The Parti Québécois (PQ) won 54 seats last night in a tightly contested election called in August by the Parti Liberal de Québec (PLQ). The results were announced to an ecstatic crowd of supporters, gathered at the party’s election night rally at Metropolis in downtown Montreal.

As the results rolled in after 8 p.m., Pauline Marois, leader of the PQ, was officially confirmed the first female premier of Quebec. The announcement was followed by a series of televised speeches given by heads of the other parties from their bases. The evening was to conclude with Marois’ victory speech at the Metropolis at 11:30 p.m.

Two tragic shootings, one fatal. 

The night’s festivities were marred by a tragic turn of events. Around midnight, a gunman burst into the venue and fatally shot one bystander, critically wounding another. He fired several shots outside of the venue’s back door. The victim was an electrical technician employed by Metropolis. A contract bus driver for the PQ remains in critical condition but is alive.

According to the Montreal police’s Twitter account, the suspect is reported to have cried “Les anglais se réveillent!” (The English are rising) before opening fire on the crowd. No motives have been assigned to the shooting, as the crime is still under investigation.

In an interview with the Tribune, political science professor Jacob Levy de-emphasized the shooting as signaling a trend in Quebec society.

“I think one shouldn’t read too much into something like that,” Levy said. “It tends to be a mistake to read into one disturbed person’s actions as a sign of the broader times. The killer was clearly motivated by something political and probably something intercommunal, but that doesn’t mean that other Anglos … are in a state of high agitation. That may be the case, but this event doesn’t show it.”

Liberals remain, under a PQ minority

The race was hotly contested, with the PQ defeating the Liberal Party by a margin of .73 percentage points of the popular vote. The Coalition Avenir Québec made significant gains for a new party, and Québec Solidaire doubled their seats in the National Assembly.

Though the Liberals won 50 seats, the head of the party, Jean Charest, lost his Sherbrooke seat to PQ Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Serge Cardin. The loss in Sherbrooke marks the end of Charest’s 28-year career, as he resigned on Wednesday from his position as leader of the Liberal Party.

Despite Charest’s defeat, the Liberals won more seats than suggested by polls prior to the election.

“To my surprise, [the Liberals] are alive and kicking,” Levy said. “They are probably better off without Charest, and are able to start rebuilding and reorganizing effective tomorrow … [for] the election that we’ll probably have in a year and a half or so.”

Indeed, if the PQ cannot find common ground with the opposition parties, this parliament could be short lived. Quebec’s most recent minority government, led by Charest, lasted just 17 months.  Prospects seem contingent on collaboration and leadership.

PQ MNA Bernard Drainville was optimistic about the election’s prospects for his party.

“For the moment, for tonight, what we know is that the Quebeckers voted to remove the Liberals and put them at the door,” Drainville said, addressing the Tribune and other members of the press.

Tuition and Bill 78

The PQ has already begun to make policy changes that distinguish them from the Liberals. At her first press conference as Premier-Elect on Wednesday, Marois announced that one of the new government’s first priorities would be to freeze university tuition and to repeal Bill 78, also known as Law 12. The announcement comes as a response to student strikes and demonstrations, which were one of the causes for the late-summer election, and has left some students hopeful for the future of Quebec education.

“It sounds like there is a lot of relief from students—from seeing things on social media and Twitter—that the announcement has come so early,” SSMU VP External Robin Reid-Fraser said. “[But] obviously students are going to keep paying attention to what happens after.”

“If there’s a minor possibility of [resolving the tuition dispute], we’ll do it ….” PQ member Jean-François Lisée told the Tribune in French. “We’re the ones who won … so we’ll do our best to deliver 100 per cent of our promises.”

It remains to be seen whether the rest of the National Assembly will allow these changes, although the PQ might try to use an order-in-council, a governmental decree, to put them into effect. The newly elected premier also told the press that her party would implement changes to Bill 101, Quebec’s controversial language law, such as limiting access to anglophone CEGEPs.

“Quebeckers have made their choice, and we will respect the choice and work with all the other elected MNA in Quebec,” Marois said in her election night address in French.

—With files from Erica Friesen and Carolina Millán Ronchetti. 

With the help of around 300 volunteers, McGill set the new Guinness World Record for the largest fruit salad Aug. 28 on lower field. Weighing 11,197 lbs, the fruit salad surpassed the previous record of 10,440 lbs held by California State University in Fresno. The event, organized by Food and Dining Services, sought to highlight local farming, environmental sustainability, and Montreal community organizations.

Oliver de Volpi, executive chef of McGill Food and Dining Services, explained why his team chose to break this world record in particular.

“Food and Dining chose a fruit salad because we thought it emphasized different points that we feel, as a department, are important—local ingredients, using our own farm at Macdonald campus, and nutrition,” de Volpi said.

