unbekannt

It's certainly true that the poor guys and girls who phone you at suppertime are just unfortunate people who are stuck with that lousy job, so there's no point in abusing them. Just the same, they're invading your privacy. At least, squeegee people wait until you're out in public before they interfere with you. Several years ago, we adopted the practice of asking unwelcome callers to, "hold the line just a minute, please," then either putting them on Hold, if the phone has such a button, or just laying the handset down and going about our business. It's less hostile than blowing a police whistle into the phone; it prevents other unwelcome callers from getting to you (your friends and family will call back, anyhow); and it causes them inconvenience, so maybe they'll go into squeegeeing instead of telephone solicitation. Stay tuned to this station for advice on what to do with squeegee people.

There's speculation in the media about Premier Charest calling an election this Fall. He has about the lowest approval rating of any premier, Liberal, Pequiste, or Union Nationale in all of Quebec's long and checkered political history. His latest manouevre has been to ram through a sale of extensive parklands on and around Mt.Orford, in the touristy Eastern Townships, to a consortium of condominium/ski hill developers, a leading member of which is a long-time Liberal party moneyman. Opposition by the public has been vocal and bitter, but it's now the law. He's managed to alienate the public-service unions (actually not so dangerous, as they're all in the PQ's pocket), has blown hot and cold on the increasingly over-budget superhospitals planned for Montreal, and got lots of people's backs up over subsidies to religious private schools. Those are only a few of the high points of his term in government. I've been suspecting for a long time that he's really a mole, working for the Pequistes to insure they'll sweep in as soon as an election happens. Nobody I've talked to takes my theory seriously, but I'm becoming more convinced by the day. What's your take?