Quebec
Spanish surge in Townships?
Hispanic newcomers change Sherbrooke In recent years I have done business with a Peruvian-born pharmacist in Magog, a furnace repairman from Buenos Aires in North Hatley, an Ecuadorian veterinarian in Rock Forest, and a short-order cook from Mexico serving breakfast near Katevale. This sprinkling of Hispanic residents in the Townships has scarcely been noticed in…
Humpty Dumpty, Quebec-style
Opposition parties must piece together a winning alternative vs. a populist government. Defaced CAQ poster, above, reflects views of some in Montreal. Volatile. Yes, that’s politics in Quebec. Parties rise and fall, leaders come and go. Political movements look dynamic, even unbeatable, then get levelled. Remember the Union Nationale? The ADQ? The NDP’s run as…
Census and sensibility: Anglo angst deflated [2018]
Talk of decline and ‘exodus’ comes easily to media, but federal figures are more realistic by David Winch, October 1, 2017 MONTREAL – The touchiness in Quebec about demographic issues could be described, apologies to Jane Austen, as census and sensibility. Following the release of the 2016 mid-term federal census (in August 2017), reactions to…
Telecommuting: city jobs move to country locales
The scenic Townships region near the U.S. border is drawing more city professionals from Montreal, who find small-town life accessible in an online world by David Winch, Montreal Gazette January 8, 2017 KNOWLTON — Susan Pepler wanted to try a new neighbourhood. A downtown Montreal denizen, the Concordia grad and Dawson-certified designer was happy and…
Les Lumières en Amérique: America and the Enlightenment
As North America was about to erupt with the American revolt against imperial Britain in the late 1700s, many liberal currents in Europe were feeding this move toward freedom. My 2009 essay for a panel discussion on the Enlightenment held in Divonne, France focused on the connections between American revolutionary thinkers, principally Paine and Jefferson,…