Aylmer, Quebec news

• Opinion: Minority-language-rights setbacks hurt all Canadians

  21-11-2018 23:15 via montrealgazette.com
  When I heard about the government of Ontario’s decision to eliminate the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner and to scrap plans for a French-language university in Toronto, I came to the sad conclusion that the trend to undermine language rights knows no borders.
  As we’ve seen, the shock wave created by this announcement has sparked outrage not only among Ontario francophones, but among Canadians across the country. Needless to say, I am profoundly dism
  
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• Rizzuto unfairly targetted because of family name, defence argues

  21-11-2018 23:04 via montrealgazette.com
  The police included Leonardo Rizzuto as a suspect in a drug trafficking investigation based mostly on his family name, a defence lawyer argued on Wednesday as the alleged Montreal Mafia leader’s trial began at the Montreal courthouse.
  The charges Rizzuto faces are related to how police found two handguns and five grams of cocaine inside his home in November 2015. At the time, they were making arrests in Project Magot, a lengthy investigation into organized crime and cocaine traffickin
  
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• Image + Nation: 13 films to see at 31st LGBTQ festival

  21-11-2018 22:54 via montrealgazette.com
  How do you follow up a 30th anniversary? For organizers of Montreal’s (and Canada’s) longest running LGBTQ film festival, you get to work programming another killer lineup.
  Image + Nation kicks off Thursday and runs to Dec. 2. To help you pick and choose, we asked the festival team for 13 highlights of Image + Nation’s 31st edition.
  Kathryn Setzer, programming director:
  Octavio Is Dead! (Fri., 7 p.m., Concordia’s J.A. de Sève Cinema)
  “The second feature from
  
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• Quebec will help francophones in the rest of Canada, Legault says

  21-11-2018 22:26 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Premier François Legault says Quebec is willing to do more to help francophone communities living outside the province obtain better services in French.
  But he conceded there are limits on what Quebec can do without appearing to meddle in the affairs of another province.
  “We cannot force the government of another province to do something, but we can help francophone groups in other provinces fighting to get more services,” Legault said, arriving for a meeting of
  
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• CAQ government already drifting and backtracking, Quebec Liberals say

  21-11-2018 22:20 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Only a month in office and already the new Coalition Avenir Québec government is drifting and backtracking on its electoral promises, Quebec’s Liberals say.
  Wrapping up a one-day meeting of the Liberal caucus, interim party leader Pierre Arcand said a series of incidents over the last few days have been a clear indicator to him that the government has no idea where it is headed on many fronts.
  “It is actually very hard to figure out where this government is goin
  
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• Montreal-area housing starts expected to drop in 2019

  21-11-2018 21:50 via montrealgazette.com
  While housing starts in the Montreal region are on-track to rise this year, the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec is forecasting a 12-per-cent decline in 2019.
  Housing starts are forecast to rise eight per cent this year, to 26,277, after rising by 38 per cent from 2016 to 2017.
  Even with the 12-per-cent drop expected next year, the forecasted 23,229 starts will be still be higher than 2016 levels.
  The construction of condos is
  
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• Brownstein: Ste-Catherine St. plan sounds familiar alarm

  21-11-2018 21:39 via montrealgazette.com
  Look on the bright side: The Valérie Plante administration has pledged to hold a feasibility study and even do some public consultation before going ahead, after 2022, with a second phase of revamping a chunk of Ste-Catherine St., between Atwater Ave. and Bleury St. This plan would reduce that part of the thoroughfare to one lane of traffic and would eliminate nearly 500 parking spots.
  That beats all to heck the Plante approach to the pilot project on Mount Royal, wherein the Camillien-Ho
  
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• Canadiens Game Day: Claude Julien shakes up his fourth line

