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  • Kate 10:13 on 2026-06-07 Permalink | Reply  

    cat reading newspaperCartooning this week touched on two Quebec stories.

    The slogan used by white supremacists in a demo in Shawinigan – Je me souviens d’un Québec blanc – inspired Chapleau and Godin.

    The bill to ban energy drinks to people under 16 evoked the only cartoon that made me laugh this week, a tribute to Panoramix the druid. The one Conservative MNA asked whether Quebec would ban grapefruit as well, in a reference to how it can amplify the effects of pharmaceuticals. (The bill was sparked by the death of Zachary Miron, who pounded Red Bull on top of his ADHD medication – which makes me wonder how many Quebec kids are taking those pills, if we need to protect all of them from energy drinks.) Chapleau illustrates the grapefruit story.

    Ygreck in the Journal thinks a lot more about the federal government than any of the other cartoonists – its blandishment of Quebec, its flirting with artificial intelligence and its risk of recession among others. He draws Mark Carney far more often than the others do.

    We also had a resurgence of thoughts about the 51st state and quips about artificial intelligence, and the perennial story, orange cones.

     

    • Tim S. 11:40 on 2026-06-07 Permalink

      The English translation of the Druid’s name to Getafix is, in my opinion, an improvement over the original, especially in this case!

  • Kate 09:10 on 2026-06-07 Permalink | Reply  

    It is not the first time I’ve seen reports on Montreal firefighters facing health risks from exposure to contaminants. This brief piece also mentions the rising numbers of medical emergencies they go to, but not how these affect the firefighters over time.

     

    • Kate 09:06 on 2026-06-07 Permalink | Reply  

      The trial of six men accused in the killing of three others, back in 2023, has resumed.

      In this piece, the striking part is the testimony of the girlfriend of one of the victims, who speaks nonchalantly about benefiting from his profits from fraud and other activities, while not looking too closely at what he was doing. She didn’t have to contribute to rent or costs herself: “Une femme ne paye pas de factures dans nos coutumes.”

       

      • su 11:02 on 2026-06-07 Permalink

        It’s a good thing that at least our society makes it possible for women to opt out of being “kept women”.

    • Kate 13:08 on 2026-06-06 Permalink | Reply  

      Summer weekend dog days of news are settling in nicely. Several items about artists, places where they work and live: three artists to discover; an artist’s house in Rosemont; artists’ working spaces. CTV writes about something called the Montreal Art Centre and Museum, first time I’ve heard of it.

      While the MMFA presents a selection of Roman sculpture till mid‑July, the Pointe‑à‑Callière museum is doing ancient Greece this summer, with 400 objects on display till March next year.

       

      • Kate 09:12 on 2026-06-06 Permalink | Reply  

        Police are seeking Christopher Watts, 66, a man with a long history of sex crimes described as “unlawfully at large” and as un incorrigible délinquant sexuel.

         

        • Meezly 11:17 on 2026-06-06 Permalink

          I find it circus that the Radio-Canada version gives very little information while the English versions provide more info, ie. the nature of his crimes involving the death of a 13yo girl. Radio-Canada also only converted his metric weight to imperial but doesn’t bother with his height (he’s 6’1). Is it because he’s less likely to seek out francophone victims because he’s from Ontario?

        • Kate 13:23 on 2026-06-06 Permalink

          It’s hard to say. It’s probably a safe guess that some editorial choices are made with subconscious assumptions. Since this fugitive has an anglo name and is described as possibly being in Montreal or somewhere else in Canada, it might be felt that he’s more likely to be spotted by other anglos, or in association with anglos.

          Or maybe the Radio‑Canada news editor flinched from too much detail about Watts’s sordid past?

          Part of my purpose in starting this blog was noticing how different news sources covered and emphasized different stories. There are sometimes notable differences in general between anglo and franco media – obvious ones like the death of certain people being a much bigger deal on one side than the other, but other items, like the one Meezly notes here.

