Aylmer, Quebec news

• Alouettes cut coaching staff to comply with new CFL non-player cap

  06-12-2018 23:55 via montrealgazette.com
  TORONTO — The Montreal Alouettes cut four coaches on Thursday after the CFL announced that a cap on non-player football operations costs will be implemented for the 2019 season.
  The cap is set at just under $2.59 million for 2019 and 2020, and will be reviewed after that.
  The Alouettes announced they were not renewing the contracts of defensive backs coach Billy Parker, receivers coach Jason Tucker, assistant offensive line coach Chris Mosley and defensive assistant coach Cris Dishman. Sco
  
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• Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt granted full parole

  06-12-2018 23:39 via montrealgazette.com
  Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt continues to minimize his role in the corruption and collusion scheme that plagued his city for years and resulted in him receiving the six-year sentence he is serving.
  ‎That is one thing that the Parole Board of Canada noted on Thursday in its decision to grant Vaillancourt, 77, full parole while he continues to serve the sentence he received in December 2016 after he pleaded guilty to fraud and breach of trust.
  “According to your caseworkers, yo
  
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• $2.7M in fines, jail term for MUHC 'emergency work' contractors

  06-12-2018 23:11 via montrealgazette.com
  Two men and the four companies they operate have been hit with $2.7 million in fines for tax fraud following a probe by Quebec’s anti-corruption unit into maintenance contracts for “emergency work” at the McGill University Health Centre.
  One of the two men, Rocco Carbone of Montreal, was also sentenced to 18 months in jail.
  He was convicted Nov. 30 of having filed false claims to obtain tax refunds he was not entitled to.
  He also was hit with the lion’s share of the fines
  
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• Former mayor Coderre critiques Mayor Plante's English speech

  06-12-2018 23:04 via montrealgazette.com
  Former mayor Denis Coderre has thrown in his two cents’ worth on Mayor Valérie Plante’s English-only speech on Tuesday.
  In a Facebook message Wednesday, Coderre said he has always defended French and that being “a proud Montrealer also means being proud of one’s language and demonstrating it.”
  “I have always fought for the French fact in Canada and here at home, while respecting and speaking several languages, including English,” he said.
  Pla
  
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• Riverdale High School students take pledge to counter social conflict

  06-12-2018 22:43 via montrealgazette.com
  Attending a student assembly to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is nothing new to the students at Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds. They’ve been gathering every year since 2013 to honour the memory of 14 women targeted for their gender and murdered on Dec. 6, 1989 by man who hated feminists.
  But this year’s gathering took on an extra layer of meaning in the wake of a cyber-bullying incident which targeted the school and left students shak
  
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• As Quebec cuts immigration, statistics foreshadow demographic crunch

  06-12-2018 22:36 via montrealgazette.com
  As Premier François Legault prepares to cut immigration by about 20 per cent, new statistics indicate Quebec has the oldest inhabitants in Canada and its overall population is growing at a slower pace than most other provinces.
  The figures may lend credence to critics of the Coalition Avenir Québec plan, including the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal and Quebec’s largest employer group, who say cutting immigration could exacerbate a demographic and labour cru
  
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• Brownstein: Ticklish Xmas tree, colossal latke and an avalanche of ads

  06-12-2018 21:10 via montrealgazette.com
  Austrians are long accustomed to bringing in the Yuletide with a creepy ghoul called Krampus, who saunters through the country’s streets pursuing poorly behaved kids. It gets even more sinister in Vienna and Salzburg, where homage is paid to Santa’s evil twin with annual Krampus parades.
  Ukrainians often avoid decorating their Christmas trees with tinsel, opting instead for festive spider webs — considered to be lucky in their culture. Perhaps they can also ward off invading ho
  
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• Montreal Impact tap ex-midfielder Patrick Leduc for operations post

