The curfew will be back to 8 p.m. in Montreal as of Sunday night.
Updates from April, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A cyclist was killed Thursday on Papineau near St-Joseph and the driver of the SUV is in critical condition. Sounds like the driver lost control and rolled the vehicle, which landed on a passing cyclist.
Jack
For that SUV to flip multiple times how fast do you think it was going?
Kate
Someone on Facebook is claiming the driver lost control because he had a heart attack, but without any links to media confirmation. Both men involved in this incident were 33 years old, and while a 33‑year‑old can have a heart attack, it’s not persuasive.
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Kate
Security guards for homeless shelters have cost the city millions since the start of the pandemic.
Wouldn’t it be more economical for the city to hire its own security guards rather than extending its contract with with GardaWorld?
Bill Binns
It almost certainly would not be more economical. When is it ever more economical to use city workers over private sector workers?
It would be more economical if the victimized and marginalized folks currently experiencing homelessness could leave their free housing in the morning without getting all stabby. Seriously, if you are ever up around 6AM and in the vicinity of Berri Square, watch the chaos that unfolds as the homeless exit their 4 star accommodations in Place Dupuis.
Kate
Bill Binns, it’s always more economical to use city workers. That’s why a city has its own cops, blue collar workers and so on. The problem comes when they try to fix what looks like a short-term problem with temp workers, which then become part of how the city works, at an astronomical temp rate.
Paul
Sorry Kate, I agree w Bill here…it is definitely more affordable to hire a garda-world agent at $35/hr as opposed to hiring them as an employee which likely costs $30/hr + 35% for benefits, plus hiring an additional one for when the first is sick/on vacation, and ensuring they have a supervisor, etc…
Myles
The amount of graft that goes on whenever the private sector gets involved is more than enough to cancel out the savings on their employees meagre benefits.
Bill Binns
@Kate – Well that’s just it. Temporary workers are temporary. When you don’t need them anymore, you can get rid of them for free. It’s technically more expensive to rent a car than to buy one but not if not if you only need it for a month.
Personally, I would prefer this work be done by the police but not because it’s cheaper.
Bill Binns
@Myles – As compared to that paragon of good and honest stewardship that is the Montreal municipal machine? How quickly we forget about Mr 3%.
Kate
Well, Mr 3% is dead, literally. The current administration has problems but massive corruption is not one of them.
I have no idea whether the city could create a security corps who were not police, but could be sent to places like the shelters, to keep order. I have an odd feeling, now that I think of it, that if the city tried to do this, the police brotherhood might kick up an unholy fuss. Hiring private security at high rates from GardaWorld might how the city gets around this.
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Kate
Communauto will be offering 300 new additional cars this summer.
Faiz imam
That’s exciting. Their fleet is getting old.
Most important is those new EVs.
Communauto was very early on the ev ttrain by buying first generation Nissan leafs.
But those cars are now terrible, especially with their very low range(150km or so) that regularly causes users to have to compromise on their use.
These new cars with 400 km rangel and faster charging will greatly improve their usability and perhaps show potential carbuyers what a new ev iis llike
Joey
@Faiz do you know what model EV they are buying? 400 km range would presumably be in ideal conditions (warm weather, not too hot); could drop as low as 200 km in the dead of winter. I haven’t been a Communauto member in five years, after being run down by constantly walking a heavy toddler car seat to the nearest available car, but I don’t recall there being much charging infrastructure installed at Communauto stations. I wonder if they will rely on users to charge the cars or whether they’ll have staff do it. Sounds like the latter. Anyway, Communauto is incredible.
MarcG
@Joey a bit late but I just got a newsletter from them that says the new model is Kia Niro.
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Kate
Bixi bikes will be available as of Friday morning, the early spring bringing the opening six days sooner than originally planned.
Meezly
The BIXI stands have been installed on our streets for weeks. Didn’t they promise them for March? Still, 6 days earlier than planned is pretty good.
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Kate
Lasalle borough has plans to try to deter its growing population of Canada geese using dogs and possibly remote-controlled cars (I suppose toy cars? Not full size? Article doesn’t say). Apparently any open space facing the river is popular with these birds, but then people don’t want a screen of trees blocking the river view either.
steph
IIRC there are “no dogs allowed” signs by the river in LaSalle all around the bird sanctuary. Is the need to protect people from stepping in bird poo now more important than protecting the birds? ridiculous.
dwgs
steph, Canada geese need to be protected about as much as seagulls need to be protected. If they are left alone there will be very few other species of bird in your sanctuary. The cobra chicken is the asshole bully of the bird world.
