Adam Gabbatt | Montreal | May 24

The Guardian - More than 500 people were arrested in Montreal on Wednesday night as protestors defied controversial new law Bill 78

Protests that began in opposition to tuition fees in Canada have exploded into a political crisis with the mass arrest of hundreds of demonstrators amid a backlash against draconian emergency laws.

More than 500 people were arrested in a demonstration in Montreal on Wednesday night as protesters defied a controversial new law – Bill 78 – that places restrictions on the right to demonstrate. In Quebec City, police arrested 176 people under the provisions of the new law.

Demonstrators have been gathering in Montreal for just over 100 days to oppose tuition increases by the Quebec provincial government. On Tuesday, about 100 people were arrested after organisers say 300,000 people took the streets.

Montreal | May 22

CBC - More than 100 people were arrested at the end of a long day of protests in Montreal that saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets over several hours to mark the 100th day of a student movement against tuition hikes.

Carrying signs, chanting slogans and wearing the student movement's red felt square, most protesters followed a pre-approved route submitted to police, as required by Quebec's new protest law. But encouraged by the more hardline CLASSE student group, a minority of protesters broke off from the main crowd in a symbolic defiance of Bill 78.

CBC | April 20

CBC - Protesters clashed with riot police at Montreal's Palais des congrès for a second day as a job symposium for Quebec's northern plan was held inside under guard.

Dozens of members of the Réseau de résistance du Québecois joined aboriginal groups and students for the planned protest.

They faced off with riot squads in full armour stationed around the downtown conference centre.

Police arrested 90 people after declaring the protest illegal midday.

Québec City, QC | March 22

The Canadian Press - A landmark report in Quebec recommends that doctors be allowed to help terminally ill patients die, in exceptional circumstances, if they want to.

The report was released Thursday in the Quebec legislature, after two years of work from the so-called Dying With Dignity Committee, a multi-partisan group of nine MNAs.

The argument for allowing euthanasia – even in some exceptional cases – could trigger a national debate again in Canada on the controversial issue.

Ingrid Peritz | Montreal | December 22

The Globe And Mail - Across Montreal daycares this season, three-year-old children have listened to stories about the Nativity, sung Hanukkah songs and played games for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. If the activities were used for teaching religion, this year could be their last.

Quebec, which has grappled with efforts to limit the place of religion in its public institutions, has decided to bring secularization to the tot-and-toddler set. Starting in June, publicly funded daycares that teach a particular faith to their young charges risk losing their government funding.

“All questions touching the transmission of faith – that is, teaching religion itself – do not belong within the publicly funded daycare system,” Quebec Family Minister Yolande James said in an interview on Tuesday.

Lesleyt Chesterman | Montreal | September 1

The Gazette - A Montreal perspective on school lunches:
"Then there are the restrictions. At my kids' school not only is peanut butter banned, but anything else that falls in the "mal-bouffe" (junk food) category. I'm fine with the stigma on candy, chips and soft drinks, but now chocolate has been added to that list, which explains why my oatmeal Valrhona chip cookies were sent back with a chastising note."

Montréal, Québec | November 19

CBC - China's terracotta warriors are coming to Montreal in 2011.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal will receive rare visit of 14 of the warriors — life-sized replicas of soldiers of the Qin dynasty — it announced on Thursday.

Susan Bourette | Oct 28

CSM - Toronto - The French would have two words for it: Très ironique.

Québec's francophones have long been ridiculed by the Parisian French – the scholars, elites, and aesthetes from the ancestral homeland. They have deemed the Québecois accent an "abomination" of what they consider the most beautiful language.

They shouldn't sneer.

The Québeckers' much-maligned accent can be traced back to the 17th-century court of Louis XIV. At least that's the argument put forth by a prominent Québec scholar, Laval University's Jean-Denis Gendron, a retired linguist. "The Québecois accent is one from the noblesse of the time, it is a relaxed, natural accent,'' Professor Gendron, explains in the most recent issue of the journal, Québec Sciences. "It's only much later that our accent came to be viewed as an abomination."

August 24

CBC - Quebec provincial police are standing behind three officers who went undercover during protests at the recent Montebello summit, saying the men weren't there to provoke demonstrators.

"At no time did the officers in question engage in provocation or incite anyone to commit violent acts," Insp. Marcel Savard told a news conference in Montreal on Friday.

