Le Devoir has a piece Tuesday on the importance of urban agriculture in at least keeping heirloom varieties going, even if it’s unrealistic to think we could feed everyone on the island by growing things locally.
But I still have never seen a Montreal melon, even if it gets mentioned every spring during the mid‑May planting frenzy.
The massive blue line boring machine has been named Lisette after the metro’s first woman metro operator, Lisette Saint‑Onge.
A bit late to the game, 24hres asks whether the closure of a local business like Station W means the space will be taken over by a chain store of some kind.
As commercial rents rise uncontrollably, this pattern has been seen all over, but we’ve also seen e.g. Starbucks locations fail to thrive. A street like Mont‑Royal still has a mix of business types, for example. Presumably not all landlords are willing to hike the rents till only McDonald’s can afford them.
Every time I’m on Notre Dame west of Atwater I’m amazed at how many franchise and chain places there are. There are lots of great indie places of all kinds, but you get the sense it’s a losing battle.
I object less to the local franchises, Cafe St Henri, Avenue, etc. But it’s just all restaurants (and a fantastic cat grooming location which I recommend to anyone who needs to get their cats groomed).
Not to be contrarian but chains are much less likely to violate worker protection rules or steal wages from employees, and also tend to pay more. They have their problems, but they can just afford compliance much more, and are more worried about being sued for such violations, as they have deeper pockets and more employees such that a lawyer will be willing to take a case. I remember going to the CNT, the precursor to the CNESST, to complain against them violating the law and not paying me for work, and they said my options were to use the commission, which would result in me having to do a ton of work and eventually all I could get was my job back with the same people who stole from me in the first place, or I could sue them, which would cost me a ton up front with a lawyer and if I won I’d get that back and a small amount if I won and if I lost I might owe their lawyer fees too. Even with other employees it wasn’t worth it because there weren’t enough of them.
Maybe it was different back then or your situation was different but I’ve had to contact the CNESST due to employers not paying me two different times and each time just the prospect of having to deal with them has been enough to get both places to cough up the dough they owed me (one even overpaid me but keep that to yourself!)
@Joey When I lived in St Henri in the 90s there were 5 (extremely seedy) bars within 5 minutes walking distance from Lionel-Groulx. Coin d’Or at the corner of Notre Dame and Atwater was the most violent.
It’s astounding that it’s not only been completely gentrified but successive waves of gentrification have even pushed out the gentrifiers.
La Presse looks into a legal, but sneaky means that landlords have of getting rid of tenants whom they feel are not paying enough rent: they’re forced to waive legal recourse in connection with their lease.
The Canadiens won their series in overtime but the Victoire will need to play a further match.
Adding some pieces on the rowdiness of fans after the game. A seismologist found that the fans’ ebullience registered as 0.5 on the Richter scale.
Lots of honking out here by the highway
Some photos of the police keeping the peace afterwards
With the first two series extending to seven games, I started wishing there was only one more series to go.
Carolina’s been off for a week and a half, so I anticipate there is one more series to go for the Habs.
Just be thankful that they didn’t rip apart downtown with a celebration riot
They’re saving that for the Cup.
@jeather apparently when teams that swept their series (and wind up with long rest periods) face off against teams that played a full seven games, the latter are much more likely to win the series…
Joey, really? My mother will be delighted to hear that.
The last time they won the cup they came off a 4-2, 4-0, 4-0 to then win it 4-1. Rest did them good.
From Arpon Basu, who covers the Habs for the Athletic:
Since 2000, there have been eight series in the Stanley Cup playoffs where one team was coming off a Game 7 win and the other was coming off a four-game sweep. The team winning Game 7 won seven of those series, and in two instances, they even swept that opponent.
Steph, the third series against the Islanders was 4-1. They lost the first two against Quebec, won four straight to win the series, then swept Buffalo (all games were 4-3), and were up 3-0 against NY before dropping one. Eleven straight wins but lots of close games, 10 straight overtime wins that spring. What a run.
Someone noted if Carolina wanted to keep active some players could have flown to Switzerland and played some game in the world championships in between these series.
Premier Fréchette gave Emmanuel Macron a Canadiens sweater in Paris on Monday. CTV’s headline says Macron nonetheless didn’t support Montreal for the defence bank HQ, but the text says nothing about this. La Presse, however, gives the details.
A big march is planned for the Journée nationale des patriotes, not downtown, but cutting through Rosemont.
