Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Ex-official seeks audit of Alliance Quebec
Alliance Quebec no longer serves the province's English-speaking community and has mutated into nothing more than an extension of its president's law practice.
So says a damning report to the Canadian Heritage Department, which funds the English-rights lobby, from former Alliance board member Carlos Roldan.
Among other things, Roldan calls the Alliance administration exclusionary and heavy-handed, and asks the federal department, headed by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, to investigate how $634,000 of taxpayers' money is being spent.
Lawyer Casper Bloom, for example, says he is saddened to see the organization he helped establish imploding and blames Tyler, at least in part, for its downfall. "The man is a bully, he's intimidating, he threatens to sue anyone who disagrees with him," he said.
Christopher Dye, who said Tyler called him a punk and other names, immediately quit the organization that he says is nothing more than the Brent Tyler fan club.
This week, board member Peter Margo, who said he supports Tyler completely, said the scuffle with Dye was "sour grapes."
"That man has a lot of axes he's grinding," Margo said before challenging me to "write a positive story about Alliance Quebec for a change."
It may be that kind of behaviour that prompted a board member to say that, under Tyler's leadership, Alliance has become a "pathetic joke."
"It's a misuse of public funds and a betrayal of public trust," the board member said. Furthermore, the 40-member board is made up of former Equality Party members "who are unilingual elderly anglophones who are bitter and don't have the qualifications" to run a community organization, the board member added.
Bloom, for one, thinks the organization should be audited as soon as possible. "It has lost all credibility whatsoever," he said. "It's a laughing stock and has become nothing more than Mr. Tyler's own personal fiefdom."

2001

Wed 8/22/01 ESTATES GENERAL REPORT A 'DUD' - ALLIANCE QUEBEC
The anglophone rights group, Alliance Quebec, says the conclusions reached by Quebec's Estates General on the French language are based on false assumptions. Lawyer and interim president Brent Tyler says the report's 149 recommendations will never go anywhere.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/08/21/alliancegeneral010821

Tue 8/21/01 ESTATES GENERAL REPORT A 'DUD' - ALLIANCE QUEBEC The anglophone rights group, Alliance Quebec, says the conclusions reached by Quebec's Estates General on the French language are based on false assumptions. Lawyer and interim president Brent Tyler says the report's 149 recommendations will never go anywhere.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/08/21/alliancegeneral010821

Thu 8/16/01 TYLER TAKES THE HELM AT ALLIANCE QUEBEC
Quebec's English rights lobby group has a new president - Brent Tyler. He is the outspoken and sometimes controversial lawyer for the group.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/08/16/010816tyler

Thursday 16 August 2001 Alliance Quebec votes in Tyler By: PHILIP AUTHIER
Outspoken language-rights lawyer Brent Tyler has been elected the new president of Alliance Quebec, succeeding Anthony Housefather as the head of the English-rights lobby group.
After nearly three hours of a closed-door meeting last night in its Sherbrooke St. headquarters, Alliance officials declared Tyler, 45, the new leader after he beat his lone opponent, Jo-Anne Fandrich. A third candidate withdrew from the race at the last minute without explaining why.

9/Aug/2001 21:58 3 in running for Alliance presidency
There will be three candidates to replace Anthony Housefather as president of the English-rights group Alliance Quebec.
At the 5 p.m. deadline yesterday, Alliance officials announced they had received nomination papers from Montreal lawyer Brent Tyler; Jo-Anne Fandrich, the Alliance's mainland vice-president and a member of the Alliance's board of directors; and Gerry Kelebay, a McGill University education professor who is also a member of the Alliance's board of directors.

Wed 8/1/01 6:57 AM Carry on pleading By: BASEM BOSHRA
Lawyer Brent Tyler will continue representing Alliance Quebec in court challenges against provincial language legislation if he's elected president of the English-rights lobby group this month. But outgoing AQ president Anthony Housefather doesn't think that's such a good idea.

But outgoing AQ president Anthony Housefather doesn't think that's such a good idea.

"I've advised Brent and the members of (Alliance Quebec's) board of directors that I see a problem with an attorney being president of an organization and accepting mandates from that organization," said Housefather.

"That would mean you would have influence over your executive and board to provide you with mandates and you could then utilize that influence, even with full disclosure, to be awarded mandates and to benefit financially.

"I would suggest that if he becomes president that he not accept mandates from Alliance Quebec," added Housefather, himself a lawyer and a town councillor for Hampstead.

Housefather compared the situation to the mayor of a town being voted by council to act as the town lawyer and to benefit from it financially.

Lawyer Brent Tyler, shown here in March 2000, is known for his willingness to tear a strip off language rules, one way or another.
Anglo community politics may be about to get interesting again, if Brent Tyler becomes the community's unofficial spokesman.

Tyler, a lawyer considered by some a crusader for civil rights and by others an anglo hard-liner, confirmed yesterday that it is all but certain he will be a candidate for the vacant presidency of Alliance Quebec, the province's best-known anglo-advocacy organization.

Tuesday 31 July 2001 Hard-line hero By: DON MACPHERSON
Anglo community politics may be about to get interesting again, if Brent Tyler becomes the community's unofficial spokesman.
Tyler, a lawyer considered by some a crusader for civil rights and by others an anglo hard-liner, confirmed yesterday that it is all but certain he will be a candidate for the vacant presidency of Alliance Quebec, the province's best-known anglo-advocacy organization.