Dr. Mylène Drouin is worried by the rise in Covid cases in the city and is asking us to cut down even more on our contacts. Even going to the grocery store more than once a week is frowned on right now.
Updates from December, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
David McMillan of Joe Beef has challenged other restaurant owners to do a little civil disobedience by selling bottles of wine without food. A lot of higher-end places are sitting on cellars full of wine they can’t legally sell, since the wine is supposed to be sold only along with a sit‑down meal, and nobody can come in and sit down.
Bill Binns
I’m not really a wine guy but do they really think a significant number of people are going to visit a restaurant they can’t eat at to buy a bottle of wine to go? Is the SAQ really that bad?
Kevin
I’ve bought several bottles of wine with my takeout this year.
denpanosekai
Bill: SAQ is super horrible this year. I don’t really care, I’m a beer guy, but driving around I always see massive lineups at the SAQ, especially the one at Atwater (as per article)
walkerp
Can restaurants order wines that you can’t get at the SAQ? If you were a wine person, that would be quite enticing, I would think.
Kate
walkerp, yes, they can. Some restaurants pride themselves on it.
GC
Also, some of us are happy to buy one with our takeout, as a way of supporting the restaurant.
DeWolf
As Kate said, many restaurants have private imports that aren’t sold at the SAQ. That’s true for both beer and wine. And the markup for takeout is usually a lot lower than for dining in, so you aren’t paying much more than retail price. If you like natural wine, wine from obscure regions, or beer that isn’t available through the usual distribution channels (eg Cantillon gueuze or Auval beer from Gaspé), it’s nice to have the option to buy it from a local restaurant.
It’s not just restaurants, either. Paquebot is a really good café that has transformed itself into a kind of dépanneur since we went into red zone. They have a very interesting selection of wine and beer that you can buy alongside frozen meals.
Kate
the markup for takeout is usually a lot lower than for dining in
That’s interesting to know. It wasn’t mentioned in the article.
Blork
It’s a nice idea. Personally, I’m not that fussy about wine so I’m happy enough with standard SAQ orders. We go through two or three bottles a week chez nous, so I’m happy to keep it under $20 a bottle.
That said, I haven’t been inside an SAQ since February. I get it delivered, which is magical AF. The online selection is pretty limited, but they do have a number of items from my “favorites” list so I’m fine with that. And it’s worth the extra $1 a bottle to have it brought right to the door. For some reason it’s always the same driver, and I think he has no teeth because his voice is this soft lispy thing that’s hard to make out, and now he’s wearing a mask too, so that’s always good for a laff.
Meezly
@DeWolf, thanks for the tip about Paquebot, good to know!
Ephraim
Is it really that difficult to sell a sandwich along with the wine and then let them offer the sandwich to the homeless?
Michael Black
David McMillan said in his opinion piece that it’s not as simple as ordering pretzels.
steph
Are we so far from the days of the established resto-bar etiquette – You have to order a side of pickles with your drink, but you never get your pickles and no one ever fussed.
Kate
steph, it used to be a dish of olives or chips at Else’s.
This story from Eater almost three years ago claims that the law was changed so you don’t have to eat any more if you order a drink. If true, then what law is Joe Beef flouting? Allowing the wine to be taken out unopened?
DeWolf
The law was changed but apparently only for in-room dining, not takeout.
DeWolf
Meanwhile in Ontario, restaurants and bars are allowed to sell premixed cocktails for takeout, which still isn’t allowed here. I like to make cocktails and have way too much booze at home, but even so, there are some things you just can’t get as an amateur in Quebec. Falernum is one example – it’s only available at the exclusive restaurant SAQ and you can’t make a lot of tiki cocktails without it. It would be nice to occasionally have a drink that’s out of the ordinary while also supporting local bars.
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Kate
Both MasterCard and Visa are ending the use of their cards on Pornhub. How else will people pay? I’ve never been on the site – do they accept bitcoin?
Bert
How? Why!‽
DavidH
I’m guessing Paypal works too and since most people’s Paypal account is linked to their credit card, very little business will be lost.
dhomas
Just checked. They don’t take PayPal. Their site still lists Visa and MasterCard, as well as Discover and JCB. They take a bunch of different cryptocurrency.
Kate
Brace for a run on bitcoin!
