Rutherford Mansfield

She’s like #ermahgerd I hert this job. #montreal

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:19:19 -0400

She’s like #ermahgerd I hert this job. #montreal

#Montreal : I can’t think of any city that has such...

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:15:42 -0400

#Montreal : I can’t think of any city that has such relaxed, sultry summer evenings. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now!

Summer has arrived in #Montreal :) #lifestyle

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:52:05 -0400

Summer has arrived in #Montreal :) #lifestyle

#cmmtl #polqc : @lepmr a dépensé 1 million $ pour un café...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:07:06 -0400

#cmmtl #polqc : @lepmr a dépensé 1 million $ pour un café populaire sbl, c’est fermé ajh pour accueillir une banque.

This is what #censorship and #intimidation do to ideas. #cdnpoli

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:58:02 -0400

This is what #censorship and #intimidation do to ideas. #cdnpoli

djgagnon: Bitumen Sands Map, 1975 ‘A confidential report on the...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:03:56 -0500

djgagnon:

Bitumen Sands Map, 1975

‘A confidential report on the oil sands drawn up for the provincial cabinet in mid-1972 by a large group of Alberta’s civil servants representing some 20 government departments proposed a reversal of “the historical trend of ever-increasing foreign control of non-renewable resource development in Canada”.

‘Pointing to the fact that the pressure on developing the tar sands was largely emanating from outside Canada, the civil servants urged the Lougheed cabinet to resist the temptation to allow foreign energy demands to dictate the terms of development. “The policy decisions should be guided primarily by the perceived benefits that will accrue to Albertans and Canadians.” The civil servants warned that the oil companies were interested in rapid development on their own terms and conditions, they would tend to import equipment, engineers, managers and staff and in turn export the synthetic crude in an unprocessed form.

‘The report, “leaked” to Mel Hurtig, controversial publisher and then Chairman of Committee for an Independent Canada, raised a public furor, one of many that has delayed and threatened development of the tar sands since they were first viewed by a white man in the latter part of the 18th Century.’

from: Oil - The History of Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry; Ed Gould; 1976; Hancock House Publishers.

Science Caturday: New Treatments for Old Kitties

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 11:19:20 -0500

Science Caturday: New Treatments for Old Kitties:

Old kitteh need love too, especially if they’re grumpy.

Scientists at the University of Montreal’s Quebec Research...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:43:34 -0500

Scientists at the University of Montreal’s Quebec Research Group in Animal Pharmacology have found a way to recognize and treat osteoarthritis in cats – a condition that the owner might not notice and that can make even petting painful. “Osteoarthritis frequently affects cats’ elbows, backs and hips and joints in the hind limbs, and its prevalence increases dramatically with age. More than 80 % of cats older than 11 years old have it,” explained lead author Eric Troncy of the university’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. “Despite the fact that cats are the most popular pet in North America, nobody had found a way to easily diagnose and treat cat osteoarthritis. We used our knowledge of cat behaviour and worked with experts in human osteoarthritis to develop a diagnosis tool and test an effective medication: meloxicam.” Osteoarthritis induces chronic pain that results in a decrease in cat’s daily activity, a reluctance to jump and other behaviours that owners may notice.

The researchers examined 120 cats and found that 39 were suffering from osteoarthritis. They established an evaluation chart for measuring the cats’ pain by looking at their kinetic gait analysis, which reveals impairment in their limbs, their daily activity as recorded by an accelerometer, and how sensitive the cat is to touch by testing what level of force will cause the cat to withdraw its paw.

Once the researchers had standardized their evaluation tools, they proceeded to the treatment part of the study. For 74 days, a control group was fed a placebo while the others were fed different dosages of meloxicam. Meloxicam is an anti-inflammatory drug that is already used in the treatment of other animals. “Our study demonstrated that daily oral meloxicam administration over four weeks provided various levels of pain relief, depending on the amount of the drug the cat was given. Cats that were in treated with the high dosage continued to enjoy pain relief for five weeks after dosage stopped. None of the cats had any side-effects,” Professor Troncy said. “As expected, the drug unfortunately does not appear to reduce pain associated with touch, such as stroking – the same flawing occurs in hypersensitive osteoarthritic people treated with anti-inflammatory drugs.”

