This was posted first on reddit’s /r/montreal and is now on 24heures: a café in Villeray put out a sign saying not to bring your own food and drink because it’s not a cafeteria – and to some of their “customers” it’s apparently news!
I know the place well. It’s full of students working away on their laptops, so the café can’t be making a big profit off them anyway, although the owner says in the item that he doesn’t mind. But bringing their own snacks and drinks is a bridge too far.
More details are coming out about the security measures for COP15 in December.
A large perimeter fence will go up around the Palais des congrès, starting soon, and Place‑d’Armes metro station will be closed from December 1‑20.
Five hundred days ago, Mayor Plante spoke about her plan to relaunch the city and because everything she mentioned hasn’t come to fruition, critics are invited in this article to dogpile on.
We never had that “big, big conversation” about defunding the police so to be honest I don’t “expect” anything she “mentions” to come to fruition.
Luxury brands will be opening up at Royalmount, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Tiffany & Co.
The illustration in the La Presse is the more recent conception, I take it?
TVA says the tunnel situation got worse Wednesday.
TVA also sent a journalist out Tuesday afternoon rush hour to check out the public transit option concluding that a trip that normally takes 20 minutes in a car had taken him an hour and a half. I think “normally” has to be considered here.
Had to fact-check and he’s right: according to Google Maps it indeed takes only 20 minutes to get from the TVA studio to Promenades St-Bruno. Now, at 11h45, outside rush hour, without any traffic on the bridge.
During a normal rush hour the bridge and all the streets that lead to it, like Papineau, Ontario, Sherbrooke, Rachel and De Maisonneuve are jam-packed and it takes at least 20 minutes just to get *on* the bridge. It also certainly helps when your employer has its offices on one of the access roads to the bridge and presumably a subterranean parking garage for free. Otherwise you have to count walking to a parking lot and driving off it with all the other cars that want to leave at 17h15.
On the way to work in the morning (if you work regular 9 to 5 hours, which many journalists don’t) it’s probably also no easy sailing on either end of the bridge. But you don’t have to stand in line to buy a metro ticket, something commuters apparently do every day. (Finding parking doesn’t cost any time.)
I wouldn’t expect anything else from a TV station whose income consist for a large part on adverts for cars, and whose audience lives in places were there is hardly any public transport.
No surprise it got worse today, as I think a lot of people were holding off for a few days to assess, and when it didn’t seem so bad they all jumped back on the bandwagon.
That said, let’s put things in perspective here. In-bound, there’s only a one-lane reduction over the “normal” pattern. Instead of three lanes in the tunnel there are two. That’s not a drastic change, although it has the capability to turn nasty very quickly if there’s a stall or a breakdown that closes one or both of those tunnel lanes.
Outbound it’s worse, as it’s gone down from three lanes to one, with a higher probability of nastiness from a breakdown because there’s only one lane to start with.
That said, I know of people who still drive — similar to the TVA to St-Bruno run discussed above — but they do it later in the morning (9:30 or so, and returning at 6:30 or 7:00) and apparently they’ve not seen any big change. So it’s not like a 24/7 “nightmare.” Although we’re only three days in, with roughly 1000 more to go.
It was most definitely much worse today. The traffic at around 8h spilled over onto the 40 West, the service road of the 40, and even the 25 North of the 40, strangely. Basically, it’s spreading. I’ve been avoiding the 25 South and going over an overpass west of the 25 to get to my home just west of the 25, but today even that was difficult.
Christian Dubé introduced his cellule de crise this week to deal with the overcrowded ERs in town.
Two new clinics to be run by nurse practitioners are to be opened shortly, a phone line branching off 811 and a system to free up hospital beds are being added.
A recent report on the overburdened Lakeshore General ER is probably a microcosm of the situation all over Montreal.
And yet, some of the simplest of cost efficiency matters they aren’t doing. There is no centralized systems.
For example, for an MRI…. there should be one provincial lists for MRIs. You shouldn’t need to register at each hospital and clinic. The list should be managed by triage and when a space if open or cancelled, people should be offered that spot via email, text or even automated phone system if it is within a reasonable distance. It’s an important slot and shouldn’t be lost, simple because of a cancellation (or death). And if the triage can’t get someone into the system fast enough and we need to use the private system, a bidding system for private systems to offer slots to the government. It’s nice you have the machine and the technician, but if you haven’t sold the slot and you want to me a few $$$, then offer it to the public system and if the price is right, maybe we will take you up on it.
The government should be involved more in our healthcare as a cost cutting measure. For example, if someone has a history of cancer and they should be pre-screened, then the system to should reach out to them to offer appoints for that pre-screening. And that system should be able to offer official “doctor’s notes” to employer so that employers are informed (if they need it… but they should) that this person has a registered (legal) medical appointment that is required by the system. But it’s also in their best interests as it keeps the costs of the medical system down as well as ensured the longevity and health of their employee, which is a benefit to them.
