newspower.eu

Updated: Sun May. 20 2012 3:15:06 PM

The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Montreal police are being criticized over an altercation caught on video that shows a group of patrons on a patio bar getting pepper sprayed during a protest Saturday night.

Surveillance footage, being played in a loop today on one of Quebec’s all-news stations, shows several people sprayed by riot police at close range.

The footage shows customers scrambling to get inside the bar as a police officer knocks over tables and chairs.

Another video from a local TV station shows the officers took action after one was hit by a flying chair.

Martin Guimond, the owner of the bar, says police went too far and he’s considering taking legal action.

There is a protest underway today in Montreal against Quebec’s new emergency law aimed at putting an end to the student conflict.

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Please Add Comments

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Trey

The cops need to cool it with the pepper spray. It’s usage should be treated the same way as firing a firearm. If they can’t do that, than they need to have their pepper spray taken away.

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Doug

Enough already with the excuses for these criminals; if other people did somehtng wrong (illegal) deal with it and stop using what may have happenes as an excuse for these people.

Each of us is individually responsible for what we do and say.

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Mike

Can this student fees increase be cancelled, please? We’ve had it with riots and violence. How much does the fee bring to the government coffer? How much has been destroyed through this violence? Please cancel the increase

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Pete Speers

Police pepper spraying bar patrons was not unprovoked. 1. I am sure the people were told, “go inside, or go home, this is an illegal gathering.” 2. By remaining at the scene of an illegal gathering, you are considered to be participating. Police cannot make a distinction between protester and spectator. If you do not wish to be subject to police force, leave. 3. The crowd was becoming violent. Witness a chair being thrown at police moments before the pepper spray.

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Will

None of this is isolated to the cause of students. Laws cannot quell such unrest; there must be some acknowledgement on behalf of the governing parties. I would suggest formalizing the discussion and using more diplomatic means for settling. You can call them whiny, arrogant, anarachist, whatever, but they are there (with a few hundred-thousand supporters no-less). No amount of commentary by idle forum jockeys will make a difference.
Canada has a history of protest movements, all of which have contributed to our great society in some form. To move forward, we need to be pragmatic about the situation at hand. There are no group rights, only individual un-alienable rights.

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freda bighetty

Wake up Canada…Our own government silences us but goes to war defending others to protest. The young in this country see this…older have already been brain-washed and see little from there comfy lives. We are slowly been turned into a police state and a technological communism where everyones move will be tracked and if you speak out in peace you cannot wear a mask…good-bye halloween

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gary

About all I cansay about the protesters is follow the laws like the rest of us or face the consequences. I dont have much sympathy for them. The organizers should be held responsible for the damage caused

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Evy

Bring in the Army and get this nonsense over with. This has gone beyond ridiculous. An embarrasement to the entire Country.

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paul in montreal

I wonder when the students will start singing selections from ‘Les Miserables’?

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Wondering in Alberta

Isn’t this kind of actions that earlier generations of Canadians fought to free us from? Burning things and suppressing others? Wake up kids.

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Roxy

The scenes of armored police brutalizing Quebec’s youth ; the use of batons , tear gas , rubber bullets , water canons , scape-goating , smearing draconian penalties to suppress crush student dissent is appalling , unsettling , very , very sad . That should not be happening in a democracy definitely not in Canada .

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IN in Montreal

All the students should be ticketed and charged for the damages and the millions of dollars lost through their protests. They are concerned about their rights but have no respect or care about the rights of the citizens of Montreal. Also the PQ and the Labour Unions who are supporting the students should be charged for inciting violence and should also pay for the damages.

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Victor in Vaughan

The Quebec Students think that this is a spark of their New Revolution. It’s the cool thing to do, to smash windows and create chaos, hopefully enough people will be arrested so they can overturn the government of Quebec. …….ALL in the name of $ 240 per year. The future looks real bright in Quebec.

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Fred

I wish the rest of Canada could hold a referendum to make Quebec seperate.

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Les

You know your province can’t govern when they have to pass emergency legeslation.This seems to be an annual event in this province.

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erika

I doubt this will be published, but if the MEDIA would quit fanning the flames, this would have died a natural death long ago! These criminals thrive on publicity so the MEDIA is the problem!!!