  21-11-2018 21:16 via montrealgazette.com
  NEWARK, N.Y. — Canadiens coach Claude Julien made it clear after Monday night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals that he wasn’t happy with the performance of his fourth line, which was benched after the second period.
  So you knew changes were coming and when the Canadiens play the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night at the Prudential Center (7 p.m., SN1, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) centre Matthew Peca will be watching the game from the press box, while Michael Chaput takes hi
  
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• Canadiens become foster family to Mira puppy

  21-11-2018 21:05 via montrealgazette.com
  NEWARK, N.J. — The Canadiens are getting a new puppy.
  The club announced on Wednesday that it is teaming with the Mira Foundation to become the foster family to a Saint-Pierre Labernese puppy for one year. The Canadiens will be responsible for socializing the puppy under Mira’s guidelines to become a future guide dog or service dog. Since its creation in 1981, Mira has provided more than 3,000 people with guide and service dogs to help with their disabilities.
  For the next year
  
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• Patriquin: Separatism's decline leaves franco minorities vulnerable

  21-11-2018 20:32 via montrealgazette.com
  It makes perfect sense that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has taken aim at many of the rights and institutions of his province’s linguistic minority. The practitioner of what looks like a particularly cynical brand of populism, Ford is also adept at retail politics. And as Ontario’s electoral map shows, Ford hardly needs the province’s 550,000 French-speakers to stay afloat.
  Broadly speaking, Ontario francophones are clustered around Ottawa as well as in the province’s north
  
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• Montreal set to achieve highest urban economic growth in Canada in 2018

  21-11-2018 20:20 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal is expected to have achieved a higher level of economic growth than any other major Canadian cities in 2018, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
  Montreal’s real gross domestic product is expected to grow by 2.9 per cent this year, the think tank said on Tuesday. This is the first time since the Conference Board started tracking municipal economic growth in 1987 that Montreal has topped the list.
  The Conference Board credited the growth to investment in non-residentia
  
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• Legault defends his Ontario power-export plan as 'win-win' for all

  21-11-2018 19:52 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Allowing Ontario workers to help build dams in Quebec to increase exports is a “win-win” for both provinces, says Premier François Legault.
  Despite an immediate backlash from Quebec’s powerful union movement, Legault defended the idea that he floated during his meeting with Ontario Premier Doug Ford earlier this week.
  Arriving Wednesday for a meeting of the Quebec cabinet, Legault reminded reporters that Ontario is preparing to invest $20 billion in renova
  
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• Opinion: Some Canadian tennis stars aren't heroes to taxpayers

  21-11-2018 19:19 via montrealgazette.com
  Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov is an exciting player, and I’m a huge fan. Beyond his extraordinary talent, 19-year-old Shapovalov demonstrated additional impressive sides of his personality in recent months. He showed compassion and sportsmanship when he played his friend Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first round of the U.S. Open; it was moving to watch him comfort Auger-Aliassime after the latter had to quit. Later, after losing in the third round to Kevin Anderson, Shap
  
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• Quebec justice minister pledges reform of family law in first term

  21-11-2018 19:14 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec Justice Minister Sonia LeBel has pledged to reform the province’s family law provisions during the first term of the Legault government.
  LeBel’s promise comes after eight former justice ministers — Liberal and péquistes — signed an open letter calling for the province’s family law provisions to be modernized and reflect new social realities.
  Law professor Alain Roy, who authored the open letter, says that modern realities are such that an update o
  
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• Driver pepper sprayed during Grand Prix claims racial profiling

  21-11-2018 19:08 via montrealgazette.com
  A man arrested and pepper sprayed by police for honking his car horn during Grand Prix weekend has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission.
  Daniel Louis says that on a night when countless cars parade down Ste. Catherine St. and honk their horns, he was targeted because of the colour of his skin.
  Police contend Louis was asked to show his identification so they could cite him for excessive noise and that his refusal to do so triggered the arrest.
  “I was reaching for my pa
  
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• Update: Quebec will help francophones in the rest of Canada, Legault says

