By Murray Sherriffs
=
Christian Dubé has quit as Quebec’s Health Minister and will sit as an independent, saying that “..this is a difficult decision that I’m making for the good of patients, physicians, and the health-care system.”
=
Pablo Rodriguez has stepped down as leader of the Quebec Liberal Party saying that his “sense of duty” has made him realize that “…I have become, against my will, a distraction.”
=
Several activists, dressed as Santa and his elves and calling themselves the “Robins des Ruelles,” have stolen $3,000 worth of food from a Metro grocery store to protest soaring food prices and corporate profits and have given the goods to needy residents of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
=
An Interac survey says that the fear of rising food prices is widespread. Two-thirds of respondents said that the rising cost of food is making it harder to manage holiday spending and more than half worry that they’ll spend more than they can afford.
=
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada says that her administration has exceeded its goal of creating 500 new places in warming shelters before Christmas.
=
Santé Québec is reducing the number of executives in the organization, in its pursuit of saving tens of millions of dollars.
=
Montreal’s cybercrime unit is warning parents to be vigilant as investigators look into cases of young children being victimized on social media.
=
A Montreal man, Salman Rahman, who killed 32-year-old Francis Lemieux three years ago while driving at more than twice the speed limit, has been sentenced to six months home detention, with Quebec Court Judge Flavia Longo justifying the penalty saying that he’s a young man, works at his family’s restaurant, is studying administration at Dawson College, is a low risk of reoffending. He noted that the dead man was jay-walking when he was hit, had consumed cannabis, that there were traces of a prescribed medication for allergies in his system, and that it was raining.
=
Habs 4 Chicago 1
=
Rain / 11 / strong winds (SW gusts to 90 kph) today
Sun / cloud / -3º tomorrow