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FCS

Wow the entitlement generation really doesn’t like when their entitlements are curtailed do they ? I also like the posters on here predicting how this is going to spread to the rest of Canada and that the masses are going to rise up. Yeah right. . I hate to break it to you but he rest of Canada doesn’t care abou this ridiculous crap or Quebec. Have a nice summer. I’ll be at the cottage.

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A

Charge em!!! enough is enough, these people are out of control and out of touch with reality. Deal with them harshly and move on

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Matt, Guelph

Yeah, I can’t really blame the students. For the longest time, our generation was promised that “if you go to school, you won’t have to get a job flipping burgers” and yet they are entering a world in which there is no work. They were told last week that they should be happy doing any job, by our wonderful Finance Minister, and at the same time the province isn’t even on their side, trying to force through proportionally, incredibly huge tuition hikes… for that increasingly useless university degree. It is ABOUT TIME that someone from the younger generation takes a stand against the completely unfair environment the boomers have left us. It’s our turn to be able to grow and flourish too.

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Robert B

To Laura: move to Burma, they just had free elections for their people or China or Russia or Vietnam or etc, go anywhere but Canada, where you are being oppressed!!!!! What a doo doo…..

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Gayle

Please add comments…but then I get censored?
Let me try this again…

Problem (initiated by the government) Reaction (by radicals placed in student body) Solution (Martial law, the reason the problem was initiated in the first place.)

The students are being used as dupes. This tactic is being used world-wide. Wake up people. I agree with the person who said earlier, “Those who give up liberty in exchange for security deserve neither.

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johnp

it’s interesting to see the federal government totally ignore what’s happening in this pathetic province,I’m sure most Canadians wish Quebec would separate as soon as possible..good riddance to bad rubbish

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JB in Ontario

The police should feel free to use as much force as they feel is necessary. Having some of these rioters wearing masks and covering their faces is nothing but trouble. The police in Montreal are going to have to be prepared to use their muscle. It is getting to be a little ridiculous and it is only going to get worse unless order is brought back to Montreal.

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Roget

Authorities must answer violence and civil disobedience with crushing violence.

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Tim

Their argument fails at the most basic level because anyone can access post-secondary. You don’t need to be rich as neither I, nor my family are well off at all. I still managed to complete, and pay for, an education thats cost 3 – 4 times what it would cost for these protesters without a single cent from my parents. All it takes is a part time job and hard work, both of which provide as much of an education as the classroom. As accessibility was the main plank of their platform, I fail to see how their platform has any credibility at all. As for the “we’re being repressed!” battlecry going up now, what did you expect would happen when you started terrorizing other people? The finger wagging stops eventually and the riot police start.

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Franck Commonsens

Why does the article does NOT mention that the “”police” fired INSIDE a crowded bar (The saint bock) rubber bullets and massive dose of pepper spray on the citizens, who where not even part of the manifestation? The police not only abused of their power but have endangered citizens and committed criminal acts!Is that the country we want?

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rmsbl4

@ Josh It’s MARTIAL law. The only place you use any punctuation is . at the end of your ramblings

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Mark

And they’re not being punished with force because?… I know I wouldn’t mind if police started to club them on the skulls to put them down.

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Lucie

Laura,What do they have to lose? What about 1 semester of school, a summer job to pay for their tuition next session which will be a repeat of this one, what about the respect and support from those who would have some level of empathy for the cause, what about self-respect, what about Quebec’s image nationally and internationally, etc. These unemployment terrorist thugs, (who else has all this time to wreak havoc), are hiding behind a cause that does not belong to them. Unfortunately Laura, the real students so much more to lose than I. I believe that the vast majority of students just want to get on with it. Time is money and they’ve lost too much of both so far.

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irma1957

I suggest to all the poeople who can only see inside the box to start reading some REAL NEWS and get a clue as to what is outside the box. These students aren’t stupid and can clearly understand how all levels of gov’t are trying to suppress them into silence. Next up: the masses as they realize bit by bit just how we are being manipulated by big gov’t and big corporations, taxed to death, zero accountability for all the political corruption, misuse of tax dollars. The gov’t clearly refuses to address these problems because it would provide real transparency but instead legislates stupid laws that only fuel the fire. Some people are finally clueing in but it’s going to be awhile before the masses catch on and say enough is enough with the gov’t.

