The headline Le Devoir puts on the first of what it says will be a series of items on the new bridge is a bit faint-praise-ish: remarquable à sa façon. Not one of the spectacular bridges of the planet, and so on. Remains to be seen whether it holds up to our climate and hangs on for the 125 years it’s meant to last.
Updates from June, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The Gazette covered a Hells Angel funeral on Beaubien East Thursday. André Sauvageau died in his jail cell at the end of May, apparently of a heart condition.
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Kate
Personal data of 2.9 million Desjardins customers has been leaked; Radio-Canada answers some of the immediate questions that come to mind. At least it was not a cyberattack, but an employee, although how and why they did it are not yet clear.
Ephraim
This “Anyone whose data was affected will receive a 12-month credit monitoring plan, paid for by Desjardins. That service includes access to daily credit reports, alerts of any changes and identity theft insurance.” is the standard solution. It’s useless and futile…. We fucked up, so for a year… we are going to the do the minimum that looks good… and then for the rest of your life, you are ON YOUR OWN. (And from experience… those alerts… are days if not weeks late!)
No. The Canadian government needs to change the laws and put in some responsibility behind this… your responsibility STOPS when you get them a new SIN number, change all the account numbers, credit card numbers and you have done something concrete to stop this.
david100
I’ve never heard of someone getting a new SIN, is that more common now with the rise in identity theft?
Kate
Yep. I’ve read references to getting a new SIN in that context.
steph
I’ve got a notice that my account info was compromised. I’d like to ask for a new SIN. I think I have to be the victim of fraud (the info has to be used) before I can get a new SIN.
Marc
@steph did you receive an email or a posted letter?
Ephraim
When this happened at BMO, they had a learning curve… and they really got an argument from me on the amount of work it created for me (and I refused to do, since it wasn’t my fault at all.) By the time we got through to the last of the accounts, they pretty much had learnt to automated it all. An investment account generally has 4 to 6 agreements/forms to do, which involved reading, agreeing and putting in names and/or initials all over the forms and they are set to check that you read through them all… but it should be just ONCE. Also, BMO when replacing the accounts had to print out the entire statement history… from day 1 of the accounts and mail them to me, because they are tax documents! I received about the volume of a telephone book from them.
I think I have had my CC number stolen at least 7 or more times, including twice via Stationement Montreal and why I strongly suggest you never put your card into their card readers…. skimmers. Even their app had to be hardened after my card was used via their app.
I have had my card number stolen via the computers at Hannaford Supermarket (Delhaize), Home Depot, Target and Winners/TJMaxx. The last time it was stolen, I caught it within 1 minute of them trying to buy vitamins in Gibraltar.
And when I say that these give you “warnings”… they do, about a week late. If you want to fix the system, it’s particularly easy to do. Put an AUTH on the credit card files. How? The bank provides you with a 6 digit code. You then go online (or by phone) to authorize them to read your credit file. You type in their auth code and it gives you back a 6 digit one-time access code. You provide this to the bank and they can see your credit file. The code then reverts to a supply information code… they can’t inquire on your file, but they can send data to the file. And after that, no more unauthorized use of the account.
Joey
@Ephraim with my Scotia CC (incl. companion card on same account), I get an app notification and an email the instant there is a transaction without the card present. Presumably this kind of IT investment should reduce fraudulent charges.
Ephraim
Joey… BMO sends me an SMS with each transaction, which is how I got caught the last theft. Doesn’t stop the hassle. The corporations aren’t supposed to be saving their numbers in their computers, but they are. Statistics in the US say that about 75% of the US terminals aren’t secure.
BMO has called me and reissued a new card each time it has been found on the “darkweb” from these intrusions. I have alertservice.ca and identityguard.ca on my account and I have never felt less secure. I use scrambled passwords and 2FA when available. Meanwhile, have had to change my bank card 3 times, change my bank account password, PIN numbers, etc, etc, etc. And yet, this is almost always stuff entirely out of my control and “secure” systems. As much as I keep on top of security… it’s the businesses on the other side that keep on screwing it up. And until the day we hold them accountable with manhours as a punishment, they just don’t seem to take our security to heart…. it’s always an apology and a gesture.
The employee at Desjardins is the scapegoat. They should have never been able to get access to so much data…. and no one is more responsible for that than Desjardins. Too much of the data is open without their being a “key”. For example, on a bank account, employees don’t have a real need to see anything other than the account number… they don’t need to see the name, address or telephone number… unless there is a reason. And if there is a reason, LOG it. You want to contact the client by email or phone… no problem, your employee ID unlocks that with your key. You want the client’s SIN number, your employee ID and your supervisor’s ID unlocks that. You want to see the client’s balances when the client isn’t there…. your ID. Why should you have access to millions of records…. a single individual shouldn’t have access to that many records in their lifetime! The data isn’t locked down enough.
steph
@Marc. I got a message in my account that detailed what was was said in the press confrence. “We’ll be sending you letter in the next few days. It contains an activation code, so you can sign up for a year of credit monitoring and identity theft insurance, free of charge.”
