Quirck
Well-known member
MONTREAL - It's been a bad news week for Quebec.
News organizations around the world reported on the province -- but the headlines were surely not welcomed by Quebec politicians.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/02/20130224-080619.html
Overzealous language officers, brutal police, anti-corruption raids at Montreal City Hall and a defiant witness who made a mockery of the corruption inquiry shone Quebec in an embarrassing light.
First: The Sopranos of Montreal.
Nicolo Milioto, a Sicilian-born ex-businessman who was videotaped giving wads of cash to mob patriarch Nick Rizzuto Sr., told the province's corruption inquiry on Tuesday that he didn't know what the Mafia was.
"What's the Mafia?" he asked. "I can't explain it to you, I don't know that.... Is it someone who kills?
Is it someone who steals? Is it someone who sells drugs? I don't know."
The New York Times wrote that Milioto's testimony was "supremely Sopranoesque."
Also on Tuesday, the province's anti-corruption squad raided Montreal City Hall.
The BBC reported that Tuesday's raids were due to "police seeking evidence of fraud and breach of trust." QMI learned that police sought documents relating to the former political party of Mayor Michael Applebaum.
Third: Separating the French wheat from the Italian chaff.
Quebec's language office admitted on Thursday that it showed "an excess of zeal" when it complained that a Montreal restaurant had too many Italian words - like "pasta" - and not enough French, on the menu.
Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper wrote that the issue of whether or not the restaurant's menu has "too much Italian ... is more serious than we imagine."
The Times in England ran a headline that read "French zealots just don't fancy Italian."
A day later, American broadcaster CNN reportedly aired surveillance footage of police officers in Trois-Rivieres, Que,. mercilessly beating a 19-year-old who had surrendered moments earlier. Alexis Vadeboncoeur was accused of robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint. The four officers caught on film were suspended with pay while provincial police investigate.
The 19-year-old told QMI Agency he was repeatedly kicked in the testicles and added that he wasn't receiving adequate medical attention.
Quebecers, particularly over the past several months, have gotten used to receiving international attention. The student strike last spring coupled with the grisly murder of a Chinese university student kept Montreal in the international news for weeks.
And the city will likely be back in the spotlight soon, as a major student protest is scheduled for Tuesday, and the preliminary
proceedings for Luka Magnotta, the man accused of murdering the Chinese student, begin in March.
News organizations around the world reported on the province -- but the headlines were surely not welcomed by Quebec politicians.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/02/20130224-080619.html
Overzealous language officers, brutal police, anti-corruption raids at Montreal City Hall and a defiant witness who made a mockery of the corruption inquiry shone Quebec in an embarrassing light.
First: The Sopranos of Montreal.
Nicolo Milioto, a Sicilian-born ex-businessman who was videotaped giving wads of cash to mob patriarch Nick Rizzuto Sr., told the province's corruption inquiry on Tuesday that he didn't know what the Mafia was.
"What's the Mafia?" he asked. "I can't explain it to you, I don't know that.... Is it someone who kills?
Is it someone who steals? Is it someone who sells drugs? I don't know."
The New York Times wrote that Milioto's testimony was "supremely Sopranoesque."
Also on Tuesday, the province's anti-corruption squad raided Montreal City Hall.
The BBC reported that Tuesday's raids were due to "police seeking evidence of fraud and breach of trust." QMI learned that police sought documents relating to the former political party of Mayor Michael Applebaum.
Third: Separating the French wheat from the Italian chaff.
Quebec's language office admitted on Thursday that it showed "an excess of zeal" when it complained that a Montreal restaurant had too many Italian words - like "pasta" - and not enough French, on the menu.
Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper wrote that the issue of whether or not the restaurant's menu has "too much Italian ... is more serious than we imagine."
The Times in England ran a headline that read "French zealots just don't fancy Italian."
A day later, American broadcaster CNN reportedly aired surveillance footage of police officers in Trois-Rivieres, Que,. mercilessly beating a 19-year-old who had surrendered moments earlier. Alexis Vadeboncoeur was accused of robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint. The four officers caught on film were suspended with pay while provincial police investigate.
The 19-year-old told QMI Agency he was repeatedly kicked in the testicles and added that he wasn't receiving adequate medical attention.
Quebecers, particularly over the past several months, have gotten used to receiving international attention. The student strike last spring coupled with the grisly murder of a Chinese university student kept Montreal in the international news for weeks.
And the city will likely be back in the spotlight soon, as a major student protest is scheduled for Tuesday, and the preliminary
proceedings for Luka Magnotta, the man accused of murdering the Chinese student, begin in March.
