• Unacceptable for Royalmount project to worsen traffic woes: Plante

    It’s not acceptable for the future Royalmount mega-mall to aggravate traffic woes in the already congested area around the Décarie Expressway and Highway 40, Mayor Valérie Plante said Tuesday.
    But speaking to reporters at city hall, Plante acknowledged there’s little she can do about it.
    “The number that jumps out at me is 20 additional minutes in traffic,” Plante said, quoting an impact study released two weeks ago revealing that the $2-billion project &mda
  • Ice-free sidewalks: Côte-St-Luc considering the idea

    The city of Montreal has nixed the idea, but that hasn’t deterred suburban Côte-St-Luc from considering heated sidewalks as an alternative to plows, salt and shovels.
    Côte-St-Luc city councillor Ruth Kovac floated the idea before council and will now embark on a cost-benefit analysis to consider the case for building sidewalks with heating elements installed inside them.
    Kovac said she has read about heated sidewalks in other jurisdictions and believes the idea has me
  • Six O'Clock Solution: Creamy red lentil soup boils down to the basics

    This easy, flavourful lentil soup is typical of the 125-plus recipes in Uncomplicated: Taking the Stress Out of Home Cooking (Penguin, $32), by Toronto TV cook and recipe developer Claire Tansey.A working mother who has simplified family cooking, Tansey starts each recipe with helpful tips, how long it takes to prepare and how long it takes to cook. Many of the dishes can be made in advance, or in batches.A former Chatelaine magazine food director, Tansey has strong views on ingredients, equipme
  • Allison Hanes: Climate change will test CAQ government

    A cloud loomed over what should have been a momentous day in Quebec politics Tuesday, when a new government took its place in the National Assembly to open a jam-packed two-week fall session.
    As Premier François Legault and his Coalition Avenir Québec government begin work in earnest on their laudable priorities — education, health and the economy — they simultaneously signalled a lamentable regression on an issue close to the hearts of most Quebecers.
    The possibil
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  • Montreal doctor suspended 13 months for abandoning 1,500 patients

    The provincial order of physicians has ordered the 13-month suspension of Trevor Wesson, a Montreal doctor who suddenly abandoned his 1,500 patients in 2017.
    The sanction, which was handed down by the disciplinary committee of the Quebec College of Physicians on Nov. 15, is effective from the committee’s ruling a year ago that found Wesson had behaved contrary to the college’s professional code of ethics by abandoning his clinic and patients without notice.
    Wesson disappeared some ti
  • West Island Community Calendar for the week of Nov. 28

    Galleries and exhibitions
    The Stewart Hall Art Gallery, 176 Lakeshore Rd., Pointe-Claire, presents the 2019 Art Rental Collection, a wide selection of artworks by more than 75 artists. Continues until Sunday. Call 514-630-1220, ext. 1778.
    Cedar Park United Church presents their To The Stable Creche Display on Tuesday and Dec. 5 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 204 Lakeview Ave. in Pointe-Claire. All are welcome. Free admission. Tea room available both days from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Call 514-695-3337.
    Galerie
  • Applying for '60s Scoop settlement like 'opening the past,' survivor says

    Nakuset was just three years old when they came for her.
    Like thousands of other Indigenous children taken during the ’60s Scoop, Nakuset was forced from her home in Cree territory, put onto a plane and placed in the care of a family halfway across the country.
    Now, decades later, she may be eligible for a government settlement that acknowledges the harm caused by its policy of separating Indigenous children from their families.
    However, the process is proving rather complicated.
    Related
    L
  • Canadiens send Karl Alzner to Laval Rocket after he clears NHL waivers

    After the Canadiens finished their morning skate Tuesday in Brossard, Karl Alzner’s equipment was still hanging in his locker-room stall.
    But after Alzner cleared NHL waivers at noon, his equipment would have been packed up and shipped to Laval, where he will report to the AHL’s Rocket.
    This isn’t what Alzner or Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin had in mind when the veteran defenceman signed a five-year, US$23.125-million contract as a free agent on July 1, 2017, with an
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  • Quebec blasts Ottawa over $1B Via Rail contract to Siemens

