By Murray Sherriffs
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Longueuil’s Mayor Catherine Fournier has received “very serious information” and has asked Quebec Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière to investigate how the Longueuil police service is handling the police shooting of 15-year-old Nooran Rezayi. The “serious information” being referred to, is contained in correspondence sent by the director of Quebec independent police watchdog (BEI) Brigitte Bishop to Longueuil police chief Patrick Bélanger. It details several breaches of SPAL’s legal obligations following the shooting, that include police taking more than 90 minutes after the shooting to inform the watchdog what had happened and that officers questioned witnesses about what happened. Rezayi family lawyers have applauded the mayor’s request, saying that SPAL was trying to interfere with the BEI’s investigation and protect its colleagues in a “…blatant violation of the law and fundamental principles of justice.”
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Quebec’s National Assembly has unanimously passed Bill 14, which bans vote-buying in leadership races and closes a loophole in Quebec’s electoral law used by the Quebec Liberal party to get Pablo Rodriquez elected. Liberal Leader Rodriguez is facing mounting pressure from prominent Liberals to quit but he says “…I’m not going anywhere” and that he plans to lead the party into the next election and win.
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The Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Montreal say that traffic blockages in the city have gone from “minimum” of three years ago to “maximum”, and are urging that concrete action be taken which would improve site management. It stated that ”…traffic flow and the management of public and private construction sites” is disturbing.
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The people who run Quebec daycares and public institutions which serve halal or kosher food are concerned with the province’s new secularism bill as it makes its way through the legislative process, because it states that no public institution can “offer exclusively a diet based on a religious precept or a tradition.”
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Arsonists have attacked a business on Bruxelles Avenue in Montreal North with molotov cocktails, causing significant damage but injuring no one.
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Longueuil police have arrested two more suspects connected to an extortion scheme which targeted several restaurants in Saint-Lambert, that saw bullets left in envelopes, arson attacks and demands for thousands of dollars.
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Montreal West parents are petitioning the Quebec government for high school crossing guards at high schools in the province, stating that the urgency evident near Royal West High School continue to grow.
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A coroner is investigating the death of an 84-year-old woman, who was found unconscious in the snow by a snowplow operator on Labonté street in Longueuil yesterday and who was not dressed for winter.
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Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says that rent prices are still rising and are out of reach for many, especially in Montreal where the vacancy rate has risen from 2.1 per cent last year to this year’s 2.9 per cent.
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Quebec is now legally able to impose minimum French-language content on streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify as MNAs adopted Bill 109, which “…affirms Québec cultural sovereignty and enacting the Act respecting the discoverability of French-language cultural content.”
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1,200 Quebec pharmacists who work in hospitals, CHSLDs, and seniors’ homes have voted 99 per cent in favor of a mandate to implement pressure tactics, to get a better deal for their work.
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Quebec’s legislature has appointed Christine Roy to be the province Auditor General for a 10-year term after serving as Assistant Auditor General for several years.
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Snow-removal trucks have begun clearing Montreal streets, so pay heed to the signs and obnoxious, impossible-to-ignore truck horns that force you to curse the gods, drag your sorry butt out of bed on yet one more cold winter morning to blearily go find another parking spot.
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Canadiens 4 Pittsburg 2
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Cloud / -5º today
Lite snow / -2º tomorrow Sun /
Cloud -6º Sunday