The police admitted Thursday afternoon that three masked men caught on video Monday afternoon pushing toward a line of riot police, despite protesters' efforts to stop them, were the force's officers.

Montreal | August 24

CBC - Emergency crews shut down a busy section of Montreal's downtown core on Friday, including part of the metro system, after the discovery of a large crack in the ceiling of an underground tunnel connecting malls to the subway system.

Engineers were closely inspecting the gaping crack and had closed one block because of fears that a major street above could collapse unless it was reinforced.

Bill Curry | Ottawa | August 13

The Globe and Mail - A giant swath of mineral-rich land covering one-third of Quebec is on track to become a self-governing region for the province's 10,000 Inuit.

To be called the Regional Government of Nunavik, it will have its own elected assembly representing Quebec's 14 remote Inuit communities and a public service responsible for services normally delivered by provinces, such as education and health.

June 29
Mike Carroccetto

Canada is known as a level-headed country, but there is one feature of our national story that is so loopy that even outsiders will on occasion remark on it, if only to ask if it's really true.

We're talking about the absurd practice in Quebec of government officials appearing at the doors of private businesses and denouncing the owners for not showing sufficient respect for the French language.

Well, it's true -- Quebec does engage in this kind of harassment. And recently, the language inspectors were in the national capital region. Staff at a Gatineau eatery named Le French Quarter have the battle scars to prove it.

March 25

CBC - Quebec faces the real possibility of a minority government for the first time in more than a century, as the province's main political parties remain locked in a virtual tie with voters heading to the polls on Monday.

Liberal Leader Jean Charest has warned voters a minority government will weaken Quebec's bargaining power with the federal government.

Update: March 27:
canada.com - PQ Leader Andre Boisclair said he's staying on as party leader

Update: March 26:
IHT - Liberal Party wins minority governing mandate in Quebec; conservatives gain ground.

Randall Palmer | Ottawa | February 19

Reuters - The question of whether Canada will remain one country will hang in the balance again as the mainly French-speaking province of Quebec heads into an election campaign this week.

The campaign will be partly about health, jobs and taxes, but underlying it all will be the perennial tussle between the separatists, who promise an independence referendum if they are elected, and the federalists who want a united Canada.

"The Parti Quebecois means wishful thinking. It means a return to division by another referendum, as quickly as possible," Quebec's federalist Premier Jean Charest told about 2,500 fellow Liberals in a pre-campaign weekend speech. "In brief, the PQ represents a step backwards."

Charest has summoned the Quebec National Assembly for an emergency session on Tuesday to hear his preelection budget. The next day, he is expected to dissolve the assembly and launch a campaign for an election on March 26.   ( image: campnet.net )

Rhéal Séguin | Quebec | May 6

Globe and Mail - Quebec may not be a nation in the eyes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but the province's "specificity" and "unique personality" give it the right to a formal voice at the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Yesterday, Mr. Harper and Premier Jean Charest signed an agreement that will give Quebec official representation in the Canadian delegation at UNESCO.

Quebec will be the only province with a "formal" voice at the UN body... Mr. Harper insisted his government deals equally with all provinces. "Federalism of openness does not mean playing favourites or stirring up jealousies, but it does mean that the time has come to forge a new relationship with the provinces," Mr. Harper said.

The agreement symbolized the harmonious relationship Mr. Harper and Mr. Charest have developed since the Conservatives took office last February in an attempt to isolate the separatists with what Mr. Harper has called his "open federalism."

Gloria Galloway | Ottawa | April 5

Globe and Mail - The federal Conservatives acknowledged the priorities of other political parties but signalled a strong directional shift from the previous Liberal government in a Throne Speech yesterday that referred to the United States as "our best friend and largest trading partner."

The address that Governor-General Michaëlle Jean delivered in the Senate contained few surprises. The government of Stephen Harper focused on its established priorities of accountability, safe streets, reduced waiting times for medical treatment and a tax cut.

In contrast to the occasionally antagonistic relationship between the previous Liberal government and the U.S. administration, yesterday's Throne Speech promised to build stronger bilateral and multilateral ties "starting with the United States, our best friend and largest trading partner."

