More detail Tuesday on the Mohawk decorations on Peel Street downtown.
Updates from December, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Five Montreal men are accused of a telemarketing scam in which they called Americans and tried to make them pay nonexistent debts. Can they be extradited for this?
david145
I got a call from someone yesterday who said they were from Visa-Mastercard. I asked what they were talking about, it’s one company, and then it flipped to this either recorded or somehow programmed voice that was clearly someone different, explaining that they were calling about overdue accounts. I hung up, realizing that I had triggered something by even bothering to answer/speak. Wonder if it was related to this gang.
steph
I’d fight the extradition on principal.
https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2008/07/canadian-scammers-extradited-receive-lengthy-prison-sentences.htmlEphraim
For the Visa/MC thing, ask them if it’s your (name of bank you don’t use) card. They always answer yes… and well… they clearly have identified themselves as scammers.
For the Service Canada thing, simply say “Service en Francais SVP.” They usually hang up on you and you know that any Canadian government office will always service you in both languages.
For any real call that may be from your bank or CC company. Ask them for their extension. Tell them that you are going to call the number that is listed on the website and ask to be transferred back to you. If they are real, they will understand. They want you to be comfortable with talking to them.david14
I wish we could extradite a lot more criminals to face the wrath of US federal courts and sentencing.
And in that case they scammed 40,000 people!! 20 years in the slammer seems about right.
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Kate
Under pressure since the Nicholas Kristof article, Pornhub is promising new measures meant to exclude videos of illegal sex acts.
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Kate
Claude Cormier, who dreamed up the baubles that floated over the Village for several summers, has come up with a new project for downtown Montreal: a giant ring to float near Place Ville-Marie.
Bill Binns
Anybody know how much we paid him for his totally original idea to hang decorations over a city street?
dhomas
I looked into it and couldn’t find out how much the pink balls in the village had cost the city. I did find that they helped revitalize the neighbourhood and were credited with “de nombreuses retombées … une augmentation de l’achalandage et du chiffre d’affaires des commerçants, diversifiant l’offre commerciale et la clientèle”. The city also sold the balls presumably for over $300k (180,000 balls, sold in packs of 54 for 100$ per pack). If you really want to know how much we paid, you could probably open an access to information request.
However, I’m not really sure how it’s pertinent to this story. His firm has been hired by a private company (though with some public ties, being part of the CDPQ), so “we” won’t be paying anything for this next project.
DeWolf
Bill is right. The only thing above our streets should be green highway signs and billboards!
Bill Binns
I live here. The neighborhood or even the particular stretch of St Cat that was covered by balls are far from “revitalized”. Every third storefront is vacant (since long before Covid) and the entire neighborhood would be ground zero for stabbings if Hochelaga wasn’t constantly claiming the crown.
The uniformed security guards that the McDonald’s, National Bank, Pharmaprix and Jean Coutu on St Cat was forced to hire to protect it’s employees and customers did more to clean up the neighborhood than anything the city has done. Not to mention the private army of bullet proof vest and earpiece wearing guards that Place Dupuis employs.Kate
I would’ve thought closing the street to motor traffic in the summer was the main thing – the baubles mainly serving to brighten up the atmosphere when the street’s closed.
Bill Binns, I’m rarely one to say things on the “love it or leave it” theme, but surely you could find a Montreal neighbourhood to live in that’s less edgy?
dhomas
I refrained from saying it in my first post as I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it sounded like Bill had a bone to pick. The pink balls didn’t make your neighbourhood shitty, Bill. To be honest, I’m not even sure it’s all that bad. You’re just too close to it, so you notice the bad stuff more than you do the good. There must be some good, or you wouldn’t stay there, right?
Mark Côté
In his defence I believe he said a few weeks ago that he’s looking to move…
Kate
Too bad I missed that. A really sweet duplex was up for sale on my block recently after the owner died, but it’s been sold.
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Kate
A gathering in Mile End (the accompanying photo adds an explanation of the kind of gathering it was) was dispersed Monday evening by police. Estimated at 200 people, they had been inside a Park Avenue location that’s probably a synagogue on the down low.
Jebediah Pallendrome
Ah risking your life and the lives of those you know for the sake of appeasing the great celestial dictator
Brilliant. Excellent use of everyone’s time.
Chris
Their behaviour is logical *if* their premise is correct. That is, if Yahweh exists and indeed requires regular attendance at services, and if failure to comply results in eternal damnation, then of course it’s worth it to risk sickness/death in this temporary earthly life in order to ensure a good afterlife. In fact, it would be insane *not* to continue to attend services.
At least it was only 200 people, not as big as that wedding in Williamsburg.
So for the St Michel church the other day, the cops got around whatever part of the criminal code was allegedly stopping them from issuing tickets by locking up the church for operating without a permit. Will they do the same here?
Also interesting that there’s no mention of whether masks were prevalent or not.
Kate
Chris, I don’t know that the cops got around it. The church was “discovered” to have never been issued an occupancy permit. I presume it had been tolerated – there are a lot of unofficial churches, synagogues and mosques in this town – but the authorities didn’t have any reason to crack down till recently.
Presumably the Hasidic get-together in the original story counts as a religious gathering and any ceremony would be protected from police incursion under the same law as the St‑Michel church, but I’ll bet the rule the authorities used is also the same – the premises were never given an occupancy permit.
Please spare us the snide remarks about religious belief. We know what you think about it. We know there are people who feel they answer to a higher authority, you don’t need to soapbox it.
Chris
>I don’t know that the cops got around it.
Good point. I guess it might have been the City that did that.
>Please spare us the snide remarks about religious belief.
It wasn’t really a remark about their *belief*. Everyone is free to believe whatever they want. It’s their *actions* that are a problem. Society shouldn’t (and doesn’t) tolerate any/every religiously-based action (ex: stoning adulterers, death for blasphemy, etc.) Likewise, this action shouldn’t be tolerated just because of their religious justification.
jeather
The action wasn’t tolerated, that’s why the police went there and made them leave (which was the correct thing to do). Yes, it’s shitty when people ignore Covid restrictions, whether for religious or non-religious or semi-religious reasons, but it’s not like only religious people are gathering in groups.
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