The traditional annual Portuguese procession for Senhor Santo Cristo has been refused a permit, Plateau borough saying it’s obeying the law against public prayer.
Updates from May, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
The new president of the city blue collars says the union won’t disturb the Grand Prix although they may make themselves visible.
-
Kate
Vets are warning about parvovirus, which can affect both cats and dogs. Both species can and should be vaccinated.
-
Kate
Open drug use is way up in the metro, as are interventions with naloxone.
-
Kate
The question what we should do with all those unwanted churches was considered recently in a conference in Montreal. Basically, the answer is to transform them into something the community needs – residential, sports or performance spaces and so on. But of course, that takes money, always in short supply.
Blork
TBF, money isn’t in short supply, it’s just poorly distributed. (As also with fresh water and good sense.)
Kate
In short supply in context, I meant – in the sense of what government feels to be prioritized.
-
Kate
The pothole alert system is prone to marking potholes as terminated although they haven’t been fixed, according to 24Hres.
Ian
“terminated” sounds very ominous, like a threat against pothole snitches haha
-
Kate
If the language law is applied to vocational training and adult education, it would move 27,000 students from English to French instruction, exults Jean‑François Roberge in this brief piece.
Whether there are sufficient places available for those thousands of students on the franco side is not discussed, nor what happens to the teachers on the anglo side whom he’s putting out to pasture.
Kevin
We’ve come a long way from “Give me the child until he is 7 and I will show you the foundations of the man.”
They’ve already got these people from birth until the end of high school, but apparently that’s still not enough–they lose all their Frenchness in just a few years of trade school.
R T
Whether there are sufficient places did come up in the National Assembly, per The Gazette:
‘“Tomorrow morning, the francophone system is ready to absorb 27,000 people just like that in the same kind of programs?” [Québec solidaire MNA Alexandre] Leduc asked the minister during their exchange. Roberge answered he is already in talks with Education Minister Sonia LeBel. He said there would be a transition provision in the plan to ensure students can make the move smoothly.’
Kate
I am not sure I believe that.
Ian
As I recall it was only a few years ago the CSDM was forced to hire uncertified program teachers because of a shortage of qualified applicants. I know at least 3 Romanian women, trained as teacherss in Romania, with work experience in schools … who became primary school teachers practically overnight after years of only being “qualified” to be garderie workers.
DisgruntledGoat
I really don’t get the moral panic. No one in North America is in danger of not speaking English. As an anglophone in QC, we are bombarded with it. They’ll learn it through pop culture via TikTok or streaming or friends.
Tim
@DisgruntledGoat: Two of my friends, neither of whom know each other, both told me independently that they thought they were proficient in English during high school but only learned that they actually were not when they went to English CEGEPs. To me, the moral panic is about removing choice and options from people who want to better themselves.
And let’s not forget that a lot of the intelligencia focused on removing English have actually benefitted themselves from an English education. The most recent example in the news was Claude Morin, the architect of the quiet revoluation, who went to Columbia University.
Joey
@DisgruntledGoat the issue here isn’t that they are being denied their right to learn English, it’s that they are being denied their right to learn *anything* in their first language (or at all, if we suspect that the French-language adult ed/vocational training system can’t handle an influx of 27,000 students). Even an Anglo who is quite proficient in French would likely struggle with vocational training in their second (more likely third) language given the need to be precise about very technical and specialized language. The CAQ is once again trampling on individuals’ rights solely to once again undermine English institutions in Quebec. And when those individuals say, fine give us the Francization programs you keep promising, there will be nobody to listen.
Kevin
Disgruntled
The issue is that adult and vocational ed help fund the English-administered elementary and high school system.The government is doing its utmost to eliminate a minority group through cuts, cuts, cuts.
Ian
Kevin hits the nail on the head. Qui Buono, etc.
Adult Ed and Cont Ed are cash cows.This is not unlike how limiting immigrant access & forcing French proficiency on Cont Ed massively reduced enrolment in English CEGEPS, which was really unfortunate as Cont Ed funding was offsetting funding cutbacks to education overall, which was probably the underlying intention all along.