Also, on first reading I thought that said “dogs and possibly remote-controlled CATS”, now that would be fun.Kate
Most cats would have the sense to steer clear of those critters – but maybe not if they were remote controlled!
js
In a few weeks nature & wildlife lovers as well as those who get a kick out of cute baby animals will have the opportunity to spot the goslings taking their first steps along the shore if Lasalle hasn’t scared them off already.
MarcG
But don’t get too close or their parents will start doing the scary snaky-neck dance in your general direction.
Jim
They are perfectly edible…
js
MarcG: Despite (or because of?) her popularity as a raconteuse for children Mother Goose has the reputation as a fierce protector of her young indeed.. Luckily when I spotted them along the shore in Lasalle one time in early May a few years ago they were right beside the bike path and didn’t seem bothered by my gawking. They grow up fast though, so the interested and curious should try to dig the scene early, lest they arrive after the goslings have molted their baby feathers and look like smaller versions of their mom.
MarcG
I guess you’re right that it wasn’t so much that I was too close to them, it’s that their kids wanted to eat the grass where I was standing and was told to move (communicated via said snaky-neck dance). Dogs make em scatter quick, though. And I kind of like the awkward, disheveled teenager look they get.
su
The population of geese in that area is growing, due to habitat loss in other areas. Where exactly are they supposed to go? I wonder.
Kate
Jim, are they really edible?
I can’t help wondering whether our surplus of deer and geese would be seen as an opportunity in some places, rather than a problem. But admittedly we can’t have random people popping off shotguns in public parks.
Bill Binns
Wasn’t it a goose that the freshly reformed Mr Scrooge told Tiny Tim to buy with the gold sovereign he tossed out the window? It’s my only source for edible geese.
John B
Canada Geese are absolutely edible, and apparently delicious too.
The goose that Scrooge bought would have been a “normal” goose, (the white ones).
Snow Geese, (also white, but I think different from normal geese), are also sought-after by hunters, and there’s usually a big hunt when they migrate south in the fall.
Kate
Bill Binns, I always think of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892) in which a goose figures in the plot. John B, the geese in this story are described as white with black markings.
Kevin
Half a million Canada geese are bagged each year.
And yeah, geese are tasty like super turkey.EmilyG
Resilience Montreal would like some geese.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNaQL74nM8l/
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Kate
People 55 and older can get the the AstraZeneca vaccine now at various locations in town. This CTV item lists the seven walk-in clinics where it’s available.
dwgs
BTW I don’t understand why it isn’t made clear by the gov’t and media but apparently this is open to all from the birth year 1966 and older. I’ll be 55 in June and was looking for precision on this last night and couldn’t find it but I tweeted at a journalist who told me that a 1966 birth qualifies.
jeather
When my mother went, the people running the verification checks weren’t sure, though a supervisor agreed that turning 70 in 2021 is fine, even though she is still 69. I don’t think this is well advertised at all.
dwgs
*slaps head* So it didn’t occur to anyone doing the organizing that this question might come up? Even the supervisors aren’t clear on the rule? If my birthday was yesterday I’d be okay but if my birthday is two weeks from now I don’t qualify?? Jesus wept.
Marco
It seems pretty simple. Ask yourself the question “am I 55 or over?”. If yes, get vaccinated. If no, stay home.
You aren’t 55 or over if your birthday is after April 8, 1966. If your birthday is April 9, 1966 then stay home and ask yourself the same question tomorrow.mare
I’m going at the end of this afternoon. Not sure where to go yet, would like the location with the shortest lines. I can’t stand very long (nor sit so bringing a chair won’t help) and have no idea if the AstraZeneca vaccine is as unpopular as it appears, or that all 100,000 Montrealers aged between 55 to 60 want one of the 30,000 available doses RIGHT NOW.
jeather
I understand that it’s been immensely popular and people are getting appointment slips to return and there have been lines, but also that it’s been well run.
Marco, some of the announcements had birth year, some had age, which is why it wasn’t clear. It’s been confirmed it is actually by birth year, so if you’re turning 55 in 2021 you’re good, even if you are born Dec 31, 1966.
dwgs
See Marco, it wasn’t clear at all.
mare
For future reference: AstraZeneca is in me. I went to the Olympic Stadium, and was in line at 19h00. Not very busy and I was out at 20h00 including the 15 min waiting period. Could have been even faster if they streamlined their process a bit, but it was the first day.
dwgs
mare, I assume they scheduled your second dose while you were there?
