Banned Airbnb rentals continue during the Grand Prix.
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Kate
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Kate
The SPCA is offering free adoptions for older cats this weekend.
(Someone stop me from going by for a six-pack of tabbies…)
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Kate
In a classic Grand Prix weekend incident, a 22‑year‑old man smashed up a Lamborghini after going at high speed
on the A‑15 in Longueuilsomewhere on the South Shore.In other news of powerful cars, CTV got hold of footage of an incident at the Ferrari dealership on Jean‑Talon two years ago. A car belonging to Luc Poirier, in the dealership for repairs, burst into flames, injuring a bystander so gravely he nearly died. Richard Papazian is suing the dealership, the car maker and others for $20 million. The story was really only reported earlier this month and CTV alleges a sort of news blackout at the time.
Tim S.
Pretty sure the 15 does not go through Longueuil. Maybe Brossard
Kate
The deck says “sur l’autoroute 15 à Longueuil” and I believed it, but the map agrees with you, Tim. The 15 is the Champlain, which crosses then goes west along the river (west in the Montreal sense, I mean). The road that goes east (Mtl sense) from the point after the crossing, toward Longueuil, is the 134.
Blork
It’s actually the 132 (which runs along the river) where the crash happened. The 134 is Taschereau Blvd. (in the same way that Sherbrooke Street in Montreal is also the 138.)
When you come off the Pont Champlain you either continue straight on the A10 or loop around to the 132. If you go south it’s the 132 AKA the A15, and if you go north it’s the 132 AKA the A20. (132 is the highway designation and A20/A10/A15 are the autoroute designations. Along these stretches that road is both a highway and an autoroute.) Such is life in Quebec.
The latter is what Lambo boy did (132/20). He then crashed at the edge of St-Lambert (which is not in Longueuil).
Blork
Also: what 22-year-old has a $500,000 Lambo? Is he some kind of bitcoin wunderkind or is he some spoiled offspring who’s now in big, big trouble with Daddy?
steph
Looks like that car rolled.. & looks like the Notre-Dame exit corner Riverside. https://tinyurl.com/46ercp9r
Tim S.
Re-reading the article, maybe the police initially spotted him on the 15 or the Champlain bridge. The Notre-Dame exit comes up to a pretty sharp right angle turn, easy to see the car losing control there and skidding towards Riverside.
Bert
Tim, yes, that was my thinking. I concur with your analysis of the numbering of various parts of highway. Always seemed odd that and even numbered route (east-west) and an odd numbered route (north-south) could share the same physical road. Additionally you get in to the Canada Route 1, the Trans-Canda, which also has a shared designation.
They may have initially spotted the Raging Bull on the Decarie or possibly the Met, or more remotely the actual Laurentian HW, i.e. north of the Met, and the chase ended on the South Shore (the front river?), where the 15 designation seems to no longer be true. The 15 North goes all the way up to about St. Donat!
That said, I did sort of the same trip today, and there was a higher than usual police presence on the roads, for reasons we understand. In about 140km, I saw 8-10 vehicles, be it patrolling or monitoring. Lots of Christmas lights on the go.
Uatu
Right in front of a school, bike path and Musee Marcil. That’s probably one of the busiest intersections in St Lambert. Lucky nobody else got hurt. Grand Prix time usually has people in Lambos, Ferraris and other souped up cars cruising up and down Taschereau and Rome blvd so either lots of rich owners or more likely renters (which this kid probably was)
MarcG
They still haven’t fixed the Longueuil mistake; I guess the editors at TVA aren’t blog readers like others seem to be.
Blork
That report is so messed up. If you look at the photos and video you can see that the wrecked Lambo is at the corner of Riverside and Notre-Dame in St-Lambert, so the crash wasn’t even on the 132 (as the report said). Most likely he exited the 132 at exit 79. As Tim S. said, there’s a hard right turn there, but I think he managed the turn and then spun out when he stomped the gas after the turn, which is a common problem with supercharged cars and inexperienced drivers. (If he had failed the turn he most likely wouldn’t have made it to Riverside; the trajectory would have put him into the trees or maybe the parking lot just past the trees.)
Tim S.
I wonder if there’s a fleet of rental super cars that follows the F1 circuit around.
MarcG
Maybe they mean the “agglomération de Longueuil”?
Blork
MarcG, I think you’re correct. My mistake is that I thought St-Lambert had withdrawn from the agglomeration the way Westmount withdrew from Montreal, but apparently not.
Meezly
Can’t believe the awful story about the man who got severe burns at the Ferrari dealership just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and how his story somehow always gets buried. I see you!
