Lots of pieces Saturday on the big Joyce Wieland retrospective on at the Museum of Fine Arts. Video from CBC. Le Devoir looks at this and other art exhibitions happening this winter.
Updates from Kate Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
TVA profiles La Remise, which started out as a tool library but now offers spaces and support for people wanting to make things themselves.
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Kate
Daniel Renaud outlines how organized crooks pulled off a million‑dollar olive oil heist when a shipment vanished between Montreal and Toronto.
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Kate
The STM has decided to bring an end to its adapted transit service to save money. As of 2026, some form of collective taxi will replace them.
The article goes on to say that 90% of adapted transit type trips are already served by collective taxi.
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Kate
Despite resistance from various quarters, Hydro‑Quebec has definitely chosen the Grande Bibliothèque site for the new substation it needs to build within 500 m of the existing substation nearby up the hill on Berri.
Taylor
ELI5
Why can’t they build a new substation atop the old one?
That is a primo piece of greenspace in an area that needs all the breathing room it can get.
Nicholas
Taylor, it is really hard to build extra floors on a building in situ (unless it was designed to be expandable). The piles and walls and so on are not designed to take tons of extra weight. Unless some architects and engineers have some solution, it would mean tearing down the current building, which would mean no power for much of that part of downtown for years, something that’s not happening.
And there are so many little parks and green spaces around that area that I’ve not once decided to sit in that park, especially given it’s right across from the bus and police station on a loud, busy road. Maybe a dozen within 250 m.
dhomas
What will happen to the old substation? When the project is complete, can they tear it down and turn THAT lot into green space?
In an ideal world where cost were no obstacle, I would love to see the new substation temporarily built on the Grande Bibliothèque lot, the old substation torn down, then the temporary substation moved back to its original location. One can dream!
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Kate
A customer is suing Première Moisson because, when he used their toilet, it broke and injured him.
(I admit, my first reaction was “what, you can use the bathroom in a Première Moisson?”)
Andrew
Just to raise awareness, if you see any hairline crack in a toilet bowl you should not ever sit on it and it needs to be replaced. For the reason of exactly what happened to this guy, it can be lethal.
Ian
When you gotta go you gotta go, but what a way to go.
dhomas
@Andrew is 100% correct. Any type of crack in toilet porcelain calls for immediate replacement. A Google search for “cracked toilet injuries” will return some pretty graphic images. I don’t suggest you actually perform the Google search (or do, I’m not your mom).
This reminds me of a story. A tenant of mine once asked me if he could replace his toilet, at his cost, as he didn’t like the one that was there (it was old but fully functional) and he wanted to look good for his new girlfriend. I told him that was fine but that I would provide an approved plumber. Well, he went ahead and replaced it before my plumber could come, using his own “plumber”. I went to go inspect the work afterwards and found the newly installed toilet had a very small, but still noticeable, crack in it! I asked the tenant if he noticed it and he said that he had but the “plumber” said it was just cosmetic and he’d be fine. I immediately replaced the toilet that very day, at my tenant’s great annoyance. I don’t think he realized that I was potentially saving his and his kids’ lives, quite literally.
jeather
Today I learned!
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Kate
Weekend notes from CultMTL, CityCrunch, La Presse.
CultMTL also has a new restaurant guide up – this is a web page linked to the PDF of the current issue.
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Kate
Snow removal campaign will start on Friday evening.
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Kate
The Quebec Liberals have denied Denis Coderre’s candidacy to lead their party.
Ian
Haha /Nelson
I’m sure he’s shocked and confused just like when he didn’t win mayor. Get the message, already.
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Kate
Soraya Martinez Ferrada, currently federal tourism minister, has announced she won’t run again in a federal election, but has her eye on leadership of Ensemble and, via that route, the mayor’s seat.
Martinez Ferrada started her political career here as a councillor for St‑Michel with Union Montreal and then Vision Montreal, both parties since defunct.
Nicholas
She also ran for borough mayor in VSMPE in 2013 for Marcel Côté’s Coalition Montreal (also defunct), barely holding third place in front of (until today) fellow cabinet member Mélanie Joly’s VCM party. I guess she couldn’t run federally in that neighbourhood, given the incumbent MP, so she ran in Hochelaga.
It’s also interesting that she was the Liberal Party national campaign co-chair until today, so presumably was going to run again federally, and her seat will be a close one again. And she did say she would remain an MP until her term ends, so that’s a lot of double duty, but I guess the House isn’t doing much work these days.
DeWolf
Apparently Vincent Marissal is also considering a run for mayor? And Luis Miranda too, of course.
It would certainly be a lively race with all of these guys in the mix.
Kate
They can’t all lead Ensemble!
Nicholas
They all could have led it uncontested if they just submitted their nomination in the fall.
SMD
Marissal said he’d found his own party if he was to run for mayor: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2134963/marissal-fondera-parti-mairie-montreal
Nicholas
There’s time for Coderre to come back now!
Kate
Nooooo!
SMD: Someone has to put a lot of effort into mustering support and recruiting possible candidates if they want to establish a party. Lot of talking up plans. I wonder if anyone has seen Vincent Marissal doing this…
DeWolf
There’s some speculation that Marissal is abandoning QS over the the Bouazzi affair, but if Marissal thinks he’s going to find a more sympathetic ear in Montreal of all places, he’s going to be disappointed.