Volunteers helped prepare the salad by cutting approximately 12,000 lbs of fruit, loading it into an inflatable swimming pool, and serving it to audience members.

One of the volunteers, Dave D’Oyen, U3 arts, said he thoroughly enjoyed participating in the event and spoke enthusiastically about the anticipation of weighing the final product as well as the satisfaction of breaking the previous record.

“We surpassed [our] target by far,” D’Oyen said. “The goal was just 11,000 lbs of fruit and we even went beyond that. What [the audience is] eating right now isn’t even from the pool […] That is how much fruit came here today. The pool was not touched.”

The salad was a blend of 4,960 lbs of watermelon, 2,231 lbs of pineapple, 357 lbs of strawberries, and several other ingredients. Fifty per cent of the fruit used was grown at the MacDonald campus farm.

Despite the magnitude of the salad, organizers were careful to minimize the amount of waste created. All the fruit peels, as well as all the containers, wooden spoons, and compostable bowls at the event were composted.

“We [also] have our own compost we are starting up with this and we will be donating [the remaining fruit salad] to local missions and charities in Montreal,” de Volpi said.

Organiations who received some of the salad include Old Brewery Mission, Welcome Hall Mission, Meals on Wheels, and Dans La Rue. In addition, 300 portions of fruit salad will be sold on campus, with proceeds going to Centraide.

“It is a pure demonstration of what people in numbers can do and that to me is truly impressive,” Volunteer Joaquim Miro, U2 management, said.

The orientation week makeover initiated by McGill in the fall of 2011 continued this year, with increased integration of Discover McGill, faculty frosh and events organized by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). Orientation week also featured a new component of non-alcoholic activities organized by student-run clubs and McGill services, called À la carte activities.  The modifications aimed to make all events and activities more inclusive, sustainable, and community-oriented.

One major change was the integration of SSMU-organized events with faculty-organized events, and the absence of a separate SSMU frosh. According to SSMU President Josh Redel, SSMU frosh had been marked in previous years by poor attendance and unpopularity among first-year students.

“[This year] we were working toward an integrative model, and in terms of that, SSMU frosh didn’t necessarily make sense,” Redel said.

SSMU took care of organizing the opening night concert, Beach Day, the all-ages components, and an additional day of frosh. The faculty associations were then responsible for organizing their faculty-specific events.

Several working groups and a 50-member Orientation Planning Group (OPG) were established to help organize orientation week. The working groups were composed of student leaders from SSMU and faculty associations, as well as staff members from McGill Student Services and the First-Year Office. The OPG also included advisors from McGill administration, Ancillary Services, and residences.

“The groups were a combination of students who [were] the primary stakeholders in the events,” Student Life Coordinator Mitchell Miller said. “The administration [was involved] for sustainability reasons.… [Administrators] have been here for several years and have seen successes and weaknesses that they can talk about.”

One of the more noticeable additions to orientation week were À la carte events. These events – which included workshops, activities, and tours hosted by different clubs and university-run services – were created to complement frosh and to cater to the varied interests and backgrounds of incoming students.

“[The À la carte events] were designed to … first, keep students busy during their first week, and to diversify the huge Discover McGill component,” Redel said.

“They also provided alternatives for students who didn’t want to do frosh, but don’t want to be deprived of an orientation experience,” AUS Vice-President Events Josh Greenberg said.

In past years, frosh had been criticized by students for lacking non-alcoholic events for underage first-years or those who did not wish to drink. The new À la carte component helped solve this issue, as none of the events involved alcohol.

Beyond the À la carte section, SSMU and faculty associations also strove to organize more all-ages, night-time events than were offered in previous years, such as the toga party at the SSMU ballroom.

“Many of the faculty frosh committees joined forces in order to accommodate everyone’s underage students … creating a neat opportunity for students to connect with other faculties,” Greenberg said.

Despite positive reception to structural changes, not all elements of frosh were seamless.

“I waited 7.5 hours on Beach Day … for a bus,” Josh Thon, U0 engineering student, said. “I think [transportation] could’ve been better organized.”

This year also witnessed a sharp increase in the price of frosh admission, with faculties charging over $100 per person, in comparison to approximately $70 in past years. Despite the price increase, many students thought that the events were worth the expense.

“For a little over $25 a day, the kind of activities we did and the kind of fun we had was definitely worth it,” Thon said.

Overall, both orientation organizers and first-year students expressed satisfaction with the results and their experience throughout the week.

“I know a lot more people here now,” Emma Hart, U0 music student, said. “I’m really comfortable walking around campus and [enjoy] recognizing several people along the way.”

“[Orientation week] certainly wasn’t perfect,” Redel said. “However, this year was a really big step forward [regarding] all of McGill working together towards a [successful] orientation.”