The Divers/Cité parade took over the Gay Village last night as the big opening event for a week of festivities. Check the begrudging from a Toronto paper.
posted at 12:25

 
Thousands demonstrated yesterday at the Israeli consulate after an attack on Lebanon that killed mainly women and children.
posted at 11:42

 
I'm a bit confused by reports of three workers who died on the weekend in the Townships, specifically that they died from inhaling "deadly argon gas." Argon is about as nonreactive as an element gets. Our air is 1% argon, but it's more or less irrelevant since it doesn't interact with anything and certainly doesn't hurt anybody.

I presume these people died because there was so much argon that there wasn't any oxygen. I've heard of someone dying because they were working in a tank that had nitrogen in it, for the same reason. The gas is not deadly – it just displaces oxygen.

(Later edit: the story's been straightened out a bit, although "fumes" is still a bit misleading.)
posted at 11:19

 
A nice bit of political satire from a user on Montreal's livejournal community.
posted at 13:00

 
Mayor cheered but federal government rep booed at the Outgames opening.
posted at 11:55

 
The Divers/Cité parade starts this evening under the bridge and ends with a party at Berri square.
posted at 10:54

 
The photo-based work of local artists; interesting piece on a Fonderie Darling installation of urban soundscapes; notes on a show at the new Latin-American gallery.
posted at 12:19

 
The lengthy renovations of Dorval-Trudeau airport are criticized for usability and aesthetics by experts. I'm just sad they took away the area from which you could watch planes take off and land.
posted at 11:32

 
There's an ongoing dossier of memories from the 1976 Olympics and another dossier on the current Outgames.

The Outgames have also been the pretext for a lot of parties and for a safe sex clinic to extend its hours...
posted at 11:17

 
Not only is it Outgames time, it's also Divers/Cité week. Picks from Hour and the Mirror.
posted at 12:01

 
The Outgames are selling opening tickets two for one to fill up seats; Martina Navratilova is in town to act as mistress of ceremonies; André Boisclair is involved in some unspecified capacity, but Stephen Harper has snubbed the event; related conferences are hearing about human rights and related issues; a Bloc MP is competing as a wrestler in the games.
posted at 11:41

 
Calèche stables are often in poor shape.
posted at 11:33

 
The Kahnawake bingo hall flouts the tobacco laws while the city ones are seeing a decline in business.

(People still play bingo? Amazingly, yes.)
posted at 11:31

 
If you see literary quotations on the walls, it's probably not going to be the work of freelancers, but of this Blue Metropolis project.
posted at 10:46

 
Ville-Marie borough has decided to stop tolerating the mobile billboard trucks that circulate around downtown.
posted at 10:41

 
A South Shore bar that was explicitly barring black people has been hit with a significant fine by the Quebec human rights commission, and told to mend its ways.
posted at 10:37

 
A coalition of bar operators has formally requested an injunction to halt the smoking laws, which they say are ruining business for them.
posted at 10:20

 
12,000 athletes are expected in town for the Outgames, starting this weekend. The conferences start tonight but tickets for the gala opening Saturday are not selling well. And the monolingual name for the event is disturbing some, but no legal fallout is expected. La Presse has a dossier.
posted at 09:58

 
Although most of them are local productions, the Montreal film bureau cites thirty filming locations that are currently active in town.
posted at 10:53

 
Loto-Quebec's bewailing how the smoking laws are cutting into video lottery profits.
posted at 10:39

 
As the gateway for evacuees from Lebanon, the city's seeing hundreds of volunteers welcoming them and helping them figure out what to do next.
posted at 10:34

 
Montreal is hanging onto the GST reduction made by the Tories, saying it's too complicated to recalculate everything and so keeping that spare 1% for themselves. It's an immediate way of getting the feds to give some tax money back to the city, I'll say that much.
posted at 10:29

 
The city's new parking meters are called unfair because you can't extend paid time on them; in more positive news, almost half this summer's road construction work has been completed.
posted at 10:17

 
Metro buskers compete fiercely for the dwindling number of official spots, and although some musicians would like a more formal permit system, the STM says it's not a priority.
posted at 10:18

 
There's a new treat in the remote east end for those with mashie-niblicks; the Canadiens sign Michael Ryder for a year; Montreal welterweight Arturo Gatti was knocked out in the ninth round; another memoir of an athlete's experience at the 1976 Olympics.
posted at 10:08

 
Albert Nerenberg held Toronto Appreciation Day somewhere in Montreal yesterday, gathering material for one of his famous documentaries, this one about how much the rest of Canada hates Toronto.