  21-11-2018 18:51 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Premier François Legault says Quebec is willing to do more to help francophone communities living outside the province obtain better services in French.
  But he conceded there are limits on what Quebec can do without appearing to meddle in the affairs of another province.
  “We cannot force the government of another province to do something, but we can help francophone groups in other provinces fighting to get more services,” Legault said, arriving for a meeting of
  
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• Brian Wilson's music was made for these times, and all time

  21-11-2018 18:30 via montrealgazette.com
  It’s been five decades since the Beach Boys faced their first big identity crisis.
  Cream’s Wheels of Fire and Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience were released within a few months of each other in 1968 — two double albums filled with extended jams and psychedelic explorations.
  That’s the music you’re likely to hear in contemporary films or television series set in the ’60s. What you won’t find on such a soundtrack is anything from the B
  
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• ILL-Abilities founder gave a wheelchair-bound boy the gift of dance

  21-11-2018 18:15 via montrealgazette.com
  The Ill-Abilities International Dance Crew celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal headquarters last weekend. The crew features dancers with physical challenges and is headed by choreographer, dancer and motivational speaker Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli.
  Patuelli was born with arthrogryposis and has limited leg strength. He has inspired many young people with physical limitations over the years, including Pincourt re
  
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• Update: Atwater Tunnel remains closed for clean-up, inspection

  21-11-2018 18:08 via montrealgazette.com
  The Atwater Tunnel, fully flooded on Tuesday after a work crew cut through a nearby water main, has been pumped out but remains closed pending a clean-up and inspection.
  Sud-Ouest borough mayor Benoit Dorais reported via his Twitter account Wednesday morning that while the 10 pumps deployed to drain the tunnel had done their work, a large quantity of mud and residual water remained and were being dealt with by city blue collar employees.
  Meanwhile, inspections of the tunnel itself have begun.
  Mo
  
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• It's unacceptable to curb francophone rights in ROC: Montreal, Quebec mayors

  21-11-2018 17:29 via montrealgazette.com
  Mayors representing cities and municipal associations in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick on Wednesday published a statement in which they call for the recognition and protection of francophone rights across Canada.
  Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume are among those calling for those rights to be fully protected and denouncing any political action that would see them infringed.
  The mayors say that any attempt to curb those rights is unacceptable in
  
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• Montreal real-estate sales climb unabated, but price increases could slow

  21-11-2018 17:10 via montrealgazette.com
  Housing sales in the Montreal region are expected to reach record highs in 2018 and 2019, the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards said on Tuesday.
  But while both the number of residential properties sold and the median selling price of those properties are expected to rise, the rate of price increases is expected to be down from a 2017 peak.
  The QFREB is predicting the median selling price of a single-family home in the Montreal region will rise by 3.2 per cent this year to $320,000, based o
  
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• Dollarama recalls plastic dolls for high levels of hazardous chemical

  21-11-2018 17:02 via montrealgazette.com
  For the second time this year, discount retailer Dollarama has issued a recall for a toy made in China and containing high levels of a chemical product hazardous to human health.
  Health Canada announced that the retailer is recalling 52,000 MONTJOY toy kits, each of which contain a doll and 12 accessories. The kits were sold between Oct. 16, 2017 and Oct. 5 of this year.
  The article number — 08-3048458 — can be seen in the right upperhand corner of the package and the code CUP 667888
  
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• Alleged Montreal Mafia leader Rizzuto faces trial on gun, drug charges

  21-11-2018 16:50 via montrealgazette.com
  The trial of Leonardo Rizzuto on charges related to two firearms and a small amount of cocaine found inside his home three years ago is underway at the Montreal courthouse.
  The charges are related to what police found inside Rizzuto’s home in November 2015. At the time, they were making arrests in Project Magot, a lengthy investigation into organized crime and cocaine trafficking led by the Sûreté du Québec.
  When the arrests were made, the SQ alleged that Rizzuto, the s
  
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• Pilot found dead after helicopter crashes in Laurentians

