The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • P6

A6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018 MONTREAL GAZETTE LUCINDA CHODAN EDITOR EASEM EOSHRA MANAGING EDITOR JEFF BLOND EPUTY MANAGIN ED ITOR EDIE AUSTIN ED ITORIAL PAGE EDITOR EMMA MCKAY DIGITAL EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JAMES BASSIL NATIONAL DIRECTOR, DIGITAL CONTENT, POSTMEDIA JON STEWART IRECTOR, MED IA SALES MARIO BELLUSCIO DIR ECTOR OF FINANCE Published by the proprietor Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network 1010 Ste-Catherine St. Suite 200, Montreal, H3B 5L1 Amid trade woes, Canada has allies in New England Quebec's neighbours are aware of mutual economic interests, Patrick Lacroix says. Each week, The Gazcac mill he running oneof my older earlmms ihat feel ix still relevant today and tonehes in way on contemporary events. Tlth is dte firsi in the. term.

Aislin's Throwback Thursday Jn this 2002 sketch oflcgcndary Gazette sports writer Red Fisher, I portrayed him as the supreme oracle on all things hockey. The only change I've made to die drawing is io add r.o Red's cap an Order of Canada pin (sometimes referred to as asnowllake by its recipients) in recognition of his appointment to the honour last week. And about time too! Judge not alone to feel disgust Re: words to express disgust I judge says of elder abuse" (Montreal Gazette, Jan. 10) No words. No prison time.

too, am disgusted. Derek Wisdom, Anjou Abusers deserve bigger punishment There is something wrong with our judicial system when ajudge can find "no words to express the disgust" he feels toward the acts perpetrated against an elderly victim, yet the defendants get off" with a slap on the wrist. If this is the best we can do to protect the most vulnerable in our society, we have a long way to go. In my view, Anita Obodzin-ski and Arthur Trzciakowski deserve to be in jail. Perhaps incarceration would deter At the outlets I go to, the employees working the coffee machines, sandwich makers and ovens are hard workers totally committed to their jobs, greeting customers with a smile and keeping the premises clean, whether there is one person in line or 20.

I would be happy to pay a little more so front-line workers can put a few more dollars in their pockets and maintain paid breaks of reasonable lengths. As a former finance person in charge of managing large businesses, and as a past consultant, I know that giving employees a little more pays dividends in the end. Owners have a right to want to grow their pockets, but they should not do so on the backs of employees in this way. Morton Trier, Dollard-des- Ormeaux SHARE YOUR VIEWS: lettersmontrealgazette.com other would-be abusers from carrying out such acts. Cynthia Jarjour, St-Lambert Gabrielle Bouchard: a welcome voice Re: "Transgender president of Quebec women's group faces backlash" (NP Montreal, Jan.

9) Congratulations to Gabrielle Bouchard on her appointment as president of the Federation des femmes du Quebec. Madame Bouchard has an impressive track record of fighting for the rights of sexual and gender minorities as former head of the Gender Advocacy Centre at Concordia University, and will be an effective voice for equality for women in her new role provided she is not prevented from doing so by those who deny the authenticity of her identity as a woman. The experience of being a woman cannot be boiled down to any one thing there are all kinds of us, and our experience of inequality differs vastly depending on our sexuality, skin colour, income and, indeed, whether we are cis- or transgender. As a feminist, I'm delighted to make room for women of all stripes in the struggle for gender equality. And surely this goal can only be met by practising love, openness and empathy rather than hatred, fear and exclusion the very things we are struggling to overturn.

Jennifer DeLeskie, Westmount No way to treat Tims employees Re: "Ontario premier under fire over remarks against Tim Hortons' founding families" (FP Montreal, Jan. 6) The way I see the saga at Tim Hortons, those at the tip of the financial pyramid seem interested only in lining their pockets, and to heck with the people on the front lines. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised Americans a renegotiated, more advantageous NAFTA, but beneath his commercial sabre-rattling lies a more promising and perhaps more interesting story. Across New England, state leaders are approaching trade with Canada from the perspective of mutual benefits.

NAFTA talks and the perpetually thorny issue of softwood lumber have concealed much of the economic relationship between Canada and the United States. In New England, that relationship is perhaps best captured as "Hampton and Hydro." The dollars that Canadian tourists spend at beaches like Hampton in New Hampshire and Old Orchard in Maine and at ski resorts and outlet stores are vital. Meanwhile, Massachusetts and Vermont have come to rely on cheap electricity from Hydro- Quebec to support their needs. In New Hampshire, the controversial Northern Pass project has cleared regulatory hurdles. The energy giant may soon expand its market in southern New England, particularly in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, state governments are appealing to Canadian businesses to create jobs south of the border. In December, the Vermont weekly Seven Days reported on Gov. Phil Scott's shuttle marketing his frequent trips to Canada to forge business ties and encourage foreign investment in Vermont. In short, whereas New York State recently embarked on an ill-fated "Buy American" campaign, most New England leaders have identified key linkages spurred by commerce with the northern neighbour. Canadian representatives have utilized a shared history to reciprocate the governors' outreach, particularly the hundreds of thousands of French Canadians lured to New England mills in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

From Winooski to Woonsocket to Water-ville, these immigrants' legacy endures. Every year, in March, Francophonie Day provides an opportunity to celebrate long-standing ties between Quebec and the northeastern states. Canadian emissaries, including David Alward, our consul general in Boston, have become fixtures at these events. On Jan. 15, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly is to address the Franco-American community in Manchester, N.H.

