Jean Charest, Premier of the Province of Quebec

Matters have not improved significantly in the student’s strike.  People are still demonstrating as the Premier tries to introduce a law: Bill 78, that would put an end to the disorder.

Le Devoir.com is a very good source of information, but it’s a French-language paper.  It calls for an end to the demonstrations, called manifestations in French: Assez!  Enough!

Telling this story is difficult because matters keep changing and reports differ.

Links:

• CBC News:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/ 
• CTV News: http://montreal.ctv.ca/
• The Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
• The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ 
• Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/348126/greve-etudiante-assez (front page: Enough ! Assez! French)

I am in the process of writing the history of Confederation or Constitution, or BNA Act (British North America Acts, starting in 1867) in blog form.  It cannot be done in one post.  The Constitution was patriated (brought to Canada from England) in 1982, but Quebec did not sign it.

The discussion starts with the Monroe Doctrine or Manifest Destiny.  We then go back to the descendants of our voyageurs and their leader Louis Riel.  The big story is building the railroad: the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Completing the Railway before 1867 was impossible because it had to go through several ranges of mountains, but a promise sufficed.

Canadian Pacific Logo, 1996