Aylmer, Quebec news

• Confirmed: REM will sideline 747 express bus to airport

  28-11-2018 23:17 via montrealgazette.com
  The Société de transport de Montréal will kill its popular express airport bus for all but four hours during the day once the new Réseau express métropolitain electric train comes online.
  That will probably mean a longer and costlier trip to the airport for thousands who currently board the 747 bus that makes 11 stops between the Berri-UQÀM métro and bus terminal and the airport.
  Once completed, the REM will extend from Deux-Montagn
  
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• Factory sirens will wail in Montreal-wide drill Thursday at 2 p.m.

  28-11-2018 23:10 via montrealgazette.com
  Sirens at nine factories across the island of Montreal will be activated for three minutes at 2 p.m. Thursday as part of a civil protection drill.
  The siren warnings are to take place in the event of a toxic leak at one of the plants, and civil protection authorities stress that in the event of a real emergency, anyone within earshot of those sirens is to get indoors as quickly as possible and close all doors and windows.
  The sirens that will sound on Thursday are at food processing plants in Ri
  
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• Premier Legault dares Quebecers to embrace change in inaugural speech

  28-11-2018 23:02 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Premier François Legault has pledged to govern Quebec with “pride and audacity” and dared Quebecers to embrace the kind of change he says Quebec needs.
  And he reached out to English-speaking Quebecers —  in English — inviting them “to define our common future together.”
  In his long-awaited opening speech or inaugural address to the National Assembly delivered Wednesday, Legault tapped into Quebecer’s sense of history and pride,
  
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• In inaugural speech, Premier Legault dares Quebecers to embrace change

  28-11-2018 23:02 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Premier François Legault has pledged to govern Quebec with “pride and audacity” and dared Quebecers to embrace the kind of change he says Quebec needs.
  But even as he reached out to English-speaking Quebecers, inviting them “to define our common future together,” he said the government still intends to replace school boards with service centres despite the objections of francophone and anglophone boards.
  In his opening speech to the National Assembly
  
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• Karl Alzner finds bright side after Canadiens send him to Laval Rocket

  28-11-2018 22:32 via montrealgazette.com
  It’s not a shock that Karl Alzner had a big smile on his face when he met with the media Wednesday morning in Laval.
  Alzner obviously wasn’t happy the Canadiens demoted him to the AHL’s Laval Rocket after he cleared NHL waivers on Tuesday, but the veteran defenceman is one of those people who always looks at the bright side of life. He’s also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.
  “I’m always in a good mood,” Alzner told reporters at Place Bell ahead
  
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• Analyze This: Fourth line, Kotkaniemi prove their value to Canadiens

  28-11-2018 21:49 via montrealgazette.com
  Though the Canadiens have received a surprising amount of offence from their forwards this season, the fourth line has struggled to provide any sort of worthwhile contribution to the team, either offensively or defensively.
  They were outshot, out-chanced and outscored on a nightly basis. In a league where you hope your bottom trio will tread water, they were clearly drowning in mismatches.
  Simply put, opponents relished the opportunity to face the Canadiens’ fourth line, and with good reas
  
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• 2019 city budget: Montreal looking into banning Publisacs

  28-11-2018 20:38 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal will look into the possibility of banning Publisacs — those plastic bags of weekly flyers that often end up in the recycling bin.
  The recommendation was in a report by the city’s finance and administration committee on Montreal’s 2019 budget, which is being debated by city council Wednesday.
  The committee, which submitted its report Tuesday after studying the $5.7-billion budget over two weeks, said the city should “evaluate the environmental and financial costs
  
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• Exorcist says Céline Dion's 'gender-free' kids' clothing is 'demonic'

  28-11-2018 20:15 via montrealgazette.com
  Over the course of her illustrious career, Céline Dion has duetted with Barbara Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Peabo Bryson, Luciano Pavarotti, Destiny’s Child and Mariah Carey.
  That list of collaborators, one Catholic clergyman says, is missing a name: Satan.
  Monsignor John Esseff, the founder of an institute that trains exorcists and an exorcist himself, told the National Catholic Register that the Québécois icon’s new clothing line for kids has the &ldqu
  
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• Martin Patriquin: A nationalist double standard on minority rights