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irma1957

I suggest to all the poeople who can only see inside the box to start reading some REAL NEWS and get a clue as to what is outside the box. These students aren’t stupid and can clearly understand how all levels of gov’t are trying to suppress them into silence. Next up: the masses as they realize bit by bit just how we are being manipulated by big gov’t and big corporations, taxed to death, zero accountability for all the political corruption, misuse of tax dollars. The gov’t clearly refuses to address these problems because it would provide real transparency but instead legislates stupid laws that only fuel the fire. Some people are finally clueing in but it’s going to be awhile before the masses catch on and say enough is enough with the gov’t.

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Remi (McGill student)

i wish everyone would just examine the issue at hand (accessibility of education) and stop the raising tensions already.

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Frank Schlesser

A day earlier, players in Quebec’s film industry were sporting them at the Cannes Film Festival.

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The same leeches that live on government subsidies funded with my taxes

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Dixie from Alberta

Where are the water cannons? They could disperse a crowd quite quick. As for the police being accused of using excessive force, what would you expect? Have them sit on the sidelines and watch while your city is destroyed? What a mess and kind of destroys the tourism industry for this city this summer. Less taxes collected by the province and less subsidies for education and therefore even higher tuition increases. You go Jean. The rest of Canada is behind you right now.

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warren

These protestors could care less about democracy. They are a bunch of spoiled thugs who through intimidation want to destroy the system that supports them in the first place. The fact that these students pay almost nothing on a percentage basis towards the REAL cost of an education shows how coddled they really are !! Shame on them! Time for the hard working, law abiding citizens of Quebec to show some courage stand up against these communists.

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Will

Yaaa Laura!!!! You hit the nail on the head girl! Finally, some common sense and wisdom!!

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GHW

This is a protest against our current system. What these deluded kids don’t yet understand is this is about as good as it gets. It does however get much worse quite easily as, apparently, we’re all about to find out.

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Josh

Jack Standing for a cause is one thing breaking countless laws is another.

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A PLAINTIVE SIGH

Perhaps, soon, these spoiled and entitled left-wing children will conclude their ongoing political temper tantrum with burning Quebec to the ground, and getting it all over with. (Once and a while a news story comes along that descends into the abyss of unfathomable stupidity. This “tuition hike” issue — which the majority of the province’s taxpaying residents support, because it is fair and just, and still leaves Quebec’s students with rates that are better than the national average — has become a ridiculous government-sponsored farce that now, fittingly, is garnering attention outside Canada. What a pathetic embarrassment. Will the army be sent in next to enact military rule and restore order to Montreal? Thanks, Liberal Premier Charest. Good luck from here with your dumb mess. I can’t pay attention to it anymore.)

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allan

The terrorists will continue because they know that the police are hindered by politicians.If the the police injure people even in defence of themselves, they will be cast as torturers, and the thugs know this.Our streets dont belong to us anymore, they belong to terrorists, courtesy of politicians

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Josh

Laura No its not about the debt if it was this would not be demanding free education which would make the debt far worse this is about a very few 30% of the student body want free this and free that many also want communism.

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Paul

Is this in Canada? Seriously, the cowards need to grow up and stop embarrassing themselves.

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Laura

This is now larger than a protest over fees and tuition. This is the reaction of the next generation spilling over against the mess created by this generation.When I think of the Quebec leadership (Charest) and then I think of Harper, Marie Antoinette comes to mind. The next generation isn’t afraid of those who would legislate their way out of accountability. Really, what do they have to lose? What a surprise it is going to be to Steve Antoinette, Jim Flaherty-Antoinette, Mr. Charest-Antoinette…when they discover the power of the people and those they would treat as peasants.

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reidjr

eddytoronto
You do not have a right to black buildings block traffic burn items threaten people.

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Josh

eddytoronto Yes there is freedom and rights we have one of the best in the world what is important to keep in mind mahy want communism meaning less rights and less freedom.

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Jack

Always, the same people with the same ideas posting comments all day long. Must be jealous since you never stood for anything in your life.

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GHW

Behold the fruits of unfettered liberalism.