The study opens a range of possibilities for the application of the findings. “The touch hypersensitivity occurrence rate of 30% in our osteoarthritic cats sample is quite similar to what is reported in osteoarthritis-affected human beings. In pain research and development, we have so desperately looked for validated translational experimental models, when they could be here, in front of us, with natural diseases in pet animals,” Troncy said.

Nevertheless, the cats were able to regain the rest of their normal life. “Unalleviated chronic pain induces functional limitations, contributes to behaviour troubles and loss of the human-animal bond leading potentially to pet euthanasia or surrender,” Troncy explained. “The development of adapted therapy protocols to correctly treat arthritis associated chronic pain will provide a better quality of life particularly in older cats and will in turn have a direct impact on owners, as their cat will be more active and sociable.” The researchers will now start looking at how brain scans may further improve our understanding of pain in cats, particularly with regards to the neurophysiological hypersensitive process.

Meloxicam will be considered for use in cats by the Europe Medicines Agency on April, 2013.

About this study
This research was supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Morris Animal Foundation and by a partnership with the animal health pharmaceutical industry (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.). It results from a rich collaboration between the Quebec Research Group in Animal Pharmacology (GREPAQ) and the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Centre – Musculoskeletal Diseases Axis. The studies were published in Research in Veterinary Science on February 13, 2013 (Moreau M, et al. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2013.01.020 Kinetic peak vertical force measurement in cats afflicted by coxarthritis: Data management and acquisition protocols) and in theVeterinary Journal on February 14, 2013 (Guillot M, et al. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.01.009Characterization of osteoarthritis in cats and meloxicam efficacy using objective chronic pain evaluation tools). The University of Montreal is officially known as Université de Montréal.

Media contact:

William Raillant-Clark
International Press Attaché
University of Montreal (officially Université de Montréal)
Tel: 514-343-7593
w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca
@uMontreal_News

A breakdown of Montreal’s Personal...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:45:54 -0500

A breakdown of Montreal’s Personal Brand

monogamie:

thought catalog has published a giant three-part pseudo-essay by me ft. montreal stuff, local musicians + a short q&a with tyler crawford.

Fonds de recherche du Québec highlights three stunning students as government slashes budget

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:57:00 -0500

If you support government funding for research in Quebec, please join the Je suis Michèle movement

Announcement of the February winners of the Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles Award

Montreal, February 4, 2013 – Québec’s Chief Scientist, Rémi Quirion, is pleased to announce the February winners of the Étudiants-chercheurs étoiles Award, a competition spearheaded by the three Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Award winner, Fonds Nature et Technologies

Michel Lavoie, PhD student in in environmental studies at INRS.

Award-winning publication: Influence of Essential Elements on Cadmium Uptake and Toxicity in a Unicellular Green Alga: the Protective Effect of trace Zinc and cobalt concentrations. Published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 31(7):1445-52, July 2012.

Award winner, Fonds Santé

Jean-Baptiste Pingault, Postdoctoral student at Université de Montréal’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine.

Award-winning publication: Childhood trajectories of inattention, hyperactivity and oppositional behaviors and prediction of substance abuse/dependence: a 15-year longitudinal population-based study. Published in Molecular Psychiatry, 06-2012.

Award winner, Fonds Société et Culture

Leslie Tomory, Postdoctoral student in history at McGill University.

Award-winning publication: Progressive Enlightenment: The Origins of the Gaslight Industry,1780–1820. Published by Cambridge: MIT Press, mars 2012.

In addition to promoting careers in research, the competition aims to recognize the exceptional research contributions of college and university students, postdoctoral fellows and members of professional bodies who are enrolled in advanced research training programs in the areas covered by the three Fonds de recherche du Québec.

Every month, each Fund will award $1000 to a student researcher. An overview of the recipient’s project and a photo of the recipient will be featured on the Web site www.frq.gouv.qc.ca.

Dr. Quirion sends his congratulations to the winners.

