The boring machine that will dig out the tunnel for the metro’s blue line extension is being installed at the future Vertières station, from where it will dig eastward from Pie‑IX and Jean‑Talon to Anjou.
I assume a tunnel already mostly exists between St‑Michel station and Vertières.
La Presse has a bulletin from the trial of Salim Touaibi and Aymane Bouadi for the shooting death of Meriem Boundaoui in 2021 – an admission by Touaibi that he fired his gun for fear he was about to be shot at himself.
Parking is a matter of passion for some people – I’ve worked with people for whom it was clearly the thing for which they had the strongest feelings in their lives. In this case, it led to an exchange of gunfire. Let’s not forget this, when it comes to SMF removing bike paths to give parking back. She knows. She knows.
That’s borderline tinfoil hat conspiratorial thinking, but ok, that can be fun, too. I’m more inclined toward Hanlon’s razor.
I don’t understand what the supposed conspiracy is? Nor what the stupidity/malice is. Did i miss something?
I can’t tell if Kate’s theory is that more parking spaces will relieve tensions or increase them (a la ‘more roads equals more traffic’), and am even more befuddled by her reference to J. Cole’s 2013 song She Knows.
All I was saying – and it has nothing to do with conspiracy – is that SMF has tapped into the strong feelings some people have about parking. That shooting came about because two families with businesses along that part of Jean‑Talon descended to violence over a question of who controls parking space.
I wasn’t referencing any song.
My bad, I thought by “she knows” you were implying some kind of powerful cabal of parking worshippers who were striking fear into our dear mayor’s heart.
A finding by a recent survey of 45,280 Quebecers found that 40% of us routinely switch languages at home and with friends, and one third of us while shopping or at work. Montrealers are far more likely to use English occasionally – uh‑oh.
My first thought was “only 40%?” but then I remembered I’m an anglo. It would be interesting to see this broken down by native language. For example, what is the percentage among families who are fully francophone? What’s the percentage among families who are anglo/allophone? What’s the percentage among mixed families?
If the data showed that most of this switching was done by Anglo/Allophones switching in and out of French, that’s a different story from the pearl-clutcher of Francophones switching in and out of English.
“Routhier was asked whether the ISQ survey found that French is declining. She noted that debates about the state of French often focus on the shrinking demographic weight of francophones, rather than on measured decreases in how often French is used.”
You’re not supposed to say that aloud!
The beauty of race replacement theory is that it has shifting goalposts built right in.
I still find it ‘wonderfully’ comical that the colonists of indigeneous America spend so much tme fretting about the continuance of their “race” which is by definition a collection of various “types” from Europe, some more ethnically diverse, some less – but always quietly burying the fact that they did almost everything they could to literally elminate Natives if they dared stand in the way of the colonial project.
Related, via Michel Jean writing for La Presse:
Au sujet du mythe du bon colon français
Good piece, Ian. It seems to take an Innu writer to see through the myth.
A man was found unconscious on a downtown sidewalk early Monday, cause unknown.
(This is another in a series of minor incidents reported because there were no actual crimes to report.)
Retail stores which must currently close at 5 pm on weekends will be allowed to stay open till 9 pm except for public holidays. This is a year‑long pilot project, which will start on March 11.
I wonder how they will assess the success of this project. Sales? How many stores actually keep doing it through the year? Quebec’s laws on retail opening hours are supposed to allow workers to have family lives outside their jobs. Will anyone ask how retail workers feel about losing part of their weekend evenings?
Another way to look at it is there are now more hours with which to provide employment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Personally, I find stores closing at 5:00PM on Saturdays to be annoying. I can understand why 9:00PM closing might be an issue for some folks who might not want to work on Saturday nights, but FFS at least stay open until 6:00!
Workers in clothing stores get family lives but workers in grocery stores don’t. (Honestly I bet this will be a boon for students.)
Many of my students work in food retail and are happy to get whatever hours they can… but sometimes managers take advantage of them and overload them with shifts. There is a balance, and the weight of power still rests with business, not workers – especially young workers.
When I was a student, and this was now 16-20 years ago…I often ended up quitting my retail jobs in the lead up to mid-terms in the fall or a couple of weeks before final exams in December. (I usually started these jobs in late April/early May). I know not everyone has that luxury and that it was a privilege. But yeah, I’m agreeing with what Ian said. I knew how many shifts I could handle with my courseload and let them know in advance but they always asked for more and then you’d be criticized, etc. It was just easier to quit and look for something else later on. I suppose things are different now – it’s maybe more challenging to find something else quickly, etc.
Glad this is finally happening.
We allow our citizens to shop on Amazon 24/7, and we allow Amazon to deliver from 06:00 to 22:00, but we prevent our own domestic brick & mortar stores from having long hours. Crazy.
A massive fire in Côte St‑Paul has destroyed a church and unhoused 73 residents of an adjoining care home for seniors. La Presse has an impressive aerial shot of the ruins.
That was a really beautiful church. You could see it from a distance and it was also a testament to the old centre of Côte St-Paul before the 15 was built and destroyed much of it.
When these churches disappear, either by demolition or by fire, they erase part of Montreal’s built logic. They were a focal point for urban development and community. When they’re gone, the city makes less sense without them. It’s like removing the verb from a sentence.
There is a wonderful community garden project on the proprety, I wonder if it will be affected. I always noted those great old Russian-looking bell tower things when driving on the 15.
James 18:33 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
No it does not exist yet.
There are several hundred meters to tunnel westwards from Vertières using conventional methods.
The boring machine will only go eastwards.
Kate 18:53 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
Ah OK. I thought there was a turnaround tunnel after St‑Michel station, at least.