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Paid my dues twice

In every other province in this country kids work summer jobs and often take part-time jobs during the school year to pay for their education. Parents put money aside in RESPs and other savings plans. Loans and bursaries are doled out. Some kids take a year off to save even more money. Yet in Quebec the majority of the protesters that I approached did not have a part-time job, and many of them did not feel it necessary to sweat all summer long to save for school. In Quebec we pay on average, $2,000 to $5,000 more per year in provincial income tax. Perhaps if there is a mass exodus of disenfranchised tax paying citizens and corporations that sponsor colleges, the province will collect less tax and the schools will get fewer handouts. Then who will pay? Socialism does not work in a sea of democracy.

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eddytoronto

@Mq ..You are Correct!

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eddytoronto

@Ottawa Jack…You have No Clue what is Going On…But You Will When You Pension is Worthless and Bread is $5 or $10 a loaf in a month from today..Iran will be attacked and Yall will see what Austerity is all about…You think Greece is bad Just wait..

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dan

The goverment of the day should have let them seperate. They are giving the rest of Canada a bad name. What a bunch of idiots.

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eddytoronto

In my view the situation has changed Ladies and Gentleman …Its no more about tuition its now about freedom…Yes the students have come to understand there is No Freedom in this Country and that we have a Criminal Fascist Corperate Goverment running the Show…

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mike berd

These people are idiots, enough said.

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Len

Sounds silly maybe but maybe the gov’t in Quebec should just close the colleges and universities. No schools, what is there to protest. Want your schools back, pay the increase.

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Gerald F.

I can tell you from my experiences living in Montreal at the time of the FLQ crissis that when the big guys really decide to come in and move a crowd, you move and you don’t come back. I have have nieces and nephews going to school in Montreal and they think this is stupid . Over what $375.00 ? It’s the cost of living kids now get over it.

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The Proud Albertan

How many of these protestors are actually tuition paying students? I’d wager a good many of them are just your average thugs and rioters out to cause mayhem in the guise of “the cause”.

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Alan

The general Quebec resident supports the bill. These people are hijacking the freedoms of Quebecers to go about their business.It is at times like this that you say bring in the Toronto police. Yes, they were criticized but when protests take on the seedy side of the population and lose their original rationale then it is time to play hardball. The students have no valid beef and any claims to such are pure nonsense They need to wake up and go back to their general arts degrees. The masks truly show their cowardice.

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Rob

bring the army on. Charest is an arrogant socialist who now is experiencing the results of his welfare state measures. The subsidy should stop here. For these people to expect for Quebec , the bankrupt province, to keep on subsidizing their education is beyond me. This serves Quebec right, for living beyond their means for years and depending on the National government to maintain a ficticious status quo.

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Al

The students have no idea the “education” they will receive if they get sentenced with a prison term! Good luck.

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Katie

I rather think there is more to this than just students. I think there are other anarchy activists manipulating them. This does look like anarchy. Montreal is not looking good at all through this.

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Josh

Get Real I really hope they do take this bill to court as it will back fire on the protesters they will be told you must respect other peoples rights you must respect court orders.

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Josh

MqWe should just toss the charter out then if you just think Liberty should meany more then everything else well that goes aginst the charter and does breech it.

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Really, Get lost.

Still the lowest tuition in the country with new increases. Might be time for this portion of the country to go away to France if they so desire. Could we have a vote from the rest of Canada and ask the question, Does the rest of Canada want Quebec as part of Canada instead of Quebec asking if they want to be part of of Canada?? That is enough!! Sure would be interesting.

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Get Real

Guess who killed democracy? The violent anarchist protesters did. So buy a mirror and look straight into it. Furthermore, how about the rights of thousands of students who want to go to school, do you also respect their rights? NO, so why should we respect your rights???? and BTW, every protest turns violent nowadays, so all your fault .

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Josh

If they keep it up there will be no choice but to bring in marshall law meaning no partys no going out in short Montreal will be a dry city all summer it could also mean festival get postponed sports events are called off.

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Ottawa Jack

The ‘protests’ have shifted away from tuition fee rates to ‘any reason to create unrest’. Anarchists are now involved, Quebec seperatists are now involved, the criminal element is involved. .All being fueled by open bars alcohol.This willl be a summer of continuous Vancouver Stanley Cup riots. The only possible solution is an election to give the ‘silent majority’ of Queckers a voice. Really a sad grave situation

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Mq

The bill reads like this: Those that sacrifice liberty in exchange for security, deserve neither.

