The North Shore News Volume 16-06, published March 20, 2020. This issue covers local events such as politics, sports and human-interest stories. It features editorials and other columns. Click on the image to read the paper.
It’s spring! Time for Relais 8 Heures Deux-Montagnes
Martin C. Barry
Deux-Montagnes city council’s monthly public meeting on March 12 started on an upbeat note with an announcement by Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes teacher Gaétan Asselin that the school’s annual Relais 8 Heures Deux-Montagnes is scheduled to take place on May 2, depending, of course, on the circumstances arising from the COVID-19 crisis.
Relais 8 Heures
If all goes well, this will be the sixth year for the Relais 8 Heures. As Asselin pointed out, just as you can count on maple sap to start running in the hills of the Lower Laurentians each spring, so too have North Shore residents been able to look forward during the first warm weeks to the Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes Foundation’s fundraiser.
Deux-Montagnes city councillors Frédéric Berthiaume and Erik Johnson were among the hundreds of people who took part in last year’s Relais 8 Heures, in teams of six, around a 1.5 kilometre oval on the grounds of Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes.
Helping students
“While I don’t want to get into politics, Mr. Berthiaume’s team finished fourth among the 60 teams that took part,” said Asselin, who invited everyone on city council to take part in this year’s event. It will raise funds to help Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes students who have learning problems.
In his monthly report to residents and council, Mayor Denis Martin said work on a major section of the REM high-speed train project will be starting in May along du Lac Boulevard where an overpass is going to be built to replace the level crossing that currently goes over the Exo train line.
“This is going to cause a major disruption and we will have to manage traffic,” he said, noting that the east and west sides of du Lac Blvd. will be closed off from one another for the next two years or so.
Ongoing flood zone efforts
According to the mayor, the main Deux-Montagnes Exo train station on Deux-Montagnes Blvd. is also scheduled to be demolished – beginning probably in late May or in June, he said.
Regarding the city’s continuing efforts to have the provincial environment ministry lift building restrictions in areas where a Special Intervention Zone was decreed after the spring 2019 flooding, Mayor Martin said some Deux-Montagnes homeowners are worse off today than they were before the 2019 floods as a result of the intervention zone.
“We find ourselves in a situation today after the new flood maps that is worse than before the 2019 floods,” he said. “We’re trying to change that and we’ve been pulling out our hair trying.”
Flood zone frustrations
As he noted, the provincial government held consultations last year on its new flood zone policy – although the manner in which the flood maps have been applied in Deux-Montagnes and in surrounding communities has left many property owners frustrated.
Since the implementation of the new zones, low-risk 20-100-year areas have been eliminated and replaced with 0-20 zones. “Around 100 of our residents who were 20-100 are now 0-20 and it’s causing them problems,” the mayor said in an interview, noting that the changes stop new construction and renovations from being carried out, while also having other impacts.
“Everybody who was in 20-100 zones that became 0-20, they’re having more problems selling their house. They cannot do things, like add a pool, which they could before. All we are asking is that they (Quebec) brings it back to what it was before.”
The COVID-19 crisis
While Quebec insists the redefined flood zones are necessary in view of the likelihood of future flooding, Mayor Martin maintains the new flood map should be redrawn, taking into account the preventive measures Deux-Montagnes is implementing (mainly new anti-flood dikes along the waterfront).
Regarding the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and its impact in Deux-Montagnes, the mayor said the city is receiving instructions from the Quebec Ministry of Public Security. The preventive measures being implemented by the city include the closure of the library, the arena and the suspension of all cultural, sporting and leisure activities. As well, the Quebec government’s directive to ban events gathering more than 250 people is being respected.
Rosemère pays homage to its most outstanding mayors
Martin C.Barry
Old political rivalries were put aside for at least one evening last week when officials at Rosemère town hall paid tribute to mayors who made an impact on Rosemère’s history, while bringing together some of the mayors who served in recent years.
On hand on March 12 for the tribute held in the council chamber at town hall were members of the families of past mayors, including Mayor H.J. Hemens, Mayor Michel Côté, Mayor Marcel Di Tullio and Mayor Pierre Robitaille.