Later, reports from Radio‑Canada and CTV.
I’m not sure if it was the same one but I saw a smallish march on Laurier earlier today with lots of Quebec and Patriote flags. It was mostly a younger crowd and had an odd, angry vibe.
It’s not the same one, the one on Laurier was a bunch of racists flying their flags
Ok, that makes sense. They definitely gave off Brownshirts vibes.
The Tailor of Alexandria sounds like a John le Carré title, but actually it’s a real man plying a traditional trade here in Montreal. Nice profile on Radio‑Canada.
Top story on most platforms Monday is the day’s dual hockey tournaments – the Victoire one win from taking the Walter Cup, the ultimate prize in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and the Canadiens one match from either winning the series against the Sabres, or hanging up their skates for the summer.
Pretty funny quote in Patrick Déry’s latest newsletter about Habs fever: “Never have temporary immigrants and unilingual Anglophones been so popular in Quebec”
The Portuguese religious procession went ahead Sunday in the Plateau as it has for many years, in silence – a fact that may have skirted the law against praying in public.
There was also a march against homophobia and transphobia Sunday downtown.
Gotta ban silent prayer by asking everyone what they’re thinking at all times.
The silent procession will be spun as proof that the law works. That the borough’s compliance may have been ironic will not have any shaming effect.
Might be the best way to go about it -no permit but a wink and a nod.
What’s Quebec going to do – send in the SQ?
It’s really a shame (unless I’ve missed something) that the city’s various religious organizations aren’t jointly encouraging their congregants to collectively advocate against this law – a lot of the reaction to the Portuguese procession understandably emphasizes how the community has been a pillar of the Plateau and city for decades. It does not, it seems, express a lot of solidarity with other religious Montrealers (especially the unstated target of this law, the Muslim community).
This isn’t a criticism of the Portuguese, who have the burden of being one of if not the first major community to be affected by this law, but emphasizing the uniqueness of the Portuguese (or Jewish or whatever) community concedes one of the also unstated ideas underlying this whole nonsense, which is that some communities are to be encouraged, some are to be tolerated, and some are to be, let’s say, discouraged.
oh as Portuguese, the community reaction is really gross and one of the reasons I don’t hang there that often besides getting some groceries now and then. The racism and discrimination against the Muslim communities has been outrageous. Like there were people saying they didn’t think the law should apply to Catholics just to those foreign religions and what not.
I got into an argument with other Portuguese locals on a Facebook group and there were a few of us saying that we should show solidarity for all religions if we wanted our stuff to be accepted but we were definitely in the minority. Much shame.
I’ve seen nothing about a concerted voice among the active religions here, but it’s quite the idea. A single voice to counter the Quebec law. But you know what would likely happen – they’d bicker more among themselves than unify to speak with one voice.
Some people are still fighting the Crusades, or trying to drive the Saracen out of Al‑Andalus.
Why would we expect a concerted voice from theists? Many of them think they are absolutely right, and the others are heathens, believing in the wrong god. They are not allies, they are enemies. (Not all of them, obviously; but enough of them that I would not expect any concerted action.)
Joey, regarding your last sentence, it’s not necessarily wrong to treat different communities differently. For an extreme example, if religious community X requires human sacrifice, and religious community Y requires pacifism, shall we treat them the same? Some religions are simply worse than others. I ask you honestly: would you rather a world of strictly interpreted Islam, or a world of strictly interpreted Jainism?
Chris, the rules of both Islam and Jainism, interpreted strictly, would be harsh if imposed on people, but you miss the subtlety that, here in Canada, nobody is obliged to practise a religion. In fact it’s practically a confessional genre for people to write about how they, as second generation immigrants, began to peel away from the beliefs of their family.
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there for the purpose of this thread.
I would love to see the Catholic Archibishop, the top local clerics from the Anglican and United churches, the most prominent imams and rabbis, whoever is in charge of the Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples, all sit together and craft a letter to this Quebec government tearing a piece off them for this repressive and stupid law. And I am a disbeliever myself, but you can no more impose rationalism on an unwilling population than you can religion.
Remember you are only supposed to say merry Christmas if you are thinking about Santa (who we pretend is not religious) and not Jesus.
And yes, we treat religious communities X and Y the same. Murder is against the law for people in either community; unusual food practices are allowed. Maybe we give both of them parking variances for their specific holidays, or let their children reschedule exams, even though the holidays are different days.
