Quebec is passing a new law that would make it easier for promoters to hold large-scale noisy events.
Updates from October, 2017 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
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Kate
One of Denis Coderre’s claims is that he cleaned up city hall, but a joint report by the Gazette and La Presse finds the same people contracting to the city as in the bad old days, just under new business names. What a four-handed byline!
We ignored the work of journalists like these in 2009 and idiotically re-elected Tremblay. Let’s not make the same mistake again.
(Interesting that La Presse’s editorial board officially supported Coderre this week, while three of its journalists were working on this story…)
Update: The same four writers compare Montreal’s transparency to American cities which put a lot more information online about their contracts. A third piece is expected soon.
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Kate
Brian Myles writes in L’actualité about how the Evenko project on St Helen’s Island pulls the old trick of privatizing profit while making the public purse pay.
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Kate
Is it a surprise that Old Montreal souvenir shops are selling fake aboriginal tchotchkes? Radio‑Canada’s Corde sensible show did a segment on it.
(Am I allowed to write “tchotchkes” or is that to appropriate Yiddish culture? Am I allowed to make this joke without sounding like a redneck? Can I even say “redneck” without impugning rural workers? I seem to be painting myself into a corner… or is that too critical of inept renovation guys?…)
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Kate
Buildings held by the city for decades in Côte-des-Neiges have been allowed to deteriorate over time while tenants’ groups clamour for affordable housing.
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Kate
It’s a provincial rather than a municipal matter and it doesn’t affect the operations of this blog at all, but the daycare centre workers’ strike was probably the biggest story of the day in local media.
Cuts in recent years to daycare operations have resulted in a lot of burnout among workers.
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Kate
Denis Coderre and Valérie Plante have drawn even in the polls in the last week of the election campaign. Plante admits she’s facing greater scrutiny as her bid for election looks more solid. TVA runs a ten facts about Plante and Denis Coderre attacks her promises, asking where she’ll find the money. TVA links play video.
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Kate
Election Montreal says veiled women will be able to vote on Sunday provided they’re willing to quickly lift the veil to one official for purposes of identification.
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Kate
A brief CBC piece examines the condo construction boom and its popularity among foreign investors.
It’s mentioned in passing in a quote from a McGill prof: “Low interest rates, higher disposable income and municipal incentives have made home ownership more affordable and fuelled purchases… However, it has caused an upward pressure on rents.” Can someone explain to me why, if more people are buying these new condos because they can, rental stock gets more expensive? Why wouldn’t the voluntary removal of a class of potential tenants make rents either stabilize or even decline a little? If you’re adding many more living units to the market, converting more prosperous tenants into owners, why would rents go up?
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Kate
A new ranking of transit systems says Montreal’s is fourth best in North America but I haven’t checked out the whole thing – typically, the Gazette names it but does not give a link – and am wondering why the bar graph names people, planet and profit.
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Kate
Asked whether Formula E hurt or helped their businesses, 70% of merchants in the Centre-Sud said it hurt, as takings were down.
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Kate
Denis Coderre has been spending big money on private speechwriters even though the city already has a department that’s meant to do this work. Coderre spends more than either Justin Trudeau or Philippe Couillard on speeches.
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Kate
I’ve already voted in Sunday’s advance poll. There were lines to vote in the basketball gym in Lucien-Pagé high school, where I’ve voted at every level in every election (and worked in a couple of elections too) since moving to Villeray in 2005.
Since I am not working as an election official this spin round, I don’t mind saying I voted for Valérie Plante as mayor and Giuliana Fumagalli as borough mayor. Both are from Projet, both are women, plus I’d be pleased to see the back of Coderre and Anie Samson, who rules ViSaMiPex as his loyal sidekick.
At this point I would not readily give odds on Plante vs. Coderre, but I can hope.
Please vote if you can. Let’s get the participation up over 43% this year.
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Kate
Ahmad Nehme, who killed his wife Catherine de Boucherville in their Lasalle home in 2012, has been declared guilty of murder in the first degree. I don’t tend to blog incremental courtroom reports, but this was clearly a harrowing trial in which it was shown Nehme had bought a hunting knife before killing his wife in the presence of their children; it was his 16-year-old daughter who called 911.
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