If anything, Toronto's even trying to pride itself on this. The rest of the country doesn't hate Toronto. If they think about it at all, they merely find its self-importance comic.
posted at 13:23

 
A peek at Wilensky's Light Lunch.
posted at 13:11

 
Fantasia fest is winding down; Juste pour rire is wrapping up and today is the second day of the Dragon Boat festival.
posted at 12:55

 
Cyclists can be hit with extra fines if caught doing something illegal while wearing headphones. Police are writing lots of tickets these days in a campaign to make everyone on the road behave better (and collect those sweet, sweet fines as well).
posted at 12:51

 
Architectural history surfaces when a Montreal couple buys a 1950s Trend House in Beaconsfield.
posted at 16:18

 
A local food writer calls the new Montreal Zagat – a restaurant review series that began in New York – flawed and slapdash.
posted at 16:16

 
The workers at Ben's deli downtown are on strike for better conditions and better pay. Could this be the end for the venerable but, in recent years, mediocre institution?
posted at 16:09

 
Montreal is called one of the gayest places on the planet in this preview of the international conference on gay rights that takes place before the Outgames.
posted at 16:07

 
Stories of evacuees making it back from Lebanon are of chaos, delays and poor planning; a vigil is being held at the Israeli consulate in protest of the invasion of Lebanon.
posted at 15:22

 
I'm amused at this new find: a blog about Expo 67; if you have the right fonts, the titles even come up in Optima, the logotype font of the venerable fair.
posted at 15:05

 
A former minister of justice says Guy Cloutier was let out of jail prematurely on his charges of abusing underage kids; his old friends don't have a lot to say.
posted at 14:35

 
Souvenir items for the Outgames have been manufactured in countries with severe penalties for homosexual activities; visa problems for guests of the games have been sorted out; hotels and McGill are losing out on underbookings of rooms for the games. It may turn out to be more than a minor problem that the Montreal games are head to head with the more established Gay Games being held concurrently in Chicago.
posted at 14:32

 
The Cinéma du Parc is to close August 3 after a run of the fifteen most popular movies it has shown over the last few years.
posted at 14:09

 
Vélo Québec is dissatisfied with the slowness of city work on new bicycle paths, especially downtown. Frustrated cyclists can at least repair to the Plateau and watch the Tour de France at the cyclists' café on Rachel.
posted at 10:10

 
The big Montreal story today continues to take place far from here, as Lebanese Montrealers struggle to get out of their country of origin and back to safe haven in Canada.
posted at 10:05

 
More items on the Olympics anniversary today: remembering the delayed construction of the stadium, today's athletes pondering the 1976 games; various memories of the events and a typically sour Gazette piece on the frugality of the City Hall anniversary display and a snarky request for suggestions for the future of the stadium.
posted at 09:59

 
Metro cars will lose that bright orange and become more "zen" with the upcoming renovations.
posted at 11:05

 
The Canada-Lebanon connection, family that lost seven members, the delayed evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon and Stephen Harper's cautious response which will please no one...
posted at 11:04

 
Indubitably, it's hot in Montreal but a heat wave in July is nothing unusual.
posted at 10:37

 
The Journal has an entire dossier looking back at the 1976 Olympics, including the quite interesting news that we might also have held the 1980 games if things had gone differently. More brief looks back here and here and memories of Nadia Comaneci from a Mexican paper.
posted at 10:24

 
Six members of the same Lebanese-Canadian family from Montreal are killed in an Israeli raid on southern Lebanon. Yesterday's downtown demo by local Lebanese folks remained peaceful, but Stephen Harper's response won't win him any friends on that side.
posted at 11:48

 
Montreal prepares its 2007 budget without considering the Olympic Stadium, which may become its sole responsibility after this fall. Or maybe not. In any case, with 30th anniversary celebrations of the 1976 Olympics and the recently announced plans for the junior soccer world cup, the stadium's not had such good press for years.
posted at 11:16

 
A squabble between unions is scaring major film productions from choosing Montreal as a location.
posted at 21:42

