A social media trend called body‑checking – a term familiar enough in a hockey town – has been experienced by women on the streets of Hochelaga‑Maisonneuve recently.
What pleasure the assailant gets from doing this, I don’t understand, unless it’s a way to infringe on a woman with plausible deniability. I simply bumped into her as I passed her in the street, Your Honour.
Christopher Watts, the sexual predator who ducked out of a halfway house in Montreal last week, was arrested in Ontario on Thursday.
The Bon-Pasteur monastery fire happened in 2023, but it may be 2028 before the people who lived there can go back home. But, since the building is classed as heritage, doing any work on it involves not only money and materials, but negotiations.
Weekend notes from Le Devoir, CityCrunch, Journal de Montréal, CultMTL.
Places you cannot drive.
Radio-Canada sent a photographer and a reporter to talk both to neighbours and residents of a homeless camp in Hochelaga‑Maisonneuve.
The REM is to get two stations after all in the Sud‑Ouest: Bridge‑Bonaventure and cough Griffintown‑Bernard‑Landry.
Great! Now they can wait for delayed trains too lol
TVA reports on construction congestion near the bridge, the mayor now promising to use drones to monitor sites.
After her promises to reduce traffic congestion and cones, SMF needs some magic. If drones don’t do the trick, there’s always AI.
TVA posted advice on Wednesday on ways to get to the airport but now there’s another – a new bus route linking the REM’s Des Sources station to YUL, at least until the REM’s A2 branch opens.
First link should go here.
I was planning to post yesterday’s story, but thanks for the correction!
TVA is really milking this story, two articles in two days. No suggestion to take any of the other buses, like the 747 or the 209/214/460.
As I entered minute 25 of waiting for an Uber at the airport yesterday evening, I was wondering why the only transit option until the REM’s Trudeau spur is done is the 747. This seems like a simple and convenient option for a lot of passengers. I was also wondering why the airport was continuing to allow free passenger pickup and drop-off despite the construction causing huge traffic build-ups. Other airports charge a fee if you want to drive up to the terminal; Montreal should implement that until the construction is over. When the wait for a cab is almost a long as a flight, there’s a problem.
This is great new. The CTV link does not display the correct times. Go here instead: https://rem.info/en/news/new-bus-connection-between-rem-des-sources-station-and-yul-starting-june-17
The rem page also states that a single zone A fare is good for 120 minutes. Did that change? I always thought it was 90 minutes.
The stm site says 120, which surprised me for the same reason.
Here’s what I don’t understand about what is legal — you can do bus to metro to bus, but also Metro to bus to metro? I thought it excluded two metro rides, and they only know where you enter anyhow
They switched it from 90 to 120 minutes when they did the zones in 2021 or so, I believe.
It was previously true you could never do two metro trips on one ticket, but when the Two Mountains REM opened they realized people might do Blue to REM to Orange/Green. So now they allow two metro rides with a REM or bus in between (doesn’t say Exo, but unlikely to happen).
120 minutes is a good amount of time but what I really don’t understand is why the STM is so intent on making things difficult for everyone by imposing so many restrictions on what you can do within those 120 minutes.
Many other cities give you a 120-minute window in which you can use transit however you want. If that were the case, the STM might lose a few extra fares here and there, but they’d probably gain overall ridership, especially now that fewer people have monthly passes.
There’s also the question of whether or not that 120 minute time frame is respected. For example, the A+B tickets I use to get from Longueuil to Montreal is supposed to be valid when I board the RTL bus, transfer to the Metro, and then board an STM bus in Montreal. All on the one ticket if within the 120 minutes. (Ditto the reverse when going home.) But there have been at least two occasions where I realized afterwards it had deducted two fares from my OPUS card instead of one.
Hence the continuing circus act of juggling three (three!) OPUS cards to get around this burgh.
The original sin of OPUS was not copying Oyster or Octopus but instead grafting the old ticket system onto a card that could easily deduct any monetary value. We could have had one card for any zone, and it just has money on it, and every time you travel it takes the correct amount of money off the card. You wouldn’t even need exit gates everywhere, just at the Laval and Longueuil stations (and assume every non-tap exit is in Zone A), and the same for the few off-island new REM stations, and then make Exo trains open-style tap outs.
It’s almost like transit could be made simpler and easier if it were free.
The CAQ’s Quebec constitution bill fizzled as the parliamentary session ended, and – with any luck – will become only a curious footnote in Quebec’s legal history.
The family of Valentine Dufresne, killed by a train in March as she made an illegal crossing at a well‑known spot between the Plateau and Rosemont, are suing Canadian Pacific, the city and the federal government for $850,000 on the premise that the crossing is dangerous and not enough has been done to block it.
But it’s well known that every time CP puts up more fencing, someone comes along and cuts holes – and, well, she was taking a chance by crossing illegally. Sad, but FAFO, as they say.
