A look back to an incident in 1936 that displays the cautious approach of Canada and Quebec to Nazi Germany before war broke out. posted at 20:05

 
The new area code 438 will slowly be coming into use, mostly for cell phone service at first; it's meant to provide more numbers for the 514 zone. posted at 19:57

 
The news that another Selwyn House teacher has been accused on pedophilia-type charges has upset students and parents at the tony private school. However, this time the suspect was entrapped online by U.S. investigators, and no charge has been made against his conduct as a teacher. posted at 10:56

 
Some of the British are getting only a bit excited over the marriage of Montrealer Autumn Kelly to the Queen's grandson next week, although some remain refreshingly snide. posted at 09:56

 
Guy Lafleur is still thinking about the Habs' season, how it went and how it might have gone differently; a La Presse writer also looks back, perhaps a bit wistfully. posted at 09:41

 
The tam-tam gathering in Mount Royal park is marking its 30th year this year but its origins are a matter for a little bit of debate. posted at 08:11

 
It's free compost weekend at the Saint-Michel environmental complex and several other locations. You need to bring your own shovel and containers and proof that you're a Montreal resident. posted at 13:59

 
Controversial airport flight path may be abandoned after protests, but of course the planes have to go over somebody's house sometime. posted at 11:00

 
Montreal Underground Film Festival runs next week, and the lineup's been announced for next month's Suoni per il popolo festival. Festival season is upon us. posted at 10:52

 
Museums Day, coming up on May 25, promises to be a good one this year, falling at a time when some exhibits are drawing to a close and others will have just opened. The Musée d'art contemporain is holding a huge "triennale" show, the Fine Arts show of Cuban art will still be open, and various special events are planned. posted at 10:02

 
Continuing opposition to the plan to "modernize" Notre-Dame East into a highway, plus thoughts on the utility of covering up the Ville-Marie and reclaiming the urban space lost when construction of the trench highway erased rue Vitre and its surroundings. posted at 09:44

 
The city is temporarily trapping raccoons on Mount Royal so they can be vaccinated and microchipped. posted at 09:09

 
Montreal municipal court tiptoes into the new century with a plan to find ways of helping homeless people suffering from mental disorders, rather than putting them in the slammer for not being able to pay fines. posted at 09:03

 
Today the Journal has a story about an ongoing collaboration and "secret agreement" between Radio-Canada and Gesca, the parent company of La Presse. Union rights are invoked and the question of the public broadcaster relying on private industry is raised. Radio-Canada has already defended its practices. A legitimate problem, or is this only the Journal cooking up another scandal to sell papers, and get in a dig at its competition at the same time? posted at 08:01

 
The plan to widen Notre-Dame East has been tinkered with again to add reserved bus lanes, although there will still be a section that's a sunken trench, Decarie-style. posted at 07:51

 
A woman's research into her family history turns up the first smoked meat deli on the Main a hundred years ago. posted at 07:48

 
Of 98 public gardening sites in the city, 22 are found to be too contaminated – with old industrial wastes, hydrocarbons and metals, mostly – to safely grow food. Montreal has been praised for its garden plot system, but it's several years now that stories about contaminated soil have cropped up in the news, and my suspicious side is wondering if this is not the beginning of a softening-up process via which the city will quietly reclaim some of these plots, set aside in the 1980s when the local economy was stagnant, and now looking much more desirable for construction. posted at 07:35

 
East-end residents get their water pressure back after repairs on a major main are completed; there were fewer water main breaks last year even so, compared to a veritable festival the year before. posted at 13:10

 
Work is to start on the contentious enlargement of Notre-Dame East in mid-October; not surprisingly, the Charest government is opting for one of its pet PPP projects to undertake the major rebuild of the Turcot interchange. posted at 13:06

 
Lysiane Gagnon marvels at the CHUM's wasteful flipflopping on its construction plans. She doesn't say, but the CHUM's contortions are pretty much mirrored by its mirror institution, the MUHC, which has been zigzagging between starting construction at the Glen site and enlarging the Montreal General, in much the same way (with the additional twist that they have to deal with the Shriners issue as well). posted at 12:57

 
The CCA is opening an exhibit on city life in Tokyo and London with an accompanying website; there will be a 3D photo exhibit of Montreal scenes across six locations this summer – no damn use for those of us without stereo vision, so somebody's got to go and tell me what it's like. posted at 07:49

 
Citizens are banding together to protest growing numbers of night flights in and out of Trudeau airport, a demo being held this morning outside Aéroports de Montréal's annual meeting.

