Thirty Airbnb rentals in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve have been vandalized with glue in their locks.
Updates from July, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A shelter for the homeless in Verdun has closed, leading to a rush to house 50 people with nowhere to go.
Ian
Put them in expropriated AirBnBs. Seems fair.
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Kate
A construction trade website takes a look at the replacement of the Olympic stadium roof.
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Kate
Quebec anglos may need to have eligibility certificates to get health care in English, according to a new directive.
Toula Drimonis discusses the sheer confusion caused by an unclear new directive followed by its partial contradiction by Jean-François Roberge, minister for the French language.
steph
Completely absurd.
with that said… um, where do I request such document? (is it the same certificate of eligibility for my “child” to attend English schools, even if I have no children?)
Uatu
I’m waiting for the badge with the scarlet A that we have to wear in the hospital lol
JP
I’m actually feeling stressed about this, not for myself. I speak sufficient French to manage, but for older friends and family who don’t.
We pay federal taxes right? Surely there’s an infringement of rights…or even just a basic lack of compassion. We’re getting absudly close to something extremely nefarious.
Kevin
Last year Roberge promised you wouldn’t need to do anything except say you were an anglo to get healthcare in English
https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/we-are-counting-on-good-faith-minister-says-of-anglos-seeking-services-in-englishAnd it’s impossible to get that certificate for yourself if you’ve finished high school
https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/quebec-denies-english-eligibility-certificates-if-students-apply-after-high-schoolThis is an inhumane and evil policy, and I can attest to that with an anecdote about a family member who was intubated. That procedure is extremely stressful and requires the patient to undergo a lot of sedation that makes them extremely disoriented and they’re usually handcuffed to the bed. A nurse was speaking to this person in French trying to get them to relax, but it just made them struggle more — so I told the nurse that the patient’s mother tongue was English and he might understand her better if she spoke in English. Within a few words — Mr. X, you’re in the hospital, you need to relax — my family member calmed down and stopped fighting the restraints.
Kevin
And I see that Roberge is restating his position –>
“The MSSS directive, like the Charter of the French language, clearly states that “an organization may deviate from the obligation to use French exclusively when health, public safety or the principles of natural justice so require.”
https://x.com/jfrobergeQc/status/1818658927828926622Ian
This would be a great opportunity to revise the insane bureaucracy around getting a certificate of admissibility – logically, if your first child gets the certificate, it should apply for the parents and siblings too. Right now you have to get a separate certificate for each child, and it doesn’t apply to the parents.
It would also be a great idea to take it off the plate of the Ministry of Education.
That said, all official docs are under a huge backlog. My stepfather died just after Easter but I’m still waiting for the “official” death certificate from the Ministry so I can probate the will. I was told to expect to wait up to 6 months.JaneyB
There will be lawsuits. This is not over. Imagine if someone dies or is seriously injured due to language delays…for sure this would be a gigantic problem for Legault’s government.
Kate
Kevin: Yes, Roberge tweeted. But it never gives confidence when a government says “we have it down and black and white that these are the rules” while also giving to understand that the rules can be bent. Anyone in any position can choose to be a bully when they can say “But it says here in the rule book, I didn’t have to speak English to that dying woman!” and get away with it.
Kevin
Kate
I don’t like any government that relies on ‘surely there’s an exception’ for its actions and policies, and like I said earlier, I think this policy leading is eviljeather
I have eligibility, but do I have a certificate? Even if my mother still has one for me, what am I supposed to do, carry it attached to my medicare card?
I will say that when I have been at a French language institution, the medical professionals there have never been anything but helpful. I feel fine in French on a day to day level, but not for medical care.
Kate
jeather, that’s the same for me. Something with such serious possible consequences, you want things spelled out clearly.
jeather
And what about my mother, who has eligibility but long preceded needing eligibility? What about my friends from Ontario, who have eligibility but don’t have proof? At least I am semi sure there is a certificate, somewhere, for me.
steph
Sounds like we’re all in the same boat. Clearly received English elementary&highschool education here in Quebec in the previous century. And now what – am I showing up to hospitals with my yellowed high school graduation degree in hand?
Blork
Retirement plans now include moving to a different province. I just have to decide which I prefer: to die by forest fire, dampness, or boredom.
