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• Kate 13:29 on 2026-04-19 Permalink | Reply  

  Plans are finally going ahead to build a new swimming pool in Baldwin Park. As previously reported, the old pool needed to be replaced, but was found to be built in an old dump, so it had to be rebuilt in a new location.

  The old reports suggested a new pool could be ready for 2026. I don’t think it looks likely.

  Baldwin Park is one of the city’s lesser known parks, and has always been a quiet refuge in the eastern Plateau. The article talks about more additions beyond a new pool, which I hope don’t cram it with too many aménagements.

   

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• Kate 13:24 on 2026-04-19 Permalink | Reply  

  Spring flooding is happening all over Quebec; sandbags have been piled along the Back River in Pierrefonds and on the other side in Laval.

  EmilyG is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • EmilyG 13:58 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    I live near the river in Pierrefonds. I’m worried about that area, even if my home isn’t quite in a flood zone.

• Kate 09:19 on 2026-04-19 Permalink | Reply  

  Artists love a cartoonable face like Christine Fréchette’s, with her big eyes and arched eyebrows. Ygreck shows her accepting a dud torch and crossing the desert with two familiar vultures looking on. Côté brings in Legault’s compass (it’s been a recurring motif for a long time) and Ygreck gives Fréchette her own compass too.

  The best editorial cartoons cross two news threads. Côté offers a good example as PSPP sells his brand of maple syrup, while Godin links seasonal flooding and potholes.

  Floor-crossing and the federal Liberal majority was another theme this week, Godin making it a hockey joke and Côté showing us the Liberal bus.

  Mark Carney makes a gift of cutting the gasoline tax and Godin hints at where the funds are coming from.

  The only cartoon that made me chuckle this week was Côté’s kid getting around a rule forbidding kids to go online. He also had a pertinent visual about the attractiveness of fake news.

   

• Kate 09:18 on 2026-04-19 Permalink | Reply  

  Radio-Canada has a good piece Sunday on two men getting help from Diogène, an organization that helps homeless individuals overcome addictions, and helps pay for them to have a place to live.

   

• Kate 19:13 on 2026-04-18 Permalink | Reply  

  Projet gets to snipe from opposition now, taking down Ensemble on an unmet promise to clean up the city for spring.

  Le Devoir also looks at city hall having to face rising salary demands.

  As a longtime supporter of Projet, having watched Ensemble take pot‑shots from the sidelines for years, without ever explaining how they would act differently to solve civic problems, it’s giving me some small pleasure to see SMF & Co. facing the practical difficulties of running a big city and finding out it isn’t so easy. Although it’s a muted pleasure, because this is my city too and I don’t like seeing it run aground on their lack of experience.

  EmilyG, Kate, MarcG, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • DeWolf 14:26 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    Ensemble certainly seem to have a habit of overpromising and underdelivering. Claude Pinard on March 16: “Today, we’re announcing that there have never been so many cleanup crews and pieces of equipment dedicated to this major cleanup so early in the year—and for such a long period. This is a major undertaking. Residents will see the difference very quickly.”

    I’m certainly not seeing any difference. The city seems about as dirty as it always is in mid-April, and the cleanup does not seem to be happening any faster than in other years.

  • MarcG 15:58 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    I saw 2 dudes picking up trash in the park nearby earlier today and thought they were just some do-gooder local Dads but maybe they were ad-hoc city employees.

  • EmilyG 16:28 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    There are some cleanup projects going on, such as this one: https://mission1000tonnes.com/
    I think there’ll also be one, or has been one, in the Champ des possibles.

  • Kate 17:49 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    Jarry Park always has a cleanup brigade day – this year it’s on May 2.

    As I mentioned earlier, I cleaned up my block last week. All it takes is a windy recycling or garbage day to mess it up again, though.

  • EmilyG 18:10 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    I would like to maybe do some cleaning around my area, though I’d have to figure out what to do with the garbage after I collected it. If I fill, say, a garbage bag, where could I put it? If I tried putting it in my own personal garbage can at home, that’s usually already filled with my home garbage. I don’t imagine I could stuff a full bag of garbage into a public trash can.
    I’m not trying to look for excuses not to clean. I welcome suggestions.

• Kate 08:49 on 2026-04-18 Permalink | Reply  

  Bars are getting hyped to welcome the playoff crowds that will start piling in on Sunday.

  Le Devoir chased down some locations connected with the Canadiens, beginning with the fossil of the old Forum.

   

• Kate 15:53 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  Charlie Billions says he’d renew the notwithstanding clause that protects Bill 96 from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

  Obviously it’s in Milliard’s interest to demonstrate that the PLQ is not on the side of the anglos.

  And Mark Carney assured Christine Fréchette on Friday that he won’t meddle with the clause.

  What’s the point of a charter of rights with a get‑out clause that basically says “unless we really want to, then we will”?

  R T, Kate, Ian, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • H. John 16:43 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Milliard may have taken a step back:

    https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/973001/charles-milliard-fait-volte-face-quant-disposition-derogation-loi-96?

  • Kate 16:57 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    I think he’s testing the waters to see how the public is responding to the options. But flip‑flopping too much isn’t wise either.