Max
No expert here, but I’m guessing the vast majority of their clientele avail themselves of the free version, paid for by advertisers and people too stupid to install an ad-blocker. Only a small minority of hard-core (sorry!) porn addicts would actually pay for the high-end stuff, no?
Kate
How do they make money off the people who don’t pay?
Kevin
Paypal blocked Pornhub last year
denpanosekai
imagine paying for porn.
mare
This whole thing is a standard operating procedure of the US Christian Right’s War on Pornography. They did the same thing a few years ago with almost all (booking) websites of online sexworkers (escorts, dominatrixes).
Start a “charity” against sex trafficking or child pornography, a cause everybody can stand behind. The charity accumulates a list of (wealthy) donors and then starts complaining to all payment processors about certain websites (totally unrelated to sex trafficking or child pornography, but because the charity has a name with those terms a implicit connection is made) and then threatens if the payment processor doesn’t cut ties that all their donors will take their business elsewhere. If companies get enough complaints they will cut ties, even with innocent websites communities like Furries or people who are into tickling. It worked wonderfully.https://survivorsagainstsesta.org/platforms-discriminate-against-sex-workers/
This time it was a NYT op-Ed that started the chain of events.
(I wouldn’t be surprised the QAnon children sex traffic ring conspiracy is rooted in the same playbook)
Kevin
mare
Climate activists and anti-Trumpers have been using the same tactic, which is why Fox News ads are so much garbage.
But in this case, several Canadian outlets looked into this over the past year, including Martin Patriquin, after videos of an abducted teen showed up on the site.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/davie/fl-ne-davie-man-arrest-teen-porn-20191023-cpv5yq7dmjh7dd4cuunuqq7wmi-story.htmlThose articles targetted Pornhub for pedophilia, rape, and sexual exploitation, and its policy of letting anyone upload anything.
Mindgeek has had plenty of time to deal with re-uploads of exploitative content but has not bothered until now.
As for QAnon, I think it was someone inspired by prankster Marco Chanon (I know his twin brother) and it got out of control.
Marco created RealTrueNews as a joke, not realizing just how stupid people can be.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-conservative-news-site-trended-on-facebook-showed-up-on-fox-news-and-duped-the-worldGC
One thing I did find interesting about the original CTV article was that Ackman apparently asked American Express to take action, even though apparently you already could not use their cards on the site. It suggests they are going after a high profile target, without doing their research.
Obviously child pornography IS a problem and action should be taken. I just wonder if they are putting their energies into the best pursuit. Thanks for the link, mare. Haven’t read it yet, but I will.
Ephraim
The ads likely pay a heck of a lot of the bill. And the referrals are likely lucrative as well. When I knew people in this business (I no longer do), these websites paid a lot of money for a sign-up.
dhomas
I just checked again today, and the only payment method is now cryptocurrency. It’s not mentioned in the article, but it looks like Discover and JCB have also withdrawn support for Pornhub.
Kate
I wasn’t even aware that non-porn entities advertise there. Do they not worry about being tarred with the same brush?
GC
But does anyone really know that they advertise there, other than the people who already frequent the site?
Michael Black
But is it advertising that the site sells space for, or is it advertising.like so much on the internet, popping up through google?
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Kate
Expect snow, drizzle, freezing rain and regular rain this weekend.
Raymond Lutz
En veux-tu? Kin… en v’là! T’en veux-tu d’aut, ? Y’en a en masse!
denpanosekai
D’la criss de marde toute la fin d’semaine.
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Kate
Mayor Plante has unveiled the city’s plan to reduce carbon emissions by more than half by 2030. Reduction in solo car use and the planting of thousands of trees are envisioned. Official city page.
M
I’m surprised the city hasn’t made green-roofs mandatory for any new construction over a certain size, as they have in Toronto…Incentivizing greener parking lots are good, though. Too many are big ugly eyesores.
Kate
Maybe that’s something they want boroughs to do individually, since there’s a lot of variation in the built environment among them.
Bert
I there was a certain size threshold, I would venture that developers will design to fit just under the size required and perhaps creatively so.
Chris
M: I forget if it’s City-wide or only some boroughs, but white-roofs are now mandatory.
Kate
I recall Rosemont borough decreeing white roofs but would have to dig for other info on this.
dhomas
For Rosemont:
http://www1.ville.montreal.qc.ca/banque311/content/rosemont%E2%80%93la-petite-patrie-%E2%80%93-toitIt has to be green, white, or reflective.