        • Joey 15:19 on 2026-06-06 Permalink

          Rad-Can and CBC are really distinct operations – not just different versions of the same editorial philosophy, etc.

        • Kate 15:47 on 2026-06-06 Permalink

          I know – it’s a very distinct difference in outlook. I’m glad we have both.

      • Kate 14:23 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

        Issues with the new digital health record are not troubling the Quebec government and Christine Fréchette is unaware of any issues.

        So it’s all fine, then.

         

        • Uatu 17:11 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

          As usual a human sacrifice must be made (aka somebody dying from an error) before anything happens.

      • Kate 14:16 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

        Water consumption is slightly down since the city asked us to reduce our usage while the Atwater main is repaired.

        It’s not a big drop and I suspect it’s mostly due to the city itself cutting back on watering trees, washing down streets and so forth.

        Inconveniently, Environment Canada is predicting a summer that’s to be hotter and drier than average. Maybe the city should distribute kits of bottled water and deodorant.

         

        • Kate 10:57 on 2026-06-05 Permalink  

          Early Friday, a building CTV describes as “a synagogue in Westmount on the Island of Montreal” and TVA as “un lieu de culte” (religion not specified) was the site of an attempted arson. CTV’s photo shows a broken back window and smoke damage to the outer wall.

          CTV’s description of the building as being on Sherbrooke near Wood, in Westmount, makes it clear this was the Temple Emanu‑El‑Beth Sholom. The Gazette does name it in their report, and interviews the rabbi.

          A man was arrested and charged Friday afternoon with arson and related items.

          Meantime, Projet Montreal plans to present a motion to city council condemning Israel for its genocide in Gaza. No matter what the rabbi says about not importing foreign conflicts here, it’s already happened.

          Later, TVA emphasizes that the synagogue building has a daycare in it. But like the report of a shooting in Villeray – which was near a play park but happened in the middle of the night – this incident also took place when no children were nearby. So I wonder, why mention kids to pull the heartstrings?

           

          • Kate 10:37 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

            La Presse doesn’t usually get clickbaity like this, but they’re headlining three homicides within 36 hours and emphasizing that one was in a park near a kids’ playground (at 10:30 pm mind you – not many kids out), asking should we worry – then backing off saying the answer is “nuancée”.

            The journalists then go on to say that the Walmart stabbing and a shooting in a Villeray park happened in the same neighbourhood, which simply isn’t true. If anything, they should make a point of the park being right next door to a hospital, but I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere.

             

            • Nicholas 12:41 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

              Is that what the story says? The quote is: “D’abord, quatre jeunes de 15 ans ont été arrêtés et trois ont été accusés en lien avec le meurtre d’un homme de 22 ans dans un Walmart de Montréal-Nord, mardi après-midi. Puis, mercredi soir, un jeune homme de 22 ans affilié à un gang de rue du quartier Villeray a été tué par balle au parc de Turin, dans le même quartier.” It seems to be that “dans le même quartier” is comparing the neighbourhood of the park to the neighbourhood of the street gang, both mentioned in the same sentence, though I agree you could interpret it as referring to the neighbourhood of the previous sentence.

            • Kate 13:11 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

              You are right.

          • Kate 10:08 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

            weekend notesWeekend notes from Le Devoir, CityCrunch, Journal de Montréal, CultMTL.

            Roadblocks and other driving crises of the moment.

             

            • Kate 09:40 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

              La Presse talks to the two women who were shot at the École privée nightclub a month ago about their experiences.

               

              • Kate 09:32 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

                A map posted by the STM showing various bus stops finds a stop at Beeshop between Guy and Drummond. The slip is being blamed on AI, but it could just as easily have been human error, or an internal joke that slipped into print.

                 

                • Nicholas 12:46 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                  I actually sent the STM an email about that map the other day. I counted nine errors. Also I agree with you about how it probably happened; AI tends to create weirder problems.

              • Kate 09:28 on 2026-06-05 Permalink | Reply  

                Loïc Cordelle, CEO of Pulsar, which operates the REM, has been dismissed. Pulsar isn’t directly cited as saying it’s because of all the interruptions and slowdowns on the system, but the article certainly says so.