  28-11-2018 20:01 via montrealgazette.com
  Many of the Journal de Montréal’s columnists have been falling over each other to denounce Doug Ford. Ontario’s 26th premier, you’ll recall, announced a couple weeks ago that he was cutting the province’s French-language services commissioner and shelving plans to build a francophone university. While the move came in for sharp criticism in pretty much all Quebec newspapers, the flurry of spit-inflected invective in the Frontenac Street tabloid was on a level
  
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• Update: Family suing city, CSDM over 'nightmare' of son's drowning

  28-11-2018 19:44 via montrealgazette.com
  The family of Blessing Claudevy Moukoko, the 14-year-old Montreal boy who died after spending 38 minutes underwater, unnoticed, during his school swim class, announced Wednesday they will sue the city of Montreal and the Commission scolaire de Montréal.
  Blessing Moukoko died in February after drowning in a municipal pool in the Rosemont—La-Petite-Patrie borough.
  The boy’s mother, Evelyne Mavoungou-Tsonga, said Wednesday that her family has been in the dark for the past ni
  
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• Opinion: Transport Canada has done much to improve rail safety

  28-11-2018 19:37 via montrealgazette.com
  Bruce Campbell (“Lac-Mégantic lessons remain unlearned” Opinion, Nov. 28) suggests that the rail safety improvements that have been made since the July 6, 2013 tragedy “are modest at best.” I would like to outline all of the ways in which meaningful progress has been made by the government of Canada to improve rail safety and the transportation of dangerous goods. 
  Transport Canada has taken significant actions to further improve the safety of transporting dan
  
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• Beyond the Plate: Le Bremner's Danny Smiles dreams his way to the top

  28-11-2018 18:56 via montrealgazette.com
  This is the eighth instalment in the monthly series Beyond the Plate, looking at the motivations and passions of local chefs. This month: Danny Smiles.
  Congratulations!Today is your day.You’re off to Great Places!You’re off and away!— Dr. Seuss; Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
  Danny Smiles was born Daniele Francis in May 1985, to immigrant parents: his father hailed from Egypt, his mother from Italy. Growing up in Anjou with two older sisters and a younger brother, “
  
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• Factory sirens will wail in Montreal-wide drill Thursday afternoon

  28-11-2018 18:35 via montrealgazette.com
  Sirens at nine factories across the island of Montreal will be activated for three minutes at 2 p.m. Thursday as part of a civil protection drill.
  The siren warnings are to take place in the event of a toxic leak at one of the plants, and civil protection authorities stress that in the event of a real emergency, anyone within earshot of those sirens is to get indoors as quickly as possible and close all doors and windows.
  The sirens that will sound on Thursday are at food processing plants in Ri
  
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• Boil water advisory issued for Chambly

  28-11-2018 16:48 via montrealgazette.com
  A boil water advisory has been issued for the entirety of the municipality of Chambly.
  The city made the announcement Wednesday, saying the advisory is necessary because of repair work on its water distribution network.
  Citizens are advised to boil their tap water for at least a minute or use bottled water until further notice.
  Schools, businesses and stores and city buildings must advise personnel and clients that their tap water is not drinkable and provide drinking water.
  City authorities are
  
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• Update: Family of teen who drowned during swim class to sue Montreal, CSDM

  28-11-2018 16:44 via montrealgazette.com
  The family of Blessing Claudevy Moukoko, the 14-year-old Montreal boy who died after spending 38 minutes under water, unnoticed, at his school swim class, announced Wednesday they will sue the city of Montreal and the Commission scolaire de Montréal .
  Lawyer Jean-Pierre Ménard said the family of the boy will respond to a coroner’s report released Tuesday detailing the events at a municipal pool in Rosemont on the morning of Feb. 15.
  No criminal charges have been laid in
  
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• Laval gas station employee dies after being struck by snowplow

  28-11-2018 16:17 via montrealgazette.com
  Laval police and Quebec’s work health safety board are investigating the death early Wednesday of a 62-year-old woman who was struck by a snowplow as it cleared a gas station parking lot.
  The victim, an employee at the Shell station at the corner of du Souvenir and Laval Blvds., was hit by the plow around 6:45 a.m.
  The driver of the snowplow was treated for shock.
  Related
  All snow-clearing trucks need safety devices: Projet MontréalEditorial: Snow-clearing trucks need side guards
  &n
  
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• Don't be alarmed: Quebec to test emergency alert system at 2:55 p.m. Wednesday

