The city and the borough of Montreal North are promising to make changes in the management of its blue-collar workers following two damning reports recently about overt racism against workers of colour, including verbal slurs and a pattern of making those workers do the hardest and most unpleasant tasks.
Updates from May, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A big fire in St-Léonard, upstairs of a row of small businesses on Jean-Talon East, forced six households out early Saturday.
Around the same time, another fire, apparently caused by a smoker, caused evacuations in Sud-Ouest borough.
A young man was stabbed in Verdun overnight as well. The only suspect is well under age.
Friday evening a passenger died when a car collided with a lamp post. The driver is in critical condition. Police note that it’s the 13th fatal collision in Montreal this year, giving cars the edge over homicide in reducing our numbers.
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Kate
A big demonstration against the remaining anti-pandemic measures is planned for June 5.
dmdiem
Vaccine passports? Oh come on. By the time the government could implement such a program, everyone will already be vaccinated. It would be a complete waste of time and mon- … *sigh*. I guess I’m joining the protest.
Kevin
Almost Everyone with a shot has been given a QR code already…
M
@ dmdiem Vaccine passports are so you can travel. You may very well be vaccinated, but you may not be able to leave the country without one as many jurisdictions will require such a document. So yes, the gov’t should definitely implement such a program.
There is plenty to complain about, but there’s not much to gripe about when it comes to vaccinations. Canada, and more specifically Quebec, has been leading the pack.Remember to bring your Trump/QAnon flag when you go to the protest!
steph
I know a few non-vocal people who are against getting vaccinated.
dmdiem
ITT. Whoosh.
Nick
A vaccine passport is just another wall like your antagonist Trump promised his voters.
M
@Nick You probably think it made for a nice little quip, but, really, how so?
Certain visas already require visitors to have certain vaccines, so this isn’t new territory. Access to other countries inherently comes with restrictions and obligations. This added document may remind people that travelling is a privilege and not a right. If people don’t want to get the vaccine, then this is one of the consequences.
Ephraim
We already HAVE vaccine passports. They are called the “International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis” for “International Health Regulations (2005)” and I have one and keep it with my passport. It’s required when you go to certain countries that have Yellow Fever and after that in countries that don’t, if you have travelled to a country with Yellow Fever. See https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/travel-health/yellow-fever/procedures/recommendations-completing-international-certificate-vaccination-prophylaxis-poliovirus-vaccination.html
And let me tell you that getting a Yellow Fever vaccination isn’t easy, since there has been a very limited supply for a number of years. The centres give you a half vaccination, which is good for a year, unless you need it multiple times (on the second time, they gave us a full vaccination). And they try to get 6 people together, at the same time, because it’s a live vaccine and they don’t want to waste any.
qatzelok
If passports can eliminate Yellow Fever, who could possibly be against them?
Nick
If Biden finishes the wall on their southern border he won’t say it’s to keep out gangsters and rapists. He won’t be labeled a racist. He will say it’s to keep out those without proof of vaccination and no one will make a peep. Vaccine passports are just a way for countries gouvernements to turn away refuges without taking political damage. I don’t have the exact numbers but I’m under the impression that the wealthy countries of the world have received about 50% of the doses while making up less than 15% of the population.
In the next month or two we will have our second doses and be fully vaccinated. In a year from then we will probably have a booster. We will get that as well, probably with a stamp on our physical or digital passport. Since we are lucky enough to live in Canada we can go on like this for years or, if deemed necessary, indefinitely. How long can Angola? They can’t prevent yellow fever outbreaks while a vaccine has existed for almost a century.
ant6n
“#mybodymychoice”
uffChris
People aren’t worried about “vaccine passports” for international travel, they are worried about having to show such papers when taking transit, or shopping, eating out, that kind of thing.
I haven’t investigated what those QR codes contain, but very likely your full name is encoded there, so scanning them would allow a merchant to know it.
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Kate
QMI sent out a team to record how many people drive and phone at the same time and it’s a lot.