@Kate My guess is that it went ahead because the provisions in Bill 9 were only passed a little over a month ago, and municipalities are still figuring out how it applies.
Like most bills, provisions at its end set the date(s) that it comes into effect; and parts of the Bill only come into effect September 01.
Silence would not skirt the law. They didn’t forbid “praying”, they forbid “religious practice” (which obviously can include praying).
Here’s the definition they use for religious practice:
“Any action, except the wearing of a religious symbol, that may reasonably constitute, in fact or in appearance, the manifestation of a religious conviction or belief, is a religious practice within the meaning of this section and
section 10.2.”
One of the minor injustices here is that it’s the municipalities, in this case the Plateau borough, that has to enforce this reactionary law. A lot of the criticism I’ve seen FB from the Portuguese community is directed at the borough, refusing to acknowledge that (a) the borough is bound by the provincial law, and (b) that the Plateau leadership is on the same side as the Portuguese community. A real poison pill from the CAQ…
Joey, you’re right about that. Cathy Wong was quoted saying she was fine with the procession but, as you say, the bureaucracy is bound to the word of the law.
My reading of Bill 9 is that a municipality can still authorize a religious procession such as Montreal’s annual Portuguese Catholic procession.
Bill 9 includes:
“RELIGIOUS NEUTRALITY IN THE PUBLIC SPACE
“2. No public road, within the meaning of the third paragraph of section 66
of the Municipal Powers Act (chapter C-47.1), or public park may be used for
the purposes of collective religious practice unless a municipality authorizes,
exceptionally and on a case-by-case basis, such a use in its public domain by
resolution of the municipal council.
So the practical effect appears to be:
But what does “exceptionally” mean in this context? They need to look at them case by case and decide individually on what merits? If they approve too many would it no longer be exceptionally?
What happens when one group is consistently granted exceptional approval and another is not? My sense is that bureaucrats will always err on the side of extreme caution, so they would likely refuse to make exceptions as much as possible.
A recent survey shows that Quebecers are still turning their backs on the U.S.A. and vacationing closer to home.
The Journal lists Montreal’s seven major attractions, the seven treasures of Quebec City, some curious places to stay and some quaint Quebec villages, although the huge banner promoting Air Canada flights to Japan is undermining the effect somewhat.
Monday, La Presse looked into who’s still visiting the U.S. and why.
Two groups of people who became overebullient Saturday night – and not because of hockey – were suppressed by police after fireworks were set off. Nobody has been arrested.
Premier Fréchette is said to be trying to round up Emmanuel Macron in an effort to get that defense bank headquarters for Montreal. Le Devoir, on the other hand, was not sanguine about Fréchette’s visit to France.
Sunday, May 17, this city marks 384 years as a European‑style settlement established on the island of Montreal. Happy anniversary!
Quebec politics always offers possibilities, Côté poking fun at Québec solidaire, while both Ygreck and Chapleau spoof PSPP’s paranoia. Côté’s and Ygreck’s nervous fonctionnaires watch the launch of the digital health record, Côté’s horrified patient reading his chart.
Québec solidaire proposed a tax on the ultra rich, but the response of François Lambert was the thing that activated the cartoonists. Côté has a dry comment on the wiliness of the wealthy.
Trump in China was an inevitable target as he tried to eat a burger and open a fortune cookie. He also tried to part the Strait of Hormuz.
As Mark Carney approves pipelines, Steven Guilbeault sees the mask come off.
Kevin 13:34 on 2026-05-19 Permalink
There will be a planting of the Melons Wednesday at Blue Bonnets.
Kate 13:47 on 2026-05-19 Permalink
That has a pleasingly pagan sound.
Ian 19:01 on 2026-05-20 Permalink
FWIW Lufa Farms maintains that we could in fact feed the entire island of Montreal’s population handily simply by converting warehouse rooftops to urban farm projects. This assumes we go entirely vegetarian of course and I’m still not sure where stuff like beans and rice would come from, but hey. Montreal really could become self-sufficient for at least greenhouse veg if we really wanted to.
Kate 21:00 on 2026-05-20 Permalink
That’s true. Green veg and some fruit – berries, mostly. Somehow I don’t think it makes economic or agronomic sense to grow e.g. potatoes or apples in greenhouses. I don’t think they do.
But yes, we could become more self-sufficient, and we should – even if we can’t grow our own lemons or coffee.