    QUEBEC — Premier François Legault has blasted the federal government for allowing a $1 billion contract to refurbish Via Rail trains slip into foreign hands.
    Legault said he was stunned to learn the German firm Siemens would be doing the work and Ottawa failed to ensure a Canadian content clause in the package.
    “It’s naive to see our federal government not doing what all other governments including the U.S. do,” Legault told reporters on his way into the legis
  • Montreal police seek missing 17-year-old last seen in Dorval

    Police have turned to the public for help in finding 17-year-old Zoë Korn, who was last seen in Dorval on Oct. 8.
    This is not the first time Zoë, who speaks English, has disappeared, but her family has had no news from her and is concerned for her safety.
    She stands five-feet-five-inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. When last seen she was wearing a green sweater, blue jeans and white shoes.
    Anyone with any information on her whereabouts is urged to call 911, contact their local police s
  • Get smart about smart toys' threat to privacy: consumer group

    So-called “smart” toys that are able to interact with children can be fascinating, but as the holiday shopping period approaches, a Quebec consumer protection group warned on Tuesday that such interaction comes with some risk.
    Option Consommateurs sounded that note of caution as it unveiled its research on smart toys, a category that can include interactive stuffed animals, robot dogs or a remote-control truck.
    Some toys will respond to questions, others will move on command or invit
  • Canadiens Game Day: Shea Weber returns to lineup against Hurricanes

    The Man Mountain is back.
    Shea Weber will make his season debut for the Canadiens when they face the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio). It will be Weber’s first game since the NHL 100 Classic outdoor game last Dec. 16 in Ottawa. Since then, Weber has had surgery to repair tendon damage in his left foot and a second surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
    Tuesday night will also be Weber’s first game wearing th
  • Opinion: As more oil moves by rail, Lac-Mégantic lessons still unlearned

    The Alberta oil industry is in deep trouble because of the huge price discount (by as much as $50 US per barrel) for bitumen (West Canadian Select) compared to the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil price, which itself has plummeted in recent months.
    The main culprit, according to producers, is a supply glut caused by pipeline bottlenecks, due largely to government-imposed delays in new pipeline construction: notably Trans Mountain, and more recently Keystone XL.
    Curiously, companies did
  • Teen was under water for 38 minutes in 'violent but accidental' drowning

    A Quebec coroner has ruled that the drowning death of 14-year-old Blessing Claude Moukoko in Montreal last winter was violent but accidental. But Dr. Louis Normandin is calling for an overhaul of how schools teach their students how to swim, and recommends swimming instruction in schools be immediately suspended until that overhaul takes place.
    Moukoko died last Feb. 21, six days after being found at the deep end of a swimming pool at the Centre Père Marquette.
    In his report, Normandin no
  • Man who conspired to set fire to Rizzuto funeral home denied parole

    A man with alleged ties to a Montreal street gang, who pleaded guilty to having taken part in a conspiracy to torch a funeral home owned by members of the Rizzuto family, was turned down for parole because he denies being tied to organized crime despite ample evidence to the contrary.
    On June 15, Kens Emmanuel Noël, 25, of Montreal North, pleaded guilty to having taken part in a conspiracy to set fire to the Loreto funeral home in April 2017. The fire caused little damage to the business in
  • 2019 city budget: Spending is out of control, says Montreal opposition

    Spending is out of control at city hall, the opposition Ensemble Montréal charged Tuesday in a critique of the 2019 budget, which will be adopted Wednesday by city council.
    Expenditures will go up by 4.3 per cent under the budget, after going up by 5.2 per cent in 2018, opposition leader Lionel Perez said at a news conference.
    He accused the Valérie Plante administration of going on a hiring spree by adding 533 employees to the civil service. Since 467 of the new hires wo
  • Focus on survival skills or cancel school swim classes: Quebec coroner

    A Quebec coroner has ruled that the drowning death of 14-year-old Blessing Claude Moukoko in Montreal last winter was violent but accidental. But Dr. Louis Normandin is calling for an overhaul of how schools teach their students how to swim, and recommends swimming instruction in schools be immediately suspended until that overhaul takes place.
    Moukoko died last Feb. 21, six days after being found at the deep end of a swimming pool at the Centre Père Marquette.
    In his report, Normandin no
  • Chambly plans to build duplicate of historic home it demolished

