On Monday, a group of people dressed as Santa Claus and elves stole $3000 worth of food from the Metro store on Laurier East and redistributed it on Place Valois the next day, according to Urbania. Le Devoir says they placed food in community fridges.
Updates from December, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The REM will stay open all night for New Year.
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Kate
Pablo Rodriguez has announced he’s stepping down as head of the PLQ.
Interesting: Le Devoir has the story, but other media are still carrying stories about pressure mounting and how his future is in question. Did Le Devoir get the scoop or did they jump the gun?
…So there it is. It would have been interesting and novel to have both Quebec and Montreal led by Latin‑Americans, but it’s off the menu now.
Joey
La Presse has it now too. I am not looking forward to PSSP acting as if he has a mandate from heaven to pursue independence and xenophobia only because the three opposition parties couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
Paul
Not that I have faith, but the election is in the Fall. Plenty of time for a good candidate to put a dent in PSPP’s clear path.
Are the Liberals able to find a good candidate?? It seems they would have problem finding their car in a parking garage so I’m not sure.
Kate
The PLQ already had a reputation for corruption, and this latest issue of paying for party leadership votes, although it wasn’t technically illegal, has only added fuel to the dumpster fire.
They need someone of pristine reputation who can clearly define a viable and desirable path distinct from the other parties’ offerings.
They’re looking for a lion in a time of jackals.
Joey
Liberals are in disarray. QS is in disarray. CAQ is in disarray (although Legault’s decision to hang on no matter what is looking a little smarter now). Yes, the election isn’t tomorrow, but 10 months is nothing considering how long it took the Liberal Party to elect a leader.
Tim S.
All hail Eric Duhaime!
How does such a progressive province end up with this generation of politicians?
Tim S.
This is fun: Soraya Martinez Ferrada was at the party where illegal donations were collected. She herself did not make a donation, but she claims she wasn’t aware it was a fundraiser: “C’était un garden party, ce n’était pas un événement de financement”, a-t-elle dit.” (Rad-Can) This is one of those panicked denials that makes things worse: there is no such thing as a ‘garden party’ in Montreal on April 12, and politicians don’t show up to these things in an election year for no reason or benefit. À suivre…
[But see comment from H. John below – ed.]
Joey
Isn’t the deal that you can only attend if you are buying a ticket, i.e., making a contribution? You would think a federal cabinet minister with eyes on the mayoralty would know this. Anyway, wasn’t the issue that the donations were illegal because they were reimbursed by the donors’ employer, not that holding the fundraiser was somehow inherently off? (Apologies for not reading the article.)
Tim S.
@Joey: Normally all of that is true, which is what makes her absurd statement so interesting.
Tim S.
To give her the benefit of the doubt, does “garden party” mean something different in French?
azrhey
Can we have Marwah Rizqy as the the head of PLQ and maybe win elections next year ?
I am not particularly attached to her beyond she being my MP. I just really want certain people to have to learn how to spell her name.
Kate
That would be great, azrhey, but she announced awhile back that she wouldn’t run in the next election.
H. John
Tim S. wrote “Soraya Martinez Ferrada was at the party where illegal donations were collected.”
No. That is not correct.
There were two events discussed in the articles – both at Mr. Cabral’s home.
The fundraiser was April 12:
The second event, with mentions in the press reports of a video available on YouTube, was July 18.
In the video of the party in his garden, Cabral introduces the politicians who were present: Pablo and Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Both took the mike and said hello:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyDlE6NgZkk
By that time, Pablo was the leader, and it wasn’t a fundraiser.
Tim S.
Thanks H. John, that’s a much more logical sequence. I note Radio-Canada seems to have deleted any reference to her. It would be nice if they had some kind of timeline and explanation of editorial decisions.
On a similar note Kate, you could delete my original comment, or keep it up in the interests of editorial transparency.
Kate
Tim S., I’ve added a “see comment below” to your comment, so that everything makes sense.
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Kate
QMI is doing a series of texts and podcasts on cold cases with a lot of stress on the number of unsolved murders in Quebec. There are also pieces explaining how DNA can lead to solutions and lots of individual articles on unsolved cases.
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Kate
MBC claims that Montreal is racist toward white people.
Ian
MBC is an embarassment to white people.
roberto
But there is no racism in Quebec. /s
Kate, I don’t know if this is too much to ask, but could you avoid posting content from Mathieu Bock-Côté here? I understand the argument for “know thy enemy,” but his work is consistently closed-minded and rooted in fear-mongering rather than good-faith analysis.
In this case, framing Montreal as “racist” through that lens feels less like critique and more like provocation, and I find it generates unnecessary hostility, stress, and vitriol. I value this space, and I’d really prefer it not amplify that kind of discourse (even if everyone here probably disagrees with it).
Uatu
Damn straight it is! Now back of the bus, whitey! Lol. What a clown…
Kate
roberto, I don’t often, and I pondered this one (from Tuesday) awhile before posting it.
But I think we need to see how a man like MBC isn’t writing this stuff in some obscure personal blog, but being given a platform by one of the major media groups in Quebec. The credibility they give him seeps into our culture in all kinds of ways. It isn’t pretty, but it’s part of life here.
I won’t make a habit of it.
Blork
He doesn’t even try to make a cogent argument; he just transcribes from the “angry white racist” pamphlet and leaves it at that. He gets paid for this?
Kevin
MBC is a dangerous man because of his innate dishonesty.
azrhey
I also always hover over the links posted and make it a point not to click on any JdM or JdQ or any other PKK Fiefdom stites
dhomas
He is intellectually dishonest and argues in bad faith. I do not like this man. I was especially insulted last week when, while visiting Paris, one of my customers said I sounded like him on account of my Québécois accent while speaking French. I had to restrain myself…
Tim S.
