Dear Madame Senator

So, some senator wants to attempt to prove her relevancy by weighing in on the Quebec City Amphitheater nonsense by pooping all over the people that oppose the project (who, according to her, are 'Montrealers').

Article here.

(It pains me to be on the same as Amir Khadir on any issue. He's against the issue to attract attention to himself, period. However...)

Mme Senator wants to poop all over my opposition as though opposing the project is based on jealousy. As though Montrealers begrudge Quebec City for wanting the arena. That is simply bovine excrement.

I oppose the project because it is based on the outright lie that building the arena will magically make the Nordiques reappear in the city. Mr. Bettman has repeated time and time again that the NHL will not relocate a team to Quebec City just because they build a rink. So why the hell are we spending $200 million on a rink that will remain without a team? Hamilton learned the lesson, why does Quebec City ignore it?

Here are Gary's own words:

If there’s a new building, separate and independent from us, for whatever reason and the opportunity presents itself with respect to a franchise, it’s no different than what I said about Winnipeg. But we don’t want people building a building on our account, expecting that there’s going to be a franchise, because we’re not in the position to promise one right now.

Via Hockey News

To be unambiguous: the supporters of this project need to stop lying. Stop lying to yourselves and others. Halting the construction of the arena does NOT put the return of the Nordiques to Quebec City in jeopardy. The Nordiques are NOT returning to Quebec City, so nothing can put the return in jeopardy. Stop deluding yourselves. It really begs the question: what part of Gary Bettman's statement to the fact that there is no planned return of an NHL franchise to QC-City, and that a new arena changes nothing about that non-plan, don't you understand?

Mme Senator wants to say that I should shut up and shell out my tax money for an unneeded rink because Montreal has the Big Owe. Memo to Mme Senator: I was 5 years old when that useless waste opened for the Olympics. I would gladly pack it up and send it to Quebec City: it is ugly, it is a waste of money and we spend waaaay too much time and resources on it. I don't want it and I never wanted it, so don't tell me to be somehow grateful for it like it's a huge source of pride. And it, too, sits empty and devoid of a professional team. So because Drapeau imposed this monstrosity upon Montrealers, we now have to put up with the fantasies of the latest ego-maniacal mayor, in the person of Régis Labaume, to put up YET ANOTHER useless sports arena that will overrun its budget, cost taxpayers more than it should, line the pockets of construction contractors over-charging because it's a government project and REMAIN EMPTY. And so they refuse to learn the lessons of both Hamilton AND Montreal.

I want to see the $200 million spent on anything but this frivolous waste of money. Give it to the municipalities along the Richelieu River so that they can improve the water management systems there. Give it to the family doctors that don't stay in Quebec. Give it to the schools so they can have decent play yards and roofs that don't leak. Fix the 1-out-of-3 bridges and overpasses that are in danger of collapsing on our heads (or under our wheels). But for the love of everything good and decent, don't use it on an arena that will be built for nothing!!

Mme Senator, you say that you are embarrassed to live in Montreal, so please do Montreal a favor and move to Quebec City. The fact that you live in my city is an embarrassment to me. Your unwanted and irrelevant opinion is built upon a lie, and you insult those of us who have the three braincells left in our heads that are required to see it.

Quebec's Folly

The morning news tells me that only Newfoundlanders pay more income tax than Quebecers. In Quebec, the average citizen pays 44% in income tax.

The morning news also tells me that the education system is broken, and instead of failing students that don't make the grade, we lower standards in order to allow them to pass (and I'm supposed to send my child to public school?).

Also on the morning news, the average wait time in Quebec's ERs is 12 or more hours.

The morning news also tells me that Régis Labaume in Quebec City wants a new arena, and that this new arena will magically make an NHL team move to QC-City. Gay Bettman says that building a new arena will NOT change a fig and that there is no promise or guarantee that an NHL team will ever return to the city. The Quebec assembly is bogged down in debate over a law that would allow Quebecor to...

Long story short : schools are crap, hospitals are crap, I pay too much in income tax without getting basic services in return, and the province is wasting time and money debating about bending over and paying out $200 MILLION DOLLARS so Quebec City can build an arena that Bettman tells us will remain empty.

I can't be the only one that thinks this is stupid.

Well, note to Quebec City: you obviously don't need my tourist dollars since the province shells out my money to you every time you want to put together a festival, event or unneeded civic building. Quebec City, you will not see my face nor my money in your city again.

Signs, signs, everywhere, signs

Not the most original title, I'll admit. Still...

The Metropolitain (west of the 25) and Highway 40 (east of the 25) is becoming completely overrun with billboards, with the newest trend being the addition of those super-bright and super-annoying electronic billboards, and the increase has been somewhat insidious. It started with just a few, and today there seems to be one every 500 metres or less.

Was the east along Highway 40 not already ugly and blighted enough by the refineries and heavy industry? I guess the landscape was judged to be a waste anyway, so instead of aggressively planting trees and vegetation to keep the dust down and embellish the area and all of the other advantages that trees and veg bring, they made the area even uglier with huge, gaudy billboards. And then came electronic billboards. The next step will be to perch future billboards on higher and higher poles (like the 95 in South Carolina and Georgia), so that the lower signs lose out to the higher ones.

They are now to the point of being visual pollution, loud and invasive, with the electronic ones being especially dangerous because you can't help turn your eyes towards them while you're driving - especially at night. I feel like I'm living inside 'Minority Report' or 'Josie and the Pussycats'. I'm not usually a supporter of initiatives coming out of the Plateau, like parking bans and one-ways that try to keep people from ever entering or crossing the neighborhood and Amir Khadir, but I can't disagree with their attempts to ban billboards.

I expect a "Pedro dit: venez me voir! South of the Border - 1535km" sign to go up any day now.

(After writing this blog, I saw THIS in The Gazette. I guess I'm not the only one...)