Incidentally, Mirabel is mentioned in passing as still being in operation for cargo flights. Whatever happened to the scheme announced in 2006 to turn the mostly disused airport into a giant interior fun fair "destination"? posted at 07:47

 
The STM is to spend a million federal anti-terrorism dollars on a system that will chiefly keep random loonies, daredevils and teenagers from wandering on foot into its metro tunnels. posted at 07:44

 
Police helped deliver a baby in an SUV on Decarie this week. posted at 07:42

 
City administration to pour $400 million into infrastructure repairs this year, roads, water mains and sewers mostly. In the "you can't win" department, some journos are already kvetching about the inconvenience. La Presse has a PDF file listing all the upcoming work sites, although not with very specific dates, or you can check this section of the city site for details. posted at 07:38

 
Kahnawake's tobacco outlets are engaged in a price war bringing the cost of a carton of smokes down as low as $6. posted at 08:17

 
The CHUM is to respect the wishes of Louis-Joseph Papineau by not building its research centre on land he left for a public square, now Place Chénier. (Can't help noting that the city didn't think twice about burrowing under it for the Ville-Marie, though.) But this also means the new building will be built upwards rather than outwards, a trend that risks creating visual barriers et the edge of Old Montreal. posted at 08:12

 
Work is stopped at the Marché Saint-Jacques on Ontario because they had no permit. The owner wants to boost the market into a mini Atwater, which might be viable on the edge of the Village, a neighbourhood which will play host to 49 separate terrasses this summer as its section of Ste-Catherine goes pedestrian. posted at 08:04

 
The new roof proposed by SNC-Lavalin for the Olympic Stadium could cost $75 million because it would involve reinforcing the building and mast at the same time. posted at 08:02

 
Discussions on the Canadiens continue to percolate, including Bob Gainey's views on speed and thoughts about the future and future players; the Journal ponders the team's needs in tabular format – Carbonneau says he didn't realize how worn out Carey Price was; the head coach's famous loud tie is to be auctioned off for charity. He'll need a new one next season anyway. posted at 07:54

 
The Jazz Festival unveiled its indoor concert lineup yesterday with lots of piano players to underline its dedication to the memory of Oscar Peterson. There will be more than 150 indoor shows this year, the festival's 29th. posted at 07:42

 
Saku Koivu is off to play for Finland in the world hockey championships taking place in Halifax and Quebec City, after debunking the rumour that he and Alex Kovalev can't stand each other; Carey Price makes his mea culpas and other members of the team speak up: Kovalev, more from Kovalev, yet more from Kovalev, more from Price (that young man is having a bad time), Foglia on Price, Bertrand Raymond on making excuses for the team, re-signing Mark Streit, and many other post-mortems to the season. posted at 08:26

 
Words to haunt a Montrealer's dreams: a new roof for the Olympic stadium with hopes of making the building usable again throughout the winter. posted at 07:29

 
Jacques Demers gives his thoughts on the Canadiens' ended season and the evolution of the team; CH flags have vanished and bars are half empty around town; final postmortems are filed as the season ends in silence. posted at 08:42

 
UQÀM has 600 completed parking spots in the unfinished Îlot Voyageur building that could be rented out for ready money, but they're held up in some kind of legal limbo. posted at 08:09

 
The city's tenth murder of the year took place this weekend on Mackay, and another attempted killing happened nearby on Saint-Mathieu. Despite the proximity to Concordia the incidents don't seem to have any connection with the school, and cops don't know yet whether they have any connection with each other. posted at 08:02

 
Forced to use unplanned locations as snow dumps this winter, the city may have contaminated the soil in areas not prepared for that use. posted at 07:39

 
Possibly useful list of recycling misconceptions and tips (although, as I understand it, not all boroughs need you to separate your stuff). posted at 07:34