More boroughs:
http://www1.ville.montreal.qc.ca/banque311/content/arrondissements-%E2%80%93-toitI redid my roof in 2014. It wasn’t yet mandatory to have a white roof, but it was a difference of 600$ (of a total of $14k) so I went ahead and did it. I assume once it’s mandatory in my borough, the price will go up.
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Kate
A 17-year-old who was stabbed last weekend in RDP has died of his injuries. There have already been arrests but no charges yet. That’s homicide #25 this year.
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Kate
The city has seen a record number of cases of Covid diagnosed in 24 hours: 648 cases. Quebec’s also seeing its sixth day of 1500+ cases with 1842 over the last 24 hours and 33 deaths.
Meantime, some folks are mad that Quebec closed restaurant dining rooms in red zones, even though Horacio Arruda had apparently not found it necessary.
GC
I get the anger, but would it really be useful to have dine-in if you can only seat one household at a time? Especially if you could not also let people in to order takeout at the same time?
Kate
GC, the anger is understandable, but resto owners are not experts in contagious disease. Also let’s not forget, resto workers would be putting themselves in proximity to customers who would not be wearing masks while eating and drinking.
Eating in restaurants is not essential. There’s no reason for people to be put at risk to enable it. Yes, it stings – I have friends who spent several years developing their restaurant and building a clientele only to have to close the resto permanently – but it is logical.
GC
As someone who enjoys (enjoyed?) eating out, I definitely want some of the locals to survive. (Not to mention, all the side jobs it creates for wait staff, etc.) But, yeah, it’s one thing to people step in for a few moment, in a mask, to pick up takeout. It’s quite another to have people linger for a meal and obviously be unmasked while eating. I also don’t think many would bother to take the risk to dine in solo at the moment, so you also have conversation on top of that…
Honestly, the thing I find some most surprising is that the government potentially did something *more* stringent than the health recommendations.
dhomas
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This is a failure in communication by the government. The government is being inconsistent in their approach which leads to restauranteurs feeling unfairly targeted by these restrictions. Why are restaurants closed, but kids can still go to school? Why are hairdressers allowed to operate? Residential construction, A-OK! The list goes on. I’m not saying that restaurants should be allowed to open based on this logic, but rather that EVERYTHING should be closed, at least for the sake of consistency but also because it is more prudent to do so. We all know that schools and workplaces are the major contributors to the spread of the virus: https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-schools-now-driving-force-of-covid-19-spread-experts
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Kate
The residents of the tent city have moved out into shelters and other places in the city.
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Kate
The city decided to send a metric buttload of contaminated soil to Ontario because that province has less stringent laws about dealing with it. So the city may save money, but Quebec decontamination firms are not happy about losing business and the city’s being queried on its environmental ethics.
Update: The mayor admits this was a mistake.
dhomas
This hypocrisy really bothers me. “Let’s be green!” “Let’s support Quebec business!”. And yet…
They had the opportunity to do both, and they decided to cheap out.
I was equally pissed when it was from the REM (https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/environnement/2020-11-23/matieres-dangereuses/600-tonnes-du-rem-enfouies-en-ontario.php), but no rules seem to apply to that project. But now to see that it’s more widespread just makes me even more angry.
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Kate
Not all STM bus drivers wear masks, and there’s an explanation why – the plexi barriers and the frequently opened front doors are said to offer them enough protection. Not everybody buys it.
Clément
Here in Quebec city, I haven’t seen a single bus driver wear a mask. However, the compliance rate (?) of passengers is really high.
On a side note, what’s with car drivers wearing masks when all alone in their cars?
MarcG
I like to think that it’s because they understand you’re only supposed to touch the mask with sanitized hands so they just leave it on for the whole period they need it… yeah right.
walkerp
I imagine if you have a job where you are delivering and have to put it on and off and you aren’t wearing glasses, it is just easier to leave it on.
The touching the mask thing we know now is not a significant factor in spread.
DeWolf
There was a discussion here a few months ago about how people were generally more comfortable taking the bus over the metro. I still don’t really understand why, but it’s especially perplexing now that it’s winter and all the bus windows are closed. There’s no way they are properly ventilated. I’d much rather take the metro, which was designed to have a very high volume of air flowing through the cars to account for the lack of air conditioning. Plus there’s more room to spread out.