The PQ plan to penalise party hoppers is perverted, and here's why

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:19:24 -0500

This is a terrible idea! One of the things that keeps political parties honest is that if their leaders get too crazy, members can dissent. Let’s not forget that in Canadian politics, we vote for people, not parties, at least as far as the ballot box goes. I’m all for a move towards a constitutional change that recognizes the reality that people vote along party lines, but let’s start by addressing the fact that our current system distorts the distribution of seats and discriminates against Montrealers. Let’s not make our problems worse.

Under this new law, an MP could possibly be fined $600,000 if he or she is expelled from her party for disagreeing with it. The idea has outrageous corruption written all over it. There are other ways of dealing with party cohesion and deputies’ responsibilities to the VOTERS IN THEIR RIDING, not their leader. This law proposal is nothing more than a half-assed backdoor attempt at a constitutional change that would favour and entrench divisive wedge politics.

Great article in today’s Globe and Mail: “Million...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:14:12 -0500

Great article in today’s Globe and Mail: “Million Death Study.” Find it and read it!

Pourquoi cette pluie hors saison, pourquoi ce brouillard rare,...

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:29:00 -0500

Pourquoi cette pluie hors saison, pourquoi ce brouillard rare, s’annoncent-ils à l’heure des fêtes ? Cette météo de Proust, cette Croix qui s’absente du terrain de la beauté - et surtout des beautés - au moment de la crise, comme d’hab. Mamman s’est éteinte à l’aube de printemps voilà déjà cinq ans. Je me souviens de la devise de mon Dominion : Advance! Et pourtant, j’ai l’impression que, malgré moi, je ne m’éloigne pas.

I'm thinking about blogging casually (and maybe professionally later on) about science but I really don't know how to start. For example, what platform should I favour (Facebook, Tumblr, Wordpress, Twitter)?

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 09:55:44 -0500

Thanks for your question! Well, I have to admit that I’m kinda muddling through this myself. I like Tumblr because it’s very easy to use, especially in terms of letting people share your content. It’s basically the Apple of blogging. However, just like Apple, it comes with some constraints in terms of what you can do with it. If you want to get super fancy in terms of customizing your blog, I think the general consensus is that Wordpress is the way to. Also, as the name would suggest, I think Wordpress users tend to write more lengthy articles. Tumblr is more about the animated gifs, lol.

In short, my recommendation is that if you think you’ll write more than two paragraphs, and/or if you know a lot about HTML, I would go with Wordpress. If you think you’ll be more often writing shorter posts, and if you want people to be able to share what you write easily, I would go with Tumblr.

As for Facebook and Twitter, they are tools that can help you share what you post on your blog. You can even integrate them directly into Tumblr (and Wordpress too, I presume) so that the title of your post automatically becomes a tweet or a Facebook update.

I hope that helps! Blogging is a lot of fun and can even help you professionally.

Cancer Rant

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 07:59:24 -0500

I had to tell someone I love last night that lemon juice will not cure his cancer. FUCK antiscientific rumours and false hope. They just distract from the best possible medical healthcare and the reality of the situation a person faces. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are dedicating their lives, wholeheartedly, to a cure. They publish what they discover in books that anyone can read. When they find something that helps, we all know about it, including front line doctors. There is no evil conspiracy to hide the cure, it’s not hidden a test-tube somewhere in a vault. I wish it was, because it wouldn’t take long for someone else to replicate the result anyway. Next time you see some FUCKING BULLSHIT on the Internet, don’t hesitate to stomp it out.

#movember almost over! Any last donations? Would love to hit...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:53:18 -0500

#movember almost over! Any last donations? Would love to hit $500… Http://mobro.co/wrc

Researchers prevent autistic behaviours in mice

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 08:03:13 -0500

McGill and Université de Montréal researchers revealed yesterday that autism-like behaviors can be rectified in adult mice with compounds inhibiting protein synthesis, or with gene-therapy targeting neuroligins (a membrane protein that regulates synapse formation between neurons.) Their study is published in the journal Nature.

“The autistic behaviours in mice were prevented by selectively reducing the synthesis of one type of neuroligin and reversing the changes in synaptic excitation in cells,” explained Prof. Jean-Claude Lacaille at the University of Montreal’s Groupe de Recherche sur le Système Nerveux Central and Department of Physiology. “In short, we manipulated mechanisms in brain cells and observed how they influence the behaviour of the animal.” The researchers were also able to reverse changes in inhibition and augment autistic behaviors by manipulating a second neuroligin. “The fact that the balance can be affected suggests that there could be a potential for pharmacological intervention by targeting these mechanisms.”