  21-11-2018 14:09 via montrealgazette.com
  The Sûreté du Québec has confirmed that the pilot of a helicopter found Tuesday afternoon after crashing in the Laurentians was found dead at the scene.
  The identity of the pilot, a resident of Rouyn-Noranda who was in his 50s, has yet to be officially confirmed.
  The helicopter was found atIvry-sur-le-Lac, about 10 kilometres from Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts.
  The Transportation Safety Board of Canada and investigators from the SQ will begin their investigation Wednesday.
  The
  
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• Montreal police investigate gunshots in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve

  21-11-2018 13:54 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal police are investigating the circumstances that led to shots being fired at an east-end intersection Tuesday night.
  The incident occurred around 10 p.m. at the corner of Nicolet and Ste-Catherine Sts. in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
  Police say that by the time they arrived at the intersection, responding to calls about gunshots, any victim, suspect or witness had left the scene. Spent shell casings were later found by a detector dog.
  Police suspect the shooting may have been part of a robbery
  
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• While you were sleeping: The grumpiest commuter of them all is this dog

  21-11-2018 13:50 via montrealgazette.com
  Here’s what happened while you were wondering why it couldn’t be Black Wednesday.
  The winners of the 2018 Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Awards were announced at a gala Tuesday night:The Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction went to Eliza Robertson for Demi-Gods.
  The Concordia University First Book Prize went to Paige Cooper, for her story collection Zolitude.
  The A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry went to Sina Queyras for My Ari
  
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• West Island Assistance Fund sniffs out 'arrogant' charity scammers

  21-11-2018 13:33 via montrealgazette.com
  West Island Assistance Fund executive director Claudine Campeau is on the lookout for people trying to play the system.
  The WIAF was established in 1966 and helps up to 700 families a year through its food bank, thrift shop, furniture service and Christmas basket program.
  When the volunteer in charge of registering families in need left in June, Campeau took over the job and in the process, did a deep dive into the files. She got quite the surprise.
  “There were people on that list who make
  
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• A student of 'Lazylegz' Patuelli celebrated his mentor. And then he danced

  21-11-2018 12:55 via montrealgazette.com
  The Ill-Abilities International Dance Crew celebrated its 10th anniversary with a performance at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal headquarters last weekend. The crew features dancers with physical challenges and is headed by choreographer, dancer and motivational speaker Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli.
  Patuelli was born with arthrogryposis and has limited leg strength. He has inspired many young people with physical limitations over the years, including Pincourt re
  
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• Pointe-Claire soccer field saved from residential development

  21-11-2018 12:33 via montrealgazette.com
  Pointe-Claire citizens and members of city council, including Mayor John Belvedere, gathered at a snowy soccer field on John Fisher Ave. in a show of solidarity, Sunday.
  The field just north of Lindsay Place High School is poised to become a permanent green space.
  “It’s a win-win situation,” Jenny Gomes Farrugia said. Farrugia administers Pointe-Claire-centric Facebook pages Citoyens pour un meilleur Pointe-Claire and Walton Development Awareness Group. She has been one of a nu
  
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• Kramberger: Seniors residence thrives 5 years after post-NIMBY backlash

  21-11-2018 12:07 via montrealgazette.com
  While the Villa Beaurepaire has settled in to serve an ongoing demand for affordable housing needs within an aging West Island demographic, the project faced a not-in-my-backyard — NIMBY — backlash over a rezoning request when proposed.
  The seniors housing facility in Beaconsfield marked its fifth anniversary with a celebration dinner on Saturday. Discussions about the project began 12 years ago and the concept was not a popular one with neighbours.
  “(Finally) after so much NIM
  
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• Montreal weather: Snowy and windy