Other ostensibly cultural events have, in the last year, offered pathways for greater economic dialogue. Last winter, a conference on Vermont's Quebec connections, past and present, ended with the mayors of Saint -Jean -sur-Pdchelieu and Burlington formally pledging to support the extension of Highway 35 between Saint-Sebastien and Interstate 89. Similarly, some business leaders in Maine hope to see a commitment from their elected officials to improve and expand Route 201 between Interstate 95 and Quebec. Later this month, a week after Joly's speech, negotiators from Canada, the United States and Mexico will meet in Montreal for the sixth round of NAFTA negotiations. A trade war seems unlikely, but Trump's bellicose rhetoric and unpredictability have added urgency to lower-level talks for both countries, as well as Mexico.

Whatever the outcome, as Trump enters his second year in office, there is hope on both sides that the friendly spirit long associated with the "longest undefended border" in the world will prevail. Last August, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Franco-American with business experience in New Brunswick and a crucial Trump ally, sought to assure Canadian counterparts of the president's commitment to free trade. Officials here hope LePage will weigh on Trump to soften his stance on NAFTA. In 1953, in his first visit to Canada, then-senator John F.

Kennedy discussed the historic ties between the two countries in an address at the Universite de Montreal. He did not fail to mention the large contingent of Franco -Americans in Massachusetts. Eight years later, in Ottawa, he famously stated that "geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners.

And necessity has made us allies." Kennedy thus identified the profound inertia that favoured amicable relations between Canada and the United States. But something more powerful than inertia will be required to overcome the pressure exerted by the White House. The good will showed by stakeholders in New England is, in this regard, cause for optimism. Patrick Lacroix is a historian, a scholar of Franco -American studies and an instructor at Bishop's University in Sherbrooke. Black-gowned militancy in Hollywood matters Efforts by the well-connected and well-dressed are often key in bringing change, Daphne Bramham writes.

star you can do anything grab them by the pussy." But on the flip side of the celebrity coin on Sunday night, there was Oprah! The first African-American woman to be honoured for her contributions to the entertainment industry (and only the 15th woman in the 66-year history of the award), Winfrey's acceptance speech was a rallying cry for change. Framed around her personal history as the daughter of a woman who cleaned other women's houses, Winfrey spoke of the failed quest of Recy Taylor, who was raped by six white men in 1944, to get justice. She talked about "the women whose names we'll never know" domestics, farm labourers and every other field of endeavour who have been sexually abused and harassed and been too frightened to speak out. There were fears among women's activists that Trump's narrow and stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton would kill progress on feminist issues. Others, including me, believed that it invigorates a new generation.

The first stirring was the worldwide Women's March. A day after Trump's inauguration, nearly five million American women, as well as hundreds of thousands of oth ers marched in 81 countries many wearing ridiculous "pussy" hats. In addition to protesting the misogynist Trump's election, they were calling for women's rights to be fully realized. But Trump's actions and his accusers are only a small part of what has galvanized women. The MeToo movement started by civil rights activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of sexual abuse gained star-powered momentum in October after the first allegations of abuse against producer Harvey Weinstein.

Actress Alyssa Milano's use of the hashtag and her call for women to tweet their experiences went viral. By the end of 2017, high-profile men in the entertainment industry had been engulfed by allegations of sexual misconduct. We've all heard the adage that well-behaved women rarely make history. Less acknowledged is that provoking real change almost always requires that the ranks of the ill-mannered include the well-connected and well-dressed whether it's Emmeline Pankhurst, Gloria Steinem, Rosemary Brown or women in black on the red carpet. Daphne Bramham is a columnist at the Vancouver Sun.

Rich and famous women wore black, called out inequality instead of responding to fawning questions about whose gowns they were wearing. For once during a Hollywood awards ceremony, they ignored the industry imperative to thank their agents. Instead, they spoke about inequality, sexual harassment and abuse. Beautifully dressed and bad mannered, they challenged both the entertainment industry's status quo and society's more generally. And, like it or not, what happened at Sunday night's Golden Globe Awards matters, because we live in a celebrity-obsessed society.

It's now almost axiomatic that for substantive change to occur, it must be supported if not embraced and led by famous people. After second-wave feminism crested in the 1970s, few celebrities have embraced it. Their reluctance mirrors that of women generally. Two years ago, for example, a Chatelaine poll of 1,000 Canadian women found that while the overwhelming majority agreed with feminist goals and aspirations, negative connotations associated with "feminist" meant that only three in 10 women identified themselves as such. So when some of the world's most beautiful women espouse feminist ideals, they blow away the stereotype of feminists as ugly, humourless man-haters in schlumpy clothes accessorized by chips on their shoulders.

By saying time's up and that sexual harassment and abuse must end, and backing it with a legal defence fund that has already raised $16 million for those without resources of their own, they may not have empowered the 20 million people who watched the awards on TV. But their black-gowned militancy may have put those issues on the popular agenda, and may have inspired others to join the fight for justice and equality. The activism comes little more than a year after the release of a 2005 videotape of now-president Donald Trump bragging that "when you're a.