TVA postd advice on Wednesday for getting to the airport but now there’s another – a new bus route linking the REM’s Des Sources station to YUL, at least until the REM’s A2 branch opens.
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Kate
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Kate
The CAQ’s Quebec constitution bill fizzled as the parliamentary session ended, and – with any luck – will become only a curious footnote in Quebec’s legal history.
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Kate
The family of Valentine Dufresne, killed by a train in March as she made an illegal crossing at a well‑known spot between the Plateau and Rosemont, are suing Canadian Pacific, the city and the federal government for $850,000 on the premise that the crossing is dangerous and not enough has been done to block it.
But it’s well known that every time CP puts up more fencing, someone comes along and cuts holes – and, well, she was taking a chance by crossing illegally. Sad, but FAFO, as they say.
MarcG
The solution isn’t to block it it’s to find a way to make it safe to cross near there since there’s obviously a need.
Kate
I could not agree more.
bob
They could also make the trains more visible and audible, but that would probably entail noise complaints. And people get killed at level crossings despite all the lights and bells and gates. Sometimes there’s little to be done.
Ian
While people do get killed at level crossings, thousands use them without incident every year.
Nobody is asking that we get rid of trains, just to put in level crossings so that people don’t invent ways to cross unsafely.
You might as well argue that since trucks sometimes hit pedestrians despite the presence of crossing lights the solution is not to have crossing lights.
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Kate
The plan to do roadwork on rue Villeray this summer is likely to ruin the season for several businesses including Café Vito, which has always flourished by holding outdoor World Cup watch parties. Vito has entreated with the borough to delay the work till after the soccer tournament, but to no effect. Also some audio on CBC.
Very local news, but local to the blog, so…
DeWolf
Oh, so that’s why the pedestrianized portion ends at de Gaspé. I thought it was weird it didn’t extend further west.
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Kate
I don’t usually post sound files, nor have I listened to this yet, but some may find this hour‑long NPR history of the Jazz Festival an interesting listen.
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Kate
Psychologically, what would be the benefit of posting a lot of very convincing AI videos of fake crime incidents in Quebec on Facebook? Convince people we need more law and order? Or just keep people more scared of each other, and generally cowed?
MarcG
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was either a) some random person with no political agenda who knows how to make money from social media, or b) one of Quebec’s far-right groups building support for their ideology through fearmongering, while also generating income to print their stickers, t-shirts, etc.
GC
Yeah, my guess would be a). CBC recently published a story about people overseas (mostly in India/Pakistan/etc.) who are very active in Alberta separatism groups on Facebook. They stir up antagonism. Not because they care one bit whether Alberta is in our out of Canada, but just because they’ve figured out how to work Meta’s monetization program to their own benefit. In that case, they were mostly copying other people’s content and reposting it. But, similar idea to let AI do the all the work.
Kevin
Digtial ad fraud is conservatively estimated at $100 billion per year — although some people say it’s closer to $250 billion.
The problem is that Meta, Google, and the other online giants make money both from people buying the ads, and from the people coming up with garbage to keep those (possibly fake) eyeballs on their sites, so they have absolute no interest in stopping the slop.
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Kate
Popular St‑Henri deli Arthurs Nosh Bar has been reproved by the OQLF over the Yiddish word ‘nosh’ on its front window. What should they put there instead? Grignotines juives?
Sal
Oy vey!
DeWolf
I’d love to see a story about one of the vigilante busybodies who go around filing complaints with the OQLF about things like this.
Ian
Maybe if it was spelled in Yiddish instead of Romanized? Lots of Hassidic businesses in my neighbourhood get away with Yiddish and/ or Hebrew. I bet if an OQLF inspector saw “נאש” (nosh) they wouldn’t know what it said anyway and let it go.
That said… If I call someone at the OQLF a putz or a shmuck, am I speaking Yiddish, or using a loanword in English? I am pretty sure most English speakers would recognize the words “putz”, “schmuck”, or “nosh” even if they don’t know ithsoe words were originally Yiddish, and I suspect that was the intention of the owner. That he’s claiming it’s Yiddish so it doesn’t count is about as authentic as his overpriced “heimishe” menu.
GC
Memories of Pastagate! Or the recent story about the SoLIT Cafe and the mandate to find a more French way to say “nachos”. At least they are not just dumping on English, specifically, for once?
Ian
Well we know they want us to not only speak French at work and at home but also to think in French, not leave the province, and apparently only eat French food.
Now I’m craving matzoh ball soup.
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Kate
Benoit Dagenais, who worked for the city for 30 years and has been director general since the Plante years, has been let go by Ensemble and replaced by Alain Dufort, who’s done various managerial jobs for the city.
No pressing reason mentioned why Dagenais has been given the push, but Le Devoir’s Jeanne Corriveau notes that, in recent history, directors general don’t survive a change of administration at city hall.
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Kate
Philippe Mercure has a good piece here on how the city is not being transparent about its ideas for Jarry Park as the tennis club gets ambitious for a bigger facility. But the park is more, and to far more people, than a few fans for one sports event in August.
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Kate
Anyone know whether the Parc Lahaie fountain circulates?
Mind you, it was nice and cool by the fountain under the trees today.
DeWolf
It was on last time I was there a few days ago.
I really hope they don’t turn it off. It would be a token gesture at best and fountains really do cool down the surrounding area, on top of providing a lot of mental relief.
