The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 2

A 2 THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1996 The judges scribble hasty notes as the line of women bounces by. Male and female judges are looking for different things, says judge Tracy Delvecchio: "We are looking for dancing technique and charisma. The men are looking for pierced belly buttons." Not true, insists judge Dino Sisto. "We're also looking for enthusiasm." Forty-nine women survive the first cut. Annie Larouche, cheer-leading co-ordinator, gathers them into a tight little knot in the centre of a gym on the second floor of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.

She tells them to form a line and walk past the judges, making sure to flash both their smiles, and the numbers pinned to their hips, as Wj JOE FIORITO PAGE TWO COLUMN Before there is a rouge, there is rouge: the former occurs in the Canadian Football League when a missed field goal or a punt goes beyond the defending team's goal line and can't be returned, and the latter is brushed on a cheerleader's cheeks, to highlight her healthy complexion. You could see plenty of the latter not to mention eyeliner, big lipstick, ponytails, spandex leggings, running shoes, and skimpy T-shirts at the Alouette cheerleader tryouts. Sixty-five women paid for the chance to learn a couple of basic moves and cheers, and then to strut those moves in front of nine judges, in the hopes of being chosen to cheer for the Als. The price of entry was 10 bucks, to cover administrative costs like helium and photocopying. The photocopying was extensive; each of the nine judges needed a complete menu of cheerleaders' resumes.

The helium was for balloons. Cheerleaders like things festive. The moves were skips and hops, hip-wiggles, arm waves and ponytail flips, each accompanied by a bright little smile. The cheers at this stage are rudimentary, consisting mainly of the standard, Most of the would-be cheerleaders have backgrounds in aerobic dancing and dance instruction, although there'were several students, sales assistants, gym teachers, a contingent of actresses and models, and one blackjack dealer. goaded by example, jumps up and spreads her legs and tries to touch her toes.

She is no more successful than I would be. She will not make the final cut. "It takes a lot of guts to go through this," says judge Louise Josee Mondoux. Ms. Mondoux knows whereof she speaks.

She was Miss Montreal Alouettes, and Miss Grey Cup in 1977; these days she is a successful television personality. Finally, the judges retire, and the would-be cheerleaders clap their hands and cheer the judges. Then they sit in a circle on the floor; Ms. Larouche explains that life is unfair, and some of them will not be chosen, but all of them are wonderful. There are anticipatory tears and hugs.

Why do young women want to cheer? There is no one answer, but most of them say they just want to dance, and most of them manage to sound as if they mean it. If you think we live in the Age of Feminism, cheerleading represents the sexual objectifica-tion of women. If you think we live in the Age of Madonna, cheerleading is feminism's sexual triumph. "We're judged on how we look," says Ms. Mondoux.

"I'm liberated and politically correct, but I had to evaluate these women in very narrow categories. In the end, I'm glad they submitted themselves. It takes courage. This experience will serve them all their lives." Thirty women made the final cut. Go, team, go.

There is another march- past. This time, the young women show off their moves. It is fairly ordinary stuff until one of them shakes her hips with both charisma and enthusiasm. It opens the floodgates. The next girl does a charismatic somersault, and the one after her does the splits with enthusiasm.

"Woo-o-o!" According to Ms. Larouche, a certain amount of altruism also will be required, along with the charisma and enthusiasm. Cheerleaders are volunteers. They have to practice twice a week. They are expected to participate in community events.

Direct support from the Alouettes is minimal, although uniforms and some cheerleading expenses will be covered by team sponsors, and some money will come to them from public appearances and the sale of posters. The gym is squeaky with innocence and the sound of runners on the floor. One young woman, they pass by Poundingly repetitive music ricochets off every corner of the room as the girls form their line. They are bouncy and muscular, giggly and nervous; some of them clearly feel the pressure, and some are self-conscious in front of such close scrutiny It's one thing to be glanced at in a gym; it's quite another to be stared at by a judge. In the manner of women, the would-be cheerleaders wish each other luck.

They look as if they mean it. Men would be less charitable. Men would try to trip the guy in front. There are no men present except forjudges and journalists. Cheerleading is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end.

Karine is 21 years old, bouncy and dewy and full of hope: "This could lead to other opportunities; at the least, other teams would take you seriously." Other teams being the Impact and their ilk. COURT Government lawyers spent four days on motion to quash Bertrand found fake 'Bouchard' a bit haughty ELIZABETH THOMPSON GAZETTE QUEBEC BUREAU QUEBEC Lawyer Guy Bertrand was a bit red-faced yesterday after becoming the latest victim of Quebec's infamous Les Bleus Poudres. Bertrand fell for a hoax Wednesday when radio host Pierre Brassard Justice Robert Pidgeon. "Who will stop these people if it isn't you?" Today, Bertrand is to continue presenting his arguments on the motion to quash. In Ottawa, the federal Justice Department said yesterday that French translations for all of Canada's constitutional documents have existed since 1990.