-
Kate
Radio-Canada has some critical thoughts on airport privatization from an expert at the HEC.
Nicholas
I don’t think this would be a good idea, given we’d likely bundle the sale, but the argument tshe expert gives are 1) we might get into a war and need airports to move troops, 2) if we want to trade we’d want to use airports and 3) there is uncertainty in aviation so what private operators would jump into that? Has this expert looked at what happened in other countries that privatized airports? These are not big problems, and there are fairly obvious solutions. I hope there are some better experts out there to oppose this because if this is the opposition then this privatization is happening.
bob
The usual Liberal graft.
Nicholas 23:07 on 2026-05-13 Permalink
Wait, a parade in honour of a saint is not allowed, even if there’s no praying and even if this cultural nationalist fête has been going on for years? Ok Google, remind of this in exactly six weeks.
Joey 09:35 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
Anyone else get the sense this is the Plateau borough sort-of thumbing their nose at the province, given that they probably could have gotten away with issuing a permit?
jeather 09:43 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
This is clearly malicious compliance, yes.
Kate 09:57 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
jeather and Joey, that’s my reading of it too, especially since the item adds “Le SPVM tolérera et encadrera l’événement dimanche.”
Nicholas, the St Patrick’s parade could be described the same way – a parade in honour of a saint, cultural nationalism, no praying. But I’ve seen the Santo Cristo and it’s very much more devotional than St Patrick’s, I think people were singing hymns and that’s tantamount to prayer, no?
R T 11:23 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
It’s definitely the case that Santo Cristo is more religious, but it’s a bit of a sorites paradox: How many people need to sing hymns and pray for it to count? If six weeks from now, I go out in the street and start praying, will they have to shut the whole thing down? What if I get 100 of my friends to do it with me?
Meezly 12:45 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
The annual parade has been happening since 1979. It’s another case of religion/culture/tradition intertwining, and yet another example of hypocrisy, and yet another minority group being unfairly punished because of exclusive secularism. How many times has the QC govt made the excuse of not removing a Catholic symbol because of tradition and/or culture?
jeather 12:49 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
What religion do you think this parade is about exactly? I’m sorry for the people who are caught up in this from no fault of their own, but the entire reason it’s being banned is because it’s a Catholic parade and if the law is going to hit religious parades, well, let’s make sure it hits Catholics too. (I have not seen this one and have exactly zero opinion about it specifically.)
bob 13:10 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
All these measures are worth it to them just to stick it to Muslims.
Meezly 13:21 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
My thoughts went faster than I could write to clarify more clearly, but was thinking more in the line of francophone Catholicism vs non-francophone, ie. non-white Catholicism. Easier for the powers that be to marginalize the latter than the former. It may seem like they’re tackling Catholicism in general but again, for me at least, it’s targeted secularism.
I have seen this parade go by my neighbourhood for many years, it clearly means something to the community and doesn’t harm anyone who’s not involved (unless you’re a driver who’s been caught unawares). I’m not religious but I find it lovely to observe, so I guess I have some personal opinion on it.
jeather 14:29 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
So there are two questions.
One: is this a good law in general, and is it well-defined specifically about what is “religious” and how many people count etc etc? We’ve discussed both of those fairly extensively.
Two: given the law against public prayer, does this parade count? “It is shocking to see people blocking traffic, taking over public space without a permit, without warning, and then turning our streets, parks and public squares into places of worship,” Roberge said in November. This seems exactly like what he’s referring to.
Nicholas 14:46 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
The incoherence of all of this is that if you have a very religious society then religion will be a part of most traditions, and so if you want to remove the religion you have to remove the traditions. But people like tradition, so you get this Calvinball where tradition is ok for some even if it is inherently religious.
One of the oldest still played traditional English folk songs is Greensleeves. It had many lyrics at the time, mostly not religious, but centuries later one of the most popular versions was What Child Is This? So is it a religious hymn or a folk song? What if you sing one and I sing the other? What about the Christian blasphemous rewriting of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah (don’t look it up)?
