Forty-five people were arrested Monday during a pro‑Palestinian demonstation that involved a sit‑in at the Scotiabank near Sherbrooke and Metcalfe.
Updates from April, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Access to mental health care services is being boosted in downtown Montreal.
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Kate
Communauto is adding more than 1100 cars and expanding its service to Lachine and RDP.
Ian
And Dorval… but no further west?
It’s too bad, I’m sure many West Island students would be happy to not need to own a car. I wonder if there will be communauto by the airport? That would be pretty great for travellers.DeWolf
I think the airport would be hard to manage. I often used Car2Go to get to the airport, but it required a lot of extra time, because you needed to drop the car at one of those private parking lots and take a shuttle to the terminal. And I never used it on arrival because it was rare for there to be any cars available in the lot, the turnover was pretty intense. It was still nice to have as an option, though.
DeWolf
In related news there’s a private carsharing company called Bolt that is looking to expand to Montreal. Some competition to Communauto would be nice. I’m a committed user but back in the days of Car2Go, I was happy to have both available.
John B
I’d love to see Communauto get some competition. The state of their vehicles is sometimes pretty rough, and availability is a problem.
Ephraim
What, no discussion about sex in a Communauto?
Kevin
They hinted that the next expansion step will be near REM stations.
Ian
Bolt is all over in Berlin, they also do electric scooters and bikes. I found their car service much better than Uber – and less expensive.
Kate
Ephraim, I was refraining from making reddit-based references here…
Ephraim
@Kate – Yeah, but it’s been like a week full of those jokes. 😀
Nicholas
Communauto is not going to expand Flex to any borough or city where they can’t park on the street. Most of the independent cities have very strict parking rules, even when they have tons of street parking, because everyone thinks the street in front of their house is theirs. So all you’ll see is classic round trip cars in off-street spots until a city gets on board.
Kate
I was also wondering whether the commercial car rental branches at the airport might kick at having car sharing options close by. It might even be written in their contracts.
DeWolf
I’d be surprised if that’s a part of it because the way Communauto operates, it isn’t the same market as airport car rentals. When you sign up, you need to submit your drivers licence and driving record for approval, pay the membership fee and insurance. That’s true even for Communauto members in other cities like Halifax or Calgary, who need to sign up for the Quebec version before they visit because each province is run separately.
Car2Go was arguably more competition to the car rental agencies because it was a global company and anyone who signed up for it could use it anywhere in the world. And of course Car2Go had airport service while Communauto never did.
Ian
Bolt would be a good fit in the “use it anywhere” regard, too, especially as it’s not just cars.
Kate
Oh true. I forgot Communauto doesn’t have a one-trip option the way Bixi does.
Ian
It does, but only the “flex” cars which can’t be reserved in advance.
MarcG
I thought the same thing at first but then I realized Kate probably meant buying a trip without a membership.
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Kate
A new Caribbean‑themed parade has been given the OK for this summer, July 6.
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Kate
La Presse is digging into the causes of the downfall of Juste pour rire and finds a disadvantageous contract with Bell was an issue. But the heart of the problem may be that, before Bell became involved, Videotron, which had been generous with the festival, had cut them loose after the first accusations of sexual impropriety against Gilbert Rozon.
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Kate
Regular reader jeather pointed out to me this hair‑raising Globe & Mail story about a Montreal tenant whom the CRA is dunning for years of unpaid taxes by his non‑resident landlord – perfectly legally, too.
jeather
I will point out that this is a residential lease, but the best bet is that the CRA went after him because he had his company pay instead of paying individually; I saw somewhere this is the only such example of a tenant owing money for this. However, doing something illegal assuming that the CRA won’t actually go after you is a fool’s errand. The judgement is available here.
Kate
What do you think is the moral of this story? Make sure your landlord is domiciled in Canada?
And was the tenant doing something illegal?
jeather
I do not in any way see how you can ensure that your landlord is domiciled in Canada unless you are in the same building as them. I have no idea what the moral is. The tax code is complicated and can fuck you over for something you couldn’t reasonably expect to know?
H. John
I think jeather is right. CRA went after his company. He had his company pay his rent because he said it was easier for bookkeeping (he owns a gym). His company was audited by the CRA. It was the CRA auditor who could not find proof of residence (not domicile) for the landlord.
@Kate & jeather, if you confirmed your landlord was domiciled in Canada that would prove nothing. Most people make the same mistake, domicile and residence are not the same thing; and, residence means different things depending on the legislation concerned (e.g. residence for tax purposes may not be the exact same definition as residence for RAMQ).
And the reason that if you google this case, you’ll get a few dozen hits from different law firms and media outlets commenting on it, is simply because the different parts that make up this case are so extremely rare that it’s newsworthy
@jeather “I do not in any way see how you can ensure that your landlord is domiciled in Canada unless you are in the same building as them.” The first clue might have been the Italian phone number, the fact that she (the new landlord) signed the document in Italy, and her email ended in “.it”. Yes, I know she also had Montreal area co-ordinates, but at that point you ask her for a form provided by the CRA showing her “resident” status.
Kate
Once again, thank you, H. John.
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Kate
Le Monde looks at Montreal’s French community which it estimates at 200,000 people.
Blork
I laughed at the nurse from Montpellier who is aghast at having to use a fax machine.
Kate
“Ce pays est malade de sa suradministration et travaille avec des outils totalement obsolètes!”
DeWolf
200,000 people officially recorded by the consulate. So we can safely assume it’s even larger!
It’s not clear if that’s the number for Montreal Island or the entire metropolitan area. Even if it’s just the island, though, 10% of the population being from France seems… plausible.
Ian
Make that 20 in Mile End, I feel like I hear more France than Quebec on the street on any given day, especially with people under 35.
dhomas
Some folks I know call the Plateau and Mile End “la Nouvelle Nouvelle France”. I’ve also heard some people call it “le 21e arrondissement”, though there’s also a real estate project of the same name that is quite far from the Plateau / Mile End.
CE
I recently moved near Laurier Park and I definitely hear more European French than Quebec French on the streets and in the shops (there are also a surprisingly high number of Anglos working in the shops who speak not-so-great French).
Blork
20 years ago I was in awe of how 2 out of 3 conversations you overheard while strolling on Mont-Royal were in English. Now I’m in awe of how 2 out of 3 conversations are in French French.
Also: at least half of the Francophones I work with are from France and are living on the Plateau.
Rick 09:08 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
It would be great if people started to quote these demos as “Anti Israeli” instead of pro-palestine. Let’s keep it real.
walkerp 09:29 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
The propaganda account jumping in early!
carswell 09:31 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
@Rick Let’s compromise on “anti Israeli genocide,” ‘kay?
bob 14:48 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
Nah, let’s use words the way they are defined.
Ian 17:16 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
Pray tell “bob”, what word would you prefer?
I’ve doubled my donations to the MSF since the IDF started intentionally targeting them – which is against the Geneva convention, as is collective punishment, mass starvation, etc. If it’s not genocide, what nice word would you prefer?
Fuck Hamas, and also, fuck Netanyahu and the IDF.
bob 19:59 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
Ian, you can pretend all you want. You are as transparent as Arctic air, and not worth talking to.
Kate 20:24 on 2024-04-16 Permalink
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