 
Major churches can't afford their own upkeep any more, and nobody wants to help out. A bleak look at the future of this part of Montreal's heritage.
posted at 21:39

 
Ste-Catherine sidewalk sale today till 5.
posted at 13:13

 
Martina Navratilova is coming to Montreal to co-preside over the Outgames; numerous other participants may be blocked from participating because being gay is criminal in their countries, and a criminal record (for any reason) can be a bar to getting a visa to Canada.
posted at 13:11

 
Vintage photos of Montreal by William Notman are to be shown along McGill College till October.
posted at 12:47

 
The city has chosen the Olympic Stadium to host eight games in next summer's Junior World Cup of soccer. The last time the stadium was used for a soccer match was in 1983 during the final season of the Manic.
posted at 12:35

 
A bomb scare at the airport held 200 passengers immobile for hours on the tarmac in an Air Canada flight to London Friday. Now they want to know why they weren't evacuated.
posted at 12:17

 
The heat wave continues, with vulnerable people warned to take special care. The usual rules about drinking plenty of water and not overexerting in the middle of the day would apply to everybody.
posted at 16:46

 
Interesting look at African culture in Montreal – the clubs, restos and other addresses, and some statistics.
posted at 16:40

 
Precise analysis by Nathalie Petrowski on why Telefilm Canada denied funding to Denys Arcand.
posted at 16:26

 
Montreal transit police are found guilty of racial profiling in a first for the Quebec human rights commission.
posted at 16:22

 
Detailed descriptions of some of the displays at the Flora Montreal show.
posted at 16:17

 
A rush hour ferry service may soon exist between the Jacques-Cartier pier and the Longueuil marina, at least from April to November. It's possible to take a navette on that route now, but the service is meant for tourists and idlers, not commuters.
posted at 16:10

 
More preview of the imminent Outgames.
posted at 15:24

 
Members of Montreal's Lebanese community are angry and upset over the bombing of their country.
posted at 15:23

 
The police are not immune to thefts of their weapons, handcuffs and identity cards.
posted at 15:17

 
This autumn the city will gradually implement a new system in which firefighters act as first responders, doing lifesaving interventions before ambulances arrive.
posted at 15:04

 
Preview of the first world Outgames to be held in Montreal starting July 26.
posted at 15:42

 
The city has heat wave emergency plans which kick in after three days of temperatures over 30°C . At least no smog is expected with the current wave, although the article notes that this could change.
posted at 15:37

 
The lengthy repairs and renovations on the Cartier statue on Mount Royal are (wait for it) taking longer and costing more than expected, and the work may have to be completed next summer.

After all this, will the city allow the tam-tams back, especially as some of the crowd have always climbed up to perch on accessible parts of the statue? I have a feeling it will not.
posted at 15:32

 
The long decrepit Seville Theatre may be incorporated into a new student residence for Concordia University, while preserving some fragments of the theatre's walls and façade.

Although I'm usually in favour of preserving older buildings when we can, I think the Seville's had it; its value was in its being a theatre, and now it's completely gutted. If they want to build on that spot, they should start from scratch.

In other post-repertory-cinema news, there's sadness for the loss of the Cinéma du Parc.
posted at 15:26

 
Today's the last workday before the start of the construction holiday although the two pieces linked here disagree on how many will vacation in the U.S.
posted at 15:17

 
Poll picks C.R.A.Z.Y. as top Quebec film of all time.
posted at 15:15

 
Nice brief piece on how to see the city via cycle tourism.
posted at 15:04

 
NDG residents are startled by rats in the collective compost in a community garden.
posted at 14:58

 
The Canadiens sign two speedy forwards and nail down David Aebischer for another year.
posted at 12:54

 
More major road repairs are announced for the autumn, including parts of Frontenac and Papineau, perhaps adding a few aggregate minutes to the hour and 16 minutes daily the average Montrealer spends commuting.
posted at 12:05

 
The CBC's getting Justin Trudeau to play a Canadian WWI hero in a miniseries to be shown next spring.
posted at 10:44

 
A temporary municipal hiring freeze isn't going to affect essential services, they're saying.
posted at 10:40

 
On a visit to Montreal to mark 30 years since our Olympic games, Olympic chairman Jacques Rogge tries to be diplomatic about the shortcomings in our planning and execution.
posted at 10:33

