Map and directions to 33 Avenue Rosemount, Westmount, QC, Canada

Welcome to Wednesday Night #1319 Jan 24, 2007

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN BE WITH US - IT MAKES THE CHAIRMAN'S JOB EASIER

Isn't the summer weather lovely? So lovely in fact that we are having a very hard time concentrating on serious matters (although last Wednesday's Wed1318 discussion provides plenty of food for on-going thought).

After all the build-up to and frenzied reporting of the G8 Summit, the Economist tells us that this week's news will likely include:

• Israel's choice of the Labour party's new leader: Ehud Barak
• The result of the first round of the French parliamentary vote and what that means for the second round, however the conclusion seems pretty well foregone. The best news is, of course, the resounding rejection of Jean-Marie LePen's awful National Front party.
• Next Sunday's meeting of European foreign ministers prior to the European summit [aren't we all becoming a bit weary of summit this and summit that?] of the following week. They will try to find agreement on reforming the European constitution - any bets?

President Bush is back from his personal triumph - visits to Albania and Bulgaria where he is, apparently a great hero. We surmise the inhabitants don't read much of our press. Now he has gone to work in an attempt to salvage his immigration bill. It's ironic that the one decent thing he has tried to do seems to be the only one that will be defeated by some senators of his own party.

To nobody's great surprise, despite threats from Atlantic Canada's MPs, the federal budget was passed today. Now would all those badly-behaved children please take recess?

And it wouldn't be summer without a soupçon of scandal, so now we have the turmoil over former Lt. Governor Thibault's expenses ... it seems the lady may have been double dipping.

Poor Pierre Marc Johnson, the enquiry into the collapse of the Laval overpass seems to just go on and on and on.

We see that public consultations are starting on Mayor Tremblay's $8.1-billion, 20-year transportation plan www.ville.montreal.qc.ca . We look forward to hearing an informed opinion on this topic before the end of August when briefs are to be presented.

Wall Street continues the bumpy ride that Ron Meisels (watch for him on Report on Business Wednesday night at 7) and Jacques Clément referred to last Wednesday. ''It's partially an excuse to take profits, but there are also some legitimate concerns that if bond yields get high enough, they will present an attractive alternative to stocks, and that higher interest rates will reduce private equity activity,'' said Edward Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc. Wasn't he the one who kicked off the panic about Y2K?

Oh Yes, the final episode of the Sopranos on Sunday evening. Were you all watching? We have never enjoyed an addiction to the Sopranos, having graduated from Star Trek to Who Shot JR and later (much later) West Wing, but we sympathize with all those who were left on tenterhooks at the end of the final show.

Indeed, it must be summer if we devote space to a television show we never watched.

BUT, before we become completely jaded, we must call to your attention a most remarkable piece in today's National Post by Jonathan Kay in praise of Al Gore and Bono. It is a very generous tribute whose sentiments might more readily be found in the New York Times. We applaud Mr. Kay and the sentiments his conclusion " They have done, in other words, what just about every man alive, in his deepest egocentric reveries, secretly wants to do. I'm not a card-carrying environmentalist or humanitarian. But I am a man. And so whatever your politics, I hope you'll understand why I think what these two men have done is pretty darn cool." a class="b2" href="http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/story.html?id=bdfce66c-9735-4552-801f-04d9d5a10ba3" onmouseover="return overlib('click to np ', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_" >MAN OF ACTION

On that happy note, we invite you to come and share your thoughts with us about any of the above, or anything else that intrigues you. AND PLEASE RESPOND WITH A YAY OR NAY!

We look forward to your company.

Diana & David Nicholson
dtnicholson@wednesdaynight.net
Tel: +1 (514) 934-0023

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