Sports commentator Rodger Brulotte, remembered mostly in connection with the Expos, has died at 79. Further notes from La Presse and Journal de Montréal and others.
Updates from March, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A male sex worker who, in 2023, at age 19, stabbed his client dead and stole his BMW, pleaded guilty to second degree murder Friday at the Palais de justice.
Ephraim
You know, there is a famous Montreal male sex worker who did a LOT worse, like butcher someone…. Maybe we need to actually look at the root causes of these people going into male sex work and put in a system to help them BEFORE they get there. Because is not a great record.
Ian
So are you seriously suggesting that every male sex worker needs to be “put in a system” because of two people? How about female sex workers? What kind of system?
Fun fact:
Sex work is not illegal.
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Kate
Weekend notes from Le Devoir, CityCrunch, La Presse, Journal de Montréal, CultMTL.And of course the Saint Patrick’s 100% Non‑Christian‑Saint‑Oriented Secular Parade, Sunday afternoon.
Also adding some driving issues for the weekend.
jeather
If you think about drinking it’s fine; if you think about banishing snakes it’s not; if you think about shamrocks being lucky it’s ok; if you think about them symbolizing the trinity it isn’t. This works for all Christian symbols, but obviously you can’t think about non-Christian religious symbols in a secular way, which is why the hijab must stay banned.
Chris
Do you guys really think more than 0.1% of parade attendees have any religious motivation or thought?!
Undeniably it has a christian history, but today: It’s just a fun day out with the kids and/or a boozy excursion. Nobody gives religion any thought. (Except the commentariat here it seems.)
Kate
Just wait till the 100% secular Procession du Chemin de Croix on April 3 in Old Montreal.
Kate
Chris, they carry a huge effigy of Saint Patrick in the parade. The event tends to connect with masses at St Patrick’s church. Also, the tabards of the parade marshals have the slogan “Faith and Fatherland” written on them in pseudo uncial lettering.
No, it is not as much of a religious ceremony as it was when my grandfather walked in it, but it is still a representation of the cult of a saint.
Imagine now if this was a parade in which Shia Muslims were honouring the memory of Ali. People freaked when some people did an Eid El‑Adha thing in a park a few years ago.
Consider how some people react when the Hasids celebrate Purim in Outremont and Mile End.
But despite the laws, we shrug off the Irish parade and the Good Friday parade and the Portuguese community doing the Senhor Santo Cristo parade.
MarcG
Is a Muslim daycare employee having “religious motivation or thought” when they’re changing a diaper wearing a hijab?
jeather
Ok, first, I don’t actually object to the existence of a Santa Parade or a St Patrick’s Day parade etc. But in the context of the goverment bullshitting away about how secular Quebec is, how nothing religious is allowed ever, managing to exempt every Christian image (except a creche) or word as being “cultural” but not anything from any other religion is complete bullshit, and even the politicians know it. If you cared about having fully secular schools, you’d remove all the crosses and crucifixes from them, you’d rename them secular names, you’d remove the giant honking cross from the mountain, etc. If you want to be a fully secular society, fine, but then actually do it. What they want is to be a sort of secular Catholic society.
steph
I wonder if there’s an inverse correlation or causation between the proliferation of Pastafarianism and the disappearance of of Souper Spaghetti fundraisers. When I was younger these Souper Spaghetti were really common, 50% of which seemed to be church based events.
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Kate
Police have announced a new plan to fight extortion against businesses, saying they’ve already made 20 arrests – mostly teenagers. Their big idea is to monitor sites where shady job offers are made.
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Kate
Unusually, François Legault plans to remain in his seat as an MNA till the election, although he’s not going to run again.
Nicholas
Wouldn’t you? There’s no session over the summer and the fall session wouldn’t start until after the election starts, so he only needs to sit for two months and do constituency work for another six months to get half a year’s pay. Plus he doesn’t even have to sit, he can just stay home. They don’t have to call a by-election this close to the general and it would be mostly useless to do so. Plus there’s a good chance of a snap spring election if the polls look good for the new leader. And maybe he really just wants to vote on his constitution or taking more rights away.
The main reasons to leave are to not take the spotlight or to get some cushy job, but he can probably get that job soon enough.
H. John
French media has stressed it’s likely about the transition payment.
Besides his regular pay, he only qualifies for the added transition payment if he sits until the end of his mandate. In his case, that’s an extra $300,000.
As Le Devoir writes:
“En quittant à la fin de son mandat, M. Legault peut toucher l’allocation de transition prévue dans les règlements de l’Assemblée nationale.”
And Le Soleil:
“Étant donné que Legault a consacré plus de 20 ans au service public, il atteint le maximum de douze fois le salaire mensuel. Il aurait droit à une année de salaire.
Selon les données au 1er avril 2025, le premier ministre à une indemnité totale de 290 331 $.
«Notons qu’un député qui démissionne en cours de mandat n’a pas droit à l’allocation de transition, à l’exception des situations où la démission est justifiée par des raisons familiales sérieuses ou par un problème de santé important affectant sa personne ou un membre de sa famille immédiate», fait savoir la porte-parole de l’Assemblée nationale, Béatrice Zacharie.”
Kate
Why does François need more money if he can get an apartment in Montreal for $500 a month?
Thanks for the cites, H. John.
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Kate
The city is promising to buy two new pothole filling machines next year and hire more blue collars to upgrade roads.
The phrase “création de deux pôles d’excellence” makes me shudder. Whenever business types start talking about “excellence” you know you’re knee‑deep in bullshit.
Potholes are our big media story Friday afternoon.
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Kate
Winter is not done with us yet. The vernal equinox is Friday morning, yet a snowstorm is expected in the afternoon.
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Kate
More emphasis Friday on the poor condition of half of our metro stations, and Quebec’s omission of enough support in the recent budget.
Mozai
What does cote/note D and cote/note E mean?
Kate
This piece on CityNews defines it:
A new assessment method—similar to one used by Quebec’s Ministry of Transport—shows the situation is worse than previously thought.The updated rating system ranges from A (very good condition) to E (major defects). Of the 68 stations, 31 received a D or E, indicating serious structural deterioration. Only two stations—Cartier and Montmorency in Laval—earned an A rating. Not coincidentally, they are also the newest stations in the network.
Five stations, including Saint-Michel, Peel, and Champ-de-Mars, received the lowest possible grade.
St-Michel station was patched up in 2024 but it must need more work.
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