    Chambly’s city council has announced it will build a replica of the 19th-century home called the Maison Boileau and use it to house exhibits detailing local history, including the Patriotes rebellion of 1837.
    The decision to produce the duplicate comes after the original, built in the 1820s, was demolished last Thursday.
    City officials explained the demolition by saying neglect of the structure prior to Chambly’s purchasing the property in 2016 led to structural defects that made ren
  • Clients in the cold after ADY Renovations 'folded their tents and disappeared'

    ADY Renovations, one of the oldest home renovation businesses in the West Island, has closed its own doors and windows.
    A notification letter posted to its entrance door window at 4811 St-Charles Blvd. in Pierrefonds says the company has declared bankruptcy.
    The sudden closing left Pointe-Claire resident Jan Farrell wondering if she had lost a $585 deposit she’d recently made to ADY Renovations for new patio doors.
    Farrell said she had used ADY Renovations in the past for home renovations
  • A Q&A with MUHC Foundation’s chief, one of Canada’s most powerful women

    Julie Quenneville’s drive to experience a fulfilled and philanthropic life was born and raised in the West Island. The Kirkland resident is the president of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation and was just named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network.
    The mother of two said her tireless drive to be engaged in the community and help others came from her maternal grandmother and from the support she received from loving parents and
  • Man found dead near parked car in Sainte-Julie

    The discovery of the body of a man in a remote section of Sainte-Julie early Tuesday has sparked a homicide investigation by the Sûreté du Québec.
    The discovery was made around 12:15 a.m., when local police found a car parked on Bellerive Rd., which runs parallel to the L’Acadie River.
    They found the vehicle unoccupied but then saw the body nearby. The victim, whose body showed marks of violence, was declared dead at the scene and his identity has yet to be established.
  • Restaurateurs to serve Lebanese-Canadian Christmas feast to those in need

    A group of local restaurateurs are hoping to bring some holiday joy to neighbours in need this year by hosting a free Christmas feast for families struggling to make ends meet and those who are alone over the holidays.
    Marlene Jaoudé and Chaouki Zakhour will open their restaurant, Elissar, on Christmas Day from noon to 4 p.m. to offer a lavish lunch for those who could use a helping hand over the holidays.
    The Vaudreuil-Dorion restaurant seats 72, and will continue offering meals unt
  • Former Abbott quarterback Sinagra wins Hec Crighton Trophy

    The John Abbott College football program has a feather in its cap after former Islanders quarterback Adam Sinagra was named 2018 winner of the Hec Crighton Trophy as the most outstanding player in U SPORTS football.
    Sinagra, who starred for the University of Calgary Dinos this season, was honoured at the Vanier Cup awards gala held last Thursday in Quebec City.
    Former John Abbott Islanders quarterback Adam Sinagra, seen here in a game in 2014, recently won a national award at the Vanier Cup
  • Blizzard warning fizzles, drizzle now in forecast for Montreal

    Environment Canada warned on Monday that by the time it was over on Wednesday there could be 25 centimetres of snow on the ground.
    But by Tuesday morning the light, wet snowflakes that had begun to fall hours earlier were gone, the temperature was slightly above freezing, and by the time it’s all over on Wednesday, the forecast now says we’ll see a mix of snow and rain.
    Meanwhile, Environment Canada’s snowfall warning, issued Monday for the Montreal-area, had disappeared as qui
  • While you were sleeping: Chicken that didn't want to roast rescued

    Here’s what happened while it started to snow.
    Unionized employees at the Société des alcools du Québec plan to walk off the job on Thursday. It is the fourth such strike day this month, as the 5,500 members of the union representing store and office workers at the SAQ has stepped up its pressure tactics in a contract dispute that dates back to March 31, 2017. On Sept. 28, the workers voted 96 per cent in favour of creating a bank of 18 strike days to be used
  • Sinagra honoured as Canada's top university football player

    The John Abbott College football program has a feather in its cap after former Islanders quarterback Adam Sinagra was named 2018 winner of the Hec Crighton Trophy as the most outstanding player in U SPORTS football.
    Sinagra, who starred for the University of Calgary Dinos this season, was honoured at the Vanier Cup awards gala held last Thursday in Quebec City.
    Former John Abbott Islanders quarterback Adam Sinagra, seen here in a game in 2014, recently won a national award at the Vanier Cup
  • ADY Renovations in Pierrefonds, open since 1966, goes bankrupt

