Some may remember that a young man died by drowning last August during the Osheaga festival. The coroner’s report says there’s no evidence it was due to a criminal act but that it can’t be determined whether Collins Obiagboso fell into the river by misadventure, or went in the water voluntarily to cool off.
Updates from March, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
City council chair Cathy Wong has lodged a complaint with the Quebec municipal commission against Anjou councillor Lynne Shand over her recent rant against an emergency doctor wearing hijab. Wong points out that 10% of Anjou residents are Muslim, so how can Shand fairly represent her borough?
Chris
Through cognitive dissonance. People are good at holding contradictory values/opinions beliefs.
How can an ER doctor (a person a science) be a theist? Likewise, a councilor can dislike some people yet still fairly represent them. Internal subconscious compartmentalization.
Kate
Thing is, Chris, I don’t care what the inner beliefs of my ER doctor are. If she’s qualified, and I need a doctor, I’m happy.
Chris
Kate, I agree (as long as those inner beliefs don’t impact her outward behaviour as a doctor). But that’s not in conflict with my statements.
Can a lawyer represent a client he believes is a bad person? Can a doctor suggest an abortion if she’s personally against it? Can a city councilor represent people she doesn’t like/agree with? Yes, yes, and yes.
dwgs
Chris, would it be wise for that lawyer to go on a public forum and complain about what a nasty and poorly behaved person his client is? Would it be okay for that doctor to go on FB and excoriate the ‘sluts’ and ‘loose women’ who present themselves needing abortions? Sure they can do those things but they are likely to lose clients and have it affect their ability to earn a living. No one is saying that Shand can’t hold her own private views, no matter how odious they may be. They’re saying that she can’t air them in public without expecting consequences.
Meezly
From Cathy Wong’s FB post: “Auparavant, la Commission municipale avait déjà statué que «les membres du Conseil doivent traiter les citoyen.nes avec égards et respect en évitant toute forme de discrimination (interdite par la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne, L.R.Q., c. C‑12)»”
jeather
Seems like she is out of the party and standing as an independent, despite what Miranda said the other day.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-councillor-complaint-1.5073202
Chris
dwgs, I could agree with all that, it doesn’t conflict with my earlier statements. Kate asked ‘how can Shand fairly represent her borough?’, I still answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmentalization_(psychology)
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Kate
Irritating fumes halted metro service on three lines early Tuesday afternoon, after an incident at Berri-UQÀM. A suspect has been arrested.
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Kate
I noticed not long ago that my Opus card was about to expire, so as I was passing through Berri-UQÀM today, I stopped to get a new one. At the machine I was reminded I had some tickets on the old one, so I went to the service counter to get the contents swapped over.
I figured it should take, what, five minutes or so, to do what must be a routine process for the people behind that glass.
A man and a woman were at the wicket, talking intensely with a previous supplicant. When that person left, my number did not immediately come up. The pair of them chatted for awhile, then eventually summoned my number.
I explained my request, and the man and woman conferred again intently. The man took six dollars from me, took my old Opus and put it on the reader, then swapped it for a new card, then repeated the swapping a few more times. He turned to the woman, who got on the phone and had an apparently complicated conversation, while the man waited.
I wondered if I could’ve somehow picked up a stolen card and was about to be cuffed and dragged away.
Finally she got off the phone, and he took a little pad of forms, on which he carefully copied down the number on the back of my old Opus and the reason for my request, and the date, and had me sign the back and note down my phone number.
“Did I ask you for money?” he inquired.
“Yes, I gave you six dollars,” I told him.
Then he printed out a receipt, and stamped it. I looked at it later: it says “Vente Finale”.
Later when I was buying a few items in a store up St-Denis, the person before me asked the cashier if she knew where some nearby business was, and the cashier took out a phone book to look it up.
I think my time machine is on the fritz.
Tim
Kate, you paid for a new card? Twice I have had expiring cards and both times I had them replaced free of charge no questions asked. Maybe this has changed?
Kate
Tim, a Twitter reader of the blog feed reminded me that there’s a pending case against the STM about the cost for an Opus card, so I should hang onto the receipt.
I don’t hold out much hope. The STM is pretty cavalier about court rulings. Remember, it’s still fining people accused of being delinquent passengers, even though a judge said they couldn’t assume guilt in that way.
It’s only six bucks, but it’s the principle.
John B
@Tim Cards below a certain number can be replaced free because the Opus cards were originally sold as “Permanent.” Once it became clear they were not permanent there was some cutoff date so cards with a higher number than the cutoff cannot be replaced for free. It was a while ago, so I bet you’ll have to pony up $6 for your next card.
I actually combined 3 old cards, (one of which was old enough to be replaced for free), into a new card recently. It wasn’t _so_ bad. There was no phone call involved. I bet the call the person made was just a call, although it’s weird they would choose to make it then.
DeWolf
This whole “expiring card” thing is complete nonsense. I am still using my Hong Kong Octopus card from 2008 with no problems. It was only a couple of years ago that Hong Kong recalled the *original* Octopus cards from 1997. And it’s not like they’re different from the Opus card. They use identical technology and they are made from exactly the same materials.
That combined with the $6 fee for an Opus card makes me think the whole thing is just a shameless cash grab by the STM.
Kate
DeWolf, someone once told me (it may have been in a blog comment) that the Opus card only has so many “slots” in the programming, and once they’re full, the card is no good. However, in practice it has a date when it becomes obsolete, regardless of how many or how few recharges have been applied to it, so you may well be right.
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Kate
CTV says the attempt to preserve the life of the dog that bit six people last summer has failed, and the dog will be euthanized, but doesn’t name the animal’s chief champion.
BB
I’m only half joking when I suggest that we should consider putting the owners down too. People who buy and keep dogs like that are pure trash.
Kate
I don’t like it when people are described as garbage or trash.
That woman should never have had the dog in her house, but a footnote to the story says she was also dealing drugs. She may have thought the presence of a scary dog would keep her and the kids safe, rather than the opposite. Yes, unwise actions and generally disordered lives – but not trash. Not here.
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Kate
Montreal and surrounding towns have been given a mere ten days to pose questions to CDPQ Infra, the Caisse branch building the REM. And they have no power to insist on changes in its plans.
Who gave CDPQ Infra this power?
Steve Q
I’m glad they have this power, otherwise we would still be discussing and analysing and studying etc… nothing would get done. We are beyond all these never ending discussions about transit. It’s time for action.
Kate
Governance by diktat. It works in a lot of places. It makes a lot of people feel safe.
I’m not one of them.
ant6n
I find arguments like “if we planned things properly, nothing would ever get done” weird. If we had proper long term planning on transit, and a decent pipeline of projects that integrate with each other and urban planning, then we could still accomplish good things at a decent rate.
Or another way of thinking about it: a bunch of the transit/rail geeks have been complaining about the same issues form day one. With proper expertise, even a quickly planned project could’ve been done better.
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Kate
People who can prove they were living near the Ville-Marie twenty years ago when it underwent lengthy repairs are getting cheques from a class-action suit over the noise and inconvenience, but not everyone who’s eligible knows they are or has applied.
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