Margaret
Had my Astrazeneca shot in Boucherville yesterday. A bit of a line-up (2 actually) but glad to have had it. The people behind and ahead of me in the lineup seemed chuffed to be getting theirs as well, in spite of the wait. They gaver us our 2nd appointment before we got jabbed. Warm, welcoming staff on site and overall, a very good experience.
mare
@dwgs Yes, 2nd appointment is in almost 4 (!) months. Which is against the protocol that was tested, but there’s new research that a later booster is actually more effective. But you’re longer susceptible to getting COVID-19, even though you won’t get as sick, you can still spread it. So basically nothing changes, we still need to wear masks and social distance, apart from being able to hang out with other vaccinated folks. But only when nobody is looking.
MarcG
“being able to hang out with other vaccinated folks” – I don’t understand this logic if you can still spread it, maybe you were just joking?
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Kate
A woman died Thursday morning after she was struck by a garbage truck backing up by a gas station on de Maisonneuve at de Lorimier.
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Kate
Good Radio-Canada piece by Romain Schué examines how Projet and Ensemble are scrambling to recruit viable candidates for November. Projet will be working on its election platform this weekend, too.
Ephraim 18:02 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Doings something about the number of people in stores would be more effective than changing the curfew time.
Kate 19:12 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
I think the problem there, Ephraim, is that it means turning retail workers into enforcers, or having the store hire security, which (viz. see below, about the city’s security bill) isn’t cheap.
Today in Little Italy I noticed: Rachelle-Béry, which used to station a worker inside the front door to control access, ask questions and make you wash your hands, has given up this practice, and you’re on your own for the hand-washing. Mind you, this was mid-afternoon on a weekday, so there was no crowd to control.
The SAQ stations someone outside on weekends to limit access, but on a weekday it isn’t worried about crowding. A year ago, the SAQ – I think in response to its union – was one of the first outfits to install plexiglass and hand sanitizer. If they don’t feel they need a guy outside, they probably don’t.
Milano has a security guy inside the front door always, watches as you sanitize and enforces taking a cart, even if you tell him you only want a couple of things. I suppose a cart means automatic distancing.
Have we actually got any facts yet about whether the hand-washing or sanitizing is relevant to Covid?
jeather 20:16 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Plexiglas and hand sanitizer are mostly security theatre anyways. Surface transmission is negligible, and aerosols pass right around a plexiglas barrier. It doesn’t hurt, I guess.
Raymond Lutz 20:36 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
Kate, for month I’ve been saying this was “hygiene theater”:
« Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) studies have been conducted to understand and characterize the relative risk of SARS-CoV-2 fomite transmission and evaluate the need for and effectiveness of prevention measures to reduce risk. Findings of these studies suggest that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection via the fomite transmission route is low, and generally less than 1 in 10,000, which means that each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection» (CDC, April 5th)
Here’s a more accessible article from the New York Times (based on the same CDC communication): Has the Era of Overzealous Cleaning Finally Come to an End?.
Ephraim 20:42 on 2021-04-08 Permalink
@Kate – Too many people are shopping and bringing along kids, etc. If you cut the number of people in the store and make people wait outside, they will stop shopping for entertainment. Seriously… I’ve seen it. But the point is, cut the number of people inside at the same time, create more distance inside because there are less people inside and people will go shopping less often.
The cart thing depends on the store. Some use it as their way of counting the number of people… each person has to take a cart, there are only as many carts as people allowed in the store.
If a store wants to have more people, let them install air circulators that scrub the air quick enough. It’s really what’s needed for cinemas, gyms, etc. There are three ways to do it, HEPA filters, UV-C and “boiling” the air.
There are a few places where I’m not comfortable shopping anymore because they just aren’t doing what they should to make me feel safe. Dollarama is pretty close to the top of the list…
Joey 08:30 on 2021-04-09 Permalink
You would presume that more than a year into the pandemic our public health departments would have very accurate data about virus transmission, and would be able to build models that identify which measures are likely to work at reducing transmission. It seems the information they report is so broad as to be useless. What does it mean that X% of cases come from “milieu de travail”? That’s like reporting most cases are transmitted during the daytime. Accurate but functionally useless. Hopefully the category of “essential workers” (Arruda yesterday said it should be considered “people who are at risk of complications or significant transmission) who as of today are eligible to be vaccinated will get their jabs with gusto.
Then again, all it takes is one asshole gym to wreck things for an entire city, apparently.