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Conservative MP Ted Opitz’s 2011 federal election win in Etobicoke Centre was declared null and void today in a challenge by former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Opitz won the May 2011 election by 26 votes, but Wrzesnewskyj challenged the results over voting irregularities. The case required more than 26 votes be thrown out for it to be declared void.

Conservative Party spokesman Fred Delorey said they’re disappointed with the court decision after 52,000 people in Etobicoke Centre “followed the rules, cast their ballots and today had their democratic decision thrown into doubt.”

“The judge has found problems with the way that Elections Canada ran the election in this riding,” he said in an emailed statement.

“As the judge took care to point out in the decision, Ted Opitz and the Conservative campaign team followed the rules.

Opitz’s office released an identical statement.

Wrzesnewskyj told CBC News that the riding needs a byelection to restore democracy.

‘Something broke’ in the last federal election

“Something broke in the last federal election,” Wrzesnewskyj said. “It’s a terrible thought not to know whether or not someone who is in the House of Commons, voting on laws by which we govern ourselves, whether those individuals are actually an expression of the will of the people.”

He and the Conservatives seem to agree there’s a need for more training for the volunteers and temporary workers the election agency takes on in advance of voting day.

“Elections Canada has to have the resources to properly train their officials, to make sure that people who vote are — it’s as basic as making sure that they actually are Canadian citizens.”

On Power Politics Wrzesnewskyj told host Rosemary Barton that he intends to run in a byelection.

“This is an incredible victory for Canadian democracy,” he said by phone. “It restores people’s confidence in the integrity of our electoral processes.”

NDP House leader Nathan Cullen was pleased with the court’s decision.

“Score one for democracy,” he told Barton. “I hope the government doesn’t appeal.”

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said in a statement that democracy “was tested and perhaps undermined during the last election.”

“Reports and allegations of election fraud are widespread and there are many cases still under investigation. This has cast serious doubts on the integrity of our electoral system, but we are confident that a byelection in Etobicoke Centre would help greatly in reaffirming the strength of our electoral system and Canada’s democracy,” Rae said.

Later, on Power Politics, he told Barton that the Liberal party will be examining the ruling closely and looking to see if it might apply in other ridings where the results were close.

Rae said the ruling gives rise to broad issues around the integrity of the elections system that need to be considered by all political parties.

“We all have to make sure that … we have an electoral law and an elections system which is not subject to abuse and where there is abuse you can’t just put all the burden on the individual candidate to say, ‘I’m going to prove otherwise.’ There clearly are some improvements that we need to make in our election law.”

Justice Thomas Lederer set aside 79 ballots in his decision Friday in Toronto. Opitz has eight days to appeal. If he does, the case would be heard as soon as possible by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court could hear the case as early as June and then has no hearing dates set aside until October. A date would be set after discussion between the lawyers for both sides and the court’s registrar.

The last time a disputed result ended in a byelection was in 1988 in a race between Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua and Progressive Conservative Michael O’Brien in the then-riding of York North, Ont.

The byelection wasn’t held until 1990. Bevilacqua held the riding for the next 21 years until he stepped down to run for municipal office in the riding, now known as Vaughan and held by Conservative MP Julian Fantino.

Case about ‘confidence’ in electoral process

Wrzesnewskyj’s lawyer had argued up to 181 ballots were in dispute.

The voting irregularities included some people who weren’t on the list but cast ballots after being vouched for by others at the polling station, some people without the proper paperwork completed, and others in which voters cast ballots when they were registered at other polling stations or didn’t live in the riding.

Lederer said the core of the case was about the “confidence that Canadians must have in our electoral process.”

“If that confidence is diminished, it follows that our interest in, and respect for, government will be similarly diminished. It surely follows that if people who are not qualified to vote were permitted to do so, or if there is a concern that people may have been permitted to vote more than once, confidence in our electoral process will fade.”

Lederer noted that it seemed the election was conducted by responsible public officials and well-intentioned individuals who were motivated by nothing less than a desire to do the job properly.