  06-12-2018 21:09 via montrealgazette.com
  Former Montreal Impact midfielder Patrick Leduc has been appointed administrative director of soccer operations, the MLS club announced on Thursday.
  As part of his functions, Leduc will supervise the programs and budgets of the club’s Academy program and operations at the Centre Nutrilait training centre as well as being the main link with the first team regarding players developed within the club’s structure. He is also charged with developing relations with Canada Soccer and Soccer
  
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• Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed: Looking forward to Pierrefonds library drive-thru

  06-12-2018 21:03 via montrealgazette.com
  As a voracious reader and West Island Mom passionate about fostering a life-long love of reading in my children, I could not be any more excited about the brand spanking new library opening up on the West Island. Its trendy design struck me as a little odd at first, but as I’ve watched its construction, it has grown on me.I love that it has won a design award, will feature a coffee shop and that the interior will look neat and futuristic.Last but not least is the great plan for a drive-thr
  
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• Young cannabis users say raising legal smoking age to 21 is pointless

  06-12-2018 20:43 via montrealgazette.com
  If Aiden wants to smoke weed, he texts his friend and gets it delivered within 30 minutes.
  The CEGEP student is old enough to buy cannabis legally, but he says it’s too much of a hassle: long lines at the Société québécoise du cannabis and frequent stock shortages make it easier for him to just buy it off a dealer.
  So if and when the Coalition Avenir Québec government passes a law that would raise the cannabis smoking age from 18 to 21 — which would
  
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• Canadiens Game Day: Carey Price gets call in rematch with Senators

  06-12-2018 20:20 via montrealgazette.com
  OTTAWA — Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said he might make a change in his lineup for Thursday’s rematch against the Ottawa Senators (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) and it appears that Nicolas Deslauriers will return in place of Matthew Peca.
  The tipoff came after the morning skate at Canadian Tire Centre. While most of  his teammates were heading to the bus back to their hotel, Peca was still on the ice.
  The Canadiens defeated the Senators 5-2 Tuesday night at the Bel
  
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• Police need help finding Senneville mailbox bomber

  06-12-2018 20:13 via montrealgazette.com
  A $5,000 reward is being offered to catch the suspect who put an explosive device in a roadside mailbox six months ago in scenic Senneville.
  A 68-year-old woman suffered minor injuries June 6 when a homemade device exploded around 7:10 p.m. on Senneville Rd., near Angus Ave.
  The device exploded while the victim was retrieving a package from the mailbox. A man, who was nearby when the explosion occurred, came to the woman’s aid.
  Sun Youth, through an anonymous donor, put up the re
  
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• REM construction begins in West Island

  06-12-2018 20:09 via montrealgazette.com
  Construction of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has started in the West Island.
  Although the light-rail train service for the Greater Montreal region is still years away, construction of the REM’s 12-km elevated structure in the West Island is beginning to take shape along Highway 40.
  The construction of the elevated portion of the route will require the installation of pillars along the former Doney Spur line, and Highway 40 near the Fairview shopping centre in Pointe
  
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• Opinion: How to ensure your donations are helpful and appreciated

  06-12-2018 19:12 via montrealgazette.com
  A few years ago, my mom and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when her face turned beet red.
  A reporter was standing outside a food bank located just a few blocks from my mom’s house. He was holding up a can of clams and wearing a bemused expression on his face.
  “Pasta with clams is one of my easiest recipes,” said my mom, defensively, “you hardly need any ingredients.”
  As the reporter launched into his segment on what not to give to food banks, citing items s
  
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• Suspected arsonists caught on tape getting blasted as car catches fire

  06-12-2018 18:54 via montrealgazette.com
  Police seeking three suspects in connection with a car that was set on fire on Esplanade St. in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville district at 11 a.m. Wednesday have made public surveillance photos and one video that suggests at least one of the suspects almost came close to being as engulfed in flames as the car that was destroyed.
  The arson took place in the parking lot off of 9855 De l’Esplanade Ave., police said. The vehicle, a red 2018 Dodge Journey with the Ontario licence p
  
