A man has been charged with murder in the gruesome discovery last month of a woman found dead in a Lachine apartment.
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Kate
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Kate
La Presse warns of an autumn filled with construction cones.
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Kate
Bomb threats have been emailed to Jewish institutions across Canada, with synagogues, community centres and hospitals all reporting them. Police have checked several Montreal addresses and found nothing so far.
bob
This seems to be some kind of weird bomb threat spam.
An almost identical threat was sent to Jewish institutions in New York City last May. But there was a spate of threats across India several times in the last year, including yesterday, using similar language (the one in India yesterday used the exact phrase “You will all end up in a pool of blood, none of you deserve to keep living.”). Those went to hospitals, malls, courts, airports, various businesses, museums, colleges – nothing Jewish. There seems to be enough to link these events within the emails, like identical language, similar language, same “group” claiming responsibility, sent from the same email address, etc.
Ephraim
Pure anti-semitism. I’m still waiting to hear Imams, Priests, Reverends and Ministers all condemning this…. do you hear crickets? I hear crickets.
Kate
To be fair, we don’t usually get public statements from most religious leaders on anything. Politicians have tweeted their formal outrage, though – at a quick glance, Trudeau, Freeland, Bendayan, Craig Sauvé, have spoken up. Not seeing anything from Poilievre.
It’s a political matter, not a religious one, and if bob is correct, this may be some gang of Russian shit‑stirrers and not anyone with a real agenda.
Ephraim
@Kate – See, for me, none of this will change until the other religious leaders start to condemn attacks based on religious beliefs. Judaism isn’t Israel, Mosques aren’t Iran or Terrorists, Churches aren’t the Mafia, etc. We need to show that people can have faith without being state actors.
Kate
There was a time when we would’ve cared what a bishop said about this, but now? Would anyone even report on it, if the archbishop of Montreal issued a statement?
dhomas
After the Quebec mosque shooting in 2017, there were many reports of interfaith responses to it.
Examples:
Anglicans:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-muslims-anglicans-faith-grief-1.4507155
https://anglicanjournal.com/christian-leaders-express-solidarity-with-muslims-following-quebec-attack/jeather
That was an actual shooting, not a bunch of apparently fake bomb threats. I don’t intend to minimize the latter, but let’s be realistic about the difference. (In high school and Cegep there were so many fake bomb threats.)
dhomas
@jeather: I almost wrote those exact words. But I don’t want to minimize the fear these communities feel when these threats are made. You are, however, correct. In one case, it’s words; in the other it’s acts.
jeather
I’m Jewish, for the record.
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Kate
The freeze on temporary foreign workers in Montreal is to start on September 3, and last six months, at least for starters.
Mentioned on radio news, but not made clear in these text reports, is that people who are already working here will see their contracts cut short and be deported. That seems unnecessarily heartless, but then the whole system is based on treating these workers as interchangeable peons whose lives don’t count for much.
The Journal notes that the local hotel industry is upset about the decree, making me wonder how this story intersects with the labour issues at hotels.
An element not being so widely mentioned is that foreign students are also frozen for six months. Neither McGill nor Concordia has been told exactly what that’s supposed to mean for them, given that as anglo schools they do tend to get more foreign students. Still, I suppose, doing more damage to anglo universities is just another plus for Papa Legault.
Commentary from Paul Journet in La Presse, who reminds us that Quebec’s problems with housing and the teacher shortage are not recent and can’t be blamed on immigrants.
Well, one good thing. Temporary visitors from Ukraine will be cut off health care soon and save us all a penny each! What a bonanza!
bob
Can’t be blamed on immigrants? What’s next, not blaming anglos?
jeather
Oh wow, I didn’t know that it would affect people already here, that is cruel.
Ephraim
ANd I wonder how many of these people are helpers in the old age homes
MarcG
There are 12,000 people in Montreal in the TFW category. As Joey pointed out in another thread, people working in healthcare, education, construction, agriculture and food processing are exempt, and people making more than $57,000 are exempt. Who is this actually targeting?
Uatu
Have a happy Labour Day! Now gtfo!
bob
@MarcG – It is targeting the xenophobic voters who elected the CAQ in the first place.
Tim
It is targetting large companies like Tim Hortons and KFC. Instead of responding to the labor shortage by raising wages and improving labor conditions, they opt for the cheap labor afforded to them by the TFW program.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/temporary-foreign-workers-1.7240374
bob
Companies like Tim Horton’s and KFC do not raise wages or improve conditions whatever the state of the labour market. They would sooner close stores than pay more, and in plenty of cases they have, such as McDonalds and Walmart when threatened with unionization.
CE
Well then, let ‘em close!
Tim
Great piece by Robyn Urback on how both political parties have benefitted from the TFW over the years while workers and the larger economy have suffered.
Ephraim
Actually, both KFC and McDonald’s pay above minimum wage and in both cases, have closed branches over the inability to find staff, even with higher wages. The problem may need a much more serious fix, one which we might not like…. the abolishment of tipping We subsidize a large amount of low paying jobs with tipping and people should be paid a living wage without a need to ingratiate themselves for extra money. And let’s not forget that being the most educated country in the world has the downside of no one wanting to be the person who cleans someone else’s toilet.
Abolishing tipping will also have some positive effects on society. Like the best waiters not insisting on working only Friday and Saturday, so people can have better schedules and service on other days. It will also mean that they can have a lot more dignity in serving as they don’t have to bend over backwards for “Karens” because they are afraid to lose their tip money. I think we are past the time when tips are needed. Besides, they are a remnant of slavery. Tipping is very weakly correlated with service quality. That’s something that should be the purview of management, not the customer.
Chris
>Well then, let ‘em close!
hear hear! Society would be better in so many ways without them.
>…the inability to find staff, even with higher wages.
Well then they’re not offering higher enough. Companies love to tout supply&demand and the miracle of the market, but only when it’s in their favour.
GC
Thanks for that link, Tim.
Joey
We will sooner replace servers with a combination of automation/DIY (e.g., self-checkout, fast food ordering screens) than eliminate tipping.
Ephraim
Many societies have done it, including Australia.
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Kate
Elected city officials will get raises based on an average of the raises given to four key groups of city workers. In the past, they were based on cost of living rises.
steph
As long as we give % increases, the gap between high and low salaries will only continue to grow.
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Kate
As the rain patters down, more water stories: the archives of Télé‑Québec were damaged in the water main break. Investigation into the break continues because its premature corrosion remains unexplained, although I heard road salt mentioned on radio news.
CTV reports that, asked about the break in council by the mayor of Pierrefonds‑Roxboro, Mayor Plante deflected the question by asking why it had been asked in English.
Montreal North is under a boil-water advisory although this brief piece doesn’t say why. CTV says simply that it’s a drop in water pressure.
steph
I was expecting to be outraged, but following the “deflection” Plante answered the “question”. I’m putting “question” in quotes because I can’t make out what it was. This is only underlined by the voiced over “your question?” by the speaker of the house.
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