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Kate
Notice the absence of facts in these brief and almost identical reports of a person getting hurt in an encounter with the SPVM on Friday. Age and gender of the victim, location in town, reason why police were called – nothing. I don’t blame the journalists – the BEI are keeping wraps on this one.
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Kate
Radio-Canada previews the Festival Go vélo which starts this weekend out of town, and culminates next Friday and Sunday with the Tour la Nuit and Tour de l’Île. Event site.
SMD
There’s the free Critical Mass for kids at 2:30pm today, from Parc Père-Marquette down to Parc Lafontaine (by way of Parc Laurier) with activities and animation. And the usual Critical Mass on Friday the 29th at 5pm at the Mont-Royal statue.
Kate
Thank you, SMD.
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Kate
Repair work to a sidewalk on Park Avenue in Mile End left a hole that caused several falls, two of which can be seen in the video posted with the article. A UQAM professor is called on to deplore the lack of coordination between city and borough.
Joey
The lying and gaslighting from the borough PR person is nauseating… Appelé à réagir, l’arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal a indiqué vendredi qu’il « prend ce type d’enjeu de sécurité très au sérieux ». that’s why it took La Presse to get this hole fixed after six weeks.
Ian
The hole at Parc and Bernard in the road, by the crosswalk at the NE corner with rebar sticking out that I reported last week is still there too.
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Kate
The two teenagers who killed three men in a California mosque earlier this week were inspired by, among others, two notorious Quebec murderers, Alexandre Bissonnette and Marc Lépine. Like Lépine, they suicided, leaving a manifesto.
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Kate
CBC delves into reasons not all strippers are unified around the demands being made during this weekend’s strike.
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Kate
Complicated story here about Canadians captured in the Middle East, and a Montrealer called Wassim Boughadou who’s willing to come home even though he’s wanted by the RCMP – but Global Affairs won’t let him.
It seems like this story is mostly about a conflict between federal government departments. But I’m not impressed by how Boughadou says he wasn’t part of Islamic State but his wife was.
Update: See comment by H. John below.
Chris
Yeah if she’s ISIS, she presumably interprets Islam strictly, so she should believe in being subservient to her husband. So I really doubt there was much daylight between them in ideology.
Telling that he’d rather be in Canadian jail than Turkish jail.
R T
Canadians have a Charter right to enter Canada (Section 6). The Government could try to argue that the limits are reasonable (Section 1), but it seems hard to do when they’re only blocking men and not women from entering—which makes the Charter violation even more remarkable, as Charter rights apply equally to men and women (Section 28).
Kate
It’s a fundamental principle of human rights that a person cannot be made stateless. We no longer send people into exile. Canadian authorities may know that Boughadou has dual citizenship, but that hasn’t been reported.
Chris, you have a seriously reductive view of Islam. Don’t tell me that it’s because ISIS also does. It’s more complicated than that.
John
If there was sufficient evidence he was an ISIS member then Canada should prosecute him. Not use other countries for human rights abuse to their own citizens. He was declared not affiliated to terrorism by a Turkish court and was to be deported but the Canadian government refused to issue documents because they have no evidence against him. His wife being ISIS doesn’t make him ISIS he divorced from her for that and him not being in Syria and being In turkey is a proof he wasn’t a member of ISIS because if he was he would have tried to go there. Guilty by association isn’t a thing acceptable. A Canadian citizen is a Canadian citizen . There is something called presumption of innocence. Stop saying nonsense please.
Kate
Are you addressing me, John, or someone else in the thread? Or implied people in the government?
H. John
The linked article desperately needed an editor. It’s rambling and disjointed burying what we do know along with lots of conjecture.
@Kate You started this story about a convicted terrorist wanting to return with “but Global Affairs won’t let him.”
We don’t know that. There are no quotes from either of the parties (Boughadou or Global Affairs) about what exactly has been requested and what might have been declined.
I called him a convicted terrorist because he was convicted, and sentenced, by a Turkish court. It says he was ordered deported after he served his sentence.
The article refers to documents in a federal court case, but no decision has been published yet.
Caselaw establishes, fairly clearly, that section 6 of the Charter (mobility rights) guarantees a right to enter Canada; but, it does not impose a duty on Canada to facilitate that return.
Courts draw a distinction between: 1) preventing entry (generally unconstitutional); and, 2) failing to assist entry (generally permissible).
What we do know about Boughadou from previous newspaper reports in 2017:
While in Montreal he had a gun permit (he gave one of those guns to his younger 17 year-old brother), and he thinks of himself as being violent.