    ADY Renovations, one of the oldest home renovation businesses in the West Island, has closed its own doors and windows.
    A notification letter posted to its entrance door window at 4811 St.Charles Blvd. in Pierrefonds, says the company has declared bankruptcy.
    The sudden closing left Pointe-Claire resident Jan Farrell wondering if she had lost a $585 deposit she’d recently made to ADY Renovations for new patio doors.
    Farrell said she had used ADY Renovations in the past for home renovations
  • Ubisoft Canada wants to grow player count to 200 million by 2025

    Every month, an average of 20 million people log in to play a video game developed in Canada by Ubisoft.
    Yannis Mallat, the Montreal-based CEO of Ubisoft’s Canadian studios, wants to grow that number to 200 million people a month by 2025.
    It’s the right time to invest, he said, because the video game market is changing. There are more players than ever, new markets are opening and technology is changing how people play games.
    “We are in a very interesting time for the industry,
  • Montreal weather: A snowy day

    We’re in for a messy day again, with snow and temperatures near the freezing mark.
    Environment Canada is calling for 10 to 15 cm of snow, at times heavy, during the day, with a northeast wind of 30 km/h gusting to 50. Temperature steady near zero.
    Tonight: More snow, about 5 cm, with a northeast wind of 20 km/h gusting to 40. Temperature steady near plus 1.
    Don’t forget to submit your photos of Montreal via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by tagging them with #ThisMtl. We’
  • How Montrealer MissMe sold a work of art to Madonna

    MissMe was in Denver on Monday, trying to ignore the fact that she just sold one of her pieces to Madonna. But that’s been easier said than done for the Montreal street artist, who dubs herself “the artful vandal.”
    Last week, Madonna posted an image to Instagram of the six-foot canvas leaning against a piano, in what is presumably her home, with the hashtag #newart, accompanied by a heart, and the word “exciting” handwritten up the side. At the bottom, she tagged Mi
  • Gazette Christmas Fund: Community becomes family for Pascale

    For Pascale, the holiday season used to be a time largely marked by traditions kept alive by his grandmother.
    In the years since her passing, however, he says the atmosphere surrounding the festivities has changed, saying it’s “a little rougher now.”
    Of course, he stills sees his mother and his sister, Pascale says, though neither live in Montreal, so visiting them requires extra coordination.
    Despite the physical distance between Pascale and his family, he doesn’t feel i
  • Crunch at Berri: métro riders wait to cram onto overcrowded trains

    Julie Bouthillette knows that longer waiting time on the platform at the Berri-UQÀM station means it could take her an hour longer to get to her home in Blainville.
    “I have to factor in extra time, because if I miss too many métros, it’s a domino effect and I’ll miss my (commuter) train at the De La Concorde station,” Bouthillette said Monday afternoon. “If I miss my train, I have to wait a half hour or longer.”
    Bouthillette’s experience be
  • Carolina Hurricanes at Canadiens: Five things you should know

    Here are five things you should know about the Canadiens-Carolina Hurricanes game at the Bell Centre Tuesday (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio):
    The matchup: The Canadiens are struggling through a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) after dropping a 3-2 decision to the Boston Bruins Saturday to open a five-game homestand. Home ice hasn’t been kind to the Canadiens, who have a 6-4-2 record at the Bell Centre. They’re in a fight a for a playoff position with 27 points through 24 games,
  • Brownstein: Mount Royal consultation gets lots of traffic

    This won’t come as much of a shock, but the Office de consultation publique de Montréal reports that it has never been as inundated with opinions and proposals as it has been with its ongoing study on the future of the Camillien-Houde Way/Remembrance Rd. thoroughfare.
    This in spite of the fact that some of us who have been reporting on the mountain road have never been as inundated with complaints and inquiries from readers on how to access the Office de consultation website to expr
  • Delegation heads to Ottawa to seek funds to extend Route 138 in eastern Quebec

    OTTAWA — The extension of Route 138 in the Côte-Nord region isn’t just the business of the Quebec government.
    That’s the message brought to Ottawa by a delegation of 15 people from the Lower North Shore to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Infrastructure Minister François-Philippe Champagne, on the invitation of Bloc Québécois MP Marilène Gill.
    “We’re a bit exhausted hearing talk about a third link here, a second brid
  • SAQ employees to strike again on Thursday

