Aylmer, Quebec news

• Stu Cowan: A special birthday surprise for Canadiens' Karl Alzner

  24-09-2018 23:59 via montrealgazette.com
  Canadiens defenceman Karl Alzner turned 30 on Monday.
  But since he had a busy day scheduled, which included a 10:45 a.m. practice in Brossard, a 3 p.m. flight to Toronto with his teammates to play the Maple Leafs in a 7:30 p.m. NHL pre-season game, followed by a flight back home, scheduled to arrive at 12:40 a.m., Alzner decided to celebrate with his wife, their daughter Stella, who is almost 4, and 2-year-old son Anson at home on Sunday when the Canadiens had the day off.
  “We actually did
  
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• Quebec election: Couillard attacks CAQ's 'horrible' immigration policy

  24-09-2018 23:53 via montrealgazette.com
  Philippe Couillard sharpened his attack against his chief rival, suggesting his views on immigration and integration of new arrivals are inhumane.
  And he made the case to be elected next Monday to four more years, saying his government turned the province’s finances around and created hundreds of thousands of jobs.
  Speaking to the Montreal Gazette’s editorial board Monday, Couillard called on Quebecers to widely reject Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault&rsq
  
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• Suspected pimp David Maignan arrested after four-month manhunt

  24-09-2018 23:29 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal police have arrested an alleged pimp who has been sought since May 18.
  David Maignan, 18, was charged Thursday on several counts of procurement of a person under the age of 18, advertising sexual services and receiving a material benefit derived from sexual services, after being arrested last Wednesday. He had been sought on a Canada-warrant and had been described by investigators as violent.
  Anyone who thinks they were a victim or knows someone who may have been a victim of Maigna
  
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• Canadiens face tough decision as Jesperi Kotkaniemi impresses

  24-09-2018 22:27 via montrealgazette.com
  Coach Claude Julien was asked after practice Monday morning in Brossard if the Canadiens have a difficult decision ahead of them as to what to do with Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
  “Yes, we do,” the coach said.
  “Yes, we do,” he repeated.
  Yes, they do.
  Kotkaniemi, the Canadiens’ first-round pick (third overall) at this year’s NHL Draft, has had an impressive training camp so far and was named the first star in a 3-2 pre-season win over the Ottawa Senators Saturday night
  
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• Lise Ravary: Anglos shouldn't spurn alternatives to the Liberals

  24-09-2018 20:45 via montrealgazette.com
  By the time you read my next Gazette column, Quebec will have elected a new government. I doubt that Philippe Couillard will be premier again.
  He was a contender, albeit by a minuscule margin, until he assured Quebecers that it was possible to feed a small family for $75 a week.
  So weird was this remark that even the BBC and The Guardian covered it.
  And unbelievably stupid.
  But it won’t stop Le Bloc Anglo from voting Liberal. Nor will the ongoing investigation by UPAC into illegal fundrais
  
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• Secret Montreal: tarantulas, dumpster-diving and ghost-hunting

  24-09-2018 20:33 via montrealgazette.com
  Where are you going to learn the ins and outs of dumpster-diving — maybe more the outs than ins in this case? Or where the city’s ghosts congregate? Or where to bop to the K-Pop beat? Or where to find the tarantula of your dreams?
  Fret not. These questions, and many others dealing with the more quirky aspects of Montreal’s underbelly, will be answered in 514 Undiscovered, a six-part series debuting Tuesday on MAtv. (Each episode will stream for free Wednesdays for a week at mat
  
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• Quebec election: No electoral reform without unanimity, Couillard says

  24-09-2018 20:03 via montrealgazette.com
  It would be “extremely doubtful” if electoral reform were to proceed in Quebec without the unanimous consent of all members of the National Assembly, Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said on Monday.
  And even if no regulation actually requires such unanimity, Couillard said that given the repercussions such a change would have on the voting system, full support from all parties would be a “minimum” requirement.
  At the moment, Couillard is alone in his opposition to
  
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• I was stressed over exams, says man who sent bomb threats to Concordia