A historic occasion
As well, former mayors Monique Richer, Hélène Daneault and Madeleine Leduc attended the ceremony in person. The list of mayors also honoured during the evening included Raymond Perreault, Roméo St-Pierre, Ronald T. O’Keefe, Roland Durand and Yvan Deschênes.
“This evening marks a historic moment, as it brings together in one and the same place for the very first time the mayors who have been part of the history of our beautiful town,” said current Rosemère mayor Eric Westram who hosted the gathering.
“We chose to hold this event in the council chamber because it represents an emblem of all town councils that have held their meetings here,” he said. “On the occasion of this event, I would like to congratulate them for the work they have accomplished, because together they have built the Rosemère as we know it today.
Framed photo montage
“I would also like to thank them for making Rosemère a great place to live for our residents, a place where community and economic life, as well as the beauty of our territory, truly distinguish us.”
During the evening, Mayor Westram and Councillor Melissa Monk unveiled a framed photo montage containing the images of the mayors who made the greatest impact on Rosemère. It will be hung in a special location in the council chamber next to the council’s seats.
While Rosemère’s history dates back to the late 17th century when it was part of the Mille-Îles seigneury of New France, the first permanent settlers began arriving in the early 18th century. Some of the first colonists were the Charbonneau family.
Brief history of Rosemère
In 1880, according to a history of Rosemère on the town’s website, J.P. Withers, a Canadian Pacific Railway officer, set up home in Rosemère. Impressed by the compelling charm of the many wild-growing roses, he decided to call the place “Rose,” to which he simply added the suffix “mere,” an old Anglo-Saxon word for swamp. He then went to Ottawa to register the name in use ever since.
In the early 20th century, the region – by then known under the name Rosemère – owed its growth to the presence of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1901, Rosemère opened the doors of its first post office, and in 1936, the area’s newly built chapel was inaugurated.
Rosemère becomes a town
On January 1 1947, the residents of Rosemère won a court case and the Parish of Rosemère separated from the Parish of Sainte-Thérèse (which had been founded in 1845). In the late 50s, Mayor H.J. Hemens wanted to approach the provincial government to apply for municipal status, without having to forfeit government parish grants.
A council meeting was held, which was also attended by a very large number of residents. The council obtained authorization and could go ahead to apply for municipal status. The Quebec National Assembly granted the mayor his request and, on February 6, 1958, Rosemère was officially given the status of a town.
Will a pandemic and an oil price war bring cheaper food?
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Most analysts agree that the oil price war is only beginning. Abundant cheap oil will impact the entire agri-food market, from farm gate to plate. And the coronavirus pandemic is compounding what’s already a fragile global economy.
The pandemic and the oil price war caused a massive sell-off in equity and crude oil markets this week, and to a much lesser extent the agricultural commodities.
These are just the latest events keeping a lid on price rallies for agriculture.
Farmers hoping to increase returns saw their plans vanish this week. Around the world, harvests are strong and commodities are going sideways or down due to weak demand. The same can be said in the livestock industry, where hog and cattle prices are dropping due to weak global demand.
So most farmers are looking at an average year, at best.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting food retail and, particularly, food service. China is a good example. With consumers terrified of contracting the coronavirus, China’s restaurants have been reporting a 90 per cent drop in customers. This scenario has played out for several weeks, spoiling demand for many major agricultural commodities.
Other reports suggest the food service industry in the Western world, including Canada, is slowly being affected by the spread of the virus. As a result, food delivery apps have been much busier, allowing consumers to eat ‘out’ while dining in, although no official reports have been provided.
Many observers have also noticed a greater number of empty seats in food establishments.
Tourism is surely being affected as well.
Ultimately, most consumers will be spending less on food.
The good news for all of us is that food inflation will likely be lower than expected over the next few months. Input costs will likely drop in food manufacturing. But most importantly, with lower energy costs, distribution will be less costly.
