The city’s going to try to fight icy sidewalks by getting snow removal guys to stop creating snow dams at the curb that hold water till it freezes into place.
Updates from December, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The city is planning a monument to nurses near the old Hôtel‑Dieu, and a huge mural in honour of the centenary of the birth of Jean‑Paul Riopelle, on the order of the massive Leonard Cohen portrait downtown, which should leave tourists puzzled who the hell he is.
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Kate
A public daycare union has reached an agreement in principle with the government, which is being voted on now.
In unrelated public labour news, SAQ workers rejected the proposed deal they were offered, so that union is trying to hammer out a new deal.
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Kate
Reading that François Legault is promising no public money for a baseball stadium only makes me wonder how it will be worded when, indeed, public money is put towards supporting the Bronfman grab for the Peel Basin.
david7117
There are all sorts of ways: picking up the cost of related infrastructure upgrades, no/low interest loans to the development entity, a bond issuance regime tailor-made for the project, 99-year lease on public land, you name it.
Three most likely that come to mind are: picking up the cost of soil decontamination and site remediation, passing a bill in the Assembly that allows stadium construction to bypass the regular permitting process, and creating a tax abatement program to minimize or eliminate tax liabilities for the development and operation of the stadium.
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Kate
A 73-year-old man says police beat him and dragged him from his car after he asked the officer to put on a mask during a traffic stop. The details here and the lingering effects the man alleges he has from his treatment are precise and the story is convincing.
Oh, and the man is Black. Surprised?
Quebec is putting some money into training cops not to racially profile, but why the four‑year delay before adding this to police academy training?
carswell
why the four‑year delay before adding this to police academy training?
Because Quebec regularly throws money at problems to look like it’s doing something, not because it wants to get something done?
Dominic
Citizens should record every interaction with police.
Kate
What if it provokes the police and gets them beaten up, though?
Dominic
Recording police is a constitutional right in Canada. If it provokes them, al the better to have it on video I guess 🙂
Jeff
Is there a non-profit that offers legal services/aid to people who sue the police? I think I might like to start donating to that
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Kate
A Montreal church pastor has been telling his people not to get vaccinated, so they’re getting sick, and one woman has just died.
Meezly
Have authorities shut down the church after this article was published? It seems bizarre that nothing was done. Or if anyone will be held accountable.
Ephraim
Assuming he can’t point to a part of the bible that says that you shouldn’t be vaccinated, he is completely open to civil lawsuits. Assuming you believe… Noah used science to see if it was safe to exit the ark (sending the birds out to find dry land.) And creation gave us dominion over the earth (and animals), so we are supposed to use the resources to make the earth better. So clearly, assuming you believe, the bible is pro vaccination.
Kate
The article doesn’t say they’ve shut it down. Quebec could conceivably try to stop church gatherings if they were too large or held without masks, but I don’t think they can shut them down because bad advice is being given out.
carswell
Interesting question. Is this behaviour really much different from yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theatre? How is this not public endangerment?
qatzelok
I hope this isn’t just a witch-hunt against a minority religion. The entire article seems to be built out of the rumors of non-members.
GC
Interesting that she thought her faith would protect her, even though it apparently did not protect her own mother.
Kate
carswell, people are free to take advice from quacks, dubious clerics and others assuming some sort of authority based on nothing but their own overconfidence and will to dominate. We can’t stop them.
qatzelok, they cite someone who had belonged to the church, as you would know if you’d read the piece, but I believe you’re just interjecting to troll.
GC, the truly religious can always be sold a line that bad things happened because they didn’t have enough faith, didn’t pray hard enough, or didn’t donate enough money to their church. Even the death of their own mother.
walkerp
For sure this Gesualdi didn’t want to see his tithes take a hit. He should be in jail.
GC
Kate, I know. I’m fighting a losing battle trying to inject logic here…
jeather
Funny how we continue to see a difference in how outbreaks in churches here are covered vs how they are for other religious communities. (Or schools for that matter, though the reasoning there is different.)
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Kate
Radio-Canada talked with a few young men who know the gang scene, who explain how teenagers can afford guns and why they’re buying so many. Good piece.
Jeff
I’m still a bit confused about how exactly teenagers can afford guns that cost upwards of $3k if they’re in business for themselves. Like, are these kids able to buy drugs wholesale off the internet or something?
david7117
The article doesn’t underline it, but fraud is by far the most common way this scum acquires their money.