  24-09-2018 19:46 via montrealgazette.com
  A man who sent a series of emails that caused Concordia University to evacuate three of its buildings last year says he was desperate to avoid doing an exam when he carried out what he now concedes was a terrible idea.
  Hisham Saadi, 49, appeared before Quebec Court Judge Mélanie Hebert at the Montreal courthouse as the sentencing stage of his case began on Monday.
  In June, Saadi was convicted of having committed acts that, considering the context, were susceptible to causing fear tha
  
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• What'd Youppi! look like after a bender? The new Flyers mascot, probably

  24-09-2018 19:04 via montrealgazette.com
  Yikes!
  The Philadelphia Flyers have a new mascot, and it looks an awful lot like something out of an after-school special designed to scare Youppi! into sobriety. It also looks plain awful.
  Given the horrifically on-the-nose name “Gritty,” the orange creation appears to view Tom Hanks’ grooming choices in Castaway as aspirational.
  Granted, the Habs have not given Youppi! cause to grow a playoff beard of late, but we’re pretty sure he’d do better than whatever happen
  
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• Opinion: Montreal suburbs shouldn't always be losers at agglo council

  24-09-2018 19:03 via montrealgazette.com
  Last January, Montreal suburbs were blindsided with a sharp increase in their agglomeration taxes. After the usual outbursts of indignation, the increases were absorbed into the budgets of the de-merged suburbs. Suburban councils were left to stew and wonder what surprises lay in store for next year’s budget.On Thursday, the suburban mayors announced an agreement reached with Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante to integrate them into the budget process, starting in 2020. It is clear that
  
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• Update — Quebec election: Legault's tax bill would dip if he's elected

  24-09-2018 18:59 via montrealgazette.com
  François Legault would personally save more than $3,000 a year in school taxes if his party is elected, the Coalition Avenir Québec leader’s financial disclosures show.
  On Monday, Legault released his 2018 federal tax return and details about his personal finances.
  Legault said he wants this sort of disclosure to be the norm in Quebec, to ensure full transparency.
  “I think Quebecers have the right to know,” he said.
  According to the document released by the
  
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• Canadiens Notebook: Jesperi Kotkaniemi back in lineup vs. Maple Leafs

  24-09-2018 18:58 via montrealgazette.com
  Jesperi Kotkaniemi will be back in the Canadiens’ lineup when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night in NHL pre-season action (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio), but he won’t have Jonathan Drouin on his left wing.
  Drouin will get the night off in Toronto and Michael Chaput will take his spot with Kotkaniemi at centre and Joel Armia on the right wing.
  “You’re looking at certain guys right now,” coach Claude Julien said after practice as the Canadiens head
  
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• Quebec election: Lisée urges anglos to get on the PQ train for 4 years

  24-09-2018 18:35 via montrealgazette.com
  Saying there would be no referendum on Quebec independence in a first term, Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée on Monday urged Quebec’s non-francophones to vote for his party, adding they could always switch their allegiance after four years.
  While dismissing the idea of rejecting the PQ’s “deep” commitment to Quebec sovereignty, Lisée buttressed the invitation to anglophones and allophones to support his party because the pledge
  
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• I was stressed over exams, man who sent bomb threats to Concordia says

  24-09-2018 18:27 via montrealgazette.com
  The man who sent off a series of emails that caused Concordia University to evacuate three of its buildings last year testified in court on Monday that he was at his wit’s end and was desperate to avoid doing an exam when he carried out what he now concedes was a terrible idea.
  Hisham Saadi, 49, appeared before Quebec Court Judge Mélanie Hebert at the Montreal courthouse as the sentencing stage of his case began.
  “There was a debate going on within myself. One side was saying
  
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• Quebec election: PQ promises more resources for child protection

  24-09-2018 17:29 via montrealgazette.com
  A Parti Québécois government would put more government resources toward the protection of children, PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée promised Monday.
  Lisée said a PQ government would name an official specifically tasked to deal with children’s issues.
  He said a “ministry of youth” would be created that would integrate the issues of primary and secondary education as well as youth protection.
  A provincial policy to promote the well-being of youth
  
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• Concordia’s first female building engineer gifts $15M to alma mater

  24-09-2018 17:15 via montrealgazette.com
  Gina Parvaneh Cody came to Montreal from Iran in 1979 with $2,000 in her pocket and dreams of becoming an engineer.
  After an hour-long interview with her brother’s engineering professor at Concordia University, Cody was given a scholarship to help cover the cost of her master’s degree.
  Ten years later, she became the first woman in Concordia University’s history to earn a Ph.D in building engineering.
  After a highly successful career as an engineer and business leader in Canada
  