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Rhéal Séegun | Quebec City | Nov 19

The Globe and Mail - With the classic rhetoric of a young, aggressive politician, newly elected Parti Québécois Leader André Boisclair says he will seek a clear mandate to hold a referendum on sovereignty in the next provincial election.

Meanwhile, last week in Montreal, Prime Minister Paul Martin delivered a rare speech almost entirely devoted to national unity.
By portraying the coming federal election in Quebec as a choice between sovereignty and federalism, Martin is hoping to convince Liberal voters who sat out the 2004 vote in Quebec to support him against the Bloc Qu�b�cois this time around.

Update Nov 20:

Canadian Press - Prime Minister Paul Martin vowed Sunday to fight any attempts by Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair to take Quebec out of Canada in violation of the Clarity Act.

CTV.ca - In an interview to be aired Sunday, PQ leader Andre Boisclair says independence is up to Quebecers only and he sees no reason to submit to the federal Clarity Act.

Susan Delacourt | Ottawa | Oct 26

New poll reveals strong attachment to federal ideals.
Surprising finding as anniversary of referendum nears

The Toronto Star - You can take Quebecers out of Canada, perhaps, but it's much tougher to separate them from fundamental Canadian values and identity, a new poll reveals.

About two-thirds of Quebecers reported a significant attachment to Canada's international stature, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and federally financed social programs in a sweeping, major poll carried out for the Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC.)

It's an optimistic, even surprising finding for federalism, landing just as the country is set to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum and as a looming report on the federal Liberal sponsorship scandal is threatening to whip up more separatist sentiment in the province.

JPD's take after the jump

Brian Laghi | October 22

The Globe and Mail - Quebeckers are just as divided over independence as they were a decade ago, although they would comfortably vote to stay in Canada if the question were put to them clearly and directly, a new poll indicates.

May 27 | Quebec

AP - Quebec on Thursday rejected the use of Islamic tribunals to settle family disputes, with one legislator saying that Sharia law could isolate the Muslim community in the French-speaking province.

Quebec rejects introduction of Sharia law into legal system in the province
Quebec |  May 26

940 news - While Ontario considers a move to allow Islamic law to help settle some family disputes, Quebec sent a clear message Thursday it will not permit Muslim tribunals.

Quebec lawmakers from all parties voted unanimously in the legislature to reject the use of Islamic tribunals in the legal system. The vote was a pre-emptive strike to stop a growing movement among some Muslims to have the religion to play a role in family law.

Doug Struck |  Jonquiere | April 14

WaPo - The baby buggies are all gone. In electronics, only "Le Gros Albert" and a few other leftover DVDs remain. A few pairs of pink boots are left in the shoe department. Over in household goods, red and yellow liquidation tags dangle beside thin skillets as Wal-Mart prepares to close.

The retailing behemoth, whose $10 billion annual profits are based on low prices, low expenses and its relentless pace of store openings, announced it will shut the doors here May 6 after workers voted to make this the first unionized Wal-Mart in North America.

Bouchard J. & J Plamondon  | Montreal | March 26

Le Devoir - Wednesday, the student population will underline a sad anniversary. This fateful date that is March 30, 2004 marks the implementation of a clear message: Superior education cannot be accessible to every layer of society. However, is this message the one of the multiple social consensuses present in Quebec or the one of a government clearly in margin of what is the Quebecoise society since the last 40 years? We believe that to ask the question is to answer it.

The authors are prsident and vice-president of the federation of CEGEP students of Quebec ,a federation of pre-university college students

Montreal | February 25

CBC News - The Quebec Labour Relations Board has ordered Wal-Mart Canada to stop intimidating workers who want to form a union.

The board's ruling cited efforts to "harass and intimidate" three employees at a Sainte-Foy store outside Quebec City.

A union representative said this was the second time Wal-Mart "has been reprimanded for trying to intimidate workers in Quebec".

Isabelle Rodrigue | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | November 25

CBC - Premier Jean Charest, in Africa to attend La Francophonie summit, used a TV interview to help give an international voice to Quebec by commenting on the re-election of George W. Bush.

Tracey Madigan | Quebec city | november 24

CBC -  An apartment building was evacuated in Quebec City early Wednesday morning after police were led to bomb making material in one of the units.

Just after midnight, a man walked into a local police station in the Charlesbourg borough carrying explosives and threatening to blow himself up.