But it can’t be good enough to accept some people voted by registration and without registration certificates, without poll books recording who vouched for whom, and without having their names on the final list of voters.

“Our system requires more,” Lederer wrote in the 40-page decision.

Elections Canada wouldn’t comment on the decision in case there’s an appeal.

Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley told CBC News that Lederer made “the right judgment.”

He said it’s not often, but that mistakes are made on election day.

“People don’t do this for a living, they are ordinary Canadians who are brought in and they’re trained to do a job and it so happens that some of them don’t do it as thoroughly as it should be done,” said Kingsley. “It’s not something that’s rampant, but it is something that occurs. It’s human nature at work.”

Lawyers examined ballots

Under a court order, Wrzesnewskyj’s lawyers were able to examine the ballots at 10 polling divisions, as well as poll books and electors’ lists at Elections Canada’s office in Ottawa.

The test to declare the election invalid, and trigger a byelection (after any appeals are exhausted), was a finding that more than 26 ballots, the losing margin, should not have been counted.

Particularly outstanding is what went on in Polling Division 31, located in a church in Etobicoke. Eighty-six people voted by registration certificate on May 2, meaning they showed up without a voter identification card. Wrzesnewsky’s lawyers claim that 68 of those voters actually lived in another polling division and should never have been allowed to vote at polling station 31. Lederer threw out 15 ballots in that polling division.

In another polling division in the riding, five voters who voted by registration certificate are listed as being crossed off the electors’ list in another polling division, indicating they most likely did vote twice.

In one polling division, both the deputy returning officer and the polling clerk vouched for more than one voter who showed up without ID, something that, as Elections Canada employees, they should have known was illegal. Lederer threw out the four votes for which they vouched.

Wrzesnewskyj v Opitz Et Al Decision (PDF)

Wrzesnewskyj v Opitz Et Al Decision (Text)

with files from Leslie MacKinnon

A judge has declared last year’s federal election results in Etobicoke-Centre to be null and void due to voting irregularities. Former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnevskyj, who lost to Conservative Ted Opitz, is seen here on the day of his court hearing in Toronto on April 23, 2012.

Aaron Vincent Elkaim/THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA—Defeated Toronto Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj has won his legal case to have election results in Etobicoke-Centre thrown out, opening the way for a byelection in the riding.

Wrzesnewskyj lost by 26 votes to Conservative Ted Opitz in last May’s federal election but a judge ruled Friday that the result is null and void due to voting irregularities.

Justice Thomas Lederer, who heard arguments from Wresnewskyj’s lawyer that the balloting in Etobicoke-Centre was marred by extensive foul-ups, set aside 79 ballots in his decision.

“There are requirements of the process which are fundamental,” Lederer wrote in his decision. “We need to be assured that those who vote are qualified to do so.

“We need to be confident that those who receive a ballot have been identified as persons who are on the official list of electors or who have registered,” the judge said. “If we give up these foundations of our electoral system, we are risking a loss of confidence in our elections and in our government.”

Optiz has eight days to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. If he does so, the appeal will be fast-tracked.

The stunning decision is likely to reignite the controversy over the conduct of the election even though the court case revolved around breaches of technical ballot station procedures — not allegations of robocalls or other alleged mass election irregularities.

Wrzesnewskyj did not comment immediately. He was in Ukraine working on a Holocaust memorial project, an aide said.

Lederer noted in his decision that the case did not involve any wrongdoing by anyone involved in the operation of voting stations in Etobicoke-Centre.

“I am disappointed with the decision of the Court today,” Optiz commented. “The judge has found problems with the way that Elections Canada ran the election in this riding.

“As the judge took care to point out in the decision, I and my campaign team followed the rules,” Optiz said. “This is not about me. It is about 52,000 people who followed the rules, cast their ballots and today had their democratic decision thrown into doubt.”

He said he would continue “working hard” on behalf of the voters of his riding.

There was no word from the Conservatives on whether the ruling would be appealed.

An Elections Canada spokesperson said the agency would not comment since the case may continue in the courts.

Student protesters in Quebec have panned a set of laws designed to end three months of demonstrations, predicting that the newly installed legislation is likely to fuel unrest rather than quell it.

Hours after Bill 78 passed on Friday, demonstrators fanned into Montreal’s downtown core to protest the controversial legislation, which they say is an affront to their civil liberties.

