Saturday Post

Tree and River
Originally uploaded by Montague4

      It has been a long time since I have written here so I really do not know where to begin. I have been stuck in a writer`s block I guess and I have also been experiencing a bad case of the fall blues. The fall is definitely not one of my favorite seasons.

     I am more of a spring and summer type of guy. I can even handle winter at times, if it is not too cold and we do not get too much snow. Sometimes winter can be real nice, and we can have some great sunny days.

   Fall can be really grey at times, with rain and more rain. That is not always the case though as the pictures that I took last weekend can show. We had what they call Indian summer, it was really warm for about four days and very sunny.

    So what has been going on since the last time I wrote. Let me think here.

Politico

   The political front has been real quiet on the federal and provincial scene, everything there is the status quo.

     On the municipal scene we had the city elections on November 1st and the same corruption ridden mayor and government got re-elected. How unbelievable is that ? 

    It is really quite unbelievable if you ask me, he was the least worse of the choices maybe, I really do not get it. One of the main reasons that he got re-elected I think is because people did not go vote.

    The turnout was barely thirty-five percent, which is really low. I find it hard to believe that in a democratic system people do not take the time to go vote.

    As I stated in a previous post about the election, the municipal elections are the ones that affect us most at a local level and that alone should encourage people to go vote. What really irks me about non-voters is that often they are the loudest complainers.

 Current Events

     Prince Charles and I am not sure what we call Camilla came to visit Canada last week. I am not much of a monarchist so I do not really get this royalty stuff. We are almost in 2010, does this royalty still have a place. I really do not think so.

     We should in my opinion abolish the monarchy, as it serves no real purpose any more. We as Canadians pay these people a salary I think, how ridiculous is that. I am almost certain that we footed most of the bill for the trip. Once again I repeat this is the twenty first century, not the fifteenth, bye bye King and Queen I say.

Musica

   In keeping with the spirit of this blog, I will leave you with a musical suggestion. In the past week I have been re-listening to a group from the eighties that is still around and they have just released a new CD.

     The group in question is MTL band The Box, that had quite a bit of success in the eighties with hits such as Closer Together and Ordinary People. In the eighties The Box had a style that was very pop rock one could say, but this new CD and the re-incarnation of The Box is much more progressive rock.

     The driving force behind The Box was and is always the singer-songwriter Jean Marc Pisapia. This new album has been a project of his for many years now, and may not be a huge radio success, but he is alright with that he says.

    The new album is a concept album based on the story, Le Horla written by French author Guy de Maupassant. It may definitely not appeal to all but is has good tracks that can be sampled on The Box`s website here. For some older tracks by The Box, I will refer you to Youtube. I am sure that you will enjoy and that it will bring back some memories.

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     Well that is all for this rather long post, hope that you all enjoyed it. Ciao, till next time.

Fall Colors

Fall View
Originally uploaded by Montague4

     Autumn officially started this afternoon, and in that spirit, I am posting a photo that is a view from my window.

Retro Music

    This week I came across the video for the new single by French rock group Indochine, and I decided to re-explore them a little. The single, "Le Lac" is from the eleventh studio CD, " La Republique des Meteors ", that came out last March and it has been a very big hit for them.

    Indochine was founded by Nicola Sirkis in 1981, and they have been one of the most successful French groups of all time. The group has changed members and collaborators numerous times, by has always been lead by Monsieur Sirkis who is the heart and soul of Indochine.

     The band Indochine has had almost steady success since the 1980s, when they came on the scene. Indochine has stayed true to their style thoughout the years, a style that can best be described as a new wave rock blend.

     At times they were compared to the British new wave bands of the 80s but I think that they stand apart in their style and texts. They have had many hits and I am sure that everyone has heard some Indochine.

    As always I will leave you with some links to see and listen to Indochine that I am sure you will enjoy and that will  bring back some memories. For the newest video click here, their official site is here, and for some older songs I recommend a search on Youtube. 

 

City Elections

       As I was mentioning in the previous post there is a municipal election in about five weeks, and so far other than the construction scandals there is not much going on to get the excitement going.

      The oppostion party is screaming that the city administration has lost control and that they should not be in power. Other than yelling about the party in power I do not see how they can be much different. Can they really change things and are they really for change is the big question.

     In June they picked a new leader, Mme Louise Harel, and I do not really understand this choice. Mme Harel has been in politics in Quebec for what seems like forever, and she really represents nothing new and she lacks a certain charisma I feel. Mme Harel was definitely not a good choice as far as I am concerned.

    If Vision Montreal wanted my vote they should have picked someone fresh and new as a leader, not Mme Harel. I will not even discuss her PQ  background or the fact that she is not fluent in English here, those do not really have an impact in my decision.

    This blogger for now is backing the current mayor, M.Tremblay. Scandals or not, I just can not put my faith in a party that did not even have a mayoral candidate till about four months ago.

    I feel that M. Tremblay cares about Montreal and he has been involved in municipal politics for many years, and that is why I will back him and his party.  Sure there have been scandals, but there is no guarantee that a new party will not have any, so I will stick with the old for now.

    Stay tuned to this blog for more posts on the municipal election, and I will also leave you with a link for more election coverage.

City Scandals

      The city of Montreal is involved in quite a few scandals these days that it is getting hard to keep track of them all. The majority of the scandals involve construction contracts and how the contracts are handed out.

    A report came out last night on a major contract that was awarded without any debate it seems. The auditor is suggesting that the contract gets entirely cancelled, which is probably the best solution to this mess.   

      For the city administration and the ruling party this is definitely not a good time for these reports as there is an election in about five weeks time.

     The report comes at a bad time, but the issue with consruction contracts in Montreal is nothing new. There has always been an air of corruption with the bidding process and that is irregardless of the party in power.   

      A clean up is definitely neeeded, and must be done in order to regain the confidence of the population. Whoever wins the election has a tough job ahead of them