Quebec

SACRAMENTO - California's air quality officials soon may be adding a new phrase to their bureaucratic vocabulary: " le rechauffement climatique . " That's French for global warming. The California Air Resources Board on Friday linked its program for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and curbing climate change with one in the French-speaking, Canadian province of Quebec. The merger starts Jan. 1. On April 8, Gov. Jerry Brown certified the two cap-and-trade systems as compatible.

SACRAMENTO - California's air quality officials soon may be adding a new phrase to their bureaucratic vocabulary: " le rechauffement climatique . " That's French for global warming. The California Air Resources Board on Friday linked its program for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and curbing climate change with one in the French-speaking, Canadian province of Quebec. The merger starts Jan. 1. On April 8, Gov. Jerry Brown certified the two cap-and-trade systems as compatible.

Eleven 18th-Century Skeletons, believed to have been English subjects captured by the French, have been discovered in fortifications surrounding Quebec's old quarter. The find by construction workers who were reinforcing the structure brings the number of skeletons uncovered to 37, archeologist Gisele Piedalue said last week.

Paul Lagloire played high school hockey as a youngster in the Quebec town of Bromont, but he turned down an invitation to the training camp of the major junior team in Verdun because he thought he was too small to succeed, at 5 feet 10-1/2 and 130 pounds. His hockey career didn't take off until decades later, after he had moved to California and retired from his job as a chief accountant and office manager. “I was not doing any serious work. All my joints and legs and nerves were still in good shape because I was not doing heavy workloads,” said Lagloire, who lives in Glendale.

Imagine a Pepsi advertising campaign with not a single grizzly bear, no Cindy Crawford, not even a Michael Jackson or a Shaquille O'Neal. Imagine instead a cabdriver who cries when he sees a Pepsi parking lot because the Pepsi trucks are just so beautiful. Or a Pepsi delivery guy-turned-hero with red and blue tights, who calls himself Pepsiman and crashes through walls to deliver the goods.

The crowd roared as a thin, spectacled man in a blue flannel suit came through the pillared doorway of a downtown convention center. Flashbulbs popped, television lights came on, and reporters homed in with their microphones. The premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, was about to address the Canadian people. "He's not at all charismatic," said Montreal newspaper editor Paul-Andre Comeau, but that doesn't matter. Robert Bourassa isn't just any Canadian politician, and these aren't ordinary times north of the 49th parallel.

Throughout much of their history, French-speakers in the province of Quebec suffered economic discrimination at the hands of an English-speaking business elite. Francophones traditionally worked the shop floors and assembly lines; les anglais called the tune from the executive suite. That isn't so in Quebec today, but the painful memories linger.

The bishops who reigned supreme in Quebec for more than a century would wince. These days church pews are rarely filled, and more couples in this province live together unmarried than anywhere else in Canada. The Roman Catholic Church, once the rock on which French Canadians built their identity, now plays a radically diminished role in Quebec society. Although nearly all of the province's 6 million French speakers have Catholic roots, fewer than 10% attend Mass regularly, compared with 90% a few decades ago. Once- pervasive church influence over politics and culture has faded almost totally.

This is a story about a family reunion in Quebec where 1,400 people showed up. What sort of family would have 1,400 people show up at a reunion? Mine. The kind of family that's not so much a family as a political machine. In 1986, some folks in Quebec, where the family hails from, organized a group called L'Association les Dionne D'Amerique Inc. I got a mailing from them a few years back and decided: At last, a special interest group I can support unreservedly. So please do not expect a fair-minded, objective account.

Pavel and Valeri Bure are challenging to become the highest-scoring brother combination in an NHL season. The Bures have tallied 79 goals, Pavel a league-leading 45 with the Florida Panthers and Valeri 34 with the Calgary Flames. The NHL's top-scoring brother combos: 88--Bobby Hull (Chicago), 58, and Dennis (Chicago), 30, in 1968-69. 84--Bobby Hull (Chicago), 44, and Dennis (Chicago), 40, in 1970-71. 83--Peter Stastny (Quebec), 47, and Marian (Quebec), 36, in 1982-83.

