Quebec student protest claims a cabinet minister

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LV outlet uk QUEBEC — As the 14th week of the students' protest began Monday, Education Minister Line Beauchamp announced she was making "the ultimate compromise" in a bid to end Quebec's drawn-out tuition dispute.Beauchamp, the government's key player in the tumultuous conflict, caught observers by surprise, resigning on the spot as education minister and deputy premier and giving up her seat as Liberal MNA for Montreal's north-end Bourassa-Sauve riding, which she has held since 1998.About one hour later, Premier Jean Charest accompanied Treasury Board President Michelle Courchesne, wearing a little black dress, across the street from his office to the office of Lt.-Gov. Pierre Duchesne, where Courchesne was sworn in as Quebec's new education minister and deputy premier.Courchesne, one of his government's toughest, most hard-working ministers, remains treasury board president, controlling Quebec's purse strings.And her new assignment is to end what is arguably the toughest conflict in the nine years since Charest led his Liberals to power.When it came to office, the Charest government faced disapproval and protests over its plans to reduce union powers, but also negotiated two rounds of public-sector contract talks without major disruptions.

LV uk sale Charest did arouse the ire of environmentalists over Suroit, a proposed gas-fired power generator, in his first year in office, and again before the 2007 election when he proposed privatizing Mont Orford provincial park — over the objections of Thomas Mulcair, whom Charest then removed as environment minister before backing down.In 2005 the Charest government's decision to cut student bursaries by $200 million, increasing student loans, sparked major student protests and the origins of the red cloth patch that has become the symbol of the current dispute.But no other dispute before the #GGI, to give its Twitter handle ('greve generale illimitee' or 'unlimited general strike') has generated almost daily demonstrations — flaring at times to violent protest, most notably in Victoriaville on May 4, when police and students were injured, three of the students seriously, after student leaders vowed to shut down a weekend meeting of Charest's Quebec Liberal Party.While a pitched battle raged in Victoriaville between police and violent elements among the protesters, in Quebec City the four main student associations, Quebec's top union leaders and representatives of the university and CEGEP administrations sat down with three ministers in the Charest government — Beauchamp, Courchesne and Alain Paquet, junior finance minister — in what turned into a 22-hour marathon that produced an agreement the student leaders signed but would not recommend to their members, who rejected it soundly.

LV replica uk Courchesne, previously education minister from 2007 to 2010, chaired the marathon, earning respect from the student leaders, who perceived her as more conciliatory than Beauchamp, who would not budge on their demand for a tuition freeze."I was presiding," Courchesne said Monday, explaining the context. "I was there to ensure the talks went smoothly, to see that everyone had a chance to speak."Charest has asked Courchesne to meet Tuesday with the student associations and university and CEGEP administrators to assess the situation and report back on how the government can work out a plan to allow students to finish their academic year, write their exams and settle the tuition dispute.But Courchesne served notice to the students that her position is the "same position" that Beauchamp defended.Beauchamp stunned reporters Monday afternoon who had spoken with Charest about two hours earlier and were expecting the premier and his education minister to unveil plans to bring the tuition battles to an end, after Charest said in Levis his government would act to restore public order."It's a minority of people that are doing these things and so the government will act," Charest said after a Levis speech on his Plan Nord northern development project.

cheap lv sunglasses sale Instead, still smiling throughout a 30-minute news conference, Beauchamp delivered her resignation speech, which ended when she and Charest exchanged a hug."I have not succeeded at this point in resolving a major conflict and I take responsibility for that," Beauchamp said. "I am not resigning because of adversity or the complexity of the situation. I have seen others."I am resigning because I have decided I am not part of the solution. I leave my duties having the best interests of Quebec as my sole guide."Charest praised Beauchamp for her work as a minister and MNA for the last 15 years and said he had tried to persuade her to stay on in the education portfolio.Beauchamp said that she tried all weekend to talk to the student leaders, getting the brush-off until Monday morning when she had a conference call with the main student leaders.Beauchamp raised the possibility of a moratorium, delaying the $1,778 fee hike, set to begin this fall with the first of seven $254 tuition increases. The student leaders said a moratorium would have to be accompanied by an estates general, a vast consultation examining the status and goals of education in Quebec.Beauchamp said at that point he realized the student leaders had no will to reach a settlement.

cheap lv sneakers sale Courchesne will face the same demand for a freeze on Quebec's tuition fees — already low by Canadian standards — although Beauchamp, in parting, expressed the hope her resignation would be like "an electric shock," that might reanimate the discussion process.Courchesne said her goal is to maintain a dialogue. "That is very important."Charest said the government has been listening to the students and has made several compromises. "All of it has been rejected."And he renewed his appeal to the students leading the action to stop preventing other students from attending classes and to respect court orders allowing students to return to class."We expect those judgments to be respected," Charest said."No government, and certainly not my government, is going to accept violence and intimidation as a way of negotiation."OTTAWA - Canadians have made slight progress in the battle to combat chronic disease through diet choices even as the nation's children fall even further behind, a study from an independent think tank suggested Monday.

cheap lv pumps sale While adults have slowly reduced their intake of damaging fats and stepped up their fruit and vegetable consumption over the past two decades, researchers at the Conference Board of Canada found that children's eating habits have continually deteriorated over the same period.Even among adults, dietary patterns haven't shifted enough to effectively ward off chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the board said.Study lead researcher Daniel Munro said the board came to its conclusions by analyzing statistical data on food choices compiled over the past 20 to 30 years by agencies such as Statistics Canada and Health Canada.Analyzing those trends, Munro said, paints a comprehensive picture of a population that isn't doing what it could to protect itself from chronic conditions."It's not the individual ingredients or individual foods that matter," Munro said in a telephone interview from Ottawa. "It's the long-term dietary patterns that affect the risk of chronic disease."Canadians have been heeding some of the lessons science has spent the past few decades trying to teach, Munro said.The study found that adults have slowly been increasing the number of fruits and vegetables they consume each day, with about half of Canadian women and 40 per cent of men currently eating the recommended minimum of five servings for day. Munro said Canadians have also made progress on reducing the number of trans fats in the average diet.

cheap lv purses sale The national dietary vice, he said, appears to be sodium. Canadians consume an average of 3,400 milligrams per day, well above the maximum recommended amount of 2,300. Canada's processed food feeds the issue by containing more salt than its brand equivalents in the U.S., the study found.Canadians also have a weakness for sugar and a tendency to overestimate their physical activity levels, the study suggested, adding that 62 per cent of Canadians were considered overweight or obese by 2008.Munro said these troubling trends were even more striking in the country's children, who don't appear to be benefiting from the limited wisdom their parents have acquired over the years.A tenth of children between two and 17 are obese, Munro said, adding a quarter of the population is considered overweight.The nutritional state of the adult population already puts the country's health system under considerable strain, Munro said. Treatments for cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes _ coupled with the impact on economic productivity _ cost upwards of $47 billion in 2011, he added.Failure to address child eating habits, he said, will lead to a spike in chronic diseases that will place the health system under still more strain.