• Leader Pablo Rodriguez excludes another MNA from caucus as Quebec Liberal crisis intensifies

    QUEBEC — The Liberal Party of Quebec has dropped the MNA for Chomedey, Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, from its caucus pending the results of an investigation by the legislature’s ethics commissioner. In a statement on Thursday, Liberal party whip Marc Tanguay said the party informed the MNA of the decision late Thursday. “At the request of our leader, Pablo Rodriguez, I am announcing that the MNA for Chomedey is excluded from the Liberal caucus for the duration of the investigation,&rd
  • Body of 88-year-old woman found outside Chomedey residence

    Laval police have confirmed that the body of an 88-year-old woman was found outdoors early Monday morning in the city’s Chomedey district. In an email to The Gazette, police said a 911 call requesting medical assistance at about 6:50 a.m. concerning the discovery of the woman outside a building “that seems to be a (seniors’ residence)” on Promenade des Îles. The woman was declared dead at the scene. Since cause of death has yet to be determined, police said they had
  • Here’s what you need to know about a potential Air Transat pilots strike

    As peak holiday travel season approaches, flyers with Air Transat have been dealt an unexpected curveball. The airline’s pilots issued a 72-hour strike notice Sunday, raising the risk of a walkout later this week. Some flights have already been cancelled and more disruption is expected in the days ahead. Here’s what you need to know.How did we get here?On Sunday, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents about 750 Air Transat pilots, issued a 72-hour strike notice. That means
  • Montreal weather: Chillin' like a villain

    Your feet are cold, your nose is red and you keep losing just one glove. And it’s not even winter yet. This week won’t be cold as last, but you are going to have to find that glove. Monday will be sunny with a high of minus-12 C and a wind chill near minus-22 C. Temperatures remain steady till nightfall, then dip one more degree. Sunset is at 4:11. Clouds move in on Tuesday, and flurries and snowfall are expected through the middle of the week. Winter officially begins in 13 days.
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  • Another LaSalle bar targeted by gunfire

    Another Montreal bar was targeted by gunfire early Monday, this time in the borough of LaSalle. Montreal police said they became of aware of the incident after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting shots fired on Dollard St. near Lithuania St. Images posted from the scene showed bullet impacts on the front window of a bar and a neighbouring business. Police said that although one person was at the scene, there were no injuries reported. A growing number of Montreal-area bars have been the targe
  • Inside the OQLF: How inspectors hunt English signs, receipts and service

    Cellphone in hand, they move from shop to shop along busy commercial streets, stopping briefly before heading to the next store. But they’re not Christmas shoppers. In fact, merchants eye them warily, fearing paperwork, unwanted headlines — even fines. They’re Quebec language inspectors. For decades, the province has dispatched them to monitor language compliance. Their work sometimes stirs controversy: the Pastagate scandal over Italian menu words, the singling out of the Burg
  • The voice of Montreal: 80 years of CJAD 800

    When CJAD radio host Trudie Mason was hired at the station four decades ago, tape was edited by cutting it with a razor blade and splicing it together with Scotch tape. While much has changed since the station’s founding on Dec. 8, 1945, Mason says CJAD’s mandate of serving Montreal’s English-speaking community with local news and current affairs still holds true. “Gord Sinclair was the news director who hired me. He was a brilliant radio mind,” she said of the stat
  • CJAD 800 celebrates being 'the voice of Montreal' for 80 years

    When CJAD radio host Trudie Mason was hired at the station four decades ago, tape was edited by cutting it with a razor blade and splicing it together with Scotch tape. While much has changed since the station’s founding on Dec. 8, 1945, Mason says CJAD’s mandate of serving Montreal’s English-speaking community with local news and current affairs still holds true. “Gord Sinclair was the news director who hired me. He was a brilliant radio mind,” she said of the stat
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  • Housing starts are finally rising in Montreal. But for how long?

    After three straight years of decline, housing starts are rising in Montreal, bucking a decline seen in other major Canadian cities, though remaining well below a 2021 peak. In the first 10 months of 2025, there were 6,127 housing starts in the city, up from 4,619 in all of 2024, with more than a third of those starts coming in September and October, the first time since May 2022 that there had been two consecutive months with more than 1,000 housing starts in Montreal. But Francis Cortellino, a
  • Martinez Ferrada praises Montrealers' aid for unhoused population during cold snap

    Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has praised Montrealers for the alacrity with which they have responded to her request on Thursday that they step up to help the city’s unhoused individuals by donating items including sleeping bags and winter gloves. Speaking at city hall Thursday with members of her newly formed crisis unit to address homelessness, the mayor said winter had arrived more quickly than anticipated — and that, although her team is working on long-term measures to help the
  • Body found after abandoned Longueuil building catches fire

