A woman who stayed in an Airbnb in the Place Youville building a year ago says she urged Airbnb to inspect the state of the building on several issues, including having the windows sealed shut.
The owner’s lawyer finally spoke out Thursday, but nothing he says holds much credibility.
Police think seven deaths is the limit although not all the missing people have been found.
A St-Laurent teenager was arrested Thursday by the RCMP on a tip from the FBI that he was going to commit an act of terrorism.
Mohamed Amine Assal has not been charged because he hasn’t, as far as I can make out, done anything, but he has been sworn to a peace bond, subjected to a curfew and forced to wear a tracking device. All these reports are necessarily vague about what the FBI, and now the RCMP, actually know, although the Gazette says Assal was “discussing violent acts of terrorism motivated by radical Islamist ideology.”
On thinking about this: I wonder how long the authories have been aware of him, and whether they waited till he turned 18 to make a move.
At the bottom of the Gazette article there is one pretty big detail: he was reportedly giving someone advice on how to make a pipe bomb deadlier.
I feel for the parents of kids who’ve become radicalized. They’re just trying to make their way, have a better life, and then they get blindsided by real actions leaking out of their kids’ social media lives. Yeah, the mounties have probably been watching him for a while.
I merely glanced at my snow shovel yesterday and wondered if I could risk putting it away, so now we have snow coming on Saturday, expected to be quite heavy north of town, maybe 5 to 7 cm in the city.
Things to do on the weekend from Metro, CultMTL, CityCrunch, Sarah’s Weekend List.
Wellington Street in Verdun holds the first street fair of the year with Cabane Panache starting Friday.
Sunday’s rain should wash it all away…
Luc Ferrandez has turned documentarist with a piece called Lettre d’amour à la ville that will be televised next week. In this piece he talks about what makes a city that attracts families, rather than banishing them to the suburbs.
A young man was shot in New Bordeaux, the sandwich filling in the middle of Ahuntsic‑Cartierville, on Thursday evening, nonfatally.
Radio-Canada added later the relevant information that the young man had just left a brief detention at Bordeaux Jail.
Not much later, a young man was stabbed in a gas station in Cartierville, nonfatally.
Early Friday, shots were heard on Anna‑Paquin Street in RDP, a street that has recently seen a car torched and a previous incident of gunfire, but there were no victims.
La Presse has a report on a gang alleged to have orchestrated at least half a dozen complicated car crashes to defraud the SAAQ and insurance companies.
shawn 11:59 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
I see, it was company head Nathan Rotman fleeing the cameras and reporters after meeting with the minister. Unfortunately Pulse News doesn’t show that footage https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/airbnb-executives-silent-after-meeting-with-quebec-tourism-minister-1.6326001
H. John 13:26 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
Me Bergen, B***mor’s lawyer, gave a rather long interview (15 minute) to Paul Arcand Thursday morning.
It’s an example of why Arcand remains one of the best interviewers on radio:
https://www.985fm.ca/audio/547849/il-y-avait-des-detecteurs-de-fumee-dans-chacun-des-appartements-me-bergevin
jeather 13:36 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
According to Sarah Leavitt Airbnb agreed to remove listings without the license number, require all new listings to provide one, and provide some access to the goverment to check stuff (not clear on what exactly that last one entails).
shawn 14:13 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
Here’s the print version at CBC.ca: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/airbnb-listings-permits-quebec-government-1.6789949
Blork 14:52 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
If this were an airport novel, Airbnb would have secretly struck a deal with the government in which they agree to remove all illegal listings and to enforce the rules in future in exchange for the government not pressing for an inquiry and possibly a civil suit against them. But surely things like that don’t happen in real life.
Ephraim 16:24 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
I don’t trust them at all. First of all, the law has been in place for almost 5 years. Second of all, they can stop displaying those illegal listings immediately. This is the Internet. It’s a damn line of code. They say they will remove them… didn’t say that they won’t allow them back on or will block them all. And finally giving the government “some” access isn’t enough. Legal or illegal. Let it be done legally, morally.
There will be civil suits against AirBnB, against the building owner and against the host. Rest assured. Assuming the building was insured, I doubt the insurance will pay. The litigation on this will go on for years. But I’m willing to bet against the insurance companies ever paying a single cent. And the mortgage… the bank will likely call the mortgage in and with no insurance money, the owner is going to have to scramble to find that money.
Ephraim 18:40 on 2023-03-24 Permalink
Through the grapevine, apparently AirBnB sent out notices that anyone without a licence number will be shut off on Tuesday the 28th of March.
shawn 10:12 on 2023-03-25 Permalink
J de Montréal’s Francis Pilon has another great piece, this time on illegal Airbnbs in the Tour des Canadiens. Which makes me wonder how much of this crazy proliferation of massive condo towers, which is changing our city, is driven by financial investors, not homebuyers? https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2023/03/25/tours-des-canadiens-ils-cachent-leurs-clients-airbnb-dans-leur-voiture
shawn 11:24 on 2023-03-25 Permalink
LCN interviewing two of Camille Maheux’s old friends this morning about her and the building. I had to switch away, just too maddening. But great coverage. I think Québecor leaning into this issue makes it more likely that Legault will actually do something. The tragedy of Camille Maheux in particular touches Québécois boomers deeply.
Faiz Imam 21:00 on 2023-03-25 Permalink
Just searched airbnb for room next weekend.
over 1000 results in Montreal came up.
Ephraim 10:36 on 2023-03-26 Permalink
@Faiz – They culling is supposed to happen on Tuesday. There will still be about 5% left, who have licences. Also, it’s aimed mostly at the full apartment for rent. The zones where you can rent a room are a lot less controlled. For example, almost all of the Plateau allows a room to rent where the owner is present, but with a licence. The problem is the full apartments. Expect some to go for 30 rentals and some to go for sale. Old Montreal has absolutely no full apartment rentals allowed. So that should clear that right up.
shawn 10:47 on 2023-03-26 Permalink
Wow that’s amazing. Hotels in Montreal going to be showing no vacancies when this hits, I would think. I love it!