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• CAQ government tables bill creating flat school tax for Quebec

  06-12-2018 18:19 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — Quebecers are headed for a flat school tax regardless of where they live.
  After presenting legislation on government appointments and cannabis, the Coalition Avenir Québec government ticked another item off its to-do list Thursday: tabling a bill to establish a single school tax rate.
  The bill was sent for further study by a committee of the legislature, so it can be adopted sometime in 2019.
  The bill proposes to gradually reduce the rate to 0.11 cents per $100 of evaluatio
  
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• Quebec population increased 1% in 2017, but lost demographic weight

  06-12-2018 17:54 via montrealgazette.com
  Quebec’s population increased by a little over one per cent in 2017 to reach 8,341,500, the Institut de la statistique du Québec reported on Thursday.
  The 2017 increase of 85,700 seemed to continue into the following year, with data for the first six months of 2018 indicating that the province’s population had increased to 8.4 million.
  Despite that increase, Quebec’s demographic weight within Canada dropped slightly, with the province’s population representing 22.6
  
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• Quebec-made Pink Floyd tributes honour 'the classic composers of our era'

  06-12-2018 17:30 via montrealgazette.com
  The Pink Floyd business is a lucrative business to be in.
  If you doubt that, just ask Richard Petit. He is the driving force, along with his business and creative partner Michel Bruno, in a series of Pink Floyd tribute shows that he figures have sold close to 300,000 tickets over the past six years.
  There’s no shortage of Pink Floyd tribute acts out there — notably the Australian Pink Floyd Show and Brit Floyd — but Petit insists his is the best in the world.
  It all began with
  
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• Montreal Mafia leader pleads guilty to threatening TVA reporter

  06-12-2018 17:20 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal Mafia leader Francesco Del Balso has pleaded guilty to threatening a TVA reporter. 
  Del Balso, one of six men who were proved in the past to have acted as leaders in the Rizzuto organization, appeared before a judge Thursday at the Montreal courthouse via a video linkup with a detention centre to plead guilty to the one count. 
  He admitted that, “given his profile,” he should have known TVA reporter Félix Séguin would have felt threatened by what
  
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• Five things to do in the Montreal area this weekend: Dec. 7-9

  06-12-2018 17:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Ghost
  The Swedish rock band is in concert at Place Bell in Laval Friday at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 6.Dave Matthews Band
  The American rockers perform at the Bell Centre Saturday at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7.Space #2 Symphonique
  In the Classical category at Place des Arts, 30 musicians present “The Best of the Pink Floyd Show,” Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.
  Gospel Celebration 2018
  Trevor Payne’s Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir presents thi
  
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• Domi and Drouin dazzling for Canadiens | HI/O Show

  06-12-2018 16:23 via montrealgazette.com
  On this week’s show, our panelists — Gazette columnist Stu Cowan, CBC Daybreak’s Jessica Rusnak, former Canadien Chris Nilan and host Adam Susser — take a look at the Canadiens’ top line and whether rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi will play in the world junior tournament.
  They also weigh in on these topics:Hudon’s inconsistency a liability for Habs
  Kulak making most of his opportunity
  Scherbak’s work ethic didn’t match skillsRelated
  Last week: Canadiens&
  
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• Gun controls will be tightened, Trudeau tells Montreal radio audience

  06-12-2018 15:49 via montrealgazette.com
  The federal government is considering adopting measures that would see tighter controls applied to handguns and assault weapons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
  In a radio interview with 98.5FM in Montréal, the prime minister said the violence in Canada being linked to both types of weapons is unacceptable.
  While Trudeau said that further limitations to those types of firearms were being considered, he didn’t exclude the possibility of banning them outright, except i
  
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• With more salt and fat than veg, Quebecers' appétit is far from bon: study