In fact, consumers may see bargains at the grocery store sooner than later. As oil price wars continue, we may see more deals from meat products to bakery goods and everything in between.
However, one macroeconomic factor remains a wild card: the Canadian dollar. The loonie is getting hit hard, given its link with oil. It’s at its lowest level in years and that impacts our importers’ buying power.
A weakened Canadian dollar versus the American greenback led to the cauliflower situation we experienced a few years ago. If it drops further, many items we import will cost more, from produce to canned goods to many other processed foods.
Markets are clearly in turmoil. What’s not helping is the uncertainty on two levels.
First, we still know little about COVID-19, which is why the Canadian federal government funded several research projects related to the virus.
The United States’ oversight and policy toward the coronavirus has been weak. Wanting to contain panic and hysteria in order to not overwhelm hospitals and clinics, the U.S. government is making many nervous. Its response has included testing delays, and a shortage of supplies and health care workers.
While Americans are skeptical of China’s ability to contain the virus, the rest of the world is looking at the U.S. with great skepticism.
In Canada, the response has been measured, targeted and, for the most part, appropriate.
One exception is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s response. Many questions relating to food safety linger and deserve clear answers. The agency should be as proactive as industry in providing information about what’s happening and what we should be doing to protect ourselves. Most of the agency’s interventions have been unnoticed.
The virus knows no borders so whatever happens elsewhere will impact Canada.
Food retail and service industries have been proactive in informing the sector and the public about what’s being done. Cleaning protocols across the industry have been ramped up but risks can never be entirely eliminated.
Some consumers are taking precautions and preparing well, but it shouldn’t be overdone. Consumers should incrementally buy enough dry goods, frozen foods and water to remain autonomous for four to five days.
The run for toilet paper has been disproportionate and, frankly, silly. Our preoccupation with microbes, coupled with our fixation to follow every single item on social media, every minute, helped create this hysteria. We should stay calm, remain civil and buy provisions a little at a time.
The virus and the oil price war are affecting the economy. That’s certainly top of mind for many. The global economy isn’t designed for dirt-cheap oil, especially Canada’s. We may get there one day but it needs time.
Even if many want the Canadian economy to turn to renewable energy sources, the oil industry still represents about 10 per cent of our economy. This is clearly impacting our economy and the quick shift has caught industry and governments alike off-guard.
How we handle this situation over the next few weeks will be critical.
Columnist and Anglo-rights firebrand William Johnson dies at 88
Martin C. Barry
William Johnson, the often fiery political columnist, whose uncompromising stance on Canadian unity made him a reviled figure among Quebec separatists – but also a hero to many Quebec Anglo-rights activists – passed away in his home community of Gatineau near Ottawa last Sunday, his family confirmed to The Laval News.
Johnson, 88, was a long-time political columnist for The Globe and Mail and The Montreal Gazette, as well as the author of several books – some of which attacked Quebec nationalism with great gusto.
Proud of his roots
While Johnson’s mother was a Francophone and his father an Anglophone, he always claimed to be proud of his French-Canadian roots. Paradoxically, he accused many French Quebecers of suffering from a crippling narrow-mindedness that affected their political judgment.
Following studies at Montreal’s Collège-Jean-de-Brébeuf, and after graduating with a B.A. from Montreal’s Loyola College in 1949, Johnson, as he would later admit in a published interview, submitted to pressure from his fervently religious mother and joined the Jesuit priesthood, where he ended up spending 10 years.
Abandoned the Jesuits
It was something he would end up regretting and turning against. Before completing his religious training, he left the Jesuits. He then embarked on a relatively short stint as an academic, teaching sociology at the University of Toronto, before beginning his long journalistic career.
His initial professional experiences in journalism during the early 1960s saw him freelancing feature articles for Weekend Magazine, a Saturday magazine supplement distributed as an insert in newspapers across Canada from the 1950s to the late 1970s.
In one of his most memorable pieces from that early time, Johnson wrote about taking part, along with members of his young family, in one of American black rights activist Martin Luther King’s “freedom marches” through the south of the U.S.