 
Police security cams on St-Denis are being blamed for pushing the Quartier Latin drug trade into nearby residential streets.
posted at 11:54

 
Synthetic soccer fields cause unexpected hot spots in the city. Montreal has twenty of them.
posted at 11:47

 
A woman in Côte-des-Neiges is trying to block the felling of three trees in a property adjoining her own.
posted at 11:35

 
Housing starts are down in Montreal although other kinds of construction remain feverish.
posted at 11:28

 
The Saputos are going to build their soccer stadium out in the Olympic park, at the corner of Viau and Sherbrooke. One downside is that the city stands to lose parking space revenue from the arrangement, although they could conceivably make it back in other ways.
posted at 10:35

 
After intense politicking, Quebec has decided to let the Children's Hospital keep key services rather than giving them up to Ste-Justine.
posted at 10:14

 
How to keep your chic while commuting to work on a bicycle.
posted at 09:59

 
Details about the Montreal life of terrorism suspect Assem Hammoud are put under the microscope. He went to Concordia where some people remember him, some don't; he worked at a bank branch for awhile; he was occasionally remiss about paying rent. Hardly the stuff of a Le Carré novel.
posted at 09:57

 
Graffiti artist Roadsworth, barely finished his community service hours, is given a commission by the city to do a work at the Palais des Congrès.
posted at 09:46

 
Amusing piece on the four pillars of Montreal cuisine is dead on about the importance of shish taouk, but so wrong about mozzarella in poutine. And Heritage Montreal is doing some walks showing the hidden treasures of Mile End but bagels are not, alas, mentioned.
posted at 23:10

 
On the Just for Laughs festival and how it's done.
posted at 18:28

 
Big fuss over a terrorism suspect who went to university in Montreal, as if that tars us with some brush.
posted at 12:30

 
Refitted metro cars are to get full-spectrum fluorescents which are meant to have positive effects on the mood of riders, especially on dark winter days.
posted at 11:50

 
Background of how a small business, a tearoom, gets off the ground in Montreal.
posted at 10:29

 
Last night's festivities as Italy took the World Cup have left a big mess along boulevard Saint-Laurent today.

Some fans crowded over onto the islands yesterday to watch the final on the big screen, and some rode out a power failure in Little Italy to celebrate the big win afterwards.
posted at 10:11

 

Fan ’do
Originally uploaded by zadcat.

posted at 23:36

 

Fan on three wheels
Originally uploaded by zadcat.

posted at 23:36

 
Montreal's France and Italy supporters were quiet yesterday but are now working themselves up to the big match this afternoon. Again, whichever way it goes, a street party and (if it's like previous years) a parade will follow. Some useful information here on locations for watching the game.
posted at 12:02

 
The long-awaited development of NDG's Benny farm will use geothermal and solar energy sources to cut their dependence on the grid.
posted at 11:52

 
Carifiesta parade takes place under heavy manners and without incident although the connected festival, held over on Île Ste-Hélène, seems to have caused some disappointment. I find it odd that the city doesn't get the concept that people won't necessarily want to leave their usual stomping grounds, or move from the end-point of a parade, over to the island, which is not so easy to get to or away from.
posted at 11:37

 
A week after Moving Day, heaps of discarded junk are still to be seen around town, and 170 households are still without digs.
posted at 11:27

 
The Montreal guy who turned internet trades into a blog gimmick has traded a paperclip up to a two-storey house. It took a year, and the house is a farmhouse in Saskatchewan, but it worked.
posted at 12:55

 
On the pleasures of walking in the city: one expert observes that "Montrealers underestimate how much distance they can cover on foot because they've never tried it."
posted at 12:46

 
Mayor Tremblay is off on vacation to chop firewood and read a good book. Other municipal characters are also on holiday, but who goes to Cuba or Club Med in the summer?
posted at 12:43

 
The jazz festival closes tomorrow night with Goran Bregovic and his Orchestre des mariages et enterrements. Reviews of some of the shows.
posted at 12:39

 
Governments are ignoring illegal landfills, including a particularly nasty one in a wetland in Kahnawake.
posted at 12:35

 
The triple trashcans of Ville-Marie are to be discontinued, having turned out to be difficult to maintain, especially in wintertime.
posted at 15:44

 
A woman honking her horn joyously after France beat Portugal has been slapped with a $151 ticket. She plans to contest.
posted at 14:52

 
Quebec directors are angry at Telefilm Canada about money allocations, and Robert Lepage says he isn't going to film here any more.
posted at 14:43

 
A bit of silly-season hysteria here as a young Montreal man is fingered as the "desecrator" of Ottawa's war memorial. This story inspired a metafilter thread yesterday.
posted at 10:51

 

man of the hour - Zidane
Originally uploaded by a.j.duric.

