An anti-curfew march was held Saturday afternoon in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
La Presse looked at Montreal after 8.
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Kate
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Kate
Radio-Canada solicited opinions from four experts on the logo for the rebranded Club de Foot Montréal. As a logo for a summertime sport, a snowflake seemed an odd choice, they said.
And in French, the pejorative use of the word snowflake would not even apply.
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Chris
Let’s go snowflakes! Let’s go snowflakes! 🙂 I can imagine the taunting chants now… 🙂
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Matthew H
It is not a good logo. It is not even a good snowflake – snowflakes have 6 points, not 8.
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Kate
So this week Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, blew the big dogwhistle, alleging that the prime minister’s choice for new transport minister, Omar Alghabra, MP for Mississauga, is an Islamicist. This has caused a political reaction but the accusation is still there, even if condemned outright by Justin Trudeau.
I wasn’t sure I was going to post about that till reading this op-ed by J-F Lisée in Le Devoir, titled Une bonne semaine pour l’islam in which he hauls off at not only Alghabra, but also Bochra Manaï and the new CBC news anchor Ginella Massa, who wears hijab. Lisée’s stock in trade is to parade his xenophobia as a virtue, but – as Nora Loreto says on Twitter – “Jean-François Lisée is going to go full Atalante by 2022.”
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Jack
Since the turn to identity playbook by the PQ during the Charter fiasco the Bloc have followed suit. Plamondon has also taken a dark turn, which is the only place he can be in the PQ. The understanding that Quebec nationalism was a civic enterprise is now a joke. The PQ and BQ support an ethnic project that identity politics serves. At least we all know it now.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bloc-qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois-anti-niqab-ad-takes-aim-at-ndp-1.2974146 -
Uatu
There are times I wish I was white. It would make my life a lot easier
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Blork
There are times I wish I were NOT white, so I could fully distance myself from these idiots.
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Alison Cummins
There are times—most of them, actually—when I wish I weren’t so gormless and would just do something about these idiots already.
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Kate
Plateau borough is to allow year-round terrasses, as of next winter. But these terrasses can’t extend into the street, so there won’t be too many establishments with room to set them up.
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DeWolf
That’s just one change in a rather sweeping reform, which the borough outlined in a press release:
1) The Plateau is doing away with its restrictions on how far apart bars and restaurants must be from one another. This has apparently led to speculation and high rents on the retail outlets authorized to host an eatery. Instead there will be a quota on the number of bars/restos allowed in any given area and they can open in any suitable space within that area, even if it’s next to an existing bar/resto.
2) Larger terraces will be permitted, kind of like that we saw last summer. Terraces can occupy the space in front of neighbouring businesses (with their consent).
3) More intense commercial activity will be permitted on Rachel between Berri and Lafontaine Park.
4) The maximum possible size of bars and restaurants will be expanded in areas where they had been restricted.
5) Terrasses will be allowed on streets where they had been prohibited, including Laurier East and Fairmount.
6) A new café category of business licence will be created to accommodate restaurants that had been operating under an épicerie or traiteur licence, which restricted the amount of seating they could have. Apparently many of these restaurants had been exceeding the maximum amount of seats which left them vulnerable to fines.
7) A new “craft brewery” category of licence has been created. I guess this didn’t exist before which explains why the Plateau has no breweries other than RJ. The borough says in a press release that it’s hoping to attract more breweries (which could probably make good use of the industrial areas along the CPR tracks).
Press release: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=7297,75337594&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&id=33280
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DeWolf
Oh and I forgot another one:
8) Outdoor cooking will now be allowed on restaurant terrasses.
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david855
Thanks for the summary. It’s a good start.
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Joey
These are all great. Kinda hard to understand what took so long, tbh. Guess they ran out of ruelles to turn vertes.
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Mark Côté
A bagel-shop-turned-Indian-restaurant here in NDG had a long fight to get a full restaurant permit… which, years later, they finally got just before covid hit. :\
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Kate
Thanks for the exposition, DeWolf!
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Kate
La Presse says it’s costing the city millions to keep certain police officers idle. With a list of men who have been put aside on full pay.