Chris
Is it only their banking customers, or insurance too?
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Kate
The EMSB is reclaiming two buildings in Ahuntsic which have been used as residences for 80 elderly people for years. The Radio-Canada item emphasizes that the EMSB has plenty of empty classrooms, while the piece on the anglo side gets more into how the buildings need to have sprinklers installed, which the EMSB refuses to do – and also that the board is circling the wagons now they feel the CAQ may be gearing up to take more of their buildings.
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Kate
The Catholic church hasn’t quite lost that old inquisitorial edge. A man whose complaint to police led to the conviction of a priest on charges of sexual abuse of minors was invited to the archdiocese building behind the cathedral and interrogated for hours by a group of prelates with no lawyer present. This happened in 2016.
A class action suit against the entire archdiocese is pending.
Chris
Did they hold him against his will? He should have just left.
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Kate
Montreal built a huge water reservoir in Rosemont in 1960 only to mothball the thing 20 years later. Since 2014, work has been going on to put the reservoir back into service by next year. TVA visits the massive structure buried under Étienne-Desmarteau park.
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Kate
A survey found that while 59% of us say we’d like to see the return of professional baseball to Montreal, most of us have little interest in watching games, whether live or on TV. Younger people had the least interest.
The project has no future here. Do we want to risk building a second stadium that becomes a white elephant but needs expensive upkeep?
Mr.Chinaski
59% support means for Montreal-metro more than 2 million people, and that is excluding any tourist attendance. If they only see 1 game per year, that is already more than the #1 attendance in the league (LA Dodgers)
Kevin
That doesn’t mean 59% would go to a game. In fact the survey says more than half couldn’t even be arsed enough to watch a game on TV, and two-thirds of those under 35 saying they will never, ever, go to a game.
It’s 59% giving moral support to a team, as in ‘yeah, it’s nice to have a baseball team in Quebec” which is comparable to people feeling good about Videotron having its HQ in Quebec, or thinking the lights on a bridge are pretty, or enjoying F1 even if they never go.
Thomas Herrmann
Some food for thought:
1. Roughly half of the people in this report say they would watch a game on TV while 20% say they would see a game in person. This is on par with most other cities I’ve seen that currently have MLB teams. There isn’t a single team in the MLB that doesn’t make more money on its TV deal than attendance (roughly 2x to 4x more depending on the size of the TV market). In fact, some teams could still turn a profit even if they didn’t sell a single ticket.
2. Younger people having less interest in watching baseball is a trend across the league and is not particular to Montreal. What is less certain is if they regain interest once they age or whether this is truly a generational shift.
3. Merchandise sales are also a significant form of revenue for most teams and in the past few years, Montreal Expo merchandise has ranked 7-10th in sales despite the team having now been defunct for 15 years.Now this news that came out this afternoon that they are considering splitting games between Tampa Bay and Montreal is absurd, would alienate both cities from the team, and has failed before (when the Expos used to play 22 games per year in Puerto Rico). Who knows if this is a serious idea or whether it is a tactic to scare one city into ponying up for a stadium (which I would oppose).
Jay
It’s so unfortunate that on such an informative and enjoyable blog that we have to keep hearing the same biased and negative rhetoric, when anything comes out regarding baseball and it’s return.
It does spur some discussion though, I’ll give you that.
Kate
Jay, this is a blog, and it’s the blog of one person. Of course I have an opinion on some things, and lavishly spending public money on a sports facility is one of them.
I don’t call it bias, because nothing in this world obliges me to not have a view and to express it.
qatzelok
@Kate: ” Do we want to risk building a second stadium that becomes a white elephant but needs expensive upkeep?”
Well, do we want a pension fund privately planning our “public” transit?
Do we want the federal government to build pipelines to carry dil-bit across BC?
Do we want GMO content in food to be secretive?The answer is No. But why does the 1% care what we think? They can change what we feel with their money, and that always trumps whatever we “think.”
Kevin
The city splitting deal would require a new stadium and cannot take place for a decade without a financial penalty.
“The Rays cannot explore playing any Major League Baseball games in Montreal or anywhere else for that matter prior to 2028, without reaching a formal memorandum of understanding with the City of St. Petersburg,” St. Pete mayor Rick Kriseman said via statement.
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Kate
The inbound lanes on the old Champlain bridge will be closing permanently as of Friday evening and the new bridge will be opening on the inbound side Monday morning.
