A new dépanneur has opened in the Milton-Park area, but police want to block its alcohol permit because of the homeless who hang around around the intersection.
Updates from April, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The mayor and the new premier seem to be getting along so far.
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Kate
The CAQ objected to a redrawn riding map, under which Montreal island loses a provincial riding in the east end, but the Supreme Court has ruled that the map will stay in force and be in effect during the upcoming Quebec election.
H. John
“and be in effect during the upcoming Quebec election” would not be my guess.
The government still has other options, as the Superior Court pointed out in its original decision. We should see new legislation introduced by the CAQ government this week to protect the two ridings in the Gaspé.
Kate
How deeply implanted are the rules about riding size, H. John?
bob
All the rules around electoral district boundaries are suggestions. We don’t have southern US level gerrymandering, but we do have subtle shifts in boundaries after the same purpose. The rule of one person one vote does not apply in Quebec, nor in Canada.
H. John
@Kate asked “How deeply implanted are the rules about riding size”?
It’s a very general rule which Elections Quebec tries to apply.
But this case is not about Elections Quebec or an Elections Commission doing their assigned job. This case is about the LVI (Loi visant l’interruption du processus de délimitation des circonscriptions électorales (« LVI »)) passed by the National Assembly to override the proposed new map from Elections Quebec.
The Superior Court wrote in its decision in this case:
50. … La représentation effective implique que d’autres facteurs que l’équivalence mathématique soient pris en considération lors de la délimitation des circonscriptions électorales. En particulier, la représentation effective exige la prise en compte des communautés naturelles et des facteurs qui influencent la capacité d’un élu à remplir ses rôles de législateur, de médiateur et d’agent de développement. Cela tient compte d’un certain nombre de facteurs, comme la taille de la circonscription. Les circonscriptions qui s’étendent sur de vastes territoires limitent la capacité des électeurs à accéder à leur député.
52 À cet égard, dans le Renvoi de la Saskatchewan, la juge McLachlin, s’exprime pour la majorité de cinq juges comme suit :
[L]a représentation effective et la bonne administration dans ce pays obligent ceux qui sont chargés de fixer les limites des circonscriptions électorales à tenir parfois compte d’autres facteurs que la parité du nombre des électeurs, tels les conditions géographiques et les intérêts de la collectivité.
We already have a riding that’s completely outside the norm:
145. Notamment, bien que l’option de simplement protéger les circonscriptions de la Gaspésie de la même manière que la Loi électorale protège les Îles-de-la-Madeleine et de laisser la Commission rééquilibrer le reste des circonscriptions semble possible, rien ne démontre que cette approche aurait reçu l’appui unanime de l’Assemblée nationale.
I keep mentioning CAQ is only concerned about protecting the riding in the Gaspé and even the Court of Appeal was clear on that:
63. Même si le texte de la LVI ainsi que les notes explicatives sont muets à ce sujet, la preuve administrée permet de comprendre que le premier objectif poursuivi par la LVI vise à éviter la suppression d’une circonscription en Gaspésie[85]. En effet, il est évident que ce n’est pas à cause de la perte d’une circonscription à Montréal, laquelle n’est mentionnée qu’au passage, que le législateur choisit d’intervenir. D’ailleurs, c’est la réalité de la Gaspésie ainsi qu’en général celle des circonscriptions en région qui est ciblée dans le mémoire et la plaidoirie de l’intimé.
We’ll have a better idea of “How deeply implanted are the rules about riding size” once the Supreme Court releases its written reasons. The decision, in favour of the applicants, was read from the bench with reasons to follow
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Kate
An El Niño system developing in the Pacific may bring what CTV calls dramatic weather to southern Quebec by June.
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Kate
A woman in her seventies was killed by a street sweeper in Boucherville on Tuesday morning.
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Kate
CBC’s Benjamin Shingler shows us a selection of Gabor Szilasi photos.
bob 22:14 on 2026-04-22 Permalink
Oh what bullshit. There’s a 24 hour dep literally around the corner. Who isn’t getting paid?
Ian 08:01 on 2026-04-23 Permalink
There’s a LOT of deps right around there. It does sound like somebody forgot to pay somebody off for sure.
“Several other alcohol outlets are located within minutes — even seconds — of Marché Shanaj.
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At the Couche-Tard convenience store on the corner of Sherbrooke Street and Park Avenue, staff confirmed they do not sell alcohol to people who appear intoxicated.
At the Metro grocery store in Galeries du Parc, the owner said security guards screen individuals as they enter.”
There’s also an SAQ in Galeries du Parc and yeah, a whole pile of deps within a 5 minute walk of that corner.
Regardless, blaming a depanneur for contributing to the problem of homelessness instead of oh, I don’t know, actually using that grotesquely inflated cop budget to improve community policing in a stressed area is pretty damn rich.
it would be more effective to put money and effort towards addressing social and economic problems such as drug addiction, homelessness and mental health than strengthening law enforcement. This is just one more example underlining that the police are not up to the task.
Joey 13:09 on 2026-04-23 Permalink
Big banana republic vibes to this story. Cops acting as if they can determine that it’s OK for these stores to sell certain products but not those (I suspect Ian’s hypothesis is correct), a store-owner selling beer and wine without a valid permit, business owners freely admitting that they illegally refuse entry to all homeless people.
Kate 15:27 on 2026-04-23 Permalink
I think a lot of them do refuse entry. Couple of years back I was waiting for the light at the corner of Park and Sherbrooke when an Indigenous man sitting there, leaning up against the wall at the corner, asked me for a handout. I talked with him for a moment, and he told me that what would really help, instead of just giving him money, is if I would buy him a sandwich and some juice in the Couche‑Tard across the street, because he was not allowed in there himself.
He seemed to take it as normal that he could not enter a business premises and needed to ask a white person to do it for him.
So I got him a sandwich and juice. I didn’t query him about how many establishments kept him and his confrères out, but I bet it’s most of them that area.
Ian 17:57 on 2026-04-23 Permalink
You’re not wrong. I’ve been asked to do dep runs before in that stretch, and not for beer.
We know the Metro illegally bars people they perceive as homeless, I wonder if the Provigo at Sherbrooke and Parc does, too. It’s kind of shocking that they can so brazenly flout the law considering it basically means homeless people have problems buying food.