A last drink before the war
I’m seeing reports on Twitter that the bars were crowded Wednesday night, before the midnight shutdown. There was an anti-mask protest at Lafontaine Park – no masks, of course – and some went out to eat a last meal at a restaurant. CBC has a brief video talking to people making a last visit to the Museum of Fine Arts before the closure. Le Devoir has a photo essay on the city’s last call.
CTV’s headline here talks about a police telewarrant presumably to allow them to crack down on private gatherings, but there’s no information in the story about how it works.
GC 07:59 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
I’m also very curious. It sounds like they just dial a phone number and an automated system gives them a warrant. I hope it’s not that simple. As much as I want them to enforce the rules more, that seems way to open to abuse of power.
DeWolf 08:37 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
The tweet about bars being crowded last night “with practically no distancing” makes me wonder. Were the bars breaking the rules by putting tables closer than 2m? Were customers breaking the rules by standing around or being in groups larger than six? I wasn’t out last night but I suspect there may be some exaggeration involved in the tweet.
I can understand why people wanted to spend some time in their favourite bars or restaurants given how uncertain the future is. After the rain ended yesterday afternoon and it became unexpectedly sunny, I decided to say goodbye to my local haunt with a couple of beers in their back garden, which these days is especially beautiful with the changing foliage. It wasn’t busy but there was a regular flow of people coming alone or in groups of two for a quick beer. The staff seemed to appreciate that people had come by to finish the handful of kegs they still had open.
I really savoured those two beers – a Yakima IPA and a Voyageur des Brumes, which you can get in cans and bottles, but which taste so much better served on tap from a place that takes good care of its beer. I liked seeing the familiar faces of the servers and I enjoyed sitting somewhere other than my own home for an hour.
I doubt the confinement will only last 28 days and I’m not keen on being indoors with the virus still around, so this was likely the last time I’ll be back to that place until the spring – if it manages to stay in business through the winter.
Kevin 10:28 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
GC
Judges will be on call to approve warrant requests over the phone. Cops will still need to have a paper document in hand to enter a home — so I guess they’ll need a printer in their car or something.
walkerp 11:32 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
There was a mini-run on bandes-dessinées at the bibliothèque Mordecai-Richler yesterday. Well a few young dudes with huge stacks, but there was a sense of urgency in the air. 🙂
GC 13:09 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
Thanks, Kevin. The articles I saw were very vague on the details.
Kate 13:25 on 2020-10-01 Permalink
Kevin: Flic-o-fax!