There are now 95 tents along the Notre‑Dame East park strip, a record number.
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Kate
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Kate
A recent report from the Observatoire Grand Montréal says the city population is in decline as the population ages and immigration is curtailed.
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Kate
Charles Milliard wants Quebec to emulate Doug Ford’s Ontario. Enough said?
Taylor C. Noakes
Charles Milliard: how else can I prove to you I have no idea what I’m doing right now?
Joey
Politics must be a lot harder than it looks given how often seemingly intelligent people wind up saying stuff like this…
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Kate
The Permanent People’s Tribunal has opened a week‑long investigation here into missing Indigenous children and unmarked burials. But as noted in the Radio‑Canada deck, the tribunal’s rulings are not legally binding. A full ruling is expected at the end of September.
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Kate
The city’s official list of pedestrianized streets for summer 2026.
Here’s a version from CTV with a grille, but no map. Item from La Presse, but still no map.
Isn’t St-Paul Street usually pedestrianized? But it never seems to be listed.
Some media note that rue Villeray is a new one, but it’s only being pedestrianized as an alternative to de Castelnau, pedestrianized for several summers but needing to be dug up this year.
Mozai
Before I make one, I wonder if there’s a visual map of these locations.
Kate
Looking, but haven’t seen one.
LJ
The Gazette has one here:
https://montrealgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/pedestrianized-streets-2026.svg
Kate
Was just about to post that, LJ. Thanks!
SMD
@Mozai The Gazette has one here: https://montrealgazette.com/news/car-free-pedestrianized-streets-montreal-summer/. There also a shapefile you can download to make your own: https://donnees.montreal.ca/dataset/rues-pietonnes/resource/425d94e5-19e9-450a-89ef-4548ed409dcd.
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Kate
La Presse has a short photo essay around the 150th anniversary of Mount Royal Park.
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Kate
Serge Audette was found guilty Monday of a murder committed 30 years ago, when he killed his neighbour Patricia Ferguson in Pointe‑aux‑Trembles.
Updating to add Daniel Renaud’s interview with Sabrina Ferguson.
Meezly
A great example of how effective and powerful good journalism/filmmaking can be. According to the article, the doc raised the question of how a violent sex offender was the last person to see Ferguson alive (and how the police didn’t look into him properly?). Ferguson also had an 11 mo girl at the time and her daughter always thought she had been abandoned. Now she knows the truth.
Kate
Good point, Meezly. It must be so strange for her daughter, who wouldn’t even remember her mother yet could have been haunted by the thought she might have been abandoned. It is better to know.
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Kate
The Snowbirds are to do another flyover Monday evening around 18:15, before the Canadiens match at the Bell Centre.
MarcG
“Dear Ron MacLean. Dear Coach’s Corner. I’m writing in order for someone to explain to my niece the distinction between these mandatory pre-game group rites of submission and the rallies at Nuremburg. Specifically the function the ritual serves in conjunction with what everybody knows is in the end a kid’s game“
Tim S.
OK, MarcG, I’ll take this at face value. If I shouldn’t, forgive me.
You are, if I’m not mistaken, of the opinion that COVID was a social disaster, in that people didn’t/don’t care enough about each other to take basic precautions to mitigate harm. Might I therefore suggest, that events and rituals that bring people together, create joy in being part of something beyond oneself, could create bonds of empathy and lead to people caring more about each other?
Or is it better if we all bowl alone?
MarcG
The song is a criticism of the military piggybacking on sports events, maybe I didn’t post enough of the lyrics.
MarcG
Also brings to mind the interview with the guy who was burned badly at the Ferrari dealership linked below – he mentions how sparklers on his birthday cake reminded him of the incident and caused a sleepless night – imagine the effect war planes overhead has on some of us.
Kevin
Ah well, disagreement is not treason.
But it’d be a different world if the orchestra I went to on Saturday, or the last Sugar Sammy show I saw, started with O Canada.jeather
Hey thanks for this it explains the very loud noise I just heard.
MarcG
Maybe they fly the planes so that the steady stream of car and bank advertisements seem less violent. (Just heard them fly over)
Joey
I thought it was nice of the Snowbirds to do a flyover right after I retired the first batter while pitching in a softball game yesterday…
Josh
Flyovers for sporting events that are held indoors makes even less sense to me.
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Kate
A parade to celebrate the triumph of the Victoire will be held downtown Saturday, but details of the route are not yet out.