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Ephraim
That’s the union. Instead of idle, they should put them to do awful jobs that no one else wants. Filing, traffic control, no-stopping tickets, etc.
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Kate
These would be guys with valuable experience, despite doubts about their judgement. I’m sure they could be put to useful work – maybe not straight up filing, but going over cold cases, making connections that weren’t previously made, using the internet and DNA databases to search for suspects. They don’t have to be out on the street to carry out investigations.
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Joey
Ces policiers, principalement des cadres, ont été écartés pour toutes sortes de raisons, que ce soit des guerres de clans, des allégations auxquelles ils ont fait face ou simplement parce qu’on ne voulait plus d’eux dans l’organisation.
Not clear if they are union-protected, but it does seem like they are toxic and therefore should be dismissed instead of suspended with pay (or assigned to menial tasks).
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Kate
Yes, the guys mentioned in the article would count as management. I wonder how many unnamed constables are also on permanent leave – they would be protected by the union.
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Ephraim
That’s the problem. But we should get at least SOMETHING out of it. Janitorial work? Filing? Traffic? How about making them measure tread wear on winter tires? Checking plates for people who haven’t paid their tickets? Getting double parked cars to move? Tickets for handicapped parking spots? Something… anything… just don’t let them stay home.
I don’t know if I want them to have database access without strict controls.
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DavidH
Again?
They are not part of the union. They are management. Says so in the very first sentence. These are the guys the union fights, not defends…
They have an “Association des cadres” which is more of a lobby than what a union is.
This is about litigation, not unions. Same as with Pichet. These people have legal recourses, same as all workers, public or private sector. The City wants them out but does not or cannot do the HR work all the way. In other jobs, people in these circumstances accept a cash settlement and get out. Police define themselves by their jobs. Accepting to leave is akin to pleading guilty. Some of them would probably cost more if we gave them a settlement to leave like they do in the private sector.
The problem here is partly optics. When a private company pays someone toxic to leave (or when the City paid Alain Marcoux to leave), they don’t assign them a menial job they won’t do. And we don’t expect them tp do so either. We just want the damage to stop. We pay them the equivalent of 10-12 years in salary straight up and move forward. These guys dragging things out until retirement age is the same. It’s frustrating but it’s really got nothing to do with unions.
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Alison Cummins
Management can’t do union jobs. Period.
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Kate
The acquittals of Gilbert Rozon and Éric Salvail on decades-old sexual aggression charges will not be challenged.
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Kate
The menu for Aunt Dai restaurant has gone viral because of the owner’s honesty about the quality of the offerings.
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steph
I may be a sour skeptic, but couldn’t this be simply clever marketing? It’s almost TOO good and cute.
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dwgs
You’re a sour skeptic. They interviewed the owner on CBC radio yesterday morning and he was personable and a bit quirky and sounds like a decent person.
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MarcG
I’ve ordered from there and it was good.
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Meezly
I just read the entire menu and it was very entertaining. Best to read it with a totally full stomach, which thankfully was the the case for me!
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mare
I ate there many years ago, and (then?) you got a free desert if you left a Google Maps review and sent them a screenshot. I’m a sucker for free things, but the food was actually quite good. And the owner is definitely social media savvy.
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DeWolf
I’m a little mystified as to why this is going viral now because this menu has been up for awhile and there was definitely some social media buzz about it three years ago.
In any case, it’s a good restaurant and they have a lot of classic dishes from mainland China, along with some Canadian-Chinese stuff.
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Kate
Virality is one of those imponderables. Sometimes it just takes being noticed by the right person at the right moment.
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Meezly
Also as we all know, restaurants have been struggling, so loyal customers have been trying to support their fave restos cuz they want them to stick around. I didn’t know about this restaurant until now.
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Kate
Meezly, originally he had a resto of the same name near Côte-des-Neiges metro. I’d just begun to hear good things about it when it burned down. That was a few years ago. But he built the place up again downtown, near Concordia.
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Kate
Threats from right-wing conspirators on social media have police keeping a closer eye on our bridges.