  • Ian 22:21 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    It’s been pretty obvious for a long time that the Liberals really don’t give a crap about anglos. They assume that anglos will simply vote for them becasue they are federalists or whatever so they put all their energy into vigorously demonstrating what “real” nationalists they are, in no small part by performatively screwing dem henglish.

    So given that ALL our parties are now apparently ethnonationalists, who are immigrants and anglos to vote for?

  • Kate 20:57 on 2026-04-18 Permalink

    Michel David writes about just this in Le Devoir.

  • R T 18:16 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    Milliard’s backtrack, saying that he’ll invoke it if they need it, is in some ways the worst of both worlds. It dissatisfies many francophone voters and it allows the CAQ and PQ to accuse him of backtracking, while on the other hand, invoking the notwithstanding clause when it’s not needed doesn’t abrogate any Charter rights—it’s when it is needed that’s an issue!

• Kate 09:52 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  It’s the 50th anniversary of Robert Charlebois’ classic Je reviendrai à Montréal, so his son has recorded a new version with a video featuring historic views of the Canadiens in their glory years, and new lyrics about playoff season. The video.

   

• Kate 09:43 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  City blue collar workers are marking the last day of their three‑day strike with a protest in front of City Hall on Friday.

   

• Kate 09:26 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  Weekend notes from CityCrunch, Le Devoir, Journal de Montréal, La Presse, CultMTL, the Gazette.

  Some weather notes.

   

• Kate 08:59 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  Mile End Kicks, a movie about the neighbourhood back around 2011 when it was felt to be a hotbed of new pop music and coolness, opens on Friday. Wikipedia says the working title was Anglophone. Descriptions in Le Devoir and La Presse.

  Tangentially relevant, the Gazette looks at the disappearance of affordable artist studios, the factor which is probably most responsible for the decline of this city as a creative hub.

  EmilyG, Kate, MarcG, and 4 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • MarcG 09:14 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Pretty harsh that a film set in a Montreal music scene couldn’t pick a local song for the trailer.

  • PatrickC 09:31 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Reminds me a bit of Guillaume Morissette’s fine novel New Tab (Véhicule, 2014), set in roughly the same place and time, although its (mostly anglophone) characters would have laughed cynically at the supposed life lesson of the movie, which according to a critics cited in Wikipedia, is about “learning to embrace our love, our anger, and our talent,” thanks to the magic of the neighbourhood.

  • Kate 11:46 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Makes me think about that musician in Mile End who was bludgeoned to death by his bandmate with a bass guitar. It wasn’t all wine and roses.

  • Ian 13:34 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Artists ate the shock troops of gentrification. People dont have loft parties because they dont like ballrooms.
    Cheap studio space in a neighbourhood the cops don’t care about too much is all that is required. A couple of dive bars and a good diner helps. The parasite class like the Kornbluths and Shiller-Lavys of the world will inevitably follow when the desirable/cool boundary approaches, next come the yuppies and chain boutiques.

  • Ian 13:36 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    *artists are

    Lol

  • Janet 14:23 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    I thought you were supposed to eat the rich.

  • azrhey 14:33 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    no no no Janet, eat the rich is wrong!
    God knows what they are filled with
    OTOH, compost the rich…grows tasty strawberries and fragrant tomatoes…

  • MarcG 15:29 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    If anyone’s looking for a way to support local music, CKUT 90.3FM is currently running their yearly funding drive.

  • EmilyG 12:03 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    I hope the film doesn’t have any glorification of Arcade Fire. It seems that that band is just somehow facing no consequences for the rotten things their lead singer has done.

  • Kate 14:37 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    What consequences do you think they should face?

  • EmilyG 15:57 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    They still sell out concerts, and even were on Saturday night Live I think it was, after the allegations against their lead singer came out. People just still casually mention the band without condemning them.

    I wish more people would speak out about the harm they’ve caused. The harm caused by both their lead singer who’s accused of sexual misconduct, and the rest of the band, for condoning his actions by not speaking out against them.
    I wish fewer people would go to their concerts and buy/stream their albums. I wish fewer venues would book their concerts (maybe weird to say in our current age, when music venues and live music performance are in danger, but I don’t care how good their music is because sexual misconduct is serious. And I say that as someone in the music business myself.)
    I think some radio stations have stopped playing their music. Which is probably the right thing to do, though I don’t know if that’s enough.

    I’m aware that I might sound like a vindictive and vengeful person or that I complain too much. Or want to “censor” or “cancel” people. I guess I just wish there were consequences for sexual misconduct, when it just seems to be business as usual for Arcade Fire. Which implies that that kind of behaviour is okay.

    I do what I can about the situation, and speak up about it. I’ve found that there are actually people who didn’t know about the allegations. If you want to read more, there’s this article here: https://therover.ca/opinion-arcade-fires-rotten-legacy/

  • Kate 17:54 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    I never followed the story in great detail, but it sounded like Win Butler took advantage of fangirls, as rock stars have been doing for decades. It isn’t admirable, but we’ve seen so many men leveraging their fame, wealth, social position, to get younger women into the sack – can we expect the front man of a mildly popular band to be more saintly than them? Or did Butler present himself as a more decent man than most, therefore the disillusion is worse?