Nicholas
I would encourage people to find their Code permanent, which is the lifetime code the government gives you for education, and is on various educational documents. It is similar to your RAMQ number, but different: LLLF DDMM YYSS, where LLL is first three letters of your last name, F is first initial, DD MM and YY and as expected and SS is a sequential number to differentiate people with otherwise similar numbers (and a different sequential number from RAMQ, which also reversed the date to avoid confusion, doing YYMM DDSS). I just remember my sequential number and reconstitute the rest. I don’t know if they add 50 to the month for people born as a woman, like they do for RAMQ.
That number has your entire educational history in the province, so if you went to an English school then some database at the Ministry should have that info (please wait 6-12 months and pay the fee, maybe we won’t supply it, bonne chance!).
Joey
We’ve had the code permanent for decades and you still need to book an in-person appointment at the EMSB (no slots available, of course) to get the necessary documentation…
Ian
My kids have that code, but I don’t – I’ve lived here 30+ years but went to grade 13 in Ontario, I only moved to Montreal for university.
Blork
Not mentioned is that this will push many anglos into the private system, where it probably doesn’t apply.
dhomas
Pissing off anglos AND driving people to private healthcare? Sounds like a win-win to the CAQ!
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Kate
Two years and millions of dollars later, Quebec’s Programme d’habitation abordable has produced a total of six units. Bureaucratic obstacles are blamed for the failure of any more construction to reach completion.
Ian
Duranceau is either a crook or incompetent, maybe both. Given her known conflicts of interest it should come as no surprise that her work isn’t helping tenants.
jeather
Wouldn’t it make more sense to give money to people who would be eligible for affordable housing, not unlike section 8 in the US?
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Kate
Each Bixi bike is used at least seven times a day, a record for shared bike services in North America.
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Kate
Radio-Canada reports that shots were fired on Drummond Street in the early hours of Wednesday, but it takes TVA to put two and two together: the bullet marks were found in the façade of the pizzeria La Medusa, the target of an arson attack two weeks ago.
The Radio-Canada item was from CP, a story also picked up by La Presse, but it’s TVA’s insight that actually makes it newsworthy.
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Kate
The REM has now been in operation for a year. TVA damns it with faint praise: users are happy that outages are down.
anton
bit of a backhanded compliment
Ian
“It sucks less than it used to”, a glowing accolade if ever there was one.
And it’s still not done – now they are saying 2027… will it be fully opertaional by 2030? It’s anyone’s guess.I guess Montreal is a city that tries to solve everything with clowns in more ways than one, the REM is clearly being run, built, and maintained by them. Not circus clowns of course, those guys are trained professionals. Just run-of-the-mill assclowns in this case.
dhomas
To be fair, this wasn’t really a project handled by the city of Montreal. It was imposed on Montreal without much consultation.
Ian
I didn’t mean to imply that the city government was responsible, i apologize for the lack of clarity in my rant.
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Kate
CBC has a short video celebating Pantalons Supérieur’s 100 years. Short text on the same subject later from CTV.
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Kate
Shots were fired from one vehicle to another and a man was shot in the head in western Verdun, Tuesday afternoon.
Ian
Oh, good thing they specified “par balle”, I was worried it was going to be fireworks, /s
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Kate
Cases of Covid and of hospitalizations for the virus rose in Quebec in July, a summer tendency noted previously. We’re so used to thinking of “flu season” that equating the hottest months with a rise in viral infections is a new thing.
More on the summer Covid surge.
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Kate
The Édifice Bourget is a handsome building dating from 1914 that stands on Mountain Street south of Ste‑Catherine in a part of town that has no public elementary school. Le Devoir is doing a series about vacant buildings, and now looks at the suspended renovations and uncertain future of the Bourget, even though the area badly needs a school.
I also missed last week blogging another in the series: the La Patrie building on Ste‑Catherine, bought by the Scientologists in 2007 and left to rot.
Both of these buildings were designed by architect Georges‑Alphonse Monette according to imtl.org
JaneyB
It was also the home of the great Quebecois cultural treasure Médiathèque littéraire Gaëtan-Dostie. Among other features and cultural events, it provided very remarkable snapshot of the images and artefacts of the Quiet Revolution which was easily accessible and here in Montreal (see: https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/idees/481963/mediatheque-gaetan-dostie-le-piege-de-la-culture-des-normes and https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/805789/mediatheque-gaetan-dostie-eviction-csdm
Its old central location in this building on Montagne was ideal but the city shut the building down and now it is simply vacant, awaiting a fire and condo-ization, no doubt. Side note: After a short stint in a Mile End church, the Médiathèque is now in a very remote location in Sainte-Mélanie, north of Joliette – https://www.facebook.com/MLGDostie. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of the money involved in limiting Anglo services could be spent on the preservation of Quebec culture instead…grrr.
