday, June 6, at The Tube (1592 Ste-Catherine E.) from 7 p.m. till 11 p.m. Cost is $2. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Lights on over Fletcher's Field

The City of Montreal has declared open season on the 45-year-old lighting system standing guard over the tennis courts in Jeanne-Mance Park. Until June 10, companies will be bidding for the pleasure of replacing the lights and removing the thick black cords which run from tree to tree with a more modern and safer feeding system. According to Plateau councillor Helen Fotopulos, the lights are a source of complaints and petitions every year.

"They suck up a tremendous amount of energy," says Fotopulos. "And they don't work. People are playing in the dark, and we're constantly sending repair crews over there." The current lighting system has been in place since 1959.

The bulbs last about six weeks before they need to be replaced, and consume 108 kilowatts of electricity. The new lighting system will consist of halogen lights, which can last almost year and a half, and consume about half the energy. Fotopulos says her next project is to renovate the park's crumbling soccer field - that is, when the city resolves its sue-counter-sue difficulties with the company that built it.

In the meantime, tennis fans can look forward to another summer of evenings in the dark, as renovations won't begin until the current season has ended. » Noemi Lopinto

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

12 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
June 4 - June 11, 1992

On the cover: A field superimposed by a Sûreté du Québec logo as the Mirror investigates allegations of an SQ cover-up regarding Corporal Marcel Lemay's death during the Oka crisis. Alex Roslin writes that the SQ was involved in the illegal cigarette trade and waged a campaign of intimidation, harassment, arms dealing and general thuggery against the Mohawks.

• "There's a growing repulsion of against slick, contrived, choreographed bullshit," says Jim Rose, master of ceremonies at the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, explaining the growing popularity of his strange act.

• "The French were in Indochina for nearly a century, so to make such a film, you have to go there. When [Vietnam] opened up, we quickly rushed in," says French director Régis Wargnier, who shot Indochine on location.

• "We thought it would be a brilliant, wild gig in Seattle, but it was one of the worst audiences we've ever had," says Senseless Things vocalist Marks Keds, remembering the crowd as "smug" and "all sewn up in their own scene."

Angel >> Montreal's bike-friendly initiatives There's still a lot of work to be done to make this city a really great one for cyclists (say, a cross-town bike path), but a couple of measures were announced recently to get more cyclists downtown. First, there will be 500 new parking spaces for bikes. Second, downtowners will be able to take advantage of a free bike-borrowing service (as long as they provide proper ID and proof of employment). The city has also commissioned a $450,000 study to examine the city core's bike access. Although drivers may be annoyed at more bikes in the street - especially during this weekend's Tour de l'Île - only two per cent of the nearly 600,000 daily trips into downtown are by bike.
Insect >> Polls Election time is high polling season, and we're going to see plenty of those pseudo-scientific results thrown around that mysteriously claim to be accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Their methodology, however, can be suspect: the facts can be toyed with and leading questions can be asked, resulting in dubious apparent support for the poll commissioner's political agenda. Witness the National Post's above-the-fold headline on Tuesday: "CANADIANS WANT 2-TIER HEALTH: POLL." The poll was commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute, a right-wing think tank based here. The lesson: beware of ideologues waving numbers.