The inquiry has begun into the drowning death of firefighter Pierre Lacroix last year, in which two inexperienced boaters were plucked from the hazards of the Lachine Rapids while Lacroix’s rescue boat sank.
Updates from November, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A report by an ad hoc committee at city hall has recommended not restoring the John A. Macdonald statue that was toppled from its plinth in Place du Canada in August 2020. Some other form of memorial is suggested but not in any detail.
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Kate
Quebec has handed off half a million dollars to support Christmas markets in the Quartier des Spectacles and at Jean‑Talon and Atwater markets.
jeather
Secular winter markets, surely.
Kate
Ding.
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Kate
The CSSDM is preparing to sell seven school buildings, located in Rosemont, Ahuntsic, St‑Michel and the Plateau. Some of them have been used for years by community groups, despite the age and decrepitude of the buildings in many cases. These groups will have difficulty finding other spaces to rent that they can afford.
There’s still too much lead in the water fountains in schools still operating, for example.
Update: The city wants Quebec to guarantee that community groups have somewhere affordable to go before the CSSDM turfs them out.
Ephraim
What I don’t understand is that they ran to the Quebec government for extra money because they didn’t spend enough on maintenance and had buildings falling apart. And yet, they get to sell these and keep the money? Maybe we should separate the two functions? The school buildings and maintenance should be owned by the Quebec government or a non-profit government agency and the schools simply pay for the service. And when they need new schools and/or no longer using them, the government can let other school boards use them or sell them. Because it’s clear that they can’t manage their property portfolio correctly.
Kate
It would be good if Quebec bought at least some of these buildings and rented out pieces for the community groups, but the issue would be whether they really should be occupied and used without expensive upgrades and improvements.
Mark Côté
The Quebec government forcibly took two schools in the east end from the EMSB and gave them to the CSSDM just a few years ago…
Meezly
That’s the CAQ for ya. Protecting the French language by into pushing laws that infringe on minority rights, but don’t seem to give AF when it comes to properly investing in public French education for future generations.
Ephraim
What I’m saying is that maybe there should be a body that owns the schools and rents them to them, with maintenance included. But also has the responsibility of building new schools when needed as well as the responsibility to sell unneeded buildings. The school boards don’t seem to be able to take care of them and call on the government to rescue them, but then sell them and keep the money. They are stealing from both sides of the equation.
Kate
There’s certainly a case to be made that the school boards (and now “service centres”) have never looked after the buildings properly. Ephraim, I think you’re right. Managing and directing schools and education should be separate from maintaining buildings – they’re entirely different skill sets – but I don’t think it’s the kind of idea that Quebec would go for.
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Kate
Notre-Dame hospital is serving up free hot meals in its cafeteria. The item – English and French versions of the same Radio‑Canada story – says it’s for newcomers and the homeless, but I assume anyone hungry enough for hospital food will be welcome.
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Kate
Headdresses from around the world are the new exhibit at Pointe‑à‑Callière museum. A few examples are shown on the museum site.
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Kate
Westmount city hall is being held ransom by what’s called “un gang de cyberpirates” here – a shady outfit called Lockbit. They’re threatening to release a lot of the town’s private documents, although this item does not say how much ransom they’re asking for.
Ephraim
The trouble with this type of cyber pirating is that even if they do pay, there are no guarantees that they won’t release the data, nor or even in the future. I do wonder what kind of documents a city could have that would be so damn secretive anyway. And of course, if you do pay the ransom, what’s to keep them from ransoming you again and again and again
Kate
It does make you wonder what the top secret documents in a very rich little enclave would cover, doesn’t it.
Mark Côté
I read up on some of these groups a little while ago. Many are surprisingly “trustworthy” because they want new targets to pay, and if it got out that paying never helped, no one would.
jeather
As a rule if you pay you are safe because then other people will continue to pay out.
Joey
As Bob Dylan said, to live outside the law you must be honest.
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Kate
On Sunday, a rally was held in Chinatown to demand an inquiry into the death of Ronny Kay, shot dead by police in September.
The outline of the incident as told at the time was that a man was reported walking around Nuns’ Island with a firearm. When he pointed the object at police, they shot him. Whether it was a real gun, a replica or something else that could be taken for a gun at 100 meters has not been made clear.
The BEI was called in immediately to investigate, but the family apparently knows little about the results so far.
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Kate
Even though Quebec promised $200 million to decontaminate land in the east end of Montreal, the process is going slowly and only $9 million has been spent so far.
walkerp 13:19 on 2022-11-22 Permalink
Really, really sad. I’ll never understand the absence of mind to not respect the water. Do not go out there if you don’t know what you are doing. But that being said, it was news to me that the Fire Department boat collided with the other boat. It’s possible that the firefighters went out without the proper training as well (though could also be just that trying any kind of rescue in that water is inherently high-risk for anybody).
Kate 20:47 on 2022-11-23 Permalink
So many stupid moves there. Inexperienced boaters, dangerous part of the river, end of the day with the light going.