“Since the discovery of neuroligin mutations in individuals with ASD in 2003, the precise molecular mechanisms implicated remain unknown,” said Christos Gkogkas, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill and lead author. “Our work is the first to link translational control of neuroligins with altered synaptic function and autism-like behaviors in mice. The key is that we achieved reversal of ASD-like symptoms in adult mice. Firstly, we used compounds, which were previously developed for cancer treatment, to reduce protein synthesis. Secondly, we used non-replicating viruses as vehicles to put a break on exaggerated synthesis of neuroligins.”

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) encompass a wide array of neurodevelopmental diseases that affect three areas of behaviour: social interactions, communication and repetitive interests or behaviors. According to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 88 children suffer from ASD, and the disorder is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. ASDs are almost five times more common among boys (1 in 54) than among girls (1 in 252).

Links

To reach Dr. Lacaille

William Raillant-Clark
Media Relations
Université de Montréal
w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca

Stephen Wilshire, an artist with autism, at work on a panorama of London. From his website.

My brother just described my #moustache as “filthy.”...

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 09:21:50 -0500

My brother just described my #moustache as “filthy.” Thanks mate. #movember http://Mobro.co/wrc

CEPSUM gym, #UdeM, #Montreal

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:10:55 -0500

CEPSUM gym, #UdeM, #Montreal

Montreal can become North America’s top university city I...

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 07:24:56 -0400

Montreal can become North America’s top university city

I attended an excellent speech given to CORIM (Montreal Council on Foreign Relations) by Prof. Heather Munroe-Blum, who is, in many senses of term, the leader of McGill. Parts of the speech were published on YouTube and the university’s website. It was an uplifting and inspiring speech about Quebec’s social values and how they can help “Montreal become North America’s top university city.” I share the Principal’s transnational perspective and vision for our society, so I am taking the liberty of republishing McGill’s documents here. As a Quebecer with an international background, and as a former foreign student myself (albeit not to Quebec), I felt very touched by her words.

- William Raillant-Clark

Speech delivered to CORIM by Prof. Heather Munroe-Blum
October 19, 2012

The great historian Marcel Trudel liked to talk about the myths and realities of Quebec’s history. On my side, I’ll talk to you this afternoon about the myths and realities of the international role of Quebec’s universities—a key role for the success of Quebec.

I’m going to do it in the form of questions and answers. And, because I’m a professor, I’m going to ask the questions and give the answers!

Myth or reality? International students are a drain on Quebec.

Myth. International students are essential contributors to Quebec’s success. We cannot succeed without more well-educated, highly skilled, multilingual people. People who have knowledge and experience of the major cultures of the world, people who are comfortable with managing complexity, and who are welcoming of change.

International students are exactly what Quebec needs. They spend years in our institutions, they speak or are motivated to learn French, they know Quebec’s values, and they are already integrating into our society. Collectively, we Quebecers have supported a portion of their education with our taxes, and, collectively, we Quebecers benefit from the investment made elsewhere in their early training and from who they are today.

In 30 years, Quebec is expected to have one of the oldest populations in the world. Quebecers need more health and social services, and more value-added jobs, and, if our population only grows at current rates, there will be even fewer people than today to hold down these jobs. Who will pay taxes to support the system?

Add to this crisis the fact that Quebec has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio of any Canadian province or U.S. state.¹ Simply put, we have no more gas in the tank. We cannot sustain our quality of life without change. Quebec needs all the talented, educated people it can get.

International students are a source of talent and revenue for Quebec. In Canada, for example, these students have an economic impact of $8 billion.²

Myth or reality? International students are trained at our expense, and then leave.

That’s another myth. The Conférence régionale des élus de Montreal estimates that one third of international students stay in Quebec after graduation. This proportion has been growing since Quebec started awarding Selection Certificates to international students who apply to immigrate after graduation.

Half of McGill’s alumni live in Quebec, including many one-time international students who fell in love with Quebec and never left. A good example is Aldo Bensadoun, who perhaps you saw on “Tout le Monde en Parle.” He’s the founder of the Aldo Group.