SMD
A Radio-Canada journalist said 11am at the Place des festivals, with the cup going along pedestrian Sainte-Catherine for a few blocks.
Kate
Thank you, SMD.
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Kate
There’s to be a jet flyover Sunday afternoon at 3:45 during the national anthem at the Grand Prix. Maps shown on item.
(They sing the national anthem at the Grand Prix?!)
Bert
Yes, every GP gets their national anthem played, sometimes acapella, instrumental, experimental. The Spanish GP actually plays both the Spanish anthem, The Royal March (which has no official lyrics!), as well as the Catalonian national anthem, The Reapers.
Everything is all timed out, you can basically set your watch to the events.
Flybys are common, if not e rigueur for most large outdoor events. Somehow I think they don’t do flyovers at the Centre Bell, or the Olympic Stadium. Though that last one might be to avoid the jet blast from blowing the structure down.
Nicholas
I know someone who worked for the Als for years and he said you know how much precision it takes to ensure the singer gets to the exact end point of the anthem just as the jets fly overhead? And when you think about it, almost all sporting events start at the exact planned time, and there’s a lot going into that.
Kate
You’re right. I did a very small bit of theatre work when I was a teenager, and learned that even timing a simple stage performance is a feat. Arranging the arrival of jets would be a challenge.
Blork
Enjoy ‘em while you can. The Snowbirds will be grounded after the 2026 season while the planes are replaced, which could take four years or more.
Interestingly, the replacements will be Swiss-made acrobatic propeller planes, the Pilatus PC-21. At least they’ll be quieter. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/snowbirds-grounded-2030s-9.7204210
Blork
Those planes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_PC-21
Joey
@Bert not much point of a flyover if there’s a roof…
@Nicholas helpful to think of these events as live TV productions, gotta be right on time…
roberto
They will be flying over the roofed Bell Center tonight at 6:15 for Game 3.
Kate
There will be a lot of people out in the street before the game, though.
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Kate
Mount Royal Park marks 150 years this month.
AMF
The anniversary of the inauguration is today! May 24th. Is the park doing anything to celebrate it? I haven’t found any events listed.
Kate
Even if they had plans, at 12° and rainy, it wouldn’t be the most pleasant day out.
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Kate
A rainy Sunday will be interesting for the big race, as noted on this UK Formula 1 site (and check out that crazy headline font).
Radio-Canada reminds us that it was also a rainy race day in 2024.
MarcG
I didn’t realize that you can code a font to display differently if it followed specific other characters, neato.
Kate
Typographically they’re called ligatures, and yes you can. But the ones in that headline are unconventional. Typically it will be fi, fl, ffi, ffl and sometimes st and ct, although there’s no strict rule.
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Kate
The Gazette has part 2 of a piece on how the CAQ has attacked tenants’ rights in their time in office.
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Kate
The Canadiens are an ongoing theme, Chapleau looping in Christine Fréchette, and Côté providing a sketch that tells a story; Ygreck loops in the race as well.Fréchette was also the inspiration for a call‑and‑response between Côté and Chapleau this week.
Godin throws shade on the Grand Prix but sees two victories for women.
Quebec’s cartoonists are distrustful of Newfoundland’s motives as the Churchill Falls deal with Quebec is renegotiated. Trump’s motives for forcing change on Cuba are equally unpopular while Chapleau sees Danielle Smith trying to keep the lid on a pot she put on the stove herself.
Côté draws a two-parter critiquing Quebec’s handling of the PEQ immigration program. He also has a good social observation satire this week, while Ygreck illustrates inflation.
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Kate
Sex workers held a demonstration downtown Saturday, seeking safe and legal work conditions.
Blork
If you stopped reading after “Sex workers held a demonstration downtown Saturday…” you’d have a very different notion of what the story is about. 🙂
Kate
It’s been in the news that strippers and other sex workers would hold a strike this weekend, so I assumed readers would understand the statement in that context.
Ephraim
Should build a legal brothel on Ile St Helene… we already have all the other amusements out there.
Kate
Some time ago I was in a friend’s car, driving around aimlessly. We were over on the island when a car full of young men flagged us down and asked where the big strip club was. They didn’t want to believe that there wasn’t one on the island. (It turned out the club they named was in St‑Jean‑sur‑Richelieu, so they were definitely lost.)
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