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If the provincial Liberals act on the proposal to begin charging tuition fees at CEGEPs, they can expect student federations to put up a fight.
Xavier Lefebvre Boucher, president of student lobby group Féderation étudiante collégiale du Québec said he wants Premier Jean Charest and the Minister of Education to retract the proposal.

Speaking at Concordia, award-wining author and alumnus Rawi Hage was honoured, particularly by the Lebanese in the audience, for his work about the 1970s Lebanese civil war.
Hage, appearing comfortable and casual with his arm slung over the back of his chair, answered questions and accepted praise about his life and writing.

Jon Verral found his comedic calling in a Craigslist ad.
The Concordia theatre graduate was looking to get involved in improv when he found the On The Spot improv troupe, who are currently looking for a new member.
Started in 1990, On The Spot has made a name for itself in Montreal’s improv scene.

Abousfian Abdelrazik, the Montrealer who was arrested in Sudan on terrorism charges and marooned there for several years, is embarking on a speaking tour to share his story. Sadly, stories like his are becoming the norm under Canada’s current government. Since Stephen Harper took power, there have been at least five high profile cases in which the government has refused to repatriate a citizen trapped in another country.

Arch Enemy – The Root of All Evil
(Century Media; 2009)
9/10

Arch Enemy’s eight release, The Root Of All Evil, features re-recorded tracks from the band’s first three albums with Angela Gossow replacing former vocalist Johan Liiva.
If the words ‘metal’ and ‘frontwoman’ conjure images of Evanescence, think again.

It’s 6:00 p.m. on a Wednesday. The 24 is rolling down Sherbrooke, weaving in and out of traffic, bringing me closer to my destination, St-Laurent. I scan the bus looking for any semblance of a fellow passenger. Negative. Business types in suits holding briefcases are my only company.

According to an Ispos Reid survey released this month and commissioned by the Department of National Defence, the public has become uneasy about Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.
On the issue of our involvement in Afghanistan, we are a nation divided. Almost exactly half the people polled in the survey think the duties of the Canadian Forces should include only observational duties or monitoring conflict resolution; the other half wants us to continue fighting alongside our allies.

Four half-naked hunks are drilling a hole outside a high school, when one of them stops and says: “It’s 2:30.”
“School’s out,” adds another construction worker. Two attractive female students in uniform walk out giggling and shaking their hair, but the workers don’t so much as glance at them.

Family
(Hardly Art; 2009)
6.5/10

Last we heard from Washington, D.C. songwriter Sam Simkoff, his bedroom pop project Le Loup had put out a fairly interesting, albeit somewhat incomplete, debut, The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations’ Millennium General Assembly.

re: Tuition increases improve access (Sept. 29)
What dismay and frustration I felt reading the students’ own paper’s editorial calling for an increase in tuition fees. And what a combination of fantasy and far-fetched twists that argument was. What was the point, for example, of comparing student debt in Canada and at Harvard? Harvard students are wealthy to begin with, which most likely explains why they do not need to go into debt.

This is animal week.
Aries – March 21 to April 20

You are Orca, noble guardian of the waves. You are not widely loved in the animal kingdom, but you are feared and respected. You deliver swift and objective justice with your powerful jaws and your keen senses.