Three arsons took place overnight from Sunday – an empty house in St‑Laurent and two bars in Lasalle.
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Kate
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Kate
Although the cross on Mount Royal turned purple for one night, the city is not keeping it purple till the election of a new Pope. But this piece suggests that no clear decision or official announcement was made about this change in the tradition.
This item cites a “site web externe consacré au site patrimonial du Mont-Royal” – not naming it directly – which claims the cross turns purple “pour souligner la mort d’un pape ou d’un roi.” It wasn’t turned purple for Queen Elizabeth, but the difference there is that there isn’t an interregnum: the moment the monarch dies, the next in line automatically becomes the monarch – no conclave needed.
The Journal gets in an anti-woke dig in the deck: “Le souci de ne pas heurter la sensibilité des non‑catholiques et des non-croyants explique la décision de la Ville.” But since no official announcement was made, how can they know that?
Joey
Doesn’t the coronation occur after the funeral? There’s no formal interregnum? Anyway, the cross looked a little purple last night but it was foggy and humid so who knows. I say they make it extra purple when a Pope dies but super rainbow during Pride. Seriously, this Quebec-specific nonsense about religious symbols like the names of schools or the crosses that adorn the walls of our CHSLDs only becoming “religious” in certain ridiculous circumstances needs to end. The idea that the cross on the mountain shifts from a “heritage” symbol to a religious one only when the colour changes following a papal death is so absurd as to be an insult to the intelligence of all Montrealers. As a Jew, I say, make it purple!
Kate
The saying is “The Queen is dead, long live the King” because he’s king right away. There’s no interregnum. The king doesn’t need a coronation to make him king, it just confirms and celebrates it.
Mid 20th century, Edward VIII was king after the death of George V, but he never even had a coronation. He abdicated before they got that far.
walkerp
jeather
I truly do not care about the cross on the mountain, or whether it changes colour.
Kate
I find it a local curiosity, and now it turns out there are no actual rules. I admit it isn’t a major story.
Ian
I wish they would turn the lights on and off in sequence like a marquee, as a nod to the more gaudy and maybe even a little louche side of Montreal.
CE
I think they should put an M on one side and an L on the other.
jeather
Oh I didn’t mean it in response to your story, I meant in response to this: “Le souci de ne pas heurter la sensibilité des non‑catholiques et des non-croyants explique la décision de la Ville.” I appreciate the post.
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Kate
Editorial cartoonists all tipped their pens to the Pope this week: Côté, Chapleau, Godin, Ygreck. For once, Trump was running a distant second.
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Kate
Downtown restaurants and hotels are all booming while the Canadiens are in the playoffs.
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Kate
A demonstration was held Saturday (that link may autoplay a loud video) to call for better funding for public transit.
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Kate
A man stabbed early Monday this week at Milton and Park died in hospital on Saturday. A suspect is in custody. This has been numbered 10th homicide of the year, although an 11th has also already been declared in the case of the body found on the stairs of Place des Arts on Friday morning.
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Kate
The Gazette’s Jesse Feith tells in some detail about the trial of an SPVM police officer for an apparently unprovoked push of a homeless Inuk man that resulted in a fall and a skull fracture. The incident happened in 2022.
The account says that Johnny Inukpak Tukalak stood 5’2″, weighed 120 lbs. and was unarmed, but police officer Williams Bélanger maintains that he felt he was at risk.
The judge’s decision is not expected till later.
Sadly, Tukalak died of an overdose last year.
Ian
Cop gets away with murder, anyone want to lay bets? I can see how this big healthy guy was scared, lol.
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Kate
A cyberattack on the private clinic that checks out municipal workers for medical time off means that confidential information about hundreds of people has been leaked. The clinic also counts Air Canada and the MUHC among its customers.
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Kate
A young driver died overnight when he lost control of his car and it crashed into a tree in Lasalle. His passenger is in hospital. No mention of damage to the tree, but there never is.
Ian
In the subterranean root system where they all talk to each other you know they’re giving high fives to this buddy
dwgs
I know we don’t care much for cars around here but a family is mourning his loss. Sounds like he was driving too fast but a life is a hell of a price to pay, maybe don’t joke about it.
