Opioid overdoses are on the rise in town, with 22 deaths in June, and 13 so far in July.
Updates from July, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
Even though local residents initially used a bylaw referendum to quash a plan for a residential project next to the old Viger station building, the city has overruled them to enable the project, which is to include 704 units, 52 of which are to be operated by a nonprofit.
Nicholas
DeWolf predicted this almost-inevitable outcome three months ago. I bet the expected value of blocking this the first time was probably positive for the NIMBYs, as the project could have fallen apart but instead they FAFO, and now it’s slightly bigger than originally planned, though not much.
CE
I really hope they put some commercial spaces on the bottom floor of these buildings. The neighbourhood that’s popped up around there is so dense but feels super dead because there’s no street level activity. Even just a café and a dep at the corners of the buildings across from the boardwalk on de la Commune would have added some life to the area.
Kate
I agree so strongly. You’d think this would be one of the first things they’d teach you in urban planning school.
Major Annoyance
Well, this development sucks hard. I just signed a two-year lease on an east-facing apartment in the Gare Viger complex. A quick bit of Googling tells me my best option is to try to negotiate my way out.
Anyone out there got any advice for me? This is so freaking depressing. Why oh why did I let myself believe that the city’s bylaws actually mean anything?
-
Kate
The interior of the Olympic stadium is to be renovated although La Presse’s Alexandre Pratt says, of the cost, “Le gouvernement a choisi de ne pas dévoiler le montant immédiatement.”
-
Kate
The Gazette says it’s the cyclospora scare from the U.S. that’s urging people to buy local produce, but doesn’t everyone go a little nuts for ripe local berries and other local produce, this time of year?
In any case, many of us have been avoiding the “product of U.S.A.” labels for awhile, and now we have another reason to do so.
Note the appropriate name of the Gazette journalist.
Blork
The number of people who either don’t know or don’t care about buying local is not insignificant. I regularly see people at the supermarket walk right past the local strawberries and go pick up a pack of Driscoll’s berries from the U.S. During corn season I see people ignore the fresh-picked local corn and instead buy the vacuum-packed (but already shucked!) corn from who knows where. People regularly skip the heads of lettuce and instead buy the bagged stuff from beyond because it’s less work for them and on the surface appears to be less wasteful because they use it all instead of tossing a few outer leaves and the core.
BTW, apparently bagged lettuce is now in the lead as the likely cause of most cyclospora cases in the U.S.
Kate
That is so sad. I suppose people get used to buying imported produce all winter, and forget that between July and October the stuff you can get locally is so much better, picked when ripe and perfect. I get intoxicated just walking around Jean‑Talon market this time of year.
-
Kate
La Presse notes that, while Notre-Dame East has had its share of broken promises and neglect, so has Notre‑Dame West in Lachine.
-
Kate
Two men have been arrested in hate incidents against Hasidic Jews in Outremont and Mile End. Men were attacked near their synagogues on July 3 and some had their shtreimels stolen.
Ian
I knew about this when it happened as I know several guys in the local Chaverim.
One thing these news stories don’t tell you is that a mid-quality new quality shtreimel is very expensive, so that’s potentially one count of theft over 5,000 for each one. Add in assault and hate crimes and that could be up to 10 years in prison for each stolen shtreimel.
-
Kate
People are angry about the appearance of parking meters along Sherbrooke Street in NDG. Is free parking a human right?
su
Isn’t there a program for businesses to pay for a permit to allow their clients to park for free?
Joey
I would like to meet the person who drives from the US to a specialized ophthalmic clinic for dogs in NDG but balks at paying $10 to park for the duration of their visit.
DeWolf
// “N.D.G. was like a cool, old stronghold that didn’t have the meters,” she said. “But nothing is sacred, so now there’s meters everywhere.” //
Yes, everyone knows that’s what made Sherbrooke West cool: free parking.
Mark Côté
Does something have to violate a human right to justify being angry at it? Saying this as an NDG resident who doesn’t really care one way or the other about more parking meters.
bob
I suggest a bike path on both sides of Sherbrooke, but make it a toll road. That will please everyone.