Ephraim
The ticket is secondary. If the police were required to seize the telephone as part of the evidence (the call log) and you needed to plead guilty, pay the fine and go in person to a central collection point to pick up your phone, just the hassle of it all would deter people. Do you know how many people would stop instantly if told that the police are required to seize their phone? The addictive powers!
mare
@Ephraim The ticket is $490. Not exactly secondary, my phone cost me $100 two years ago. (Second hand iPhone SE)
[story time]
How do I know? Because I got a ticket, exactly 1 month ago. An improbable and unfortunate string of events. My phone was out but was actually my wife holding my phone in front of me, so I could tell my doctor that I was going to park, but that I needed to turn because I was on a street with a bus lane. The cop said he saw it from the other side of the 6 lane road (Papineau) and made a u-turn. I gave him my phone when he came to my window so he could talk to my doctor who could corroborate the story, but he refused and said I should contest and tell it to the judge. Which I will do when my case will be heard. Now my wife has to corroborate, and I have my call log. It was a 2 min call between a missed call (he left a message that my wife was listening to when he called back) and a 25 min call —he called back again— from a No Caller ID number.The Journal, instead of driving 35 km, should just have been on a bike at a traffic light and they would have many more drivers, without needing a long lens. When I’m cycling (I hardly use my car; so far I drove 230 km this year) I see so many people using or looking at their phone, or even watching video on their phone.
Kate
mare, it’s a contributing factor why I don’t cycle any more. So many drivers are looking down at the phone, not at the road, and a cyclist can see them clearly.
MarcG
My wife and I were almost run down on a crosswalk recently by a driver looking down at his phone (presumably at driving directions because at the next light he clearly had no idea where he was going).
Ephraim
When I drive, my phone is really out of reach and has to be used hands free. Even texting is hands free. But to be honest, I’ve also seen cyclists with their phone in their hand as well, crazy as that seems. Seriously… what’s the worst that happens if you don’t answer the phone for a while? Nothing. Just give it up.
The person in the Porsche doesn’t think twice about paying $490. But use their time to make them pay the fine, go to a specific station and pick up their own phone, that might be a punishment that is untenable. Especially if you require that they present the paid ticket as well as matching driver’s licence to collect the phone. So they can’t send someone else to do it.
dhomas
Or implement “day-fines”, where the fine is proportional to your income. They do this in Finland already for almost all infractions that carry a fine and no jail time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-fine
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Kate
CBC looks at the Hôtel-Dieu garden although the headline, “A Montreal landmark returns to the care of Montrealers,” is a bit odd. It’s always been in the care of Montrealers, the Hospitalières de Saint-Joseph de Montréal, who have preserved it there for more than 150 years. Whether Montrealers of today and tomorrow will take proper care of it remains to be seen.
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Kate
Police were dispersing gatherings in Old Montreal and in parks on Friday night as people milled about in excitement at the end of curfew and the lifting of other pandemic measures. Terrasses stayed busy. Le Devoir has a photo essay.
CBC notes that Mayor Plante broke the rules Friday by sitting at a terrasse, unmasked, with people from more than two households. Of course everyone else was scrupulously following that rule on Friday.
Update: The parks were a real mess on Saturday morning. I suspect they will be a mess again Sunday morning, too. Worse if the Canadiens win.
walkerp
I heard that in the parks everybody counted down and cheered when 9:30 hit. That’s pretty cool.
MarcG
Love the photo in the Devoir of the couple sitting across from each other staring at their cellphones. “Ah, now we’re really living!”
DeWolf
That’s a great photo essay in Le Devoir.
Chris
I was a couple of blocks away from Jarry park in a friend’s back yard and there was this thunderous roaring noise in the background, looked at the time, and, sure enough: exactly 21:30. Was like New Year’s Eve.
Chris
>Of course everyone else was scrupulously following that rule on Friday.
And of course we’ll follow it even more scrupulously now that the mayor has shown us just how very important these rules are.
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