La Presse reported after listening to a police recording:
« Je ne suis pas 100 % violent, mais je suis violent. C’est vrai, je suis quelqu’un de violent. »
“Le document audio révèle aussi qu’il avait un comportement dangereux avec ses armes à feu et qu’il menaçait de tuer des policiers. Boughadou détenait un permis et possédait légalement trois armes à feu longues et des pistolets à air comprimé. Le 7 août 2012, les policiers l’ont intercepté à sa sortie d’une mosquée pour saisir ses armes à feu. Six mois plus tard, la Couronne demandait et obtenait la destruction des fusils et carabine.”
Most of his grievances were against francophones. He actually called La Presse from Turkey to correct what they wrote in their first article about him in 2017:
« Je le dis sans vouloir insulter, mais les anglophones sont plus gentils avec nous. »
In the linked article, Boughadou claims he’s autistic and suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
I think I’m rather comfortable with Global Affairs taking its time to sort out the issues in this case.
John
Last comment by H.John thankfully your opinion has no value in front of the opinion of a judge. He will comme back may you like it or not. That is the law.
John
No Kate I didn’t address you I mean the government.
John
Also H John. Issuing a travel document isn’t facilitating, you cannot enter Canada without a passport therefore issuing a passport is the bare minimum, you may need to read abusofian Abdulrazik case where the government was condemned and forced to repatriate in a similar case. This Boughadou was sentenced in a trial with no lawyer and no translator and with confessions under torture . If that’s what you wish upon people then I hope you get deported sadistic bigot
Kate
John, whoever you are, you are now banned. H. John is a friend of this blog and you cannot call him names.
H. John
Abousfian Abdelrazik is an interesting comparison. But I’d have to point out that I wrote “Courts draw a distinction between: 1) preventing entry (generally unconstitutional); and, 2) failing to assist entry (generally permissible).”
In Abdelrazik, the government’s actions were not merely passive, they effectively prevented his return. After offering, at least twice, to provide him with a temporary passport if he could book a flight, they failed to do so. Also Canada was found to be deeply entangled in his detention in Sudan.
No one has provided evidence in Boughadou’s case, that I know of, that Canada caused or controls his detention or status in Turkey. This matters because Charter obligations abroad expand when Canada is causally implicated.
Abdelrazik, although listed under UN sanctions, was never charged in Canada. Boughadou has a foreign terrorism conviction, and an active RCMP warrant.
The major distinction: in Abdelrazik, Canada prevented his return; in Boughadou, Canada is (arguably) not assisting his return.
Again, my major complaint was with the original newspaper article provided no facts to argue over.
In Boughadou’s case, I think we’re going to have to wait for comments from his Canadian lawyer, Yavar Hameed (who also represented Abdelrazik), to know what arguments he’s making.
Robert
H John. A foreign terrorism conviction in turkey has no value in Canada as it has been taken by torture . Please remind me how statements under torture are valid in Canada and yeah his lawyer is saying it’s the exact same thing. Canada even cooperated in his torture and he has court documents proving it. Conviction in third world countries are as valid as Nazi tribunals in ww2
Robert
Court documents in the hand of Boughadou shows the RCMP asked the Turkish government to torture a Canadian citizen now let me know if a Canadian judge will accept this ” terrorism conviction”
Robert
As last comment H John. The Canadian government approved an emergency travel document to be given to Boughadou but failed to print it the last day after the ticket was paid and everything booked which is why the RCMP asked for a peace bond warrant. They have no evidence to charge him of anything. If that’s not obstruction and a violation of charter 6 then nothing is
Robert
Also please read and get educated about what a peace bond warrant that was taken by the RCMP for Boughadou, means In Canadian law.
The federal government explains that a peace bond is used:
“where an individual appears likely to commit a criminal offence, **but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has actually been committedKate
“Robert” you are also “John” from the other day, and you are still being rude to H. John, who is a friend of this blog.
You are still banned.
Lovebanned
Keep banning me please
Anonymous
Still waiting for the ban
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Kate
Bill Brownstein writes about the team that preps the Circuit Gilles‑Villeneuve for the Grand Prix.
Villeneuve is being declared officially an historic personage in Quebec on Friday.
CE
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a Gazette story because the website has been so bad for so long, but I’m amazed by how poorly this story was written for a major newspaper. The Gazette has never been a great paper but this story, while interesting, was painful to read. It reads as if it were published pretty much exactly as the journalist submitted it, with an absolute minimum of copy editing.
Kate
The Gazette has improved its page layout (it could hardly have been made worse) but you’re right, the article badly needs editing.
Sam
Bill Brownstein was never a good writer, even when he had editors… Between him and Josh Freed it is a race to the bottom. Post Media has thrown in the towel, and tacitly acknowledged that the only people who read the Gazette are over 80 years old and complain when something they have read for the past 60 years is taken away.
