Quebec excluded from BlackBerry Developers Challenge

Montreal

The BlackBerry Developers Challenge is open to anyone given local and state laws do not void the contest. According to the site:

“The Challenge is open to developers working on a BlackBerry application. In order to be eligible, developers may be individuals resident, or entities located anywhere (excluding the province of Quebec).”

Quebec is host to many talented developers, and even one of the founders of the BlackBerry Partners Fund, JLA Ventures, has an office in Montreal. So why is Quebec excluded?

The Quebec government, through the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (translated to ‘the regulatory board for alcohol, contests and games) has rules that discourage chance-based sweepstakes. Among the rules: the company running the draw has to give a large percentage of the prize money to the government, and allow the Régie to change or cancel the contest at any time.

Although the Regie rules do not apply to the Developers Challenge, it is indicative of the red tape surrounding any venture in Quebec. The Quebec government, through a variety of language requirements, often impose added costs on these competitions by requiring translation and additional language support.

In the end, it was likely a legal decision to not include Quebec, just to be safe.

[This article is thanks to Roberto Rocha of the Montreal Gazette]

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Morton

Quebec is governed by a group of self-serving, thoughtless, morons. I moved here last year with the most open of intentions and have discovered that this is an awful and frustrating place to live — red tape everywhere, crappy roads, traffic problems, poor medical care (no doctors want to practice here), outrageous hospital and clinic wait times, closed minded school system (whole generation of young people don’t speak English and miss out on global or even national opportunities) all resulting in a generation of clerks, poorest high school graduation rate in Canada, Mclean’s Magazine recognition of Quebec as home of the dumbest city in Canada (Saguenay), data showing Quebec to be the home of the most deadbeats (e.g., people who don’t pay their bills) in all of Canada, a huge distribution of uneducated and inconsiderate people who litter, graffiti, smoke with their children in the car, etc…. 4 more years! Gah!

That said, I do believe that Montreal is a nice place to *visit*, and it has been a valuable experience living here. Makes a person appreciate Vancouver sooooooo much more.
Morton

Quebec is governed by a group of self-serving, thoughtless, morons. I moved here last year with the most open of intentions and have discovered that this is an awful and frustrating place to live — red tape everywhere, crappy roads, traffic problems, poor medical care (no doctors want to practice here), outrageous hospital and clinic wait times, closed minded school system (whole generation of young people don’t speak English and miss out on global or even national opportunities) all resulting in a generation of clerks, poorest high school graduation rate in Canada, Mclean’s Magazine recognition of Quebec as home of the dumbest city in Canada (Saguenay), data showing Quebec to be the home of the most deadbeats (e.g., people who don’t pay their bills) in all of Canada, a huge distribution of uneducated and inconsiderate people who litter, graffiti, smoke with their children in the car, etc…. 4 more years! Gah!

That said, I do believe that Montreal is a nice place to *visit*, and it has been a valuable experience living here. Makes a person appreciate Vancouver sooooooo much more.
Morton

Quebec is governed by a group of self-serving, thoughtless, morons. I moved here last year with the most open of intentions and have discovered that this is an awful and frustrating place to live — red tape everywhere, crappy roads, traffic problems, poor medical care (no doctors want to practice here), outrageous hospital and clinic wait times, closed minded school system (whole generation of young people don’t speak English and miss out on global or even national opportunities) all resulting in a generation of clerks, poorest high school graduation rate in Canada, Mclean’s Magazine recognition of Quebec as home of the dumbest city in Canada (Saguenay), data showing Quebec to be the home of the most deadbeats (e.g., people who don’t pay their bills) in all of Canada, a huge distribution of uneducated and inconsiderate people who litter, graffiti, smoke with their children in the car, etc…. 4 more years! Gah!

That said, I do believe that Montreal is a nice place to *visit*, and it has been a valuable experience living here. Makes a person appreciate Vancouver sooooooo much more.
rs

What are you doing here then ??? go back to BC
rs

What are you doing here then ??? go back to BC
rs

What are you doing here then ??? go back to BC

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