A cyclist has been awarded $2 million in restitution damages for an accident five years ago. Roadwork on Rachel was neither marked with cones nor well lit when the young woman crashed her bike and was seriously injured.
Updates from October, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A look at how the PREM imposes ridiculous bureaucratic limits on where a family doctor can practice, and how it ends up depriving so many Montrealers of having a regular doctor.
Kevin
The PREM is one of the stupidest things ever devised.
The goal is admirable, but to make it work a government would have to discriminate against the entire population of the province.
Ephraim
So basically, if you live near a hospital, don’t expect to be able to find a family doctor. Which explains why it took me 5 years to find one. And eventually he will retire and I’ll be stuck again.
Kevin
Ephraim
But ‘near’ in the gerrymandered sense. Senneville is right next to St. Mary’s hospital in the PREM systemJaneyB
That system is absurd. It needs to be overhauled.
Side note: When I moved here from Ontario, I found a family doctor by making 3 phone calls. The first was to the CLSD to ‘get on a list’ – as friends recommended. (Those friends are still on that list a decade later, incidentally). I immediately realized no one ever gets off that ‘list’ so I phoned the clinics in my neighbourhood and asked if they were taking new patients and if not, did they know anyone who was. I had a fine doctor and an appointment with him within a week. I lived in CDN. If you’re waiting for years, you’re doing it wrong. Get yourself on the phone.
Kate
I did get a doctor by being on the list, for about five years, but the curious thing is that I’ve yet to meet him. I’m seen by his nurse practitioner, whom I like, maybe once a year. I suppose I’m fortunate that there’s nothing wrong enough with me that I need a doctor for.
MarcG
Obviously this is not a solution to the system failure, but if you go to walk-in clinics for your health problems because you don’t have a family doctor, ask the secretary if they have any openings next time you’re there, you might get lucky like I did.
Ephraim
Kevin, I live “walking distance: from CHUM, the Royal Vic/Neuro, Notre Dame and if you push it, the General as well. That’s a lot of doctors… and yet I was on the government list for 5 years until I found a doctor via a friend… otherwise I would still be waiting.
I wonder, how quickly this would be fixed if the government had to actually manage that everyone get an annual physical and if they didn’t, actually had to start paying back your medicare taxes for failure to provide basic services.
Kevin
Here’s the current PREM allocation list
https://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/professionnels/medecine-au-quebec/prem/besoins-prioritaires-region-06/You’ll note the region called Cote des Neiges Metro Park Extension, with 14 hospitals (even if the bureaucrats think the Royal Vic is still on the side of Mount Royal :/ ) gets 10 family doctors.
[I’ve been told that ER docs count as family doctors for PREM purposes ]RDP-Anjou-Montreal East gets 14 doctors for its 3 clinics or wherever else they want to practice in that territory.
I mean, it sounds impressive to say Montreal gets 98 doctors, until you realize how they’re distributed in penny packets — and that the Monteregie gets 84, similarly split up.
jeather
If you get seriously ill enough, your specialist will act as a supercharged family doctor. I don’t recommend this, though.
Joey
Note that the provincial auditor-general came down hard on the management of the province’s CPE (daycare) waitlist, as most of the CPEs don’t seem to be using it and run their own parallel waitlists, even if the provincial list apparently allows them to establish their own criteria (age, location, etc.). This province has a significant problem managing access to “universal” services.
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Kate
Weekend traffic notes, this time from the Gazette.
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Kate
TimeOut says Verdun is Montreal’s coolest neighbourhood and the 11th coolest neighbourhood in the world.
Blork
Thus ending the appeal of Verdun. People with long memories will remember that in 1997 Utne Reader magazine declare the Plateau one of the “hippest neighborhoods in North America” and look what happened. Within a year, vacancy was less than 1%, rents skyrocketed, tourists invaded, and the neighborhood became unrecognizable to what had made it “hip” in the first place.
JaneyB
I’m blaming the Jazz Festival for this. Still, I think vacancy should stay ok here – the borough forbids Airbnb’s and there are public notices indicating this on street lamps. More importantly, Verdun is still about a good third crazy people who grew up here. They’ve inherited their parents’ houses or leases. I still hear ‘missed his trial’ and ‘only manslaughter not murder’ when I’m on the bus or from balconies when I’m going for a walk. Ville Émard has a floaty, transient kind of crazy but with Verdun, it is loud and proud. Great cycling though!
Kate
I used to somewhat fudge the fact my folks were living in Verdun when I was born, and I spent my first nine years there. Not any more!
MarcG
There’s a tenants rights demo organized tomorrow at 1pm. https://www.facebook.com/VerdunEnsemble/. And can confirm that Verdun is still pretty weird and wild despite the changes, but much less so than 15 years ago when walking down Wellington at any time of day made me feel like a Very Together Person.
