Residents in the municipality of Potton in Estrie have started a petition urging the Minister for Local Affairs, Andrée Laforest, to investigate her tax increase for 2023, which is close to 28% in one of the municipality’s sectors.

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“We are trapped and we need your intervention to investigate and rectify the situation,” reads the petition, which was started by a group of local residents on Tuesday.

“The dissatisfaction is evident everywhere, we have looked at what we can do,” explained one of the first signatories, Michel Trudel, who was allowed to have several hundred names as a candidate for the office of municipal council in the 2021 elections. »

The increase varies by industry, ie 27.82% in ‘Village’, 25.05% in ‘Country’ and 22.66% in ‘Owl’s Head’. For a $300,000 dwelling in the village sector, that’s an increase of nearly $575 on a bill of $2,636.90.

A “worrying” phenomenon

Tax increases announced in recent months have sparked strong reactions in many Quebec municipalities.

In Sutton, an online petition is calling for a budget overhaul to counter the planned increase, which ranges from 11.9% to 14.7% depending on the sector.

In Saint-Paulin in Mauricie, the municipal council delayed the payment dates due to the dissatisfaction of the citizens.

Average gains exceed 10% in several communities, including Mirabel, Otterburn Park and Stanstead, reports a review by the Journal de Montréal.

PHOTO ERICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVE

The Minister for Local Affairs, Andrée Laforest

“As a Minister for Local Affairs, and even as a citizen, I find increases of more than 20% worrying,” Minister Laforest commented via email.

Like everyone else, municipalities need to plan their spending better in an inflationary context.

The Minister for Local Affairs, Andrée Laforest

However, “we always have to analyze the causes,” said the minister, referring to the infrastructure, the economic environment, services and previous tax freezes.

It is up to the “elected and accountable” councilors to “defend their budget to their people,” said Ms Laforest.

Looking for an investigation

The petition, launched in Potton, is asking Secretary Laforest to order “an investigation or audit” into the way the community is funding certain capital projects.

“We are one church, we are audited every year! “Responded the mayor, Bruno Côté.

PHOTO KARENE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE

The mayor of Potton, Bruno Côté

The petitioners criticize the local government for “financial practices” that “inflate surpluses so that they can dispose of them as they see fit”.

These surpluses come from the underestimation of real estate transfer taxes for the pandemic years 2021 and 2022, which ignited the real estate market, replies Mr. Côté.

Potton’s budget is up 18% this year, reaching nearly $10.2 million for nearly 2,000 residents.

Increases in wage bills, fire risk coverage plan requirements, digitization of City Planning Office files and required investment in municipal port facilities have all contributed to the increase.

However, tax revenues, previously relatively stable, have been there for three years, with jumps of 12% in 2021, 13% in 2022 and 31% in 2023.

“We all know villages that are struggling to attract new people, it’s time to invest in the community to keep it attractive,” argued Mr Côté.

The petition, which calls for the minister to intervene, is “purely political,” says Potton’s mayor.

Few snacks remind me more of childhood than chicken thighs: although we’re usually more of a thigh at El Comidista, I discovered its benefits when I was a little older – as were wings – and when I was little, that little drum did Object longing for the Sunday roasts that my mother shared Solomonically between my brother and I (while sometimes the stews were just drumsticks and you got two, which made me very happy).

I enclose here a thank you note and a kiss to the mothers who so often gave up for us those haircuts that they obviously liked too -especially mine: a little kiss, I love you very much, I’ll call you later- , I wipe away a little tear and we keep crafting Today’s recipe couldn’t be simpler: chicken, mushrooms, stir fry, white wine and some chup chup. I’ve used Lustaus Jarana Fino from Jerez – their Manzanilla Papirusa is also delicious – which I not only drink neat but also enjoy with a good tomato juice or to flavor marinades, stews and the like (purists forgive me but I have I) . came here to have fun).

Of course, any other can be used, but personally I prefer not to cook with wines that I wouldn’t drink because we add flavor to the recipe (and we want it to be good). We’re going to mix it with water to make sure the chicken is well cooked and the flavor of the sauce isn’t overpowering, so we don’t need a large amount either. Don’t have a fine handy? Use any other white wine you like (and add a few drops of sherry vinegar if you like). don’t you have wine Use broth or water.

This stew is no more complicated than mixing the sauce however we like, something we accomplish by leaving the casserole covered or uncovered for part of the cooking. If we didn’t do the math correctly at all and end up with a little more liquid than we’d like, we can always add a little cornstarch diluted in a tablespoon of water.

difficulty

Have patience to endure how good they smell until they are cooked.

ingredients

for 4 people

• 8 chicken thighs
• 16 mushrooms (more if small, less if large)
• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• ½ leek (the white part)
• 200 ml sherry wine
• olive oil
• Salt
• pepper
• thyme
• rosemary
• parsley (optional)
• Rice, bread, mashed potatoes or fries for dipping

preparation

If you make this recipe, share the result on your social networks with the hashtag #RecipesComidista. And if it goes wrong, complain to the Defender of the Cook by sending an email to [email protected].

Heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne announced the cancellation of his UK and European tour on Wednesday, saying he was “physically unable” due to his spinal injury a few years ago.

• Also read: Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne flee the US because of violence

“It has come to my realization that I am physically unable to do my next tour dates in Europe and the UK as I know I cannot afford the necessary travel,” the 74-year-old British singer wrote on Twitter.

This tour, planned for May and June with dates in Madrid, Zurich and several cities in Germany, among others, had already been postponed several times due to his state of health and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The singer explains in this message that four years ago he “had a serious accident,” a fall at his home in Los Angeles that “damaged his spine.” Despite the surgeries and treatments he’s undergone, his body is “still physically weak.”

“This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to share with my loyal fans,” writes Ozzy Osbourne. “I never thought my days on tour would end like this.”

The only glimmer of hope in this sad news is that his team is “finding ideas to know” where he could perform without having to “travel from city to city and country to country,” the singer explains.

Former Black Sabbath leader Ozbourne was fired from this group in 1979. He then launched a successful solo career.

He is also known for his behavior, such as biting off the head of a live bat during a performance in 1982.

In the early 2000s he found success with a new generation as a reality TV star – playing himself on MTV’s The Osbournes.

• Up to 500,000 people are expected to take part in UK strikes
• The government says big pay rises will fuel inflation
• Schools closed, most trains don’t run
• More strikes involving health workers are due next week

LONDON, February 1 (Portal) – Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants and train drivers resigned over pay on Wednesday in the largest coordinated strike action in a decade, with unions threatening further disruption while the government followed suit digs about salary demands.

The mass strikes across the country closed schools, halted most rail services and forced the military to stand by to help with border patrols on a day dubbed “Walk Out Wednesday” by unions.

Unions say up to 300,000 teachers are expected to go on strike, the largest group affected, as part of a broader action of 500,000 people, the highest number since 2011 when officials went on strike en masse.

The PCS Union, which represents about 100,000 striking officials from more than 120 government departments, warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government that further coordinated action was inevitable.

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“If the government doesn’t do anything about it, I think we’re going to see more days like today with more and more unions joining,” PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka told Portal.

“We need money now,” he added.

With inflation at more than 10% – the highest level in four decades – the UK has seen a spate of strikes across the public and private sectors in recent months, including health and transport workers, Amazon warehouse workers and Royal Mail postal workers.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the government would not back down and backing down to demands for big wage increases would only fuel inflation.

“What we cannot do is give anti-inflationary wage increases to some of the workforce and make inflation worse for everyone. It doesn’t make economic sense,” she told the BBC.

BADLY HANDLED

So far, the economy has not had a major impact on industrial action, with the cost of the strikes in the eight months to January estimated by the Center for Economics and Business Research at about £1.7 billion ($2.09 billion), or about 0. Estimated 1% of strike expected GDP.

The estimated impact of the teachers’ strikes is around £20million a day.

But the strikes could have political implications for Sunak’s government.

His Conservative Party is some 25 percentage points behind the opposition Labor Party in polls, and polls show the public thinks the government has handled the strikes poorly.

Jonathan Novelle, a doctor, said Britain was in a difficult situation as resources were limited.

“It’s sad teachers… Kids want to do their exams and I think there’s a lot of pressure on everyone. Depressing,” he said near London Bridge station.

The strikers are demanding above-inflation pay rises to meet skyrocketing food and energy bills, which they say are struggling to make ends meet.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union, told Portal that teachers in her union felt they had no choice but to go on strike as falling wages caused many to leave the profession, making it harder for those who remained make.

“Over the last 12 years there has been a really catastrophic long-term fall in her pay,” she said outside a south London school.

“They say, very reluctantly, that enough is enough and that things need to change.”

Next week, nurses, ambulances, paramedics, 911 dispatchers and other healthcare workers will stage more strikes, while firefighters also supported a nationwide strike this week.

Rallies are also planned for later on Wednesday to protest a new law to curb strikes in some sectors.

Outside Bishop Thomas Grant School in Streatham, south London, Natasha De Stefano-Honey, who has been a teacher for 14 years, said it was the worst time for education she could remember.

“Maybe 10 years ago I would really recommend teaching as a career and now I’m one of those teachers who can’t recommend it,” she said.

($1 = 0.8130 pounds)

Reporting by Michael Holden, Alistair Smout, William Schomberg, Natalie Thomas, Will Russell, Yadarisa Shabong, Ben Makori, Gerhard May and Sarah Young; Edited by Jonathan Oatis, Raissa Kasolowsky and Christina Fincher

Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.