  21-11-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  There’s more snow in the forecast today, along with potential whiteout conditions in some areas.
  Environment Canada is calling for snow ending in the afternoon, with local blowing snow in the afternoon. Up to 5 centimetres is expected. Wind becoming northwest 30 km/h gusting to 60 near noon. High minus 4. Wind chill minus 8 in the morning and minus 21 in the afternoon.
  Tonight: Partly cloudy. Local blowing snow in the evening. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. Low minus 15. Wind chill minus
  
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• Alive and thriving: Cree newsmagazine The Nation celebrates 25 years

  21-11-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  “We’re still alive,” said Will Nicholls, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Nation.The Montreal-based bi-weekly newsmagazine is celebrating 25 years of reporting on issues concerning the Cree communities of the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region. No small feat for an independent publication in an era when even mainstream media conglomerates are struggling.
  “I think I’ve got one of the best jobs there is,” said Nicholls, who hails from the Cree Nation of Mistiss
  
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• Montreal Pet Squad brings companionship to airport travellers

  21-11-2018 11:55 via montrealgazette.com
  Airport travel can be stressful. Long waits in airport lounges, security screenings, lost baggage, delayed flights and for some passengers, the fear of flying.
  But a new canine program called the Snuggle Squad is helping ease the travel jitters of passengers at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval.
  The Snuggle Squad is composed of 30 dogs who roam around the airport terminal and offer a friendly paw and some companionship to travellers.
  The program was introduced by Aéro
  
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• Tomkinson: Partial moratorium on development in St-Lazare

  21-11-2018 11:11 via montrealgazette.com
  In the past 20 years, Vaudreuil-Soulanges area has transformed from a region of farms, forests and horse trails, to a place populated by big box stores, playgrounds, cul-de-sacs and condos.
  The boom has been a boon, in many ways, for the families who call this region home. For most of us, life is pretty good. We live serene in the green, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city — but we can still get to Costco in a jiffy whenever we feel the need to stock up on fancy cheese, supersi
  
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• Atwater Tunnel expected to be closed Wednesday morning after flooding

  21-11-2018 05:19 via montrealgazette.com
  The Atwater Tunnel in southwestern Montreal was almost completely flooded Tuesday after construction workers cut through a 24-inch water main and will remain closed Wednesday morning.
  Water poured into the tunnel, just south of the Atwater Market, flooding some surrounding streets as well.
  The incident occurred when a contractor working in the sector accidentally broke the pipe, city spokesperson Marilyne Laroche Corbeil said.
  Earlier reports that the break was caused by natural gas utility
  
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• QWF Literary Awards honour Eliza Robertson, Paige Cooper, Sina Queyras

  21-11-2018 05:00 via montrealgazette.com
  At a gala Tuesday night to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Quebec Writers’ Federation handed out the 2018 QWF Literary Awards, spotlighting the province’s English-language authors.
  Winners in the main categories each received $3,000.
  The Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction went to Eliza Robertson for Demi-Gods.
  “She is fearless in her portrayal of adolescents on the cusp of maturity as they confront the madness that is sexuality,” wrote the jury.
  The
  
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• Expect some tax relief when the CAQ tables its economic update Dec. 3

  21-11-2018 02:51 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — The province will produce an economic update, which should include some tax relief for Quebecers, on Dec. 3.
  Coalition Avenir Québec Finance Minister Éric Girard made the announcement Tuesday on his way out of a special pre-session meeting of the CAQ caucus.
  The choice of Dec. 3 places the update right in the middle of the two-week sitting of the National Assembly. The house is to resume work briefly before Christmas starting Nov. 27, but will wrap things up Dec. 7.
  