Kate
JaneyB, I missed this comment, sorry. Very informative, and thank you.
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Kate
Public health is warning against swimming off Promenade Bellerive park. The beach itself is contaminated, and the water may be tainted by sewer runoff or industrial spills. La Presse specifies that there won’t be safe swimming before the end of the decade.
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Kate
The death of a woman in a Lachine apartment Monday evening has been deemed a homicide, the 21st of the year. TVA notes that she is the 16th woman murdered in Quebec this year.
Gruesomely, further news coming out identifies her as Linda Salagan, 64, and that she was tied up and gagged.
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Kate
Seems unwise scheduling to have the big tennis tournament overlap with the Olympics, but that’s the deal, causing Novak Djokovic to withdraw from the Montreal tourney in hopes of winning gold in Paris.
Ian 19:35 on 2024-07-31 Permalink
That’s a great start.
dhomas 08:42 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
“Les militants affirment qu’« aucun Airbnb strictement légal » n’a été visé, sans toutefois préciser comment cette analyse a été effectuée.”
It’s pretty simple how they figured it out: Airbnb is not allowed at all in MHM. Source: https://montreal.ca/en/how-to/areas-where-operating-tourist-home-authorized?arrondissement=MHM
How they are even allowed to operate there without the authorities shutting them down is the real question here.
Kate 10:17 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
The authorities have never acted. Either they don’t have enough manpower, or there isn’t the organizational will.
When those in charge admire anything that “disrupts” and makes money, they’ll never be keen to act (see Airbnb, Uber, etc.)
dhomas 12:48 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
I realize that. I meant that the journalists should be trying to figure out why Airbnb is even there instead of asking how the militants determined that none of the Airbnb were illegal. The answer to the question the journalists posed is evident.
jeather 13:15 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
Just saw this on the CBC: Revenu Québec confirmed that, to date, no fines have been imposed on Airbnb — even since the implementation of the Tourist Accommodation Act in September 2022.
Kate 13:18 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
I agree. But imagine you’re a journalist, who do you ask? The local councillors, even city hall, probably have no resources to hire inspectors. Ephraim would say this is a Revenu Quebec issue as well, but have they got off their butts even since those people died in the Airbnb in Old Montreal last year? Those activists in MHM are the only ones actually acting on the law!
Kate 13:19 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
jeather, that’s a very timely link! Thank you!
Ian 19:13 on 2024-08-01 Permalink
We were always told at the city level (it was Richard Ryan from PM who had that dossier) that nothing could be done but they were working on it then nohting could be done as it was an RQ dossier … then nothing is being done by the RQ.
The fix is in. Glue away, folks.
Uatu 10:24 on 2024-08-02 Permalink
Just say that the entire bldng has been rented out to Muslims with women walking around all covered up and talking foreigner talk and then sit back and watch the crackdown begin lol
Ian 14:25 on 2024-08-02 Permalink
Just for kicks I checked AirBnB for Mile End – you’re not supposed to be able to see the exact address but if there are window views it is easy to tell exactly where the building is. There are literally dozens on residential streets, some rented out by people that manage multiple properties. It’s pathetically easy to see exactlywhere these places are and nobody at any level of governemnt is willing to do a damn thing about it, in th emidst of a housing crisis. Somebody MUST be geting paid off. There’s no other explanation, the violations are too blatant and go completely unpunished. Even the guy who owns St Viateur bagel is known to be a multiple AirBnB lister.
Kate 15:42 on 2024-08-02 Permalink
It’s hard to believe that the authorities couldn’t have someone on staff to check the Airbnb website periodically and list the illegal rentals they spot, and then shut them down. But they don’t do it.
Ian 17:04 on 2024-08-02 Permalink
All I know is there are quite a few tax-dodging assholes getting rich off AirBnB over the last decade (well almost, they started Oct 1 2015) while the rest of us are seeing rents double, and somehow literally nobody at any level of government is doing anything about it at all except passing regulations that nobody enforces.