Meet ConU’s new chancellor
BMO Nesbitt Burns chairman L. Jacques Ménard has been named as Concordia’s new chancellor, taking over from David P. O’Brien who recently completed his five-year term. Ménard had already been appointed deputy chancellor in 2009, and previously sat on the university’s Board of Governors. In the corporate world, Ménard is also president of BMO Financial Group, Quebec, and a past chairman of Hydro-Québec and the Investment Dealers Association of Canada. The position of chancellor is largely ceremonial and notably includes the task of handing out diplomas at convocations.
Plan consultations coming up
The university community will soon be able to consult a first draft of Concordia’s next academic plan. Opportunities to provide feedback on the document will include three Open to Question sessions in February, meetings with faculty councils and comments on the academic planning web site. The plan, part of Concordia’s strategic framework adopted in 2009, will lay out the university’s academic priorities over the next five years. In an interview with the Concordian in November, provost David Graham said that the plan will be measuring the quality of Concordia’s programs. Graham said it was hoped the academic plan, which may be adopted by the end of the school year, would eventually nestle Concordia among the top five comprehensive universities in Canada.
Doing it in public
Baby clothing store Orchestra came face to face with over 100 babies last week, but not in the way it is used to. Last Wednesday, mothers breastfed their children in front of the store at Complexe Les Ailes, holding what they called a “‘nurse-in.” The initiative came after Montrealer Shannon Smith was asked to leave the store two weeks ago for breastfeeding her baby in the store. Although Smith later received an apology, the mothers who protested at Orchestra are now calling on the provincial government to enact legislation that guarantees their right to breastfeed in public. Similar laws already exist in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
More tickets, please
Montreal police announced last week that officers are given a quota to fill for traffic tickets. In the past, the SPVM had always denied that officers were required to issue a minimum number of tickets for fear of creating negative publicity. But the police have reiterated that the quota is necessary to ensure public safety, and not to add more money to their coffers. Still, it’s hard to overlook that in recent years, traffic tickets have raked in an annual sum of $100 million. Although the police brotherhood applauded the SPVM for its transparency, it also called for the end of traffic ticket quotas, stating that it puts added pressure on police officers and could prevent them from dealing with more serious matters.