Worked at the Globe
His first full-time job as a journalist was in 1967 at the Toronto Globe and Mail, where he was taken on as a city reporter. By the early 1970s, he had become the Globe and Mail’s political correspondent in Ottawa. He later also worked as a correspondent in Quebec City and Washington D.C.
In the latter part of his career, Johnson became a political columnist for the Montreal Gazette, although (according to a biography posted on his web site) his position as national affairs columnist was “terminated” by Gazette editor Joan Fraser.
This came, as Johnson would sometimes recount to those who knew him, following a dispute over what he deemed to be The Gazette’s weak response to the Quebec sovereignty movement under Fraser, who would go on to be appointed to the Canadian Senate.
Alliance Quebec period
In what was perhaps William Johnson’s most high-profile undertaking, in 1998 (when he was still disturbed by the close results of Quebec’s 1995 referendum) he ran for and won the presidency of the English-language lobby group Alliance Quebec, serving a controversial and turbulent term until the year 2000.
According to an online encyclopaedia’s description of the events back then, he refused to meet with government officials, held two demonstrations against the Charter of the French Language, added clauses to the group’s constitution denouncing hypothetical declarations of independence by the Quebec government, and supported the election of members of the Equality Party to Alliance Quebec’s board of directors.
In protest, 20 members of the Alliance Quebec board and most staff members resigned, while six affiliated groups severed their ties, calling his leadership style overly confrontational.
Reaction in Laval
Martin Berman, a Chomedey resident who was on the board of Alliance Quebec while Johnson was president, credits Johnson with having greatly influenced his views on Anglophone rights in Quebec.
“I don’t like to admit it, but he actually converted me,” Berman said. “I became very, very vocal because of him. I sort of knew what was going on in Quebec. But after hearing him speak, I sort of thought to myself it’s about time somebody was doing something about this.
“He woke us up to what was happening,” Berman added. “The rights of English-speaking people in the province of Quebec were being eroded so quickly and we were just sitting around like a bunch of dummies. All of a sudden he was saying wake up.”
Another Chomedey resident, Gail Campbell, who was also active with Alliance Quebec during that period, saw things from a somewhat different perspective.
“I felt that Alliance Quebec was succeeding with a diplomatic approach,” she said. “There was a difference in styles in his approach. And did we gain from it, or did we lose from it? I think we’ll leave that to the ages to be decided.”
Published works
Among William Johnson’s published books were The Informer: Confessions of an Ex-Terrorist, which Johnson co-wrote with Carole de Vault, a police mole who infiltrated the FLQ; Anglophobie: Made in Québec (1991); A Canadian Myth, Quebec, between Canada and the Illusion of Utopia (1994); and Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada (2005).
William Johnson had also been working on a new book, in which he hoped to take aim at the credibility of wartime claims made by René Lévesque – the Quebec sovereignty movement’s most sacred idol – regarding Lévesque’s experiences at the end of World War II when he was a U.S. Army correspondent in Europe.
North Shore News Volume 16-05
The North Shore News Volume 16-05, published March 06, 2020. This issue covers local events such as politics, sports and human-interest stories. It features editorials and other columns. Click on the image to read the paper.
Rosemère ponders new urban outlook over next decade
Martin C. Barry
The future of the Rosemère Golf Club and the pending redevelopment of the Place Rosemère shopping mall were among the issues raised by residents during public consultations held by town officials Feb. 19 and 22 on Rosemère’s future urban planning orientations.
In the spring of 2018, Rosemère town councillors, working with residents, drafted a vision for the future development of the town.
Rosemère’s identity
Through the process, they were able to identify factors that could help in developing a new urbanistic vision for Rosemère, while still managing to preserve the North Shore town’s identity.
The latest consultations were part of a second and final phase of the process, before the councillors and urban planning staff draft a new urban development master plan to guide development in Rosemère over the next decade.
According to basic and virtually unchanging tenets of Rosemère’s current urban planning vision, the hub of the town remains the “village” core along Grande Côte Rd. (where the library, municipal pool and other facilities are located across the street from the Metro supermarket and mall).