Officials said that means the Quebec government was wrong to argue, as it did in the Bertrand case Wednesday, that Canada's constitution is invalid because it hasn't all been translated into French. "The federal government will be responding to the Quebec government's arguments in court, to the effect that they have no foundation in law," a department statement said. "There is nothing in the Constitution Act, 1982, that suggests constitutional invalidity as a result of not adopting French versions." Besides, the department argued, the Bertrand case involves an argument about issues in the Constitution Act, 1982, which was adopted in both French and English. It's a set of earlier constitutional documents, adopted by the British Parliament before 1982, which Quebec government lawyers say hadn't been properly translated. ADDITIONAL REPORTING: PAUL WELLS, GAZETTE OTTAWA BUREAU CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 other referendum) was the fruit of the plaintiff's imagination.

"They said that it wasn't even in the air, that we don't know whether we're going to have another referendum, or when or what the question would be. So it has to be established clearly with those witnesses." Since the court can only rule on facts presented before it and cannot take external events like news reports into consideration, Bertrand said he has to prove to the court that the PQ still plans to achieve sovereignty. "What I need to prove with Mr. Bouchard is that he is still serious in his plan of independence. Because if he says tomorrow morning, 'I'm I no longer have any case." Bertrand said he cannot call Bouchard and Parizeau immediately because witnesses cannot be called in during debate on a motion.

In fact, it could be a while before the court even gets around to hearing the case that has escalated tensions between Quebec and Ottawa in recent days. Yesterday morning, four days into the hearing, lawyers for the Quebec government finally wrapped up their initial arguments on their motion to quash the case. A controversial new argument made public Wednesday, say ing the Canadian constitution is invalid because French versions of key parts of it were never formally adopted by Parliament, will only be heard sometime in June to give other parties named in the initial suit a chance to decide whether they want to be heard. Constitutional-law professor Henri Brun, who is serving as a consultant to the Quebec government in the case, said the government spent four days on a motion that would normally take little more than an hour because for Quebec, the motion to quash is the most important part of the case. If it loses at this stage, it probably will lose on Bertrand's initial case, he said.

"I think that the whole case is at that level, the motion to quash, because if the judge says, reject the motion and you have to plead on the merit of the it means for us that he is convinced that the answer is not in constitutional law, not in the conventions of the constitution, but that the answer is in the constitution of Canada," Brun explained to reporters. "At that point the answer is quite clear and automatic for a domestic He will say that the unanimous formula (that Quebec can only separate with the unanimous agreement of the provinces and Ottawa) will have to be respected." Yesterday afternoon, the hearing on the motion to quash continued with Bertrand arguing that the mere fact the government took four days to present its case is proof that its motion should be rejected. Under the law, motions to quash a case should only be granted if the reasons not to hear the case are obvious, he said. Bertrand, a former militant sover-eignist turned militant federalist, warned that sovereignist forces were willing to do anything to achieve Quebec independence. That's why he filed an initial 89-page request for injunctions, he said.

For example, Bertrand said, the government could table legislation in the National Assembly outlining plans for sovereignty, then hold a referendum based on that legislation. However, there would be nothing to stop the government from amending the legislation once Quebecers voted in favor of sovereignty. A referendum should merely be consultative, like a giant public-opinion poll, he argued. It has limits and cannot be used to override the Canadian constitution or the charter of rights. For example, a majority of Quebecers can't just vote in a referendum to exclude blacks from voting, he said.

Bertrand said the government has argued that his action should be quashed because it is being taken before anything has even happened. However, if he waits until after it happens, it will be too late, Bertrand told phoned, pretending he was Premier Lucien Bouchard, and said he wanted to settle Bertrand's challenge of Quebec's referendum law out of court. "I didn't realize it (wasn't Bouchard)," Bertrand told reporters yesterday. "It was only when we had Bertrand Says he was suspicious On this day OUCHARD Admits economy is suffering MAY 17: Montreal was founded today, in 1642. Just in time to patch the potholes for the onslaught of tourists.

(The date is disputed, but this one is the most often cited, in case any historians are reading this). Tomorrow agreed that his chief of staff would call me to set a date (to have dinner together), just before I hung up, he said it was Pierre Brassard." Bertrand was the latest celebrity to fall victim to the talents of Brassard and his comedy troupe, Les Bleus Poudres. In recent months, Brassard has successfully pulled off similar hoaxes on people ranging from French actress Brigitte Bardot to the pope. Shortly before last fall's referendum vote, Brassard successfully infiltrated Buckingham Palace's screening and posed as Prime Minister Jean Chretien during a 17-minute conversation with Queen Elizabeth H. Bertrand said yesterday he was initially suspicious when his secretary told him that the premier's chief of staff was on the line.

