A water main broke Saturday on Mont-Royal Avenue near Brébeuf, closing the street and damaging an unnamed restaurant.
Recent Updates Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
Linda Gyulai recounts how the city expropriated an old industrial building where artists and creators were working, then let it fall into decrepitude in the ensuing years. Now it wants to see it turned into artist spaces again, but it may be too late.
-
Kate
Thirty tenants were ordered out of their homes in a Lachine building which was in the news early in January because landlord negligence had forced the borough to step in and restore heating and hot water. On Thursday, the building was declared too dangerous for habitation. The item says the landlord can’t be found.
-
Kate
The Insectarium is marking its 35th anniversary. 🐜
-
Kate
Lots of pieces Saturday on the big Joyce Wieland retrospective on at the Museum of Fine Arts. Video from CBC. Le Devoir looks at this and other art exhibitions happening this winter.
-
Kate
TVA profiles La Remise, which started out as a tool library but now offers spaces and support for people wanting to make things themselves.
-
Kate
Daniel Renaud outlines how organized crooks pulled off a million‑dollar olive oil heist when a shipment vanished between Montreal and Toronto.
Nicholas
I saw recently that olive oil is the food product with the highest inflation over the last few years, apparently due to severe droughts in Spain, among other issues. Prices really have doubled in like 2 years. This won’t help, but it’s interesting this kind of shipment doesn’t even have a basic tracker.
Kate
Not surprising. I used to get Tunisian olive oil for 11.99 a litre, and now it’s 18.99 in the same store. Liquid gold!
If the owners of that shipment cheaped out by not tracking it, they were silly. But assigning blame in stories like this is impossible on the amount of data given in a brief news piece.
Blork
Olive oil also has a high level of fraud in terms of labelling of type and origin. Much of that “100% Italian olive oil” you’re paying a premium price for is cut with oils from other countries, and even different types of oils. The fancier the oil, the more likely it has been “tweaked” like this, including adding chlorophyll to make it smell and taste “grassy.” And of course the higher the price goes, the more fraud you get.
Don’t even get me started on San Marzano tomatoes!
Roman
Just an FYI if you are paying $19/L you aren’t getting olive oil. Even in the EU, the source of the oil, and the most regulated place on earth, there a massive crisis of fake oil. EU called it an epidemic and it’s the most faked product at the moment. I’ve asked local experts and was told that the price for good quality oil is 20€/750mL. ($30 CAD).
Kate
So is there any truth to the theory that if the ambient temperature goes below about 15° and the oil gets semi solid, that it’s a test for true olive oil?
-
Kate
The STM has decided to bring an end to its adapted transit service to save money. As of 2026, some form of collective taxi will replace them.
The article goes on to say that 90% of adapted transit type trips are already served by collective taxi.
-
Kate
Despite resistance from various quarters, Hydro‑Quebec has definitely chosen the Grande Bibliothèque site for the new substation it needs to build within 500 m of the existing substation nearby up the hill on Berri.
Taylor
ELI5
Why can’t they build a new substation atop the old one?
That is a primo piece of greenspace in an area that needs all the breathing room it can get.
Nicholas
Taylor, it is really hard to build extra floors on a building in situ (unless it was designed to be expandable). The piles and walls and so on are not designed to take tons of extra weight. Unless some architects and engineers have some solution, it would mean tearing down the current building, which would mean no power for much of that part of downtown for years, something that’s not happening.
And there are so many little parks and green spaces around that area that I’ve not once decided to sit in that park, especially given it’s right across from the bus and police station on a loud, busy road. Maybe a dozen within 250 m.
dhomas
What will happen to the old substation? When the project is complete, can they tear it down and turn THAT lot into green space?
In an ideal world where cost were no obstacle, I would love to see the new substation temporarily built on the Grande Bibliothèque lot, the old substation torn down, then the temporary substation moved back to its original location. One can dream!Kate
dhomas, I don’t think that would be a favourable spot for a pocket park. That steep little hill between Ontario and Sherbrooke has never been a strolling street and it would be a challenge to landscape. Don’t know what they could do with that lurking chunk of brutalism either if they wanted to save it.
DeWolf
I have my doubts Hydro-Québec is going to deliver a substation that is a worthwhile addition to the area, but let me play the devil’s advocate here…
Considering there is a sculpture park next door and Berri Square just down the street, what exactly is the benefit of this green space? It’s a patch of empty grass. Aside from one or two people tanning themselves in the sun, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually use it.
-
Kate
A customer is suing Première Moisson because, when he used their toilet, it broke and injured him.
(I admit, my first reaction was “what, you can use the bathroom in a Première Moisson?”)
Andrew
Just to raise awareness, if you see any hairline crack in a toilet bowl you should not ever sit on it and it needs to be replaced. For the reason of exactly what happened to this guy, it can be lethal.
Ian
When you gotta go you gotta go, but what a way to go.
dhomas
@Andrew is 100% correct. Any type of crack in toilet porcelain calls for immediate replacement. A Google search for “cracked toilet injuries” will return some pretty graphic images. I don’t suggest you actually perform the Google search (or do, I’m not your mom).