There are also threats against vaccination centres.
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Kate
Mario Girard ponders the demographic woes of the city as more people leave than arrive, but does Montreal have a problem that isn’t plaguing other cities? Toronto has also seen population loss through 2020, and the Globe and Mail compared their situations this week. New York has also seen a decline in numbers.
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DeWolf
You’re exactly right. This isn’t just Montreal’s problem. In fact, it’s not even a new phenomenon, it’s just that in most years the outflow of people is balanced out by immigration – and in 2020 there were virtually no new immigrants admitted to Canada. I’d be curious to know when was the last time Montreal’s population growth was fuelled by interregional/provincial migration rather than international migration. 1960?
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su
In 1980 there were 1 million less people living in Montreal, and I don’t recall anyone complaining about how underpopulated the city was .
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Tim
The Globe article states clearly that the city continues to grow based on “international migration” , so no, the city population is not actually decreasing.
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Kate
Maybe, Tim, but immigration was way down in 2020. The CAQ wanted to cut immigration levels, but Covid went well beyond anything they had dreamed of.
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Kate
Christopher Curtis writes about the plight of sex workers caught up in the pandemic.
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Ephraim
This… “. Because many can’t show proof that they earned over $5,000 last year, people in the industry don’t qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or unemployment insurance.” and that’s exactly the problem. We need it to be 100% legal, for them to be able to declare their taxes and get social benefits. It’s hiding it that is the root of the problem. Just like everyone else, they need a pension, an RRSP, a TFSA, medical care, safety and security. It’s not just those selling themselves on JustFans/OnlyFans, or what ever other website they sell themselves on, that should get legal protections.
In many countries, declaring income from illegal sources is encouraged and protected. The information on the tax authority forms cannot be seized or brought into evidence… unless taxes weren’t paid. You steal and rob, declare the income, because otherwise they go after you for tax evasion….
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Raymond Lutz
Socialist countries faring better than others (Vietnam!). UBI, salaire à vie as a solution for universal aid. M4A in USA, as pressing as ever… The pandemic is revelatory: market based societies suck.
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Raymond Lutz
Synchronicity! The last video of Mexie (uploaded dec 2020) is about sex workers! Mexie is a national marxist treasure.
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j2
Hmm whenever sex workers post in /r/personalfinancecanada, the advice is to always file your taxes using terms which are discreet but honest enough. Tax fraud is a bigger deal than sex work.
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Ephraim
It’s all Stephen Harper’s fault anyway. Sex work is perfectly legal in Canada, the supreme court affirmed this.
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Kate
There’s a smog alert Friday morning.
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walkerp
Oh no I was worried that the lovely atmosphere this morning was smog and not fog.
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Kate
A man was stabbed Thursday evening at the Place Dupuis hotel during a fight among itinerants there.
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Marc
Curious as to whether there are any témoignages from people close to these hotels-cum-shelters as to how things are going. Seems like a very high concentration of people who are statistically more likely to have substance abuse/mental health concerns, and if the goal is to get folks off the streets you would want the places prepped for them to be welcoming, supportive environments.
Is conversion of hotels really a better plan than mass booking empty AirBnBs in the community? Yes, support networks would be more spread out, but there may be less need for them if folks were better integrated in the community, rather than being warehoused…
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Ephraim
Even in the current situation, about 90% of the AirBnBs in town are illegal. But they are much easier to block you from booking them, cancel the booking on you and have furnishings that they will charge you for damage.
I’m willing to bet that the hotel wanted to refurbish and that’s priced into the deal. They removed any furniture of value and moved it into some sort of storage.
What we need are two things… rooming houses and wet shelters. Rooming houses provide some security, some privacy and a step forward. Wet shelters for those who disturb others, aren’t sober, aren’t on their meds, etc. And in the long run, an end to shelters run by groups who are just there to try to convert them to their religion and/or give them skewed values. (Sorry, I have a REALLY big problem with the Salvation Army and their motives.)