The solution isn’t to block it it’s to find a way to make it safe to cross near there since there’s obviously a need.
I could not agree more.
They could also make the trains more visible and audible, but that would probably entail noise complaints. And people get killed at level crossings despite all the lights and bells and gates. Sometimes there’s little to be done.
While people do get killed at level crossings, thousands use them without incident every year.
Nobody is asking that we get rid of trains, just to put in level crossings so that people don’t invent ways to cross unsafely.
You might as well argue that since trucks sometimes hit pedestrians despite the presence of crossing lights the solution is not to have crossing lights.
I’ve seen gated level crossings with a gate, operable by calling a number for safety. https://tinyurl.com/3s6bk6u5
People manage to cross tracks safely in Jarry Park and at Cremazie and Querbes even though Exo trains go faster than the freight trains at the unofficial crossing described in the original post.
It puzzles me how anyone can not see and feel a freight train coming at that unofficial crossing point, but it has happened more than once.
Steph, I’ve seen those crossings along Boul de Fort-St-Louis in Boucherville but I didn’t know that’s how they worked. Good to know.
I also don’t understand how people can not see or hear a train coming but it happens A LOT as I’ve said here several times before. It’s weird but it happens, and it happens more than you’d think.
steph, that’s a neat crossing, though I guess it gets way fewer pedestrians and trains than a Plateau/Rosemont one would, so might not scale up well.
Overall, the longest distance to a crossing between these boroughs is from around Mount Royal Ave, about 250 m, a bit more than this one. That is annoying, but it’s not that far compared to other highway and rail line crossings elsewhere in the city. It is certainly annoying to use the tunnels, but they do exist, no one has to invent unsafe crossings. There are lots of areas with industrial land you can’t cross through, should they have to allow a public crossing too? If someone just trespasses anyway and falls down a hole and dies can the family sue?
I’m all in favour of more crossings, but level crossings with rail lines are only slightly better than level crossings with highways. The reason rail lines are so safe is because there aren’t a ton of level crossings. If the city wants to pay for pedestrian tunnels you don’t have to drop down much that’s fine by me, but they don’t want to either.
It’s a shame this woman died, but if this lawsuit succeeded then it would cost railways or municipalities billions of dollars building crossings every 50 m or whatever the court suggests is necessary. In France, where this victim and her family are from, they should know all about trains and not crossing the tracks, but what they may not know is that unlike France, courts here regularly award the winning party costs and lawyers’ fees, payable by the losing party, and they are likely to have to pay up for this frivolous lawsuit.
Presumably if CP loses (which non-lawyer me assumes they won’t) the outcome will be a massive increase in security around that informal crossing. You just know that someone who works in security for CP is dying for an excuse to unleash the worst kind of AI-infused surveillance tech out there.
Anyway, I’m often surprised in these stories how frequently we are told that the police are basically stumped (for all the reasons described above, chiefly – how could a person not notice a train about to kill them) but that they’ve ruled out suicide. Seems to me that would be the most likely explanation in most cases, no?
I’m finding it even harder to credit that anyone would attempt suicide in front of a freight train, but I suppose it would actually be a more certain death than the metro.
FYI, regarding that level crossing that steph pointed out, that is one of seven or eight similar ones that run along a five kilometre stretch of Boul. de Fort-St-Louis where that train line basically spits Boucherville in two. There are also seven or eight road level crossings too, which do not have gates but they have flashing lights.
It’s actually pretty impressive that they did that, as Fort-St-Louis is a main boulevard with a bike path and pedestrian path, so it gets a lot of traffic of various types, and it’s nice that a significant effort was made to accommodate foot and bike traffic in so many spots instead of just making those people go to the road level crossings.
Also, they were all upgraded a year or two ago. (FYI.)
I’ve had the misfortune of seeing someone commit suicide by train and I can attest to it being very effective.
“It’s a shame this woman died, but if this lawsuit succeeded then it would cost railways or municipalities billions of dollars building crossings every 50 m or whatever the court suggests is necessary.”
@nicholas: this lawsuit is for money for the family of the victim. The court would not be mandating crossings or anything of that nature.
CN/CP have insurance policies for these sorts of things. I’ve know of train-hoppers getting payouts after losing limbs.
CE, that has to have been rough, I’m sorry.
So dumb question, is there a stated valid reason why there aren’t any more underground pedestrian crossings ? There can’t be power or gas lines that prevent it everywhere.. right? stairs down, tunnel, stairs up.
azrhey , it’s a legitimate question, which might be more than can be said for my answer, but here goes.
For one thing: expensive. Not crazy expensive, but still expensive, especially since such a tunnel needs to be reinforced enough to handle trains going overhead.
But there’s the other issue of the likelihood of such tunnels turning into very nasty places that smell of piss and are dangerous to go through because of the risk of muggings and other assaults, and the fact that they would provide shelter for unhoused and people who are mentally unwell. Sounds extreme, but have you gone through any such tunnels lately? We’re not talking about a tunnel along a busy pedestrian path or street; we’re talking about a tunnel in an out-of-the way area so that people don’t have to trespass by crossing the tracks. Not good.