Widely varying opinions
In the meantime, the sprawling Rosemère Golf Club grounds and Place Rosemère along Labelle Blvd. are regarded as a regional hub. “We’re trying to get a feeling from the population as to how they feel about all these things,” Mayor Eric Westram said in an interview Feb. 22 with the North Shore News, noting that the variance in opinions in some cases is quite wide and may need reconciling.
“Everything that is going to come out of last Wednesday’s consultation and today’s, plus the two previous consultations and the two focus groups, will be letting us know where the population is at on all the issues so that we can find a consensus. We’ve always said that we wanted to keep Rosemère as green as possible.”
Place Rosemère’s future
As town councillor Philip Panet-Raymond reflected, not everything is within the control of town officials. “The future of the shopping mall to some extent is in the hands of the owners,” he said during the consultations, held at the Externat Sacré-Cœur school.
According to Panet-Raymond, Rosemère officials are currently waiting for a proposal to be made by the mall’s owners (Toronto-based Morguard) to partly modify the mall’s vocation to something that could integrate a new concept into the current all-retail configuration.
“Retailing has changed over the past 10-20 years,” he said. “It’s had an impact on that mall and its ability to maintain its value. That mall was reassessed in terms of value and it’s gone down a little bit, which in turn has an impact on the taxation generated.
Town open to changes
“We were encouraging the mall ownership to come back to us with a plan that updates and modernizes it, and that would also allow us to, you know, potentially put some rental residential in there,” said Panet-Raymond.
“We’re open to upgrading that mall. And they’ll do their homework in terms of what works and what doesn’t. They’ll do demographic studies to determine what should be there and what will be profitable.
“Because obviously if businesses at the mall are working and are profitable, we’re happy. Because then the tax base for us goes up and allows to do more with that tax revenue towards improving the lives of our residents.”
Golf course’s future
As for the Rosemère Golf Club, whose future as a golf course looks dim given the dismal state of golfing as a sport, Councillor Panet-Raymond said the town has been in discussions with the owner, a developer who would eventually like to build housing on at least part of the large property.
“We have received no plans as yet from them,” he said. “But we are consulting the population for purposes of getting some ideas for our own plans.” He said the town is currently following a guideline that sets a 50 per cent threshold, meaning that at least that much green space would be conserved if there were to be redevelopment.
Former Drummondville mayor seeks Quebec Liberal party leadership
Martin C. Barry
When you consider that Quebec Liberal Party leadership aspirant Alexandre Cusson devoted himself mostly until now to municipal politics and only recently decided to jump to the provincial level, it might be easy to dismiss him as an interloper seizing on an opportunity.
Us and them
However, there are a few things that need to be known and understood about Cusson before passing judgment. Perhaps one of the first is his disdain for some of the policies of the current CAQ government.
“We have to put an end to the us and them outlook that is currently the practice of the Legault government,” Cusson said in an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia, alluding to the CAQ’s overall outlook as expressed in legislation such as Bill 21 banning religious symbols.
Drummondville mayor
Prior to the announcement of his interest in seeking the PLQ leadership last November, Alexandre Cusson was probably best known as the mayor Drummondville, the 15th largest municipality in Quebec.
After spending the first 25 years of his working life as a teacher and senior administrator at a private school and junior college in Drummondville, Cusson was elected mayor of Drummondville in 2013 with 70 per cent support from voters.
After winning a second term in 2017, he became the head of the Quebec Union of Municipalities. In that capacity, he signed an important new fiscal pact between the provinces and Quebec with the Legault government.
Memories of Bourassa
What is perhaps not as well known about Alexandre Cusson is that his involvement with the Quebec Liberal Party actually goes way back. Cusson first signed on as a card-carrying PLQ member in the early 1980s.
The 51-year-old recalled a meeting of PLQ youth wing members who gathered at the Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal in 1985 to welcome Robert Bourassa back following the former premier’s decade-long absence from Quebec politics. This was a few weeks before the 1985 election that saw Bourassa come back into office. Alexandre Cusson is not the first and probably not the last politician who starts out defining himself politically through early adhesion to a political party, then spending years (and sometimes decades) pursuing other goals, only to return to the original fold in the end.