  06-12-2018 14:59 via montrealgazette.com
  Despite decades of information campaigns stressing the importance of healthy nutrition, Quebecers remain too busy consuming salt and fat to finish their vegetables, a study by Laval University has found.
  According the study, posted on the Canadian Journal of Cardiology website, Quebecers scored a mere 55 per cent on the study, which was conducted between August 2015 and April 2017 and involved 1,147 respondents.
  Participants were required on three occasions to fill out an online questionnai
  
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• Bright minds recall darkness of Polytechnique massacre

  06-12-2018 14:39 via montrealgazette.com
  Every year, Montreal pauses to mourn the 14 women murdered at École Polytechnique, a massacre that haunts this city 29 years later.
  Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte were targeted because they were women at an engineering school. They we
  
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• Ballerina leaps from TVA dance competition to Nutcracker stage

  06-12-2018 14:00 via montrealgazette.com
  IsaBelle Paquette can’t remember not loving to dance. As a preschooler, she would hear music at the mall and begin to move. She took her first ballet class when she was three years old and went on to have a professional dance career which continues at age 37.
  Paquette has been performing in various versions of the Nutcracker since she was 11 years old. First with École supérieure de ballet du Québec, then with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal and the
  
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• After hundreds of buses towed, STM backtracks on fuelling policy

  06-12-2018 13:53 via montrealgazette.com
  The city’s transit agency has reversed course on a controversial new cost-cutting procedure following reports by the Montreal Gazette that hundreds of buses were being towed because they ran out of fuel.
  The Montreal Gazette obtained two emails sent on Nov. 20 to supervisors of the Société de transport de Montréal‘s bus maintenance centres. The first one, sent by Luc Mercier — the director of the STM maintenance centres — informed his staff that the a
  
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• While you were sleeping: Man freed from jail steals car from its parking lot

  06-12-2018 13:48 via montrealgazette.com
  Here’s what happened after you fell asleep while watching A Christmas Prince…again.
  Five Montreal public health websites have been shut since Nov. 28 due to the discovery of malicious computer files, an official said. Jean Nicolas Aubé, a spokesperson for Montreal’s centre-south health authority, emphasized that no confidential patient information was ever breached, as the websites in question are intended to provide basic information to the public and are not used
  
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• Delivery of Montreal Gazette might be late Thursday

  06-12-2018 13:19 via montrealgazette.com
  Because of production issues and road conditions, some subscribers might not get their newspaper till 8 a.m.
  Montrealgazette.com will keep you updated in the meantime.
  
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• Kirkland-based research project could boost palliative-care initiatives

  06-12-2018 12:33 via montrealgazette.com
  The Montreal Institute of Palliative Care is poised to launch its first major research project since its inauguration in April. The institute is based in the Kirkland-based West Island Palliative Care Residence — the largest, free-standing palliative care facility in Canada.
  The project, called Compassionate Communities — A Model of Support and Care, is made possible by a grant from the Fondation J.-Louis Lévesque and will take five years to complete.
  The concept of creating s
  
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• Deaf man, hearing woman and their audacious Little Mermaid ambitions

  06-12-2018 12:00 via montrealgazette.com
  Jack Volpe and his partner, Aselin Weng, had a dream to start a theatre company and stage plays in Montreal. That’s daunting enough. But their plan was to present works that would integrate both deaf and hearing actors. And, oh yeah, neither Volpe, who is deaf, nor Weng, who is not, had any prior stage experience whatsoever.
  Suffice it to say, the challenges were enormous.
  No matter, this is one determined couple, and against overwhelming odds, Volpe and Weng not only founded Seeing Voices
  
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• City opposition lays complaint with Elections Québec over road paving

  06-12-2018 04:56 via montrealgazette.com
  The opposition party at city hall claims the Valérie Plante administration has used city resources to promote two Projet Montréal candidates in the Dec. 16 byelections.
  On Saturday, Mayor Plante visited the Rivière-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles borough, where she announced that a seven-kilometre stretch of Gouin Blvd. E. — which CAA Quebec has called the worst road in the province — will be repaved next spring. A second, four-kilometre section will
  
