A pro-gun group that gave as a promotional code the word “Poly” has been denounced as we approach the 33rd anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre.
Updates from December, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
COP15 will open on Tuesday with the prime minister alongside UN secretary general Antonio Guterres opening the proceedings.
There will be a lot of news out of Montreal over the next two weeks. Going to be interesting.
To note: So far, the Gazette has a COP15 tab, as does Radio‑Canada.
-
Kate
Although more brown bins have been distributed, composting pickup is down in 2022 – but only by 4%.
EG
I’d like to get into composting, but we tried it and squirrels chewed a hole in the compost bin, rendering it unusable. If we got another bin, we’re afraid of the same thing happening.
Also, I used to live in Rosemont. I, and at least one other friend of mine who also lived in Rosemont, were reluctant to compost then, because on collection day, the whole area reeks. It’s a known phenomenon, specific to Rosemont, and nobody seems to know quite why it occurs when it doesn’t happen in other places.
Joey
Perhaps it reeks in Rosemont because the local squirrels are good at gnawing through the bins?
I wonder if some of the reduced volume is partially explained by people getting better at figuring out what (not) to compost… although that seems less likely than an increase in the number of ‘can’t be bothered’ folks, especially given the various sagas about what happens to all this carefully sorted garbage.
Kevin
The first question I’d ask is about food waste. I can’t be the only one planning meals and leftovers to throw out less food.
The second question is if more people are composting at home (which I do as long as it’s over freezing. My outdoor bin doesn’t stay hot enough to break down food in winter).
walkerp
Kevin, I do both and it is a constant battle between the two, especially when my partner puts prime outdoor compost materials in the municipal bin!
I usually start the autumn with the outdoor bin about 1/3 full and I can usually use keep filling it all winter. Yes, it becomes a solid frozen block but when you have a full bin in the spring thaw, the composting acceleration is spectacular. You can almost see the level go down before your eyes and the bugs go crazy. Quite fun.EG, some steel wool and duct tape will block off the hole, though I guess that won’t prevent them from making new ones. Are you sure it is squirrels? Sounds more like rat behaviour to me, honestly. Maybe Rosemont just has more aggressive squirrels.
CE
I wonder if there’s been more home composting with the increased attention composting in general has been given from the city composting program. I feel like I see more backyard bins now. I have a vermicompost so I only put out a small amount every couple weeks (I have a bag with citrus peels, meat, and avocado peels that I keep in my freezer and put in my neighbour’s brown bin when it fills up). I guess the city would consider us “non-composters” even though we are.
shawn
BTW if any of you are home composting, good for you. Because the public compost collection results in a compost of noncommercial quality and is just dumped, I’ve read. It’ll be a different story if we ever finish the biomethanisation plants but for now the public compost effort isn’t optimal.
EG
It’s in Pierrefonds that the squirrels chewed my compost bin.
Maybe I can look into getting a new one.Kevin
@walkerp
My family’s pretty well trained. My backyard bin is always almost full from veggie waste, and would overflow if I continued using over winter. The fish scales and bones go in the municipal bin year-round.Kate
Kevin, you don’t put it out every week?
I do. If you throw in a layer or two of brown paper it doesn’t freeze into an intractable lump.
Kevin
My municipal bin is rarely used when there’s no snow on the ground, since we have very little animal-based waste. My backyard bin is the go-to as long as it’s warm enough to decompose.
JaneyB
@EG – just a thought here…maybe stack the new bin into the old bin (having removed the old bin lid)? Those Pierrefonds squirrels sound fierce. At least that might delay their gnawing.
-
Kate
Things to do on the weekend from CTV News, CityCrunch, Daily Hive, CultMTL.
-
Kate
It’s not the first time that social housing in Montreal has been reported in poor shape, but the situation’s not getting better. According to this piece, three quarters of the buildings are in bad shape, some so bad that it would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to try to fix them.
In addition, the state of the city’s other building stock is not looking so good.
-
Kate
The name Graeme Decarie used to crop up in anglo media fairly often, as a critic or commentator, but I hadn’t seen him mentioned or cited in a long time. Anyway, he has died.
Blork
I used to hear him on the radio a lot. He could be a bit curmudgeonly sometimes but I always though he was pretty smart and was worth listening to even if I didn’t always agree with him.
H. John
Graeme was a good teacher, and really well-liked.
I took post-confederation Canadian history with him (in 1981).
My sister-in-law, a grade school teacher, did a history degree at night, and raved about the support that he gave her.Thomas
The obituary in the Gazette mentions a 1993 NFB documentary that he was involved with called The Rise and Fall of English Montreal that I sat down and watched this morning. As someone not originally from Montreal who has experienced the city almost entirely in French (despite being an Anglo), I found it quite fascinating.
-
Kate
Statistics show that the use of firearms rose around the city in 2022, although whether it’s fair to call it a flambée is unclear. As of this report, 2021 saw 109 incidents, whereas 2022 to date has seen 116. Homicides by firearm have gone up from 9 to 13.
But see Ted Rutland’s tweet about this item.
-
Kate
La Presse has identified a dubious group soliciting signatures and money in the metro. Already once pinned for calling itself “Société d’aide aux victimes d’actes criminels” evidently hoping to be taken for the legitimate Centres d’aide aux victimes d’actes criminels, it is now calling itself the “Ligue des droits de la personne du Québec” evidently hoping to be taken for the legitimate Ligue des droits et libertés du Québec.
Moral of the story: Don’t donate money in the metro.
Another story about crooks is up Friday: how crooks use texting to make you think they’re your bank and then fleece you.
And another: an expensive private college sows falsehoods about the quality of its training and the likelihood of getting good work afterward.
qatzelok
Banks that fool you into thinking they’re “yours” are a macro problem as well.
Kate
qatzelok, I merely used the conventional shortcut to indicate “the bank where you keep most of your money.”
qatzelok
My comment was in regards to most countries’ central banks and their lack of transparency or any kind of collective social mission, which is a macro problem -, as opposed to the micro problem of phishing that the article you provide describes.
They’re both major problems, but the micro one affects individuals, while the macro problem… affects everyone to some extent because it’s systemic.
Kate
The Bank of Canada is not relevant to the story I linked. You should be well aware it’s about commercial banks that do business with individuals and not try to drag us off on tangents.
-
Kate
Four people traumatized during their shift at the Metropolis on the night of the PQ victory party in September 2012, when Richard Bain showed up with his guns, will receive payments from police, both the SQ and the SPVM, bearing the responsibility for not having assured security around the venue (now called the M Telus).
Sprocket 10:29 on 2022-12-03 Permalink
Heh. I thought it was short for polyamorous.
Kate 10:31 on 2022-12-03 Permalink
Not in context.