Aylmer, Quebec news

• Quebec election: Ouellette investigation obscures Liberals' message

  28-09-2018 23:49 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — With three days left to voting day, Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard’s attempts to put the emphasis on the province’s positive economic outlook were once again sidetracked by controversy surrounding his candidate Guy Ouellette.
  On Friday, an hour after Couillard’s Quebec City press conference touting his party’s stable economic stewardship, Ouellette, MNA for the Laval riding of Chomedey, published a personal Facebook post saying Quebec’s crown prose
  
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• Quebec election analysis: Voters dither until bitter end Monday

  28-09-2018 23:48 via montrealgazette.com
  Almost from the beginning, we knew this campaign would be a game changer.
  Quebecers had grown so used to the years of campaigns obsessively focused on the federalism-sovereignty debate that when it failed to emerge this time around many were left dazed and confused, displaying the same withdrawal symptoms of someone coming off an addiction.
  A 50-year habit will do that to you.
  Suddenly, the battle for Quebec took on the attributes of a regular Canadian provincial election, with decisions to be m
  
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• Stu Cowan: Finnish Connection could be key for Canadiens this season

  28-09-2018 23:23 via montrealgazette.com
  The Canadiens’ Artturi Lehkonen is enjoying being able to speak Finnish again.
  When Lehkonen broke into the NHL two seasons ago, he was the only Finn on the Canadiens. For the two seasons before that, Lehkonen was the only Finn on his Frolunda HC team in the Swedish Hockey League.
  Now, Lehkonen is one of four Finnish players in the Canadiens’ locker room at training camp along with goalie Antti Niemi and fellow forwards Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia.
  “It’s nice to spe
  
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• Quebec election: Legault would bill Ottawa for undocumented migrants

  28-09-2018 22:14 via montrealgazette.com
  François Legault says people who come to Quebec and become undocumented migrants from failing his party’s values and language tests will have access to services — but it’s the federal government, not Quebec, that will pay for them.
  The Coalition Avenir Québec leader’s remarks came during a news conference Friday after the Quebec Liberal Party again criticized Legault’s immigration policies, saying they’ll create a “second class of citi
  
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• MNA Ouellette wins bid to quash search warrants against him

  28-09-2018 21:55 via montrealgazette.com
  MNA Guy Ouellette has won a partial victory in his attempts to derail the investigation of him by UPAC, the province’s permanent anti-corruption squad, which suspects he is the source of sensitive police information leaks to the media.
  In light of new information it has received, the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP), Quebec’s crown prosecutors office, decided not to contest the LIberal MNA’s request to invalidate the search warrants that had al
  
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• Quebec election: Advance poll numbers down from 2014

  28-09-2018 21:34 via montrealgazette.com
  More than 1.1 million Quebecers exercised their right to vote early in the Oct. 1 general election.
  That’s equivalent to 17.93 per cent of eligible voters, according to Elections Quebec, a slight drop from the 2014 provincial election, when 19.27 per cent cast ballots at advance polls.
  More precisely, 1,103,206 voters cast ballots Sept. 21-27 at advance polling stations.
  Those votes will be counted on election night Monday.
  Related
  Read more of our 2018 Quebec election coverage right
  
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• Quebec election: PQ seeks injunction against mysterious 'racist' website

  28-09-2018 21:26 via montrealgazette.com
  The Parti Québécois is seeking to shut down a website that pretends to be linked to the political party and highlights past quotes made by its leader and a controversial candidate in Monday’s election.
  In a request for an injunction filed at the Montreal courthouse earlier this week, the PQ also called for the Directeur général des élections du Québec to investigate the source of the website serieusement.fun as its origins are currently cloaked in
  
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• Quebec election: Couillard's message sidetracked by Guy Ouellette allegations

  28-09-2018 21:15 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Philippe Couillard tried to put the emphasis on maintaining the province’s positive economic outlook Friday, but found his message sidetracked once again by allegations against his candidate Guy Ouellette.
  On Friday, an hour after Couillard’s press conference touting positive reviews of Quebec’s economic growth, Ouellette published a personal Facebook post saying Quebec’s department of criminal investigations advised him search warrants levelled against him
  
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• Quebec election: PQ fights for middle ground in polarized race