    It could be a dry and disappointing payday for many in the province, as unionized employees at the Société des alcools du Québec plan to walk off the job.
    It is the fourth such strike day this month, as the 5,500 members of the union representing store and office workers at the SAQ has stepped up its pressure tactics in a contract dispute that dates back to March 31, 2017.
    SAQ employees were on strike on Nov. 16, 17 and 18, shutting all but 10 stores in the provinc
  • Stu Cowan: Canadiens' David Schlemko has reason to be excited

    “David Schlemko … come on down!”
    That’s not exactly how it worked Monday morning, but it did bring back memories of watching the Price is Right when coach Claude Julien selected Schlemko to be Shea Weber’s defence partner at practice in Brossard.
    The two biggest questions concerning the Canadiens ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) were would Weber finally make his season debut
  • Romaine lettuce scare has Montreal clients turning to local greenhouses

    As food safety authorities in Canada and the U.S continue to warn against eating romaine lettuce because of the recent E. coli outbreak, many consumers seem to be turning to local, hydroponically-grown greens as a safer way of getting their salad fix.
    Lufa Farms, which operates three rooftop greenhouses in the region, has seen a significant bump in new clients ordering their weekly baskets of local products. Lufa Farms co-founder and marketing director Lauren Rathmell said it seems likely t
  • #ICYMI: Religious symbols, 'fake' terrorist attack, more news

    In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI) is a daily feature highlighting news in and around Montreal.
    A strong majority of Quebecers support the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s plan to ban religious symbols for persons in authority including teachers, a new poll shows.
    Philip Authier files this report: Majority of Quebecers support the CAQ’s plan to ban religious symbols
    ***
    A man with ties to Quebec far-right groups discussed staging a fake terrorist attack to “wak
  • Molson irked as city claims first dibs on sale of brewery site

    Molson-Coors says it was surprised to learn the city had reserved the right to match any offers on sales of its historic property on Notre-Dame St. E.
    Last week, Montreal city council adopted a bylaw enshrining the right of pre-emption — meaning the first right of refusal — on land sales for future housing developments.
    When it announced the measure last month, the city said it would apply to nine future projects, including the former Blue Bonnets site on Décarie Blvd. an
  • Friends of Jesse Galganov carry on the Movember tradition he started

    Jesse Galganov, the young Montrealer who went missing nearly 14 months ago in the mountains of northern Peru, is often in the hearts and minds of his friends. Now they have banded together to organize a fundraiser for Movember, a passionate cause of his.
    Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues including prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide. The Movember Foundation raises funds.
    Galganov
  • Majority of Quebecers support the CAQ's plan to ban religious symbols

    QUEBEC — A strong majority of Quebecers support the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s plan to ban religious symbols for persons in authority including teachers, a new poll shows.
    The same poll also concluded half of those surveyed want the crucifix over the speaker’s chair of the National Assembly to stay in place, but many are reluctant to see people who refuse to remove their symbols lose their jobs in the public sector.
    Conducted by the CROP polling firm for Radio-
  • Montreal's iconic Archambault sign comes down

    The iconic Archambault sign that has graced the corner of Berri and Ste-Catherine Sts. for 88 years was unceremoniously pulled down Monday.
    The vertical sign has been a landmark since 1930, when Edmond Archambault built the seven-storey Art Deco building on the corner to house the music store he founded in 1896.
    The store’s lease was up and Quebecor, the media giant that owns the building, wanted the sign removed, said Émilie Laguerre, director of marketing and communications for Re
  • Wife of West Island drug smuggler struggles to make case for leniency

    The wife of a West Island man convicted of cocaine smuggling struggled to explain Monday why she hurried out of their home in her pyjamas on the night he was about to be arrested.
    Labrini Tsimulaki, 36, a hairdresser from Île Bizard, was testifying at the sentence hearing for her husband, Soninder Dhingra, at the Montreal courthouse.
    Dhingra, 45, was convicted this year on five charges in the smuggling of 94 kilograms of cocaine and 15 kilograms of methamphetamine into Canada through a Que
  • Return of Canadiens captain Shea Weber has cascading effect on lineup

    There are a few question marks as Shea Weber returns to the Canadiens’ lineup after a 345-day hiatus and there will be some answers when the Canadiens face the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre Tuesday (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
    There is little doubt Weber will be an upgrade for the Montreal blue line and the No. 1 question regarding the captain is how long it will take to regain his all-star form after recovering from surgery to his left foot and right knee.
    Weber is a de

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