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Je crois que cette discussion est approprié avec L'application possible de cette "charte des maleurs" et Barbara Kay dit tout haut ce que plusieurs Montrealais pense tout bas: Je suis a priori Montrealais dans une province qui n'est pas la mienne....pourquoi pas crée notre propre "cité-province"? http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/09/18/barbara-kay-the-case-for-the-city-state-of-montreal/ Barbara Kay: The case for the City-State of Montreal A few months ago, I appeared on a French language talk show as part of a diverse panel of politicians, aesthetes and chattering-class types to give our two-cents’ worth on Quebec political issues (Bill 14 was the hot topic then). Even though everyone else was a sovereigntist, I was warmly received; francophone media people truly appreciate anglo participation in such discussions. Dialogue proceeded in amiable fashion until I was asked if I considered myself a québécoise. “Non“, I unequivocally responded, “I consider myself a “montréalaise,” adding that Montreal was a distinct society within Quebec just as Quebec is a distinct society within Canada. Silence. The temperature of the room seemed instantly to go down 30 degrees. Every face around the table turned to stone. Stating the truth about Montreal to Quebec nationalists — that its character, needs and interests have little in common with those of the rest of Quebec (ROQ) and that, by implication, Montreal deserves special status — is simply a taboo. Related Kelly McParland: Quebec charter reflects values of small-minded separatists Barbara Kay: Accommodation of a different order Full Pundit: The Charter of Quebec Values — ‘Kafka, meet Monty Python’ Taboo no longer. Today there will be a press conference at a downtown Montreal hotel. There strategic consultant Michel David will make his long-researched case for Montreal as a city-state, a place in which counter-productive “values” charters and language laws would not apply, and where conditions favouring entrepreneurship, economic investment and skills recruitment would. David has been brooding over Montreal’s decline for decades. According to David’s just-released report, Montreal: City-State, Re-Inventing Our Governance, Montreal is the poorest city in North America with two million or more population (22nd of 22). It ranks 59th out of 60 jurisdictions for liberty, with the highest taxes and lowest level of entrepreneurship in Canada (50% of the Canadian average). Governance is authoritarian and disrespects individual rights. If Montreal is to regain its former glory, it will not happen under any of Quebec’s parties, all of them in numeric thrall to regional, ethnically homogeneous voters with no direct stake in Montreal’s fortunes. David concludes that only the political and economic autonomy conferred by special administrative status (SAS) — for which there is a precedent: the Cree of northern Quebec have self-governed their territories in collaboration with Quebec City for decades — can restore and surpass this once great city’s former entrepreneurial glory. A recently completed IPSOS survey surveyed 1,250 respondents on the island of Montreal (50%), the greater Montreal area (25%) and ROQ (25%) on Montreal’s current position and prospects and what should be done to improve the future of the city. It found that the idea of Montreal as a city state has wide appeal in the Montreal area. And even somewhat wide appeal in ROQ. Language laws were recognized as an impediment to Montreal’s prosperity, and 75% of Montrealers think ‘guaranteeing full bilingual status’ would help Across the board, close to 80% of respondents agreed that “Montreal has lost its prestige over the last few decades.” Only 54% across the board “would recommend Montreal as a place to start a business.” Only 46% of the ROQ felt that Montreal “should have more autonomy to make its own decisions for its future,” but 81% of Montrealers agreed they should. Yet 88% of ROQ and 92% of Montrealers agreed that “Montreal needs to be bold if it wants to move forward and prosper.” What to do? Language laws were recognized as an impediment to Montreal’s prosperity, and 75% of Montrealers think “guaranteeing full bilingual status” would help. “Streamlining and improving Montreal’s city governance” found favour with 97% of all the respondents, and almost as many think “recognizing entrepreneurs who are creating jobs in the city” is important. Premier Marois, take note: A full 94% of Montrealers and encouraging 80% of ROQ believe in “promoting Montreal’s multicultural aspects.” It’s not remarkable that “making a clear and long term commitment to the Canadian Federation” drew agreement from 80% of Montrealers, but that 66% of ROQ felt the same way will probably come as an unpleasant surprise to the PQ government. The key points of overwhelming agreement to take away from Montreal residents’ numbers are: Montreal is a distinct society within Quebec (90%); to stop its decline, Montreal needs to take drastic steps to improve the way it does things (91%); and Montreal deserves special status within Quebec because it is a world-class, cosmopolitan city (74%). The PQ government’s attempt to pass anglophobic Bill 14 offered proof yet again, if it were needed, that language supremacy is more important to sovereigntists than Montreal’s health and prosperity. The proposed Quebec Values Charter makes it crystal clear that Montreal’s strengths of multiculturalism and openness to the world are actually hateful to them. They would rather see Montreal on its knees, reduced to a plodding, unilingual provincial backwater, than take pride in what could be one of the world’s greatest cities. Montreal as a city-state is an idea whose time has come. All Canadians should support it. What is good for Montreal’s prosperity and growth is good for Quebec, for Canada and the world. National Post bkay@videotron.ca