                 

                • Kate 19:48 on 2026-06-04 Permalink | Reply  

                  A man who produced and sold fake parking stickers has been sentenced to probation and community service, but no jail and no criminal record.

                   

                  • Ephraim 09:50 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    And now. the new for a new security system. May I suggest a validating QR code that ties back to the database to issue tickets that prevents the agent from issuing a ticket based on GPS data. So if the QR code is fake, the printer will still issue tickets, but if it’s real, it just validates and says “NEXT”

                  • Joey 10:26 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    Not sure I understand but the issue is that the ticketing agents can’t be expected to verify that every sticker is legit – there’s just far too many. No word about any kind of consequences for the buyers of these stickers, which feels like a huge failure for the cops.

                  • Nicholas 12:53 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    The buyers absolutely should get it trouble too, as Joey says.

                    I bet there are a few ways you could do validation. A QR code, if large enough, could be scanned by a parking inspector vehicle without having to stop, just as it can scan for parking spots with vehicles that the system says hasn’t paid. But it’d have to be pretty large I’d think, or you’d have to get out in person. Another option is an RFID, but though it’s low power, it’s not no power, so you’d have to get out of the car and apply the reader to it within a centimetre, the same way OPUS cards can be read without the card itself having power, but inducing it from the reader. Maybe there’s some way to make it work without getting out of the car, but I fully agree it should be validated before printing a ticket.

                  • Joey 14:26 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    They can already just check the database to see if the license plate is registered – the thing is that there’s no reason for agents to do that, unless the assumption is that there are many, many cars with counterfeit stickers. I guess with the automated camera system now in use it’s conceivable that you could scan a QR code on each sticker, but I would assume you’d get too many false negatives to make it worthwhile (my sense is the current system can quickly determine if there are any cars parked in a sticker zone without a sticker, without the agent needing to do anything other than drive down the block; validating that each sticker is legit would be a bigger task, though I suppose you could try a system whereby license plates are scanned, which might trigger fewer false negatives). Anyway, massive fines for the counterfeit ticket buyers would go a long way to preventing this kind of thing.

                    Metered spots are different, because the agents know which spots are not currently being paid for, and they can easily tell if car is parked there.

                  • Ephraim 14:28 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    @Nicholas And how do they read the transponders on the A30 and A25? Obviously they can be read at not just a distance, but at speed.

                  • Ephraim 14:32 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    You should try metered parking in Dubai and Abu Dhabi…. you better be quick and pay those meters or you will receive the ticket. Don’t even THINK of walking away for a minute…. or sitting in the car without paying.

                  • mare 23:14 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    Umm, doesn’t every sticker has a license plate number on it? The parking agent car can just use a license plate scanner and check the database to make sure that every car has a valid parking permit, if they have a sticker on their windshield or not (or when it’s covered my snow).
                    Of course that’s an expensive solution if the parking permits are so cheap. (The most expensive permit is $217 in my street, for I think 9 months. Compared to the cost of renting that amount of space for say, a garden, or to pitch a tent to live.)

                  • Ian 23:14 on 2026-06-06 Permalink

                    One distinction is that it’s not rent, it’s just a permit. You don’t get an assigned spot or any guarantee that there will even be a spot. Private parking spaces cost considerably more for a reason

                • Kate 19:39 on 2026-06-04 Permalink | Reply  

                  Quebec had proposed a law giving it direct control over housing co‑ops, but has let it drop, preferring to focus on a law to bar 27,000 students from vocational training in English.

                   

                  • Ephraim 09:51 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    Yup, because 27000 people a year not getting a new job seems like a priority. The voc ed system also has French courses that they need to pass for proficiency in their new vocation…. because everyone needs to know that it’s a UCT instead of a CPU.

                  • RE 17:01 on 2026-06-05 Permalink

                    It’s ridiculous. They emphasized all the English institutions when bidding for that bank but when push comes to shove…this is what they care about…

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