Le Devoir lays out how the city handles ice and snow, in an apparent effort to educate people who complain about it.
Updates from December, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Video report from CBC on how Monday was the second busiest day Urgences‑santé has ever had, with more than 1000 calls due to the combination of flu spiking and falls on ice.
(But then, when was its busiest day, and why?)
Deborah
Not sure if I can link to CTV, but
“The ambulance service received 1,358 calls, about a quarter of which were related to falls due to freezing rain, Sapone said.
On an average day, Urgences-santé receives some 900 calls. Its highest-recorded call volume was 1,473 on Jan. 11, 2024.”
Kate
Thank you!
jeather
Out of curiosity I went back in your archives:
https://mtlcityweblog.com/2024/01/12/urgences-sante-faces-record-calls/MarcG
I was about to write the exact comment here that I wrote on that old thread but stopped because I had a feeling I had already expressed it at some point. At least I’m consistent I guess. Thanks jeather.
Kate
I should feel complimented that my readers know my archive better than I do!
jeather
Gotta admit I just went to the archives page and scrolled until the right day, I had no memory of that post.
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Kate
More 2025 retrospectives:
Daniel Renaud on crime incidents.
La Presse, again, on human interest stories.
Le Devoir on the international swing to the extreme right.
Radio-Canada’s worst weather stories in Canada in 2025.
Also, lots of statistics from Quebec’s official stats people.
Stupid crimes of the year from TVA.
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Kate
A new centralized animal pound is opening in the new year, replacing Berger Blanc and some of the services of the SPCA.
jeather
“Le site du nouveau centre animalier a été choisi pour son accessibilité — une priorité pour l’organisme, souligne Anny Kirouac. Il sera possible de s’y rendre en transport en commun, mais il faut savoir que la station de métro la plus proche, la station Saint-Michel, est située à plus de 50 minutes de marche du refuge.”
Accessibility! (As the article points out, you can bring dogs on leash on the metro but not the train or bus.)
Kate
I know. That’s real weasel wording, accessible – but a considerable walk or bus ride from the metro.
su
How awful. A kitty might put up with a metro ride, but by the time they reach St Michel he/she would be in a high state of physiological- emotional stress. Walking even a few hundred metres with a kitty in any kind of carrier is a major physical feat for most cat ladies. 50 minutes even under ideal environmental conditions is not an option for most folks.
EmilyG
We got our cat 10 years ago from the SPCA near Namur metro. It’s not far by metro from Namur to Cote-Vertu, which is the station we get off at when we take a bus home to the West Island.
That was a doable trip.
I can’t imagine going from our part of the island, all the way out to that new shelter, and then going all the way back on the bus, then metro, then another bus or two, to where we live. Nobody in my family drives.Kate
I hope an arrangement will be made so the SPCA can remain a satellite pet adoption centre.
dhomas
That’s not accessible at all! It’s almost faster to get off at Pie-IX on the green line and take the 439 SRB to the refuge, which takes about 28 minutes. Maybe when the Vertières blue line metro station opens in “2031” (I’ll believe it when I see it), it will be faster? It should take about 15 minutes in the 439 from there. They do mention that the Mascouche line train station is right nearby. It’s only a 4 minute walk from that train, but who takes that train, especially now that they’ve kneecapped it by removing the direct path to downtowm?
Everything else about the pound seems pretty good, though. At least as far as I can tell from reading the article.
Kate
The project was promised after a damning report on Berger Blanc, 15 years ago. Everyone was agreed there were better ways of managing stray and unwanted pet animals, but – like all civic projects – the price tag kept climbing over the years. I hope it turns out to be as humane as possible.
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