Lots of happy supporters of France's football team partied yesterday after the team progressed to Sunday's final against Italy. Flickr photo from A.J. Duric.

posted at 10:40

 
The comedy festival includes a comic film festival; FantAsia continues; the Cinema du Parc is closing after this month; Denys Arcand is going to make L'Âge des ténèbres even if the money has to be borrowed from the bank.
posted at 10:39

 
The city is still cleaning up the shattered remnants of Moving Day.
posted at 10:34

 
The last World Cup semi-final is in progress, and the only prediction is that either Saint-Laurent or Saint-Denis will be flooded with excited fans by 5 o'clock.
posted at 15:55

 
Festival fever adds up to unpayable tickets and jail time for the homeless in Montreal.
posted at 14:30

 
Glimpses inside the Caffè Italia and the Olimpico as the Azzurri win yesterday's World Cup semifinal and a chat with two local vedettes of Italian background enjoying the fun. Only heavy rain and thunder were able to dampen the street party that followed.
posted at 10:04

 
The city has refused to save one of the more memorable paintings made on the Park-Pine interchange, now mostly demolished.
posted at 10:00

 
The current ruling says that Jean-Talon market will be pedestrians-only on weekend afternoons in the summer. Despite these rather limited terms, it was fought hard by most of the merchants, who want to be able to sell large quantities of stuff directly to people with cars.
posted at 21:57

 
People have left lots of stuff behind on sidewalks and in alleys after moving house; thirty families have been unable to find new apartments after the yearly shuffle which saw 60,000 households change addresses on the same day.

(There's never, I believe, been a law that said leases begin on July 1. There was a convention that they began on May 1, yes, which was changed by decree in 1973 because it made no sense for kids to change schools two months before the end of term. But it was never obligatory.

The other thing is that it isn't legal to evict someone for having a pet that isn't causing problems for anyone. Nobody needs to accept a landlord's rule of 'no pets' unless they want to, and clearly if more people refuse to accept that, fewer landlords will ask for it, right? Use your economic clout and don't be dictated to, people.)

The Wikipedia gives credit for the notion of Moving Day to a provision of the French colonial government (it also cites 120,000 households moving in 2004!) but I've also read that it may have evolved from the Scots' Flitting Day (see the second item on the page).

Now if only people wouldn't use it as an excuse to abandon their pets and clutter up the city with crap, we could get this to work.
posted at 21:32

 
The SPCA is full to bursting with cats and dogs abandoned on moving day.
posted at 10:43

 
Traces of pharmaceuticals have been found in the river but nobody knows what their effect will be.
posted at 10:41

 
Somehow it doesn't surprise me at all that some drivers take advantage of their relatives' handicapped vignettes to get better parking spots, even if the relative's not with them. Parking seems to awaken the deepest feelings some people have.
posted at 10:38

 
The jazz festival's biggest free show, a tribute to Paul Simon, is tonight.
posted at 10:22

 
Fanciful piece imagines a terrorist attack on Montreal in 2020.
posted at 10:15

 
The jazz festival has already broken a record for ticket sales; a Boston paper raves about it and the All About Jazz site is running a sort of blog about the fest, which continues till July 9.
posted at 11:26

 
The beach is open for the season on Île Notre-Dame as Montrealers are urged to swim in the St. Lawrence.
posted at 10:51

 
Large grocery stores are flouting the law that you can only have four employees working on statutory holidays. Smaller establishments are suffering as a result. A handy list of the well-staffed stores is included.
posted at 10:34

 
A journalist's diary of his experiences at the Grand Prix last weekend.
posted at 23:05

 
Hour looks at a question I've wondered about too: who's buying all the posh condos?
posted at 23:03

 
So many festivals; the politics of the new symphony hall; the opera is saved from sinking; the Times Argus goes to the jazz festival.
posted at 12:59

 
Various vignettes of