Kate
Fair enough, dwgs. Sorry. But don’t blame Ian, I gave him the opening.
Ian
It’s always a good time for a very serious scolding. I know it’s been a while, might I suggest solving this problem with clowns?
dwgs
You’re all class Ian.
Ricardo
wow, young person dies tragically, bloggers make lame jokes. uncool.
Ian
I live to serve, gentlemen. Don’t fall of that high horse, you might hurt yourself.
Kate
I actually wasn’t trying to be funny.
Nicholas
There was a case over a decade ago where a rotten tree on the edge of Westmount fell onto a car on Cote des Neiges and killed the driver, and the family hired Julius Grey to sue the city and its insurer, Lloyd’s, said that it’s a motor vehicle accident so covered under no fault insurance. Case was appealed to the Supreme Court, but the city/insurer and the SAAQ won, even though Grey and the family said it shouldn’t count because a pedestrian killed in such a way could sue. Obviously there’s no one to sue if you crash into a tree, but it’s interesting how wide “motor vehicle crash” is legally.
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Kate
Police shot someone overnight in Ahuntsic‑Cartierville and it’s being investigated by the BEI. No more specific location is given.
Meantime, a member of the SQ elite squad against organized crime shot himself in the hand Friday morning in the secret clubhouse of the Escouade nationale sur la répression du crime organisé.
maxime prati
It was on Boulevard St-Michel corner Fleury…. chaotic for the neighborhood traffic all day.
Kate
Thank you.
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Kate
Jean-François Roberge says that Go Habs Go and “Go Canadiens Go” are acceptable. The STM hasn’t said whether it will change back.
Uatu
Top guns all around
steph
évidament ça fait partie de notre patrimoine!
Kevin
But Shirley there’s an exception! Is a terrible system of government.
https://medium.com/@scottconnerly/the-shirley-exception-a970ef292d66jeather
This has been fun, at least it’s hit fewer international outlets than Italian in an Italian restaurant did.
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Kate
Weekend notes from CultMTL, CityCrunch and La Presse.
Driving restrictions of the weekend.
The Île aux Tourtes bridge will be closed all weekend but will reopen with all four lanes operating on Monday.
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Kate
A house in Ahuntsic (100, rue Somerville) once occupied by the Iraqi consul to Montreal, and which has stood empty for more than 30 years, will finally be demolished. Twenty‑four trees on the lot are also to be cut down.
Ian
Oh, interesting. I have wondered what that place was, that explains it. Weird place for a diplomatic property but it is awfully pretty up thataway.
CE
Many years ago I jumped the fence with a friend and explored the house. It was partially burnt but was interesting for its indoor swimming pool that seemed to be in the living room. I always carried a digital camera back then so I must have some photos somewhere.
waterside-fowl
All the houses on the river side of Somerville Street should be moved to join the two waterside parks they interrupt. A linear park with ecological functions would be an excellent replacement for this example of very poor urbanism.
Ian
A park? Urbanism? How boring! Why stop there? As long as we’re off-topic & making stuff up, I propose tearing out the entire street, banning people from the area, and rewilding it completely. Phase 1 of everything within 50 meters of the river, all the way around the island.
/s
@CE I’d be curious to see any shots that exist, for sure.CE
I went down memory lane looking through old photos but unfortunately couldn’t find them (if they exist).
waterside-fowl
@Ian: “…Urbanism? How boring!…”
Quite the opposite. Go for a walk right now on Somerville and notice how boring the walk is with banal suburban homes blocking views (and access) to a beautiful waterfront.
Other species find the cement flood-walls and lawns-to-the-waterside… boring to the point of extinction.
Ian
I did say why stop there … tbh you are describing wetland ecology in the context of a mixed urban environment, I don’t think just “moving” houses across the street (!) is going to sufficiently rewild anything, especially if it’s maintained as a park.
Look at the park around Perry Island, for example, just a few clicks uptiver – there’s very little truly wild space there, even the ducks are wary.