The plan to do roadwork on rue Villeray this summer is likely to ruin the season for several businesses including Café Vito, which has always flourished by holding outdoor World Cup watch parties. Vito has entreated with the borough to delay the work till after the soccer tournament, but to no effect. Also some audio on CBC.
Very local news, but local to the blog, so…
Oh, so that’s why the pedestrianized portion ends at de Gaspé. I thought it was weird it didn’t extend further west.
I don’t usually post sound files, nor have I listened to this yet, but some may find this hour‑long NPR history of the Jazz Festival an interesting listen.
Psychologically, what would be the benefit of posting a lot of very convincing AI videos of fake crime incidents in Quebec on Facebook? Convince people we need more law and order? Or just keep people more scared of each other, and generally cowed?
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was either a) some random person with no political agenda who knows how to make money from social media, or b) one of Quebec’s far-right groups building support for their ideology through fearmongering, while also generating income to print their stickers, t-shirts, etc.
Yeah, my guess would be a). CBC recently published a story about people overseas (mostly in India/Pakistan/etc.) who are very active in Alberta separatism groups on Facebook. They stir up antagonism. Not because they care one bit whether Alberta is in our out of Canada, but just because they’ve figured out how to work Meta’s monetization program to their own benefit. In that case, they were mostly copying other people’s content and reposting it. But, similar idea to let AI do the all the work.
Digtial ad fraud is conservatively estimated at $100 billion per year — although some people say it’s closer to $250 billion.
The problem is that Meta, Google, and the other online giants make money both from people buying the ads, and from the people coming up with garbage to keep those (possibly fake) eyeballs on their sites, so they have absolute no interest in stopping the slop.
I think for a large proportion of the population (especially among older people, who spent most of their lives in a pre-Internet-all-the-time-in-your-pocket era), this is like by far pastime number one – watching the most obviously fake, xenophobic, racist, cortisol-spiking garbage known to man. We tear our hair out worrying about kids and screen time – what about baby boomers?
Rage baiting is big business. Thanks, social media.
Popular St‑Henri deli Arthurs Nosh Bar has been reproved by the OQLF over the Yiddish word ‘nosh’ on its front window. What should they put there instead? Grignotines juives?
Oy vey!
I’d love to see a story about one of the vigilante busybodies who go around filing complaints with the OQLF about things like this.
Maybe if it was spelled in Yiddish instead of Romanized? Lots of Hassidic businesses in my neighbourhood get away with Yiddish and/ or Hebrew. I bet if an OQLF inspector saw “נאש” (nosh) they wouldn’t know what it said anyway and let it go.
That said… If I call someone at the OQLF a putz or a shmuck, am I speaking Yiddish, or using a loanword in English? I am pretty sure most English speakers would recognize the words “putz”, “schmuck”, or “nosh” even if they don’t know ithsoe words were originally Yiddish, and I suspect that was the intention of the owner. That he’s claiming it’s Yiddish so it doesn’t count is about as authentic as his overpriced “heimishe” menu.
Memories of Pastagate! Or the recent story about the SoLIT Cafe and the mandate to find a more French way to say “nachos”. At least they are not just dumping on English, specifically, for once?
Well we know they want us to not only speak French at work and at home but also to think in French, not leave the province, and apparently only eat French food.
Now I’m craving matzoh ball soup.
The best part of the nachos story is that nachos is the official term recommended by the government of Quebec. Maybe the inspector who laughed at the proprietor needs to spend more time with the dictionary. Though using chicken in English was bound to get them in trouble.
Ian, I was thinking how the word “fuck” is not deemed a bad word in Quebec French media, and wondering – if they passed a law saying you can’t insult a cop – if calling a cop an “evil fuck” would even constitute an insult, whereas calling him “mon tabarnak” probably should.
Nobody ever complains about, say, Hasidic businesses, because they are low-profile and serve their own community. It’s when the evident ethnic names start operating in ‘secular’ parts of the economy that causes the lowest form of Quebecer to file a complaint with the OQLF thugs who would’ve had no trouble assimilating into 1930s Germany.
That’s awesome, Nicholas. Thanks for that.
Wasn’t there an incident quite a few years ago where someone insulted a cop in English but the court didn’t recognize the insult because it wasn’t in French? Because the insult wasn’t in English, the person making the insult was basically directing meaningless sounds at the cop. I might be misremembering the spicifics.
Benoit Dagenais, who worked for the city for 30 years and has been director general since the Plante years, has been let go by Ensemble and replaced by Alain Dufort, who’s done various managerial jobs for the city.
No pressing reason mentioned why Dagenais has been given the push, but Le Devoir’s Jeanne Corriveau notes that, in recent history, directors general don’t long survive a change of administration at city hall.
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