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• Angry Plante blasts CAQ's cannabis bill

  06-12-2018 04:35 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — After their disagreement over immigration and the proposed Pink Line métro, Montreal and the new Coalition Avenir Québec government have a new spat on their hands: cannabis.
  In deciding to increase the legal age to buy and consume pot from 18 to 21 and banning the smoking of cannabis in public places, including on the street, in parks and at summer festivals, the CAQ has ruffled the feathers of the more liberal cosmopolitan metropolis again.
  What the provincial gover
  
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• Sun Youth offers $5,000 reward for details on Senneville mailbox bomb

  06-12-2018 03:29 via montrealgazette.com
  Sun Youth is offering up to $5,000 to anyone who can provide information that will identify a suspect in a mailbox bombing that occurred this summer in Senneville.
  A 68-year-old woman was injured when she opened her mailbox on Senneville Rd. near Angus Ave. at about 7 p.m. on June 6 and an object exploded, Montreal police said.
  The woman was retrieving her mail from her mailbox, which was on the side of the road. A bystander witnessed the explosion and offered assistance. Her injuries were
  
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• #ICYMI: CAQ pot bill decried, cleaning brigades, more news

  06-12-2018 03:25 via montrealgazette.com
  In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI) is a daily feature highlighting news in and around Montreal.
  After their disagreement over immigration and the proposed Pink Line métro, Montreal and the new Coalition Avenir Québec government have a new spat on their hands: cannabis. “They are saying to youth, go and get your stuff from organized crime,” an angry Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters Wednesday responding to the CAQ government’s Bill 2 tighten
  
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• Montreal public health websites shut down as precaution: officials

  06-12-2018 02:57 via montrealgazette.com
  The discovery of malicious computer files is behind the decision to temporarily shut five public health websites since Nov. 28, an official said Wednesday.
  Jean Nicolas Aubé, a spokesperson for Montreal’s centre-south health authority, emphasized that no confidential patient information was ever breached, as the websites in question are intended to provide basic information to the public and are not used in the delivery of health care.
  The affected websites belong to the following h
  
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• Montreal mayor, CAQ at odds over new cannabis bill

  06-12-2018 02:52 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — After their disagreement over immigration and the proposed Pink Line métro, Montreal and the new Coalition Avenir Québec government have a new spat on their hands: cannabis.
  In deciding to increase the legal age to buy and consume pot from 18 to 21 and banning the smoking of cannabis in public places, including on the street, in parks and at summer festivals, the CAQ has ruffled the feathers of the more liberal cosmopolitan metropolis again.
  What the provincial gover
  
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• Six Montreal AI companies are getting $6.3 million in federal loans

  06-12-2018 02:42 via montrealgazette.com
  The federal government is investing $6.3 million in six Montreal-based artificial intelligence companies, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said on Wednesday.
  Most of that money — $5 million will go to Element AI, the artificial intelligence company co-founded by Yoshua Bengio, a Université de Montréal professor and one of the pioneers of the AI technology known as deep learning.
  On Tuesday, Bengio criticized the way the federal government handled the processing of
  
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• Analysis: Montreal and CAQ government at odds over new cannabis bill

  06-12-2018 02:31 via montrealgazette.com
  QUEBEC — After their disagreement over immigration and the proposed Pink Line métro, Montreal and the new Coalition Avenir Québec government have a new spat on their hands: cannabis.
  In deciding to increase the legal age to buy and consume pot from 18 to 21 and banning the smoking of cannabis in public places, including on the street, in parks and at summer festivals, the CAQ has ruffled the feathers of the more liberal cosmopolitan metropolis again.
  What the provincial gover
  
