Longueuil has received an OK from Quebec to carry out a deer hunt in Michel‑Chartrand park this fall. The park will be closed to visitors when the hunt is on, although this piece also says the days won’t be announced in advance, presumably to avoid protests.
Updates from October, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
There have been two arrests in the fatal fire in Old Montreal a week ago. They’re men aged 18 and 20.
TVA says one of them had just got out of jail for arson a few days before.
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Kate
A woman accused of throwing boiling water on a ten‑year‑old boy last week in Longueuil has been charged with aggravated assault. She isn’t locked up and there’s no mention of an assessment of her mental health.
jeather
She was initially arrested and let go on a promise to appear; after some outcry they miraculously found more to charge her with so that she was arrested again (though will, I assume, be able to get bail).
H. John
The Gazette adds that with the second arrest the Crown objected to her release and she’s scheduled for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Kate
Thank you, H. John.
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Kate
In another episode of Denying Reality, Roxboro’s mayor is mad at the new flood map that shows a growing number of residential lots considered at risk.
Ian
I was listening to an interview on CBC this morning and his concern was not that the flood map had been redrawn but that it included areas that had never flooded, and didn’t take sewer backup into consideration so that some areas that are prone to flooding weren’t included, ie, that it is inaccurate and was done without any municipal consultation regarding infrastructure etc that would help them create a more accurate map that could be used to, for instance, place breakwaters in the most appropriate places to mitigate flooding when it occurs.
Or you can just cast shade on the burbs, whatevs.
Joey
The second concern (the new maps don’t consider sewer backup) is legit though still somewhat different than the point of this exercise – in theory, the problem of sewer backups should be resolved regardless of whether the area is prone to natural flooding or not, right? The first complaint is nonsense – obviously there will be flooding in the future, likely the near future, in areas where there is no history of flooding. The whole exercise is to expand the flood map to include areas prone to once in 350-year flooding, not once in 100 years. It sucks for the homeowners but it doesn’t change the reality, and as the article makes clear, banks are already integrating this kind of planning into their financing decisions.
Also, as far as the notion that this is being done without any municipal consultation – the CMM asserts that if it hadn’t intervened with Quebec the map would be more drastic, and there’s a public consultation currently ongoing.
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Kate
La Presse editorialist Maxime Bergeron complains about no service in French in several restaurants and stores, not just downtown, but in Rosemont and the Plateau as well.
I find it odd that any business is hiring people for public‑facing jobs who can’t manage French, although Bergeron makes a stretch in expecting grocery store stock boys to necessarily know French vocabulary for random products. Anyway, he, like several other people mentioned this week, wants the city to devote itself more vigorously to promoting French.
But the question is always: where does promoting French end, and punishing those who speak other languages begin? Bergeron complains that in one restaurant, En « cuisine », pas un mot de français non plus. Kitchen workers should speak French together, even if they share a different common language, on the off chance that a real Québécois is hurt by overhearing them? For me, that’s where he goes a step too far.
azrhey
also, I have a couple of coffee shop managers/owners among my friends and finding staff is still ridiculously hard. Yes they have hired anglo only students for some shifts, because it was either that or close the place! As a francophone, sure I prefer to be approached in French, but if the choice is between English only or having my fav place closed? English it is! Or Spanish, or whatever.
The depaneur next door has an old lady that speaks half a dozen English words and some south Asian language on Saturday mornings. I would rather be served in French, but I also much prefer to have access to emergency milk pint on Saturday morning 50m from my front door.Ian
If a local business is evidencing politics you don’t like, boycott them. Public demonstrations of dismay for their own sake are just performative whining.
Kate
I don’t see how this is evidencing politics, except that language here is always tinged with politics. But people are free to avoid businesses where they’re not served in French, or notch it up with a complaint to the OQLF.
Kevin
M. Bergeron should ask young Quebecois why they aren’t working in retail and restaurants.
Kevin
Forget to add… it’s probably got to do with Montreal and Quebec having incredibly low unemployment rates.
Uatu
Hey if the kitchen is working well and service is timely and most of all clean, then it seems to be okay whatever they’re speaking. Also I always speak French to the person working the counter and yet the younger generation always wants to try out their English with me (since I’m obviously a visible minority) or throws in some franglais. Maybe I should turn them in to the language cops for shirking their duties as vrai Quebecois lol
bob
No, @Uatu, it is not ok simply because they are doing their jobs. They can express themselves among themselves the way they want because it is a fundamental human right – one which the government of Quebec and bigots like Maxime Bergeron do not recognize.
thomas
Too bad there is no equivalent French expression for “punching down”.
Kate
They can express themselves among themselves the way they want
I don’t know whether this is always true. I recall a story about nurses getting in trouble for speaking Kréyol among themselves.
Ian
…and the ongoing “tension” at the STM garage
JP
This seems like something that would be published in the Journal de Montreal rag. In any case, he should’ve stopped right here, when he answered this question.
“Est-ce un drame ? Mes repas sont-ils moins savoureux (et caloriques) pour autant ? Est-ce que ces gens ne méritent pas de travailler, car ils ne parlent pas français ?
Bien sûr que non.”
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Kate
Hydro-Quebec has ceded 3.4 acres of land toward the creation of a memorial park where thousands of Irish emigrants are buried under the Black Rock in Griffintown. Hydro has just opened a new substation there to provide power to the REM, Griffintown and western downtown.
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Kate
Weekend notes from CityCrunch, La Presse, CultMTL.
carswell
CultMTL gets this week’s editorial pet peeve award: “Less than 1 in 3 Canadians…”
And not only do they do it once, they do it thrice, including in italicized big type.
https://cultmtl.com/2024/10/observations-from-montreal-quebec/
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Kate
Abusive disciplinary practices have come to light at Bedford primary school in Côte‑des‑Neiges. There’s going to be an official investigation.
I can add to my list of benefits of not having children that I’m not putting any kid at the mercy of the limited intelligence of Bernard Drainville.
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Kate
Five firefighters received medals this week for saving lives in the March 2023 fire on Place Youville. A timely accolade, somehow echoing in a local way the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to survivors of the atomic bombing of Japan. The award is nice; the nudge to public memory is a bonus.
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Kate
A young man described as a cryptocurrency analyst was shot dead in his car in a Laval parking lot on Thursday.
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