  28-09-2018 21:12 via montrealgazette.com
  SHERBROOKE — When Jean-François Lisée took over the reins at the Parti Québécois in 2016, he was fighting a two-front war.
  On his left flank, disillusioned former PQ supporters rallied around Québec solidaire, a party that claims to better reflect René Lévesque’s social-democratic vision of Quebec.
  To his right, the Coalition Avenir Québec — founded in 2011 by former PQ cabinet minister François Legault — siph
  
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• Donnacona prison "partially closed" after seizure of drugs, weapons

  28-09-2018 20:51 via montrealgazette.com
  The maximum security federal prison in Donnacona has been partially shut down and visits postponed after the seizure of more than $41,000 worth of contraband earlier this month that included opioids, hashish and hand made weapons, Correctional Services of Canada announced on Friday.
  On Sept. 18, correctional officers conducted a search of the prison in an operation that included detector-dogs and the work of security intelligence officers.
  The contraband seized during a series of searches i
  
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• Canadian Forces plan CT-155 jet flybys in downtown Montreal during Alouettes game on Sunday

  28-09-2018 20:20 via montrealgazette.com
  The Canadian Armed Forces is advising residents of Montreal not to panic when they see two fighter jets flying low to the ground downtown on Sunday.
  The flyby of two Royal Canadian Air Force CT-155 Hawk training jets is being scheduled as part of the pregame ceremony of a Montreal Alouettes game at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, a Canadian Armed Forces appreciation game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The flybys are set for 1:04 p.m. and 1:08 p.m. on Sunday.
  The CT-155 Hawks, from 
  
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• Impact-United clash in D.C. crucial as they chase MLS playoff berth

  28-09-2018 19:45 via montrealgazette.com
  For a Montreal Impact side that’s getting used to playing crucial games down the stretch, Saturday’s clash is as big as they come.
  The Impact face D.C. United on the road (7 p.m., TVA Sports) in a match with major playoff implications as the teams head into the last month of the Major League Soccer campaign.
  Montreal (12-14-4) is sixth in the Eastern Conference with 40 points. D.C. United (9-11-8) is seventh with 35 points and two games in hand. Six teams make the playoffs in each co
  
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• Quebec election: PQ seeks injunction against website it calls defamatory and racist

  28-09-2018 19:34 via montrealgazette.com
  The Parti Québécois is seeking to shut down a website that pretends to be linked to the political party and highlights past quotes made by its leader and a controversial candidate in Monday’s election.
  In a request for an injunction filed at the Montreal courthouse earlier this week, the PQ also called for the Directeur général des élections du Québec to investigate the source of the website serieusement.fun as its origins are currently cloaked in
  
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• Canadiens Notebook: David Schlemko out for six weeks with knee injury

  28-09-2018 19:31 via montrealgazette.com
  The Canadiens are going to be without defenceman David Schlemko for about six weeks after he suffered a knee injury during Wednesday night’s 5-3 pre-season loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.
  “He finished the game and probably felt it more afterwards,” coach Claude Julien said after practice Friday in Brossard. “His injury is expected to keep him out close to six weeks, give or take.”
  Schlemko missed the first 25 games last season after suffering a b
  
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• Mixed messages over Liberal MP Di Iorio's future in politics

  28-09-2018 19:11 via montrealgazette.com
  Nicola Di Iorio, the Liberal MP for St-Léonard—St-Michel, seems to have not quite made up his mind over his political future.
  On Thursday, party whip Mark Holland said Di Iorio would be leaving his functions this autumn, Di Iorio having said last April he was leaving politics. Holland said that Di Iorio had contacted the Liberal Party of Canada this week to confirm his departure.
  However Di Iorio has now posted a message on his Facebook page saying he will take a month to discu
  
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• Buchignani: When wishes come true in Formula One

  28-09-2018 19:11 via montrealgazette.com
  Careful what you wish for, they say — sage advice in life and Formula One.
  Just ask Valtteri Bottas.
  Who?
  Exactly.
  OK, we all know Bottas drives for Mercedes. But given his performance this season, he might as well be invisible.
  Sorry, I don’t mean to be mean. I like the guy, whose first name is the Finnish form of mine. He’s a terrific talent.At least, we think he is.
  And that’s the point. We just don’t know anymore.
  You see, what every F1 driver wishes most o
  
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• Macpherson: Like the Three Stooges playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun

  28-09-2018 19:09 via montrealgazette.com
  So, as this dumbest Quebec campaign draws to a close, how will it be remembered?
  Maybe for citizen Raymonde Chagnon’s reply, when the moderator of the first televised debate asked whether she had been “enlightened” by the leaders’ answers to her question. “Pas tellement,” she said — not really — speaking for discerning voters throughout the campaign.
  Or the campaign story that went global: Liberal leader Philippe Couillard’s obtuse let-them-e
  
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• Montreal police want your help finding this missing 80-year-old man

  28-09-2018 18:36 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal police have turned to the public for assistance in locating Desmond Waithe, 80, who left the Park-Extension seniors residence where he lives on Thursday morning and hasn’t been seen since.
  Waithe, who has poor eyesight, health problems and needs to take medication, was last seen at about 11 a.m. and was wearing a black hooded coat, grey pants and running shoes. He left without any personal effects or money.
  An anglophone, Waithe stands six feet tall and weighs 175 pounds. Police s
  
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• Unions kick off legal challenge to Quebec's pension plan reform

  28-09-2018 18:26 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec Superior Court began this week to hear a challenge to a provincial law that compels municipal employees to equally split the costs of their pension plan with the cities that employ them.
  Dozens of unions representing tens of thousands of city employees across Quebec — white collar, blue collar, police and firefighters — are contesting the constitutionality of the law, which was adopted in December of 2014.
  The unions argue the law infringes on their freedom to negotiate as wel
  
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• 10 Elton John songs fit for a fond farewell: we pick the best of the best

  28-09-2018 18:15 via montrealgazette.com
  It’s been a while since the man born Reginald Kenneth Dwight last had a bona-fide hit, but that hardly matters. At this point, multiple generations know Elton John not only as a musician, but as an indefatigable force for good, a giant in the fight for gay rights and AIDS awareness, mentor to countless young artists, and an all-around compassionate presence in the culture.John’s Bell Centre appearance on Thursday will mark the 18th time since 1972 that he has played in our city (goin
  
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• Bill Zacharkiw's Wines of the Week: Sept. 28, 2018

  28-09-2018 18:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Every week, Bill Zacharkiw identifies his top wine picks available at the SAQ and offers ideas for food pairings.
  Under $15
  Sicilia 2017, Syrah, Cusumano, Italy red, $13.60, SAQ # 10960777. Young, ripe and juicy. No oak. Dark-fruited, with a hint of black olive and herbs to add some depth. This is a consummate table wine that puts ease of drinking ahead of complexity. Keep it cool and the bottle will be emptied before you know it. Grape variety: syrah. Residual sugar: 2.4 g/L. Serve at: 16
  
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• Political parties giving short shrift to domestic animal welfare?

  28-09-2018 17:08 via montrealgazette.com
  Mike Cohen has a big beef with the major provincial parties: “They are not really addressing the needs of thousands and thousands of constituents.”
  Namely, cats and dogs.
  Cohen, the Côte-St-Luc city councillor responsible for animal protection, has a soft spot for pets, particularly cats. But he laments that while the provincial parties have made billions of dollars of promises to two-legged constituents in this election campaign, they have talked precious little about animal w
  
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• Smokers welcome: Couche-Tard launches tobacco club in U.S.

  28-09-2018 16:32 via montrealgazette.com
  Cigarettes aren’t extinguished yet, and one of America’s biggest convenience-store chains wants to squeeze what it can from that shrinking market.
  Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the Montreal owner of Circle K stores, launched a “Tobacco Club” this year in the U.S. that offers discounts on Marlboro packs and other products to more than 4 million patrons who sign in with their mobile number. The company also expanded distribution of its own cigarette label to recently acqui
  
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• Quebec election: Couillard pledges to implement a 'promises tracker'

  28-09-2018 16:25 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — At a campaign stop in Quebec City Friday morning, Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard said his government would establish an online promises tracker in its second mandate so citizens can follow up on all the pledges made during this campaign.
  Couillard referred again to a Université Laval study that found his government had followed through on 82 per cent of its promises in its first mandate, the best result in 30 years.
  “In our first mandate, we did what we prom
  
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• Montreal singers get Once-in-a-lifetime roles at Segal Centre

  28-09-2018 16:15 via montrealgazette.com
  You know within the opening seconds of the 2007 micro-budgeted movie musical Once that you’re watching something fresh, real and seemingly artless, as a hangdog Dublin busker gets harassed by a twitchy heroin addict eyeing the meagre takings in his guitar case.
  That sense of reality hangs in there even when the busker meets a Czech flower seller and things take a whimsical turn in a story that’s been described as a Brief Encounter for the younger generation. Neither of the film&
  
