Diana introduced Melanie Lauckner who is currently completing an assignment for IATA's Aviation Training and Development Institute, re-designing the Travel and Tourism training programme. Melanie has an MBA from Bristol and also spent some time at the Ritz Hotel School. She is interested in Eco-tourism. Diana (and others) also pointed out that it was International Women's Day.

FORTISSIMO

David Nicholson asked if the kind of deal in the process of being discussed at McGill, where the University signs an exclusive Cold Beverage Agreement with Coca Cola in exchange for an annual contribution of over a million dollars was a good deal? Gerald Ratzer said he was opposed to the deal - and did not drink carbonated drinks! Brian commented that there are no free lunches. Warren Allmand recommended signing the agreement, but not drinking their products.

There have certainly been some bad precedents established by contracts signed in a few mid-western universities, where professors were not allowed to comment unfavourably on any activities of the sponsor, but when Tony Deutsch was asked if the McGill Pension Fund invested in Coke, and if they might be persuaded to do so, he replied that there have been Pepsi wars before on campus, but he is sure that Coke will not come visiting to tell him what to teach in his classes. Our school teacher said that at the Lester B. Pearson school board a similar process had taken place where TVs were supplied in classrooms in exchange for some advertisements (YNN). Brian Morel felt there should be no ads in a classroom setting, and Diana Nicholsonthought that kids turn off as soon as the ads appear. Warren - there is a quid pro quo - we get better-trained students in exchange for some advertising. He thought this was not unreasonable. All in all, "a tempest in a coke bottle".

Our World in Perfect Harmony?

Melanie Laucknerr

Tony Deutsch & David Bowen

We then turned to the recent Youth Summit of the PQ. Is there a change in the wind? Les jeunes nous lancent à la figure les erreurs de notre generation en disant "on veut pas payer pour vos extravangances". Dans leur optique, nous sommes assis sur nos acquis et c'est à eux de créér leur propre monde. Consensus is that there is nothing to worry about, and the young people and their radical ideas are not a threat to any but their own Establishment. However, the election of the new President, - born in Cuba where his parents were in exile because of their implication in the James Cross kidnapping -, raises an interesting question: if your parents were radical - what do you do to rebel? In any event, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is an intergenerational gap in the PQ.

Tony remarked that the French educational system has failed and noted that the Youth Summit insists that the teaching of English in the French system must be improved; they also voted for open access for francophones to English language CEGEPs and universities.

Melanie Laucknerr

Guy Stanley noted that the aim of the Révolution tranquille was to assure that the Good Life was attainable in French, now the assumption is that you have to speak English to have the Good Life (if one equates the Good Life with being able to compete successfully on a worldwide basis.

Those were the days, my friend
Tony Deutsch (on video) commented on the Quebec government budget. Grumbling that no real cuts have been made to the central bureaucracy, but instead $1 billion worth of cuts have been downloaded onto the cities and municipalities. Overall there is an estimated cut of about 6% in the services delivered. Taxation without representation was mentioned as an unappealing concept. It took several seconds for everyone to realize that the tape was two years old and that we must wait until next week to hear comments on the new Québec budget - or to simply see Tony's tape again.

Thursday 16 March 2000 Not enough for health care Finance Minister Bernard Landry resembles a man on a treadmill: he's running hard, but he's getting nowhere fast.

Mr. Landry's budget this week trumpeted $2.7 billion in new investments for the province's troubled health-care system. That sounds like a lot of money, but in the end it will not buy very much in quality improvements. i>

Downtown
Bringing us back to the future, Margaret Lefebvre-Walker reminded us that Westmount, which historically has enjoyed surpluses, joined with a number of other municipalities in issuing a court challenge to the downloading. A propos the proposals of Mme Harel concerning the new Montreal Regional Structure, it appears that the idea of a light provincial superstructure has been approved. However, this new Council may or may not have responsibility for regional transportation, which is one of the major issues and costs.