DavidH
@Clement, my guess is most of those are in car-sharing programs like LocoMotion or Communauto. Or they are picking up people as Uber or Eva drivers. Private cars are not necessarily private spaces all the time.
GC
As someone who hasn’t been on a bus since March, it would really help if CTV included a photo of what the new partitions look like… Is there even on inside the bus in the article photo? It’s hard to tell.
Anyone who has been on a bus care to comment on how effective they actually look?
Kate
GC, they wall off the driver’s compartment, but the plexi doesn’t go all the way down to the floor, so the driver is definitely not getting a separate air source.
GC
Thanks, Kate.
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Kate
The St-Laurent Boulevard business association put up Christmas trees along the street to perk things up, but some of them have been stolen.
A Christmas tree and present have been added to the house on top of the Canada Malting plant. It remains a mystery who’s doing this. (Photo via reddit.)
Meezly
At least Sarah Leavitt found some humour in the situation with the video piece!
GC
I was not expecting the singing.
DeWolf 09:47 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
When I go to the grocery store these days it tends to be relatively quiet, unlike in the spring when hours were reduced and there was always a huge line. I’m not sure I get the logic of once again reducing opening hours when all that does is force more people to shop at the same time.
Jason 09:52 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
I work at Galeries d’Anjou, and I don’t understand how malls are still open. Families come and hang out all day, because everything else is closed (restaurants, movie theaters, etc). Social distancing is practically non-existent, and too many people have their masks down to sip their Starbucks
Kate 11:21 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
DeWolf: PA? I miss going to shop there, but weirdly, Mile End feels very far from Villeray these days. PA Nature was always fairly crowded when I went in.
Jason: That’s disturbing to know.
jeather 11:32 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
I went briefly inside a mall downtown last week, and it seemed quite empty except for the ASTOUNDING line at Uniqlo. All the chairs etc are blocked off — how would you even hang out there all day? Ignoring the danger of doing so and the lack of understanding about why, I don’t understand how. But the downtown area didn’t feel any more crowded or worse than the supermarket.
They’re supposed to be limiting total capacity at the mall instead of capacity by store, but I wonder if they really are. Do they have counters at each entrance?
DeWolf 11:38 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
Kate, yes, PA, but the big one near Fairmount. Last time I was there, on Wednesday around 4pm, it was blissfully quiet.
I don’t blame you for not coming down to Mile End. I walked up to Jarry the other day and it reminded me of just how far away it is – 45 minutes by foot, which is longer than it takes to walk downtown from Mile End.
Kate 12:16 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
jeather, the one time I went to Galeries d’Anjou I noticed a striking number of people moving around in wheelchairs. Seemed like they’d been brought there to give them an outing, since it’s safe and accessible and indoors. Jason, is that often true? They wouldn’t need seating, at least…
Jason 12:30 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
While I haven’t noticed a lot of wheelchairs per se, a large percentage of the clientèle are older, yes. There are a lot of condo buildings in the neighborhood that cater to retirees.
Blork 12:50 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
For a short while back in the spring I was going to the grocery store only once every two weeks and that was just weird. For a few days the fridge is jammed with fresh produce but it all has to be eaten quickly before it turns and then you spend a week with nothing but cabbage and onions.
So I went back to once a week — early on Thursday mornings — and that’s been working well. Although this week I also went to Costco (only the second time since March). Gotta get in enough Parmesan cheese and olive oil to last the winter!
dhomas 18:58 on 2020-12-11 Permalink
@Jason if you think Galeries d’Anjou is bad, you should check out down the street at Place Versailles! The Gals are absolutely saintly in their application of the rules by comparison. I haven’t been in a while, but last time I went Galeries d’Anjou they had some security guards policing the hallways to make sure people were walking in the direction of the arrows, as well as making sure other rules are being followed. AFAIK, the mall Santa at Gd’A has moved entirely online (from the emails they send me), whereas the PV one is still active, though behind plexiglass. Maybe things have gone downhill in the Christmas rush, though, I don’t know.
All in all, I try to avoid PV, but I still sometimes need to go to the Maxi there. I use PC Express for pickup, but they will often say things are out of stock without substitutions just to avoid extra work. It’s usually heavy things or frozen things like the gluten free bread for my wife who has celiac. So I have to go inside anyway. Really annoying since it defeats the purpose of the pickup if I have to risk infection by going inside (not to mention the fact that I have to pay a surplus for the pickup).