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• Montreal not a sanctuary city, but a responsible one, Plante says

  06-12-2018 02:29 via montrealgazette.com
  Montreal is not a “sanctuary city,” but it’s a “responsible and engaged” one that will stand up for the rights of newcomers whose immigration status is precarious, Mayor Valérie Plante said Wednesday as she unveiled the city’s new action plan on immigration.
  In 2017, under the previous administration, city council unanimously adopted a motion declaring Montreal a sanctuary city.
  But the term was misleading and could create a false sense of security amon
  
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• STM reverses course on bus fuelling procedure

  06-12-2018 02:19 via montrealgazette.com
  The city’s transit agency has reversed course on a controversial new cost-cutting procedure following reports by the Montreal Gazette that hundreds of buses were being towed because they ran out of fuel.
  The Montreal Gazette obtained two emails sent on Nov. 20 to supervisors of the Société de transport de Montréal’s bus maintenance centres. The first one, sent by Luc Mercier — the director of the STM maintenance centres — informed his staff that the a
  
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• 'I blame myself': Adele Sorella trial hears from slain girls' father

  06-12-2018 02:04 via montrealgazette.com
  LAVAL — After weeks of hearing his name mentioned in testimony from police officers and family members, the jury in Adele Sorella’s murder trial finally heard from her husband, Giuseppe De Vito, on Wednesday.
  De Vito, 46, died from cyanide poisoning in 2013 while serving a 15-year sentence in a maximum-security prison. But the jury was played a recording of testimony De Vito gave during previous court proceedings in the case.
  “I blame myself, I guess, yes,” De Vito answer
  
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• Canadiens find a dynamic duo in Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin

  06-12-2018 01:11 via montrealgazette.com
  It has been a long time since the Canadiens had a dynamic duo when it comes to offence.
  The last time the Canadiens had a player average over a point-per-game for a full season was 2007-08 when Alex Kovalev had 35-49-84 totals in 82 games. The last time they had two players do that was 1995-96 when Pierre Turgeon posted 38-58-96 totals and Vincent Damphousse had 38-56-94.
  We’re only 28 games into this season, but the Canadiens have one player averaging over a point per game and another one
  
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• Stu Cowan: Canadiens' Shea Weber proving he's still a Man Mountain

  06-12-2018 00:40 via montrealgazette.com
  The statistics are there for everyone to see when it comes to Shea Weber.
  Since returning to the lineup after missing almost a full year following foot and knee surgeries, the Canadiens defenceman has played four games, averaging a team-high 24:56 of ice time with two goals, one assist, a plus-4 and a team-high average of 3.3 hits per game.
  But there’s a lot more the Canadiens’ captain brings to his team that fans and the media don’t get to see.
  “How he handles himself,&r
  
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• Ste-Justine Hospital refuses to release report on halted clinical trial

  06-12-2018 00:23 via montrealgazette.com
  Ste-Justine Hospital is refusing to make public an external report on how it conducted a clinical trial that was shut down by Health Canada despite promises to become more transparent.
  Isabelle Demers, interim director of Quebec’s largest pediatric hospital, told reporters on Oct. 5 that she would release the report in response to a question about re-establishing trust in the Côte-des-Neiges institution.
  Demers made the pledge at a news conference that was televised live during which
  
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• Canadiens Notebook: Habs franchise now valued at US$1.3 billion by Forbes

  06-12-2018 00:11 via montrealgazette.com
  Forbes came out Wednesday with its annual list of valuations for NHL franchises and for the third straight year the New York Rangers are deemed the most valuable franchise, worth US$1.5 billion.
  The Toronto Maple Leafs were ranked second at US$1.45 billion, followed by the Canadiens ($1.3 billion), the Chicago Blackhawks ($1.05 billion) and the Boston Bruins ($925 million) with Original Six franchises taking the top five spots. Rounding out the top 10 were the Los Angeles Kings ($810 million), t
  
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