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Kate
Tourism businesses can expect a standout season this summer, so long as the Habs stay in the game and the weather holds.
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Kate
Putting this feature up a bit early, because this will not only be Grand Prix weekend, but will see the start of the Canadiens’ series against the Hurricanes.Weekend notes from Le Devoir, CityCrunch, Journal de Montréal, CultMTL.
Parties held in tandem with the Grand Prix. Also, Crescent Street as the place to be.
CTV warns of traffic difficulties as does TVA.
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Kate
A park in Griffintown has seen steps and sod put in, then almost immediately ripped out again and redone. Questions are asked.
James
As tax payers, we should be happy about this. The city refused to accept bad quality work and the contractor is re-doing it.
DeWolf
The article is pretty much rage bait, only if you read the story you’ll realize — as James said — that it’s not the city paying for the work to be redone. The contractor screwed up, the contractor eats the cost of redoing their own work.
If only the city was as consistent in enforcing quality across all of its projects. There are some whose finishing is excellent and others that are mind-bogglingly subpar.
MarcG
The city admin could do themselves a huge favour by improving communications. A street near me was torn up all last summer – big project, very disruptive to mobility – and in the fall it seemed to be done, everything patched up and back to normal. I went by last week and it’s all dug up and fenced off again! Surely there’s a reasonable explanation but I have no idea what it is so I just assume it’s stupidity and/or corruption.
Kate
They could, but one of the traditional routes for conveying that kind of information – the local news weekly – hardly exists any more.
MarcG
I was thinking of a flyer in the mailboxes around the work site or even a couple of big posters that scream “Hey, we know this looks horrible but here’s what happened…”
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Kate
The mayor wants to see a parade for the victory of the Victoire.
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Kate
A fire has been burning in a recycling facility in Montreal North.
CTV calls it an abandoned scrapyard.
Ephraim 14:36 on 2026-05-23 Permalink
AirBnB is intentionally NOT checking licences. Take a look at https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/1385850659507263185 with registration 878655
If you go to https://www.quebec.ca/tourisme-loisirs-sport/hebergement-touristique/repertoire to check it, it doesn’t even exist.
Please, someone tell me how they are acting in good faith and validating licences when the licence doesn’t even exist. Anything that AirBnB tells you is a LIE until proven not to be… there is absolutely no reason to believe them, ever!
I have a list of hundreds of such listings in Montreal, with no way to get AirBnB to do anything about it. They just ignore it. Even the threat of government fines doesn’t influence them.
GC 15:57 on 2026-05-23 Permalink
“Alyssa” also has twenty-one (!) properties listed. Doubtful that any of them are according to the rules.
Nicholas 16:27 on 2026-05-23 Permalink
When you join Communauto they ask for your DL number and then they check it with SAAQ. I understand it’s all digital. But I guess contrary to the investor promotions they’re not a tech company but a lowly hotel company, doing everything on paper with not enough staff.
Ephraim 11:25 on 2026-05-24 Permalink
They are legally required to do the check. It’s a government signed PDF file, but it’s easy enough to check. But they don’t want to check.
The real solution… The city of Montreal should make it 100% illegal until AirBnB agrees to follow the laws 100% and to act swiftly (with 48 hours) when it’s not. Until then, it’s against the law and we won’t even discuss it with you.
Look up https://www.airbnb.ca/users/profile/1470698774913283921 Marylou has over 30 properties using the ID of a little place out in Riviere-Rouge…. like seriously, how could AirBnB not know that J0T1T0 is NOT in Montreal? And look at the picture, that looks like stock photography… and she speaks Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish… is an architect who want to UdeM and has 50 listings… That’s a HOTEL amount of listings. That is million in revenues. Let’s estimate a LOW $100 a night, that’s $5000 a night, which should bring in $258.75 in GST and $516.21 in QST (AirBnB collects and remits the 3.5%). Not to mention the property tax on 50 apartments which are COMMERCIAL and not residential. Say that’s just May, through October at 75% occupancy. That is 183 days, 75% occupancy is 137.25 days at $258.75 for a total of $35513.44 in GST, At $516.21 in QST that is $70849.82. Right there is $106K in just the sales taxes. Not to mention income taxes and property taxes. This is a major theft from the public purse. And that’s also 50 apartments that locals can’t live in.
qatzelok 09:29 on 2026-05-25 Permalink
“They are legally required to do the check.”
Yes, but are Western governments really “in charge” of anything or are the billionaires behind these new rule-breaking corporations (Uber, Uber-eats, Airbnb, Amazon) really calling the shots?
Aren’t we living in an Age of Outlaws?