BEIJING -- As he brings his message of carbon reduction to top officials in China, Gov. Jerry Brown moved another step closer to broadening California's carbon-trading market Tuesday. Before crossing the Pacific, the governor sent a letter to the state Air Resources Board enabling it to move ahead with plans to link California's carbon-trading market with one in the Canadian province of Quebec. Carbon markets aim to reduce overall pollution by creating a system that limits the total amount of carbon emissions allowed but enables big polluters to buy the right to pollute more.

Beginning in July, travelers on VIA Rail , the national passenger railroad of Canada , will be able to enjoy streaming video free of charge. The service will be available in the corridor between Windsor, Ontario, and Quebec City. That includes the popular line linking the country's two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal. The streaming video - accessible on smartphones, tablets, and laptops - will be provided in partnership with the National Film Board and the CBC, Canada's public broadcaster.

A ski vacation deep in the heart of Francophone Quebec is an adventure in its own right. But at Le Massif de Charlevoix , a year-round resort about 90 miles northeast of Quebec City, getting to the slopes by rail adds to the experience. Not content to open a resort amid spectacular scenery overlooking the broad and beautiful St. Lawrence Seaway, the owners created their own railway to ferry passengers between Quebec City, the provincial capital, and the 350-year-old village of Baie-Saint-Paul.

Ice hotels are quirky subfreezing structures. They feature elaborate ice sculptures, ice beds and usually an ice bar. The first one was built in 1991, about 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle in a village in Sweden's Lapland, and it has been re-created every year since. But you don't have to go that far for a little cold comfort. The Ice Hotel , or Hotel de Glace, in Canada's Quebec City, about 10 minutes from downtown, has 32 rooms and suites (some with fireplaces, which seems like cheating)

The NHL and the players' union shifted slightly in proposals they exchanged Wednesday, but they remain firmly at odds over the percentage of revenue players would share in a new labor deal. Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league's latest proposal would be off the table if there's no deal before the current collective bargaining agreement expires at 8:59 p.m. Pacific time Saturday. "With every day we're experiencing and will continue to experience damage to the game and to the business of the game, and what we're trying to do now is stem that damage," Bettman told reporters in New York.

TORONTO - The suspect in a fatal shooting at a Montreal political rally for a Quebec separatist party probably acted alone, police said Wednesday. One person was killed and another hospitalized in critical condition after the late-night attack, which occurred as Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois was giving her victory speech after her party won Tuesday's provincial elections. Police said suspect Richard Henry Bain, 62, was detained outside the hall, where he shouted in French as he was being taken away: "The English are waking up!"

Your Feb. 16 article ("Showtime Is About to Hit Streets of Montreal"), about Montreal's 350th birthday, prompts this urgent suggestion: Anyone preparing for a trip to the province of Quebec must read "Oh Canada! Oh Quebec," by Mordecai Richler. Failing that, dig up the Sept. 23, 1991, issue of The New Yorker on which it was based. MERRILL SARTY Los Angeles

French President Francois Mitterrand's visit to Canada next week will officially end a 20-year chill in relations caused by President Charles de Gaulle's cry of "Vive le Quebec libre," Canadian officials said. De Gaulle's statement from the balcony of Montreal City Hall during a 1967 state visit poisoned relations for several years and was a rallying cry to Quebec's separatist movement.

Spend five days exploring Montreal and Quebec City on a trip that would work in summer or in fall. By day, tour highlights of the two cities; by night, unwind at historic Fairmont hotels on the Gems of French Canada Luxury Tour from TruExperiences Tours.  The Eastern Canada trip begins in Montreal where a half-day bus tour visits the old French Quarter, McGill University and the city's high point at Mt. Royal Park. Participants then hop a train to Quebec City and later tour the Latin Quarter, City Hall and the historic fortress the Citadel.

Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the previous week: + The mayor of Quebec City announced that construction will begin in September for an 18,000-seat, $400-million arena suitable for an NHL team. The city and the province of Quebec will split the cost for the building, which has a target opening of September 2015. It's a great city and it belongs in the NHL. Now, there's just the small matter of getting a team … + The next generation: Sabres rookie Marcus Foligno, who was born in Buffalo while his father, Mike, played there, has made a big splash since being promoted from Rochester (N.Y.)