Our fête nationale is named after a major religious figure. It is celebrated on the feast day of this saint, who was designated the patron saint of French Canadians by the Pope. It was first celebrated in Canada at least as early as 1606, and has been a part of French Canadian culture since it started existing. The society named after it installed a giant cross on the mountain overlooking its most important city. I could go on.
It’s now much more a cultural and national event, but you can’t erase this tradition. Some people will still revere the religious substance. Unless you create a whole new holiday, it is inherently intertwined with religion forever, like Christmas and Easter and St. Patrick’s Day. Pretending it’s not is rank hypocrisy. Applying different legal standards to some traditions but not others is clearly unconstitutional, which is why they need the notwithstanding clause. And in this case they’re denying a permit but still allowing it to happen by giving it a police escort, the same police who, if the permit denial is just, should be arresting these people. It makes no sense because the entire premise of this movement can’t reconcile removing religion but keeping traditions formed based on religion.
Meezly 15:21 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
Thanks for expanding on this, Nicholas. Indeed it’s very difficult to separate religion from culture, even in societies that have managed to separate state and church. Secularism ideally should be neutral to all faiths and not promote hostility or marginalize groups from society. But in practice it’s not, at least in places like QC and France, it tends to be weaponized. You can ask yourself if it’s a good law by simply asking, is it harming anyone needlessly?
R T 16:04 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
Nicholas’s point about how the police should be arresting participants if the permit denial is just brings up how this entire law is likely ultra vires and outside the province’s jurisdiction.
The ban on public prayer is a law pretending to be about the management of public spaces under provincial jurisdiction (parks and roadways) but in pith and substance it is really about regulating general behavioural conduct—about prohibiting and punishing a public wrong, ie, a crime, which is under Federal jurisdiction—and about the regulation of religion, which is not a civil right under provincial jurisdiction and therefore also under Federal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has already held that provinces cannot contort their powers in order to make laws where the subject matter is de facto criminal (Switzman) or is de facto in relation to religion (Saumur).
This law isn’t really about making sure our parks are available for others to use or that our roads are clear for vehicles. Both that this law only applies to religious gatherings and also the public statements of the people who passed them make clear that this law are actually about criminalizing conduct that they don’t like, conduct which happens to be religious, and crime and religion are not within provincial jurisdiction.
jeather 16:55 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
I don’t like the law. I do like that the first use (that’s making headlines?) is against Catholicism.
Ian 20:39 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
Interestingly there was a big Lag Ba’omer party on my street last week, with Hutchison closed above Lajoie and a big event on the lot there where the tile factory used to be, Hebrew house music thumping well in to the evening, and a big bonfire. It’s always fun, definitely gives Beltane vibes… and clearly religious.
Is Cathy Wong trying to stick it to catholaicité? Beef with the Portuguese? Looking to jinx Brazil at the World Cup? We may never know.
DeWolf 21:26 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
I think as jeather said, it’s malicious compliance, a way to provoke the CAQ. Who knows what the political backstory is.
@Ian I was there for the last few minutes of it. Didn’t realize the party had moved from Jeanne-Mance to the big empty lot on Hutchison. In enjoyed how it ended with a big Yiddish speech and then someone saying in English, “Thank you to the city of Montreal… and the fire department.”
Nicholas 22:03 on 2026-05-14 Permalink
Ian, the organizer says in the video the borough mayor and local councillors support them, but that the staff refused the permit. Of course the politicians can say whatever they want, but the staff are required to follow the law, dubious it may be, and I’m sure a staff lawyer said no.
EmilyG 11:47 on 2026-05-15 Permalink
Sergio Da Silva on Instagram:
“Like it or not, religion is an inextricable part of public life and community gathering. The perceived — and I would argue nonexistent — good this will do pales in comparison to the harm it will cause to community gathering, social cohesion, and community infrastructure. Newly arrived immigrants often find refuge in the church and the events and networks built around it. It may seem like a small thing to many, but for new arrivals, these spaces are often essential in helping them start their new lives with as many resources and connections as possible.”
(https://www.instagram.com/p/DYVtUltRNA3/)
Kate 16:31 on 2026-05-15 Permalink
Thank you, EmilyG. Sergio Da Silva is so often a voice of reason.