    I don’t know how his colleagues could condemn him without bringing an end to the band – which perhaps you’d feel only appropriate, I don’t know.

  • EmilyG 18:06 on 2026-04-19 Permalink

    Yes, there has generally been a culture of taking advantage of fangirls in the past, though that seems to be somewhat changing these days.

• Kate 08:53 on 2026-04-17 Permalink | Reply  

  It looks like more deer will have to be culled in parks in and near Montreal. Deer are vectors for ticks, besides damaging the greenery in enclaved spaces like Longueuil’s Michel‑Chartrand park. A specific species of mouse (not the house mouse) is also blamed for carrying Lyme disease in the area.

   

• Kate 21:15 on 2026-04-16 Permalink | Reply  

  The Centre des mémoires montréalaises has acquired a collection of memorabilia from Wings Noodles, which closed at the end of last year. It includes 1700 objects spanning 130 years of business in Chinatown. La Presse has a few images.

   

• Kate 16:47 on 2026-04-16 Permalink | Reply  

  The mayor has announced a cut of 60% in the cost of a terrasse permit, fulfilling a promise made during her election campaign.

  Joey, DeWolf, Nicholas, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • DeWolf 18:48 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    Great initiative, although it should be noted that it only applies to Ville-Marie borough. Other boroughs like the Plateau and Verdun already have reduced rates for terrasses.

  • DeWolf 18:54 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    Incidentally, I love that in Montreal it’s pretty much unquestioned that terrasses are a public good. In New York, the whole “sidewalk shed” debate revealed how many people there see them as a nuisance. And in many other cities (ahem, Vancouver and Toronto), the regulations for street terrasses are extremely restrictive.

  • jeather 20:50 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    I have no idea what the right price for a terrasse permit is though I do think 1400 for the entire season on Ste-Catherine is a real steal (while 11k seems like a lot).

  • Kate 21:17 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    I’d understood that the terrasse fee was supposed to offset the parking fees lost for the space, but I suppose they can be flexible about what that amount is.

  • Nicholas 22:15 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    Renting ground level retail space on St Catherine St seems to be like $100-$200 per square foot per month. Obviously that would include winter, and this is high season, but indoors is more secure, so let’s just say that’s a vague range of what the market rate is. So $1,400 for an entire season should get you about space for one chair, and $11,000 gets you a two-top without the chairs.

    Terasses are great, and it’s good to use this space to generate both revenue and happiness when it’s busier and then reclaim most of it the rest of the year. But I’m not sure if all that lost opportunity cost should flow to the restaurant operators rather than the public.

  • DeWolf 23:52 on 2026-04-16 Permalink

    The cost of parking vignettes, or even pay parking for that matter, doesn’t even come close to the total cost of maintaining the road space and the negative externalities of dedicating so much public space to private vehicle storage. So I don’t think terrasses should be judged entirely on their economic benefits either. It’s what provides the most social good — and in this case, having lively streets is worth the (temporary, seasonal) tradeoff.

    That said I’m not saying it should be a free-for-all. There are already a ton of regulations around the built form and opening hours of terrasses.

  • Joey 11:10 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    @Nicholas but it’s not ‘ground level retail space’ – it’s parking spots. You couldn’t otherwise establish a business in a parking space the way you could in a building. IMO the fairest method would fix the permit cost at a rate more or less equivalent to the foregone revenue – a very quick estimate has this at about $2400 per month. Obviously $11K for the season is a lot closer to the foregone revenue than $1400.

    Anyway, isn’t it funny how all these cranky resto owners complain ceaselessly when the city removes parking spaces but have no issue taking them over so they can expand their footprint. I think we tend to think of terraces as just responding to our desire to be outside after another hellish winter, but from a restaurant’s perspective, adding terrace seating can significantly increase the potential customer base and lead to major bumps in revenue. Somehow an implicit ~$10K subsidy to every restaurant that builds a terrace doesn’t make a lot of sense…

  • Nicholas 11:36 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    “You couldn’t otherwise establish a business in a parking space the way you could in a building.” Every city that actually easily allows food carts says that’s wrong.

  • DeWolf 11:53 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    @Nicholas Sure, but food carts are usually charged licensing fees and not rent for the space they occupy (especially if they’re allowed to move around). And those fees are pretty low, especially compared to commercial rents. In Vancouver it’s around $1,500 for the year. Similar in LA (but in US dollars).

  • Joey 13:10 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    I was actually going to write that food carts/trucks would be a notable exception, but my editor struck it.

• Kate 16:45 on 2026-04-16 Permalink | Reply  

  As the playoffs approach, voices of four Canadiens players have been recorded to announce Bonaventure and Lucien‑L’Allier metro stations and buses may return to flashing “Go Habs Go!”

  mare is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • mare 00:52 on 2026-04-17 Permalink

    Hah! I thought the system was malfunctioning and this was the operator doing an impromptu announcement. The fact that he had a very strong English accent should have been a giveaway. I’m probably not the only one though.