Kate
Mark Côté: No, but the degree of anger expressed in the signs shown in the article photo struck me as appropriate for a violation of human rights, not the loss of a perk which was never guaranteed.
Tim S.
On one hand, obviously some of these complaints are overblown. On the other, the reasons put forward by the city are pretty BS, there’s never really been an issue parking along those parts of Sherbrooke, and putting meters down the side streets was just rubbing salt in the wound. I’m happy for more municipal revenues to come from drivers, like Joey I don’t get that a few bucks will make a big difference to most people, but I also see why neighbourhood people feel screwed by an uncaring city council.
And it’s worth noting that this is one of the first moves made by a new Ensemble council, in one of only two districts still held by Projet. It does feel just a tad punitive.
-
Kate
A refuge for women, offering 54 units, is to be built on Elmhurst in NDG. They’re being called transitional housing units, so don’t get too comfortable.
A study from CIRANO estimates that each homeless person costs society $77,600 per year.
Many media have run stories about how the one country that has ended homelessness is Finland. They give people a place to live. Not a “transitional” home which they’re meant to vacate on short order, once they’ve been rehabbed and sent out into the world to cope with the fact that minimum wage won’t pay for even the meanest apartment, but an actual, unconditional, place to live. But our society can’t stomach doing that for the unproductive.
bob
“logements sociaux ravagé par un incendie”? Not exactly. It was a coop, and decayed until it was dangerous, was condemned in 2017, and taken over by the SHQ. It was used by squatters, and according to local accounts one of those squatters was paid to burn it down last year (police suspected arson but nothing came of it). The SHQ turned it over to the SHDM.
The post war buildings and some built a little later are almost all owned by four companies, Leduc (all buildings touching Trenholme), Westpat (almost all of Patricia and half of Westmore), Karmel (the other half of Westmore), and Developex (effectively the same as Wespat, with two on Westmore, one on Harley). They are up to something there, especially Westpat, which is partly owned by Stevens Coulombe, noted in the news for letting buildings on St Andre decay while sitting empty. I know of tenants who have had their rents raised by over 50%, not that they agreed to it, but are then given rebates so they don’t complain. On the books, the rent is way higher than the actual revenue, which inflates the value of the building. But rather heinously, if these kickbacks stop, tenants have no recourse and are stuck with the higher rent.
I can’t find much about this “Communia” thing, but “partenaire de l’Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal” seems to imply that it is not a creature of the OMHM, which it very much appears to be. Its DG is Isabelle Pépin, the DG of the OMHM, and Sylvie Crispo, the Chair of the OMHM, is one of its five board members. It was created in March, and this appears to be its only project.
That neighbourhood from West Broadway to Connaught (“Westhaven”) is “underserved”, i.e., poor, lots of immigrants, left to deteriorate. So why not park a bunch of trailers there? No one will, or really can, complain. When conditions change (see below) they can tow the “transitional housing units” elsewhere.
I think the landlords (and the city) don’t want a permanent structure there because they have other plans for that block, if not the whole neighbourhood: in a few years, more or less, I think the plan is to force the tenants out by screwing them with this rent/kickback scheme, tear down what’s left of the post-war buildings they are leaving to crumble, and cover the area with ticky tacky condos. And if that is correct, in all likelihood the city and province are in on it: according to the MNA for NDG the Quebec government was planning to sell the property to the private sector before it burned down. Real estate is all about location, and the location is close to a train station, a bus terminus with many buses a quick ride to the Metro, quick access to the 20, 10 minute drive to Carrefour Angrignon and adjacent big box stores, 10 minute walk to Loyola, right on Saint-Jacques which takes you to directly to the Glen and downtown – and all adjacent to NDG and its attractions. In a word, ideal. When it was all built in the 40’s and 60’s, that was not yet so. But now, a great location – so why waste it on the poors?
Kate
You’re well informed on this, bob. Thanks for cluing us in.
-
Kate
CTV visits the Montreal General’s adult trauma centre, which is busiest in summertime. I should not have laughed at the last item on this list, but I did: injuries are caused by “car, motorcycle, scooter, and bicycle collisions, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, falls, fires, explosions, construction sites, or home renovation projects.”
Anton
I guess there’s many kinds of bad boys, lul.
Reply