  28-11-2018 15:51 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec’s Public Security Ministry will test the “Québec En Alerte” emergency warning system — part of the national emergency alert network — at 2:55 p.m. Wednesday.
  Users of cellphones that are part of an LTE network, radio and television broadcasts as well as the public security ministry’s website and social media accounts will all broadcast the alerts. Broadcast outlets serving an English-speaking audience will transmit the alert message in Engli
  
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• Seven-year hunt for sexual predator ends with suspect's arrest in Quebec

  28-11-2018 14:49 via montrealgazette.com
  A 40-year-old man suspected of several break-ins and sexual assaults over a seven-year period was arrested Tuesday by Quebec City police.
  Charles Sylvain-Trépanier is alleged to have committed the first attack in August 2011 in the Cap-Rouge district, when he assaulted a victim in her 40s. The second incident occurred in 2013 in the Sillery district and involved a 90-year-old victim. The most recent assault occurred in July 2017 and saw a woman in her 70s assaulted.
  In all three cases, th
  
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• Driver dies after losing control of vehicle near Acton Vale

  28-11-2018 14:22 via montrealgazette.com
  A motorist died Tuesday after apparently losing control of his car on a road near Acton Vale in the Montérégie region.
  Police say the incident occurred around 4 p.m. and saw the vehicle skid off a rural road and into a deep ditch. First responders were obliged to use hydraulic pliers to open the car chassis and reach the driver.
  Snow on the road might have contributed to the driver’s losing control of the vehicle, police suspect.
  
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• 20-year-old driver dies in head-on collision near Hérouxville

  28-11-2018 14:13 via montrealgazette.com
  A 20-year-old man died Tuesday after the car he was driving collided head-on with tractor-trailer on Highway 153 near Hérouxville.
  The incident occurred around 3 p.m. on a curve on the highway — the car driven by the victim drifted into the oncoming lane and struck the truck head-on.
  The driver was taken to hospital with critical injuries and died several hours later.
  The driver of the truck was not injured. The Sûreté du Québec is trying to determine the ca
  
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• McConnell Woods to transform into Royal Quai luxury development

  28-11-2018 14:11 via montrealgazette.com
  McConnell Woods in Dorval is poised to become the Royal Quai luxury residential development. Last week Dorval council gave the green light to developer Paolo Presti to build high-end, single-family homes on the 540,000-square-foot property.
  Eleven of the lots will have water views and private access to the lakeshore. Thirteen per cent of the woods will be conserved and Presti said a pathway will allow public access to a portion of the waterfront.
  “It was not a matter for negotiation. Withi
  
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• Suspect in east-end robbery becomes Montreal's 28th homicide victim

  28-11-2018 13:49 via montrealgazette.com
  A 34-year-old robbery suspect has become Montreal’s 28th murder victim.
  Three men described as material witnesses were in police custody Wednesday morning and are scheduled to be questioned by investigators later in the day.
  The incident began around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, when police received several 911 calls reporting a brawl involving several persons on Nicolet St. near Ontario St. E. in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.
  Police found the victim on the ground and unconscious. He was taken
  
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• While you were sleeping: Steer too big to become Big Mac enjoys farm life

  28-11-2018 13:39 via montrealgazette.com
  Here’s what happened while you tried to remember what life was like before Shea Weber’s return.
  The developer behind the Royalmount mega-mall project says it’s adding up to 6,000 housing units to its plan. That’ll be in addition to millions of square feet of stores, restaurants, hotels, office towers, theatres, a cinema, a waterpark and other activities at the intersection of the Décarie Expressway and Metropolitan Autoroute. A Montreal civil servant told the
  
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• Batshaw project in Beaconsfield stuck in limbo for over three years

  28-11-2018 12:55 via montrealgazette.com
  The Batshaw Youth and Family Centres campus in Beaconsfield remains a fenced-in construction site three years after the project’s originally estimated completion date and the situation has Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle frustrated.
  “Beaconsfield is frustrated. Neighbours are frustrated,” Bourelle said. “We’d like to see it finished, earlier rather than later.”
  In 2013, ground-breaking ceremonies took place at Batshaw campuses in both Dorval and Beaconsfie
  
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• Beis says Plante administration has anti-car ideology

  28-11-2018 12:33 via montrealgazette.com
  Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis is defending the need for a drive-thru book drop-off at the borough’s new $24.4 million library, slated to open in March.
  Beis said the drop-off option has been “greeted with praise locally” but he was caught off guard last week when the city of Montreal’s executive committee member in charge of culture questioned the need for a library drive-thru.
  “It’s an aberration,” Christine Gosselin told Radio-Canada. “
  