Kate
I didn’t blog much about the Bouazzi affair at the time because it wasn’t primarily a city concern. This piece from Maxim Fortin on the Iris Recherche site is a good summary.
We did have one previous thread about it here.
A lot of ink (or pixels) has been spilled in outrage over Haroun Bouazzi’s claim that he sees racist attitudes in the National Assembly every day.
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Kate
Aéroports de Montréal is contesting the city’s plan to enlarge the Technoparc nature park which is a refuge for so many bird species.
Nicholas
That’s a huge area, including all the golf course and more. Sadly the map doesn’t list the specific sections (ADM says they oppose four of them being rezoned to a nature preserve, but can commit to preserving two of them). Bird strikes are a real issue (likely caused that recent South Korean crash), but they are rare, but I’m not sure if a sanctuary intended to attract birds is a good idea.
Su
The birds are allready there. The plan will officially protect the area.
Blork
I had the same question about bird strikes. Not a serious problem if the birds being protected are small, like cardinals and sparrows and whatnot. But the first photo in the story shows wild turkeys. Wild turkeys don’t fly much, and only in short bursts, so I don’t know if that’s much of a problem. Geese (and even ducks) can definitely be a hazard.
Meezly
Trudeau airport apparently has falconers to keep problem birds away. In fact, they have a wildlife management dept/team that helps prevent bird strikes. I’m thinking these folks may have one of the more interesting jobs at an airport.
Kate
Meezly, those folks also might have interesting opinions on the nature park story. If I were an editor, I’d send a journalist to interview one or more of them, although it’s also possible they would be forbidden to talk to the media.
Ian
It’s interesting that they have falconers as prey birds also attract hawks. I wonder if the falcons ever get into it with other predatory birds
Blork
What’s a falcon going to do against a flock of geese?
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Kate
La Presse has two pieces Thursday on homelessness: how the metro has to function as a day shelter, security agents evicting dozens of people every night at closing time, and how the Palais de congrès and hospital emergencies are being used as ad hoc shelters more and more. The second piece repeats a tale we hear repeatedly – Quebec is not interested in funding services or premises for the homeless.
Nicholas
Had a guest recently who said he noticed a lot of homeless people in the metro. I mentioned they concentrate there during the winter so it’s more visible, but he’s not wrong. Also got off at Mont-Royal around 3 pm on Sunday and there were half a dozen metro cops who got off too, and went to tell all the homeless people hanging out on the passerelle it was time to go (presumably back to the corner at St Denis).
Uatu
There’s a small group that camp out in the new Vendome entrance that leads to the MUHC. It was never this bad before. Now they plug in space heaters and radios, have sleeping bags, bikes and food containers, even underwear is strewn about. Later in the day most have left and it looks like they actually hose down the floor after, but they’re there when I arrive at 6am the next day.
Joey
I was walking through Bonaventure during afternoon rush hour a few weeks ago – as I observed a trio of cops skillfully defuse a tense situation, I was reminded of the third season of The Wire, when one of the senior police commanders effectively legalizes drug sale and consumption in a certain area (one of the drug dealers mis-names it Hamsterdam). The Metro has always been a haven for lots of folks, but it feels like we’ve crossed an important threshold in the last couple of years. Thanks, Kate, for drawing the appropriate link to the province’s official position (“We DGAF”).
Nicholas
Certainly some of these people have mental issues and would qualify to be housed in the 15-unit building proposed for next to the Welcome Hall Mission, but some nearby residents are worried about losing their protected parking spaces, so I guess the metro it is!
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Kate
Windows were smashed Wednesday evening in three of McGill’s buildings on Sherbrooke Street. CTV says that Free Palestine was written on the Roddick Gates.
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Kate
Residents in Ville-Marie have sent a mise en demeure to the city to forestall the construction of a residential building for people with mental illnesses. Not only are people afraid of chaos, they also don’t want to lose a handy parking lot where the construction was planned.
Nicholas
They have resident-reserved parking spots 150 metres from Lucien L’Allier metro, with a bunch of towers within 250 metres? Here’s an idea: every time there’s a complaint, the building gets 3 storeys taller.
Kate
I couldn’t tell from the piece whether they had reserved parking, or if it was just an empty lot that local people had become accustomed to make use of.
Nicholas
I understood it to be reserved based on this: “D’autres craignaient de perdre l’usage du stationnement situé sur le terrain projeté. L’endroit est réservé aux résidants depuis la fermeture de la ruelle entre les rues Lusignan et Versailles, il y a cinq décennies.” If you Google Streetview into it you can see the numbered red square, so it’s just like resident street parking, not personal spots.
Kate
Parking for five decades. I wonder what their rights are in that situation.
Ian
I know parking is an unpopular cause, but it’s a fair question, and if those residents have the ear of the borough councillor they can get a construction project stopped for sure – I’ve seen similar things in other neighbourhoods with fewer people affected. Also, more sotto voce, if it affects the property value of 50 homes that’s a tax base issue that could be of enough concern to the borough to weifght the pros and cons of the situation.
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Kate
More than 12,000 daycare workers will be on strike Thursday.
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