Yvette Biondi- The suburban mayors and the greater Montreal region, including the South Shore and Laval will have more power under the new system. This reduces the probability of Bourque's One Island - One City proposal.

Nearer My God to Thee
The Church of Scientology project Sam Totah has objected to the plan of a developer to pull down the Church and build a new block of condos in its place. Sam believes the new project will increase traffic and lower the value of his own property on Dr. Penfield as well as the houses of the neighbors on Côte des neiges. The public hearing was post-poned to the 14th, but Sam's well-written document is in our files.

David Casgrain click Photo

In Westmount, neighbours are often able to block proposed changes, (in fact, the concept of change is virtually unacceptable to the Westmount Architectural and Planning Commission), however the City of Montreal pays little attention to representations from private citizens or special interest groups like Heritage Montreal (we should know - it is less than a year ago that such a valiant fight was put up against the Lepine development adjacent to Westmount's eastern border). It has become SOP for a developer to bring in a plan on the assumption of zoning changes. There appears to be no right of consultation in Montreal - which is an abuse of rights.

This raises the question : if the zoning of an area changes - should the neighbours receive compensation from the municipality which effected the change?

CHIP (Canada Home Income Program)

David Bowen

David Bowen of CHIP moved the discussion on to housing prices, which he said have increased some 15% over the last couple of years. The average house price is now up to $121,000. He then talked about the Canada Home Income Program, which offers reverse mortgages. Under this scheme, people who have paid off their mortgages and have built up considerable equity in their homes can get a substantial loan or a steady stream of income from their property, as long as they continue to live in it. The loan can be up to 45% of the property value. There is a web site at www.chip.ca with more details.

People are coming back into the cities, and there is a need for more condos. When a new block of condos comes on the market there can be up to 40 people in for the first day of the open house.

FINALE

Holly Jonas was asked to comment on her Millennium book project, a series of interviews with the leading choral directors in Canada. It is close to completion. Diana likes the intimate style and recommended not to change a word of the chapter she had an opportunity to read. Other news of the Jonas family, John is being honoured on several occasions and around the world this year; particularly noteworthy is the Conference in August where he will be honoured by some of his 78 graduate students. Last, but not least, their daughter, Jennifer, as assistant Director of Red Violin is sharing in the limelight. from The Red Violin & more
see also Jennifer Jonas page on the Perfect Son The evening finished with some video clips of Red Violin, Putin and Heidi Hollinger.
Quite a mixture!

Notes by Gerald Ratzer
Edited by Diana Thébaud Nicholson

Wed939 next 941

See by JOSH FREED who soon come

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SUPER TUESDAY will be over, the votes counted and we can look at the results (you may place your bets with us today). Democrats vs Republlcan or the FEC ..most value is CNN and ABCnews
And for fun 3/3/00 (1:45)

Real estate appraisal by Andy Dodge BA,Cert. R.E.,CRA for tax purposes, relocations, litigation, insurance purposes (reconstruction cost), mortgages, investment collateral, capital gains,.. etc since 1982. get ready for a big hike in prices, similar to what happened in 1989-90, but hope that the downward slide afterwards is not quite so drastic see links

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Thursday 10 February 2000 Commercial real estate booms Tech firms fight for room to grow, but rents still lag late-'80s high MARY LAMEY

Try a small test also try

A movie of the Cirque du Soleil you select; all 6 clips are fun.

See our file on Gun Control

PVM sale said to be close One of four buildings Caisse is buying from TrizecHahn, source says [What is going on .. is this the top of our Mkt? DTN] ..from TrizecHahn, which is selling North American real-estate assets to raise liquidity for new investments in Europe, a region TrizecHahn's Hungarian-born chairman Peter Munk considers a good bet ...Budapest, Hungary, and four smaller properties in Greece, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Many oppose the city's plan to replace the First Church of Christ Scientist with a nine-storey condominium; they argue it would lower the value of his neighbouring house. But some like our Sam Totah could be happy