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• Montreal weather: Grey and wet again

  28-11-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  We have another wet day ahead of us, but no snow accumulation in the Montreal region is in the forecast.
  Environment Canada is calling for light snow changing to a few rain showers near noon. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40. High plus 2.
  Tonight: A few showers ending in the evening then mainly cloudy. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light in the evening. Low zero.
  Don’t forget to submit your photos of Montreal via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by tagging them with 
  
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• Gazette Christmas Fund: 'Life gave me a child' and dream to become a midwife

  28-11-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  For as long as Mylene can remember, she has gone to church with family on Christmas Eve.
  Which church they visit doesn’t matter, she said, as long as there’s enough space to accommodate all the family members who would like to attend.
  Now, the 21-year-old said, “I’ve continued the tradition with my daughter.”
  Her little girl will be two years old in a few months. Raising a child on her own hasn’t been easy — the father left the picture when Mylene was ju
  
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• Beaconsfield asks residents to help shape vision for park overhaul

  28-11-2018 11:55 via montrealgazette.com
  Beaconsfield has a big project coming down the pike. It’s called Reimagining SPACE and its mandate is to come up with a plan to revitalize Centennial Hall Memorial Park and the adjacent Lord Reading Yacht Club.
  Central to the success of the project is citizen participation, and so the call is out for citizens to apply for a spot on the project’s steering committee which will consist of seven residents and two elected officials. The deadline for applications is Dec. 16.
  The steer
  
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• Kramberger: Shrinking lanes fuel car vs. bike wars in West Island

  28-11-2018 11:37 via montrealgazette.com
  While it’s perhaps not as zealous as the apparent “war on cars” by Montreal Mayor Valèrie Plante’s administration downtown, residents in Dorval and Pointe-Claire are coping with their own fallout from reduced car-lane widths on some collector roads after the installation of bidirectional bicycle paths.
  In Dorval, a section of car lanes along Cardinal Ave., which links Sources Blvd. to Trudeau international airport, were narrowed to accommodate the installation
  
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• Canadiens Game Day: Hurricanes goalie shines in 2-1 win over Habs

  28-11-2018 07:41 via montrealgazette.com
  Picking the first star at the Bell Centre Tuesday night wasn’t a tough job.
  Carolina goalie Curtis McElhinney stopped 48 of 49 shots as the Hurricanes beat the Canadiens 2-1 to earn the honour. Victor Rask and Trevor van Riemsdyk beat Canadiens goalie Carey Price on deflections, while Phillip Danault was the only Canadien to put a puck past McElhinney. Price stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced.
  Hurricanes defenceman Justin Faulk was named the second star despite being pointless and minus-1
  
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• In the Habs' Room: 'If we play like that most nights, we're going to be all right'

  28-11-2018 05:45 via montrealgazette.com
  The Canadiens suffered their fifth consecutive loss Tuesday, but the mood in the Canadiens dressing room after the 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes could best be described as positive.
  It started with the return of defenceman Shea Weber, who dressed for the first time since Dec. 16, 2017. Most of the talk leading up to the game centred on keeping things simple, but once game got started, Weber was where he has been for most of his career.
  He was on the ice for 25:19 and his shifts averaged on
  
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• Liveblog: Carolina edges Canadiens 2-1 despite 49-shot barrage

  28-11-2018 04:57 via montrealgazette.com
  Phillip Danault tipped one past Curtis McElhinney 9:28 into the third period to bring the Bell Centre to life and set up an exciting ending.
  Eight minutes into the second period, Trevor van Riemsdyk’s shot ticked in off Victor Mete to make it 2-0.
  Victor Rask tipped Jaccob Slavin’s point shot past Carey Price 7:45 into the game to open the scoring.
  Shots were 49-22 for the team that lost.
   
