Anyone know why I would be hearing endless honking by big trucks up on the Met?
Updates from August, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Martinez Ferrada is accusing Projet of plagiarism over reinstating weekly trash pickup in Hochelaga‑Maisonneuve and backing away from the Camillien‑Houde closure. But there’s no plagiarism in politics. All’s fair in love and campaigning.
CE
Also, if Ferrada were actually passionate about those policies happening, you’d think she’d be more than happy to see other parties wanting to do them too.
Kate
True. Whereas it feels like she’s using them for leverage, not because they matter to her. Good analysis!
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Kate
Muslims feel the public prayer ban targets their community because it does. Read MBC today where he rants against Islam and you can see it in plain sight.
And yet it makes no sense. Nobody is forcing anyone to eat halal food. Nobody is making women cover their hair or men get the snip. Muslims are not knocking at your door or trying to hand you tracts in the metro. It’s xenophobia pure and simple.
Kevin
Nobody has the right to live in a bubble.
Nicholas
Kate, while I agree with you, people are forcing the snip on men (well, boys) without their consent. A huge amount of meat and other products are Halal and Kosher, whether you like it or not. And there is incredibly strong social pressure in some communities for women to cover their hair. I remember at 18 going to a funeral for the cousin of a friend of mine at Paperman & Sons, and I was the only male friend of hers who came, and one of her friends hugged every one of her friends, many of whom she’d just met, except me, who she’d known for a year (she apologized briefly but didn’t explain, so I didn’t understand until later). Technically she had free will, but in that setting, surrounded by all her community, did she?
You could say that no one was forcing women to change their names. Quebec’s solution is extreme to some, but no one thinks there wasn’t pervasive social pressure.
All of these bills are red meat xenophobia, and I’m generally of the opinion to let people live as they please. I don’t care that some person has blessed my chicken. But we certainly do want to intervene in some cases; lots of closed communities have abuse, especially of children, but also those with less power, and genital mutilation is not acceptable here for one sex, at least. And social coercion is rampant; while some women do like covering their hair, you can’t say everyone who does it wants to, as when rules are relaxed in certain places many of those women immediately start showing their hair. I think most people who cover here do want to, but I’m sure some don’t, but would have to leave their community if they did.
Ian
Sure and nobody’s forcing men not to wear skirts to their work at the office or women not to go topless, except social pressure & cultural practices. By the same token, if your maternal grandmother was Jewish, then so are you even if you aren’t circumcised. Lots of people live as secular or non-observant Jews. Lots of non-Jewish men are circumcised. As far as food goes, try bringing Kentucky Fried Chicken to a potluck. It’s not religioon, but it’s observing cultural practices. I am sure you can see where I’m going with this. In the winter everyone covers their hair, does it offend you? As far as abuse goes, there’s a lot of sexual abuseat universtities and colleges – which are essentially closed communities – do you think we should shut them down? In the early to mid 20th century headscarves were super popular for women all over the place and nobody lost their head. Well, besides Isadora Duncan.
All that aside, I think it’s time to really test this and start wearing secular hijabs and start secular prayer meetings in public. Ideally in English, praising multiculturalism and giving thanks for diversity. Some of those sport hijabs don’t really look much different from the open face baaclavas people wear for winter sports. As I recall back during maple spring the city tried to ban ski masks but that got laughed out. Fascists hate getting laughed at.
Blork
Arguably, chanting “Go Habs Go!” is a prayer.
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Kate
A report found a lot of neglect and mistreatment of older patients at Sacré‑Cœur hospital – restraints, misuse of drugs.
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Kate
24Hres made a visit to the city carpentry workshop that produces the benches, picnic tables and other such items seen in our parks and along our streets.
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Kate
The numbers of foreign students enrolled in Quebec’s universities have fallen fast.
Toula Drimonis writes about the CAQ hypocrisy over foreign students.
Paul
Great.
I am sure our provincial overlords will gladly make up the lost revenue in our post-secondary system.Assuming each international student pays $35k, as opposed to our local students at $3k – this is a big financial hole to fill (self-inflicted I might add).
Quebec had 120,000 international students. If enrollment drops 50% as it did this year, that is a $2.1B reduction in available funds.
bob
They want three things – to defund universities in general and English ones in particular, to keep the province socially and culturally isolated, and to keep the population as white as possible.
Nicholas
And all those students were eating at local restaurants, buying clothes and furniture from local businesses, etc. All that tax and business revenue is gone. But, as bob says, isolation is the goal.
Ian
…and in many cases were the employees of local business too, making it even harder for local businesses who are now short-staffed on top of everything else.
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Kate
A CNESST report suggests that the STM should consider arming the special constables that patrol the metro, but the STM is resisting this so far. The constables wear bulletproof vests, and carry handcuffs, batons and pepper spray – but no guns.
The STM says its constables had to use force in 487 out of 58,349 incidents last year. That doesn’t sound like overwhelming odds.
Joey
“Had to”…
bob
STM – Selon les données de la STM, les constables spéciaux ont eu recours à la force dans 487 des 58 349 interventions réalisées en 2024.
CNESST – “On m’informe qu’il y a environ 1000 interventions avec usage de la force par année, en moyenne.”
So, who is lying here?
Chris
Joey, you don’t think force in about 1% of cases is reasonable sounding? If there are people physically fighting, the STM constables should break it up with stern words instead perhaps?
Ian
Very good point, Chris. After all, there are no repeated, clear examples of the Montreal police abusing their power and committing acts of violence, often targetting the homeless, people of colour, and people in mental distress. Oh wait.
jeather
I’d love to hear how they define “force” first.
Chris
Very good point, Ian. After all, there are no examples of violent nutcases freaking out in the metro and needing 3rd party intervention. Never. Oh wait.
Nicholas
CNESST seems to think that adding guns to the situation will protect the inspectors. But it may also result in people they’re inspecting shooting first, now that they know inspectors are armed. You can reasonably argue that inspectors in the US need guns because guns are everywhere and you never know who is carrying. Inspectors in most other countries are not armed, and it should stay like that here. In many places they don’t even have clubs; they’re just like regular bureaucrats, and their jobs are to check for tickets. We don’t give out guns to restaurant inspectors or parking agents or building inspectors; checking tickets is not inherently dangerous. If there’s a problem where someone with a gun is needed, call the SPVM, which has a special metro division.
Ian
Chris, so what percentage of that 1% do you think are “violent nutcases”? I mean, if we’re going to support militarizing metro security there’s obviously a need…. lol
MarcG
It’s hard to imagine more guns leading to less violence.
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Kate
Weekend notes from Le Devoir, La Presse, CTV, Montreal Secret, the Gazette, CultMTL.
Kevin 21:05 on 2025-08-29 Permalink
Construction at Cote de Liesse and St Croix?
Kate 08:29 on 2025-08-30 Permalink
Wouldn’t have been that, since I live east of St‑Laurent Boulevard.
Eventually it stopped, but it had gone on for the better part of an hour.