Blork
I’ve always wondered why Verdun hasn’t gentrified very much. Technically it has everything going for it; a lively shopping street, Metro stations, easy proximity to the river, including a beach (although that’s new) and that long park with bike paths, easy access to autoroutes, etc. Over the past few years I’ve found myself on Wellington in Verdun a number of times, and I always find myself thinking “wow, if I were to move back to the island this is where I’d live.” And yet…
Ian
It actually has gentrified quite a bit, but it’s slower in the SW. There were condos in St Henri even back in the late 80s along Ste Antoine but it only really took off as a gentrified neighbourhood some 20 years later.
I think part of it is the psychology of being below the highway – and Verdun is one step further, below the canal. Also worth noting there are still a lot of poor people especially in the east end of Verdun, with a poverty rate a full 6% higher than the average across Montreal. https://www.centraide-mtl.org/documents/86354/upload/documents/Profile-Verdun-2018-19.pdf
But yeah, enjoy being the coolest neighbourhood for now. It sure effed up Mile End, there’s a 2 bed on my street renting for 3k a month now. That’s well over double the average only 5 years ago. 4 and a halfs are going for 2k now. Outremont is in fact slightly less expensive than Mile End these days.
Blork
True story: in 1999 I moved from the Plateau to Westmount because Westmount was cheaper.
dhomas
I’m pretty sure Verdun started to become “cool” when they started to allow bars. I had many friends who lived in Verdun through the “dry” period who would gladly return now.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mobile/verdun-gets-its-first-bar-in-more-than-a-century-1.1282307
MarcG
Yeah that was a big turning point for sure Although there are still only a few actual bars where you don’t also need to order food (Benelux, Palco, Trefle, maybe Verdun Beach, maybe that new place on de l’Eglise?), trendy restaurants, cafés and young well-to-do people starting really rolling in after Benelux opened.
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Kate
People living in Quebec’s red zones – which means a lot of people – have been warned not to be tempted by the still-open bars and restaurants in the remaining orange zones, over the long weekend.
Tim F
Reminds me of the Concordia engineering’s DUSTED (drink unsuspecting small town establishment dry) during frost week.
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Kate
The city’s going to appoint a commissioner for systemic racism; unlike Premier Legault, Valérie Plante recognizes that systemic racism is embedded in city structures.
Chris
What’s an example of ‘racism embedded in city structures’? The article doesn’t give any. She’s been in charge for 4 years. She *is* the system. One wonders if she’s only going along with the zeitgeist.
DeWolf
That’s ridiculous, Chris. Politicians come and go but the civil service is forever. Sue Montgomery’s case should be enough of an example of what happens when an elected official butts heads with career bureaucrats.
Myles
In addition to DeWolf’s point, the entire idea of systemic racism is that it doesn’t depend on individuals who are at fault. It’s in the culture of how various bureaucracies are run. It’s reflected in all the things governments do because “that’s how things are done” without necessarily knowing how they end up affecting ordinary citizens.
Meezly
Further to what Myles said, It’s also reflected in the kind of policies that are maintained or implemented (to benefit certain citizens over others), how agencies and programs get funded (to benefit certain groups over others), what kind of people wield power or get promoted (or get omitted)…
This all sounds very conceptual, but it has a trickle down effect for the whole of society, which may not result in overt racism but allows racial discrimination and attitudes to proliferate, ie. teaching a biased history to school children, how police are trained (why do they keep targeting certain groups) or how so many landlords tend to discriminate against tenants… and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is why Plante made history – there has never been a female mayor of Montreal before and there is a reason – hundreds of years of a patriarchal system disadvantaging women until recently. Obviously , systemic racism is not something that can be easily fixed in the span of 4 years, you need to overhaul much of how bureaucracies have been run for decades. And you need a succession of progressive leaders to oversee this structural change.
Systemic racism is also not something that can be easily explained as a side note in an article. This is why activists get tired of explaining things. If you want to expand your mind, you need to do the work.
Chris
>It’s in the culture of how various bureaucracies are run.
And the mayor has no impact on that? Then why appoint this commissioner? To impact her bureaucracy of course.
>This is why activists get tired of explaining things.
If activists want to sway people, it’s incumbent on them to do explaining. But anyway I was talking about the journalist(s). Are examples of ‘racism embedded in city structures’ hard to find? Why not explain in the article the kinds of thing they are discussing? Many people learn best by example.
Meezly
‘Then why appoint this commissioner?’ I don’t understand this question. Did you read the article? Or any local articles that have been highlighting the racial climate the past several years?
‘If activists want to sway people, it’s incumbent on them to do explaining.’ That’s a very passive, complacent attitude to have. Explaining racism to mentally lazy people is not what they want to devote their energy on. The responsibility to educate is on you.