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• Quebec police arrest man suspected of online luring

  28-09-2018 15:43 via montrealgazette.com
  The Sûreté du Québec’s has arrested a 54-year-old man from Sorel-Tracy suspected of having tried to lure and sexually exploit minors online.
  Alain Brouillard was charged on Wednesday and will remain in custody pending his next court hearing.
  Anyone with any information on the suspect is urged to call the SQ’s criminal information hotline at 1-800 659-4264.
  Anyone who wants to report the online sexual exploitation of children can do so by contacting cyberaide.
  
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• Weekend traffic: Headaches on the Turcot and around the Champlain Bridge

  28-09-2018 14:00 via montrealgazette.com
  There are numerous construction-related closures and detours this weekend. Here are some spots to look out for.Turcot Interchange
  Highway 15 North between Exit 58 and the Turcot Interchange will be closed from midnight Friday to Monday at 5 a.m.
  De La Vérendrye Blvd. East, between Galt St. and Highway 15, will also be closed from Friday at 11:59 p.m. to Monday at 5 a.m. as will the exit ramp from Highway 15 to Highway 20 West.
  Several other ramps, between Highways 15 and 20 will also be c
  
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• While you were sleeping: The billionaire who lost in small claims court and bats cleared for takeoff

  28-09-2018 13:24 via montrealgazette.com
  A few things you might have missed while you were sleeping.
  SAQ strike: Unionized employees of the Société des alcools du Québec are on strike today. They will be attending a general assembly at the Olympic Stadium in an attempt to come to an agreement with the employer by the end of September. Some SAQ stores across the province will be staffed by managers and remain open during the Sept. 28 strike. A full list of stores open across Quebec will be available a
  
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• The NFB is on the move, but leaves a lot of history behind

  28-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  It is a drab-brown, massive facility, sandwiched by an array of car dealers and situated on Côte-de-Liesse, on the north side of the ever-gridlocked Highway 40. From the outside, this sprawling edifice could pass for a ball-bearing factory or reasonable facsimile.
  Appearances can be deceiving. This has been the headquarters of the National Film Board of Canada since 1956, when it moved from Ottawa. While the interior will never make the pages of Architectural Digest either, the building ha
  
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• Quebec election: Debt, taxes and the labour shortage

  28-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  The head of Quebec’s largest employers’ group can sum up the most important election issue for his members in one word: workers.
  “We have a gap that is growing and growing between the number of workers that we need and the number of workers that are available,” said Yves-Thomas Dorval, the president and CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec.
  For more than two years, Quebec’s unemployment rate has been below the Canadian average, except for a single month i
  
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• Opinion: Government transparency is an essential part of democracy

  28-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  On Monday, the political parties will be asking voters to entrust them with governing Quebec, but they are forgetting a fundamental principle: public confidence cannot be earned in the absence of transparency. Beyond vague promises, none of the four main parties in contention has committed itself to tackling the opacity that prevails in this province.
  Citizens can’t fully participate in the decisions that concern them if the state is playing hide and seek with them, and is putting obstacle
  
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• Montreal weather: A typical autumn day

  28-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  A bit of a mix from Mother Nature today, but nothing drastic.
  Environment Canada predicts a cloudy start to the day, giving way to a mix of sun and cloud near noon. Wind becoming south 20 km/h in the morning. High 19. UV index 4 or moderate.
  Tonight: Clear with a low of 10.
  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 In
  
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• A year later, Jesse Galganov's mom seeks answers: 'I have to keep going'

  28-09-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Sometimes when the mercy of sleep comes, Alisa Clamen dreams about her missing son. It’s not a specific dream, but “mostly the comfort of his presence, seeing him, hearing his voice — just a feeling that he is with me.”
  In the dreaming, at least, she finds a reprieve from “the constant aching void that I feel for him every waking minute.”
  These are unsmiling times for the 53-year-old Montrealer, and today is a grim anniversary: Clamen last heard from her son,
  
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• Quebec election: René Lévesque's former confidantes denounce Manon Massé