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Kate
The headline that an ex director of Projet Montréal has been found guilty of electoral fraud sounds serious. Marie Depelteau‑Paquette’s crime is that she did not include overtime pay for campaign workers in 2017 as part of Projet’s expenses, which are limited by law during a campaign.
Depelteau‑Paquette pleaded that she was only following orders – but she’s the one that may have to pay a heavy fine.
Ian
I see no reason not to hold hte bosses responsible, too.
Kate
Yes, but they were not on trial.
The background to this – who’s ultimately responsible for handwaving the issue or, in fact, who brought it to the attention of the authorities – is not clear, but to me, it’s not crucial enough for journalists to spend time digging into it.
I mostly found the headline a more startling than the story, which is about irresponsible bookkeeping, not targeted fraud.
Ian
Fair enough. Just because it wasn’t published doesn’t mean it wasn’t investigated.
Nicholas
The story confused me, but the decision cleared some stuff up, and arguably it’s worse than the story makes it out. I’ll try to summarize, but may make a mistake here or there.
There were four permanent, salaried employees of the party, and during the electoral period they did extra hours. The law says that all expenses during an electoral period should get included, but there are a few exceptions, including regular ongoing expenses for the administration of a party. The DG of PM asked the official agent, the person responsible for all payments and expenses during the electoral period, if these hours should count, and she asked Elections Quebec, who, after some back and forth, said yes. Those employees were salaried, so instead of paying them the party considered giving them time off later, but EQ said both paid and compensated hours counted. The official agent asked the DG for information to include the overtime, at time and a half, as an expense either way, and the DG said that would be fine. Right after the election, they found they had spending room under the limits, but were short on cash (this was 2017, so they weren’t rolling in money). Electoral expenses are partially reimbursed by the taxpayer, as part of public financing, but they must be paid out within 90 days, and without enough cash on hand they might not meet the deadline. The party BoD and, partially, the mayor, said to stop any potential payment and discuss the hours, and that at another board meeting they decided to count the hours as volunteer, at the suggestion of the DG, according to two witnesses. The official agent objected, saying employees can’t legally renounce that compensation, though they then did after the fact. The official agent even paid out of pocket for a legal opinion, beyond that provided by EQ, to confirm she had to include these expenses. The employees still got compensated with time off, that varied based on the number of extra hours that were done, which the judge said showed it wasn’t volunteer hours, even if the time off was taken outside the election period. As well, when the DG went on maternity leave, she told her replacement to hide info about the hours from the official agent, to get one of the four employees to keep two sets of books to both discount the hours officially but count the time off and lastly that the employees taking the time off should do it on days the official agent wasn’t in the office, so the official agent wouldn’t know about the extra time off.
One could argue that things were unclear at the time. But what the judge accepted in her decision was that the official agent tried to get the expenses filed as per the rules given from Elections Quebec and a lawyer she paid out of pocket for advice, and the DG said she would file that but then chose, likely with the encouragement/direction of the board, not to, and to hide the information, likely knowing that was against the law. It may seem as a bookkeeping issue, but given the actions involved, the judge thinks it’s also wage theft and bad faith, intentional circumventing of the law, reporting requirements and other things. And the judge said while others might have been charged, only one was, so she could only rule on that. $5,000 may seem like a lot, but given the specific intentional actions of the DG of the organization, not some low level employee, one could argue the fine and the coverage aren’t disproportionate.
Lastly, to guess at the answer to Kate’s question, Elections Quebec was already aware of the potential for these extra hours when the official agent asked about how to treat them, so when the final report was filed with zero such hours, I’m sure there were questions raised. It could of course have been a tip off from the official agent or one of the four employees, or a board member. I skipped over a few paragraphs of the ruling so I don’t know for sure it wasn’t mentioned, but I didn’t see it.
Ian
Thanks for the breakdown, Nicholas. That’s very insightful.
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Kate
In 2015, McGill University opened its Social Accountability and Community Engagement office in response to a critical report about shortcomings in its medical program. Now, in the cold wind of anti‑diversity, equity and inclusion coming from the U.S., it has closed the office and replaced its three nonwhite workers with one white person.
Later, CTV covered response to this decision.
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