He said he wanted to get a number and call back, but before he knew it he found himself on the phone with "Bouchard." Bertrand said he should also have twigged when "Bouchard" whom he has addressed using the familiar "tu" for years started off the conversation using the formal "vous." "I found myself saying, 'Hello, Lucien, how is it and he 'vouvoy-ered' me and he had a bit of a haughty air. So I told myself that even though we know each other well, perhaps it's better if we use vous." Bertrand said "Bouchard," who is also a lawyer, even joked with him about whether Bertrand was going to charge him for the call. Bertrand said "Bouchard" told him the court case was pulling the province apart and kept asking him what it would take for him to drop the case. "I told him he couldn't ask me to do that because I was sure that his secession plan would damage Quebec." Bertrand said the joke call could have had serious repercussions. "If, for example, he asked how can we arrange the court case and I had said, 'What are you going to or something like that, it would have been very bad for me." ARTS ENTERTAINMENT: High priest of international theatrical avant-garde Peter Brook presents Samuel Beckett's Oh Les Beaux Jours (Happy Days) in Quebec City and Montreal this week.

Pat Donnelly tells us what took him so long to get around to Beckett. THE REVIEW: Montreal's rich heritage of religious buildings could be in danger as members of religious communities age and must sell off their properties. Now a public debate is stirring over whether the city's churches, convents and monasteries should be preserved as public property. BOOKS: Thousands of people uprooted by the revolution in Hungary in 1956 have found homes in Montreal, including two of the Hungarian language's most influential poets, Gyorgy Vitez and Laszlo Kemenes Gefin. CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 with governing.

The National Assembly is not expected to debate a motion reaffirming Quebec's right to self-determination until next week, but Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Jacques Brassard wasn't going to let the week end without responding to Chretien, telling him Quebec will resist any attempt by Ottawa to impose its rules. He said Quebec would consider any federally imposed referendum question or vote plurality "null and inoperative" and said Chretien is acting like a "bully boy" in trying to seize control of Quebec's referendum process. The next referendum will be held in the same way as the last two, the question will be adopted by the National Assembly and a 50-per-cent-plus-one vote will be the rule, Brassard said. "Mr. Chretien likes to play the despot and say he'll come to Quebec and interfere in the process, dictate the question, increase the voting level, permit partition.

I think we have to say again, this is not the way it will happen. "What is clear today is we are before a kind of political-terrorism operation on the part of the federal government that is designed to increase the Liberal Party of Canada's rating in the polls in English Canada." Brassard said the separatists lost the last referendum when the vote was under 50 per cent by a shade and they respected the result, so the same level will apply again. Besides Brassard's counter-assault, Bouchard said Quebec will also continue to fight Ottawa in the courts, arguing Quebec's latest defence, which is that Canada's constitution is not valid because parts of it weren't formally adopted in French. Quebec's position was disputed by Ottawa yesterday. Bouchard suggested Quebec has other surprises left to spring on the federal lawyers, noting that laws have crumbled in the past under the very same language question.

"This is the kind of catch Ottawa exposes itself to when they transform a political problem into a judicial one," Bouchard said. But Bouchard also faced some tough questions from host Charles Gibson of Good Morning America. "Americans, I must tell you, just don't get it," Gibson said. "Why, with what we see as such a stable nation, why in the world would Quebec want to withdraw?" "We're so different from you," Bouchard responded. "Our history is so different.

There were two colonies here, one French, one English. The French came before, the English after that, and both joined together to form Canada. So it was a two-nation-country dream and the dream broke up. That's the problem. "Had Canada lived up to the dream there would be no sovereignty movement.

"The reason the dream broke up was because the English-speaking people in the rest of Canada and the federal state do not recognize Quebec as a society, as a nation, and they are always invading our power jurisdictions. "We don't feel and we are not recognized in our country. We wasted 30 years trying to reform it from the inside and it was not possible. We sovereignists don't seem to be part of the family because the family doesn't recognize us as we are." Bouchard conceded, however, that the economy is hurting because of the sovereignty talk. "Well, in a way you can say that and you're not wrong," he said.

"But in a way this is a time to invest in Quebec because smart money will come in. "A few weeks ago we launched a Quebec bond issue. They told us it would take one or two days. It took 10 minutes. Smart money people know this is the time to invest in Quebec." For daily soap opera updates call The Gazette INFO-LINE INFO LINE 841-8600 250 St.

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