  
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• Royalmount mega mall project now includes up to 6,000 housing units

  28-11-2018 04:47 via montrealgazette.com
  The developer behind a project to build a mega mall on Royalmount Ave. says it’s adding up to 6,000 units of housing to its plan to build millions of square feet of stores, restaurants, hotels, office towers, theatres, a cinema, a waterpark and other activities at the intersection of the Décarie Expressway and Metropolitan Autoroute.
  And that new element means that a recent traffic impact study for the project, which touched off a war of figures between the developer, Carbonleo, and
  
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• Shea Weber solid in his return, but Canadiens lose fifth straight game

  28-11-2018 04:28 via montrealgazette.com
  Shea Weber returned to the Canadiens’ lineup Tuesday after a 345-day absence. He played a solid game but, as coach Claude Julien said last week, he’s not a saviour.
  Weber did all the things you would expect from one of the NHL’s elite defencemen. He created turnovers, he hit people, he blocked shots and he didn’t allow any goals to be scored on his watch.
  But Weber was not able to give the Canadiens what they needed most on this night, which was someone to score goals. He
  
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• ‘It hurts my heart, because he is gone. And he was only 14 years old’

  28-11-2018 03:52 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec Coroner Louis Normandin’s voice was thick with emotion as he described the security footage of 14-year-old Blessing Claudevy Moukoko setting out to swim two lengths of the Centre Père Marquette pool in Rosemont on the morning of Feb. 15.
  Normandin’s report, released Monday, details how on that morning, Moukoko, who could not swim, struggled from the shallow end to the deep end and then sunk to the bottom of the pool during a high-school swimming lesson. Thirty-eight min
  
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• #ICYMI: '60s Scoop settlement, heated sidewalks, more news

  28-11-2018 03:26 via montrealgazette.com
  In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI) is a daily feature highlighting news in and around Montreal.
  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 Indig
  
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• Gazette readers step up to help Montreal's homeless and their dogs

  28-11-2018 03:16 via montrealgazette.com
  Every two weeks, Isabelle Pinard sets up her mobile veterinary clinic at the corner of Berri and Ste-Catherine Sts. to offer her services to the homeless population — and their dogs.
  “Sometimes they need vaccines for their pets, or exams, or advice. And people bring me things to give to the animals on the street. We have to make sure they are OK. … With the cold coming so early this year, it’s been very difficult.”
  Following the publication Saturday of a story abou
  
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• No grandfather clause for religious symbols, Premier Legault says as National Assembly reconvenes

  28-11-2018 02:58 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Premier François Legault dropped the idea on Tuesday of grandfathering the acquired rights of authority figures in the public sector to wear religious symbols.
  Latching on to a new poll showing Quebecers agree with his government’s plan to ban authority figures like judges and teachers from wearing such symbols as the hijab and kippah, Legault said the numbers show his government is on the right track.
  “I always said I would listen to what Quebecers want,”
  
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• Ice-free sidewalks: Côte-St-Luc considers heating them

  28-11-2018 01:48 via montrealgazette.com
  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
  
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• 2019 city budget: Spending is out of control, Montreal opposition says

  28-11-2018 00:53 via montrealgazette.com
  Spending is out of control at city hall, the opposition Ensemble Montréal party charged Tuesday in a critique of the 2019 budget, which will be adopted Wednesday by city council.
  It’s unacceptable that 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 announced the opposition would vote against the budget unless the Valérie Plante administration agr
  
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• Longueuil man involved in police chase that injured woman is denied bail

  28-11-2018 00:44 via montrealgazette.com
  In early July 2018, Sébastien Théodore took to his Facebook page to post a video to his friends and followers.
  In rambling sentences, Théodore explained how, to him, all provincial and municipal authority figures are “de-facto” and operating illegally.
  This applies to police officers, prosecutors and judges, he said. He called them pieces of garbage and “dirty cockroaches.”
  Then he issued a warning: if police officers tried to pull him over
  
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• Stu Cowan: Max Domi is standing tall with Canadiens

  28-11-2018 00:12 via montrealgazette.com
  The Canadiens’ Max Domi didn’t inherit his offensive skills from his father, but he definitely got his old man’s competitive gene.
  Tie Domi scored more than 10 goals only three times during his 16 seasons in the NHL and finished his career with 104 goals in 1,020 games. But Max’s dad holds the record for most career NHL fights with an incredible 333 and ranks third in career penalty minutes with 3,515, trailing only Tiger Williams (3,971) and Dale Hunter (3,565).
  Max is k
  
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• Watch: Canada Post has ‘sincere intent’ to improve worker relations, Hajdu says

  28-11-2018 00:08 via montrealgazette.com
  Labour Minister Patty Hajdu says recently passed back-to-work legislation includes framework for Canada Post to ensure “positive labour relations” within the corporation moving forward.
  Related
  Canada Post says it lost $242-million in Q2, blames pay equity cost estimateCanada Post strike reveals the shifting nature of the postal service
  
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