Return to the Liberals
Perhaps the most noteworthy alternate example of this phenomenon is former NDP leader Tom Mulcair. After first joining the NDP in 1974, Mulcair got into provincial politics, representing Chomedey for the PLQ from 1994 to 2007 and serving in the cabinet. After suddenly leaving the Jean Charest government, he became active again with the NDP, becoming the party’s leader in 2012.
“Obviously when I became mayor, I was fully involved with that and I was no longer involved with the Liberals,” said Cusson, noting that he renewed his PLQ membership only recently. “But I have always been Liberal,” he added.
Two-way leadership race
Whether it’s a new face or simply one that hasn’t been seen in a long time, Cusson’s decision to toss his hat in for the Liberal leadership assures the party will indeed have a race, rather than a coronation, which would have been the case with the only other candidate, Saint-Henri/Sainte-Anne Liberal MNA Dominique Anglade, in the running.
Still, as someone renewing himself with the Liberals, the prospect of Cusson winning raises the possibility he might see his next task as a reform of the PLQ following decades during which the party has been dominated by insiders.
Does PLQ need reforming
“As I am always repeating, we must give our party back to its activists,” Cusson replied when the reform issue was put to him. “What we notice is that over the last few years we haven’t been communication as much with our activists. We haven’t been listening to them as much. And so we have to enhance our chances.
“The Liberal Party is one which has an interesting structure,” he continued, referring to several of the party’s committees that were set up to take a constant reading of the pulse of the membership.
“We have to listen to them. We have to take the time to meet them. And I have made the commitment not only to listen to our province-wide committees, but also to listen extremely carefully to the local riding committees. It’s the best way to reconnect with Quebec as a whole.”
Seeking the rural vote
As things now stand in the seat layout at the Quebec National Assembly, two out of the four parties have a base of seats that is predominantly rural. For the Parti Québécois that has almost always been the case, while the current CAQ government also has virtually all its seats in rural areas. Conversely, the PLQ’s voter base is now almost entirely in the metropolitan Montreal region, following the party’s disastrous results in the last election.
With his distinctly rural roots, the prospect of Alexandre Cusson winning the PLQ leadership could provide the Liberals with a new lease on life by allowing the party to tap into this vast reservoir of rural votes – albeit possibly while further polarizing the provincial political spectrum and alienating the Montreal region even more.
And yet, Cusson seemed to suggest, it might be the best route to bring back voters. “If we want to see the Liberal Party of Quebec become the party that governs Quebec, it’s impossible to think that it’s only with Montreal and the region that it’s going to happen,” he said.
Sees Quebec ‘as a whole’
“When the Quebec Liberal Party was in power, it’s because it had people from all over Quebec. For me it’s not a question of whether we are party that takes care of the regions or one that pays more attention to the metropolitan region. Quebec has to be taken into account as a whole.”
If there remain valuable votes to be won in rural Quebec, it might also be remembered that the CAQ won their landslide in late 2018 after promising and then passing Bill 21, which appealed mostly to French-speaking Québécois rural voters who felt their values were threatened by the rising presence of immigrants.
Would re-write Bill 21
Still, Cusson insisted, Bill 21 runs counter to fundamental Quebec Liberal Party principles. He said the PLQ, under his leadership, would replace the legislation with something that doesn’t undermine individual freedoms.
On the question of PLQ reform, Cusson said he’s not sure the word reform is appropriate to describe what he has in mind. “But at least it would be to have our party function as it is supposed to,” he said.
“The National Policy Committee, which is the soul of our party and which sets our vision for Quebec, works very hard. But over the past few years, it hasn’t been listening very carefully.
Touching base with activists
“So it’s not a reform of the party’s structure, so much as the attitude, presence on the field, being near the activists and hearing them, showing that we’re interested in what they have to say. To me that’s what’s important.”