Aldo was raised in Morocco and France, before heading to the U.S. He was attracted to McGill. And after graduation from McGill, he stayed in Quebec and from here, created an extraordinary Quebec multinational shoe company that today has a thousand stores in sixty-six countries around the world. And thousands of employees here in Quebec. You might say it’s the Cirque de Soleil of shoes!

Myth or reality? Higher tuition rates would drive talented Quebec and international students away from our universities.

A deep myth. Studies across the country are crystal-clear: no link exists between the amount of tuition and attendance in universities. If low tuition created better access, Quebec would lead the country in the percentage of young people receiving a university degree. It does not. It is now amongst the lowest in Canada, behind Nova Scotia (#1) and Ontario (#2), the provinces with the highest tuition, though still reasonable.

What matters is having both the quality and reputation of our universities, and the availability of effective student support for those in need. Quality is what international students are seeking; it is also what Quebecers need. Nobody wants to go to school for a poor quality of education, even if it costs nothing.

Here’s a concrete example of this dynamic: Since tuition was substantially raised in McGill’s MBA program, in order to provide the highest quality education and professional training, we have doubled the number of Quebec students enrolled in the program. And many of the best-prepared Quebecers, who previously left Quebec to get an MBA, are now studying here. Let me repeat: Tuition went up, and the number of Quebec students enrolled in McGill’s MBA program doubled.

Why? Because we now have a guarantee of quality, and of financial aid for students who need it; Thanks to increased tuition, we were able to put in place one of the most generous financial aid programs for MBAs in North America.

Myth or reality? McGill doesn’t do anything to keep its graduates in Quebec.

False! McGill is taking serious measures to prevent this from happening. When I began my first term as principal, many of our Medicine graduates were leaving Quebec to set up medical practices elsewhere.

We took the bull by the horns, and today I’m proud to tell you that 90 per cent of our medical students are from Quebec, and 75% stay to practice medicine in Quebec after graduation.

Of course, talented and educated people have a lot of opportunities. They’re mobile. The upside? You can take the graduate out of Quebec, but you can never take the Quebec out of the graduate!

They’re still assets for Quebec. Not convinced? I’ll give you an example: Five years ago, we launched a major fundraising campaign. Without that kind of initiative, McGill would not be able to fulfill its research and teaching mission.

I’m proud to announce that half the money we’ve raised is coming from McGill graduates who live outside of Quebec.

That’s hundreds of millions of dollars being directly injected into our economy. And if they weren’t confident in our good management, all those people wouldn’t be giving a cent to McGill.

Myth or reality? McGill doesn’t need Quebec.

Another myth. Without Quebec, McGill would not be McGill, just as Quebec would not be what it is without McGill.

Quebec’s culture and values are in McGill’s DNA.

McGill is proud to be a Quebec institution and also proud of its reputation on the world stage. For example, we have launched a large project in Montreal: the Quartier de l’Innovation. In partnership with ÉTS, the three levels of government, and the neighborhood’s residents, we will build, south of downtown, the urban neighborhood of the future: an ecosystem of cultural and social innovation, a place for training and research, an economic and technological hub.

Impact Group ranked McGill and ÉTS on its list of the Top Five Most Innovative Universities in Canada. We’re putting this expertise to work for Montreal and Quebec.

McGill experts contribute to every aspect of Quebec life, just as they contribute to every Quebec and Canadian economic mission. Earlier this year, Yves Beauchamp and I joined Canada’s Governor-General David Johnston, a former Principal of McGill, and 28 other university leaders in Canada’s largest ever higher education mission. This visit to Brazil resulted in McGill signing four new agreements in joint research and student-mobility with four Brazilian universities—adding to the 50 Brazilian collaborations that we already have in place—and Mister Beauchamp signed agreements worth $1 million.

Who benefits from this? Quebec and our students.

Unfortunately, in contrast to the only news from this trip that journalists reported back in Quebec, there wasn’t time to hit the sun and sands on the beach of the Copacabana—although I surely need the suntan. To be clear, this travel more than paid for itself.

Myth or reality? McGill attracts international students to enrich McGill via their tuition.