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• Watch: Get to know Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault

  24-09-2018 16:46 via montrealgazette.com
  If you include his time as a Parti Québécois minister, François Legault is now the second-to-longest-serving member of the National Assembly.
  That might lead you to believe that he’s the stereotype of a career politician, but the reality’s a bit more complicated than that.
  From co-founding and then divesting from Air Transat to his complaints about the province’s bureaucracy while serving as Lucien Bouchard’s education minister to his founding of
  
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• Suspected pimp arrested after four-month manhunt

  24-09-2018 16:12 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal police have arrested an alleged pimp who has been sought since May 18.
  David Maignan, 18, was charged Sept. 20 on several counts of procurement of a person under the age of 18, advertising sexual services and receiving a material benefit derived from sexual services, after being arrested last Sept. 19. He had been sought on a Canada-warrant and had been described by investigators as violent.
  Anyone who thinks they were a victim or knows someone who may have been a victim of Maignan
  
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• Sutton kidnapping: Sûreté du Québec find a witness, seek Econoline van

  24-09-2018 15:23 via montrealgazette.com
  The man whose image was captured in a surveillance camera at a local Tim Horton’s and who is described by provincial police as a material witness in connection with a kidnapping last week of a 12-year-old girl in Sutton has been located, the Sûreté du Québec said Monday.
  However, police were otherwise providing little information on the advance in their investigation, other than to say their search for the two suspects in the case was continuing.
  Monday’s an
  
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• Quebec election: CAQ's Legault reveals personal financial details

  24-09-2018 14:56 via montrealgazette.com
  Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault released details about his personal finances on Monday.
  The CAQ leader has $9.866 million in assets and owns a single property. He has no money invested outside Canada, the party said.
  Jean-François Lisée has also agreed to release his personal tax return. While Philippe Couillard released details about his finances in 2014, he did not do so this time.
  In 2014, Legault’s assets were $9.8 million, according to the
  
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• While you were sleeping: $18M of cocaine found in bananas given to prison

  24-09-2018 13:35 via montrealgazette.com
  Here’s what happened while you were snoozing through the end of your weekend.
  CBC/Radio-Canada workers in Quebec and Moncton, voted 81 per cent in favour of a new three-year union contract. Syndicat des Communications de Radio-Canada president Johanne Hémond said the new deal will mean 176 permanent positions posted. The two sides also agreed on “a budgetary limit for contract workers where the total payroll doesn’t surpass 20 per cent of that of permanent empl
  
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• Update: Missing LaSalle woman located

  24-09-2018 13:30 via montrealgazette.com
  Update: Montreal police report the woman has been found.
  Montreal police have turned to the public in an effort to locate a 48-year-old woman, who was last seen Sept. 22 in LaSalle.
  Police say her family is concerned for her safety and that she is known to frequent shopping centres or shorelines.
  When last seen she was wearing jeans, a beige and brown coat, black running shoes and a white cap with a dark blue floral design.
  A francophone, she stands five-feet-one-inch tall, weighs 158 pounds, ha
  
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• Montreal weather: Sunny and breezy

  24-09-2018 13:00 via montrealgazette.com
  The work week kicks off under clear skies with a northeast wind of 20 km/h, gusting to 40.
  Environment Canada is calling for a high of 15 and the UV index will be 5, or moderate.
  Tonight: Clear with a low of 12.
  Don’t forget to submit your photos of Montreal via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by tagging them with #ThisMtl. We’ll feature one per day right here in the morning file. Today’s photo was posted on Instagram by @misskikivik.
  Quote of the day:Even w
  
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• Quebec election: 'Lack of vision' in parties' education promises

  24-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec students went back to class last month, just as the province’s political leaders were revving up their campaign bus engines.
  While many students returned to crumbling schools and teachers dug into their own pockets to pay for art supplies or even Kleenex for their classrooms, the four main parties unleashed a flurry of promises aimed at improving Quebec’s education system.
  From free preschool for four-year-olds, whether in a subsidized early childhood centre or a pre-kindergar
  