The protests began peacefully but took a violent turn when some demonstrators tossed Molotov cocktails into the streets. At least four people were arrested by the end of the night, according to police.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for student group CLASSE, said at a press conference Friday that students will considering breaking the new laws if the need arises.

“By this law, the government is consciously breaking and destroying this fundamental right,” he said. “It’s unacceptable and if we need to break this law we will seriously consider it.”

The law ends the current academic year at schools affected by the strikes, imposes fines for anyone who blocks access to university campuses and restricts the size and length of protests.

Under the new bill, anyone blocking an individual from entering a school could be fined between up to $5,000. The penalties climb up to $35,000 for student leaders and up to $125,000 for unions or student federations.

As well, student groups will have to give eight hours’ notice before launching a protest and are required to provide their full itinerary. Individuals can also be punished for encouraging a protest at an institution.

Designed to bring calm to the city’s streets, students say the law will instead incite more protests.

“I really think it’s going to make the conflict quite worse,” student Josh White Crummey told CTV Montreal. “People that were moderate are going to become radicalized. I really think it’s a lapse of judgment on their part.”

Student groups are not alone in their condemnation over the law. Union leaders and members of the opposition also expressed outrage over the bill Friday

Michel Arsenault, FTQ spokesperson, criticized the bill and called it “a law written by people who are very angry, people who are in a bad mood and people who are taking revenge, but also a government who lost control.”

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois went one step further, calling on Premier Jean Charest to meet with students and find an honourable way out of the crisis, she said.

Marois promised to scrap the law should she become premier in elections expected within the year.

However, the government maintains that the law doesn’t trample on people’s rights, instead it protects them.

Finance minister Raymond Bachand said the law protects students’ rights to attend classes without fear.

“Nobody in Quebec anymore will be able to stop by intimidation and violence people from studying,” he said. “It’s a fundamental right.”

The law also has the support of some business associations and institutions.

Michel Leblanc, president and chief executive of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, said, “The objective was to pause the troubles. It was important to find a way to calm the city.”

TORONTO — A retired judge will hear misconduct charges levelled against dozens of Toronto police officers arising out of the tumultuous G20 summit two years ago, Chief Bill Blair announced Friday.

Blair’s decision follows intense pressure for “real accountability” sparked by a scathing review of summit policing by Ontario’s independent police watchdog.

“Given the extraordinary public interest in these important matters, and to provide public assurance, I intend to exercise my authority under the Police Services Act to delegate the authority to conduct the hearings to a retired judge,” Blair said in a statement.

“(I will also) seek the services of a former Crown attorney to prosecute these cases.”

On Wednesday, Gerry McNeilly of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, said the evidence in at least 107 citizen complaints ranging from illegal detentions to brutality was enough to warrant misconduct charges.

At least four of those relate to senior commanders, who gave orders during the June 2010 weekend that saw the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.

The hearings will be conducted in public and the results made public.

McNeilly’s 300-page report slammed police for wantonly trampling constitutional rights and using excess force.

He was harshly critical of the attitude of some senior officers — one of whom referred to crowds as “marauding terrorists” — and those in charge of the poorly planned and operated makeshift detention centre.

Those detained in the centre complained they were strip-searched, not allowed to talk to lawyers, denied food and water, and had to use the bathroom in full view of others.

In another case, according to the review, a senior officer — described as “maniacal” by subordinates — illegally ordered protesters to be “kettled” for hours in a torrential downpour and wanted everyone, passersby included, arrested.

Tommy Taylor, who was among 1,100 people detained, complained bitterly that despite the damning report — which noted most of the 19,000 officers on the streets conducted themselves appropriately — no one had been held accountable for the very real problems.

Blair has refused to apologize and said he was not the subject of any of McNeilly’s complaints, though he did concede police made mistakes.

McNeilly made 42 recommendations, all of which Blair said he accepted.

“We will act quickly to respond to those recommendations directed to us,” he said.

“I fully acknowledge that there were things that were not done well. We have learned from these shortcomings.”

Blair also noted none of the charges has been proven.

Penalties under the Police Services Act range from reprimand to dismissal. The act does not apply to those officers who are no longer with the force.