Selon Martin Prosperity Institute The Great Musical North November 12, 2009 The music business is a fascinating example of a creativity-driven industry. Advances in manufacturing and sound recording technology mean that only a small part of the value of the final product – a compact disc or digital download – is generated by manufacturing and distribution. Instead, most of the costs of the music business today are incurred by creative work: writing, producing and performing the music; designing the packaging and branding; and marketing via blogs, magazines, videos and more. This emphasis on creative inputs makes the music industry an excellent research subject for improving our understanding of the geography (and other dynamics) of a broad range of creative industries, from software to medicine to media. While the public perception exists that Canada is a hot spot for music and musicians (from Neil Young to Shania Twain to Kardinal Offishall), a comparison with the global leader in music production – the United States – will help us to separate perception from reality. The most recent period for which detailed and directly comparable data are available is 2007. This Insight aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics of the business by focusing on one particular aspect: the differences between the music industries of Canada and the United States. On a per capita basis, Canada’s music industry dramatically outperforms the US when it comes to the presence of music business establishments (this category includes record labels, distributors, recording studios, and music publishers). Canada has 5.9 recording industry establishments per 100,000 residents, about five times the US figure of 1.2. A detailed breakdown at the metropolitan level can help us to better understand what drives this disparity. To make the scope of our analysis more manageable, we focus on city-regions with populations over 500,000, as they are home to 85% of recording industry establishments and about 65% of the North American population. Using location quotients, a standard industry measure of regional concentration, we find that almost half of the 15 cities with the highest music industry location quotients are Canadian (Exhibit 1). But despite its much lower per capita figure at the national level, the United States has the two top-ranking cities. The first, Nashville, boasts an incredibly high figure due to its heavy specialization in country and pop music. The second, Los Angeles, is the global giant of the entertainment business. US dominance becomes more apparent when we look at size. Recording industry establishments in the US are slightly larger – they have an average of 5.9 employees each, compared to only 5.7 in Canada. But the difference is dramatically more pronounced when it comes to revenue. US establishments earn average receipts of $4.1 million per establishment, compared to only US$540,000 in Canada. So Canada has considerably greater per capita musical activity than the United States in terms of record labels, recording studios, and licensing houses. But the data tell us that the United States has much higher-earning businesses that are more heavily clustered in fewer places – especially Nashville, Los Angeles, and to a lesser extent, New York. While this research is preliminary, we can speculate about what drives these differences. Economic geographers, from Jane Jacobs to Allen Scott to the Martin Prosperity Institute’s own recent analysis, have long noted that growth in creative industries like music tends to be driven by clustering and economies of scope and scale. The concentration of the American music business in a few key cities likely encourages these forces. In Canada, the fact that the music business is more evenly distributed is certainly a positive thing for musicians looking for opportunities in smaller cities. But failure to cluster in a few key centres may be discouraging the Canadian music industry from growing larger and more internationally competitive. [/img]

Prosperity gap to widen, Conference Board says Growth in Quebec expected to hit 1.4% DAVID AKIN, Canwest News Service Published: 8 hours ago Booming Saskatchewan will lead all provinces in economic growth this year, while Ontario and Quebec will suffer through a difficult year, said forecasters at the Conference Board of Canada. The widening prosperity gap between the West and those in central and eastern Canada presents federal policy-makers with some unique challenges. The West may need policies that slow growth and curb inflation, while central Canada has few inflationary worries but needs some economic stimulus to encourage growth. In its semi-annual provincial outlook, the Conference Board says Saskatchewan's economy is booming thanks to surging commodity prices, particularly oil and potash, and as a result, the provincial economy there will grow by 4.2 per cent this year. In fact, the Conference Board said workers are leaving Alberta and heading to Saskatchewan to make their fortune. The report says that, as a result, retailers in Canada's flattest province may be in for a particularly good year. "The positive labour outlook, combined with lofty wage gains, is spurring a spending spree. Retail sales are expected to soar by 12.2 per cent in 2008," it said. Meanwhile, in Quebec, things will be a bit better this year, where growth of 1.4 per cent is expected. "Since the middle of 2007, the Quebec economy has been at a near standstill. The weakness in the manufacturing sector has eroded economic gains made in other industries,' the report said. Next door in Ontario, where manufacturers had particular trouble coping with the one-two punch of a fast-rising loonie and skyrocketing energy prices, economic growth will be just 0.8 per cent, the Conference Board said. Only Newfoundland and Labrador will see slower economic growth than Ontario this year. After a stellar year in 2007 with double-digit economic growth, the Conference Board said the pace in Canada's most eastern province is stalled. It predicts growth there of just 0.2 per cent this year. Overall, the Conference Board believes Canada's economy will grow by 1.7 per cent. The forecasters at the independent think-tank are much more optimistic than the Bank of Canada, which said last month it believes Canada's economy will grow by one per cent.