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Alcohol ban for young drivers
Drivers under twenty-one are facing a new alcohol restriction. A ban from drinking any amount of alcohol before driving started on Saturday, CTV reports.
A Quebec road safety expert says when it comes to young driver accidents, half the time there is alcohol involved.
Young drivers caught with even a drop of alcohol will lose their license for ninety days. They will also be fined from three hundred to six hundred dollars and lose four demerit points.
A Mothers Against Drunk Driving spokesperson says the ban will save lives as young people take more risks.
Drivers younger than twenty-four make up ten per cent of the driving population. But they are responsible for twenty-five percent of road accidents.
News - April 13th 2012
Read By Michael O'Donnel
Produced by Erica Bridgeman
Stories written by Joel Balsam, Lucianna Gravotta and Judy-Ann Mitchel-Turgeon
The Government of Canada and Quebec argue over long-gun injunction
Hearings on whether the province can extend its injunction on the long-gun registry continue in Quebec Superior Court today.
According to CTV lawyers for the federal government attempted to squash Quebec’s injunction on the long-gun registry in court yesterday. The injunction which expires today requires Quebecers to continue to register their long-guns and prevents the feds from destroying its portion of the data.
While Harper’s government says its has no problem with Quebec starting its own registry it does oppose sharing the data. Bill C-19 which scrapped the long-gun registry was passed in parliament earlier this year.
The province of Quebec wants to extend the injunction until the constitutionality of the data issue is argued in court this June.
Judicial Board given a vote of confidence at special CSU meeting
A bid to contest decisions made during this year’s Concordia Student Union elections failed at Thursday’s special council meeting.
The meeting was called to determine whether the Union’s Judicial Board acted according to its bylaws.
The JB was scrutinized over their decision to disqualify candidates Schubert Laforest and Lucia Gallardo and then reinstate them just two business days before polling.
Laforest went on to be elected President and Gallardo VP Academic and Advocacy.
At the meeting a four-fifths majority could not be reached to overturn the JB’s decision so the outcome of the election stands.
Student picket lines lead to exam delays and canceled classes
Police dispersed a student protest held outside Concordia’s Hall building Thursday morning. According to The Link, students blocked the entrance to the building. The CBC reports that 75 protestors were able to delay exams. The university did not announce any cancelations saying it had a responsibility to students who wanted to take their exams.
Meanwhile picket lines at Collège de Valleyfield forced the school to cancel its plan to resume classes.
Just the day before students had organized 12-hour protest marathon that disrupted much of downtown Montreal.
A spokesperson for one of the student organizations said that students won’t back down until the government is willing to negotiate.
The government has not taken any steps towards negotiation or towards a reduction in the tuition hike. So far it has only announced a new loan plan.
Photo: Boris Degas
Student strikers block Valleyfield cegep
Thursday was an overwhelming day for the College de Valleyfield administration when hundreds of striking students blocked every school entrance.
According to the Gazette non striking Cegep and University students are finding it more difficult to arrive to class safely as the strike intensifies.
The striking students have made their voices heard by using red as their symbolic colour for vandalism.
They are outraged with how much tuition fees have increased over the years and they want the increase to stop.
This strike is said to be the largest in Quebec history considering the number of students who have volunteered to strike.
CJLO News - April 12 2012
Read by: Katie McGroarty
Stories by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi, Joel Balsam, Dominique Daoust and Katie McGroarty
Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi
Students asking for makeup time for lost classes
Students at Concordia University are asking the administration to help them make up lost courses.
Striking students held a press conference on Wednesday calling on the university's administration to reschedule missed classes that have been affected by the province-wide strike against raised tuition fees.
The University made clear in a Town Hall meeting with students on Tuesday that any lost class time would not be made up at the end of the current semester and that exams would continue as planned.
Students want the administration to reconsider their stance to accommodate those who have lost most of their semester because of the strike. This would mean extending the semester and rescheduling exams.
The leader of one the province's student associations, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, told CTV that if the administration continues its stance, then he believes tension will rise on the campus.
Flickr Photo by: Tina Mailhot-Roberge
Major job cuts
Over 5500 federal service employees have been notified that they might lose their jobs. The members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada received notices on Wednesday. The notice stated that they would be affected but will not necessarily be laid off. Some employees might be moved to other departments if there are vacancies.
The majority of the affected jobs are in Ottawa. Other affected areas include the Prairies, Quebec, British Colombia and the North. The department with the higher number of notices is the Canada Border Service Agency.
According to CBC, the unions don’t know what these cuts will mean to services. Treasury Board President Tony Clement supports the government’s measures, saying they try to be fair. The federal government wants to save 5.2 billion dollars annually by cutting over 19000 positions.
Manifestation marathon
Early Thursday Morning around two hundred striking students blocked the entrances to Valleyield College. The action caused the CEGEP to cancel classes for the day.
Wednesday also had demonstrations begin begin early in the morning. At about 7 am a group of a few dozen masked protesters blocked the entrance to the National Bank tower. Police rushed the scene and cleared the protesters with pepper spray. One 23 year old was arrested.
Students didn’t stop there. They held a marathon string of protests throughout Wednesday. When they were not marching on the streets, they marched through the Montreal World Trade Centre and the Desjardins Complex but didn’t stay for long.
Students also set up a home base at Victoria Square. There they danced, sang and played games all themed against tuition hikes.
Photos by Joel Balsam
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