DeWolf
The article mentions it at length, actually!
// En moyenne, se procurer une arme de poing coûte de 3000 $ à 5000 $, selon nos sources. Si la somme peut sembler importante pour le commun des mortels, dans la rue, les occasions de faire de l’argent se multiplient et se démocratisent.
« Avec la fraude, c’est facile de faire ça en une journée, m’explique un homme qui n’est plus criminellement actif aujourd’hui, mais qui n’a pas tourné le dos au milieu. Il y a 20 ans, il fallait avoir des contacts, notamment chez les motards, pour faire de l’argent. Aujourd’hui, n’importe quel “ti-coune” avec un laptop peut s’enrichir. »
La fraude par carte bancaire est devenue une vache à lait pour bon nombre de jeunes criminalisés. Tous les intervenants rencontrés dans le cadre de ce reportage s’entendent pour dire que le contexte de la pandémie a été payant pour les membres de gangs de rue, qui en ont profité pour s’armer. //
david228
Oof, didn’t read that much.
MarcG
Is it suggesting that more people using bank and credit cards to buy things has made it easier to commit fraud by them? My father asked at the last city election why they can’t do it electronically when other things like banking are done via the internet without problems. The fact is, after looking it up myself, that there are tons of fraud problems with digital banking, but the banks are flush enough to accept the losses for the benefit of their consumers – a risk which doesn’t transfer well to elections.
denpanosekai
Yes I was randomly targeted by some douchebags from St-Michel, who stole my identity (thanks Desjardins leaks) and bought a bunch of phones from Telus, presumably to resell them half price. Luckily I didn’t actually lose any money, but I had to change SIN and went through hell overall. I probably financed a couple of these guns too…
denpanosekai 23:25 on 2021-12-08 Permalink
bla bla bla. Said snow removal guys are all from outside the island and have very strict quotas to meet. They don’t give a shit. Source: old timer verdun col bleu guy.
Kevin 10:28 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
They “cleared” half my street last night, and there is more snow on the ground now than when they started
MarcG 10:38 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
I’ll take this opportunity to promote the idea that instead of the clown cars going around and annoying everyone in the neighbourhood, they look up the license plates in the database and phone those individuals. Why must everyone suffer because of a single idiot?
Joey 10:50 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
I’m willing to give Maja Vodanovic the benefit of the doubt here, even if the snowfall seemed relatively small for a full-on operation. That said, when the snow turned to rain many of the drains were at least partially obstructred because the city does such a lousy job clearing them of fallen leaves, creating icy slush piles on lots of corners. I noticed in the last few weeks of November the street clearing operations involved plows collecting leaves, which makes sense, but plows are too blunt and bulky to ensure sewer drains are clear. Feels like the city would be so much nicer and cleaner if instead of relying solely* on huge trucks to keep things clean we outfitted workers with brooms and sticks to collect garbage, leaves, etc., and ensure drains are free and clear.
Though the impression you get from the “brigades” that walk around downtown picking up 1/3 of the cigarette butts on sidewalks probably flies in the face of my idea.
Meezly 13:29 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
Don’t know if this image will display, but saw this very apropos cartoon in a Montreal FB page:
https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/s600x600/247915713_10158230606881571_7306191534191007617_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=S4dFRdL_6YIAX9qIaJr&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=aaa9fbb3d5aba85902fb69d93055b6ff&oe=61B74D2C
MarcG 13:53 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
That comic is funny but I can’t help but say that the reality in my neighbourhood is it’s citizens shoveling out their cars who make huge obstructing piles on the sidewalks.
mare 16:28 on 2021-12-09 Permalink
The snow scrapers tried to clean the 3 to 5 cm thick layer of hard ice in the parking lane of my street last night. It was not only totally unnecessary, but it was very difficult so they put so much pressure on their scrapers that at almost every crack in the road they passed some tarmac came out. There are a lot of cracks because of the shoddy repairs after each replacement of a lead water pipe, so our street is now even more pothole-ridden than before.
The little ice they managed to remove, together with the few cm of fresh snow, formed a pathetically small ridge before it was vacuumed up by the snowblower. A very unnecessary snow clearing operation, but everyone was going to be paid anyway, so they continued. Millions of dollars well spent.