You know, one of the best things the city of Montreal did in recent years was to set up a grant program where small businesses could access funds to improve their store fronts. It has done more to revitalize parts of the city than Y-A Convention Center project ever could. So now the provincial government, eager to ride the coat-tails of the dot.com revolution, is going to build another convention center. Les Quebecois have already shown themselves to be pretty quick on their feet and I bet the Keeners and True Believers could put the money to better use than tubular office buildings. A sort of "the street finds it's own use for things" situation. This is all about buying votes and creating a false sense of security so that the Old Guard of the P.Q. can see a sovereign Quebec in their lifetime. This is why a referendum won't be won any time soon : the only people who stand to gain are the politicians and their over-inflated sense of pride and people know it.
Meanwhile, in Toronto...