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Bill Binns
@Ephraim – I have asked my wife to search around in French and see if that contract is available to the public. I would bet a paycheck that a full reno job of the entire hotel at city expense is baked right in. Of course that’s assuming it ever stops being a shelter in the first place which is far from guaranteed.
It’s sad because Place Dupuis is one of the best managed buildings in the city. It’s an island of calm and safety in an ocean of crime and danger. Now the dangerous people have the keys. If that IGA is driven out of business we will be reading sad stories about the Village being a “food desert” in 6 months.
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Michael Black
But how many religious groups still run shelters? I don’t read about the Salvation Army. Some are religious-based, but their purpose seems to be to do good.
Yes, the very religious groups of old wanted to get people off alcohol. But drugs and alcohol do present real problems to shelters, and that seems to be driving things. Every group sees the need for a wet shelter, but they aren’t changing their shelter. That’s not religion, that’s practical.
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Ephraim
@Bill Binns – That hotel didn’t have a good reputation, which is why the management team was changed. But it has as much to do with the area as the management. I don’t know that a re-do will fix it anyway.
That Jean Coutu used to have guards standing as you left and accusing everyone of shoplifting. Every once in a while a guard would suggest that I took something… I told them to call the cops, so I can sue them for false arrest. Quickest way to get them to back off.
@Michael Black – There are some religious groups that are doing it for the right reason. The Salvation Army is a Protestant proselyting religion. They have been PUBLICLY pushing that they aren’t anti-LGBTQ+, this from an organization that turned down money because it required them to sign anti-discrimination policies. But the tide turned on them and they needed to update their image… and that’s the point, their image… they are spending enormous amounts of money to show a new “face”… because the previous one was eating into their collections.
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Bill Binns
@Ephraim, not sure about their reputation but that hotel appeared to be very busy right up until Covid. Lots of youth sports teams, buses full of Asian tourists and flight crews. I always thought it was odd that they were so busy being so far off the typical tourist map but it looked like they were filling those rooms.
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JS
@Bill Binns wouldn’t the locale of that establishment exert a downward pressure on room rates? The tourists you describe don’t sound like the executive suite types.
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Ephraim
@Bill Binns – Thank you for proving my point. Those are all considered DEEP DISCOUNT groups. In fact, Hockey groups are the WORST guests… screaming kids!
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Joey
I spent a sleepless night in Moncton once, sharing a hotel floor with kids in town for a hockey tournament.
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Kate
Ste-Justine Hospital wants parents to know that if your kid is sick enough to go to the ER, you should break curfew.
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Uatu
Just get ready to have your lunch inspected by the cops
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Joey
It will be interesting to see what happens when snow removal operators need people to move their cars after 8pm. Guess we’ll find out how that works this week.
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Kate
Glenn Castanheira has been given a big new job
at city hall. It will be on him to steer a revival of the downtown core. Item has a brief interview about his ideas.Update: The Gazette also talks to Castanheira.
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Michael Black
It’s not city hall. He’s been hired by the downtown merchant’s group. Interaction with city hall, but business driven.
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Kate
Thank you, Michael Black.
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Kate
The city’s choice of Bochra Manaï as its first anti-racism commissioner is a mistake, according to a spokesman for François Legault, specifically because she’s worked against the Loi sur la laïcité (Bill 21). I don’t believe Quebec can force the city to remove her, at least not directly.
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JoeNotCharles
Legault complains the anti-racism commissioner is not racist enough. So, sounds good?
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steph
How can Montreal separate from this racist province and its racist leaders? Our district character is under threat.
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GC
I’d be concerned if the anti-racism commissioner had NOT worked against Bill 21 at some point.
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Ayu
Guess his ideal choice is a visible minority who says yes boss, because the people of Quebec are perfect never making mistakes. Or a white person who has some visible minority friends. My boss is like that, and I’ll submit he hires visible minorities, but meeting a random stranger in an airport in the States who spoke french told him he lived in Montreal for ten years and couldn’t get a job in engineering in the 80’s. He was Persian. He told him your not a minority so you have no right to say there is no racism because you don’t face it. My boss changed after that so there is hope as he apologized to me and another visible minority on being ignorant.
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