Montreal City Weblog

Jacques Nadeau, one of Quebec's outstanding press photographers for many years, has died. Le Devoir, his home till he retired in 2023, also has thoughts on his influence on photojournalism locally. La Presse republishes a few of Nadeau's classic shots.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134231

An STM maintenance workers' overtime strike is set to begin Thursday. It may mean a shortage of buses outside rush hour. The metro is not expected to feel any effects.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134229

Property taxes are rising, in some boroughs more than others.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134227

La Presse describes the damage caused by chenillettes to house frontages and, in particular, to bicycles locked outside.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134225

CTV reports on a new housing unit for women fleeing conjugal violence but I'm a little surprised they mention the site is in the Plateau and show video (and a still image on the front of the news page) revealing the front of the building, because it's... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134219

In his first council session as mayor of Westmount, Michael Stern was heard calling someone a fucking asshole on an open microphone. Classy. (Thank goodness CTV gives this to us as “fuc - - ng assho - - ” because that so spares our feelings.)... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134217

Temperatures may rise on Wednesday but snow is bound to fall.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134214

Last Christmas, a 78-year-old man fell into a manhole because the cover had been displaced by snow machinery. He wants a relatively modest $5000 from the city, but they say he wasn't using a proper crossing so it's not their fault – although it's a quiet... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134212

As happens from time to time, the Quebec electoral map is being redrawn according to updated population data. Montreal is set to lose one of its 27 provincial ridings and Mayor Martinez Ferrada is not happy and neither are several other worthies mentioned in... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134203

An 88-year-old woman was found dead outside a seniors' residence in Laval on Monday morning.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134196

La Presse says that tax-exempt religious buildings cost Quebec municipalities $166 million in property tax in 2025. Montreal alone loses $73 million. Arguments pro and con changing the status are presented, but nothing's said about the many grassroots... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134189

Two businesses in Lasalle were shot at overnight, although Radio‑Canada doesn't say what the second one was. Unusually, TVA names the Salon Voodoo Lounge as a target. Nobody was injured.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134187

The Gazette's Allison Hanes dissects the ludicrousness of the latest secularity bill, aka Bill 9. On The Rover, Christopher Curtis also finds that the PQ is becoming a party of cyberbullies. The comments below were made before I added the Rover piece to this... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134184

I haven't received any comments asking for changes to the 2026 weblog calendar, but I went over it again anyway to tidy up some of the texts. This version is definitive.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134182

Many tenants are under eviction pressure in Park Extension.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134176

Radio-Canada explores the changing face of homelessness with statistics, like that half of the homeless are under 25. The presence of recent immigrants or refugees and trans individuals is noted, and the sad stat that one out of three minors placed with the... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134174

The dismissal of Marwah Rizqy from the PLQ caucus was a subject this week, as was the appointment of Marc Miller as federal culture minister, and his misstep about French. Paul St‑Pierre Plamondon's anger at the artistic milieu's lack of pushback against... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134093

TVA has investigated the death of a young man named Zouhair Boumahdi, killed in June in one of those linear parks beside Notre‑Dame East. The allegation is that Boumahdi was trying to extort money from the homeless whose encampment is located there – and... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134147

Two quite different businesses were shot at overnight, one a downtown lounge and the other a garage on Crémazie.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134142

Quebec women are having fewer kids than ever, and Montreal is the lowest fertility zone of all, with an average 1.11 children per woman. We also have the highest average maternal age at 33.1 years.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134137

CBC lists the December 6 memorials. CTV interviews massacre survivor and MP Nathalie Provost about today's social climate. La Presse's Rima Elkouri tells us about Louis Courville, who was interim director of the Polytechnique on that day in 1989, and who... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134133

Traffic congestion lost regular commuters 63 hours this year – but, not to be too prissy about it, if you're in traffic congestion, you're part of the congestion. On X, Sergio Da Silva quipped "It’s must be all the bike paths on the Décarie."... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134130

The STM's 800 professional employees are planning an overtime strike from December 17 to January 11. Meantime, the STM and the maintenance union can't agree on which essential services to maintain on December 25 and 26 and January 1 and 2.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134125

As I've mentioned, I'm a regular customer of Lufa, and was just sorting out this week's order, when I noticed that the Portuguese bakery that offers pastéis de nata on the site is listing a new variation made with maple syrup. This might be gilding the lily,... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134122

Useful links for finding out about transit status: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cwpb6y34f3jxox56gw6nxavy REM direct: https://rem.info/en/travelling/network-status REM via X: https://x.com/REM_infoservice STM via X: https://x.com/stm_Orange... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134113

Great. I'll add that to my post as well. And followed!

Some taxi drivers are illegally inflating their fares, seemingly to match what Uber is charging at the moment.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134111

Saveur magazine has a list of what it calls the thirteen best under‑the‑radar restaurants here, but although I've never eaten at any of them, I've heard of and seen positive reviews of most of them. But to be fair, they may be secret if you're from out of... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134108

An entrepreneur is reviving the moribund idea to create a major league baseball team in Montreal. Journalists shouldn't be flimflammed into calling this "bringing back the Expos" because the Expos are dead, and phrasing it that way is an appeal to boomers who... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134106

Weekend notes from Le Devoir, La Presse, CityCrunch, Montréal Secret, CultMTL. Traffic hell. La Presse is also running daily cultural suggestions now.... https://mtlcityweblog.com/?p=134087