Premier's daughter now Quebec's cheerleader leader

Catherine Marois-Blanchet cheerleader boss

  Cheerleading has been exploding in popularity and so has its injury rate.
  The activity has been embroiled in considerable discussion stateside, as college authorities refuse to recognize cheerleading as a sport, although it demonstrates all the required characteristics to be classified as just that.
   That's because were cheerleading to be recognized as a sport, it would be subject to additional safety regulations and raise additional insurance issues.
  And that might limit some of the fancier stunts and not everybody wants that, even though injuries are rife in cheerleading, which is the leading cause of catastrophic injury among young women in the states.
  Schools also don't want to recognize cheerleading as a sport because it would then force them to cut funding to other sports.
  Some female academic decision-makers also don't want to encourage what's seen as the old-style practice of girls cheering for boys.
  The young woman pictured above has to tackle many of these complex questions here in Quebec, as the sport is very popular here as well and it's only a matter of time before we see beautiful young woman get dropped and end up paralyzed.
  The Director General of the Federation de Cheerleading du Quebec is Catherine Marois-Blanchet and she is daughter of Quebec Premier Pauline Marois.
  Young Catherine is little known, although she raised some eyebrows in 2007 when she posted a note riddled with slang on her Facebook page objecting to those who pointed out that her populist politician mother lived in an opulent mansion on Ile Bizard, part of the largely-anglo west island. But in spite her questionable French, Catherine can bang out a pretty nice tune in English, as she did at a recent school event.
   In an email exchange I conducted with Pauline Marois in 2005, the current premier informed me that her daughter Catherine attended public school in French.
   The word cheerleading, apparently does not have a French translation. We'll see how long the OQLF language police will tolerate that situation. If someone can suggest a new French term please share it in the comments. You'll be reassured to note that the Federation's site does not offer an English option.