And then can someone talk to the doctors and nurses and ask them where they think we could save costs? I have had a doctor tell me about the waste within the radiology system. And a nurse tell me the number of guards involved in verifying people wearing masks at a hospital… a small hospital had 2 people sitting there late at night and yet the Montreal General has 0!
Centralized systems would run on software written in English, Ephraim. That wouldn’t fly.
They can write local programs. They did for Clic Sante. MRIs should be on there. See a doctor today should be on there. There is supposed to be a centralized database of appointments. It will help the doctors too. Less missed apartments, less stress on the whole system
DeWolf 20:55 on 2022-11-02 Permalink
I was sitting on a brewery terrasse awhile back when somebody joined her friend and brought along a six pack of White Claw. The brewery owner eventually came out and asked her very politely to either hide the White Claw or move along. She seemed… surprised. As if it was a totally normal thing to do, to bring your own drinks to a brewery.
jeather 21:08 on 2022-11-02 Permalink
My feeling is you can do that for small children if there is an adult eating (at least as many adults as children) though you should still buy a drink for them, but not for adults.
j2 21:41 on 2022-11-02 Permalink
Uh, the business can lose their liquor license if non-restauration alcohol is found on premise. The assumption is owner is making money bypassing paying taxes. I’m surprised it wasn’t dealt with more absolutely, eg get it off premise.
CE 22:38 on 2022-11-02 Permalink
Bottles of alcohol are very clearly marked if they’re sold to be consumed in a commercial setting (they’ll either be marked “CSP” on the label or have a sticker bearing a number and “QUÉBEC DROITS ACQUITTÉS” (in Helvetica bold)). If an inspector finds a bottle or can without either, they can get a pretty substantial fine or have their liquor licence suspended or revoked. Most bar employees would be much less than polite about someone bringing in their own alcohol.
Blork 09:34 on 2022-11-03 Permalink
I never cease to be amazed at the lack of curiosity you see in people. Someone bringing their own White Claw to a brewery terrace or their own drinks or food to a café… I mean what the actual f*ck? Do they not even WONDER if that’s allowed? Do they just assume it because they have such a strong sense of their own entitlement and a total lack of curiosity about how the world works?
I wonder if some of these people are students from outside of Quebec who have just bought into the idea that Montreal is some kind of “free zone” where everything is allowed. An 18-year-old from Toronto would be shocked and thrilled to see beer and wine for sale in a corner store and grocery stores. A dinner on Duluth where they can bring their own wine AND NOT WORRY ABOUT BEING “CARDED” would seem like a surrealistic dream come true. So maybe they just extend the metaphor so to speak…
BYOW in restaurants is well known here. Some let you bring your own beer. I don’t know where that stands legally, but a pizza restaurant I’ve been frequenting since the 1980s allows that. Most customers there are university students, and it’s not uncommon to see a six-pack on the floor under someone’s table. So I wonder if some of these incurious Ontarians ever show up at L’Express or La Banquise toting a dozen Molson X and expect to be let in with it.
DeWolf 10:04 on 2022-11-03 Permalink
In the case of the brewery, one of the girls — the one who was drinking a pint of beer from the brewery, not the White Claw one — was like “But, this is like, a public terrace?” after the brewery owner came out. I’m not sure how they could have been under that impression when there’s only one entry point to the seating area, and it’s surrounded by planters and ropes. This is on Prince Arthur where there is indeed a public terrace a few steps away, but it’s hard to confuse the two.
Ephraim 10:40 on 2022-11-03 Permalink
The BYOB allows for anything under 20%, if I remember correctly. Oddly enough, the licence is the same price as a full licence. But generally they will give you only ONE set of glasses… and how do I know this? My uncle came with a full assortment of wines, unsure of what he would order and wanted to switch wines.
I understand if you have to bring your own food because you are a vegan celiac allergic to nuts, fruit and soya… but that’s where I draw the line. I find it easier to not fight with people, but to simply set a charge… Bring your own food… $50 per hour. You don’t have to argue at all. And you don’t have to expect to ever collect it. If someone pulls out their own food, you simply point at the sign and ask them how they would like to pay the charge. Watch how quickly that food will disappear from the table. If they do argue, you point out that the fee is disclosed on the wall on a sign and it is the charge for the table and cleaning and the employment of the staff (to clean the table, the establishment, etc.) And that it applies to all outside food.
As for Karen and her entitlement… narcissism is a common disease at the moment. If they start to argue, you can simply say that you are willing to listen to their argument, but there is a charge for that as well, usually $20 for 15 minutes or part thereof. And if they continue, you say “Hold a minute while I get the credit card machine” and see if they really want to continue the argument. I’ve never had them continue, especially when you start to walk toward the CC machine. It also works with local telemarketers… “I’m ready for your CC number, will that be Visa or MasterCard?” They are usually too flabbergasted to say anything at that point and hang up.
Ian 11:33 on 2022-11-03 Permalink
@DeWolf also worth noting if it was a “public terrace” you wouldn’t be allowed to drink at all, you can only get away with it if you are in a park and appear to be having a picnic.