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• In case you missed it: Here's what happened on September 23

  24-09-2018 04:30 via montrealgazette.com
  A look at the day’s events in and around Montreal.
  Quebec election: Political smorgasbord offers voters food, protest, U.S. annexation
  Jean-Louis Themis believes the true measure of a society is how well it eats. If that thinking were more widespread, the retired chef and cooking teacher would be a shoo-in to enter Quebec’s legislature after the Oct. 1 election. Themis, 65, is the founder and lone candidate of the Parti culinaire du Quebec, which believes a well-fed society would be
  
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• Quebec election: Québec solidaire wants to use a third of TFSAs for energy efficiency

  24-09-2018 02:54 via montrealgazette.com
  Québec solidaire is proposing the creation of a new savings vehicle that would permit Quebecers to continue to save and, at the same time, shrink the province’s ecological footprint.
  The party would replace the current federal Tax-Free Savings Account program with a tax-free program focused on sustainable housing, in which one-third of the sums invested would provide loans for residential renovations aimed at increasing energy efficiency — improved insulation, for instance.
  In
  
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• Québec solidaire wants to use a third of TFSAs for energy efficiency

  24-09-2018 02:52 via montrealgazette.com
  Québec solidaire is proposing the creation of a new savings vehicle that would permit Quebecers to continue to save and, at the same time, shrink the province’s ecological footprint.
  The party would replace the current federal Tax-Free Savings Account program with a tax-free program focused on sustainable housing, in which one-third of the sums invested would provide loans for residential renovations aimed at increasing energy efficiency — improved insulation, for instance.
  In
  
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• Quebec election: Couillard renews scare tactics against Legault

  24-09-2018 02:06 via montrealgazette.com
  Liberal Party Leader Philippe Couillard warned voters his chief rival wants to expel new arrivals, and he may not have fully renounced his separatist convictions.
  As the election campaign entered the last sprint ahead of the Oct. 1 vote, Couillard was ramping up scare tactics Sunday, saying Quebec is an open and tolerant society, and most Quebecers reject proposals by Coalition Avenir Québec to submit new arrivals to language and values tests.
  “I don’t want Quebec to be k
  
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• CBC/Radio-Canada employees approve new union contract

  24-09-2018 01:27 via montrealgazette.com
  Members of the Syndicat des Communications de Radio-Canada, which represents CBC/Radio-Canada workers in the province of Quebec and Moncton, voted 81 per cent in favour of a new three-year union contract this weekend, the public broadcaster announced.
  The employer “is happy with the result, which follows two and a half years of negotiations,” it said in a statement issued Sunday evening.
  An earlier offer was rejected by the union in June.
  
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• Library workers ratify contract with 98-per-cent majority

  24-09-2018 00:59 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — The 225 workers of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), members of the Syndicat de professionnels du gouvernement du Québec, voted overwhelmingly on Friday to ratify an agreement in principle reached on Aug. 31.
  They were 98 per cent in favour of renewing their collective agreement for the period of April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2020. They had been without a contract since March 31, 2015.
  It took 25 negotiating sessions to arrive at the
  
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• Quebec election: School tax cut is about fairness, Legault says

  24-09-2018 00:33 via montrealgazette.com
  GATINEAU — The Coalition Avenir Québec’s plan to cut school taxes is about fairness between regions, François Legault said on Sunday.
  For several days, the CAQ leader has said his promise to cut school taxes is intended to help seniors, whose pensions have not risen along with increases in the school tax rate.
  However, when asked on Sunday why he had not proposed a measure to specifically support seniors, but instead proposed cutting a tax paid on all commercial an
  
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• Montreal marathon: Mutai, Nyirarukundo set record times

  24-09-2018 00:16 via montrealgazette.com
  Ezekiel Mutai, a 25-year-old from Kenya, won Sunday’s 28th edition of the Montreal marathon.
  Mutai, who previously finished fifth in April’s Madrid marathon, completed the course in a Montreal record time of two hours, 11 minutes and five seconds, earning him an $11,000 prize.
  Fellow Kenyan Wycliffe Biwott finished 33 seconds behind and Jean-Marie Vianney-Uwajeneza of Rwanda completed the podium on the men’s side of the competition with a time of 2:18:10.
  Rwanda’s Salome
  
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