Turning off the fountains to make a point about saving water because of a leaky water main that is currently being fixed feels like the kind of cruel gesture dreamed up by somebody who doesn’t spend any time in public space.
MarcG
Kate, were you asking if the water in the fountain is recirculated? Seems like it would make sense for most public fountains like this to be chlorinated and recirc’ed to save water but I have no idea how they’re engineered.
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Kate
A suspect has been arrested in the nightclub incident last month in which two random women were shot.
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Kate
A wine collector who confided 219 priceless and irreplaceable bottles to the SAQ for storage will be drinking Notre Vin Maison for the foreseeable future as the corporation has destroyed them all. But the story delves into complications beyond a mere warehousing error.
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Kate
Lots of plaudits in the media for actress Sophie Faucher, who has died at 68.
As a bad anglo, I have to confess that I knew nothing of her career, but the second La Presse piece linked above gives a resumé of her stage and TV work.
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Kate
The city plans to repave the Camillien‑Houde, notoriously full of potholes, and in plenty of time for the international bike race to be held there in September.
Bert
A question I have wanted to ask for a while, has that strip of road between the Fleuve and the Seaway been paved? Streetview dates to 2022 and has it as gravel, as I have always remembered it. Are we in for a Parix-Roubais TT?
steph
The voie du Fleuve is all paved between the Ville de Sainte-Catherine locks and St-Lambert locks. Lots of bugs, but a very nice ride.
Blork
Yes, they paved it at the end of October last year. I rode on it a few days later when the paving was brand new and it was beautiful. Here’s a photo of it looking down from the Champlain Bridge bike path, taken on October 28, 2025, when it was brand new: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blork/54894734876/in/dateposted-public/
Bert
Thanks for the follow-up. I had to assume that that was the case, but without proof….
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Kate
A dozen people are living in a camp under the Van Horne viaduct, and a court injunction says they can stay there for the time being. The city had wanted to move the residents on, since it’s close to a skate park and a basketball court.
Homeless people hesitate to call emergency services even when it’s critically necessary, because they know they will not be treated the same as other people, an observation made by organizations working among them. Homeless also often carry an invisible weight of unpayable fines and other legal encumbrances that make them wary of engaging with the forces of order.
dhomas
I don’t understand the point of “démenteler” these encampments. These people will still be homeless. They’ll just be homeless elsewhere. The last time they dismantled the Notre-Dame encampment (2024? Early 2025?), it just sent the homeless population everywhere else. Shortly after, there were people living in the park close to my house near Radisson metro. Tents appeared on the banks of the 25 (they are still there to this day). It solves nothing and just causes more inconvenience and stress to the homeless population.
On the topic of emergency services, I recently spent a few long periods in the ER at the Glen and I can confirm that homeless people are definitely treated differently (indigenous people, as well). While I was there, a homeless person came in for triage. He needed help getting out of his wheelchair and into a waiting room chair. I’d seen other patients get this kind of help. No one wanted to help the homeless guy. I ended up helping him out of the chair myself.
Kate
I was thinking about your first point, dhomas, and I believe it comes down to this: the city can’t quite face the reality that if it displaces an encampment, it’s simply moving the residents to another encampment, because that would acknowledge both the permanence of some of the camps and the apparent impossibility of giving the displaced residents more proper and decent places to live.
We’re edging closer to permanent camps anyway, with recent discussions of adding toilets and showers to some of them, but we’re not quite there yet.
I hope whoever’s in your entourage that has needed the ER will recover. Good on you for helping the homeless man.
Chris
>I don’t understand the point of “démenteler” these encampments
Perhaps because you’re looking from their point of view.
From the point of view of one’s neighbourhood being ruined (not saying that’s my personal view, but it is a view held by many), moving them on solves the problem and shares it around.
Kate
It’s a knotty problem. I can’t deny that the presence of people with mental and/or drug problems is unsettling, unhealthy and occasionally dangerous. Solutions have to be found that are bigger than any of the stopgaps we’ve seen so far, but I don’t know what they are.
Blork
Dhomas, I think you’re only seeing homelessness as a single problem (“these people have nowhere to live”), but homelessness brings a cluster of problems, including that obvious one, but also problems of safety and security for the general public, issues around limited funding for social issues and the competition for those resources, and all sorts of other things. As such, not every solution can address the full cluster of problems. Some solutions only address one immediate problem.
In this case, moving the encampment is intended to address the problem of security for people who want to use the skate park and the adjoining social areas in relative safety. While some might take offence at the idea that the unhoused are somehow a security risk we have to be realistic. There are some among the unhoused who are potentially dangerous (mental health problems and/or drug problems). An absurd example is this: would the playground of a garderie be an acceptable place for a homeless encampment? Probably not. It’s a sliding scale, and arguably the skate park lies somewhere in between “garderie playground” and “remote field next to a river.”
dhomas
@Blork @Chris: I totally understand that it’s a complex issue and that sometimes we cannot allow the homeless to remain in areas that put themselves and others at risk. My point is that “just” dismantling the camps is not enough. I wrote some additional thoughts on the topic a few days ago:
https://mtlcityweblog.com/2026/05/27/city-announces-plans-for-homelessness-money/#comment-244670@Kate: thanks for the well wishes for my ER visit!
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