Public health says that, in Montreal, girls are vaping more than boys, and drinking and using drugs more too.
Updates from April, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
More pothole news: a woman fractured her ankle in a pothole in Chinatown recently. Everyone needs to look out as they cross streets – I went for a walk in my neighbourhood Thursday and so many corners had big holes just where a pedestrian tends to cross.
Mark Côté
My wife sprained her ankle badly a couple years ago in a deep pothole that looked like a shallow puddle.
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Kate
Allison Hanes asks whether the Fréchette version of the CAQ will treat Montreal better than the Papa Legault version. Answer is not clear, and may not matter given the little time Fréchette has to act.
Apropos, La Presse runs a CP piece on the unfortunate decision to return Chantal Rouleau to the role of social solidarity and community action minister, as her actions (or lack of them) in that role so far have led to an actual strike by community groups.
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Kate
The Olympia on Ste-Catherine East is marking its centenary, having come close to being razed for condos in 2005.
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Kate
The SAQ is keen to keep profits up while booze consumption declines. Patriotic Québécois should be knocking them back.
Kevin
We need to write a song called Unrealized Consequences of an Aging Population
Ian
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Kate
The new premier has announced $700M for the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, which has been in need of renovations for years.
Nicholas
Of course the only thing they had actually funded before this was parking. Though it is interesting that more than half this money is to buy nearby property.
On a tangential health note, it is really neat at the CHUM where you scan your health card at any kiosk and it finds your appointment, confirms info, reminds you which floor to go to and where, and then when they’re ready for you a board tells you which room to go to, like at the SAAQ. No hospital card needed. Still there are a ton of volunteers guiding people, but it really helps, and I hope HMR does the same thing, plus all the hospitals.
Joey
IIRC the argument was that it made the most sense to renovate the parking garage first, from a construction sequence perspective. Still very positive to see this investment from the Frechette government. Though the CAQ has seen a slight uptick in the polls, the odds are stacked against them for this fall. Frechette will have to choose from three options, IMO:
1. Try to win the election – be smart, calculating, and force PSSP and Milliard to make mistakes.
2. Try to unite the CAQ/solidify your position and focus on whatever election will follow this October’s
3. Try to do as much as you can between now and October – really mid-June, given the National Assembly calendar – to leave your mark on Quebec (classic example: Kim Campbell’s major public service restructure during her few months as PM).If I were her I’d do more of this – unblock major, delayed long-term projects, like a transit plan for the east end.
Nicholas
One of the first supporters of Fréchette to run just left the CAQ to sit as an independent because she appointed Drainville and some of his top supporters to her cabinet. This guy thinks they’re bad, she’s trying to keep the team united, and the fractures that Legault papered over are showing.
Kate
Gilles Bélanger. He had reason to expect a role in the cabinet so he flounced out.
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Kate
CBC reports on frankly gross conditions at subsidized housing in NDG.
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Kate
A celebration of Israel’s independence day drew a crowd downtown Wednesday, as well as a counter‑protest.
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Kate
Thursday morning there’s a fire in a metal recycling yard in the east end, producing a lot of smoke. Photos from TVA.
Midday, it’s reported that the city has revoked the permit of the firm, but that this is a coincidence and it was going to do that anyway. Public health issued a recommendation for people with respiratory weaknesses to stay indoors. Some nearby residents found the smoke nasty.
jaddle
I didn’t see any smoke from downtown/Westmount, but there was a nasty plastic-burning smell now and then. I thought my bike might have been on fire for a moment. 🙂
maggie rose 06:49 on 2026-04-24 Permalink
Vaping is addictive when it contains nicotine. Not all vape pens or liquid refills contain nicotine. Buyers have to request it. I know because I quit a 50 year stubborn smoking habit with vaping, luckily just before Quebec make it extremely difficult to obtain reliable vape products (except in person at shops, and not all are equal in quality). After the first time I used it, I never smoked another cigarette. I slowly reduced the amount of nicotine, took a few months but worked. BTW, vape liquid with no flavour (even nicotine) tastes horrible, which is why they add them. Most are disgusting, I found one called Earl Grey that was innocuous & masked the other taste. I can see why teens are drawn to the child-like flavours marketed to them. I think it verges on abuse by designers and sellers. Adults trying to quit smoking don’t vape for the bubble-gum & strawberry flavours (yuck).
Anyway, isn’t it very sad that girls are self-medicating more than boys, and there is not the mental health support for them? Lets hope this Public Health announcement will afford that help to them fast.
Chris 08:45 on 2026-04-24 Permalink
>isn’t it very sad that girls are self-medicating more than boys
I suppose ideally there would be gender parity here?
Like most natural systems, you’d expect some fluctuation, so maybe in one survey year boys would be vaping more, and in the next year girls more, then boys more, then an equal year, etc. and it would average out to parity.
Well, the article says that this is the *first time* girls are vaping more, meaning things have been very far from parity for a long time. You could alternatively view this as good news, because a single survey in the opposite direction brings the average closer to parity. (Of could even better news would be vaping going down, but…)
Also the article doesn’t say how much more. Are girls vaping 10x more than boys, or 1% more? The actual report probably says, but of course they don’t bother to link to that. Yay legacy media!
jeather 15:06 on 2026-04-24 Permalink
Some better stats from La Presse
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/sante/2026-04-23/enquete-sur-la-sante-des-jeunes-au-secondaire/de-la-fumee-a-la-vapeur.php