    A fire late Saturday night in an abandoned building on St-Charles St. W. in Longueuil led firefighters to a macabre discovery: a lifeless body. Shortly before 11 p.m., Longueuil police were called to assist firefighters. The fire started under the balcony of the building, said Longueuil police spokesperson Jacqueline Pierre; while extinguishing it, firefighters discovered an inanimate body. The identity of the victim, whose death was declared at the scene, has not yet been established, Pierre sa
  • Update: Murder charge to be filed in fatal St-Hubert home invasion

    A 19-year-old woman will face a murder charge in connection with a home invasion in Longueuil’s St-Hubert sector early Sunday that left an 88-year-old man dead. Just after 2 a.m. Sunday, a 911 call was made from a residence on Renaud St., according to Longueuil police spokesperson Jacqueline Pierre. The couple were transported to a hospital, where the husband, who had been critically injured, died. His wife was injured in the upper body, but her life is not believed to be in danger, Pierre
  • Elderly couple attacked in fatal St-Hubert home invasion

    An elderly man is dead following a home invasion in St-Hubert early Sunday in which he and his wife were attacked. Just after 2 a.m., a 911 call was made from a residence on Renaud St., according to Longueuil police spokesperson Jacqueline Pierre. The couple were transported to a hospital, where the husband, who had been critically injured, died. His wife was injured in the upper body, but her life is not believed to be in danger, Pierre said. A woman was detained at the scene and was to be
  • Montreal weather: Sunny morning, but light snow in the afternoon

    Environment Canada is forecasting mainly sunny skies for Sunday with increasing cloudiness near noon, then light snow beginning late in the afternoon. The temperature will hold steady near minus 10 with a wind chill near minus 15. The UV index will be 1, or low. Snow ending near midnight, then mainly cloudy with a low of minus 14. About 2 centimetres of accumulation is expected. Wind chills of minus 15 in the evening and minus 22 overnight are expected with a 15 km/h wind.
  • Fitness: A holiday gift list for the active set

    Wondering what to put under the tree for your favourite fitness fanatic? There are a lot of choices out there, but finding the right gift isn’t easy, especially if the person you’re gifting is particular about what they like. And while no exercise junkie is going to turn their nose up at a pair of socks or other simple essentials, Christmas is the time of year to give something special. So, if you really want to impress, here’s a list of gifts for runners, outdoor enthusiasts,
  • Christmas Fund: Her son’s autism prevents Sarah from working as bills pile up

    Sarah arrived in Canada in 2022 with her two young boys and the hope of building a stable future. Originally from Algeria, she was selected to immigrate through Canada’s skilled-worker program and was expecting to work quickly after arriving. She has a background in banking and communications. But caring for her eldest son has made that a challenge. Adam, 12, is autistic. He attends a specialized high school in Hochelaga, which is far from their home downtown. Her six-year-old, Sam, is in
  • ‘Suspicious death’ of woman in Longueuil prompts police investigation

    Longueuil police said they have opened an investigation after a 56-year-old woman was found dead in an apartment on Quinn St. on Saturday morning. Around 10 a.m., officers from the Service de police de l’agglomération de Longueuil (SPAL) were called to the residence, where they discovered the woman’s body, police said in a statement. They described it as a “suspicious death.” A person who was at the scene has been arrested and is expected to be questioned later by
  • Carney: Canada has ‘much more to do’ on combatting violence against women

    Mark Carney has said Canada still has “much more to do” in the fight against gender-based violence ahead of Saturday’s commemoration of the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, honouring the 14 women murdered on Dec. 6, 1989. The prime minister is expected to attend the memorial with Quebec Premier François Legault and Montreal Mayor Soraya Martínez Ferrada, alongside the families of the victims. He said in a statement “the attack was an assault
  • As Montreal honours Polytechnique victims, Carney says progress on women’s safety is not enough

    Amid blizzard-snow skies, beams of light rose Saturday evening from Mount Royal, one for each woman murdered in the École Polytechnique massacre 36 years ago. More than a hundred people gathered inside the Mount Royal Chalet, including families of the victims and dignitaries such as Prime Minister Mark Carney, Quebec Premier François Legault and Montreal Mayor Soraya Martínez Ferrada, to commemorate the anniversary, as photographs of the 14 women rested on a desk at the fron
  • Montreal police probe overnight shooting at Villeray business