Despite repeated accusations and tentative police investigations of alleged corruption within the Quebec Liberal Party, Cusson said he is confident the party has been operating honestly and on the level.
“I am convinced that at the Liberal Party of Quebec ethical behaviour is there and is exemplary,” he said, although he acknowledged that a perception of corruption within the PLQ and other parties remains in the minds of many Quebecers.
Flood victims still waiting in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac
(NSN) With the spring melt only a month or so away, fallout from the tragic flooding that occurred in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac nearly a year ago is still being felt.
According to recent news reports, more than 100 property owners are still waiting to receive promised financial assistance from the Quebec government.
$77 million paid out
As of mid-February, according to one source, the province’s Ministry of Public Security has dealt with more than 1,400 cases, of which 92 per cent have been completed, allowing $77 million in financial assistance to be paid to Sainte-Marthe residents.
The payments being made by Quebec in Sainte-Marthe represent around a quarter of all payouts ($312 million) for damage caused across the province in last year’s spring floods.
Lower payouts
In Sainte-Marthe, according to Radio-Canada, a number of property owners seriously impacted by flooding and who qualified for compensation say the amounts they have ended up receiving are a lot lower than what they expected.
In the meantime, others complain the government still hasn’t dealt with their claims dossier and that government records appear to be completely in disorder. Some have also refused settlements offered by the government, maintaining they’re far too low.
CYMMA offers women balance and success
Martin C. Barry
Certified trainer Nathalie Godin is continuing her quest to offer cross-disciplinary workouts to women 30-55 years of age in cardio, yoga, meditation, motivation and nutrition.
A condensed session of her method tailored to the needs of women held at the Sportium sporting goods store at the Centre Laval on Jan. 16 was the third event organized by Godin since she began offering her services in October 2018.
Session in March
“The good news is that we’re going to be doing this all over again sometime in March,” she said in an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia, while noting that the date has been tentatively set for March 19.
Godin said management at the Laval Sportium store was pleased to have been given the opportunity to host her latest workout session and that they hoped to welcome the women’s workout group back in March.
Learning CYMMA
For an hour during the most recent training session, Godin introduced the participants to her cross-disciplinary method, known as CYMMA, an abbreviation for Cardio, Yoga, Meditation, Motivation and Alimentation (nutrition).
Godin was the founder of the Godrunners running group in November 2013. Having completed several grueling running challenges herself, including the 93-kilometre Montréal/New-York relay event, she wanted to share some of the secrets to her success with others.
A cross-discipline
Godin has trained more than 100 women in techniques to allow them to complete running challenges, ranging from 5-kilometre events all the way to half-marathons.
For CYMMA, she expanded on her techniques to include yoga as a means for women to avoid self-injuries, while being able to stay in top shape. At the same time, Godin decided to include comprehensive information on proper nutrition, meditation and how to become fully motivated.
“The goal is to inspire as many women as possible to integrate the five CYMMA elements into their activities, which will in turn bring balance into their lives,” she said.
Achieving balance
During full-length CYMMA sessions, a group of women do 45 minutes of walking on an outdoor course, followed by 45 minutes of yoga, 15 minutes of meditation, a session on proper nutrition, and conclude with an inspirational and motivational talk.
While many participants are from Montreal, Laval and the North Shore, some women who have attended have come from all over Quebec, including Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières. She also has more than 10,000 followers on her Facebook page.
Godin hopes to eventually hold CYMMA training sessions in Quebec City and Sherbrooke. As well, she would like to make training available to employers who could offer it to interested employees.
Session set for May 16
Godin plans to hold a three-hour seminar on the CYMMA method at the Parc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles on Sainte-Rose Blvd. in Laval on May 16 from 9 am to 12 noon. She expects to receive up to 80 participants.
The venue is especially beautiful, as it features outdoor pathways through woods alongside the picturesque Mille Îles River.
Additional information is available at www.nathaliegodin.com, as well as on Facebook: @nathaliegodincymma, and Instagram: @nathaliegodin_cymma.