100% false. We attract international students because they add to the cultural and intellectual enrichment of our learning community.

Further, under the Quebec funding system, most of the tuition paid by students from outside Quebec returns to the Government. With a few exceptions, McGill keeps only a small portion of the fees these students pay to support them in their studies.

Because of this, each year McGill gives back around $55 million of its students’ fees—net—that the Government then redistributes across the rest of the Quebec university system. $55 million. Year after year.

To add to this disincentive, students from outside of Quebec are required to contribute to the Quebec student aid program, but they are ineligible to receive this aid, notwithstanding the special service needs they often have. This is an inequity.

Universities and the students they welcome are being deprived of significant resources that should be returned to them. That’s not an invitation for them to do more.

Quebec is competing for global talent from Brazil, India, China and elsewhere against regions around the globe. Australia, New Zealand and the US each spend more than $10 million annually on international marketing for education. Canada spends only $1 million.

Countries around the world are also dramatically increasing investments in research universities and graduate education.

The federal government recently commissioned a report from the Advisory Panel on Canada’s International Education Strategy, on which Monsieur André Bisson—former chancellor of Université de Montreal—and Madame Jacynthe Côté both served.

The report calls for Canada to double the number of full-time international students it recruits, from 239,000 to more than 470,000 in the next decade.

How many new students today know about and consider Quebec as the best place to study? How many will come to our universities? How many will stay after graduation?

Quebec’s share of Canada’s international student population has decreased from 33 percent in 2001, to 25 percent in 2010. In contrast, British Columbia increased from 10 percent of all international students in Canada to nearly 20 percent.

Quebec needs a strategy. A clear strategy for making Quebec a global education and research destination, or we will fall even further behind.

Some argue that low tuition will attract talent but, as we saw with our MBA program, low tuition does not lead to quality, and quality is precisely what international students are looking for, and what Quebec students need.

Students travel for an educational experience they cannot receive at home. We face an international race for talent, and, Quebecers are not winning with education as a “bargain-basement” proposition.

We can only win with incentives for universities to attract, support and retain top talent with quality and accessibility.

Here are my three recommendations to get there:

Number 3:We need the means to increase the number of French language courses offered on our campuses, at least for graduate students.

Number 2: Quebec must increase its share of international students, to at least its previous share of 33 per cent.

We must do this for our regions and for Montreal. Montreal can become North America’s top university city.

For this, we require a policy that encourages universities to recruit internationally. The money paid by international students should stay with the universities where they’re studying.

This would be an incentive for Quebec universities to leave a presence on the world stage and to compete with the world’s best.

Make no mistake: Students around the world are dreaming about Canada. If Quebec doesn’t attract them, other provinces will.

Number 1: Forward-thinking societies create an environment that encourages entrepreneurship, productivity and innovation.

Quebec’s universities are drivers of first-rate economic innovation—yet they’re dramatically under-financed in comparison to their competitors in the rest of Canada, to the tune of $620-million, according to the latest figures from CREPUQ, which have been validated by CIRANO.

Without healthy universities, innovation is impossible. Quebec must remember this when it creates its social and fiscal policies.

This is important, as Quebec prepares for a Summit on Higher Education and a new national policy on research and innovation.

During the last campaign, our premier—and the first woman premier, which I’m pretty proud of—said that we must meet in the middle so that “our institutions rank among the best in the world, and that all Quebecers can access them, regardless of their economic standing.”

This sounds very promising for the upcoming Summit.

To get there, the Quebec government should therefore add the quality of programs, the search for excellence and international recruitment to the Summit’s agenda.

Nothing else is more important for guaranteeing the success of Quebec. In other words, if our performance in recruitment, innovation and productivity stays the same, Quebec will no longer be in the competition.

Quebec is a beautiful place and it should be celebrated worldwide. It is positioned to win the race for global talent if we move quickly, competitively and with confidence.

Myth or reality?

Quebec is a prime international education destination.
Quebec is where Quebecers want to study, work after graduation and raise their families.
Quebec is known for the quality of its universities.
Quebec is a prosperous nation, caring and also wise.

Do we want these statements to be myths or realities?

It’s up to us to decide.

Let’s just do it.

Thank you.