    Gunfire shattered the front window of a business on Crémazie Blvd. in Villeray in the early hours of Saturday morning, Montreal police believe, though no one was reportedly injured. Police received a call around 2:15 a.m. about a commercial alarm reporting broken glass, according to Jeanne Drouin, a spokesperson for the Montreal police. When officers arrived, they found the storefront window smashed and, after a closer inspection, determined the damage appeared to have been caused by proj
  • Montreal weather: Snowy, but not as frigid

    Environment Canada is forecasting periods of snow for Saturday with a high of minus one. The wind will blow up to 15 km/h, giving a wind chill of minus 13 in the morning and minus 6 in the afternoon. Periods of snow will end late in the evening, then clearing with a low of minus 13. The wind will come from the southwest at 20 km/h, becoming light late in the evening. Wind chills will be minus 7 in the evening and minus 17 overnight.
  • Lincoln: Guilbeault's principled resignation merits praise and support

    I got to know Steven Guilbeault in Montreal, when he led Greenpeace and then Équiterre. Intelligent and action-driven, his commitment to the environmental cause runs deep. He entered public life not by ambition, but because he genuinely believed he could better achieve change within the political system, where ideas and policies are translated into binding agreements and laws. It must have been for him a soul-wrenching decision to resign from a senior ministerial post where he could wiel
  • Brownstein: Christmas Fund comes at critical time for those in need

    Bob Hayes was a long-time civic affairs reporter at The Gazette. More importantly, he was civic-minded. Hayes had a big heart, not always an oxymoron when it comes to describing journalists. In 1967, Hayes organized a food and clothing drive for those in need during the holidays. Montreal had experienced a sort of economic boom that year with the launch of Expo 67. Many locals profited. But others were still left out in the cold. This incongruity did not escape Hayes. His initial drive resulted
  • 800 STM professionals to launch overtime strike over holiday period

    About 800 professional transit workers, who have not walked out yet, are set to begin an overtime strike in the latter half of the month and into next year after their union filed formal notice amid stalled contract talks. The Union of Professional and Office Employees, Local 610, whose members include workers like engineers and architects, said in a statement members will refuse all overtime from Dec. 17 until Jan. 11. It follows 91 per cent of members voting in favour of strike action earlier
  • Legault urges Quebecers to size up his opponents carefully before voting in 2026

    QUEBEC — Premier François Legault says he expects the 2026 general election to be a three-way race and he will be one of those in the running. Taking questions from the public on the Radio-Canada Friday political show — La parole aux mordus de politique — Legault downplayed his current lack of popularity and instead said he sees the next election differently than some. He urged Quebecers to carefully compare him to his opponents before deciding. “I think there are
  • A weekend 'blitz': Negotiations resume on Quebec doctors' pay model

    Quebec Premier François Legault met again Friday with the heads of the federations representing Quebec’s family doctors and medical specialists in an effort to restart talks on Bill 2, the controversial law that would impose a new payment model on the province’s doctors. The talks broke down Thursday after doctors said the government seemed to want them to simply agree to the new law, which currently includes obligations to take on more patients and stiff punishments for
  • Housing crisis, traffic and food trucks: Here's what Montreal's new mayor wants her administration to tackle

    Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has delivered mandate letters to members of the city’s new executive committee, offering a glimpse of what she expects from each over the next four years. The letters were signed on Dec. 1 and made public this week, echoing the approach from the federal government. Each includes what Martinez Ferrada considers to be the committee’s main priorities before listing specific commitments for each member. Here’s a brief overview of what they say
  • Supreme Court will hear EMSB appeal regarding Quebec secularism law March 23

    The Supreme Court of Canada has set March 23 as the date it will hear the English Montreal School Board’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that upheld Quebec’s secularism law. In 2024, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the law, commonly referred to as Bill 21, rejecting challenges from several groups, including the English Montreal School Board, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The Act respecting the laicity of Quebec was passed by
  • Six ways to commemorate victims of Polytechnique massacre on Dec. 6

    Honouring the 14 women killed in the Polytechnique massacre on Dec. 6, 1989, has become a sombre tradition for Montrealers and Canadians. Every year, people gather to remember the lives of these female engineering students murdered in what is now recognized as a mass femicide. “People are attached to paying respect to these women who lost their lives in 1989,” said Polytechnique Montréal president Maud Cohen. “But beyond this memory there’s the question of why the
  • Canada’s least-popular premier? François Legault ends 2025 in the basement

    This year has brought no shortage of political milestones. Mark Carney became Canada’s prime minister. Montreal elected Soraya Martínez Ferrada as its first political refugee and Latina mayor. And Ottawa found itself locked in a trade standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump. It also was the year when Quebec Premier François Legault emerged, and remained, the most least-popular premier in Canada. The 68-year-old, who was first elected in 2018, “continues to be Canada&r

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