Charlie Billions says he’d renew the notwithstanding clause that protects Bill 96 from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Obviously it’s in Milliard’s interest to demonstrate that the PLQ is not on the side of the anglos.
And Mark Carney assured Christine Fréchette on Friday that he won’t meddle with the clause.
What’s the point of a charter of rights with a get‑out clause that basically says “unless we really want to, then we will”?
It’s the 50th anniversary of Robert Charlebois’ classic Je reviendrai à Montréal, so his son has recorded a new version with a video featuring historic views of the Canadiens in their glory years. The video.
City blue collar workers are marking the last day of their three‑day strike with a protest in front of City Hall on Friday.
Weekend notes from CityCrunch, Le Devoir, Journal de Montréal, La Presse, CultMTL, the Gazette.
Some weather notes.
Mile End Kicks, a movie about the neighbourhood back around 2011 when it was felt to be a hotbed of new pop music and coolness, opens on Friday. Wikipedia says the working title was Anglophone. Descriptions in Le Devoir and La Presse.
Tangentially relevant, the Gazette looks at the disappearance of affordable artist studios, the factor which is probably most responsible for the decline of this city as a creative hub.
Pretty harsh that a film set in a Montreal music scene couldn’t pick a local song for the trailer.
Reminds me a bit of Guillaume Morissette’s fine novel New Tab (Véhicule, 2014), set in roughly the same place and time, although its (mostly anglophone) characters would have laughed cynically at the supposed life lesson of the movie, which according to a critics cited in Wikipedia, is about “learning to embrace our love, our anger, and our talent,” thanks to the magic of the neighbourhood.
Makes me think about that musician in Mile End who was bludgeoned to death by his bandmate with a bass guitar. It wasn’t all wine and roses.
Artists ate the shock troops of gentrification. People dont have loft parties because they dont like ballrooms.
Cheap studio space in a neighbourhood the cops don’t care about too much is all that is required. A couple of dive bars and a good diner helps. The parasite class like the Kornbluths and Shiller-Lavys of the world will inevitably follow when the desirable/cool boundary approaches, next come the yuppies and chain boutiques.
*artists are
Lol
I thought you were supposed to eat the rich.
no no no Janet, eat the rich is wrong!
God knows what they are filled with
OTOH, compost the rich…grows tasty strawberries and fragrant tomatoes…
If anyone’s looking for a way to support local music, CKUT 90.3FM is currently running their yearly funding drive.
It looks like more deer will have to be culled in parks in and near Montreal. Deer are vectors for ticks, besides damaging the greenery in enclaved spaces like Longueuil’s Michel‑Chartrand park. A specific species of mouse (not the house mouse) is also blamed for carrying Lyme disease in the area.
H. John 16:43 on 2026-04-17 Permalink
Milliard may have taken a step back:
https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/973001/charles-milliard-fait-volte-face-quant-disposition-derogation-loi-96?
Kate 16:57 on 2026-04-17 Permalink
I think he’s testing the waters to see how the public is responding to the options. But flip‑flopping too much isn’t wise either.