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Kate
Montreal Gazette columnist Allison Hanes writes about the harassment ruling on the man that has been following, filming and haranguing Sue Montgomery for years.
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Kate
Drivers living in the 450 may each be chipping in an extra $50 yearly to support public transit over the urban community. Note the conditionals, though, and CBC’s recruitment of someone on the south shore to say the idea is awful.
How many of these people commute onto the island to work, wear out its roads and use its services, then go home to their suburban bungoluxes at night?
Blork
I’m sure it wasn’t hard to find someone to complain. People are so territorial about their cars and any fees associated with them. It’s ridiculous. FWIW I live on the south shore and I bring my car into the city maybe five times a month (almost always on weekends), and I have no problem with this fee at all. It’s not even a dollar a week, and it’s for a good cause so STFU neighbours!
Paul
I now live in the 450 and fully support initiatives like this. Thankfully, it appears the politicians are mostly on-board with the idea as well. I wish the CBC had asked me, I would have said to make it higher!! 🙂
Uatu
I live in the 450 too and never drive downtown. I always take public transportation. I have no problem with this fee as long as it goes towards public transit and not into some nebulous “general fund” that some civil servant will use as a piggy bank
Meezly
Re: the CBC article – loved the comment from the retiree with a family of 4 + four cars, who made his second home in the Laurentians his permanent home in order to avoid paying the extra fees in Montreal.
Tim S.
About time. As a Montrealer I find paying the extra fee ironic, because I pretty much only use my car to drive out of the city to the suburbs and countryside. I end up paying to use public transit on a daily basis and then an extra “feel bad because you’re a car owner in the city” public transit fee on the registration.
Tim F.
As a South Shore guy I’m all for this.
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Kate
A couple of years ago, La Presse reported on high levels of certain cancers in older firefighters. Now the service has started new procedures involving hosing down firefighters on the site of a fire and sending them back to the station as soon as possible for a shower, to get carcinogenic chemicals off their skin and keep them out of their lungs.
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Kate
The STM claims that the new arrangement on the Camillien-Houde, with alternating traffic flow directions, is unsafe for buses, and it stopped the 11 and 711 routes from crossing the mountain on Wednesday. Since that’s the only purpose of those routes, there’s a problem. The city and the STM are reported to be working something out.
Joey
I rode over the mountain from west to east on Sunday evening. I can’t fathom how someone would miss the new light – the entire roadway around that stretch is different: it’s narrower, the traffic light (with a countdown clock) is extremely prominent, there’s signage indicating there’s a light and there are lots of bollards separating the road from the shoulder. Whether it’s overt or insidious, the effect will be to make driving over the mountain a really unpleasant experience. I think I spent about five minutes waiting for the light.
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Kate
The city is consulting a group of experts to help make it carbon neutral by 2050.
Roman
Might as well say by year 3000
qatzelok
I’m gonna quit right after this next SUV I’m buying.
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Kate
The CSDM has announced it won’t be applying Bill 21 until later next year, after internal consultations.
Update: Legault says they can’t do that but the school board says it doesn’t even know if any of the new hires it has lined up for September are wearers of religious signifiers.
GC
That’s another potential hole (of many) in this legislation. I doubt it’s legal in an interview to ask anyone questions about what religious symbols they might wear. So, if they aren’t wearing one then, but show up to work with one, then…you fire them? Incidentally, have the proposed punishments for disobeying Bill 21 been made public?
david100 22:36 on 2019-06-20 Permalink
My vote is for the old bridge as a long lateral park, with native plants and trees, nesting for birds (if they’d take up there), the works. You can’t tell me that bridge is structurally unsound to a degree that such an idea isn’t possible. I bet some group would be happy to take it on a very low cost to the government.
Faiz Imam 22:47 on 2019-06-20 Permalink
The problem isn’t its structural integrity, the problem is liability.
There are billions of dollars in goods going under that bridge every year. We need to be absolutely sure its safe at all times.
That means regular inspections and repairs.
That’s no small responsibility, not to mention there is no view, and the traffic going by next door will make its pretty unpleasant.
I don’t see the upside.
Kevin 10:15 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
@david100
How many more chunks of concrete fall off before you believe your lying eyes?
Uatu 10:43 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
That would be a spectacular sight…. Especially when chunks of it fall into the Seaway closing down freighter traffic. Also who’ll do the yardwork necessary to keep it up and in the winter who will shovel and remove ice? But don’t worry as the artist’s rendering will answer all these problems….
david100 12:32 on 2019-06-21 Permalink
Bind it in wire like you can’t when it’s used by cars.
Kate 09:50 on 2019-06-22 Permalink
david100, it’s coming down.