  28-09-2018 03:53 via montrealgazette.com
  In a vitriolic letter obtained by Presse Canadienne on Thursday, several of René Lévesque’s former confidantes, including five former ministers and two chiefs of staff, denounced Manon Massé and Québec solidaire.
  They blame her for trying to associate her party to the legacy of Lévesque, the founder of the Parti Québécois and an icon of the sovereignty movement.
  In the letter, five of the former premier’s cabinet ministers &m
  
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• Quebec election: Legault visits factory that wants immigrant workers

  28-09-2018 03:47 via montrealgazette.com
  STE-CLAIRE – For François Legualt, Quebec’s biggest economic challenge is clear — there’s a shortage of jobs that pay more than $25 an hour.
  The Coalition Avenir Québec leader regularly contrasts his stance with that of Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard, who maintains that the biggest economic problem is a shortage of labour.
  “Mr. Couillard is happy with the economic situation, he’s happy because he’s only looking at the
  
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• René Lévesque's former confidantes denounce Manon Massé

  28-09-2018 02:39 via montrealgazette.com
  In a vitriolic letter obtained by Presse Canadienne on Thursday, several of René Lévesque’s former confidantes, including five former ministers and two cabinet chiefs, denounced Manon Massé and Québec solidaire.
  They blame her for trying to associate her party to the legacy of Lévesque, the founder of the Parti Québécois and an icon of the sovereignty movement.
  In the letter, five of the former premier’s cabinet ministers &md
  
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• #ICYMI: Lisée calls for unity, no charges against cops, more news

  28-09-2018 02:09 via montrealgazette.com
  In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI) is a daily feature highlighting news in and around Montreal.
  After warning of the Marxist menace hidden with Québec solidaire’s ranks, Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée softened his tone Friday and called on all Quebecers to unite ahead of the Oct. 1 elections.
  Read more here: Quebec election: After having taken aim at QS, Lisée urges unity
  Tap here to read all of the Gazette’s election c
  
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• Crown seeks maximum sentence in Vaudreuil-Dorion home invasion

  28-09-2018 01:47 via montrealgazette.com
  Santiago Jimenez experiences anxiety every time he opens the front door to his home.
  The simple action reminds the 74-year-old engineer and salesman of how a stranger stormed into his home in Vaudreuil-Dorion before noon on Nov. 27, 2015, and pummelled his face so badly he was unable to see anything as he was later rushed to a hospital.
  “I was technically dead and I was lucky to be alive,” Jimenez said at the Valleyfield courthouse on Thursday while he testified at a sentence hearing
  
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• Quebec election: Couillard stands with Ouellette despite CAQ revelation

  28-09-2018 01:43 via montrealgazette.com
  VICTORIAVILLE/STE-CLAIRE — Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard stood by Chomedey candidate Guy Ouellette Thursday even after reports he leaked embarrassing information about the party to rival Coalition Avenir Québec.
  On Wednesday, the Quebecor network reported that emails from two different addresses belonging to Ouellette were sent to the CAQ. Ouellette told reporters Wednesday he doesn’t remember sending the emails, and speculated that Quebec’s Unité permane
  
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• Police shooting of homeless man in 2017 was justified: Crown

  28-09-2018 01:38 via montrealgazette.com
  No charges will be laid against the Montreal police officers involved in the shooting death of Jimmy Cloutier, a homeless man, outside the Old Brewery Mission in January 2017, the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, Quebec’s office of crown prosecutors, announced on Thursday.
  Based on the investigation by the province’s independent Investigation bureau (BEI), the DPCP concluded the officer who shot Cloutier, 38, was justified in using his or her firearm to protect
  
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• Advocates rally for right to housing

  28-09-2018 01:31 via montrealgazette.com
  Having a safe place to shelter is a fundamental human need. This fall, the federal government is even expected to formally recognize it as a human right. But according to affordable housing advocates, it is a right that too many Canadians are being denied.
  A 28-day march from Ottawa — organized by the Front de l’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) to draw attention to the issue — will conclude on Saturday in Quebec City with a demonstration in front
  
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• Montreal real estate: Housing advocates rally for right to housing

  28-09-2018 00:18 via montrealgazette.com
  Having a safe place to shelter is a fundamental human need. This fall, the federal government is even expected to formally recognize it as a human right. But according to affordable housing advocates, it is a right that too many Canadians are being denied.
  A 28-day march from Ottawa — organized by the Front de l’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) to draw attention to the issue — will conclude on Saturday in Quebec City with a demonstration in front
  
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