Here’s an example with the media. When an election is being covered, journalists don’t provide a summary of the democratic process. It would take up too much precious page space. It’s assumed that citizens already have basic fundamental understanding of how elections work.
‘Are examples of ‘racism embedded in city structures’ hard to find?’ Not if you have an internet connection, know how to do google searches and can read. Many people learn best by wanting to learn and doing the work.
Chris
>Not if you have an internet connection, know how to do google searches and can read.
Great! Care to share a link to educate me? Sounds like it should only take a sec.
MarcG
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Kate
Speaking of attacks on businesses, here’s a comparison of our media. The Gazette has an anodyne little piece about an attack on a beauty salon in Terrebonne. La Presse, however, finds out that the salon belongs to a police officer reduced to desk work because he maintains that Covid is a hoax. CTV says the officer resigned and calls the business a tattoo parlour; although the façade mentions “maquillage permanent” it doesn’t otherwise seem to be doing tattooing.
steph
Why do so many cops have 2 jobs? I can’t think of another profession conductive to this…
Kate
They’re well paid, giving them plenty of spare cash if they manage it properly. They can retire fairly early with a good pension. Some invest in real estate, some in businesses, I guess.
Also, I have the impression their job scheduling leaves them with regular blocks of days off, giving them time to develop a business on the side.
There were stories a few years ago about Quebec limiting moonlighting for cops. Maybe it’s a technicality: they’re not allowed to work for someone else, but if they own the business themselves it doesn’t count?
JaneyB
Firefighters also often have side gigs.
walkerp
Nothing suspicious here at all. That this situation exists at all is a condemnation of the police. I will not be surprised to find out this cop has some bad guy friends/business partners.
Em
Kate is correct, many cops work long shifts of 10-12 hours which give them 3 or 4 days off per week, often in a row. I think some also perceive it as a career they may not be able to do or want to do forever so they want a back up plan. (I’m not a cop but there are some in my circles).
I think the moonlighting rules only apply for people in certain positions. And possibly only for certain types of outside business. I can see many opportunities for inappropriate dealings however.
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Kate
The suspect who punched a bus driver and broke her jaw in Terrebonne has been sent to the Pinel Institute after being judged unfit to face trial, although this report suggests he’s but mad north-north-west.
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Kate
Park Ex’s Marché Swadesh was the target of a molotov cocktail attack overnight, with some damage done to the entrance.
Ian
I guess the protection racket doesn’t care that the pandemic has been rough on businesses. They must be feeling the pinch now that all the bars are closed.
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Kate
The organization directing the construction of the REM has been accused of a lack of cooperation with the city, but is that any surprise? The REM was conceived without reference to what Montreal or its residents felt they needed in transit improvements, and it was designed to barge through the heart of the city without concern for consequences.
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Kate
Dissatisfied with the performance of Sylvie d’Amours as his indigenous affairs minister, François Legault has named to the post a man who’ll be familiar to anyone who’s followed Montreal news over the last decade – Ian Lafrenière, who had a high profile for a police inspector by handling PR for the SPVM.
Is François Legault completely conscious of what he’s telegraphing by appointing a cop to a sensitive position like this? Maybe he isn’t. Legault’s a man with serious blind spots.
Ian
It’s insanely tone deaf. The SPVM were specifically called out in the report.
“Lafrenière, elected in 2018, is the former head of communications at Montreal police, an organization that has had its own problems with racial profiling and discrimination.
A report from three independent researchers released last year found systemic bias in street checks done by Montreal police.
According to that report, Indigenous women were particularly overrepresented and were 11 times more likely to be stopped by police than white women.”
steph
Clearly Legault believes he simply has to shout “we don’t have systematic racism in Quebec” until everyone is convinced.
Kate
Christopher Curtis tweets it well: “Appointing a former police commander as Indigenous affairs minister is almost too perfect a metaphor for the CAQ’s grasp of this particular issue.”
Tim S.
On the surface it looks bad, but you would think someone who lasted so long as a police spokesperson must have some tact. Maybe?
Ian
As another commentator responded on Twitter, “His skills in whitewashing police brutality will come in handy in his new role.”
walkerp
Absolutely gobsmacked by this choice. It’s not just a question of optics. Lafreniere has been the face of whitewashing police brutality and authoritarian tactics in protests. They are basically saying f*** you to the First Nations people in Quebec.
GC
Yeah, I’m with walkerp. It goes beyond “tone deaf” into middle-finger territory.
Even if Legault is this clueless, himself, certainly someone around him suggested it was a bad idea?
david292 01:59 on 2020-10-10 Permalink
Restitution is when you’re recovering something outlaid, and it’s sort of the last stop for recovering. This is a compensatory damages situation – basically, this woman crashed her bike and then claimed that the city and construction firm was responsible for her injuries, her loss of motility, her loss of income and loss of future income, etc. – all compensasble – plus the province’s recovery for medical services.