This reminds me of a story. A tenant of mine once asked me if he could replace his toilet, at his cost, as he didn’t like the one that was there (it was old but fully functional) and he wanted to look good for his new girlfriend. I told him that was fine but that I would provide an approved plumber. Well, he went ahead and replaced it before my plumber could come, using his own “plumber”. I went to go inspect the work afterwards and found the newly installed toilet had a very small, but still noticeable, crack in it! I asked the tenant if he noticed it and he said that he had but the “plumber” said it was just cosmetic and he’d be fine. I immediately replaced the toilet that very day, at my tenant’s great annoyance. I don’t think he realized that I was potentially saving his and his kids’ lives, quite literally.
jeather
Today I learned!
Kate
Me too. I had no idea, although I do know that toilets can just crack sometimes. Awhile back, water started pouring down into my apartment through the kitchen and bathroom ceilings. Turned out the toilet on the third floor had spontaneously cracked – no one was home. Landlord had to redo the ceiling plaster.
-
Kate
Weekend notes from CultMTL, CityCrunch, La Presse.
CultMTL also has a new restaurant guide up – this is a web page linked to the PDF of the current issue.
-
Kate
Snow removal campaign will start on Friday evening.
-
Kate
The Quebec Liberals have denied Denis Coderre’s candidacy to lead their party.
Ian
Haha /Nelson
I’m sure he’s shocked and confused just like when he didn’t win mayor. Get the message, already.
Orr
We’ll always have those magnificent granite stumps to remember him by.
-
Kate
Soraya Martinez Ferrada, currently federal tourism minister, has announced she won’t run again in a federal election, but has her eye on leadership of Ensemble and, via that route, the mayor’s seat.
Martinez Ferrada started her political career here as a councillor for St‑Michel with Union Montreal and then Vision Montreal, both parties since defunct.
Nicholas
She also ran for borough mayor in VSMPE in 2013 for Marcel Côté’s Coalition Montreal (also defunct), barely holding third place in front of (until today) fellow cabinet member Mélanie Joly’s VCM party. I guess she couldn’t run federally in that neighbourhood, given the incumbent MP, so she ran in Hochelaga.
It’s also interesting that she was the Liberal Party national campaign co-chair until today, so presumably was going to run again federally, and her seat will be a close one again. And she did say she would remain an MP until her term ends, so that’s a lot of double duty, but I guess the House isn’t doing much work these days.
DeWolf
Apparently Vincent Marissal is also considering a run for mayor? And Luis Miranda too, of course.
It would certainly be a lively race with all of these guys in the mix.
Kate
They can’t all lead Ensemble!
Nicholas
They all could have led it uncontested if they just submitted their nomination in the fall.
SMD
Marissal said he’d found his own party if he was to run for mayor: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2134963/marissal-fondera-parti-mairie-montreal
Nicholas
There’s time for Coderre to come back now!
Kate
Nooooo!
SMD: Someone has to put a lot of effort into mustering support and recruiting possible candidates if they want to establish a party. Lot of talking up plans. I wonder if anyone has seen Vincent Marissal doing this…
DeWolf
There’s some speculation that Marissal is abandoning QS over the the Bouazzi affair, but if Marissal thinks he’s going to find a more sympathetic ear in Montreal of all places, he’s going to be disappointed.
Kate
I didn’t blog much about the Bouazzi affair at the time because it wasn’t primarily a city concern. This piece from Maxim Fortin on the Iris Recherche site is a good summary.
We did have one previous thread about it here.
A lot of ink (or pixels) has been spilled in outrage over Haroun Bouazzi’s claim that he sees racist attitudes in the National Assembly every day.
-
Kate
Aéroports de Montréal is contesting the city’s plan to enlarge the Technoparc nature park which is a refuge for so many bird species.
Nicholas
That’s a huge area, including all the golf course and more. Sadly the map doesn’t list the specific sections (ADM says they oppose four of them being rezoned to a nature preserve, but can commit to preserving two of them). Bird strikes are a real issue (likely caused that recent South Korean crash), but they are rare, but I’m not sure if a sanctuary intended to attract birds is a good idea.
Su
The birds are allready there. The plan will officially protect the area.
Blork
I had the same question about bird strikes. Not a serious problem if the birds being protected are small, like cardinals and sparrows and whatnot. But the first photo in the story shows wild turkeys. Wild turkeys don’t fly much, and only in short bursts, so I don’t know if that’s much of a problem. Geese (and even ducks) can definitely be a hazard.
Meezly
Trudeau airport apparently has falconers to keep problem birds away. In fact, they have a wildlife management dept/team that helps prevent bird strikes. I’m thinking these folks may have one of the more interesting jobs at an airport.
Kate
Meezly, those folks also might have interesting opinions on the nature park story. If I were an editor, I’d send a journalist to interview one or more of them, although it’s also possible they would be forbidden to talk to the media.
Ian
It’s interesting that they have falconers as prey birds also attract hawks. I wonder if the falcons ever get into it with other predatory birds
Blork
What’s a falcon going to do against a flock of geese?
Orr
Hidden in the (gazette version of the story) news story is their plan for a “decarbonization support centre” which, like most decarbonization projects by big polluters, is a clear sign the pollution is going to continue.
Reply