To repeat my first ever calendar-worthy quote:
I’m glad Kate reads QMI so I don’t have to.
CE
I think La Presse did a huge disservice to Quebec when they stopped printing their newspaper. How many (older) people went from reading a relatively level-headed newspaper to the rag that is the JdM? Now, rather than columnists across the political spectrum who usually make good faith arguments, they get the JdM’s xenophobic and racist columnist spewing their bullshit across the province.
DavidH
@Tim S., you just convinced me to sign up for Kate’s patreon.
Kate
Thank you, DavidH!
Kevin
CE
Seniors in my circle are shocked I get a newspaper every Saturday. They all gave up physical media when they got tablets somewhere around 2010.j2
Bad news @arhvey, a hover frequently causes a preload, which is as good as a view.
MarcG
@j2: Are you talking about a browser feature or a website feature? This website definitely doesn’t do that, and neither the Firefox nor Chromium browsers that I use do either.
dhomas
Get the privacy badger extension for Firefox. It will block any embedded content (ex: Instagram posts, Twitter, etc.) as well blocking hidden trackers.
CE 00:03 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Monday was not a good day for that grocery store. There was a fire across the street so the blocks around it were closed for most of the day and it wasn’t possible to enter any of the shops nearby. Then they get robbed by Santa!
Meezly 10:23 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Y’know what? Good on them! We need a little Robin Hood style action during the holiday season.
That Metro is in a popular bougie area and a corporate franchise. That store will be ok.
Jim 10:59 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Yeah, having masked people start plundering grocery stores isn’t a good thing, ever. It affects employees and many other things. That’s not good intentions, that’s just intimidation.
Ephraim 14:41 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Having been in a bank while it was being robbed, having walked into a supermarket just after it was robbed with a sawed-off shotgun, and having arrived 5 minutes after a very failed terror attack, I can tell you that it’s NOT great. I actually collapsed on the floor soon after the robbery and had to drive back to the office. The employees involved often need a lot of support after a robbery, likely involving CNESST. And it’s hard for a business or bank to recover after that, because they often lose employees, who no longer feel safe working there.
MarcG 15:07 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
I’m not sure those situations are comparable. I would be interested in hearing the voices of the people who were working at the time.
Joey 15:16 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
@MarcG from the Urbania piece: De son côté, Émile Tessier, directeur de la succursale dévalisée, raconte être revenu à l’épicerie après le vol pour y trouver des caissières sous le choc, en pleurs. « C’était pas le fun pour personne. »
MarcG 15:50 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Thanks. Not exactly a first-person account but hey.
Based on the image of the Santas at the checkout and the video clip of the elves entering and leaving the store, it seems like the way they did this was for the two Santas to go in first and collect a ton of food then bring it to the checkout as if they were going to pay for it. One of the cashiers can be seen filming or photographing them, presumably because at that point she thought it was good clean fun. Then once everything was bagged up near the exit, the larger group came in and took it away.
Nicholas 16:39 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Meezly, what do you mean by corporate franchise? I don’t believe it is owned by Metro Inc, but is an independent franchise (which I’m sure is incorporated, so “corporate”, but likely owned by the Beaulieu family (or was) or by a few people). Metro Beaulieu has two stores, in the Plateau, and they’re building a third at the old Aubainerie on Mount Royal.
$3,000 is not going to break the bank, but they are currently hiring employees for the new store, and this won’t help filling that. I was paying at an SAQ in the Plateau recently and someone walked out with a bottle, then came back a minute later to steal a second, while the cashier said, in English, “You know you’re on camera.” But I guess it’s ok to do some crimes in a bougie, gentrified area. Make sure everyone feels equally unsafe.
Kate 17:07 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Nicholas, I remember a La Presse columnist describing being at an SAQ and seeing someone walk brazenly out with a bottle of liquor, and the cashier telling him it happens all the time and there was nothing they could do. Can’t find a link though.
There’s a response on TVA about the Santa event – an interview with the head of a retailing group. The headline is a bit of ragebait about organized crime, and the spokesman whose rhetoric is transcribed gets gradually more disjointed. “Ils rentrent, ils forcent, ils détruisent, ils font peur, ils sont armés, ils sont masqués…”
But nobody said the Santa group was armed. They used social distraction. And nobody imagines they’re connected with organized crime.
I don’t say that what they did was right, although I can understand the motivation. Ephraim is right that such actions are hardest on the employees of the store.
Tim 17:42 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
I’m going to guess that the cashier was filming them so that it could be presented to police as evidence and that she did not think it was “good clean fun”.
MarcG 18:22 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
@Tim: If you look at the photo I’m referring to you’ll see one of their co-workers is scanning the items and another appears to be helping Santa#2 bag them up. It seems pretty clear to me that at that point they were under the impression that these were paying customers.
MarcG 18:23 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
@Kate: Here you go https://mtlcityweblog.com/2024/07/24/rise-in-crime-becomes-daily-fact/
Kate 19:49 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Thank you, MarcG!
SMD 21:33 on 2025-12-18 Permalink
Team Santa all the way.
Tee Owe 16:01 on 2025-12-19 Permalink
Santas and elves rob Montreal grocery store to ‘give food to the needy’
@kate – re your comment about Montreal news in the Guardian , I tried to paste a link to another instance – not sure it works, maybe someone can help
MarcG 16:55 on 2025-12-19 Permalink
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/19/montreal-grocery-store-santas-elves-robbery
Tee Owe 18:48 on 2025-12-19 Permalink
Thanks MarcG