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• MUHC researchers identify genetic defects that cause molar pregnancies

  21-11-2018 02:39 via montrealgazette.com
  Isabelle Lafond will never forget the day she was told that even though she was pregnant, she wasn’t carrying a fetus.
  “It was horrible, like a death,” she recalled of that day two years ago. “I didn’t understand what was happening, what the problem was, why me. Today, it’s still hard to accept.”
  Lafond, who is 27, has had two complete molar pregnancies. Instead of a fetus growing inside the uterus, a mole grows inside, and in up to 15 per cent of cases,
  
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• Man testifies Montreal priest took him to confession after sexual abuse

  21-11-2018 02:08 via montrealgazette.com
  A man in his 30s testified Tuesday that Father Brian Boucher, a Catholic priest who has worked at a number of different churches in the Montreal region over 30 years, sexually assaulted him on a regular basis over a three-year period beginning when he was just 10 years old.
  Boucher, 57, faces multiple counts of sexual assault brought by three victims who were minors at the time of the alleged assaults, which span almost two decades. Boucher is free on bail but was relieved of church duties in 20
  
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• Atwater Tunnel flooded after workers cut through pipe

  21-11-2018 02:03 via montrealgazette.com
  The Atwater Tunnel in southwestern Montreal was almost completely flooded Tuesday after construction workers cut through a 24-inch water main.
  Water poured into the tunnel, just south of the Atwater Market, flooding some surrounding streets as well.
  A contractor working in the sector accidentally broke the pipe, said city spokesperson Marilyne Laroche Corbeil.
  Earlier reports that the break was caused by natural gas utility Énergir were false, Corbeil said.
  Other news media were repo
  
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• 'I noticed my two nieces lying on the floor': Brother testifies at Sorella murder trial

  21-11-2018 01:40 via montrealgazette.com
  LAVAL  — After a panicked drive from his home in Brossard, a wave of relief rushed over Luigi Sorella as he pulled up to his sister’s house in Laval.
  Luigi had feared his sister, Adele Sorella, had made another attempt to end her life after listening to a voice mail she left him earlier that day. He rushed over as soon as he heard it.
  But when he arrived, he noticed Sorella’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Maybe, he thought, he had blown everything out of proportion.
  &
  
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• 'Unconscious' man found in badly damaged helicopter in Laurentians

  21-11-2018 01:29 via montrealgazette.com
  The Sûreté du Québec found “an unconscious man” Tuesday afternoon in a helicopter that had been missing in the Laurentians for more than 24 hours.
  The man was taken to a hospital in the Mirabel region. The SQ would not give any more details on the man’s physical state or whether he was still alive.
  The helicopter was discovered near Lac Brazeau, in Ivry-sur-le-Lac, about 10 kilometres from Ste-Agathe-des-Monts.
  The damage to the helicopter was exte
  
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• Real estate association forecasts record sales in 2018, 2019

  21-11-2018 01:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Housing sales in the Montreal region are expected to reach record highs in 2018 and 2019, the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards said on Tuesday.
  But while both the number of residential properties sold and the median selling price of those properties are expected to rise, the rate of price increases is expected to be down from a 2017 peak.
  The QFREB is predicting the median selling price of a single-family home in the Montreal region will rise by 3.2 per cent this year to $320,000, based o
  
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• #ICYMI: Lettuce scare, submerged tunnel, more news

  21-11-2018 00:38 via montrealgazette.com
  In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI) is a daily feature highlighting news in and around Montreal.
  Consumers should avoid eating romaine lettuce following an outbreak of E. coli that as of Tuesday had affected 15 people in Quebec and three people in Ontario.
  Read more here: Consumers in Quebec, Ontario warned not to eat romaine lettuce
  ***
  The Atwater Tunnel in southwestern Montreal was almost completely flooded Tuesday after construction workers cut through a water pipe.
  Read more here: 
  
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• Hanes: There is peril in underestimating striking students

  21-11-2018 00:28 via montrealgazette.com
  The rumblings of discontent have started again. Many Quebec post-secondary students are on strike this week as part of a mass mobilization not seen since the Maple Spring six and a half years ago.
  More than 50,000 have walked out of classes at CEGEPs and universities across the province. Some are out for the week, others for a few days. Still more are expected to take to the streets of Montreal Wednesday afternoon. They will gather in Place Émilie Gamelin at 3 p.m., the epicentre of the n
  
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